A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
Read Chapter 10
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
Someone could think that Job’s statement comes from desperation, but that is proven wrong by what God has said: “Do you believe I treated you like this for any other reason than to reveal your righteousness?” Job, who previously had said, “If I am wicked, woe to me,” does not contradict this assumption but reveals the bitterness of life. An evil person would not do that, for he rejoices in this [life]. Above all, Job wants to reveal to his friends the reason why he did not die at the moment of his birth, namely, because he was to be an example of energy and strength. According to a different interpretation, even the life in the flesh is indicated, about which Paul writes, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Job experiences the pleasant as well as the bitter sides of life; no one who has rid himself of the flesh rejoices in wealth or excess, nor is he plagued by hardship. Job has tasted this life and its pleasures, for he was blessed ...
Horror. At death all distinction of ranks is at an end. (Tirinus)
Hebrew, "where the light is as darkness. "(Protestants) Septuagint, "To the land of eternal darkness, where there is no sound, nor life of mortals to see. "(Haydock)
96. ‘Misery’ has relation to pain, ‘darkness’ relates to blindness. That land then which holds all those that are banished the presence of the strict Judge, is entitled ‘a land of misery and darkness,’ for pain without torments those, whom blindness darkens within, severed from the true Light. Not but that ‘the land of misery and darkness’ may be understood in another sense also. For this land too, in which we are born, is indeed ‘a land of misery,’ but not ‘of darkness,’ in that we here suffer the many ills of our corrupt condition, yet whilst we are in it, we are still brought back to the light through the grace of conversion; as Truth counsels us, Who saith, Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. [John 12, 35] But that land is ‘a land of misery and darkness’ together, for everyone, that has gone down to suffer the woes thereof, never any further returns to the light; for the describing of which same it is further added,
Where is the shadow of death, without...
In order to avoid scandalizing many who see his life end in affliction and sadness, it is not without reason that the righteous man asks for the termination of his ordeals. That is why [Job] said, “Before I go, never to return,” evidently, to his human life, as if to say “In fact, if I return down here and receive here the reward of my toils, I will not be worn out and will not renounce the fight to the death in my ordeals. Those who are here, knowing my justice, will see that I receive my reward by coming back here. But if they see me die now in my ordeals, they will either think that Job is wicked or will believe that nothing useful comes from justice.” - "Homilies on Job 13.10.20b–22"
