“Why is light given to him who is in misery?” (English Standard Version). After seven days of holy silence (yesterday’s ash-heap still in view), Job finally speaks—and he does not curse God; he curses his day. The Hebrew verb shifts: earlier, “bless” (barak) was used ironically by the Accuser; here, Job “curses” (qillel) his birthdate. His faith is wounded, not abandoned.
Job’s lament is artistry and theology. He calls for “un-creation”: “Let that day be darkness; let not God seek it” (English Standard Version). This deliberately inverts Genesis 1’s “Let there be light.” In 3:8, he invokes those “ready to rouse Leviathan” (liwyatan)—a nod to ancient Near Eastern imagery of the chaos-dragon. In the ancient world, experts could pronounce days “ill-omened”; Job longs to erase his own day from the calendar of creation. Archaeology and texts from Mesopotamia attest to such “days of fate,” giving cultural texture to his wish.
Three times he asks, “Why is light given…?”—a refrain that dignifies honest questions. He imagines Sheol as a great leveling: there “the small and the great are there,” and “the wicked cease from troubling” (English Standard Version). This is not nihilism but protest borne from covenant hope: if God orders the world, why does suffering feel so disordering?
Gregory the Great read Job’s anguish as God’s schooling of the righteous; Augustine warns against despair yet allows groaning; Luther and Calvin commend Job’s raw speech as the grammar of a cross-shaped faith. Scripture agrees: Jeremiah 20 echoes Job’s birth-curse; Psalm 88 leaves the amen unspoken; the Man of Sorrows cries Psalm 22 at noon-darkness. Lament is not a lapse in faith—it is faith refusing to lie.
Suggested cross-references: - Genesis 1; Jeremiah 20:14–18; Psalm 88; Psalm 22 - Isaiah 27:1 (Leviathan); Romans 8:22–26; Hebrews 4:15
Hymn for meditation: “Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul” (Anne Steele).
Prayer: Lord of light who entered our darkness, receive our unvarnished words. Teach us to grieve without guile, to ask “Why?” without walking away. Order our chaos, restrain the dragon, and grant rest to the weary. Through Jesus Christ, who cried and trusted. Amen.