איוב, פרק ג׳, פסוק י״ב

Job’s deep sorrow traces the very first moments of his life, questioning the natural acts of care and protection that ensured his survival. After wishing he had simply died in the womb, he grieves the fact that he was safely received into the world rather than ignored. He wonders why there were knees waiting to catch and support him as he was born [מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Commentators offer different perspectives on who was waiting to hold him. Some suggest these were the knees of his mother [רש״י], while others propose they belonged to the attending midwives [מצודת דוד] or his father [מלבי״ם]. The primary approach among commentators is that Job is expressing a tragic wish: he would have preferred to be left to fall bare onto the dirt. Had he been abandoned on the ground rather than caught and cradled, he would have died immediately upon birth [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם, תקות אנוש].

The lament then moves to the next natural stage of human development: feeding [תקות אנוש]. Speaking from the perspective of a newborn anticipating its first meal [רש״י], Job questions why he was given nourishment at all [אבן עזרא, מצודת ציון]. He argues that even if he had survived the initial fall and been gathered onto someone's lap, it would have been better if he had been denied milk and left to starve [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם].

Beyond the physical actions of his caregivers, Job directs his frustration toward God. He questions why God would go through the trouble of performing the biological wonder of transforming a mother's blood into milk. He wonders why God would provide such perfect, appealing nourishment to sustain a person whose life would ultimately be filled with suffering, and whose hard work would yield no benefit [אלשיך].