January 8
The Narrative Deepens
In Job chapters 17 to 20, the narrative deepens, and the dialogue becomes more intense.
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me (17.1). In Chapter 17, Job reflects on the hopelessness of his situation, lamenting that death is near. Job was depressed (my spirit is broken), for all he could see around him with his tear-filled eyes were his friends with their hostility. He feels surrounded by mockers and sees no relief in sight. Job reflects on how his suffering has turned him into a public spectacle: “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit” (v. 6). He describes how grief has weakened his body and dimmed his vision, leaving him physically and emotionally shattered.
He compares the behavior of his friends with the ideals of righteousness. Job 17:8: “The upright are appalled at this ... “Job is saying that wise and righteous people, when they observe his suffering and reflect on his calamities, would not be so quick to judge and condemn him as his friends had. Job sarcastically invites his friends to try again in their counsel, though he doubts their ability to offer anything meaningful. “But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you (v. 10). Job concludes with a somber reflection on the inevitability of death. Job was giving up hope of any future restoration of wealth and family, and He resigned himself to death and the rest from grief and the pain it promised.
In response, Bildad, one of his friends, speaks in Chapter 18. Like Eliphaz, Bildad omits any of the appeals to Job in his first response and opens by venting his frustration. Indignant at Job’s insolent words, Bildad berated him. “Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?” (v. 3). Bildad wondered when Job would stop talking. “How long will you hunt for words?” (v. 1) The remainder of Bildad’s response is an unyielding description of the fate of the wicked (v. 5–21) that appears to be motivated as much by his frustration as by any further desire to correct Job. Bildad, with Job in mind, gave a ruthless account of the misfortunes that come on the wicked.
Job had said upright people would be appalled at his condition, but Bildad remarked that people everywhere are appalled not so much by the grief of the wicked as by their fateful end (v. 20). Bildad made his final point: An evil man will get what is coming to him, and then insinuates that Job’s circumstances show that he is one who does not even know God (v. 21). Bildad emphasizes the eventual downfall of the wicked, but he misapplies this truth by assuming Job’s suffering is due to sin. While the Bible affirms that sin leads to consequences, Bildad’s rigid perspective fails to recognize that suffering can also serve God’s greater purposes.
Job, in Chapter 19, again defends his innocence and feels betrayed by his friends. “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?” (v. 1). Even if he has gone wrong, Job maintains that it is God who has brought about his circumstances (v. 4–6). Job laments that although he cries out for justice, his continued suffering has brought only isolation and indifference from his family and friends. “He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me. The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes. I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy. My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I rise, they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me” (v. 13-19).
Despite his immense suffering, he clings to hope, declaring that his Redeemer lives and expresses his desire to one day stand before God. “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another! How my heart yearns within me! (v. 25-27). Job’s declaration is a profound expression of faith.
In the last verses, Job warns his friends that if they continue to hound him — to get him to accept their view that sin had caused his suffering and that the trouble lay within him — God would eventually strike them down by the sword (v. 28-29). Then, they would see that God does indeed punish the sin of the wicked. Rather than God punishing Job for being wicked, they would be the recipients of God’s wrath, for they had repeatedly harassed an innocent victim.
Finally, in Chapter 20, Zophar responds. In his second response, Zophar opens with a brief expression of frustration. “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed. I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply” (v. 2-3). The remainder of the response is one long description of the short and insufferable life of the wicked, by which Zophar intends to implicate and rebuke Job (v. 4–29).
Zophar argues that the success of the wicked is always short-lived, stating, “the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment” (v. 5). He paints a vivid picture of their fleeting prosperity, explaining that their pride and strength will ultimately fade (v. 4–11). Zophar warns that sinful gains may taste sweet at first but will eventually turn to poison, leading to their ruin (v. 12–19). Finally, he describes the inevitable judgment awaiting the wicked and how God’s wrath will bring about their destruction: “Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God” (v. 29). While Zophar’s description of the wicked’s fate contains truth, he wrongly applies it to Job, failing to see that Job’s suffering is not due to personal sin but to a greater divine purpose.
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