Job 9:13-24

2. Arbitrarily God deals with him, no matter what he may do. (Job 9:13-24)

TEXT 9:13-24

13 God will not withdraw his anger;

The helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.

14 How much less shall I answer him,

And choose out my words to reason with him?

15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer;

I would make supplication to my judge.

16 If I had called, and he had answered me,

Yet would I not believe that he hearkened unto my voice.

17 For he breaketh me with a tempest,

And multiplieth my wounds without cause.

18 He will not suffer me to take my breath,

But filleth me with bitterness.

19 If we speak of strength, lo, he is mighty!

And if of justice, Who, saith he, will summon me?

20 Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me:

Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse.

21 I am perfect; I regard not myself;

I despise my life.

22 It is all one; therefore I say,

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

23 If the scourge slay suddenly,

He will mock at the trial of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof:
If it be not he, who then is it?

COMMENT 9:13-24

Job 9:13Job's gratitude is now poisoned by more bitterness. God has all along only been preparing Job for torture. He thus denies the idea of strict moral causality, which has been presented by his friends. Man's actionwhether good or badmakes no difference to God. Rahab (rootbe excited or agitated) is used in Isaiah 30:7; Psalms 87:4 as designation of Egypt. Rahab is one of the sea monsters slain by GodJob 26:12; Psalms 89:11; Isaiah 51:9. It is not necessary to identify Rahab with the Babylonian Creation Epic; the Leviathan narrative already appears Job 7:12.[125] The Source of Imagery (Formgeschichte) is one thing; its meaning is another.

[125] See A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels (Chicago, pb., 1963); and his The Babylonian Genesis (Chicago, pb., 1963), for exhaustive analysis of these supposed parallels; also L. R. Fisher (ed.), Ras Shamra Parallels I (Analects Orientalia,1973.

Job 9:14Here Job relates that it is impossible to face God in His cosmic court, because God would refuse Job's summon. He would simply manifest His superior power, and Job would lie destroyed. The Hebrew which is translated as A. V. how much less can also mean how much more, or how than. How can Job expect to face God, if a sea monster cannot? Job would be so overwhelmed that he would be unable to choose his words in order to challenge God.

Job 9:15Even though he is innocent, he cannot expect justice. The A. V. translates whom though I were righteous, but the term is forensic and probably should be translated as in the right or innocent. Similarly, the A. V. has my judge, but mesopetiopponentmeans my accuser or adversary at law. Job's only recourse, since he cannot force a response from his adversary, is to cast himself on His mercy (first time for His theme to appear). Surely one of the central theological themes in Job is that man is hopelessly lost without God's grace.

Job 9:16Now God does answer Job's summons. But Job does not have confidence in the sense of believing that God is listening, giving an ear, or paying any attention to his cries.[126] Because God cannot be required to testify or justify His actions; He is responsible to no one but His own nature.

[126] See Dhorme, Job, p. 136.

Job 9:17God now is charged with crushing (A. V. breaketh) Job. The verb is used only here and in Genesis 3:15 which is often translated as bruise, but surely the context calls for crush or destroy. God crushes him without cause (same word as in Job 2:3) as though he were a mere trifle. God's displeasure (ka-'as as in Job 5:2 a) is not only reserved for the wicked; it also crushes the just.

Job 9:18The Hound of Heaven has filled Job with bitterness[127]Job 7:19; and Lamentations 3:15. Here we return to the theme of chapter 3.

[127] For discussion of this word, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 48, 1967, 427.

Job 9:19God's power (koah) is here in parallelism with his judgment (mispat). God is supreme in power and thus subject to no summoner, Job included. The A. V. has lo from hinnehbehold. The Hebrew verb has a first person suffix arraign me instead arraign him (the difference is very slight but import is vastyo-'ideniarraign or summons me, yo-'idennuarraign or summons him. Surely this represents an effort to remove any suggestions that man could call God to account. Whether respecting power or justice, Job futiley confronts God.

Job 9:20Even Job's own speech[128] condemns him. Is he saying that I am innocent; I am forced to assert my own guilt?

[128] For discussion of my mouth, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 38, 1957, 311; also Biblica, 1967, p. 543. Whether it is God's or Job's mouth, either or both condemn him.

Job 9:21He defends his innocence, though it may cost him his life. He would forfeit his life, but not his integrity in claiming his innocence. The intense emotional strain causes Job to cry that I neither know myself nor careJob 7:16; Genesis 39:6; Deuteronomy 33:9.

Job 9:22Is truth forever on the scaffold and error forever on the throne? The wicked and unjust triumph. Job shouts that God flouts justice indiscriminately. Job, like the late B. Russell, denies any moral order in the universe. This thesis also follows from contemporary attitudes expressed by Skinner, Crick, Monad, Wilson, Watson, et. al. God is indifferent to the human condition. Naturalistic humanism in all of its forms, but especially in its Neo-Marxian form, makes identical claims, while charging all non-naturalistic humanists with immoral behavior. If the universe is amoral, then there are different types of behavior, but no moral or immoral human acts. Job contradicts what Bildad has set forth in Job 8:20.

Job 9:23The scourge (sot) means calamities in general, war, plague, disease, famine, etc., which take lives regardless of their spiritual condition and relationship to GodIsaiah 10:26; Isaiah 28:15; Isaiah 28:18. Eliphaz has said (Job 5:22) that if Job accepted God's discipline, he would ultimately laugh at famine and destruction. Job's response to Eliphaz is that it is God who laughs when calamities (masasmelt, despair) come. Job says that God is not testing men by disaster, but rather destroying them.

Job 9:24Job is enunciating a universal law, i.e., the miscarriage of justice. Earth has no definite article, and thus probably refers to more than the land. Shall the pious inherit the earth?Psalms 37:9; Proverbs 2:21; Matthew 5:5. Job asserts just the opposite. He holds God solely responsible for the human condition. There is no Satan, or anyone else to blame. Job is actually challenging his friends to declare who is, if God is not, to blame?