Job Pleads with God
Chapter 13 and 14
Job reproves his friends (13:1-19)
Job said he already knew all that his friends knew, and they hadn't told him anything that he had not known before.
They were also forgers of lies and worthless physicians, for they were making false assumptions about him and recommending the wrong remedy. They were unable to make the right diagnosis so they invented something and gave him the wrong treatment.
Many of their ideas about God were true, but they did not apply to Job's situation. They were right to say that God is righteous. They were right to say God punishes sin. But they were wrong to assume that Job's suffering was a righteous punishment for his sin.
They took a true principle and applied it wrongly, ignoring the vast differences in human circumstances. We must be careful and compassionate in how we apply Biblical condemnation to others; we must be slow to judge.
Job wanted to plead his case with God, not with them. If they kept silent, people would think they were wise. By speaking as they did their foolishness was exposed. Their explanation of God's action wasn't true, and they would be accountable to Him for it.
Their arguments were weak and useless, so if they would just be quiet, he would plead his case before God and commit his life to Him. He was confident he would be vindicated, but even if God were to slay him he would still trust the Lord.
Job beseeches God for favour, in view of the shortness of life and certainty of death (13:20 - 14:6)
Job asked God to do two things:
- To withdraw His hand far from him. The hand of God, or of man, in the Bible, is a literary figure which means action of any kind. Job, in desperation, was asking God to leave him alone because he knew his tribulation came from God.
- And let not the dread of God make him afraid. Job was a brave man, and had always trusted God, who he served and obeyed. Now that he was experiencing these terrible events in his life he was on the verge of being afraid of the God he trusted. He asked God not to allow this to happen.
Then communication could be re-established between God and Job. Job could obey God's commands, and God would answer Job's prayers. Job must have been feeling that the tribulation he was being subjected to was becoming a barrier to his communion with God, which he used to enjoy before.
Job, with a clear conscience, but thinking that no-one who is innocent should be suffering like he was, demands to know what God has against him to treat him in this way. Could it be something he did in his youth? Is God picking on him for every little thing he does?
He reminds God that man's life is short and decays like a rotten thing. It is fleeting, frail and faulty, ending with death.
Why does God then bother to bring him to judgement? Can God make him clean in this way? That is impossible, Job says. God has already determined how long he will live, years and months, and he cannot go beyond these limits, so "please leave me alone and let me rest", Job pleads, "before the end comes." Man's life is like a contract, when it is completed it ends.
Is it not possible for man to live after death? (14:7-15)
When man dies and is laid away he has no hope of rising again. Where is he? Asks Job. He has no hope of renewing himself like the trees, which if cut down will sprout again at the scent of water because they have roots under ground. There is a terrible finality about human death: a dead person is like a dried-up river.
A man may have made a tremendous success down here, been a famous person, and then he is gone. Where is he? There may be a few monuments around for him. Maybe a street or two are named after him. What good is that? What does that amount to? He is just a memory, if even that.
The Old Testament does not say much about the resurrection of the dead. This is not surprising because Jesus Christ had not yet come and conquered death.
Job's pessimism about death is understandable, but we can notice his budding hope (Job 14:14). If only God would hide him with the dead and then bring him out again! If only he could die and live again! When we must endure suffering, we have an advantage over Job. We know that the dead will rise. Christ arose, and we have hope based on Christ's promise in John 14:19.
It has always been a big question with man: "If a man die, shall he live again?" Even in death Job knew that God was going to call him, and he would answer that call. In other words, God has not finished with us at our death. Death is not the end of it all. We will hear Job say again later on: ". . . 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 19:25-27 (NKJV).
By sin the creature is subject to corruption (14:16-22)
Verse 16 is somewhat obscure after the hope expressed in verses 14 and 15 of life after the grave or resurrection. One commentator suggests it should read "Yes, you will number my steps, and will not (as now) jealously watch over my sin." Thenceforward, instead of severe watching for every sin of Job, God will guard him against every sin. God will minutely attend to his steps, that they may not wander (1 Samuel 2:9, Psalms 37:23).
Following the same interpretation, Job said his transgression is then sealed up, or shut up in eternal oblivion, that is, God thenceforth will think no more of his former sins. To cover sins is to wholly forget them, to completely forgive them (Psalms 32:1, 85:2).
Job then returned to his gloomy thoughts as to the grave, the word "but" marking the transition from his brighter hopes. Even the solid mountain falls and crumbles away; man therefore cannot hope to escape decay or to live again in the present world, for God destroys such hope.
Job's profound speech in this chapter illustrates a great truth: to have a right set of doctrines is not enough. To know what to believe is not all that is required to please God. Truth untested by life's experiences may become static and stagnant. Suffering can bring a dynamic quality to life. Just as drought drives the roots of a tree deeper to find water, so suffering can drive us beyond superficial acceptance of truth to dependence on God for hope and life.
This ends the first round of speeches. Job has always maintained that he is not a wicked person at all and is astonished at the nasty way God is treating him. Nevertheless, he is firm in his trust in God.
R David Jones
Chapter 13
1 "Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
4 But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians.
5 Oh, that you would be silent, and it would be your wisdom!
6 Now hear my reasoning, and heed the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for Him?
8 Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?
9 Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?
10 He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality.
11 Will not His excellence make you afraid, and the dread of Him fall upon you?
12 Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 "Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may!
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands?
15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
16 He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to my speech, and to my declaration with your ears.
18 See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish.
20 "Only two things do not do to me, then I will not hide myself from You:
21 Withdraw Your hand far from me, and let not the dread of You make me afraid.
22 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, then You respond to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?
25 Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble?
26 For You write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet in the stocks, and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
28 "Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.
Chapter 14
1 "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue.
3 And do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
5 Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.
6 Look away from him that he may rest, till like a hired man he finishes his day.
7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground,
Yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid away; indeed he breathes his last and where is he?
11 As water disappears from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.
13 "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.
16 For now You number my steps, but do not watch over my sin.
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You cover my iniquity.
18 "But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, and as a rock is moved from its place;
19 As water wears away stones, and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so You destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he does not perceive it.
22 But his flesh will be in pain over it, and his soul will mourn over it."