Job 16:1 Then Job answered,
2 “I have heard many such things.
You are all miserable comforters!
3 Shall vain words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do.
If your soul were in my soul’s place,
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you,
5 but I would strengthen you with my mouth.
The solace of my lips would relieve you.
6 “Though I speak, my grief is not subsided.
Though I forbear, what am I eased?
7 But now, God, you have surely worn me out.
You have made all my company desolate.
8 You have shriveled me up. This is a witness against me.
My leanness rises up against me.
It testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me.
He has gnashed on me with his teeth.
My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
10 They have gaped on me with their mouth.
They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully.
They gather themselves together against me.
11 God delivers me to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart.
Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.
13 His archers surround me.
He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare.
He pours out my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach on breach.
He runs at me like a giant.
15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin,
and have thrust my horn in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping.
Deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, don’t cover my blood.
Let my cry have no place to rest.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.
He who vouches for me is on high.
20 My friends scoff at me.
My eyes pour out tears to God,
21 that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
22 For when a few years have come,
I will go the way of no return.
Job is right. His friends are all miserable comforters. v.2 In fact, he says, “If I were in your position, instead of tearing you down and attacking your integrity I would strengthen you with my mouth. The solace of my lips would relieve you.” v.5
Job would:
Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all. 1 Thessalonians 5:14
Comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:4
Bear one another’s burdens. Galatians 6:2
We are all instructed by God to counsel the broken- hearted with patience, encouragement, and comfort, in the same way that we would like to be comforted when we are in despair and pain. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Luke 6:31
The ministry of presence is often undervalued. The sick wait for visitors, the lonely delight in company, the fearful take comfort in companionship…ministry of presence is sometimes the most important intervention. (Naiomi Paget, The Work of the Chaplain, Judson Press)
After chiding his friends Job turns in prayer to God: My eyes pour out tears to God v.20, lamenting about his miserable comforters.
God, you have surely worn me out.
You have made all my company desolate. v.7
My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
They have gaped on me with their mouth.
They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully.
They gather themselves together against me. v.9-10
My friends scoff at me. v.20
Even though God has given Job such miserable counselors, casting him into the hands of the wicked v.11, yet Job confesses that his only hope remains God.
Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven.
He who vouches for me is on high. v.19
Job’s prayer continues,
Job 17:1 “My spirit is consumed.
My days are extinct,
and the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me.
My eye dwells on their provocation.
3 “ Give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself
Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding,
Therefore you will not exalt them.
5 He who denounces his friends for plunder,
Even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 “But he has made me a byword of the people.
They spit in my face.
7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.
All my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men will be astonished at this.
The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way.
He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come back.
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past.
My plans are broken off,
as are the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day,
saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’
to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
As for my hope, who will see it?
16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,
or descend together into the dust?”
In asking God for a pledge to sustain and support him Job is speaking prophetically. Give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. v.3
Did God ever offer himself in a pledge to be collateral?
When God made his Covenant Promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for himself to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you …” Hebrews 6:13-14 “And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:3
Beyond Job’s wildest imagining, God would in the future keep his Word, fulfilling his pledge to bring blessing to all mankind through Jesus Christ. As the angels proclaimed at Christ’s birth,
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10
Upon seeing Christ the prophet Simeon exclaimed,
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised…my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people. Luke 2:29-31
Job understands that if his fortunes are to change God has to intervene and make things right. It is beyond Job’s power to make things right. Very often we find that it is beyond our power to make things right.
Where are we to turn?
Job is prophetically looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s Covenant Promise, the Promise that was realized in Christ.
All who believe in Christ may have eternal life. John 3:15
But for now Job is upset with his friends. He has been unable to reconcile with his friends because God has hidden their heart from understanding. v.4 Though Job is upset with the taunts of his friends he will continue to stand firm in his conviction and call on God. He is innocent and he knows that one way or another he will be saved.
The innocent will stir himself up against the godless. Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. v.8-9
It would be very easy to give in to peer pressure and confess something just to be accepted. It is very easy to get caught up in the demands of a mob. Haven’t we all been swayed to change our beliefs or alter our actions in the face of outside pressures?
Yet the righteous will hold to his way refusing to give into the pressure to conform to godlessness.