“My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?
Job is feeling like he cannot endure much more as Chapter 17 opens. He longs for someone to take his side. ("who is he that will strike hands with me") Jesus is our Advocate...the word in the Greek for advocate is paracletos...or one who comes along side. I love that!
My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.--Job 17:7-9
Even fair minded men were astonished at Job's plight. Job, himself, lacked insight as to the reason for his own suffering and misery. Job reminds others as well as himself here that the righteous man should hold on the path God has before Him. He should move forward in faith and continue to live rightly. Even though all around him were heaping scorn and shame upon him....even though his reputation was being slandered...even though he had become a byword among his people, Job would hold fast and would remember that it was not important what man thought but what God thought that mattered.
The last several verses of Chapter 17 find Job about as low as a man can get. (he does manage to go lower though) All was dark, his good days were all behind him and his hope was in the grave.
Chapter 18:
Bildad speaks next and truly he has lost his patience with Job. Verse 1 and 4 are some of my favorites.
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place?
Job shut your mouth and Job does the world come to an end because you are suffering?? He then goes on to paint for Job 4 pictures of the death of the wicked. He likens it to: a darkened light, a trapped traveler, a fugitive and a rotting tree. Thank you Bildad!
Chapter 19:
Job answers Bildad and his other comforters by asking them how long they will continue to accuse him and vex his soul. You are breaking me into pieces with your words, Job says. You have not proved anything against me...it is God who has overthrown me. Job then uses 4 more analogies than Bildad to describe his own situation.
Job is like:
1. An innocent animal trapped by God
2. A wrongly accused criminal
3. a man fenced in by darkness who cannot see the path that leads out
4. like a king dethroned
5. like a tree uprooted
6. like an enemy of God besieged
7. like a building destroyed
8. like a man forsaken and forgotten
Oh the irony of verses 23-24...
“Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!
Job got his wish...
In verses 19 through 26 we read great words of faith...some of the greatest in the Bible.
For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job KNEW that his Redeemer lives! When he died, he knew he would see God and one day he would have a new body.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Our hope is heaven! As we go through trials and difficulties the word is revealed to us in a new and fresh way. We receive an increased understanding of the nature and character of God. We begin to think on eternity more and more. We long for heaven and hold on less tightly to the things of the world.
Chapter 20
It is Zophar's turn to speak. And surprise, surprise it is more of the same stuff we have been hearing over and over again. If we are tired of it, can you imagine how Job feels. He has not only lost his children, his health and all his worldly goods but now he has to be told over and over again that it is all his fault. Now we know that Zophar's speech about the wicked does not really apply to Job because we know that Job is a righteous man. Those who are not, however, should take what Zophar says to heart. Worldly success is temporary, riches without God are bitter and there is no rest or peace for the wicked. In fact, a life lived without God is no life at all..it is vanity and grasping at the wind.
