Job 3:19

"There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster."

Key Reflection

In Job 3:19, the speaker contrasts the condition of prisoners with their freedom from labor and oppression. The original audience would have understood that in first-century Palestine, prisoners typically labored under harsh conditions, enduring the commands and often cruel treatment of overseers. In contrast, being among prisoners meant a temporary reprieve from such tyranny, offering a momentary ease and silence from the oppressive voices of authority figures.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The small and the great are there -The old and the young, the high and the low. Death levels all. It shows no respect to age; it spares none because they are vigorous, young, or beautiful. This sentiment has probably been expressed in various forms in all languages, for all people are made deeply sensible of its truth. The Classic reader will recall the ancient proverb, Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat, And the language of Horace: Aequae lege Necessitas Sortitur insignes et imos. Omne capax movet urna nomen. Tristis unda scilicet omnibus, Quicunque terrae munere vescimur, Enaviganda, sive reges, Sive inopes erimus coloni.

More from Job 3

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