Class 5, Chapters 16-19
Chapter 16 Job
16:2—I’ve heard this stuff before, a lot of it. Way to go, guys, doing a great job of comforting here.
16:3—Job tires of his friends’ insistence on speaking
16:4—If the tables were turned I could be just like you.
16:5—I could also do the right thing; I could strengthen you (like you also could do this if you only chose to)
16:6—whether I’m silent or I speak, my pain doesn’t go away.
16:7-8—God has worn me out. Even though I’m with friends it’s lonely. Look at me; I’m skin and bones!
16:9—Job envisions God as a fearsome lion and Job is his prey
16:10—nobody respects me and they are all appalled when they see me
16:11—now I’m at the mercy of the wicked
16:12-14—Things were fine and then he grabbed me and destroyed me in a gruesome fashion, one hit after another.
16:15-16—I wear rags and lay in the dust (Psalm 22:15)
16:17—Still, I’ve done nothing wrong
16:18-19—Don’t let me be forgotten. Let my pain be made known in the earth always. God will stick up for me; he’s seen all of this. He knows all of it
16:20—I cry tears to God
16:21—If only someone would plead with God on my behalf, like man to man.
What Job really wants is what Jesus would eventually do—intercede on man’s behalf to God
Hebrews 9:15, 1 Timothy 2:5
16:22—I’ll be dead soon.
Everything Job has to say and wants is made all the more important because he feels he is close to death. He wants everything to be made known before he goes down to the dust.
***Probably the most critical point in chapter 16 is in verse 21. Job desires the very thing we now have as Christians. Job wanted someone to present his case and speak words on his behalf to God. He knows he isn’t equal to God (9:14-15). He knows he can’t find proper words for the almighty (9:3). He truly wants someone who understands his situation who can speak directly to God to plead on his behalf. He feels this is his only hope. We have this hope as our reality. It doesn’t take away the troubles we face, but we know that since Jesus spent time in the flesh he can truly relate to what we struggle with. He was tempted in every way we are. He endured hardships and suffering.***
Chapter 17 Job
17:1—I have nothing left but death
17:3—who will help me now?
17:4—Job could be speaking of what he thinks God has done to his friends’ ability to reason
17:5—Maybe Job feels his friends are all against him not simply because of what they’ve said, but to gain an advantage over him, possibly for some of his property
17:6—This sounds like a prophecy of Jesus at the crucifixion
17:8—The upright see this and are appalled. It motivates the innocent to oppose the godless. Maybe Job is telling his friends how they would act IF they were innocent.
17:9—The righteous won’t back down; neither will Job as he is righteous
17:10—Job says his friends aren’t wise. “But you” maybe used to exclude his friends from the description of the righteous he just gave. It’s kind of like that joke when you address a group of your friends saying something like, “Friends, and Frank”. It looks like Frank is excluded from the friends' category.
17:11—Job has given up on the things he would try to do with his life.
***Have you ever given up on a dream because you felt so beaten down from circumstances? ***
17:12—my friends tell me everything will be okay. Light will be soon.
This phrase could have been a common phrase in Job’s time. I think it was meant as a reminder in tough times that good times are around the corner. It could be using imagery of the sun rising after a dark night to describe how things will brighten up and get better despite the present darkness.
17:13-15—if I do make death and the grave my home, what could I hope for then?
17:16—Will my hope go with me to be in Sheol? Will I descend together with my hope to the grave?
Chapter 18, Bildad
18:2—How long will you keep on talking Job?
This is like the start of his previous words to Job
18:3—Why do you think we are stupid? Referring to what Job said in 17:10
18:4—possibly Job is tearing off pieces of his skin affected by the sores as he speaks in anger. He was scraping himself anyway, but he was probably tearing away his skin more intensely as he spoke his words with emotion. Bildad asks Job if the world should come to a halt for him.
18:5-6—references 17:7
18:7—references 13:27 and 5:13
18:8—Job will contest this point in 19:6
18:11—references 7:14
18:16—Job’s sources of greatness are gone and so are the things he did with what he was given
18:17—look at 7:10
18:19—Remember that Job’s children died
18:21—this is what happens when you don’t know God. (after describing Job’s predicament to set the stage)
Bildad doesn’t have as many of his own thoughts to attempt to impress on Job in this second time speaking with him. He mostly refutes points Job has made. Perhaps this is an indication of his frustration with Job and the emergence of a more antagonistic attitude.
Chapter 19 Job
19:2—contrasted with 9:2 when Job agreed on the principle of what Bildad was saying although he didn’t take it as an attack directed at him.
19:3—maybe now Job understands his friends are taking turns attacking him
19:4—even if I did mess up it’s me who must pay for it. Job’s friends accuse him of wrongs against other people and injustice.
19:5—you are treating my calamity like a self-evident witness against me. You believe it attests to my many wrongdoings you accuse me of.
Job’s disgrace is being used as the argument against Job. “Bad things happen to bad people.”
When you operate with that belief, anybody with troubles becomes guilty of sins. Their trouble is their punishment. This idea conflicts with what Eliphaz said in 5:7. In one instance he equates trouble with living on this earth. In another instance, Job’s friends believe trouble is a direct result of sin.
19:6—look at 18:8—it’s God, not me
19:7—Job’s friends accuse him of injustice but he says there is no justice for him
19:8—see chapter 3:23
19:9—God has done all those things that are normally reserved for the wicked.
19:13-17—Family and friends want nothing to do with me—even servants!
19:15—Job still has guests in his home
19:18—no respect for elders—children speak against me
19:20—I am barely alive!
19:21—Job appeals to his friends for mercy. Everyone else despises him and his friends are the only hope he has now as far as human beings go. (God has touched me).
19:22—why do you assault me as well? Isn’t all this calamity enough? Look at me! Sores, black flesh that breaks out and falls off, sitting in an ash heap, etc.
19:24—Isaiah 40:8
19:26-27—when it’s all over I will finally see God with my own eyes. I can’t wait!
19:28-29—Watch yourself, what you say concerning me and my faults for my calamity. You will be judged so have the proper fear about you.
Psalm 58:11
