Esther 6
Job 6 is Job’s first response. In it, he candidly pours out the depth of his suffering and torment regarding the advice and comfort his friend Eliphaz has offered. Job describes his affliction as something beyond imagination, and challenges his friend’s logic that links everything through a simple cause-and-effect idea. The whole chapter proceeds by laying bare, as they are, Job’s anguish, his friends’ inadequate comfort, his desperate state of mind before God, and human weakness.
1verseOn that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.
2verseIt was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.
3verseThe king said, “What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4verseThe king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5verseThe king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.” The king said, “Let him come in.”
6verseSo Haman came in. The king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman said in his heart, “Who would the king delight to honor more than myself?”
7verseHaman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
8verselet royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a royal crown is set.
9verseLet the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”
10verseThen the king said to Haman, “Hurry and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.”
11verseThen Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”
12verseMordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.
13verseHaman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”
14verseWhile they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Structure of the Passage
- Verses 1-7: Job speaks about how great and heavy his suffering is, using comparisons. He says that his troubles are heavier than the sand of the sea, and asks that his words not be taken lightly.
- Verses 8-13: Job expresses that, because his situation is so unbearable, he even wishes that God would crush him. He also describes how human beings are limited in the face of his suffering.
- Verses 14-23: Job points out that the comfort from his friends is cold and unhelpful, contrary to expectations. He reveals his expectation that, in a difficult time, he wanted to receive sincere comfort from his friends.
- Verses 24-30: Job challenges his friends to reveal his wrongdoing accurately. He pleads his innocence, and points out that his friends’ judgment of him is careless.
Overall Meaning
Job 6 confronts the meaning of suffering and the limits of human understanding. The friends interpret Job’s affliction in a straightforward way, but Job honestly vents the pain and unfairness within his own heart. Through this, it leads one to reflect on, as life’s core, the importance of a “heart that aches together” and “careful words” in the face of suffering. In addition, Job’s confession clearly shows human weakness and the instinctive longing to be understood.
Points to Reflect On
- Consider the importance of listening to the words of the one who is suffering and of attentively hearing the weight of what they say.
- Rather than looking at things with a simple cause-and-effect perspective, reflect on whether an effort is needed to empathize with the heart and circumstances of the one who is suffering.
- When I offer comfort to someone, what about my manner and attitude—how do they compare to what they should be? Reflect on that.
Apply It to Yourself
- When I am in a difficult situation, I reflect on whether I have the courage to express my feelings honestly too.
- When I encounter someone nearby who is suffering, I pray that I can, like Job’s friends, not judge them, but instead have a heart that aches together with them and listens to them.
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