Job 29

Job 29:1

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:2

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:3

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:4

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:5

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:6

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:7

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:8

God’s Inaccessibility and Judicial Acts

Here Job describes in wonderful poetic language that he has no access to this great and almighty God, Who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. There is no one who can fathom Him and therefore understand what He is doing (Job 9:10). God is not only unfathomable in His motives, He is also inimitable in His wondrous works. His wonders are incomparable and uncountable.

Job here says the same as Eliphaz (Job 5:9). Only he applies these words in a completely different, opposite way. Eliphaz wants to show how God by His strength does what is right and proper, that He brings those who grieve to safety and frees the poor from the grip of powers that are stronger than them. But Job sees God’s strength as that of a sovereign majesty who is answerable to no one.

God is uncontrollable and imperceptible. Job experiences that God passes by him, but he does not see Him (Job 9:11). He feels that God is passing by him, but he does not perceive Him. God is a force that works mysteriously to do whatever He wants, without anyone being able to stop Him. In short, God cannot be reached or approached because of His greatness.

He is so sovereign that He can snatch away everything He wants (Job 9:12). There is no one who can command Him with any authority to give back what He has taken. There is not even one who can ask Him: “What are You doing?” (cf. Daniel 4:35). There is no one above Him. Between the lines we read the background of the personal tragedy of Job himself: everything has been taken away from him by Someone Who cannot be called to account by him.

What Job says here, he said before: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21b). That was in surrender, but it was immediately after everything has been taken away from him. Then the full weight of what had happened to him had not yet penetrated him. Now he is a few months and many thoughts about God further. He has been reflecting on God’s actions in connection with what has happened to him. What he said earlier in surrender now has an undertone of reproach.

All that Job knows and has spoken of God are impressive truths about God. They are not mere theological truths, but deeply felt truths. But this knowledge of God offers him no consolation. It gives him an ever-deeper sense of total powerlessness opposite that so great and powerful God. We can sometimes feel this way, for example when He takes health away from us or possessions, our friends, the life of a loved one. Then He wants us to find peace in the awareness that whatever is disappearing from our lives, it is He Who has taken it away.

Job goes on to speak of God Who does not turn back His anger (Job 9:13). This is true for anyone who persists in his sins. On such a person the wrath of God abides (John 3:36). God does turn back His anger from anyone who believes in His Son Jesus Christ. He can do so because He did not turn His wrath away from His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of everyone who believes in Him.

God’s anger strikes “the helpers of Rahab”. They cannot stand, but “crouch” beneath Him. Rahab means “arrogant” and is a sea monster (Job 26:12). Rahab is used as the poetic name for Egypt (Isaiah 30:7; Isaiah 51:9), the people who do not care about God. All their pride and denial of God will be judged by Him.

If the greatest powers in the world are to bow down before God, what can Job do against God (Job 9:14)? What shall he say to God to justify himself (Job 9:15)? He cannot but “implore the mercy” from Him, Whom he calls here “my judge”. Job does not say this because he is convinced of his sins, for he speaks of himself as righteous. But he sees himself opposite Someone Who always has the right at His side and always knows how to find something that is not right. No matter how carefully he would choose his words, there will always be something that his Judge would consider wrong. So it makes no sense to defend yourself against that great God.

Job sees himself as completely insignificant opposite that exalted, sovereign, and unreachable God (Job 9:16). If he would call out to God and God would answer, he could not believe that God has heard his voice. We hear again that struggle of Job in his dealings with God. He wants to call out to the God in Whom he believes, but Whom he does not understand in His dealings with him.

He expresses this incomprehension in Job 9:17-18. God bruised him with a tempest and made his wounds numerous. But Job cries out, He has no reason to do so. Job cannot understand why God has done so with him, while he has served Him so faithfully. And there is no end to this misery. He gets no chance from God to get his breath (cf. Job 7:19). On the contrary, God satiates him with bitterness. While talking, Job’s portrayal of God becomes more and more negative.

Once again Job points out that God is strong when it comes to a trial of strength (Job 9:19). He no longer even talks about his weakness in comparison. God is strong, that’s all. Only He is strong. But is God also righteous? That’s what Job questions, or even more so, he strongly doubts. The doubt of God’s righteousness stems from the conviction of his own righteousness. He wouldn’t know who could summon him for some transgression. After all, he has done nothing for which he could be accused.

Job considers himself righteous (Job 9:20). But yes, he realizes, God will find something in the words he speaks to his defense that will make Him declare him guilty. Job realizes that all his outward righteousness is no excuse for the wrong words that come out of his mouth. His words prove that he has no good thoughts about God in his heart. So, despite his sincerity, God will have to declare him guilty. You always lose a lawsuit against God.

It seems that Job is bowing to God’s condemnation, although he emphasizes that he is guiltless (Job 9:21). If God condemns him, he surrenders. He does not take notice of himself, he despises his life. Surely life has no meaning any more. Let judgment come.

It does not matter at all. It doesn’t matter if you are guiltless, like him, or if you are wicked (Job 9:22). God kills both one and the other (cf. Ecclesiastes 9:2). Surely this is clear from the way God acts with him, a sincere one, isn’t it? He does the same with him as with the wicked. Here again it is clear that Job doubts the government of God, not to say that he accuses God of indifference. In any case, he cannot understand God’s way of acting.

Let us not be too hard on Job for his failure and let us not forget that these are the words of a desperate one. God lets Job speak, He lets him speak without interrupting him. We should not want to silence him with our well-intentioned advice on how he should see the matter. What we can do is pray in humility whether the Lord will keep our hearts in fellowship with Him to learn the lessons this book contains for us.

The scourge of death can suddenly enter a person’s life without any reason, without any prior warning (Job 9:23). Job has experienced that scourge. Time after time he has been scourged in rapid succession with messages of death. According to Job, God even “mocks the despair of the innocent”. As if God has a certain pleasure in making those who are innocent and therefore desperate even more desperate. This is how it can be experienced by believers who suffer long and hopeless suffering. Each day added to this suffering increases despair. When God is also experienced as a cruel adversary, the desperate is hopeless.

Job has nowhere on earth to turn (Job 9:24). The wicked is in charge. Certainly, it is true that satan, the great wicked one, is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). But that does not mean that God no longer has control over the world. Job himself says that “the earth is given over into the hand of the wicked” (cf. Luke 4:6; John 19:11). ‘Given’ means that God is behind it. God has complete control over everything, including the evil that takes place.

We can know this, just like Job, but we can forget it when we are completely consumed by our misery and nothing seems like God is doing anything for our benefit. In fact, according to Job, God does not allow justice to take its course. He prevents the good judges who are still there from fulfilling their task, because He covers their faces, that is, He takes away their understanding of the law.

In the last part of this verse we hear again how Job holds on to God as the cause of his misery. He proclaims it as a question: “If [it is] not [He], then who is it?” It sounds like a reproach. At the same time there is also the element of hope. He has nothing to do with satan, nor with earthly judges, but with God. Each time he speaks about or to God. There is no alternative to Job. And that is precisely what makes his struggle so fierce. He doesn’t understand God, Whom he experiences as cruel, but he can’t live without Him either.

Job 29:9

Job’s Complaint

In this section Job applies his argument about God’s arbitrariness and alleged cruelty to his own situation. Again he speaks of the speed with which his days have passed without seeing the good (Job 9:25-26; Job 7:6). The days in which he was prosperous are long past, yea, in oblivion. In itself, it is important that we too are aware that life is quickly over. The question is how we give substance to our life. Do we live for the world or for God? What happens for the world is lost together with life; what happens for God remains forever.

Job can no longer remember the good of the former days; those days passed so quickly. He makes comparisons with what goes fast on earth: “a runner”, on the water: “reed boats”, and in the sky: “an eagle”. The speed of an eagle also has to do with the food it flies toward.

The days of prosperity are over and forgotten. His complaint, which he cannot forget, has come instead, (Job 9:27). He is not able to take in anything pleasant. It is impossible for him to bring even a smile to his face. There is not a glimpse of joy in him. There is only the unending physical and spiritual suffering that he cannot possibly forget, which also makes his face scarred and marred.

He can say that he wants to forget his complaint, that he wants to put on another, a happy face and wants to refresh himself, but then he fears that all this suffering will start again (Job 9:28). He can’t get away from that. That reality is “all my pains”. The greatest pain, however, is that God will not acquit him, that He does not hold him innocent anyway. That is also what he keeps hearing from his friends.

Job 29:10

Job’s Complaint

In this section Job applies his argument about God’s arbitrariness and alleged cruelty to his own situation. Again he speaks of the speed with which his days have passed without seeing the good (Job 9:25-26; Job 7:6). The days in which he was prosperous are long past, yea, in oblivion. In itself, it is important that we too are aware that life is quickly over. The question is how we give substance to our life. Do we live for the world or for God? What happens for the world is lost together with life; what happens for God remains forever.

Job can no longer remember the good of the former days; those days passed so quickly. He makes comparisons with what goes fast on earth: “a runner”, on the water: “reed boats”, and in the sky: “an eagle”. The speed of an eagle also has to do with the food it flies toward.

The days of prosperity are over and forgotten. His complaint, which he cannot forget, has come instead, (Job 9:27). He is not able to take in anything pleasant. It is impossible for him to bring even a smile to his face. There is not a glimpse of joy in him. There is only the unending physical and spiritual suffering that he cannot possibly forget, which also makes his face scarred and marred.

He can say that he wants to forget his complaint, that he wants to put on another, a happy face and wants to refresh himself, but then he fears that all this suffering will start again (Job 9:28). He can’t get away from that. That reality is “all my pains”. The greatest pain, however, is that God will not acquit him, that He does not hold him innocent anyway. That is also what he keeps hearing from his friends.

Job 29:11

Job’s Complaint

In this section Job applies his argument about God’s arbitrariness and alleged cruelty to his own situation. Again he speaks of the speed with which his days have passed without seeing the good (Job 9:25-26; Job 7:6). The days in which he was prosperous are long past, yea, in oblivion. In itself, it is important that we too are aware that life is quickly over. The question is how we give substance to our life. Do we live for the world or for God? What happens for the world is lost together with life; what happens for God remains forever.

Job can no longer remember the good of the former days; those days passed so quickly. He makes comparisons with what goes fast on earth: “a runner”, on the water: “reed boats”, and in the sky: “an eagle”. The speed of an eagle also has to do with the food it flies toward.

The days of prosperity are over and forgotten. His complaint, which he cannot forget, has come instead, (Job 9:27). He is not able to take in anything pleasant. It is impossible for him to bring even a smile to his face. There is not a glimpse of joy in him. There is only the unending physical and spiritual suffering that he cannot possibly forget, which also makes his face scarred and marred.

He can say that he wants to forget his complaint, that he wants to put on another, a happy face and wants to refresh himself, but then he fears that all this suffering will start again (Job 9:28). He can’t get away from that. That reality is “all my pains”. The greatest pain, however, is that God will not acquit him, that He does not hold him innocent anyway. That is also what he keeps hearing from his friends.

Job 29:12

Job’s Complaint

In this section Job applies his argument about God’s arbitrariness and alleged cruelty to his own situation. Again he speaks of the speed with which his days have passed without seeing the good (Job 9:25-26; Job 7:6). The days in which he was prosperous are long past, yea, in oblivion. In itself, it is important that we too are aware that life is quickly over. The question is how we give substance to our life. Do we live for the world or for God? What happens for the world is lost together with life; what happens for God remains forever.

Job can no longer remember the good of the former days; those days passed so quickly. He makes comparisons with what goes fast on earth: “a runner”, on the water: “reed boats”, and in the sky: “an eagle”. The speed of an eagle also has to do with the food it flies toward.

The days of prosperity are over and forgotten. His complaint, which he cannot forget, has come instead, (Job 9:27). He is not able to take in anything pleasant. It is impossible for him to bring even a smile to his face. There is not a glimpse of joy in him. There is only the unending physical and spiritual suffering that he cannot possibly forget, which also makes his face scarred and marred.

He can say that he wants to forget his complaint, that he wants to put on another, a happy face and wants to refresh himself, but then he fears that all this suffering will start again (Job 9:28). He can’t get away from that. That reality is “all my pains”. The greatest pain, however, is that God will not acquit him, that He does not hold him innocent anyway. That is also what he keeps hearing from his friends.

Job 29:13

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:14

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:15

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:16

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:17

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:18

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:19

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1 Timothy 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

Job 29:21

Introduction

In spite of his speech about the senselessness of an argument against God, Job is forced by his terrible suffering to go on with his complaint. The language that Job speaks against God in this section is not the result of his physical suffering, but of the wrestling of his faith in the goodness of God. He cannot but see the hand of God in all the suffering that befalls him.

At the same time, he cannot understand that God is inflicting this suffering on him. This leads him to make statements or better exclamations about God that are not true. God does not call him to account for this. His friends do. But even they don’t speak about God as He is. The inner conflict that Job has with his situation is getting bigger and bigger as a result. We taste the bitterness of it in the following verses.

Again Job’s Complaint Against God

Job continues his answer to Bildad. He loathes his own life (Job 10:1). The burden is unbearable. He must express himself and let himself go. He gives free rein to his complaint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. The expression of complaints is a way to draw attention for the situation a person is in. There are people who always complain out of dissatisfaction with their circumstances. They think they have suffered badly compared to others. This type of complainer about their fate, complains because they feel that they have been wronged and because their desires are not being met. Job is not that kind of complainer. He really has something to complain about.

His complaint is against God (Job 10:2). God should “not condemn” him or let him know why He is doing this to him. Job is not yet ready to resign himself to his fate and certainly not to surrender to God for his fate. Rather, he should call God to account. Then, if God does not let him know why He is fighting him, he will ask God his questions.

It is, of course, inappropriate to call God to account. Unbelief does so in great moderation, because it denies there is a sovereign God. Paul says to such people: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20). But Job is not such a person. He wrestles with God and, out of the greatest despair, slings his questions to heaven. God does not blame him for putting up a big mouth against Him. He knows Job and lets him rage until Job comes face to face with Him (Job 42:5-6).

Job does by no means and nowhere abandon God. It is precisely his great difficulty with God’s actions that drives him toward God. In his struggle to understand God, he fires a number of questions at God. He wants to know from Him whether it is right for Him to oppress him (Job 10:3). What is His gain if He uses His power to oppress him? Faith answers: “For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men” (Lamentations 3:33). But Job is not that far yet.

He knows that God’s hands have made him, that God did also “labor” for him. But what does God do with him, the labor of His hands? He rejects him. Surely, this is impossible to reconcile, isn’t it? Doesn’t God love His own work? But there is nothing of that in His treatment of Job. He treats Job, who has served Him so faithfully, as a masterpiece without value. And what is even stranger is that He looks favorably on the schemes of the wicked. They live happily in the light, while he is in darkness.

Would all this escape God? That is why Job asks God if He sometimes has the eyes of flesh and sees as a man sees, so that He has overlooked Job’s suffering. A creature cannot look beyond its own horizon. A human being certainly cannot look into the hearts of others (Job 10:4). But God does, doesn’t He? That is the desperate underlying thought of Job. But then he can no longer grasp God’s ways, for him they are all murky and incomprehensible.

God is not bound to time either. This brings Job to the firing of his third question, why does He look so much like a mortal who counts the days, and like a man who sees his years pass by (Job 10:5)? Job knows that God sees much wider and much deeper than a man and that He is not bound to time and space. For God there is no past or future. For Him, His past and future are always present.

But then why does He pretend that He, like a human being, is limited in understanding and in time and space? For Job this is apparent from the way God is occupied with him. He experiences it as if God thoroughly investigates his iniquity, as if He is unaware that He has served Him faithfully (Job 10:6). Why, then, does He search so much for his sin? Why doesn’t God wait patiently until sin is clear to everyone? Why does He hasten, like a man, to torture Job in order to force a confession?

‘Of course You know’, Job says to God, ‘“that I am indeed not guilty” (Job 10:7). But it says nothing to You. You are continuing to destroy me. And I cannot resist it. Nor is there anyone who will stand up for me against You, to save me from Your hand. Who would that be? No one can stand up to You.’

Job can’t understand that the Creator and the Destroyer are the same Person. At first God’s hands skillfully “fashioned and made” him and protected him, but now these two hands are around him to destroy him (Job 10:8). Job is not an evolutionist; he firmly believes in God as his Fashioner and Maker. He just cannot understand what God does with what He has fashioned and made. God first created him with great wisdom, ability, effort, and care. And then, suddenly and without cause, He destroys His work, Job, with the same hands. Who makes a beautiful vase to smash it into pieces a little later?

He reminds God that He made him a fragile, vulnerable clay (Job 10:9). He knows that God formed man, Adam, “of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He also knows that man “to dust … shall return” (Genesis 3:19). This presupposes that Job knows about the Fall and its consequences for man. He also acknowledges God’s judgment of sin, that death has come into the world through it.

After the picture of the potter, Job now uses the picture of the cheesemaker (Job 10:10). A solid substance, cheese, comes out of the liquid milk after coagulation. This is a beautiful picture of man’s creation and growth. This is also God’s work.

He places skin and flesh through which a form is created (Job 10:11). He also places bones and sinews through which the body can move and walk. In this way He weaves man into a whole. David says that he is “woven” in his mother’s womb and that he is “skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalms 139:13; 15). Man is a piece of art, the product of an Artist.

Job now speaks of the life he was given as a gift (Job 10:12). It was given to him by God, both in conception and in birth. He also acknowledges that God, by giving him life, has also given him lovingkindness. Life is a gift from the merciful God. His spirit, with which he can be connected to God, is also the object of God’s care, Job says here. God has preserved the spirit of Job in His care. That Job has not abandoned God is the result of God’s care for his spirit.

This wonderful description of his life as a product of God is a prelude to a new complaint about God’s dealings with him. God has so clearly cared for him. But His purpose is very different from Job’s expectations. ‘Now it appears’, Job says to God as it were, ‘that You had other, hidden plans with my birth’ (Job 10:13). In fact, Job says it so strongly, that he knows that God planned this with him from the beginning.

Job constantly feels God’s penetrating eye on him, but now not only to take care of him (Job 10:12), but to spy on him and catch him for sin (Job 10:14). Not the slightest sin escapes him. Certainly, if he is guilty, he has to fear God’s wrath (Job 10:15). Then the cry fits him: “Woe to me!” But even if he is righteous – and he thinks so of himself – he will not be able to raise his head proudly. After all, God is aiming at him. He is therefore satiated with disgrace and can only bow his head out of misery.

‘Can You face my misery and remain unmoved? It seems so because You don’t care about my misery. But if I myself try to put myself out of my misery, then “You would hunt me like a lion” (Job 10:16). If it seems that You leave me alone for a while, then I am mistaken, for You return to me to further maul me. You are acting very miraculously with me; I don’t understand a thing. First You have created me with care, and then You make every effort to humiliate and destroy me.’

Job complains that God is bringing new witnesses against him instead of asserting his right (Job 10:17). It may be that Job means his friends by this. They set themselves up as lawyers of God. They defend His interests, at least that is the impression they give. They do so in a way that makes Job feel God’s anger against him. Every new plea of the friends that they think they should keep in favor of God and in which they charge Job, is as it were a new army that positions itself against Job. It is an army that in turn constantly bombards him with words. It is therefore not strange that Job erupts in a new series of complaints.

Job 29:22

Introduction

In spite of his speech about the senselessness of an argument against God, Job is forced by his terrible suffering to go on with his complaint. The language that Job speaks against God in this section is not the result of his physical suffering, but of the wrestling of his faith in the goodness of God. He cannot but see the hand of God in all the suffering that befalls him.

At the same time, he cannot understand that God is inflicting this suffering on him. This leads him to make statements or better exclamations about God that are not true. God does not call him to account for this. His friends do. But even they don’t speak about God as He is. The inner conflict that Job has with his situation is getting bigger and bigger as a result. We taste the bitterness of it in the following verses.

Again Job’s Complaint Against God

Job continues his answer to Bildad. He loathes his own life (Job 10:1). The burden is unbearable. He must express himself and let himself go. He gives free rein to his complaint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. The expression of complaints is a way to draw attention for the situation a person is in. There are people who always complain out of dissatisfaction with their circumstances. They think they have suffered badly compared to others. This type of complainer about their fate, complains because they feel that they have been wronged and because their desires are not being met. Job is not that kind of complainer. He really has something to complain about.

His complaint is against God (Job 10:2). God should “not condemn” him or let him know why He is doing this to him. Job is not yet ready to resign himself to his fate and certainly not to surrender to God for his fate. Rather, he should call God to account. Then, if God does not let him know why He is fighting him, he will ask God his questions.

It is, of course, inappropriate to call God to account. Unbelief does so in great moderation, because it denies there is a sovereign God. Paul says to such people: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20). But Job is not such a person. He wrestles with God and, out of the greatest despair, slings his questions to heaven. God does not blame him for putting up a big mouth against Him. He knows Job and lets him rage until Job comes face to face with Him (Job 42:5-6).

Job does by no means and nowhere abandon God. It is precisely his great difficulty with God’s actions that drives him toward God. In his struggle to understand God, he fires a number of questions at God. He wants to know from Him whether it is right for Him to oppress him (Job 10:3). What is His gain if He uses His power to oppress him? Faith answers: “For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men” (Lamentations 3:33). But Job is not that far yet.

He knows that God’s hands have made him, that God did also “labor” for him. But what does God do with him, the labor of His hands? He rejects him. Surely, this is impossible to reconcile, isn’t it? Doesn’t God love His own work? But there is nothing of that in His treatment of Job. He treats Job, who has served Him so faithfully, as a masterpiece without value. And what is even stranger is that He looks favorably on the schemes of the wicked. They live happily in the light, while he is in darkness.

Would all this escape God? That is why Job asks God if He sometimes has the eyes of flesh and sees as a man sees, so that He has overlooked Job’s suffering. A creature cannot look beyond its own horizon. A human being certainly cannot look into the hearts of others (Job 10:4). But God does, doesn’t He? That is the desperate underlying thought of Job. But then he can no longer grasp God’s ways, for him they are all murky and incomprehensible.

God is not bound to time either. This brings Job to the firing of his third question, why does He look so much like a mortal who counts the days, and like a man who sees his years pass by (Job 10:5)? Job knows that God sees much wider and much deeper than a man and that He is not bound to time and space. For God there is no past or future. For Him, His past and future are always present.

But then why does He pretend that He, like a human being, is limited in understanding and in time and space? For Job this is apparent from the way God is occupied with him. He experiences it as if God thoroughly investigates his iniquity, as if He is unaware that He has served Him faithfully (Job 10:6). Why, then, does He search so much for his sin? Why doesn’t God wait patiently until sin is clear to everyone? Why does He hasten, like a man, to torture Job in order to force a confession?

‘Of course You know’, Job says to God, ‘“that I am indeed not guilty” (Job 10:7). But it says nothing to You. You are continuing to destroy me. And I cannot resist it. Nor is there anyone who will stand up for me against You, to save me from Your hand. Who would that be? No one can stand up to You.’

Job can’t understand that the Creator and the Destroyer are the same Person. At first God’s hands skillfully “fashioned and made” him and protected him, but now these two hands are around him to destroy him (Job 10:8). Job is not an evolutionist; he firmly believes in God as his Fashioner and Maker. He just cannot understand what God does with what He has fashioned and made. God first created him with great wisdom, ability, effort, and care. And then, suddenly and without cause, He destroys His work, Job, with the same hands. Who makes a beautiful vase to smash it into pieces a little later?

He reminds God that He made him a fragile, vulnerable clay (Job 10:9). He knows that God formed man, Adam, “of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He also knows that man “to dust … shall return” (Genesis 3:19). This presupposes that Job knows about the Fall and its consequences for man. He also acknowledges God’s judgment of sin, that death has come into the world through it.

After the picture of the potter, Job now uses the picture of the cheesemaker (Job 10:10). A solid substance, cheese, comes out of the liquid milk after coagulation. This is a beautiful picture of man’s creation and growth. This is also God’s work.

He places skin and flesh through which a form is created (Job 10:11). He also places bones and sinews through which the body can move and walk. In this way He weaves man into a whole. David says that he is “woven” in his mother’s womb and that he is “skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalms 139:13; 15). Man is a piece of art, the product of an Artist.

Job now speaks of the life he was given as a gift (Job 10:12). It was given to him by God, both in conception and in birth. He also acknowledges that God, by giving him life, has also given him lovingkindness. Life is a gift from the merciful God. His spirit, with which he can be connected to God, is also the object of God’s care, Job says here. God has preserved the spirit of Job in His care. That Job has not abandoned God is the result of God’s care for his spirit.

This wonderful description of his life as a product of God is a prelude to a new complaint about God’s dealings with him. God has so clearly cared for him. But His purpose is very different from Job’s expectations. ‘Now it appears’, Job says to God as it were, ‘that You had other, hidden plans with my birth’ (Job 10:13). In fact, Job says it so strongly, that he knows that God planned this with him from the beginning.

Job constantly feels God’s penetrating eye on him, but now not only to take care of him (Job 10:12), but to spy on him and catch him for sin (Job 10:14). Not the slightest sin escapes him. Certainly, if he is guilty, he has to fear God’s wrath (Job 10:15). Then the cry fits him: “Woe to me!” But even if he is righteous – and he thinks so of himself – he will not be able to raise his head proudly. After all, God is aiming at him. He is therefore satiated with disgrace and can only bow his head out of misery.

‘Can You face my misery and remain unmoved? It seems so because You don’t care about my misery. But if I myself try to put myself out of my misery, then “You would hunt me like a lion” (Job 10:16). If it seems that You leave me alone for a while, then I am mistaken, for You return to me to further maul me. You are acting very miraculously with me; I don’t understand a thing. First You have created me with care, and then You make every effort to humiliate and destroy me.’

Job complains that God is bringing new witnesses against him instead of asserting his right (Job 10:17). It may be that Job means his friends by this. They set themselves up as lawyers of God. They defend His interests, at least that is the impression they give. They do so in a way that makes Job feel God’s anger against him. Every new plea of the friends that they think they should keep in favor of God and in which they charge Job, is as it were a new army that positions itself against Job. It is an army that in turn constantly bombards him with words. It is therefore not strange that Job erupts in a new series of complaints.

Job 29:23

Introduction

In spite of his speech about the senselessness of an argument against God, Job is forced by his terrible suffering to go on with his complaint. The language that Job speaks against God in this section is not the result of his physical suffering, but of the wrestling of his faith in the goodness of God. He cannot but see the hand of God in all the suffering that befalls him.

At the same time, he cannot understand that God is inflicting this suffering on him. This leads him to make statements or better exclamations about God that are not true. God does not call him to account for this. His friends do. But even they don’t speak about God as He is. The inner conflict that Job has with his situation is getting bigger and bigger as a result. We taste the bitterness of it in the following verses.

Again Job’s Complaint Against God

Job continues his answer to Bildad. He loathes his own life (Job 10:1). The burden is unbearable. He must express himself and let himself go. He gives free rein to his complaint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. The expression of complaints is a way to draw attention for the situation a person is in. There are people who always complain out of dissatisfaction with their circumstances. They think they have suffered badly compared to others. This type of complainer about their fate, complains because they feel that they have been wronged and because their desires are not being met. Job is not that kind of complainer. He really has something to complain about.

His complaint is against God (Job 10:2). God should “not condemn” him or let him know why He is doing this to him. Job is not yet ready to resign himself to his fate and certainly not to surrender to God for his fate. Rather, he should call God to account. Then, if God does not let him know why He is fighting him, he will ask God his questions.

It is, of course, inappropriate to call God to account. Unbelief does so in great moderation, because it denies there is a sovereign God. Paul says to such people: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20). But Job is not such a person. He wrestles with God and, out of the greatest despair, slings his questions to heaven. God does not blame him for putting up a big mouth against Him. He knows Job and lets him rage until Job comes face to face with Him (Job 42:5-6).

Job does by no means and nowhere abandon God. It is precisely his great difficulty with God’s actions that drives him toward God. In his struggle to understand God, he fires a number of questions at God. He wants to know from Him whether it is right for Him to oppress him (Job 10:3). What is His gain if He uses His power to oppress him? Faith answers: “For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men” (Lamentations 3:33). But Job is not that far yet.

He knows that God’s hands have made him, that God did also “labor” for him. But what does God do with him, the labor of His hands? He rejects him. Surely, this is impossible to reconcile, isn’t it? Doesn’t God love His own work? But there is nothing of that in His treatment of Job. He treats Job, who has served Him so faithfully, as a masterpiece without value. And what is even stranger is that He looks favorably on the schemes of the wicked. They live happily in the light, while he is in darkness.

Would all this escape God? That is why Job asks God if He sometimes has the eyes of flesh and sees as a man sees, so that He has overlooked Job’s suffering. A creature cannot look beyond its own horizon. A human being certainly cannot look into the hearts of others (Job 10:4). But God does, doesn’t He? That is the desperate underlying thought of Job. But then he can no longer grasp God’s ways, for him they are all murky and incomprehensible.

God is not bound to time either. This brings Job to the firing of his third question, why does He look so much like a mortal who counts the days, and like a man who sees his years pass by (Job 10:5)? Job knows that God sees much wider and much deeper than a man and that He is not bound to time and space. For God there is no past or future. For Him, His past and future are always present.

But then why does He pretend that He, like a human being, is limited in understanding and in time and space? For Job this is apparent from the way God is occupied with him. He experiences it as if God thoroughly investigates his iniquity, as if He is unaware that He has served Him faithfully (Job 10:6). Why, then, does He search so much for his sin? Why doesn’t God wait patiently until sin is clear to everyone? Why does He hasten, like a man, to torture Job in order to force a confession?

‘Of course You know’, Job says to God, ‘“that I am indeed not guilty” (Job 10:7). But it says nothing to You. You are continuing to destroy me. And I cannot resist it. Nor is there anyone who will stand up for me against You, to save me from Your hand. Who would that be? No one can stand up to You.’

Job can’t understand that the Creator and the Destroyer are the same Person. At first God’s hands skillfully “fashioned and made” him and protected him, but now these two hands are around him to destroy him (Job 10:8). Job is not an evolutionist; he firmly believes in God as his Fashioner and Maker. He just cannot understand what God does with what He has fashioned and made. God first created him with great wisdom, ability, effort, and care. And then, suddenly and without cause, He destroys His work, Job, with the same hands. Who makes a beautiful vase to smash it into pieces a little later?

He reminds God that He made him a fragile, vulnerable clay (Job 10:9). He knows that God formed man, Adam, “of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He also knows that man “to dust … shall return” (Genesis 3:19). This presupposes that Job knows about the Fall and its consequences for man. He also acknowledges God’s judgment of sin, that death has come into the world through it.

After the picture of the potter, Job now uses the picture of the cheesemaker (Job 10:10). A solid substance, cheese, comes out of the liquid milk after coagulation. This is a beautiful picture of man’s creation and growth. This is also God’s work.

He places skin and flesh through which a form is created (Job 10:11). He also places bones and sinews through which the body can move and walk. In this way He weaves man into a whole. David says that he is “woven” in his mother’s womb and that he is “skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalms 139:13; 15). Man is a piece of art, the product of an Artist.

Job now speaks of the life he was given as a gift (Job 10:12). It was given to him by God, both in conception and in birth. He also acknowledges that God, by giving him life, has also given him lovingkindness. Life is a gift from the merciful God. His spirit, with which he can be connected to God, is also the object of God’s care, Job says here. God has preserved the spirit of Job in His care. That Job has not abandoned God is the result of God’s care for his spirit.

This wonderful description of his life as a product of God is a prelude to a new complaint about God’s dealings with him. God has so clearly cared for him. But His purpose is very different from Job’s expectations. ‘Now it appears’, Job says to God as it were, ‘that You had other, hidden plans with my birth’ (Job 10:13). In fact, Job says it so strongly, that he knows that God planned this with him from the beginning.

Job constantly feels God’s penetrating eye on him, but now not only to take care of him (Job 10:12), but to spy on him and catch him for sin (Job 10:14). Not the slightest sin escapes him. Certainly, if he is guilty, he has to fear God’s wrath (Job 10:15). Then the cry fits him: “Woe to me!” But even if he is righteous – and he thinks so of himself – he will not be able to raise his head proudly. After all, God is aiming at him. He is therefore satiated with disgrace and can only bow his head out of misery.

‘Can You face my misery and remain unmoved? It seems so because You don’t care about my misery. But if I myself try to put myself out of my misery, then “You would hunt me like a lion” (Job 10:16). If it seems that You leave me alone for a while, then I am mistaken, for You return to me to further maul me. You are acting very miraculously with me; I don’t understand a thing. First You have created me with care, and then You make every effort to humiliate and destroy me.’

Job complains that God is bringing new witnesses against him instead of asserting his right (Job 10:17). It may be that Job means his friends by this. They set themselves up as lawyers of God. They defend His interests, at least that is the impression they give. They do so in a way that makes Job feel God’s anger against him. Every new plea of the friends that they think they should keep in favor of God and in which they charge Job, is as it were a new army that positions itself against Job. It is an army that in turn constantly bombards him with words. It is therefore not strange that Job erupts in a new series of complaints.

Job 29:24

Introduction

In spite of his speech about the senselessness of an argument against God, Job is forced by his terrible suffering to go on with his complaint. The language that Job speaks against God in this section is not the result of his physical suffering, but of the wrestling of his faith in the goodness of God. He cannot but see the hand of God in all the suffering that befalls him.

At the same time, he cannot understand that God is inflicting this suffering on him. This leads him to make statements or better exclamations about God that are not true. God does not call him to account for this. His friends do. But even they don’t speak about God as He is. The inner conflict that Job has with his situation is getting bigger and bigger as a result. We taste the bitterness of it in the following verses.

Again Job’s Complaint Against God

Job continues his answer to Bildad. He loathes his own life (Job 10:1). The burden is unbearable. He must express himself and let himself go. He gives free rein to his complaint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. The expression of complaints is a way to draw attention for the situation a person is in. There are people who always complain out of dissatisfaction with their circumstances. They think they have suffered badly compared to others. This type of complainer about their fate, complains because they feel that they have been wronged and because their desires are not being met. Job is not that kind of complainer. He really has something to complain about.

His complaint is against God (Job 10:2). God should “not condemn” him or let him know why He is doing this to him. Job is not yet ready to resign himself to his fate and certainly not to surrender to God for his fate. Rather, he should call God to account. Then, if God does not let him know why He is fighting him, he will ask God his questions.

It is, of course, inappropriate to call God to account. Unbelief does so in great moderation, because it denies there is a sovereign God. Paul says to such people: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20). But Job is not such a person. He wrestles with God and, out of the greatest despair, slings his questions to heaven. God does not blame him for putting up a big mouth against Him. He knows Job and lets him rage until Job comes face to face with Him (Job 42:5-6).

Job does by no means and nowhere abandon God. It is precisely his great difficulty with God’s actions that drives him toward God. In his struggle to understand God, he fires a number of questions at God. He wants to know from Him whether it is right for Him to oppress him (Job 10:3). What is His gain if He uses His power to oppress him? Faith answers: “For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men” (Lamentations 3:33). But Job is not that far yet.

He knows that God’s hands have made him, that God did also “labor” for him. But what does God do with him, the labor of His hands? He rejects him. Surely, this is impossible to reconcile, isn’t it? Doesn’t God love His own work? But there is nothing of that in His treatment of Job. He treats Job, who has served Him so faithfully, as a masterpiece without value. And what is even stranger is that He looks favorably on the schemes of the wicked. They live happily in the light, while he is in darkness.

Would all this escape God? That is why Job asks God if He sometimes has the eyes of flesh and sees as a man sees, so that He has overlooked Job’s suffering. A creature cannot look beyond its own horizon. A human being certainly cannot look into the hearts of others (Job 10:4). But God does, doesn’t He? That is the desperate underlying thought of Job. But then he can no longer grasp God’s ways, for him they are all murky and incomprehensible.

God is not bound to time either. This brings Job to the firing of his third question, why does He look so much like a mortal who counts the days, and like a man who sees his years pass by (Job 10:5)? Job knows that God sees much wider and much deeper than a man and that He is not bound to time and space. For God there is no past or future. For Him, His past and future are always present.

But then why does He pretend that He, like a human being, is limited in understanding and in time and space? For Job this is apparent from the way God is occupied with him. He experiences it as if God thoroughly investigates his iniquity, as if He is unaware that He has served Him faithfully (Job 10:6). Why, then, does He search so much for his sin? Why doesn’t God wait patiently until sin is clear to everyone? Why does He hasten, like a man, to torture Job in order to force a confession?

‘Of course You know’, Job says to God, ‘“that I am indeed not guilty” (Job 10:7). But it says nothing to You. You are continuing to destroy me. And I cannot resist it. Nor is there anyone who will stand up for me against You, to save me from Your hand. Who would that be? No one can stand up to You.’

Job can’t understand that the Creator and the Destroyer are the same Person. At first God’s hands skillfully “fashioned and made” him and protected him, but now these two hands are around him to destroy him (Job 10:8). Job is not an evolutionist; he firmly believes in God as his Fashioner and Maker. He just cannot understand what God does with what He has fashioned and made. God first created him with great wisdom, ability, effort, and care. And then, suddenly and without cause, He destroys His work, Job, with the same hands. Who makes a beautiful vase to smash it into pieces a little later?

He reminds God that He made him a fragile, vulnerable clay (Job 10:9). He knows that God formed man, Adam, “of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He also knows that man “to dust … shall return” (Genesis 3:19). This presupposes that Job knows about the Fall and its consequences for man. He also acknowledges God’s judgment of sin, that death has come into the world through it.

After the picture of the potter, Job now uses the picture of the cheesemaker (Job 10:10). A solid substance, cheese, comes out of the liquid milk after coagulation. This is a beautiful picture of man’s creation and growth. This is also God’s work.

He places skin and flesh through which a form is created (Job 10:11). He also places bones and sinews through which the body can move and walk. In this way He weaves man into a whole. David says that he is “woven” in his mother’s womb and that he is “skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalms 139:13; 15). Man is a piece of art, the product of an Artist.

Job now speaks of the life he was given as a gift (Job 10:12). It was given to him by God, both in conception and in birth. He also acknowledges that God, by giving him life, has also given him lovingkindness. Life is a gift from the merciful God. His spirit, with which he can be connected to God, is also the object of God’s care, Job says here. God has preserved the spirit of Job in His care. That Job has not abandoned God is the result of God’s care for his spirit.

This wonderful description of his life as a product of God is a prelude to a new complaint about God’s dealings with him. God has so clearly cared for him. But His purpose is very different from Job’s expectations. ‘Now it appears’, Job says to God as it were, ‘that You had other, hidden plans with my birth’ (Job 10:13). In fact, Job says it so strongly, that he knows that God planned this with him from the beginning.

Job constantly feels God’s penetrating eye on him, but now not only to take care of him (Job 10:12), but to spy on him and catch him for sin (Job 10:14). Not the slightest sin escapes him. Certainly, if he is guilty, he has to fear God’s wrath (Job 10:15). Then the cry fits him: “Woe to me!” But even if he is righteous – and he thinks so of himself – he will not be able to raise his head proudly. After all, God is aiming at him. He is therefore satiated with disgrace and can only bow his head out of misery.

‘Can You face my misery and remain unmoved? It seems so because You don’t care about my misery. But if I myself try to put myself out of my misery, then “You would hunt me like a lion” (Job 10:16). If it seems that You leave me alone for a while, then I am mistaken, for You return to me to further maul me. You are acting very miraculously with me; I don’t understand a thing. First You have created me with care, and then You make every effort to humiliate and destroy me.’

Job complains that God is bringing new witnesses against him instead of asserting his right (Job 10:17). It may be that Job means his friends by this. They set themselves up as lawyers of God. They defend His interests, at least that is the impression they give. They do so in a way that makes Job feel God’s anger against him. Every new plea of the friends that they think they should keep in favor of God and in which they charge Job, is as it were a new army that positions itself against Job. It is an army that in turn constantly bombards him with words. It is therefore not strange that Job erupts in a new series of complaints.

Job 29:25

Introduction

In spite of his speech about the senselessness of an argument against God, Job is forced by his terrible suffering to go on with his complaint. The language that Job speaks against God in this section is not the result of his physical suffering, but of the wrestling of his faith in the goodness of God. He cannot but see the hand of God in all the suffering that befalls him.

At the same time, he cannot understand that God is inflicting this suffering on him. This leads him to make statements or better exclamations about God that are not true. God does not call him to account for this. His friends do. But even they don’t speak about God as He is. The inner conflict that Job has with his situation is getting bigger and bigger as a result. We taste the bitterness of it in the following verses.

Again Job’s Complaint Against God

Job continues his answer to Bildad. He loathes his own life (Job 10:1). The burden is unbearable. He must express himself and let himself go. He gives free rein to his complaint and speaks from the bitterness of his soul. The expression of complaints is a way to draw attention for the situation a person is in. There are people who always complain out of dissatisfaction with their circumstances. They think they have suffered badly compared to others. This type of complainer about their fate, complains because they feel that they have been wronged and because their desires are not being met. Job is not that kind of complainer. He really has something to complain about.

His complaint is against God (Job 10:2). God should “not condemn” him or let him know why He is doing this to him. Job is not yet ready to resign himself to his fate and certainly not to surrender to God for his fate. Rather, he should call God to account. Then, if God does not let him know why He is fighting him, he will ask God his questions.

It is, of course, inappropriate to call God to account. Unbelief does so in great moderation, because it denies there is a sovereign God. Paul says to such people: “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20). But Job is not such a person. He wrestles with God and, out of the greatest despair, slings his questions to heaven. God does not blame him for putting up a big mouth against Him. He knows Job and lets him rage until Job comes face to face with Him (Job 42:5-6).

Job does by no means and nowhere abandon God. It is precisely his great difficulty with God’s actions that drives him toward God. In his struggle to understand God, he fires a number of questions at God. He wants to know from Him whether it is right for Him to oppress him (Job 10:3). What is His gain if He uses His power to oppress him? Faith answers: “For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men” (Lamentations 3:33). But Job is not that far yet.

He knows that God’s hands have made him, that God did also “labor” for him. But what does God do with him, the labor of His hands? He rejects him. Surely, this is impossible to reconcile, isn’t it? Doesn’t God love His own work? But there is nothing of that in His treatment of Job. He treats Job, who has served Him so faithfully, as a masterpiece without value. And what is even stranger is that He looks favorably on the schemes of the wicked. They live happily in the light, while he is in darkness.

Would all this escape God? That is why Job asks God if He sometimes has the eyes of flesh and sees as a man sees, so that He has overlooked Job’s suffering. A creature cannot look beyond its own horizon. A human being certainly cannot look into the hearts of others (Job 10:4). But God does, doesn’t He? That is the desperate underlying thought of Job. But then he can no longer grasp God’s ways, for him they are all murky and incomprehensible.

God is not bound to time either. This brings Job to the firing of his third question, why does He look so much like a mortal who counts the days, and like a man who sees his years pass by (Job 10:5)? Job knows that God sees much wider and much deeper than a man and that He is not bound to time and space. For God there is no past or future. For Him, His past and future are always present.

But then why does He pretend that He, like a human being, is limited in understanding and in time and space? For Job this is apparent from the way God is occupied with him. He experiences it as if God thoroughly investigates his iniquity, as if He is unaware that He has served Him faithfully (Job 10:6). Why, then, does He search so much for his sin? Why doesn’t God wait patiently until sin is clear to everyone? Why does He hasten, like a man, to torture Job in order to force a confession?

‘Of course You know’, Job says to God, ‘“that I am indeed not guilty” (Job 10:7). But it says nothing to You. You are continuing to destroy me. And I cannot resist it. Nor is there anyone who will stand up for me against You, to save me from Your hand. Who would that be? No one can stand up to You.’

Job can’t understand that the Creator and the Destroyer are the same Person. At first God’s hands skillfully “fashioned and made” him and protected him, but now these two hands are around him to destroy him (Job 10:8). Job is not an evolutionist; he firmly believes in God as his Fashioner and Maker. He just cannot understand what God does with what He has fashioned and made. God first created him with great wisdom, ability, effort, and care. And then, suddenly and without cause, He destroys His work, Job, with the same hands. Who makes a beautiful vase to smash it into pieces a little later?

He reminds God that He made him a fragile, vulnerable clay (Job 10:9). He knows that God formed man, Adam, “of dust from the ground” (Genesis 2:7). He also knows that man “to dust … shall return” (Genesis 3:19). This presupposes that Job knows about the Fall and its consequences for man. He also acknowledges God’s judgment of sin, that death has come into the world through it.

After the picture of the potter, Job now uses the picture of the cheesemaker (Job 10:10). A solid substance, cheese, comes out of the liquid milk after coagulation. This is a beautiful picture of man’s creation and growth. This is also God’s work.

He places skin and flesh through which a form is created (Job 10:11). He also places bones and sinews through which the body can move and walk. In this way He weaves man into a whole. David says that he is “woven” in his mother’s womb and that he is “skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth” (Psalms 139:13; 15). Man is a piece of art, the product of an Artist.

Job now speaks of the life he was given as a gift (Job 10:12). It was given to him by God, both in conception and in birth. He also acknowledges that God, by giving him life, has also given him lovingkindness. Life is a gift from the merciful God. His spirit, with which he can be connected to God, is also the object of God’s care, Job says here. God has preserved the spirit of Job in His care. That Job has not abandoned God is the result of God’s care for his spirit.

This wonderful description of his life as a product of God is a prelude to a new complaint about God’s dealings with him. God has so clearly cared for him. But His purpose is very different from Job’s expectations. ‘Now it appears’, Job says to God as it were, ‘that You had other, hidden plans with my birth’ (Job 10:13). In fact, Job says it so strongly, that he knows that God planned this with him from the beginning.

Job constantly feels God’s penetrating eye on him, but now not only to take care of him (Job 10:12), but to spy on him and catch him for sin (Job 10:14). Not the slightest sin escapes him. Certainly, if he is guilty, he has to fear God’s wrath (Job 10:15). Then the cry fits him: “Woe to me!” But even if he is righteous – and he thinks so of himself – he will not be able to raise his head proudly. After all, God is aiming at him. He is therefore satiated with disgrace and can only bow his head out of misery.

‘Can You face my misery and remain unmoved? It seems so because You don’t care about my misery. But if I myself try to put myself out of my misery, then “You would hunt me like a lion” (Job 10:16). If it seems that You leave me alone for a while, then I am mistaken, for You return to me to further maul me. You are acting very miraculously with me; I don’t understand a thing. First You have created me with care, and then You make every effort to humiliate and destroy me.’

Job complains that God is bringing new witnesses against him instead of asserting his right (Job 10:17). It may be that Job means his friends by this. They set themselves up as lawyers of God. They defend His interests, at least that is the impression they give. They do so in a way that makes Job feel God’s anger against him. Every new plea of the friends that they think they should keep in favor of God and in which they charge Job, is as it were a new army that positions itself against Job. It is an army that in turn constantly bombards him with words. It is therefore not strange that Job erupts in a new series of complaints.