Job 19

CHAPTER 19

Job (19:1–29)

1–6 Job begins his reply by lashing out at his three friends. He tells them it is not their business to judge him; if he has been in error then that is his concern alone (verse 4). But if his “friends” persist in their attacks, then let them know it is not he who has erred but God! “God has wronged me” (verse 6).

These words in verse 6 are perhaps the most rash and reckless words that Job has yet uttered. Here Job clearly accuses God of wrongdoing (Job 1:22). But Job, in one sense, is stating the truth. Satan had said to God: “. . . stretch out your hand and strike everything [Job] has ... and strike his flesh and bones” (Job 1:11; 2:5). And God had said, “Very well” (Job 1:12; 2:6). Thus Job was partly right when he said in verse 21, “. . . the hand of God has struck me.”

Job's error was in not knowing Satan's role in his suffering; Satan was acting as the “hand of God.” Thus it was Satan who was Job's real enemy, not God.

7–12 In these verses, Job describes all the ways his “enemy” has been attacking him. His statements, while poetic, are basically accurate—except for the identity of his enemy.

13–20 Here Job describes how he has been alienated from his remaining kinsmen and former friends (verses 13–14). His servants, his brothers—even his wife—have all turned against him. And all this has happened because of the humiliation Job has suffered at the hands of God, his “enemy.” Because of his suffering, all his friends and family—even little boys—treat him with scorn and ridicule (verse 18). In their view he is simply a sinner suffering his just punishment. Few things in life hurt more than being abandoned by those one loves most.

21–22 Job asks his three friends for pity—an odd request considering all the harsh things he has said about them! Job, however, is not asking them for love and sympathy; he is only asking them to stop persecuting him with their speeches.

23–24 Job is sure he has not long to live; he fears that the injustice he has endured will soon be forgotten. Therefore, he expresses the wish that his words might be recorded . . . forever. Job could never have imagined the way in which his wish would be fulfilled: his words have indeed been “recorded forever”—in Holy Scripture!

25–27 Having been abandoned by his family and falsely judged by his three so-called friends, Job had good reason to feel alone, rejected; no one was left to defend him, to argue his case. More than anything else, Job wanted justice; he wanted to be vindicated. He had lost all hope of being vindicated during his lifetime. But he had not lost hope that somehow, at a future time, there'd be Someone who would vindicate him, who would redeem⁴⁵ him. This was more than a hope, it was a conviction: “I know that my Redeemer⁴⁶ lives” (verse 25).

In Job's mind, his ultimate “Redeemer” was God Himself. Even in the midst of his despair and his anger against God, Job's faith still sustained him. Like many of us, Job wavered between belief and unbelief (see Mark 9:23–24); but here in these verses, his faith shines forth.

Job says that in the end—after his death—he will meet his Redeemer. “. . . after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (verse 26). Clearly Job has in mind here some kind of bodily resurrection after death; he anticipates seeing God with [his] own eyes (verse 27); he is confident that after his death he will live again to witness his own vindication and to see God as a friend once more ⁴⁷ (Matthew 5:8; 1 John 3:2).

Job's experience, as recorded in these verses, reflects a universal human need for a Redeemer. Our own righteousness, our own integrity, is never enough to vindicate or justify us in the sight of a holy God. In the end, all of us—like Job—must place our faith in a good and just God, and in His Son whom He sent to be our Redeemer.

28–29 Job addresses these final verses to his three friends, who continue to hound (persecute) him and accuse him of being the cause of his own trouble. By falsely judging Job, they are the ones doing wrong; they are the ones who should fear the judgment of God.