Job 10:21-22

21 Before I go [yalak] whence I shall not return [shuwb], even to the land ['erets] of darkness [choshek] and the shadow of death [tsalmaveth];

22 A land ['erets] of darkness [`eyphah], as darkness ['ophel] itself; and of the shadow of death [tsalmaveth], without any order [ceder], and where the light [yapha`] is as darkness ['ophel]. KJV-Interlinear

21 Before I go and I shall not return To the land of darkness and deep shadow; 22 The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness.' NASB

Understand Jobs embarrassment. First he has been an honorable person all of his life. He knows it and God has told us so from the beginning of this book.

Job has been a successful person. He has been a prosperous person. He has been a wealthy person. Job has been a noted person within his community.

And now this. All of the hardship he has been made to face, not only himself, but with the gawking judging eyes of others.

He wishes for death to come swiftly such that he can then hide within its darkness, so to speak.

We have all been in a schoolroom, sitting in the back, and looking downward hoping that the teacher won't see us. If not seen, then we won't be asked any questions. Children move to the outer perimeter of the playground, so others won't seen them and then they won't have to participate and become embarrassed. A child gets new glasses and hates them. Why? Because others will look at them and laugh or talk in whisperers.

And so Job hopes for a quick death, because in death he will have peace and seclusion from the prying eyes of people, not to mention relief from the suffering he is enduring at the moment.

Is death, darkness per se? No. From within death, at least for those who are saved, there was Paradise, back in Jobs day, and in our current dispensation, we stand before the radiance of the Lord.

But as for those who remain alive in this world, death is a realm they cannot peer into. It is a darkness, and separation between this reality and the next.

From death there is no return. Into death, there is no window of access through which we may peek and see its nature.

Darkness, a great gulf deep, separates this life from the next.

Those, who would be seers, sorcerers, peerers into the land of the dead, are all frauds.

Death has no discernable order, no hierarchy, no classes of people. Death cares nothing for ones wealth, color, or status in this world. Death treats the wealthy exactly as it does the poor. In death, all peoples lay on an equal playing field. The tombs, the caskets, the ornamental mausoleums do nothing for their occupants.

Better in life, as the world defines life, does not make you better off in death. In death, the body decays. It feels no more pain, it endures no more embarrassment, it has nothing more to do with this life.

As for life after death, Job knows full well that he would be going to a much better place, but as for his physical body, which is the source of all of his current pain and misery, the end will be a permanent separation from all the bad that has been thrown onto him.

He will be able to hide both body, soul and spirit from the prying eyes of this world.

In death, the body will disintegrate into dust and no longer be distinguishable as a functioning person, permanently separated from the burdens and trials, and frustrations, and embarrassments of life.

In death, for the believer, the soul and the spirit will be in heaven, and likewise separated from this world, no longer subject to its hardships and limitations.

Now is the time to post a prayer.