What is the meaning of Job 19:17? My breath is repulsive to my wife • Job’s disease had ravaged him so severely that even the simple act of breathing produced an odor that drove away the one person who should have been closest to him. Job 7:5 notes, “My flesh is clothed with worms and crusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering,” describing the outward decay that would naturally bring such a stench. • The pain this caused was not merely physical; it struck at the heart of his marriage. In Job 2:9 his wife had already urged him to “curse God and die,” and now her revulsion underscores how completely Job’s suffering had invaded their relationship. • Psalm 38:5–11 echoes this experience: “My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness… my loved ones and friends stand aloof from my plague.” Scripture consistently affirms the reality that extreme affliction can alienate even our closest companions. • Yet Job never curses God (Job 1:22). His complaint is not rebellion but an honest lament that recognizes the depth of human frailty while still clinging to divine sovereignty. and I am loathsome to my own family • The phrase points beyond his wife to his wider household—servants, relatives, even remaining community members—who now recoil from him. Job 19:14 observes, “My relatives have gone away; my close friends have forgotten me.” • Social rejection adds a crushing emotional burden to his physical pain. Psalm 69:8 mirrors this: “I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.” • Isaiah 53:3 foreshadows another righteous sufferer, “despised and rejected by men,” reminding us that Job’s isolation anticipates the ultimate innocent Sufferer, Christ Himself. • Job’s friends still sit with him, but their counsel wounds more than it heals (Job 16:2). In being “loathsome,” Job experiences a foretaste of the Savior’s rejection, reinforcing that righteousness does not guarantee human approval. • The verse underscores humanity’s propensity to withdraw from what it cannot explain or fix, challenging believers to offer compassion rather than distance when faced with another’s affliction (Galatians 6:2). summary Job 19:17 captures the double edge of suffering: it devastates both body and relationships. His foul breath alienates his wife; his diseased appearance repels his broader family. Scripture presents these details not as exaggeration but as literal truth, emphasizing the extremity of Job’s trial. Yet even in abandonment, Job’s integrity stands. He models honest lament without surrendering faith, ultimately pointing to the greater Innocent who would be scorned so that all who believe might be received. |
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