Then should I still have comfort; yea, I would exult myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
All Commentaries on Job 6:10 Go To Job 6
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
He who asks to be wounded does not pray out of exhaustion that his prayer might be granted but in order to fulfill his task. This task was to fulfill the right deeds or to make visible to the friends for their benefit the reason for the hardships, [namely,] that they had been imposed as a test. Then they would not make mistakes against the righteous. Instead, with divine zeal they would be committed to emulate the endurance and steadfastness that the holy one exhibited and that led him to say, “O that I might have my request,” rather than … “that God would grant my desire.” Job prays for two reasons. On the one hand, he prays that he himself may win the crown in the competition. On the other hand, Job prays that his friends may not consider his endurance in hardship as meaningless. His steadfastness even in such great hardships can be seen and admired in the fact that Job did not deny his friend an answer, even though preoccupation with his hardships could have served as an excuse. But even now Job speaks like a brave athlete who warlike meets his opponent, and with the consciousness that the imposed suffering did not occur without God’s compliance. “That it would please God to crush me,” yet “may he not extinguish me entirely,” instead of, “May God mercifully allow me to endure the affliction until the end.” Similar to this is the expression “and lead us not into temptation,” which often has been interpreted in this way: “May it not come so far that we fall prey to the temptations.”
