Deeper Commentary
Job 13:1 Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and
understood it- This may be in direct reference to what Job has just
said in Job 12, he is saying that he has worked these things out by his own
reflections, and this has led him to an understanding which is no less valid
than that of the friends. Job would later confess that he has
indeed heard of God by the hearing of the ear; but only at the end did he
join the dots, to the point where he could say that "now my eye
sees You" (Job 42:5).
Job 13:2 What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you- As noted
on :1, Job is not saying that his knowledge or understanding is identical to
that of the friends, but rather that his path to knowledge is no less valid
than theirs. "Inferior" is better 'to fall down'. Job may mean that he is
not falling down before them, but before God. For he uses the same word in
:11 to urge the friends to fall down ['be inferior to'] God, rather than
assuming they know His game plan and thereby lifting themselves up above
Him.
Job 13:3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with
God- Job has heard their demand that he turn to God, and he says that
indeed he wishes to do so. But he implies that God will not speak to him.
All this builds up towards the final wonder of God Himself appearing and
speaking at the end of the book.
Job 13:4 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value-
"Physicians" is the same word as "make[rs] whole" in Job 5:18: "He injures,
and His hands make whole". His disillusion with the members of his religion,
his brethren, led him to seek the more earnestly to God as the only one
whose hands could "make whole" (s.w. "physician").
Job 13:5 Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise-
This was true, but Job himself was not being silent. At the end, he puts
his hand upon his mouth and is silent (Job 40:4). When Job finally lays
his hand upon his mouth, he is only doing
what he had earlier told the friends to do in recognition of their folly
(Job 13:5; 21:5). Through the pain and irritation of their speeches, Job
came to value and appreciate the need for silence before God. But it was
only when personally confronted by God at the end that he realizes that he
too had spoken too much and he repents of that in silence.
Job 13:6 Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips-
These appeals to hear and listen may not be simply asking them to hear his
words; they may be an appeal to them to hear and repent. This desire for
their repentance and understanding builds up within Job as the speeches
progress. And again, this is preparing him for the Lord's final request to
him- to pray for the friends and bring about their salvation (Job 42:8).
Job 13:7 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for Him?-
LXX "Do ye not speak before the Lord...", another hint that the friends were
represented by the Satan figure of the prologue, who likewise appeared
"before the Lord". Job warns them as many need warning today- that they were
wrong to express their own gut feelings and assumptions in the name of
God, as if they were talking on His behalf. Job differs from them in that
he makes no claim to be speaking by Divine inspiration; he is simply
bemoaning his lot and trying to reason through it, and that record of his
words is noted down in the drama by an inspired writer.
Job 13:8 Will you show partiality to Him?- Perhaps the idea is that
they were acting as if God were in the dock, and they were being generous
to Him in their judgment of Him.
Will you contend for God?- God was not contending with Job through the friends as His representatives. The wonder of the final appearance of God is that He Himself appears and contends directly, not through any representatives such as the friends claimed to be.
Job 13:9 Is it good that He should search you out? Or as one deceives a man,
will you deceive Him?- The idea seems to be that if God searched out
the friends, they would have to try to deceive Him, lest He find the truth
about them. But Job later realizes that God does indeed search out all
things (s.w. Job 28:27). He begins here by saying that if He were
to search things out, He would not find a nice scene in the hearts of the
friends. But Job moves on to realize that indeed this is what God is
doing, on a cosmic scale- searching out all things.
Job 13:10 He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality-
"Reprove" is a legal term, used for legal 'pleading' in court (s.w. Job
16:21; 40:2). Job clearly considers the friends to be guilty, and we are
set up to expect that therefore God is going to open a legal case against
the friends. And this is exactly what happens when God finally appears at
the end of the book.
Job 13:11 Shall not His majesty make you afraid, and His dread fall on
you?- "Fall" is the same word translated "inferior" in :2:
"I am not inferior to you". Job may mean that he is not falling
down before them, but before God. For he uses the same word in
:11 to urge the friends to fall down ['be inferior to'] God, rather than
assuming they know His game plan and thereby are lifting themselves up
above Him. At the end of the book, as noted on :10, God does appear in
majesty, and they are indeed afraid before Him.
Job 13:12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, your defences are
defences of clay- LXX "And your glorying shall prove in the end to
you like ashes, and your body like a body of clay". They were bodies of
clay; but only through their humiliation at the end of the book would they appreciate this in
reality rather than merely as theory. And we see this happening in the
events at the end of the book. And it is so with us today; the mortality
of man can never be a mere theological proposition. It must be believed
and felt, with an appropriate humility, rather than having to be reminded
of it through Divine humiliation.
Job 13:13 Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what
will- LXX "Be silent, that I may speak, and cease from mine anger".
In this case Job is wrongly thinking that his anger is legitimate because
once he has blown it all out, he will then be silent. This was wrong,
because at the end of the book he lays his hand on his mouth and
recognizes that he has spoken wrongly. We too can falsely justify sin or
unwise talking on the basis that once we've done it, we will then somehow
stop being angry and get over our problem.
Job 13:14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my
hand?- The simple sense is as in GNB "I am ready to risk my life".
That risk of life was in order to justify himself before God (:15). This
was demonstrated at the end as being indeed wrong and punishable by death.
Job did indeed risk his life, and was saved from condemnation by grace
alone. However, taking "my flesh in my teeth" may be a figure drawn from a
wild beast taking its prey in its teeth and carrying it off to safety;
meaning therefore 'Why should I seek anxiously to preserve my life?'.
Job 13:15 Even if He slays me, still I will trust in Him-
The language of ‘slaying’ takes
us back to the Mosaic commands about how a ‘slayer’ of a man might be
killed by the ‘avenger of blood’. Job saw God as slaying him; yet he also
sees God as the ‘witness’ in the case (Job 16:19), and the avenger of
Job’s blood (Job 19:25). Job even asks God to not let the earth cover his
blood, so that God as the avenger of Job’s blood may avenge Job’s death
(Job 16:18). Job does not see ‘Satan’ as his slayer, and God as the
avenger of his blood. Instead Job – in a quite breathtaking set of
associations – sees God in all these things: the slayer, the legal witness
to the slayer, the avenger of blood, and the One who will enforce the
doing of justice in this case, the One who will not let the earth cover
Job’s blood. If Job really believed in a superhuman Satan, in Satan as the
bad guy and God as the avenger of the injustice, he surely would’ve
expressed himself differently. As Job imagines God as it were taking
vengeance on Himself, so he came to portray for all time the way that evil
and good are indeed both ultimately from God.
Job 13:16 This also shall be my salvation- LXX "And this shall turn to me for salvation".
See on Phil. 1:19, where this is quoted by Paul. The referent of "this..."
is unclear. It could be Job's enduring hope that he would be saved
finally, despite life not working out for him in this life (see on :15).
This would fit the context in which Paul quotes this in Phil. 1:19.
In that a Godless man shall not come before Him- Job concludes at this point that he will finally be saved, even though God is apparently against him in this life. And he concludes that therefore he must be Godly and not Godless, seeing no Godless man would be accepted "before Him" finally. Job may be making an oblique reference to how the friends as the "sons of God" came "before Him" in worship (Job 1:6); but Job implies they would not ultimately do this at the last day. As it happened, Job's intercession for them "before Him" was to mean that they did.
Job 13:17 Hear diligently my speech. Let my declaration be in Your ears-
This may not merely be an appeal for them to pay attention to what he is
saying; but rather an appeal for them to "hear" him and repent, taking his
appeal deeply within themselves.
Job 13:18 See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am
righteous- Job had judged himself, setting in order his legal case
["cause"], but declaring himself righteous (Job 13:8). By Job 23:4, Job is
realizing that he needs to set his case in order before God; but he can't
find God, or get God to engage in this game of judgment. He needed the
final appearance of God at the end of the book to review his case, and
declare that he is in fact wrong and condemned. But by grace, God will
count him as right. He was prepared for this by Elihu's speech in Job
37:19: "Teach us what we shall tell Him, for we can’t make our case by
reason of darkness". "Make our case" is s.w. "set my cause in order".
Job 13:19 Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my
peace and give up the spirit- Job is challenging anyone to come
forward and contend with him in court by proving him wrong. If they did,
then he would be silent ["hold my peace"] and willingly die. This of
course is exactly what happens at the end. God does contend with Job, and
he is proven guilty. He lays his hand upon mouth in silence (Job 40:4),
and we can deduce from his challenge here that he wanted to die. He saw
then saved from that position by grace alone. The connection with the
exiles is in Is. 50:8, where a similarly convicted Israel would be
justified by Divine grace to the point they could again challenge any to
convict them of sin, seeing that "He is near that justifies me".
O
Job 13:20 Only don’t do two things to me; then I will not hide myself from
Your face- This is so arrogant, to think that he could himself from
God. The allusion is to Adam hiding in Eden from God. Job seeks a
guarantee from God that he will not be condemned, and then says he will
agree to respond to God's call (:22)- another allusion to Adam, who was
'called' to account by God after his sin. It would appear that Job was recognizing that he had sinned, that he knew that the sense of spiritual limbo he was in
paralleled Adam's hiding from God in Eden, but that he would only respond to God's call and come out of hiding to confess his sin as he knew God wanted him to, if God withdrew His hand- i.e. relieved him of the immediate trials he was then experiencing. Thus Job was trying to barter with God- wanting Him to withdraw the trials in return for Job making the confession which he knew God wanted. See on
Job 10:9; 9:17.
Job 13:21 withdraw Your hand far from me- From here to the end of the chapter could be addressed to God, or to the friends. If the latter, then it would appear that Job considers the friends guilty for bringing his sufferings upon him. This would confirm the connection suggested between the friends and the Satan figure. For as soon as Satan is as it were off the stage, the friends appear. See on :20.
And don’t let Your terror make me afraid- Job repeats this fear in Job 9:34, and Elihu alludes to it when he uses the same phrase in assuring Job that his terror will not make Job afraid (Job 33:7). The terror is perhaps "the terror of the Lord", the fear of condemnation at the last day (so Paul uses the phrase, 2 Cor. 5:11). That terror should "persuade men" to accept grace, Paul argues. To have that terror unexperienced by men would mean they had no persuasion toward grace.
Job 13:22 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and You answer
me- See on :20. In the end, God does call Job; and he lays his hand
upon his mouth in silence. For he has no answer, nor does he desire to
speak. For God has already answered him.
Job 13:23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my
disobedience and my sin- This seems an arrogant denial of sinfulness
and a false accusation of God. Job, like the friends, cannot understand
suffering as having any reason apart from sin. And he indignantly insists
that he has not sinned. This insistence upon never moving beyond the
paradigm whereby suffering reflects sin led Job to thereby falsely accuse
God. And we can so easily do the same.
Job 13:24 Why do You hide Your face, and hold me for Your enemy?- The
implication of the argument is that Job had a right to see God's unhidden
face, because God (so Job thinks) cannot convict Job of sin. Cain was
hidden from God's face (s.w. Gen. 4:14); Job again feels he is being
treated like Cain, with a mark set upon him (:27); when he is innocent. He
totally failed to perceive his sinfulness, and was convicted of it only by
the revelation of God at the end- whereby, by grace alone, God no longer
hid His face but revealed Himself. God hid His face from the exiles (s.w.
Dt. 31:17,18; 32:20; Is. 8:17; 54:8; 59:2; 64:7; Jer. 33:5; Ez. 39:23),
and again, His apparent hiding of His face from Job was not because Job
had sinned but because he was suffering as representative of his people.
Job 13:25 Will You harass a driven leaf? Will You pursue the dry stubble?-
Job argues that he is so dead and insignificant that God should stop
bothering with him. But this is exactly the point- that God is indeed to
interested in the dead and insignificant. The leaf driven by the autumn
wind and the stubble after harvest being blown away are all pictures of
judgment, and again connect Job to the judged people of Judah in
captivity.
Job 13:26 For You write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the
iniquities of my youth- see on Job 29:13,14. Job's denial of sin was
to be totally overcome by Yahweh's final appearance. Here he reasons as
many do today: 'I am not a sinner, if I did sin, well that was years ago'.
We make the passage of years a kind of pseudo atonement for sin. But sin
needs atoning, and "just" one sin means death. That is the lesson of Eden.
Job 13:27 You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You
set a mark on the soles of my feet- Job complains that although he is associated with Cain
(as in :24), this is not really fair. The mark on him that was a witness wherever he went echoes that which God put on Cain. God's preservation of Cain from death also finds a parallel in Job's feeling that God is preserving him unnaturally (Job 3:21-23; 10:9-15). See on
Job 11:15; 16:17,18; 31:39. The exiles felt as Job- marked, unable to
die, miraculously preserved, and yet imprisoned in stocks. The restoration
prophets have the message of deliverance from the stocks, and paths
directed back to Zion- towards a restoration as Job experienced. But most
of them refused this and remained in Babylon, and those who did return
precluded the fulfilment of the restoration prophecies.
Job 13:28 though I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is
moth-eaten- This is parallel in reference to Is. 50:9: "Behold, all
they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up". The "they"
are any possible adversaries who might bring charges against us. This had
particular relevance to all the adversaries to the rebuilding of
Jerusalem. With Yahweh justifying the returned exiles, the court room was
effectively empty of adversaries, all charges were to be seen in the
perspective of God's ultimate justification of His people (see on Is.
50:8). These words are also found in Job 13:28, where it is God who
consumes them, as it were manifesting Himself in a tiny moth. We find the
same ideas in Is. 51:6, where the "they" is the 'heavens and earth' of any
system, be it Persia / Babylon or an unbelieving Jewish system, which is
adversarial to God's people and purpose. The contrast is with how the
clothing of Israel in the wilderness did not "wax old" (s.w. Dt. 8:4;
29:5; Neh. 9:21). The exodus and journey to the promised land is
repeatedly alluded to in Isaiah as a pattern for the exiles to follow in
returning to Judah, and for us in our exodus from this world and journey
towards the Kingdom.
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