Job 17:11

17:10-16 Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted, who fetch their comforts from the possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. See how Job reconciles himself to the grave. Let this make believers willing to die; it is but going to bed; they are weary, and it is time that they were in their beds. Why should not they go willingly when their Father calls them? Let us remember our bodies are allied to corruption, the worm and the dust; and let us seek for that lively hope which shall be fulfilled, when the hope of the wicked shall be put out in darkness; that when our bodies are in the grave, our souls may enjoy the rest reserved for the people of God.

Or "passed away", or "passed over" (w); not that they passed over the time fixed and appointed by God, for there is no passing the bound settled by him, Job 14:5 ; but either the common term of man's life was passed with Job, or he speaks of things in his own apprehension; he imagined his death was so near, that he had not a day longer to live; his days, as he before says, were extinct, were at an end, he should never enjoy another day; and therefore it was folly to flatter him with a promise of long life, or encourage him to expect it; which he may mention as a proof of there being not a wise man among them, since they all suggested this in case of repentance; or his meaning is, that his good days, or days of goodness, as Jarchi interprets it, were past; his days of prosperity were at an end, and evil days were come upon him, in which he had no pleasure; nor had he any reason to believe it would be otherwise with him: my purposes are broken off; Job doubtless had formed in his mind great designs of good things, natural, civil; and religious, concerning the enlargement of his temporal estate, the settlement of his children in the world, making provision for the poor, supporting and enlarging the interest of true religion, the reformation of his Heathenish neighbours, and the spread of divine truths among them; but now they were all frustrated, he was not in a capacity of carrying them into execution, and was obliged to drop them, and think no more of them, nor was there with

Job 17:11 . My days are past — The days of my life. I am a dying man, and therefore the hopes you give me of the bettering of my condition are vain. My purposes are broken off — Or the designs and expectations which I had in my prosperous days concerning myself and children, and the continuance of my happiness. Even the thoughts of my heart — Hebrew, מורשׁי , morashei; the possessions of my heart; that is, those counsels and intentions which in a great measure possessed my heart, and were natural and familiar to me. All these are disappointed and come to nothing.

11 . Very different from their delusive anticipations was the truth in regard to Job’s condition. His days were past, and his life with all its cherished purposes cut off. The thoughts of his heart is lit. as margin, the possessions , i. e. the enterprises and purposes which he cherished and clung to as that dearest to him.

Verse 11. - My days are past . My days are slipping away from me. Life is well-nigh over. What, then, does it matter what you say? My purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart ; literally, the possessions of my heart all the store that it has accumulated - my desires, purposes, wishes. I no longer care to vindicate my innocence in the sight of men, or to clear my character from aspersions. Job 17:11

11. Only do not vainly speak of the restoration of health to me; for "my days are past." broken off—as the threads of the web cut off from the loom (Isa 38:12). thoughts—literally, "possessions," that is, all the feelings and fair hopes which my heart once nourished. These belong to the heart, as "purposes" to the understanding; the two together here describe the entire inner man.

My days; the days of my life. I am a lost and dying man, and therefore the hopes you give me of the bettering of my condition are vain and groundless. My purposes; or, my designs , or thoughts, to wit, which I had in my prosperous days, concerning myself and children, and the continuance of my happiness. The thoughts of my heart, Heb. the possessions of my heart , i.e. those thoughts which in a great measure possessed my heart, which were most natural, and familiar, and delightful to me. All my thoughts, and designs, and hopes are disappointed, and come to nothing.

My days are past - "I am about to die." Job relapses again into sadness - as he often does. A sense of his miserable condition comes over him like a cloud, and he feels that he must die. My purposes are broken off - All my plans fail, and my schemes of life come to an end. No matter what they could say now, it was all over with him, and he must die; compare Isaiah 38:12 : "My habitation is taken away, and is removed from me Like a shepherd's tent; My life is cut off as by a weaver Who severeth the web from the loom; Between the morning and the night thou wilt make an end of me." Even the thoughts of my heart - Margin, possessions. Noyes, "treasures." Dr. Good, "resolves." Dr. Stock, "the tenants of my heart." Vulgate, "torquen'es cor meum." Septuagint, τὰ ἄρθρα τῆς καρδίας μου ta arthra tēs kardias mou - the strings of my heart. The Hebrew word (מורשׁ môrâsh) means properly possession (from ירשׁ yârash, to inherit); and the word here means the dear possessions of his heart; his cherished plans and schemes; the delights of his soul - the purposes which he had hoped to accomplish. All these were now to be broken on by death. This is to man one of the most trying things in death. All his plans must be arrested. His projects of ambition and gain, of pleasure and of fame, of professional eminence and of learning, all are arrested midway.

The farmer is compelled to leave his plow in the furrow; the mechanic, his work unfinished; the lawyer, his brief half prepared; the student, his books lying open; the man who is building a palace, leaves it incomplete; and he who is seeking a crown, is taken away when it seemed just within his grasp. How many unfinished plans are caused by death every day! How many unfinished books, sermons, houses, does it make! How many schemes of wickedness and of benevolence, of fraud and of kindness, of gain and of mercy, are daily broken in upon by death! Soon, reader, all your plans and mine will be ended - mine, perhaps, before these lines meet your eye; yours soon afterward. God grant that our purposes of life may be such that we shall be willing to have them broken in upon - all so subordinate to the GREAT PLAN of being prepared for heaven, that we may cheerfully surrender them at any moment, at the call of the Master summoning us into his awful presence!