Job began his response to Bildad by acknowledging that much of what his friends had said was true (v. 2). Many of Job's speeches began with sarcasm or irony. He then turned to a question that Eliphaz had raised earlier (4:17) that seems to have stuck in Job's mind. How could he, a righteous man, much less the ungodly, stand righteous before God, as Eliphaz had urged him to do (5:8), since God was tormenting him. God appeared to Job to be acting arbitrarily and capriciously. How can anyone be right before such a God?
Because God is who He is Job recognized that man cannot go into court against God and win (cf. 40:1-5; 42:2). It would be useless to try for four reasons.
"1. If I disputed with Him, I could not answer Him, because He is so mighty (9:3-14).
2. If God did respond to my cry, I do not think He would be listening, because He is against me (9:15-19).
3. If I am righteous, He will declare me guilty, because He destroys both the innocent and the wicked (9:20-24).
4. If I try to forget my problems or even confess my sins, He would still consider me guilty (9:25-32)."56
Job concluded that God was unjust because He cut off both the guilty and the guiltless. Job's concept of God was becoming fuzzy because God did not seem to him to be acting in ways that were consistent with Job's limited understanding of Him. We have the same problem. We need to get our concept of God from Scripture that gives us the fullest, most balanced view of God possible for us now.
The Bear, Orion, and the Pleides (v. 9) are constellations of stars.
Rahab (v. 13) was a name ancient Near Easterners used to describe a mythical sea monster that was symbolic of evil. Such a monster, also called Leviathan (7:12), was a major character in the creation legends of several ancient Near Eastern peoples including the Mesopotamians and the Canaanites. The Israelites also referred to Egypt as Rahab because of its similarity to this monster (cf. 26:12; Ps. 87:4; 89:10; Isa. 30:7; 51:9).
"Far from being arrogant, Job is subdued, even to the point of self-loathing (verse 21b)."57
Job came to the point of concluding that it did not matter whether he was innocent since God destroys both the guiltless, like himself, and the wicked (v. 22). Further evidences of His injustice include the facts that innocent people die in plagues (v. 23) and the wicked prosper in the earth (v. 24).
". . . in Exod. 23:8 bribery is condemned because it covers the eyes of officials so that they cannot see where justice lies. Job here says it is God who blinds the judges to the truth. All the injustice that prevails in the world is laid at his door."58
Job rebutted his friends' contention that God consistently blesses the good and blasts the evil with examples that he drew from life generally, not just from his own experiences.59
In short, Job believed it was useless for him to try to prove himself upright since God seemed determined to punish him.
The Book of Job uses legal terms and metaphors extensively in the sections that deal with Job's disputes with God. Job had previously served as a judge in his town (29:7-17), and he wanted justice (Heb. mispat) from God.60Therefore he used legal terminology frequently in his dialogues. These legal metaphors are one of the key features of the book since they help us identify its purpose.61
Job's frustration, expressed in verses 32-33, is understandable since God was both his legal adversary and his judge. This accounts for his urgent yet hopeless cry for a neutral party (mediator, umpire) to arbitrate a settlement between himself and God. In the ancient Near East this arbitrator was a judge whose verdict was more often a settlement proposal that the litigants could either accept or reject.62Job had no hope of receiving justice from God, only mercy (v. 34). He felt that since God was so great he could not vindicate himself.
"This is the persistent problem, the real problem of the book: not the problem of suffering, to be solved intellectually by supplying a satisfactory answer which explains why it happened; but the attainment of a right relationship with God which makes existence in suffering holy and acceptable."63
"I am not like that in myself' (9:35) means that is not the way it is with regard to my case.'"64
This whole chapter, another prayer (cf. 7:7-21), is a cry to God for answers: "Let me know why . . ."(v. 2). Notice the legal setting again, especially in verse 2. Job again claimed to be not guilty (v. 7).
"It is a remarkable fact, apparently unobserved by commentators, but very revealing of Job's mind, that in none of his petitions does he make the obvious request for his sickness to be cured. As if everything will be all right when he is well again! That would not answer the question which is more urgent than every other concern: Why?'"65
Job marvelled that God would expend such care on him from the womb to the tomb only to destroy him (vv. 8-17; cf. v. 11 with Ps. 139:13). Again Job expressed a desire to die (vv. 18-22; cf. ch. 3; 6:8-9). He evidently had little revelation concerning life after death. For him death opened the door to a land of shadows, gloom, and darkness (vv. 21-22), but he welcomed it as better than life as he was experiencing it. Each of Job's speeches so far concluded with some reference to death and gloom (3:21-22; 7:21; 10:21-22). He was a broken man.
