What is the meaning of Job 3:10? For that night “ For that night ” (Job 3:10) points back to the night of Job’s conception mentioned in verse 3. Job wishes that specific moment in time had simply never happened. • Job 3:3 shows him cursing both the day of his birth and the night of conception. • Jeremiah 20:14–16 echoes the same cry as Jeremiah laments the day he was born. • Psalm 51:5 reminds us that life begins in the womb, underscoring Job’s conviction that the night life began for him could, in God’s sovereignty, have been withheld. did not shut the doors of the womb Job grieves that the “doors of the womb” were left open, allowing his birth. • Genesis 30:22 records God opening Rachel’s womb, showing that only the Lord controls conception; Job implicitly recognizes that by wishing the womb had been closed. • Job 10:18–19 repeats this longing: “Why then did You bring me from the womb?” • Ecclesiastes 6:3–5 argues that a stillborn child is better off than a life filled with misery. Job’s complaint fits that reasoning. • Isaiah 66:9 speaks of God not shutting the womb before delivery, confirming His ultimate authority over life’s beginning. to hide the sorrow Had the womb remained closed, sorrow would have been “hidden.” Job believes non-existence would have spared him all present grief. • Job 14:13 pleads, “Hide me in Sheol… until Your wrath has passed.” • Job 3:24 notes that his “groans pour out like water,” revealing the depth of sorrow he wants hidden. • Psalm 13:2 asks, “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?”—the same anguish Job feels. from my eyes Job’s eyes have witnessed the loss of children, health, and wealth; he wishes they had never opened to such pain. • Psalm 6:7 says, “My eyes waste away because of grief,” mirroring Job’s lament. • Lamentations 3:48 records, “Streams of tears flow from my eyes,” another portrait of overwhelming sorrow. • Job 7:7-8 stresses the brevity of life and the misery his eyes now see, reinforcing his longing for earlier oblivion. summary Job 3:10 captures a heart shattered by suffering. He looks back to the very night of his conception and laments that it was allowed at all. Because the womb opened, he now sees sorrow; had it remained shut, his eyes would never have beheld such grief. Job’s words do not deny God’s sovereignty—quite the opposite. They show a man so convinced of God’s control that he wishes the Lord had intervened earlier to spare him pain. In raw honesty, Job voices what many feel in deep affliction, yet even this cry is directed toward the God who alone opens and closes the womb and ultimately brings redemption out of sorrow. |
    |