Job 3:16

16 Or as an hidden [taman] untimely birth [nephel] I had not been; as infants [`owlel] which never saw [ra'ah] light ['owr]. KJV-Interlinear

16 'Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light. NASB

Job is so miserable that he has wished that his day of birth had never existed. He has wished that the night of his conception had never occurred. That even the intimate activities of his parents had failed.

Job has wished that even though he was conceived, then he would have been better off, and certainly no worse off, than even kings and princes, if he had at least died immediately after being born. Anything to escape the tormenting misery that he now has.

But none of these were the case. So Job now turns to the possibility that he could have never come into existence, in two possible ways. Both are to have had his mothers' pregnancy end in miscarriage.

The first would have been in the early stages of pregnancy, when perhaps the mother never even knew that she was pregnant. A miscarriage could have occurred and Job, who would not even have had a name yet, would have been discharged in the normal course of female cycling.

And the second possibility, would have been a fetus that would have formed virtually all of its physical self in the womb, but was miscarried never having seen the light of day, never coming to life.

In the first case, no one would have ever known of his possible existence. A discharge is a discharge and often times even the female is not aware that she had conceived for a brief time.

In the second case, the pregnancy is obvious, and certainly the mother would have been making preparations for her new child. But, somethings in life can occur, such as an accident, or violence, a fall, or even the natural course of pregnancies destined to fail. In which case, the normal birth does not occur, and the fetus is simply rejected by the mothers' body.

The fetus, while inside the mothers womb, is attached through the umbilical cord, and through that cord, receives its life support from the mother. When that connection is separated, then the fetus must have a replacement life support mechanism, otherwise it will fail. That replacement life support is the imputing of a soul with its resident human life, into the fetus, or newborn infant. The obvious evidence of this transition is the first breath of life, which the infant takes.

When a blob of cells are but days or even weeks old, and is detached from the mother and is discharged, it has no viable body to receive a soul. It is discharged with all other human waste material and buried or disposed of, as garbage.

When a near full term fetus is forced by whatever means, out of the mother, in a miscarriage process, it may have the viability of human life, but in this Gods will is sovereign. With no soul imputed, the fetus is said to be still born, and is buried, never having seen the light of day, neither having seen the light of life.

In our previous study, Job compared being born into life and dying immediately, to the death state of kings.

Job is going to make another comparison of being miscarried, or never having come into existence, to those who are destined to the Lake of Fire. But more on that comparison tomorrow.

Psa. 58:8

8 Let them be as a snail, which melts away as it goes along, Like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun. NASB

Eccl. 6:3-4

3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, 'Better the miscarriage than he, 4 for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. NASB

In a miscarriage, whether early or late in the pregnancy, the infant never comes into existence. No soul, no life, no existence. It is as though he or she had never existed.

With no existence, then obviously there is no possibility of pain and suffering. But of course, there is no possibility of blessing or happiness either.

Job in his suffering and in his wishing for alternative courses of history, is also providing us with an education in the facts of life.

God creates all life. God is the source of all life. What God has given to humanity is the reproductive mechanism of perpetuating biological life, but man never ever creates human life. Only God can do that.

As for those folks who receive that gift of life, and then squander it by refusing to believe in Christ, then they would have been far better off to have never come into existence, since their destiny will be the Lake of Fire, the most horrible and terror filled future that anyone can imagine.

Job wishes his misery to go away. Job wishes his misery and suffering to have never occurred. But Job never wishes the Lake of Fire onto himself. Jobs situation and anything bad that you can imagine in this life, are nothing when compared to the Lake of Fire.

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