Chapter 17 is not truly a new topic, but rather a direct continuation of Job's argument from the end of the previous chapter. There Job said, "A few years will come" - my years are spent, no good years remain; "and I will walk a path from which I shall not return" - I walk a road of no return. From here Job continues to attack the fundamental premise of his companions: I have no proof that the soul survives after death, nor do I have proof that there is reward after death.
רוּחִי חֻבָּלָה יָמַי נִזְעָכוּ קְבָרִים לִי׃ - My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, graves await me.
Eliphaz argues to Job: It is true that this worldly life ends in torment and suffering, but "my spirit is pledged" - from the term lo tachvol (do not take a pledge), meaning collateral. The spirit within man is like a pledge deposited with him, and when time runs out, the pledge returns to its Owner: the spirit returns to God Who gave it, and then reward is received.
To this Job replies: "My days are extinguished, graves await me." Niz'achu means extinguished (nida'achu). Human life is limited, and the allotted days are the entirety of his existence, with nothing beyond; there is no continuation and no life after death. Every day that passes is another day buried - time itself is burying me. If so, how can you promise me that good still awaits me, and that I will receive reward for all these afflictions?
אִם־לֹא הֲתֻלִים עִמָּדִי וּבְהַמְּרוֹתָם תָּלַן עֵינִי׃ - Surely mockery is with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.
Of those extinguished days that I described as graves for me, no trace of good remains, but only "mockery is with me": time mocks me, and the misfortune of time is all that is left to me. The afflictions I endured are what remain with me, and no good will come in their stead.
"And my eye dwells upon their provocation" - as time passes and shifts, all that will remain for me is the pain. The evil inflicted upon me in the past still exists in reality and stands before my eyes. Such is the way of a person who has endured affliction: long afterward, he still remembers the bitterness, the distress, and the suffering. Time has passed - yet the evil remains. If so, how can you say "my spirit is pledged," as if man's existence here is merely temporary, a pledge, and afterward he will receive reward? There will be no reward, and all that remains is the memory of the afflictions I suffered in this world.
שִׂימָה־נָּא עׇרְבֵנִי עִמָּךְ מִי הוּא לְיָדִי יִתָּקֵעַ׃ - Lay down a pledge now, be my guarantor with Yourself; who else will strike hands with me?
Iyov says: I demand a guarantee for that pledge that you claim will return to its owner. Do you have proof? In modern terms: are you willing to bet on this? You claim there is survival of the soul - I am willing to wager; are you willing to stand behind your words and prove them?
"Who is he that will strike hands with me?" - when people would sign a guarantee, they would shake hands on it (strike a palm). Who is willing to shake hands with me on this? Who has such absolute certainty that he would be willing to swear and bring proof that the spirit endures after death? Who is willing to enter into this guarantee? His intention is: Eliphaz, you make claims against me for which you have no proof whatsoever. The survival of the soul is something that cannot be proven - this is Iyov's contention.
כִּי־לִבָּם צָפַנְתָּ מִשָּׂכֶל עַל־כֵּן לֹא תְרֹמֵם׃ - For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
The heart of mankind is concealed from intellectually comprehending the survival of the soul after the body. When one attempts to grasp this through human intellect - behold, you see the flesh descend into the grave and decay, yet people tell you that the person still exists. What exists? Where does he exist? Who is the person? He is flesh, and that flesh rots in the grave. "He has a soul" - and who sees this soul? This is Iyov's claim: from a rational, intellectual standpoint, this cannot be proven. Man has no intellectual grasp of a spiritual entity such as his soul, nor can he understand how after death a person is essentially his soul and continues to exist.
Our tool for evaluating anything is experience. If one wants to describe the taste of tea, he relies on what is already familiar: the taste of water, sweetened water, water with fruit syrup - and thus one achieves some grasp. But if there is not even a familiar starting point, where can one begin? It is like explaining to someone blind from birth what the color white is. Sweet? Flat? Wavy? He has no frame of reference. One needs foundations, and upon foundations a second story is built; without an introduction and without foundations, nothing can be understood. In spiritual matters, we have no foundations at all. That is why it is said of the World to Come, "No eye has seen, O God, beside You, what You will do for him who waits for You" - even a prophet could not grasp this in his prophecy. It is something so spiritual that we have no entry point and no premises from which to begin understanding it, and consequently we have no comprehension of it.
In our times, we already have more than mere theoretical knowledge: seances, people who recall past reincarnations, near-death experiences, and more, all of which serve as evidence. But were it not for all this, if someone were to come and tell us, "The soul survives after death" - we would have had nothing to grasp onto.
Dr. Raymond Moody, one of the pioneers in near-death research, wrote a book titled "Life After Life," presenting a comprehensive study of hundreds of people. This was research from forty or fifty years ago; today, research encompasses millions of people who have undergone near-death experiences, and they all recount essentially the same thing. He asked them: Did you have a body? They all answered that they had a body. He asked: Was it an actual body of flesh? They all answered that it was not flesh. One said it was like a cloud, another like a soap bubble; each gave a different description of something spiritual. And one person gave what is perhaps the most precise description: "I cannot describe it to you, because it is unlike anything you know." This is the accurate definition - when one has no point of reference and no foundations, it is impossible to explain further.
This is Iyov's contention: our intellect can grasp physical things, for which we have a point of reference - we have seen, tasted, or touched them. But something to which we have no point of reference, we cannot understand. "Therefore You will not exalt them" - hence, the spirit is not exalted in the eyes of people; they do not recognize its eternal stature and its survival after death.
לְחֵלֶק יַגִּיד רֵעִים וְעֵינֵי בָנָיו תִּכְלֶנָה׃ - He designates a share for friends, and the eyes of his children pine away.
When a person's final hour arrives, at the moment he prepares to depart this world, he does not think at all about the spiritual life awaiting him, nor does he contemplate the survival of the soul. What does he think about? "He designates a share for friends" - he prepares to divide his property and possessions, stipulating in his will that his friends and loved ones should receive a portion of the estate and inheritance. "And the eyes of his children pine away" - and if he has sons, their eyes pine away, eagerly awaiting their father's passing so they may inherit his wealth.
And no one stops to think that their father is merely moving house. If that is so, make sure that his villa over there is well renovated - do things for the elevation of his soul! But what do people occupy themselves with? Which lawyers to hire, how to divide the inheritance, how much I am entitled to and how much I am not. There is no one who considers that the deceased is now heading toward a different reality, a new reality, and that the soul never perishes.
וְהִצִּיגַנִי לִמְשֹׁל עַמִּים וְתֹפֶת לְפָנִים אֶהְיֶה׃ - "He has made me a byword among peoples, and I have become a Topheth before them."
After all the hope you promise me - that my spirit is broken, that we are temporary here and there is eternal life after death where I will receive reward in the World of Truth - and I have already told you that I have no guarantee of this and no proof, and most of the world does not grasp this or live by it either, what is the reality on the ground? "He has made me a byword among peoples" - the afflictions the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon me have become a proverb in the mouths of nations. When people wish to curse someone, they say: "May you suffer afflictions like those of Iyov!" When they want to give an extreme example, they cite me.
"And I have become a Topheth before them" - you tell me that the wicked will receive their punishment after death, that they will have Gehenna and Topheth there; yet I am already receiving this right now. I am experiencing Topheth during my lifetime, without even needing to reach the Gehenna of the afterlife.
וַתֵּכַהּ מִכַּעַשׂ עֵינִי וִיצֻרַי כַּצֵּל כֻּלָּם׃ - "My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my limbs are like a shadow."
The anguish and anger I feel over this is so intense that it dims my eyes from seeing - just as people say of someone whose vision is blinded by fury. "And all my limbs are like a shadow" - my formed parts, meaning the body I was formed with, my limbs, are all now like a shadow. When people want to describe someone in utterly dire straits, they say he is a walking shadow. So it is with me: I am no longer a man; I am merely the shadow of a man.
יָשֹׁמּוּ יְשָׁרִים עַל־זֹאת וְנָקִי עַל־חָנֵף יִתְעֹרָר׃ - "Upright men will be astonished at this, and the innocent will stir himself up against the hypocrite."
The "upright" are decent people who do not judge me unfavorably and do not seek reasons why I might be wicked or why I deserve this. They will "be astonished at this" - they will wonder at Hashem's conduct, questioning why the Holy One, blessed be He, afflicts me without cause.
Whereas "and the innocent will stir himself up against the hypocrite" - those who do not judge me favorably, but rather take my afflictions as proof that I am wicked, will be aroused by this against the hypocrite. A "hypocrite" (chaneif) refers to someone whose righteousness toward the Creator was merely flattery, external posturing, rather than genuine piety. In other words, from now on I will serve as the prime example cited by preachers and moralists: "Beware, gentlemen! Do not act hypocritically like Iyov; do not be flatterers like Iyov, who served Hashem only outwardly - look at what became of him!" These are not the righteous who judge me favorably, but those seeking fault, and they will stir up the hypocrites, saying to them: "Turn away from your evil path; look at a hypocrite like Iyov and see what became of him!"
וְיֹאחֵז צַדִּיק דַּרְכּוֹ וּטְהׇר־יָדַיִם יֹסִיף אֹמֶץ׃ - "Yet the righteous man will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger."
The righteous person will see the suffering I endure and take a moral lesson from it to hold to his way and reinforce himself in his path of righteousness. For he will think to himself: Why was Iyov afflicted? Because of sins he committed, and because his service of Hashem was not unblemished and complete. If so, seeing what Iyov received, he will be encouraged to strengthen himself even further in the service of Hashem so that he will not be stricken as he was.
"And he who has clean hands will grow stronger" - one who has not reached the level of a tzaddik, but merely possesses "clean hands," will add strength and courage in the service of Hashem. For he will think in his heart: Iyov was afflicted because he did not serve Hashem with courage and vigor; he did not serve Him with all his might. And if Iyov received such afflictions for failing to serve with complete perfection, one must become even stronger so as not to suffer as he did.
וְאוּלָם כֻּלָּם תָּשֻׁבוּ וּבֹאוּ נָא וְלֹא־אֶמְצָא בָכֶם חָכָם׃ - "But as for all of you, return and come now, and I will not find a wise man among you."
But I say to all of you - both the upright who judge me favorably, and the pure, the righteous, and the clean-handed who judge me unfavorably - all of you, turn back and reconsider the matter, and come debate with me, for I still have more to say. You judged me unjustly, you condemned me, and this is not the truth; I have the ability to prove my claims to you. And when I state my case - "I will not find a wise man among you": I will prove to you that none of your words were spoken with wisdom, and none of your arguments were stated with justice and integrity.
יָמַי עָבְרוּ זִמֹּתַי נִתְּקוּ מוֹרָשֵׁי לְבָבִי׃ - "My days have passed, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart."
The days of my life have passed and gone. "My plans are broken off" - my thoughts have been severed, and so too have the deep yearnings of my heart: all my plans, all my thoughts, and all my hopes have already been brought to naught.
לַיְלָה לְיוֹם יָשִׂימוּ אוֹר קָרוֹב מִפְּנֵי־חֹשֶׁךְ׃ - "They turn night into day; light is near in the face of darkness."
How can you say that the darkness of night - which is death - will become day? The grave is darkness, the grave is death, the grave is the end. And you come to tell me that specifically there the true day will begin, and there I will merit to behold the light of life? "Light is near because of darkness" - just as light and day follow the night, so too after the night of death, after the deathbed and the grave, the light of eternal life will shine and I will see light. Iyov says: Could such a thing be possible?
אִם־אֲקַוֶּה שְׁאוֹל בֵּיתִי בַּחֹשֶׁךְ רִפַּדְתִּי יְצוּעָי׃ - If I hope for Sheol as my home, in darkness I have spread my bed.
All my hope is that Sheol will be my home, that the grave will be my dwelling where I abide, and that my couch will be spread in darkness. This is comparable to a person enduring immense troubles, and people come and tell him: Over there you will experience immense goodness. But he replies: Leave it, I have no such hopes; if only you would tell me that there will be no troubles there, that would be enough for me. There is no need for all these promises of boundless good. This is his intent: All I have to hope for is that Sheol will be a home for me, that I will have quiet there from the afflictions I suffer, and even if I spread my couch in darkness - with that, too, I will be content.
לַשַּׁחַת קָרָאתִי אָבִי אָתָּה אִמִּי וַאֲחֹתִי לָרִמָּה׃ - I have called to the pit, "You are my father," and to the worm, "My mother and my sister."
What are you trying to say - that there I am, as it were, born anew, and will become a new creation? That the father who will sire me a second time will be the pit, the decay and rot of the grave that destroys the body, and from this a new reality will be born, and a new Iyov will awaken to suddenly receive reward for all the troubles he endured? Says Iyov: "I have called to the pit, 'You are my father'" - the corruption that destroys the body is also what gives birth to the worm, making it akin to my brother and sister, for we share one father. How can you claim that from a place of worms, decay, death, and rot something new will be born, and from there a new Iyov will emerge to receive reward?
וְאַיֵּה אֵפוֹ תִקְוָתִי וְתִקְוָתִי מִי יְשׁוּרֶנָּה׃ - Where then is my hope? And my hope, who shall see it?
There, Iyov says, I will receive neither hope nor reward, but rather I will return to nonexistence, to absolute nothingness, to total oblivion. What hope are you speaking of that will await me afterward? And even if I have some hope in the life of the soul - "and my hope, who shall see it?" Who can see my hope? And he explains:
בַּדֵּי שְׁאֹל תֵּרַדְנָה אִם־יַחַד עַל־עָפָר נָחַת׃ - The bars of Sheol shall descend, when together we go down into the dust.
The *badim* are the doors of Sheol, and they will descend and seal the grave over me. "When together we go down into the dust" - at the time I descend into the grave (from the root denoting descent and landing), the doors will descend and shut over the grave, and then no person can see what takes place there. And even if I were to live the life of the soul eternally, no person in this world would know of it.
And if you say: What does it matter that people do not know, since in the end you receive good? Iyov replies: And what about the outcry of human beings here in this world, who weep over the lack of justice and complain that there was a righteous man among them who died in agony and affliction without reward? Even according to your view, Elifaz, and the view of all my companions, that there is reward in the life of the World to Come - who sees it? The gates close upon me after I descend to the grave, going down into the dust. People here in this world see a righteous person suffering as though he were a sinner, and a righteous man receiving his judgment like a wicked man. If so, justice here is still flawed, for even if justice is done - it is not visible. Therefore, Iyov says, this is not governance guided by wisdom; and you come to justify Hashem's governance? This is what he meant when he said, "and I shall not find a wise man among you" - such governance is not guided by wisdom, justice, and uprightness.
Later on, we will see that the companions offer him an answer, but what must be understood is that the Holy One, Blessed be He, fashioned reality in this way for this very purpose. Iyov is mistaken in his assumption that there is no reward - there certainly is reward; but his argument as to why Hashem does not openly display justice has substance, and the answer to it is simple: Had the Holy One, Blessed be He, revealed justice to all, there would be no free will, and all of us would be compelled to serve Hashem.
When I see that the same fate seems to befall the righteous and the wicked, and yet I serve Hashem because I believe there is reward - that is a trial. But had I seen that everything goes smoothly for the righteous while the wicked stumble at every step, the world would not be divided into righteous and wicked, but into the wise and the foolish, for only a fool would choose the path of wickedness. If the righteous were always the wealthy, the successful, enjoying all the good, while the wicked suffered all the bad - there would be no free will.
Therefore, it is impossible to grant what Iyov demands, that everyone should openly see the wicked punished and the righteous rewarded; for if so, the game would be over, and where would free will be? Hashem wants man to choose through free will, to experience trials and hardship, to struggle and nevertheless fulfill the will of Hashem - and only then receive reward. And why did Iyov not understand this? Because Iyov did not believe in free will: he claimed that man's deeds are compelled, and consequently, from his perspective, such an argument could not even begin.
In this chapter, Iyov continues the line of argument he opened at the end of the previous chapter: his days are extinguished and become his graves, and from all his suffering nothing remains but the memory of pain. He demands a pledge and a handshake to guarantee the immortality of the soul, arguing that man has no intellectual framework to grasp the spiritual, and therefore the soul is not exalted in human eyes - proof being that at the hour of his passing, man is preoccupied with dividing his estate while his children anticipate their inheritance. He cries out that he has become a byword among the nations and that Gehinnom has reached him already in his lifetime, and he challenges his companions to return and debate, for he will prove that they did not speak with wisdom. His sole hope is silence in the grave, and the grand hope they promise him he rejects, since the bars of Sheol close upon him and no one sees the reward. The answer to his outcry is that the very concealment of justice is the foundation of free will - were it not so, the world would not be divided into the righteous and the wicked, but into the wise and the foolish, and Iyov failed to grasp this because he did not believe in free will.