JOB feels that he has been wronged at the hand of God and says, “God hath overthrown me,... Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.” He was unable to see the purpose of God in his trial, but surely one, especially a saint, ought not to think God had wronged him, no matter what the circumstances might be, “He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head,” says Job, but he does not realize that his crown and his glory had given him his self-confidence, which God must take from him in order that He might do him good at his latter end. The believer learns from the New Testament that glory and the giving of crowns await a coming day, when the Lord Himself shall give every man according as his work shall be (Rev. 22: 12). Our part now is to seek grace to walk humbly with God in self judgment.
Job says God “hath kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as one of His enemies.” Later on Job had to be made to feel how unjust it was for him to think this of God. Then he mentions how that God had put his brethren far from him; his acquaintances were estranged from him, and even his kinsfolk had failed him, and those of his own house counted him as a stranger. His appeal is very touching: “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God?”
After this he sighs: “Oh that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock forever!” J.N.D. Trans. Little did Job think that his words were being recorded above, and that they would be written in a better way than in the rock in order that they might be preserved. Afterword some of his words were called to his attention (not by his three friends) and he had to own they were wrong.
In the end of the chapter Job gives out one of the most beautiful expressions as to the resurrection, in the Old Testament. “As for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, He shall stand upon the earth; and if after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” It is the resurrection of the righteous he sees before him here, He can speak of “my Redeemer,” the One who when all has failed will appear “upon the earth.” And though his mortal body might be destroyed, yet he looks forward to a literal resurrection, “yet with my flesh shall I see God.” “Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold"— he was not afraid of the Lord (as many are and shall be in that day) but he loved to think of Him. So we see there was no doubt as to his faith as to eternity, though he sadly failed in trusting the Lord for his daily circumstances, How many of us in this favored dispensation fail in this very thing!
He closes with a word for their consciences: “But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.” He tells them God may have something to say to them for their treatment of him in his adversity. We read in Hebrews 13:33Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. (Hebrews 13:3): “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.”
ML-05/08/1960