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.
Chapter S 23-24 Job's Reply
1. O that I knew where I may find Him (Job 23:1)
2. Trusting yet doubting (Job 23:10)
3. Hath God failed? (Job 24:1)
4. Job's further testimony as to the wicked (Job 24:13)
Job 23:1. Job here does not disprove at once the false charges of Eliphaz. He can afford to wait till later, till their mouths are completely silenced. Then he speaks the final word. He acknowledgeth that he is still rebellious. His hand which is upon him is heavier than all his groanings. Then that outburst which reveals the longing of his tried and tempest-tossed soul--”Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might even come to His seat! I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.” Then in blinded self-righteousness he speaks a bold word: “I would know the words He would answer to me, and understand what He would say to me.” He is so sure of it all that he declares “He would give heed to me.” How different it was when the Lord did speak and Job's lips are sealed, only to open in expression of deepest self-abhorrence. Yet even in the words he speaks here, still in the dark as to the reason of his suffering, he demonstrates that he is not the defiant wicked man, but one who longs for God.
Job 23:10. Trusting yet doubting expresseth the sentiment of what he says next. Trust is expressed in the beautiful utterance, “But He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.” Yet it is self-vindication which speaks next, not in God's presence, but to clear himself before his friends. “My foot held fast to His steps.” Doubt follows for he still considers God, not his friend, but his enemy.
Job 24:1. The rendering of the opening verse is difficult to make. It has been paraphrased in this wise: “Since, then, events from the Almighty are not hid, why do not they who love Him know His ways?” This perhaps expresseth the true meaning of his thought. He shows what so often happens on the earth and which seemingly indicates a failure of God in His righteous government. Why is it all? And never before in the history of the race has Job's charge of the failure of God been so prominent as in our evil days.
From city and from houses groans ascend;
With shrieks those being murdered cry for help
Yet God regards not this enormity.
Job 24:13. He describes the paths of the wicked again and yet they seem to escape the retribution in this life which they so well deserve. They even have security. And Job still is haunted by the thought that in these facts there is found an evidence that God is favorable to them. Death surely comes to them “yet a little while and they are gone” but what comes after death he does not mention. Then boldly he raiseth himself up and says, “And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech of no account?” What an assertion that all he declared is infallibly true!