Job 21:1–34 Job's Reply

 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me that I may speak,

And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

⁴“As for me, is my complaint against man?

And if it were, why should I not be impatient?

⁵Look at me and be astonished;

Put your hand over your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am terrified,

And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

⁷Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without failure;

Their cow calves without miscarriage.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp,

And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

How often does their destruction come upon them,

The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

¹⁸They are like straw before the wind,

And like chaff that a storm carries away.

¹⁹They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;

Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut in half?

²²“Can anyone teach God knowledge,

Since He judges those on high?

²³One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and secure;

²⁴His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,

Never having eaten with pleasure.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

And worms cover them.

²⁷“Look, I know your thoughts,

And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent,

The dwelling place of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the road?

And do you not know their signs?

³⁰For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;

They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

³¹Who condemns his way to his face?

And who repays him for what he has done?

³²Yet he shall be brought to the grave,

And a vigil kept over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;

Everyone shall follow him,

As countless have gone before him.

³⁴How then can you comfort me with empty words,

Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your consolation.

³Bear with me that I may speak,

And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

Having once again patiently listen to his friends discourses against him, Job now asks for their attentive ears, before they start mocking him again with their speeches that are supposed to be representing God’s justice against the wicked, when in fact all they are doing is using them to condemn him.

Vs. 4 “As for me, is my complaint against man?

And if it were, why should I not be impatient?”

Even so, Job now declares that his complaint is not against them, but rather God who has allowed such things to happen to Him. Therefore, he asks them why should he not be impatient? Since all of their discourses have been declaring the immediate vindication of the righteous and the sudden destruction and ruin of the wicked, and yet with Job their is this a glaring lack of clarity in their answers as to why?

Vs. 5-6 ⁵Look at me and be astonished;

Put your hand over your mouth.

⁶Even when I remember I am terrified,

And trembling takes hold of my flesh.

Job now tells them to place their eyes closely on him and be astonished at him, (for if this can happen to a righteous and just person such as himself), they should all then consider themselves vulnerable as well, and thus not be so embolden to speak against him. For when Job remembers his sudden downfall, he is terrified and trembling takes hold of his flesh.

Vs. 7-16 ⁷Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?

⁸Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull breeds without failure;

Their cow calves without miscarriage.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock,

And their children dance.

¹²They sing to the tambourine and harp,

And rejoice to the sound of the flute.

¹³They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job now asks the questions which they themselves refuse to do so. This then begins Job's counter reply to all that his friends have been asserting. Job then begins with the universal question that has been asked by countless others before him, 

“Why do the wicked live and become old,

Yes, become mighty in power?” ^{vs. 7}

The question itself though is not seeking answer as much as it is a rebuke of what his friends have been so strongly asserting; that the righteous always prosper and the wicked always suffer, which simply isn't so. For they have been denying that this is even possible, that righteous could suffer and the wicked prosper, and yet we know that this is a reality in every generation. For the early Christians all knew this, for the Lord Jesus Christ wasn’t Crucified by Just and Righteous men, but by wicked leaders, rulers and judges, of both Jews and Gentiles (of Rome and Israel) who conspired to put Him to death. Same with His Apostles, they didn’t suffer and die at the hands of just men, rather wicked rulers in authority also put them to death. And on it goes down through the centuries, that not only Christians, but righteous people everywhere have always been the targets of the unjust. Indeed in every generation their are righteous people who see wicked men and women prosper; or have to watch them live and become old, yes, become established in power, even while their loved ones perished at their hands. If you need some examples, think of some of this worlds wicked rulers who are ruling today, or past ones who lived out their days in full, although their legacy was only one of oppression and corruption, violence and murder.

“Their descendants are established with them in their sight,

And their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear,

Neither is the rod of God upon them.” ^{Vs. 7-8}

Last night I watched a movie about Rudoff Hess, and when I read these verses this morning it immediately came to mind, how that man made a "career" for himself out of mass murder! How he and his wife built this picture-perfect home with their children, right outside of the walls of Auschwitz! Job’s point here then is well taken, even though Hess was later hanged for his crimes, (thankyou Father for Psalm 37), had the Nazi’s won, he never would’ve even been tried. Today think of the North Korea, Russia, China, Iran etc. or other such states and their leaders who commit crimes against humanity and do heinous things even to their own people and yet prosper. Nonetheless this will only be for a season, for God's Judgment eludes no one. Job then continues his counter point to all that his friends have been asserting, by saying that even prosperity and joy can be found in the wicked persons household just as readily as in the righteous persons home (vs. 10-12). Indeed, unlike what his friends have all been asserting, Job says of the wicked person that:

“They spend their days in wealth,

And in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,

For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?

And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

¹⁶Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me. ^{Vs. 13-16}

Thus, even in their flat-out rejection of God they do not always experience the wrath of God against themselves in this life, as Job’s friends have been asserting that they always do. Job then says that, “the prosperity of the wicked is not in their hands” (vs. 16); which might be a charge against God by Job? Now if it is, it is a very, very, grave error on his part to say such a thing that God prospers them. Job then says that “the counsel of the wicked is far from me” as a kind of sarcastic rebuff of his friends’ counsels, for they had been calling his counsels wicked. And with that Job says that he has not been wicked, nor has he ever received the counsel of the wicked. But as we are seeing, some of his words like in verse sixteen are completely unjustifiable, which Job in his affliction does not yet see.

Vs. 17-22 ¹⁷“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?

How often does their destruction come upon them,

The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

¹⁸They are like straw before the wind,

And like chaff that a storm carries away.

¹⁹They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;

Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

²⁰Let his eyes see his destruction,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what does he care about his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut in half?

Job by means of a question now refutes his friend’s notion that the lives of the wicked are always lived in complete darkness and misery. That by the hand of God they are only continually afflicted, groping about, only going from one misery to the next (vs. 17). Nonetheless in verse eighteen Job sees that they indeed are like straw before the wind and like chaff which the storm carries away, that they’re ways in their prosperity are always temporary (vs. 18). Then in verses 19-21 Job in readdressing Zophar complains that wicked could care less if God serves up His wrath on their children, and so he says why wait till then, serve it up on those who are wicked here and now! “For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half?” ^{vs. 21}

Vs. 22-26 “Can anyone teach God knowledge,

Since He judges those on high?

²³One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and secure;

²⁴His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moist.

²⁵Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,

Never having eaten with pleasure.

²⁶They lie down alike in the dust,

And worms cover them.

Job now regains his composure and he now rightly asserts God’s Absolute Understanding of all things. That no one can instruct Him, since He judges those on high (vs. 22); that is all angelic beings whose lives are not like mortal mans. Job then returns to the injustices he sees play out here on earth, that one man dies in full strength, never afflicted, never visited with disease or poverty (vs. 24); while another dies in bitterness of soul, having never even eaten with pleasure (vs. 25), Even so they both will lie down in dust and the worms will cover them (vs. 26). His point is that their is a lot of ambiguity in this life that we cannot always explain. Unfortunately, Job’s words here are not very hopeful or helpful. Thank God for Gospel!

Vs. 27-34 ²⁷“Look, I know your thoughts,

And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

²⁸For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

And where is the tent,

The dwelling place of the wicked?’

²⁹Have you not asked those who travel the road?

And do you not know their signs?

³⁰For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;

They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

³¹Who condemns his way to his face?

And who repays him for what he has done?

³²Yet he shall be brought to the grave,

And a vigil kept over the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;

Everyone shall follow him,

As countless have gone before him.

³⁴How then can you comfort me with empty words,

Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Job now rebukes his friends for trying to condemn him as a wicked man by heaping up all their judgments against him as such (vs. 27). Then in verse twenty-eight he refutes their notion that the wicked persons home, stature, and standing in society is always ruined (vs. 28). As evidence of this he asks them to ask those who travel on the road, who pass by his well-established dwelling everyday (vs. 29). Nonetheless Job rightly does not see that as being their end, for he rightly sees that, “...the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.” ^{Vs. 30} For there will be a reckoning with God for them, for He will bring justice for everyone they have wronged when He deals with them on the Day of His wrath. Nonetheless Job says here and now who condemns them to their face? As his friends have been doing to him, who down here repays them for what they have done? (vs. 31). Even so Job comforts himself in the knowledge that they shall all be brought to the grave, where a vigil will be kept over their tomb, where even the clods of the valley will be sweet to them, and so they and their ways shall perish, just like the countless others who passed before them (vs. 32-33). In closing his rebuttal here, Job then says that his friends’ counsels, (which he rightly calls empty words), have brought him no comfort, for falsehood still remains in their answers to him (vs. 33).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.

 

 

Job 20:1–29 Zophar's Second Rebuke of Job

 ¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,

Because of the turmoil within me.

³I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,

And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

⁴“Do you not know this of old,

Since man was placed on earth,

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

⁶Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,

And his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;

Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

⁸He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;

Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more,

Nor will his place behold him anymore.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,

And his hands will restore his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

But it will lie down with him in the dust.

¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

And he hides it under his tongue,

¹³Though he spares it and does not forsake it,

But still keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;

It becomes cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches

And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue will slay him.

¹⁷He will not see the streams,

The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹⁸He will restore that for which he labored,

And will not swallow it down;

From the proceeds of business

He will get no enjoyment.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,

He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

²⁰“Because he knows no quietness in his heart,

He will not save anything he desires.

²¹Nothing is left for him to eat;

Therefore his well-being will not last.

²²In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;

Every hand of misery will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach,

God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,

And will rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He will flee from the iron weapon;

A bronze bow will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and comes out of the body;

Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.

Terrors come upon him;

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.

An unfanned fire will consume him;

It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will depart,

And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

²⁹This is the portion from God for a wicked man,

The heritage appointed to him by God.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,

Because of the turmoil within me.

³I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,

And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

Zophar’s turn to speak has now come. And yet all that Job previously said, his beautiful declaration of faith, even his ominous warning, all seems to have fallen on deaf ears. For Zophar opens his discourse with a cool sort of indifference to it all. Saying that Job’s words have only made him anxious (not fearfully anxious, or uneasy, but only anxious to want to speak, and thus correct Job). For just as Eliphaz had said previously that Job had aroused a turmoil within him so that he had to rebuke Job, so Zophar his young protege now picks up on the same justification (vs. 2), to respond to what he says has only been Job reproaching him and his friends. Thus, he is only turning what they have been doing to Job and then charging him with it. And in this Zophar claims to have a "spirit of understanding"; which should bot be considered the Holy Spirit as with Elihu who will speak last; but a "spirit of understanding" which he says now causes him to respond to Job. Thus, unlike Job who said his Redeemer was his defense, Zophar is his own.

Vs. 4-7 ⁴“Do you not know this of old,

Since man was placed on earth,

⁵That the triumphing of the wicked is short,

And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

⁶Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,

And his head reaches to the clouds,

⁷Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;

Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

Zophar thus begins his discourse by implying two things via a question to Job, that he has been wicked and he has been living like a hypocrite. Zophar this is once again only presuming upon Job’s guilt as such, and so he treats Job like such as well, as a man who was once triumphing in his sins, but now is brought down, the arrogant hypocrite who exalted himself to the heavens, but having had his moment in the sun, (i.e. moment of prosperity and popularity), he is now brought down to the ground, who is thus destined to perish like his own refuse and be forgotten forever (vs. 4-7). Zophar then completely denies Job’s previous well known righteous lifestyle, as well as his powerful faith declaration of seeing his Redeemer on earth, and thus having any chance of redemption, something that he should not do.

Vs. 8-11 ⁸He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;

Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more,

Nor will his place behold him anymore.

¹⁰His children will seek the favor of the poor,

And his hands will restore his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

But it will lie down with him in the dust.

Zophar thus continues on with his many colorful metaphors in his condemnation against Job, describing Job’s person and legacy to only end like a bad dream in the night that is soon chased away out of one’s mind and forgotten (vs. 8). Indeed, Zophar says that those who previously saw Job will see him no more, even his own dwelling place will forget him (vs. 9). And with his stature and standing lost, his children will have to seek the favor of the poor, for he will be forced to restore his wealth; which by implication means Zophar is charging Job with getting his wealth by unjust and crooked means (vs. 10). Zophar then says that though the wicked man is strong in his youth, yet his strength will lie down with him in the dust (vs.11), which is true, but is not applicable to Job, and thus in his seeking to sound "wise and understanding|" all Zophar is doing is falsely charging Job with things he has not done. 

Vs. 12-16 ¹²“Though evil is sweet in his mouth,

And he hides it under his tongue,

¹³Though he spares it and does not forsake it,

But still keeps it in his mouth,

¹⁴Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;

It becomes cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He swallows down riches

And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.

¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue will slay him.

Zophar continues his rally against the wicked man, saying the evil that was so sweet in his mouth, which he hid under his tongue; thus all evil and manipulative words he so delighted in speaking against others, will come back to poison him (vs. 12-14). As for his ill begotten riches that he swallowed up like a monster, he says God will cause him to vomit them up again (vs. 15).He then goes onto to say that the wicked man will suck the poison of cobras and that the viper’s tongue will slay him, very colorful metaphors for sure, but none are of God, only of Zophar, for they are all nonsense. 

Vs. 17 He will not see the streams,

The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

Zophar here says that the wicked and or hypocritical man shall never see the prosperity that others so freely enjoy. Now if this were so, why do so many wicked and corrupt people become rich and or live in prosperity, and some for all their lives. 

Vs. 18 “He will restore that for which he labored,

And will not swallow it down;

From the proceeds of business

He will get no enjoyment.”

Again, Zophar refuses to acknowledges this, and instead insists that all that they have labored for will be taken from them, that they will never enjoy the fruits of their labors as others do, and yet I have seen wicked people live on joyfully with their ill-begotten wealth and prosperity, even while oppressing others.

Vs. 19 “For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,

He has violently seized a house which he did not build.”

Zophar now gives his reason for their severe judgement, which is a just judgment for sure, and that is because they have oppressed and forsaken the poor, that they have violently seized a house that they themselves did not build. And though his declaration and defense of the poor and helpless is admirable, his words simply are not true, for the judgment that he will declare in verses 20-29 simply does not always happen to those who do such things, for if it did no one would dare live wickedly or do unjustly in this life.

Vs. 20-29 ²⁰“Because he knows no quietness in his heart,

He will not save anything he desires.

²¹Nothing is left for him to eat;

Therefore his well-being will not last.

²²In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;

Every hand of misery will come against him.

²³When he is about to fill his stomach,

God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,

And will rain it on him while he is eating.

²⁴He will flee from the iron weapon;

A bronze bow will pierce him through.

²⁵It is drawn, and comes out of the body;

Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.

Terrors come upon him;

²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.

An unfanned fire will consume him;

It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house will depart,

And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

²⁹This is the portion from God for a wicked man,

The heritage appointed to him by God.”

So powerful are Zophar’s words here against every wicked oppressor that we would all like to see them be done, nonetheless no matter how moving they are, for all who love and want to see justice done here in the earth, they again simply do not always bear out in this life. For if they did, we would not see wicked men hypocritically delighting themselves in all their lies and schemes by which they prosper themselves, even while destroying the lives of others by their doing so. This world then is not as Zophar here describes it, nor will we see that sort of swift justice done until the Lord Jesus Christ Reigns. For only then will God rule the world with a rod of iron, for then will He strike the wicked down even before they can hatch their wicked schemes. Until then we get to live in world ruled and often run by wicked and hypocritical men and women in power, who know ho to use and manipulate others, who twist the facts to serve their own desires, plans and purposes. And so we live in world where evil and injustice is prevalent and present everywhere, where righteous people are often oppressed and persecuted, and wicked people often prosper and live lives of ease, because God's Word is shunned and shut out of the hearts and lives of men and women. Nonetheless even though the wicked person may prosper for a season in this life there is a Judgment Coming that no wicked or unjust person will ever escape (John 5:24-30), and in that basic principal Zophar is correct. For God is the God of Justice, and by Him Justice, Righteousness, and Truth always prevails.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.

 

 

Job 19:1–29 Job's Poignant Reply to Bildad

 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“How long will you torment my soul,

And break me in pieces with words?

³These ten times you have reproached me;

You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

⁴And if indeed I have erred,

My error remains with me.

⁵If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,

And plead my disgrace against me,

⁶Know then that God has wronged me,

And has surrounded me with His net.

⁷“If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard.

If I cry aloud, there is no justice.

⁸He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;

And He has set darkness in my paths.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory,

And taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He breaks me down on every side,

And I am gone;

My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled His wrath against me,

And He counts me as one of His enemies.

¹²His troops come together

And build up their road against me;

They encamp all around my tent.

¹³“He has removed my brothers far from me,

And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have failed,

And my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,

Count me as a stranger;

I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶I call my servant, but he gives no answer;

I beg him with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife,

And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

¹⁸Even young children despise me;

I arise, and they speak against me.

¹⁹All my close friends abhor me,

And those whom I love have turned against me.

²⁰My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,

And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹“Have pity on me, have pity on me,

O you my friends,

For the hand of God has struck me!

²²Why do you persecute me as God does,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³“Oh, that my words were written!

Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴That they were engraved on a rock

With an iron pen and lead, forever!

²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

²⁶And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

²⁷Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

²⁸If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—

Since the root of the matter is found in me,

²⁹Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;

For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

That you may know there is a judgment.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-6 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“How long will you torment my soul,

And break me in pieces with words?

³These ten times you have reproached me;

You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.

⁴And if indeed I have erred,

My error remains with me.

⁵If indeed you exalt yourselves against me,

And plead my disgrace against me,

⁶Know then that God has wronged me,

And has surrounded me with His net.

Job now pleads with his friends for some compassion (vs. 1-2), telling them that by they’re words they have only been unashamedly wronging him (vs. 3). Job then says that if he has erred then his error remains with him (vs. 4); that is his broken state of being; thus, they don’t need to slam him down to ground with their words exalting themselves against him and pleading his disgrace against him (vs. 5); For Job once again asserts that it is God who has wronged him, who has surrounded him with His net (vs. 6). By doing so then God Almighty is now charged by Job as the source of all his troubles, and yet it is God Almighty alone who is the solution to his grave dilemma. Job then in casting off restraint (10:1-2; 13:15 etc.) has now taken a turn for the worse.

Vs. 7 “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard.

If I cry aloud, there is no justice.”

Job now decrees that he is not being heard by God, that even when he cries aloud there is no justice. Job is not alone in this, for we too often feel that God is slow to respond to our cries for justice (nonetheless consider Luke 18:1-8), for we always want our justice delivered to us here and now on our terms, and yet if we were given it by God here and now and on our terms would we really want it? For we too are not innocent, and in Job’s case his blamelessness is leaving him quicker than he thinks.

Vs. 8-12 ⁸He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass;

And He has set darkness in my paths.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory,

And taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He breaks me down on every side,

And I am gone;

My hope He has uprooted like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled His wrath against me,

And He counts me as one of His enemies.

¹²His troops come together

And build up their road against me;

They encamp all around my tent.

Job continues to lay the blame for his troubles squarely on God, saying that God has fenced him in so that he cannot escape, that He has even set darkness in his paths so that Job cannot find his way out (vs 8). Job then charges God with stripping him of his glory and taking the crown from his head (vs. 9), he then goes on to accuse God of breaking him down on every side, and I am gone, says Job (vs. 10). Verse eleven is one of those verses that just makes you cringe, for if God had set His wrath against Job rest assured it would be decisive, instead it is God who is restraining Satan from completely destroying him, and yet Job now thinks that God counts him as one of His enemies. Job then reimagines this as God calling together and then sending His troops against him, of they’re camping all around his tent waiting to destroy him (vs. 12). Now do any of these things that Job has spoken here even remotely resonate with the works of God in our lives, I think not! But that is that tragedy in ones life can do totally confuse ones perspective of God's dealings with oneself in ones life, at least initially, as has happened to Job. Nonetheless Job's venting his feelings like this is needed before he sees himself and what he has been saying in the light of God of God's truth. He goes on saying....

 Vs. 13-20 ¹³“He has removed my brothers far from me,

And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have failed,

And my close friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,

Count me as a stranger;

I am an alien in their sight.

¹⁶I call my servant, but he gives no answer;

I beg him with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife,

And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.

¹⁸Even young children despise me;

I arise, and they speak against me.

¹⁹All my close friends abhor me,

And those whom I love have turned against me.

²⁰My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh,

And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Job words here are so despairing, so heart breaking to hear him speak like this, and to see such a righteous man now falsely accused and treated like that. But that is what people often do, (especially religious people), when unexplained tragedy befalls someone. And so what his family and greater community are doing to him is just a reflection of his friends beliefs held by them all. Sadly though Job lays the blame for all of this happening to him on God. For He now charges God with removing loved ones and friends far away from him, he even blames God for they’re abandoning him (vs. 13). Job’s relatives though have failed him, and his close friends have forgotten him (vs. 14); this though is not God’s doing, but it is they’re own doing towards Job, according to they’re own terribly misguided understandings of God’s dealings with him. Even those in Job’s own household, who once tended to him, who were even nourished by him, now treat Job like a leper, like someone they never even knew, for they refuse to acknowledge him when he calls to them, even if he begs them, they still will not come to him (vs. 15-16). And Job’s wife who should be supporting him in all of this now refuses him all close personal contact, all intimacy, while his children who came from him only see him only as repulsive (vs. 17). For they make it clear to him that they want nothing to do with him. And when Job goes outside to find some relief even the young children who see him openly despise him, and when he arises to leave then they speak against him (vs. 18). Job goes on to say that his close friends now abhor him and that those whom he loves have also turned against him (vs. 19). The rejection that Job faces both at home and in his own community is unbelievable, how could people people be so callous and cold? which again maybe one of the reasons why God is allowing Job to suffer such things, to expose all their wrong ways as well. Job finalizes his plight by saying that his skin now clings to his bones and that he has only escaped death by the skin of his teeth (vs. 20).

Vs. 21-22 ²¹“Have pity on me, have pity on me,

O you my friends,

For the hand of God has struck me!

²²Why do you persecute me as God does,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job in complete desperation now pleads with his friends to have pity on him, even saying to them that the hand of God has struck him as they believe He has in trying to get some compassion from them; now the difference being is that they think God has done it as an act of justice against him, while Job thinks He has done it out of some kind of mistaken error. I’m reiterating this here because if they abandon him like everybody else has in his community, Job believes he has nowhere else to go. Now in doing this Job once again gravely errors by charging God with striking him, (just as everyone around him believes He has and asserts against him). Job then asks his friends why they persecute him like God does, why aren’t they satisfied with seeing him suffer such things, rather than add to his sufferings with their words, accusations and denunciations? For if this is an act of justice from God on Job then be content with what you see happening to me rather then add to my affliction is Job's point. Job’s perception then of God’s works in his life at this point is only way off; and this we can only attribute to his sufferings; for as we know, or should know, God persecutes and wrongs no one.

Vs. 23-24 ²³“Oh, that my words were written!

Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴That they were engraved on a rock

With an iron pen and lead, forever!

If Job could’ve only known then that his words would be preserved, that God Himself was keeping them all, preserving them for us all, so that He could use them for many generations to instruct and inform many. Therefore know this if God allows tragedy and suffering in one’s life, He always has a greater purpose, a purpose that we must find and use for the betterment of others. And in the end Job will find it, when he intercedes for his friends, who like himself, will also never be the same again.

 Vs. 25-27 ²⁵For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

²⁶And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

²⁷Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!

And yet 0ut of the depths of Job's despair his faith now rises to its greatest heights. These then are the pivotal verses in all of Job’s discourses for in them we see a personal genuine faith that his friends do not exemplify. Notice Job calls God His Redeemer, notice too that His God (our God) is a living God, whom Job rightly foresees as one day standing on the earth; (correcting every wrong and making straight everything that mankind has made crocked). Job then is foreseeing the Coming of Christ (vs. 25), which then makes this one of earliest prophecies about Him. Job goes on in faith knowing that even when his body is destroyed, that in his flesh he shall see God, Job then is also foreseeing the resurrection of the dead (vs. 26), but not in the context of Judgment, but rather in the Redemption of his person, and so Job’s heart now longs for that Day, the Day when He gets to meet His Lord and Savior face to face (vs. 27). Job then is covering a lot of ground in a few verses, but it is verses like this that make the Book of Job worth reading and studying. For the Book of Job is very edifying, you just have to know where to look, and see and understand everything in its greater context (kind of like our lives).

Vs. 28-29 ²⁸If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’—

Since the root of the matter is found in me,

²⁹Be afraid of the sword for yourselves;

For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

That you may know there is a judgment.”

With his great and profound declaration of faith, Job now begins to turn the page (or close the book) on all his previous desires for death and only being surrounded by darkness etc. Here then we begin to see Job no longer on the defensive, but now growing in confidence. Therefore Job now warns his friends that they themselves are not immune to what has happened to him, that they should not think that they can now speak to him and treat him however disdainfully they like. For his Redeemer is watching them as well as him and he is weighing them all. Therefore, the God of Justice, whose Judgment they have been so forcefully declaring on Job, likewise has a Judgment for them, is now Jobs warning to them.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.