Job 23:1-17
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my strokea is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemedb the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Job 23:3. Oh that I knew where I might find him. Job sighs for the favours conferred on certain patriarchs, whom God had met. The living oracle was with Noah after the flood; it was with Abraham in the years of his pilgrimage; it was established with Israel, as described in Exodus 28:30.
Job 23:8. Behold, I go forward and backward. The Hebrew, as the Chaldaic, represents Job as going east and west, north and south, in search of God. The Jews would allow the oracle no existence except in Jewry.
Job 23:10. I shall come forth as gold. The allusion is to the art of founders. The gold ores, after washings and pulverizations, are put into the crucible, with salts, and boiled a proper time in the furnace. Then the pure gold is found at the bottom, covered with a beautiful yellow glass. A good man's graces are also refined in the fire of affliction.
Job 23:12. The words of his mouth, delivered to Noah, and to others. The holy scriptures are justified by the voice of all antiquity, in their high claims to divine authority.
Job 23:14. He performeth the thing that is appointed for me. Nam tradit jus meum, “for he deals with me in equity, and the abundance of such things are with himself.” Schultens. This author gives us ten other versions of this text.
REFLECTIONS.
Oh illustrious Job, ever rising after a thousand strokes of depression! Having no ear on earth to listen to the mournings of his grief, he sighs for the glorious high throne which has been the sanctuary of holy men from the beginning. Oh there, there he would plead with his living Redeemer. Then he would fill his mouth with arguments, confident that the arm of Omnipotence would become weak, in pleading against a worm. Nay more; he was confident that the Lord would inspire his prayer, and furnish him with arguments which he might urge with sublime effect. Sweet is the fruit of pleading with heaven, instead of wrangling with misguided men.
Job in this conflict felt a vast refinement, and a divine augmentation of every active and passive grace which operated in his heart; that after the fiery furnace, he should come forth refined as gold. He felt a tender heart, hallowed by the flames of love. He justified God in all his privations and afflictions, as having done to him what was wise and good. The tempest had raged without, but warmth and peace dwelt within. He therefore rested in the assurance, that God would soon bring his salvation near, and open his righteousness like the light of the sun.