Chapters 13, Part 2
V13:13 & 17 with V5 It is clear Job desired those “forgers of lies” shut up and listen diligently with both ears or hearken to what he had to say. Job took full responsibility for what might come upon him because he maintained his integrity.
V14 is a question not a statement. Job seemed to say for what reason would I tear my self apart, and take my own life? 18:3-4
Vs13:15-18 Remember in V3 Job said he would surely speak to God. In these verses he says why.
Because it is his desire to be judged by God truthfully instead of by these forgers of lies. God is true and will judge justly; God is Job’s Savior; God is Job’s justifier. Job’s faith in the LORD’s salvation is seen in these verses. Nothing could shake Job’s trust in the LORD even if the LORD chose to kill him. Not maintaining his ways before the LORD would make him a hypocrite. *Note V15: God allowing Job to die and God slaying or killing him are not the same.
V13:19 Job knew there was no daysman (9:33). Job was suffering alone; he was struggling in a three-against-one debate with no one take his side in the argument. Job felt if he did not answer the accusations of the three the weight of their harsh words would send him to the grave (6:27). That is not how Job wanted to die. Job wanted God to allow him to die. He did not want to die under the weight of words spoken on the behalf of one who accused him before the throne of God (1:9, 2:4).
· Rom 8:58 when Satan accuses us (Zec 3:1 with Rev 12:10) before the throne of God we have someone to plead for us.
· We you are in Christ can also make that claim as Job because God sees us, justified, washed in the blood of Christ; pure and clean in His eyes.
· In V18 Job stated, “ Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.”
In verses 13:20-28 note the change in pronouns from ye and you to thee and thou”. Some think Job is speaking to God but Job is speaking to these three men a one group. They were attacking Job as one enemy with one plan of attack.
V20-21 Job wanted these men to stop trying to hold Job in a state of complete despair. These men were trying to scare Job into confessing to some sin by trying to make Job believe they were speaking for God. He wanted them to stop!
V22 Job would answer them if they would call out in compassion instead of continuing to spewing lies then he would answer or Answer me!
· V23 Question 1: Exactly what sin are you accusing me of? Job challenged Eliphaz to do this in 6:24.
· V24 Question 2: Why don’t you show your true selves and stop making me the villain.
· V25 Question 3: Are you going to continue your attack? Job felt they were trying to crumple him as a dry leaf or set him on fire as dry stubble.
· Zech 7:8-12 Do these verses seem to describe the conflict between Job and his friends.
V13:26-28 Job also knew these men were not content with attacking him privately, they wanted to make Job a laughing stock in front of others. They had everything said by them and by Job written down (V26). Why?; for others to read. They wanted everyone who knew Job to see him not as one who loved God and eschewed evil but as a man filled with iniquity.
Deu 19:15; Mat 18:15-17 The three men were three witnesses, by letter they could make their accusations to all who knew Job.
V27 Print on the heels: Job knew they were trying to make it so he could not walk away from their accusations. They as one enemy had marked Job so everywhere he went he would be seen as a wicked man.
Verse 28: two possible ways to explain this verse.
· #1: Job spoke in the third person about himself. He felt they wanted others to see him as a rotten thing that would consume everyone he came in contact with. Remember Eliphaz called Job a man who gained his wealth as a man of crafty devices
· #2: The “he” is the “thou” in verse 27 who made Job feel as a man with his feet in stocks and his path marked. Could Job be saying the three men acting as one enemy was as a rotten thing that was consuming Job as a moth consumes a garment. Job was eaten up by the words they men used against him.