ChristadelphianBooksOnline
David Baird
The Education of Job

Chapter 19 - The Second Cycle of Speeches - Job

	19:1-7	Job reacts to his friend's cruelty
	19:8-12	God is the Author of Job's troubles
	19:13-19	Job is utterly isolated
	19:20-22	A plea for pity
	19:23-27	Job's confidence in his eventual vindication
	19:28-29	Job warns his friends

Bildad's brutal academic assault on Job seems to have pulled Job into a clearer realm of thought. The impact of Bildad's vitriol, instead of launching the expected counter-attack, sees Job almost at peace with himself. Sure, he is despised, isolated and a source of revulsion, but Job is confident that:

God is responsible for his calamities;
His friends are wrong; and
He will be ultimately vindicated.

If anything, his friends should be careful (19:28-29) and show pity as true friends (19:21).

For all its description of Job's rejection by all, including those who were once close to him, Chapter 19 is ordered, clear and strangely beautiful to read. His affirmation of the resurrection (19:25-26) is a moving statement of supreme faith despite extremely adverse conditions.

19:1-7 Job reacts to his friend's cruelty

Job's opening reaction is a response to Bildad's opening remark, "How long till you put an end to words?" (18:2 NKJV). How long will it be before Job stops using words to ensnare the unsuspecting? Job sees it from an entirely different perspective - "How long will ye vex (yaga) my soul and break me in pieces with words?" (19:2). It is not Job's words that are out-of-line. It is the words of Bildad and his companions. They vex ("mentally trouble" TWOT). They break in pieces.

How long has this been going on? For Job it seems like an eternity - "ten times ye have reproached me." It is not as if Job has kept count. Rather, he uses an idiom that means "many times" (see Gen 31:7,41; Num 14:22). Yes, many times they had shamed him, and they were not at all ashamed that they had "hardened themselves against him" (AVmg - see also RSV, NKJV, JB etc).

"Anyway," continues Job, "Even if I had gone astray it's none of your business!" (19:4). Job openly resented their interference in his personal dilemma. To Job it was obviously something to be resolved with God. It is not their problem and if anything amiss was responsible then Job will have to pay the penalty. It is, in Job's opinion, not his friend's right to pronounce judgment (19:22). That right rests with God.

They had been quick to accuse Job. According to Bildad, Job had been caught in his own schemes (18:8-10). Job, while using a different word to the six employed by the erudite Bildad, exclaims in verse 6 that God had overthrown (awat) him, God had compassed him with His net (masod - "the net of the hunter" Ges).

19:6 is crucial in understanding Job's mind. The sentiments expressed are interpreted in a number of ways. TWOT states that, "Since he is convinced of his innocence, he concludes that God has perverted his rights (19:6). There is simply no justice (19:7), he contends." Reichert agrees with this conclusion. I believe that the context leads us to a different interpretation. Yes, he had been sorely afflicted (19:7-12) but he has not to this point in time been pronounced guilty by God. He is addressing the accusations of his companions, who were insistent that Job's woes were self-inflicted and a sure sign of his malevolence. Instead, Job is waiting to hear from God and he is confident that God will declare him innocent. The judgment of Job has been merely delayed. Indeed, interprets Delitzsch, if Job's friends are correct, and Job is suffering on account of flagrant sins that Job considers unproven, then God has wronged him. Perhaps this is what Job is saying.

Awat means to "bend, curve, pervert" (Ges) and is used by Bildad in 8:3 - "doth the Almighty pervert justice?" - and is picked up by Elihu in 34:12. The answer to Bildad's question is unmistakably "No!" Job is not accusing God of perverting his rights. He is at pains to point out that his circumstances are from God. As Andersen translates "God has made me crooked." And it is God who will ultimately vindicate Job.

Unfortunately, God does not seem to hear the cry of Job. The justice Job so vociferously seeks is not forthcoming (19:7). Job is confronted by an overwhelming divine silence. It is important to note that Job does not declare God has perpetrated an injustice. He complains that justice is slow to arrive.

19:8-12 God is the Author of Job's troubles

Instead of providing the necessary justice Job is seeking, God has maintained unrelenting pressure on Job. God had:

Cut off all Job's means of escape (19:8 - see also Lam 3:7; Hos 2:6);
Enveloped Job in darkness so that he can only grope around uncertainly (19:8);
Stripped him of his honour (19:9 Green, JB, Delitzsch);
Removed Job's crown (atara) of righteousness (19:9 - see 31:36 for the only other use of atara in the Book of Job) as he was openly regarded as a sinner;
Broken Job down as one would tear down a building with no immediate prospect of being rebuilt (19:10 - "I am gone");
Uprooted his hope like a tree (19:10 - see also 14:19);
Kindled His anger against Job (19:11);
Counted Job as one of His enemies (19:11 - see also 16:9); and
Assailed Job on every side (19:12).

The final metaphor in this section is an image of stupendous overkill. Job is parked inside his tent (ohel - "tabernacle") and on the outside God's armies are constructing vast siege works prior to inflicting the final overthrow. God, by Job's assessment, is being overwhelmingly thorough.

19:13-19 Job is utterly isolated

Job felt the hand of God like no other of his generation. But that did not mean Job failed to consider his human relationships. The support he desperately needed to cope with the travails instigated by God was non-existent. This is not unlike the wholesale desertion of the Lord Jesus Christ when his need for supportive company was at its greatest (Matt 26:56). Christ's afflictions, along with Job's, were in accordance with God's will (Matt 26:39).

Job's catalogue of former acquaintances who now abhorred, avoided, forgot, mocked and turned against him is heart-rending.

Whereas Job's accusations against God may be overstated, because he had not received any confirmation of his perceptions, the rejection of Job by those who were previously close to him was evident and not a figment of Job's paranoia. It was a devastatingly accurate inventory because they would have accepted the orthodox theology of the day that affliction is directly proportional to an individual's sin quotient.

Job's list, essentially an expansion of 16:7, included his brethren (Psa 69:8), acquaintances (those who knew him - 42:11), kinsfolk, sojourning guests who had received his hospitality, his personal attendant, those of his family clan (AV "children ... of mine own body" 19:17), and closest friends (Eliphaz and company, perhaps). Even young children, not old enough to understand, despised him as they mirrored the attitude of their parents.

His wife is also entered on the register of deserters. "My breath is offensive to my wife" (19:17 NKJV).

Job is utterly alone. "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isa 53:4).

19:20-22 A plea for pity

God has delayed His justice. Job is a total social outcast and, as he continues, he is an emaciated human being. He is a mere bag of bones as there is nothing, it seems, between his flesh and his bones.

Furthermore, Job is "escaped with the skin of his teeth." This unforgettable expression is now part of everyday vernacular and is used as a proverb to connote a narrow escape. Job has not escaped. He is very much a captive to his condition. The phrase has many interpretations with the more popular suggesting that the disease has so ravaged him that even his teeth have fallen out and all that remains are his gums.

Whatever the interpretation, Job, at the very least, expects pity from the viewing public. He cannot comprehend the absence of compassion. Twice he implores "Have pity on me" and he reverts to calling them "my friends." If only they would remember that they are friends (2:11). They came as friends to comfort their friend who had been touched by "the hand of God" (see comments in 1:5 on the use of Tapeinosis).

But why would they pity somebody who, by their reckoning, was being punished for sin? Job, in verse 22, in seeking their support, ironically gives them reason to withhold it. If they were acting as God, surely this is a good thing. No, it's not! In matters of final judgment, that right rests with God (Rom 12:19-21). It was their role to comfort and, if any sin could be identified, to assist in Job's rehabilitation.

Their original intentions could well have been those but they are now tracking on a different wavelength. Now they are hounding Job in order to win a theological debate. They had lost sight of larger issues, such as compassion, by becoming absorbed in petty intellectual point-scoring.

19:23-27 Job's confidence in his eventual vindication

"Ah, would that these words of mine were written down,
inscribed on some monument
with chisel and engraving tool,
cut into the rock for ever."

(19:23-24 Jerusalem Bible)

So they have been! Both in the Bible for us to read for our instruction and in the Book of Life (Rev 20:12) for Job's vindication. And the words that are penned in verses 25-27 shine like a halogen lamp in a dark cave.

Job's faith has progressed to such an extent that he can declare that his redeemer lives. Indeed He does as Job's redeemer is none other than Yahweh, the instigator of Job's woes. It matters not what has happened to him, he is certain that Yahweh lives and Yahweh will vindicate him. Yahweh will "rise up" (Soncino) as a witness to Job's integrity and He will do so at the last upon the "dust" (apar - Green, Soncino, Delitzsch).

Job, while certain he will die (19:26), is convinced of his own resurrection. He will, despite the utter destruction of his body, see God. Three times he affirms that he will see God and he expects to do so in a very real way, complete with body and eyes. Yes, it will be "in his flesh"; surely not the disease-riddled flesh that cloaked his frame but that of a regenerated and cleansed immortal being. It will not be an act played out in his mind nor will he see God only for God to dismiss him as a stranger. The expression "and not another" more literally translates as "and not as a stranger" (Green, Roth, RVmg). The inference is carried by the Jerusalem Bible with, "These eyes will gaze on him and find him not aloof." "Yes," implies Job, "God will recognise me as a friend."

What a remarkable outburst of sublime faith! He can declare his faith even though his heart sinks and his emotions are spent (19:27). He is completely wrung out. He has been through so much, more than any other of his era, yet his assurance of a redeemer and his anticipation of the resurrection is unabated. If anything, his awareness of both has been sharpened by his experiences.

19:28-29 Job warns his friends

Job, invigorated by his consideration of resurrection and redemption, turns and warns his friends. Why should they be concerned? The answer is simple, "There is a judgment" (19:29). This is not questioned, nor is the doctrine of the resurrection or the concept of the redeemer. All were understood by Job's learned acquaintances. Job has not introduced new concepts, but his application of them in these verses would not have been appreciated by his friends.

As the New International Version renders, "If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,' you should fear the sword yourselves." In other words, they were in danger of facing God's anger because they persisted with incorrect assertions (42:7-9). They were being advised, for their sakes, to release their pressure on Job. To be judged as being in error after the vehemence of their speech would be a source of colossal humiliation.

Will Zophar heed the warning of Job or merely heap more scorn on the afflicted one?

Digression - The Redeemer (Heb. "Ga'al")

Hast Thou Considered My Servant Job - pages 72-75

Brother Klaus Papowski

Primary Hebrew Meaning

"to redeem from difficulty or danger"

There is usually an emphasis in ga'al on the redemption being the privilege or duty of a near relative.
Refers to the re-purchase of a field which was sold in time of need (Lev 25:25), or the freeing of an Israelite slave who sold himself in time of poverty (Lev 25:48).
Such purchase of, and restitution, was the duty of the next of kin.
As kinsman he had the right to redeem anything which had been wrongfully acquired (Num 5:8).
As the avenger of blood (near-kinsman of one slain) he had the right and duty to pursue the murderer and exact vengeance (cp. Num 35:12-27; Deut 19:6; Josh 20:3).
As the vindicator he had the duty to vindicate violated rights (Ruth 4:1,6,8).
Ga'al, therefore, conveyed the ideas of "Judgement" and "Mercy".
The office of the Redeemer was in existence in the time of Job, prior to the Law of Moses.
Pre-eminently, as the redeemer of His people, God was the "Ga'al" (Exod 6:6; Isa 43:1)
Job believed that his innocence gave him a right to be vindicated, and since there was no kinsman prepared to stand on his behalf, God would reveal Himself as Job's Vindicator (Job 19:25)
Job's Redeemer is Yahweh (Isa 43:14; 49:7; 54:5). He, therefore, was correct when he said that his "Redeemer liveth".
Yahweh has redeemed through His servant, the Lord Jesus Christ (Isa 49:6), and to that end he was exalted "to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31).
In Christ, "God was manifest in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16), and through him became Redeemer to both Jews and Gentiles.
Therefore, Job could speak of his Redeemer (Yahweh) being revealed in "the latter day upon the earth". He will be revealed in the person of His son.
As the "near-kinsman", the redeemer came to the aid of any member of the family who fell into trouble.
Yahweh could only be described as a "Redeemer" ("Near-kinsman") to fallen man, by revealing Himself in one of the race. This He did in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14; 2Cor 5:19; 1Tim 3:16).
Job, therefore, could describe his Redeemer as then living, and yet to be manifest in the earth in the latter day. The former refers to Yahweh; the latter to His manifestation in Christ.