The tone of extreme dogmatism so noticeable in Zophar's utterance,
no doubt prompted Job to begin his reply on a very sarcastic note. His
words, "No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you,"
have almost passed into a proverb, to be used against the dogmatism of
self-conceit. He claimed to have understanding equal to his friends,
and in verse 5 he reminded them that he, who was in this slippery
place, shone like a warning lamp, only to be despised by those who were in easy and comfortable circumstances, as his friends were.
In verse 6 Job challenged the main position that his friends had
taken. They asserted that God always rewards the pious with earthly
prosperity and visits disaster upon the head of the wicked. He
maintained that it was not so, but that there were cases when robbers
prospered and those who provoked God were secure. In proof of this he
referred to what could be seen in the lower creation -beasts, birds and
fishes. He alluded, we suppose, to the disorder that the sin of man has
introduced even there, so that the weaker meet with disaster and
destruction from the stronger, and all this by the permission of God.
Just as the mouth tastes meat so had his ear tried their words, and
found them worthless.
From verse 13 to the end of this chapter Job reviewed the ways of
God in His dealings with men. He acknowledged that "wisdom and
strength" are His as well as "counsel and understanding." Yet he felt
that God's exercise of these wonderful qualities were full of mystery.
Again and again those who are great and wise-counsellors, judges,
kings, princes-are spoiled and overthrown. He lived in days when, after
the flood, nations had come into being. He had seen such increased and
then destroyed. Men, who had been so wise as to become chief among the
people, suddenly lose their understanding and grope in the dark without
a light, or stagger like a drunken man. Now why was this?
Eliphaz had based his condemnation of Job on what he himself had
observed. Well, Job too had powers of observation, and he had seen all
these things of which he had just spoken, as he affirmed in the opening
verses of
Job 13. He did not claim to be superior to his friends, but
at any rate he was not their inferior, yet he acknowledged that God's
dealings mystified him, being far above and out of his sight. So, as
verse 3 indicates, what he desired was to speak to the Almighty and
reason with God, rather than spend his time in reasoning with his
friends.
Still, there his friends were, and we can see that by this time Job
had been goaded into retorts of a more biting kind. What he wanted was
truth for his mind and healing for his body. They were only "forgers of
lies," and "physicians of no value." He counselled them to hold their
peace and listen to what he had to say; and up to verse 13 he continued
in this strain. He felt they had talked as though speaking on God's
behalf, and in so doing had misrepresented Him. In this, no doubt, Job
judged rightly.
In verses 14-19, God, rather than his friends, is before the mind of
Job. We can discern two conflicting elements. On the one hand, there
was a remarkable spirit of faith, which led him to take all that had
transpired from His hand and not concern himself with the agents of the
disasters, which had stopped short of his death. He had desired to die,
and if God should answer this request and slay him, he would not lose
confidence but still trust in Him. This indeed was excellent, but at
the same time Job revealed his very weak spot in his determination to
"maintain," or "defend" his own ways before Him. So we see that in a
true saint very real faith in God may exist, and yet be marred by a
very determined measure of self-esteem. This it is, which gives such
great value to this remarkable book, since the flesh in us, who are
saints today, is just the same as it was in Job some four thousand
years ago.
Thus it is, that Job proclaimed that God would be his salvation and
that ultimately he would be justified. But in verse 20 he more
definitely addressed himself to God. He accepted his sorrows as being
from the hand of God and asked that His hand might be removed from him,
so that he might stand before Him on easier terms. Verse 23 shows that
directly Job felt himself to be before God he acknowledged iniquity and
sins. He wished to know how many they were, since he felt, as the
succeeding verses reveal, that the retribution he was suffering went
beyond his real deserts. He was like a man with his feet in the stocks,
and thus an easy target for those who wished to throw things at him.
As we read his words, we cannot but feel the pathos of them, and are not surprised at his cry of lamentation, which opens
Job 14.
In the far-off days of Job human life was perhaps three times longer
than it is today; yet it was after all "of few days," and then it was
"full of trouble," just as it is today, so that viewed in the light of
the eternal God, he is but like a fading flower or a fleeting shadow.
Job was conscious of this as regards himself and so he knew he could
not stand the Divine inspection, nor stand before Him in judgment.
Moreover he knew that he was not clean in the sight of God, and he was
sure no one could produce the clean out of the unclean.
The Authorised Translation in verse 4, puts the word thing, in italics. Darby's New Translation inserts rather the word, man.
This is another of the tremendous questions that Job asks, and this
time he answers it-quite rightly too. No man can accomplish it in
himself, and much less achieve it for others. Moreover, when we turn to
the New Testament, we find that God does not propose to do it. The
error that troubled the Galatians was the idea that the law had been
given to clean men up, and hence even Christians had to put themselves
under it and accept circumcision as the sign of it, in order to lead
clean lives. The emphatic word correcting this is, "In Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation"
(Gal. 6: 15). The believer is not the "old man" cleaned up. He is newly
created in Christ, with a nature which in its essential character
"cannot sin," as affirmed in 1 John 3: 9.
Man being of few days, his life in this world must terminate in
death, and the time when he goes is determined by God, as verse 5
states. But, what then? Job felt he was just like an hireling filling
out his day, and he wished that God would give him rest until the end
came. But again, what then?
We have to pass on to verse 14 before we find him actually stating the third tremendous question that filled his mind, but evidently it was in his
mind as he commenced his argument in verse 7. He did not know how a man
could be "just," or "right" with God. He knew that no man could produce
that which is clean out of that which is unclean. And now comes the
question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" As yet, on this point,
no clear and decisive light was shining before him, and in his heart.
This being so, he started to reason the matter out. He took the
analogy of a tree, which had been felled, when for long its root had
been in the earth. He had seen the years pass so that the stump that
was left had begun to decay. Yet a change had come. Something had
happened, an earth-tremor had perhaps cracked the rocks and opened up a
fresh channel for water to reach its roots. Then, as a consequence, the
dead tree had come to life and sprouted again. The hope of Job was that
something like that lay before mankind.
Evidently it was more than a hope, for in verse 12 he infers
that men will "awake," and "be raised out of their sleep," but that
this would not come to pass, "till the heavens be no more." How true
this is, as to the masses of mankind who die in their sins, we see when
we read Revelation 20: 11-15. We must remember that the fact of there
being a resurrection of the just a full thousand years before the resurrection of the unjust,had
not come to light in the days of Job. Verse 13 makes it manifest that
Job in his mind connected the fact of resurrection with the
manifestation of God's wrath, from which he desired to be hid, and the
rather to be remembered in mercy.
The words of Job in verses 14 and 15 are very remarkable. We may
often have wondered how the faith of an Abraham embraced such things as
are recorded in Hebrews 11: 10 and 16, seeing that in his day there was
no public revelation of these heavenly things, as far as the Scripture
record goes. So with Job here. He recognized that he had an " appointed
time," when his "change" would come; that there would be a Divine
"call," to which he would "answer," inasmuch as he was a "work" of
God's hands. In thus speaking he was taught of God, as we can see in
the light of the New Testament.
We pause to ask if we have ever thanked God in any adequate way that
we walk in the light of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead? Have we ever given sufficient weight in our souls to the
statement of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 1: 10, which in the New
Translation reads, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death,
and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the
glad tidings." Immortality is not the word here. That the soul of man
survived death, and resurrection lay ahead, was believed in Old
Testament times, as Job's words here show, and as the Lord made plain
in controversy with the Sadducees of His day. What was not made known
was that for the saint resurrection will mean entrance upon a new and
incorruptible order of things. This was demonstrated when our Lord rose
from the dead. Hence we have .no need to discuss the matter and reason
it out, as Job does here. The whole truth of it has been plainly
revealed.
Thus Job had a certain measure of hope and expectation but, as the
closing verses of the chapter show, all was for the moment swallowed up
in the miseries of his present situation. Once more the speech of Job
ends upon a note of gloom. His last word is "mourn."
There can be no doubt that the excellent men who lived before Christ
did view death in that light. A striking exhibition of it is seen in
the case of Hezekiah-read what he committed to writing, recorded in
Isaiah 38: 9-14. The day had not yet dawned when a saint could look
death full in the face and write of "having a desire to depart, and to
be with Christ; which is far better." Again we say, how great the
privilege of living in this Gospel day!