This whole speech is Job’s response to Eliphaz. It is quite long right after he has just been called long-winded. At this point, I have often stopped reading the poetry section of this book and have skipped ahead to the narrative section to find out what happens to Job. This time, I am going to continue forward to read closely what this story has for me.
It is trendy today (maybe it has always been like this) for young scholars especially to criticize past classic works of literature, philosophy, and just plain history as being wrong and foolish. This is a very ignorant thing to do. A thing of the past was preserved because it has some value. Instead of going around saying the past was wrong or right, good or bad, we should be trying to glean the wisdom and lessons learned. This is what I try to do with Job.
Job 16
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
3 Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
4 I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t win an argument like Job feels here? He wants sympathy, but instead, he gets corrections. His friends think this is what it means to be a friend and anything Job says will just validate them. Oh! What a painful place to be! What Job needs from his friends are listeners who will encourage him in God’s mercy that will inevitably come. Instead, they increase his pain.
6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?
7 But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company.
8 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.
The weight of Job’s friends’ words are a heavy weight that adds to the burdens he is already carrying. There are times when hardships make us feel unnaturally old and worn out. The weariness of going through a trial feels like it goes into our bones. I find encouragement in Job’s words when I have felt this way knowing that even a righteous man of God felt this way. We are not lacking faith in God because of the weight and weariness of hardships.
9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
13 His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.
Job describes his hardship like a war with beasts, warriors, and a giant. According to the narrative section at the beginning, he was robbed, but it wasn’t an ongoing battle. This battle is an emotional and spiritual battle against an unseen enemy. I don’t think Job is talking about battling his friends specifically, though, that conflict probably adds to the sense of battle. Instead, I think the whole hardship feels like a warzone. A warzone in which he is loosing and getting beat up.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust.
16 My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
It is alright to weep when you are in pain. I once had a nurse in the hospital lecture me that my crying out in pain during labor was hurting my baby and I need to stop making such a fuss. It was nonsense. I ended having an emergency C-section because my son’s heart kept stopping. He was born healthy. His distress was not caused by my distress, but my distress was a sign of something was wrong. When we feel emotional pain, we can do things that makes sense the situation worse, but weeping is not one of those things. We weep because something is wrong. That is pure and right even in prayer.
18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.
20 My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
21 O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Job wishes for a heavenly advocate to see his pain and go to God a petition a end to his hardships. As the nation of Israel develops long after Job, a priesthood is established to act on this role as an advocate before God. Offerings are made and prayers are given to help present a person’s case to God for the sake of ending the hardship. The Christian faith takes this further by Recognizing Jesus as a heavenly advocate who is sympathetic to our cause. Job does not see this yet in his lifetime and just knows that one day he will die and at least his suffering will be over then. Without hope, what are we left with? Jesus is called the hope of the world not because of the salvation he bring after we die, but that he brings help now while we are living.
Job 17
1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Job isn’t suicidal here, but feeling old and that death is near. He has reconciled that his situation will never change and that once he has died people will see the truth about him. He tells his friends that they have spoiled his reputation in their foolishness, but the truth will be seen one day. Job hopes that he will have rest in death and find peace and justice.
It is beneficial in reading Job to know that in the end, he finds justice, peace, and blessing while still alive. Without this knowledge, Job’s despair can be overwhelming. We also need to know from both the beginning and end of the book that God is very aware of what is going on. It seems like in the midst of this hardship God is absent or not listening to us. In Jesus, God is his own advocate on our behalf. Since the creation of the world, God has had a plan and it was a plan for good, though, not without suffering. This does not make suffering “good.” Suffering is a mystery I am still trying to understand, but I do know that God gives us good things while we are still alive if we keep trusting him. This part of the message of Job.
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