Job 19:25

For I know Rather, but I know. This is now something higher to which his mind rises. He desires no doubt to be vindicated before men, and would wish that all generations to come should know his claim to rectitude, when he no more lived himself to make it (Job 19:23); but what he desires above all things is that he might see God who now hides His face from him, and meet Him, for the meeting could not but be with joy (cf. ch. Job 23:6 seq.). Job's problem is first of all a problem of religious life, and only in the second place a speculative one. And the speculative elements in it have no further meaning than as they aggravate the practical religious trouble. A solution of his problem, therefore, was possible in only one way, viz. by his seeing God (cf. ch. Job 42:5) for to see God is to see Him in peace and reconciliation. And it is to grasp the assurance of this that Job's heart now reaches forth its hand.

my Redeemer liveth "Liveth" means more than is, exists. Job uses the word in opposition to himself he dies but his redeemer lives after him. The term redeemer(Heb. gô"çl) is frequently used of God as the deliverer of His people out of captivity, e.g. very often in Isaiah 40 seq. (ch. Isaiah 49:7; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 54:8), and also as the deliverer of individuals from distress, Genesis 48:16; Psalms 19:14; Psalms 103:4. Among men the Goelwas the nearest blood-relation, on whom it lay to perform certain offices in connexion with the deceased whose Goel he was, particularly to avenge his blood, if he had been unjustly slain (Ruth 2:20, &c.; Numbers 35:19). Job here names God his Goel. The passage stands in close relation with ch. Job 16:18-19, where he names God his "witness" and "sponsor" or representative. It is probable, therefore, that there is an allusion to the Goel among men Job has in God a Goel who liveth. This Goel will vindicate his rights against the wrong both of men and God (Job 19:3; Job 19:7). At the same time this vindication is regarded less as an avenging of him, at least on others (though cf. Job 19:28), than as a manifestation of his innocence. This manifestation can only be made by God's appearing and shewing the true relation in which Job stands to Him, and by Job's seeing God. For his distress lay in God's hiding His face from him, and his redemption must come through his again beholding God in peace. Thus the ideas of Goel and redeemer virtually coincide.

he shall stand at the latter day To standmeans to arise and appear, to come forward(as a witness, Deuteronomy 19:15; Psalms 37:12), or to interpose(as a judge, Psalms 12:5). The word dayhas no place here. The expression "the latter" means either lastor later. It is used of God as the first and the last(Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 48:12), but also otherwise in a comparative sense, later, to come, following(Psalms 48:13; Psalms 78:4; Ecclesiastes 4:16; Job 18:20). Here the word is an epithet of God and can hardly describe Him as the last, for Job certainly does not contemplate his vindication being put off till the end of all things. The expression is parallel to "my Goel" in the first clause, and literally rendered, means: and he who cometh after (me) shall stand; or, and as one who cometh after (me) he shall stand. The trans., in after time he shall stand, is nearly equivalent. Ewald and other high authorities render, an afterman, i. e. a vindicator.

upon the earth Better, the dust. The word does not mean earth in opposition to heaven; such an antithesis did not need to be expressed; if God came forward or interposed in Job's behalf He must do so upon the earth. The word "dust" carries rather an allusion to the earth as that wherein Job shall have been laid before God shall appear for him the same allusion as is carried in the words "Goel" and "he who cometh after me;" cf. ch. Job 7:21; Job 17:16; Job 20:11; Job 21:26, &c.