This speech is one of the more important ones in the book because in it Job reached a new low and a new high in his personal experience. He revealed here the extent of his rejection by his friends, relatives, and servants, but he also came to a new confidence in God.
Job began this reply to Bildad as Bildad had begun both of his speeches: "How long . . .?"(v. 2; cf. 8:2; 18:2). How long would his friends torment him? The ten times (v. 3) may have been ten actual occurrences not all of which the writer recorded, or Job may have used ten as a round number meaning often. Job claimed that God had not been just in his case (vv. 5-6; cf. 8:3). Rather than snaring himself in his own net, as Bildad insinuated (18:8-10), Job claimed that God had trapped him in His net. God had driven him into a hunter's net.87
Job agreed with his friends that God was responsible for his troubles, but while they believed God was punishing him for his sins, he contended that God was acting unjustly. He saw evidence of God's injustice too in God's silence when he cried out for help (v. 7). Job then named ten (cf. v. 3) hostile actions of God against himself (vv. 8-12). Note the recurrence of "He"in these verses that emphasizes God's responsibility. Bildad had previously cited what overtakes the wicked. Job now showed that God was the source of their troubles (cf. 19:8b with 18:5-6, 18; 19:9 with 18:16-17; 19:10a with 18:7, 12; 19:10b with 18:16; and 19:12 with 18:14).
Some readers of Job's words in this pericope have accused Job of blasphemy. However blasphemy is "any remark deliberately mocking or contemptuous of God."88Job was neither mocking God nor was he being contemptuous of God. He was simply describing God as he perceived Him to be. He could not understand why God was apparently treating him unjustly, and he repeatedly asked God to solve this mystery for him.
In describing the people Job referred to in this section he started with those farthest from him and moved to those closest to him, and from Job's equals to his inferiors socially. Job may have meant by "the skin of my teeth"(v. 20b) narrowly or that his teeth had fallen out and he had only his gums left. Having found no comfort in other people Job next turned back to God.
"But it is just here, when everything is blackest, that his faith . . . like the rainbow in the cloud . . . shines with a marvelous splendor."89
This short section contains probably the best known verses in the book (vv. 23-27). They are an affirmation of Job's great faith in God.90
"One might even call Job the first Protestant, in the fullest sense of the word. He takes his stand upon individual faith rather than yielding to pious dogma."91
God granted Job's request in verses 23-24 better than he could have expected. Probably what he had in mind in verse 24 was that someone would chisel letters out of a massive rock and pour in lead making the letters even more prominent.
Job proceeded to reach out to God in faith (v. 25). Who is the redeemer to whom Job referred? Probably he is the same person he requested elsewhere when he called for a legal arbiter between himself and God (9:33) who would be a witness and an advocate for him (16:19). In this case, too, Job seems to have thought of a person other than God.92However he may have been God Himself in view of Job's confident statement that he believed he would see God (v. 26).
"The Old Testament records several notable instances where people such as Abraham, Moses and Isaiah saw' God, and Job doubtless has something similar in mind."93
The advocate of 16:19 was in heaven. This opens the possibility for a divine witness, as I mentioned earlier. Nevertheless Job called him a man, and this points to a person other than God. The word "redeemer"in Hebrew (goel) means one who provided legal protection for a close relative who could not defend himself or herself (cf. Lev. 25:23-25, 47-55; Num. 35:19-27; Ruth 4:4-15; 2 Sam. 14:11; 1 Kings 16:11; Ps. 119:154; Prov. 23:11; Jer. 50:34).
"In pagan theology a personal patron-deity acted as a champion for an individual human, pleading his cause in the council of the gods. In the Book of Job the angels perform this role. In 33:23 Elihu clearly presented his theology of angels that took the place of the pagan servant-deities. He employed the very root (mls) used in 16:20 to describe Job's Intercessor.' In each of these Advocate passages, the third party is greater than man; and in chapter 16 he lives in heaven. Yet he is fully capable of taking his stand to testify on earth (19:25)."94
Job was confident that his redeemer, whomever he may have had in mind, would take up his cause and vindicate him, probably after Job died.95He added that this person would take His stand on earth "at the last"(i.e., finally, not at the end of time). In other words, this person would have the last word.
The Hebrew word translated "earth"(v. 25) literally means "dust."Does this word refer to the grave (cf. 7:21; 17:16; 20:11; 21:26; 34:15) or the earth (cf. 5:6; 8:19; 14:8; 41:33 margin)? Earth seems to be the better possibility because it involves a simpler explanation. If this is the case, Job believed his redeemer would vindicate him in the presence of people who were living on the earth eventually.
Job probably described his skin as flayed (v. 26) to picture his painful death, not that he expected God to flay him while he was alive. He believed he would see God after his death. He evidently saw no hope of vindication before he died.
"Though there is no full grasping of a belief in a worthwhile Afterlife with God, this passage is a notable landmark in the progress toward such a belief."96
The "another"person of verse 27 is another beside God, not another beside Job. Job would see God Himself, not someone other than God. Evidently Job expected to see God after death, but there is no indication in the text that Job knew God would resurrect his body after he died. He believed in life after death, but he evidently did not know about the resurrection of the body. This revelation came from God after Job's lifetime (cf. Isaiah 26:19; Dan. 12:2).
"While he was anticipating the doctrine of resurrection, he was not spelling out the teaching of a final resurrection for all the righteous."97
Though Job may not have known who his Redeemer was, we now know that He was Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). In saying what he did, Job was uttering Messianic prophecy though he probably did not realize he was doing so.
Having made this breakthrough of faith in God Job seems less frantic hereafter in the book. He now saw his sufferings in the light of eternity, not just in his lifetime. When we can help people gain this perspective on their sufferings, we will find that they, too, find some relief.
