Job 19:1-4

D.

HOPE IN TIME OF ABANDONMENTVINDICATED BY HIS VINDICATOR (GO-'EL) (Job 19:1-29)

1.

He condemns the friends for shameless abuse. (Job 19:1-4)

TEXT 19:1-4

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 How long will ye vex my soul,

And break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten times have ye reproached me:

Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me.

4 And be it indeed that I have erred,

Mine error remaineth with myself.

COMMENT 19:1-4

Job 19:1Job's comforters show no development in their encounter with him. In contrast, Job has analyzed his position as the result of their criticism. Job thus becomes our great paradigm of growth through suffering. We either see our troubles through God, or God through our troubles. What alternatives are available? In this, Job's central discourse, he achieves a profound faith, which enables him to triumph over his destructive despair. He truly attained hope in time of abandonment. New power and pathos enter Job's literary style. This new power retouches themes which are set forth in his earlier speeches, egs.: (1) validity of a clear conscience, Job 6:30; Job 9:29; Job 10:7; Job 16:17, which the righteous judge would ratify if only He would hear themJob 10:2; Job 10:7; Job 13:23; Job 16:21; (2) knowledge that God must yearn for him as he does for GodJob 7:8; Job 7:21; Job 10:8-9; Job 14:15; and (3) his hope that God will finally vindicate himJob 14:13-15; Job 16:19-20. Job's response to Bildad contains four parts: (1) His impatience with his friendsJob 19:2-6; (2) God's abandonment and attackJob 19:7-12; (3) Laments his forsaken condition and appeals to his friends once moreJob 19:13-22; and (4) His certainty concerning his vindicationJob 19:23-29. Does the speech present God's attitude change toward Job? Is He his enemy? The change is only apparent and temporary. Though Job's friends are uncharitable, and God is silent in the presence of his agonizing cries, Job waits for vindication. But until then!

Job 19:2His friends have grievously wounded (tormented) Job by their insinuations. Vex is not strong enough for the Hebrew word; the same verb is used in Isaiah 51:23 of Israel's tormentors. In Lamentations 1:5; Lamentations 1:12, the same word is used to describe the suffering which God inflicted on Israel. The verb (dk-') translated as break me in pieces is used of the penitent in Isaiah 57:15 and Psalms 51:17. It means crush and is here employed to describe the effects of the charges from Job's friends. I am crushed by your insinuations, not led to repentance.

Job 19:3The figure 10 is to be understood as a round number and not as Rashi took it as referring to the number of speechesfive for Job and five for friendsGenesis 31:7; Genesis 31:41; Numbers 14:22. His friends have wronged him. The verb is found only here and does not call for endless proliferation of emendations. Job is enduring God's silence; need they add their inhumane treatment to his already overburdened life?

Job 19:4This is a very difficult verse whose meaning is not self-evident. Perhaps the best understanding is found in the R. S. V. There it is translated as a hypothetical sentence, though there is no hypothetical particle present. This move enables us to understand the verse without it being an admission of guilt of secret sin, which Job has consistently denied. Taking the verse to mean Even if I have sinned, I have not injured you (Rowley, Job, p. 167).