As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
Job 7:2 comes as part of Job's answer to Eliphaz, whose speech had taught not to despise God's chastening, and in that answer Job justifies his complaints. It belongs to the colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. It is the voice of Job as a real man, knowing his own integrity yet not understanding God's dealings with him, though not charging God foolishly. It must be studied as part of the whole book and not taken alone, as part of a trial in which God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever after, bringing comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and blessing to Job.
The waiting in the verse carries intensity, for the servant longs for shade and the hired worker looks for the reward of his labor. It compares the worker's longing for evening shade and wages with the weariness of earthly labor. It illustrates waiting for Christ as more than believing He will come; it is patient, eager expectation, sustained by confidence that the wait will not end in disappointment. Life here is therefore a time for diligent work, in which Christians are to labor faithfully for the Lord now and look forward to rest in heaven.
Job 7:2 comes as part of Job's answer to Eliphaz, whose speech had taught not to despise God's chastening, and in that answer Job justifies his complaints. It belongs to the colloquies between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 on the cause and object of human suffering. It is the voice of Job as a real man, knowing his own integrity yet not understanding God's dealings with him, though not charging God foolishly. It must be studied as part of the whole book and not taken alone, as part of a trial in which God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever after, bringing comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones and blessing to Job.
The waiting in the verse carries intensity, for the servant longs for shade and the hired worker looks for the reward of his labor. It compares the worker's longing for evening shade and wages with the weariness of earthly labor. It illustrates waiting for Christ as more than believing He will come; it is patient, eager expectation, sustained by confidence that the wait will not end in disappointment. Life here is therefore a time for diligent work, in which Christians are to labor faithfully for the Lord now and look forward to rest in heaven.