Job 19:13-19

3. And despised by all people, including his kindred (Job 19:13-19)

TEXT 19:13-19

13 He hath put my brethren far from me,

And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

14 My kinsfolk have failed,

And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger:

I am an alien in their sight.

16 I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer,

Though I entreat him with my mouth.

17 My breath is strange to my wife,

And my supplication to the children of mine own mother.

18 Even young children despise me;

If I arise, they speak against me.

19 All my familiar friends abhor me,

And they whom I loved are turned against me.

COMMENT 19:13-19

Job 19:13God's apparent hostility produces human hostility. Isolation and loneliness are radically contrasted with the sequence of relationships which develop from less to more intimate: (1) My brethrenJob 19:13 a; (2) men of my familyJob 19:17 b; (3) my intimate friendsJob 19:19. All of the intimate[207] relationships necessary for life have been ripped apart. Total estrangement is Job's pitiful lot.[208]

[207] See cultural crises which are visible in our institutions; see interrelationship and Systems Analysis, Sears and Feldman, The Seven Ages of Man (Los Altos, Calif.: Wm. Kaufman, 1973 ed.); and Anderson and Carter, Human Behavior in Social Environment (Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co., 1974). Note the developments in contemporary interpersonal psychological studies such as Ericson, Maslov, Sullivan, et al and their analysis of hierarchy of needs, levels of needs. Man is gregarious by nature. Men are not born into a nation or universe but a family unit. See my Newness on the Earth, chp. 7, Christians come of age in a world come of age, pp. 113-125, for look at the biblical-maturity model.

[208] Estrangement or alienation is a fundamental issue in our culture. Since Hegel and Marx, the Christian view of alienation has been under severe attack. Both Existentialism and Neo-Marxism challenge the biblical data. See R. Schacht, Alienation (Doubleday Anchor, 1971) for basic survey; Marxism and Alienation, ed. by H. Aptheker (New York: Humanities Press); and for the neo-Marxism of Bangkok Conference of WCC, 1973. For critique, see my The Word of God for a Broken World (Lincoln, IL: LCC Press, 1977).

Job 19:14Job has a right to expect his most intimate friends to stand by him in his great hours of darknessPs. 88:19. In his most desperate hours, he is abandoned by all those with whom he has had intimate interpersonal relations. To whom can he turn? Who cares?

Job 19:15Even the sojourners of his house rejected him. He even lost the respect of his maidservants and obedience of slaves; this is the depth of humiliation. Job has experienced a totally broken existence, from alienation to humiliation.

Job 19:16He has sunk so low that even his personal servant ignores him. This is the bitterest form of humiliation and proof of the incredible depth into which he has fallenPsalms 123:2. His social status has been obliterated; even the slaves will not respond when he personally calls them.

Job 19:17Job's skin is ravaged with eruptions and itchingJob 2:7-8; Job 2:12; Job 7:5; Job 7:14; Job 16:16; Job 19:20; Job 30:17; Job 30:30. Now halitosis is added to his other symptoms. His physical appearance is appalling, and has contributed to his social ostracization. The second line in the A. V. does not represent the Hebrew text which literally says the sons of my womb. This cannot refer to Job's children, as they are already dead. Since there is no mention of concubines, it probably does not refer to their children. The best meaning in this context is Job's mother's wombJob 3:10. Womb is used for body in Micah 6:7 and Ps. 82:11. The phrase would ordinarily mean Job's children, but this is all but precluded by the present context.

Job 19:18Even the children show disrespect for Job, as he rises and attempts to walk. Such disrespect calls for drastic punishment2 Kings 2:23. Perhaps the second line means that even little children turn their backs on Job, rather than speak against him.[209]

[209] For this suggestion, see I. Eitan, Jewish Quarterly Review, 1923-24, pp. 38ff.

Job 19:19Literally the first line says men of my intimate group or his bosom friendsGenesis 49:6; Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 15:17; Jeremiah 23:18; Psalms 25:14; Psalms 55:15have turned against me.[210]

[210] T. Penar, Biblica, 1967, pp. 293ff, for this last clause.