The Pulpit Commentary on Job 3:21

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Which long for death, but it cometh not; literally, which wait for death' anxiously and longingly (comp. Psalms 33:20). And dig for it more than for hid treasures; i.e. "seek it more earnestly than even they seek who dig for hid treasures."

As Professor Lee remarks, "From the great instability of all Eastern governments, treasures were in Eastern countries often hid away". And hence treasure-seeking became a profession, which was pursued with avidity by a large number of persons.

Even at the present day Orientals are so possessed with the idea, that they imagine every European, who is eager to unearth antiquities, must be seeking for buried treasure.

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