Job 23:1-17

B.

JOB'S PERSISTENT DESIRE OR VALUE OF ARGUING WITH GOD? (Job 23:1, Job 24:25)

1.

Job has honored God and obeyed his word, but God will not give him a hearing; He intentionally avoids him. (Job 23:1-17)

TEXT 23:1-17

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 Even to-day is my complaint rebellious:

My stroke is heavier than my groaning.

3 Oh that I knew where I might find him!

That I might come even to his seat!

4 I would set my cause in order before him,

And fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would know the words which he would answer me,

And understand what he would say unto me.

6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

Nay; but he would give heed unto me.

7 There the upright might reason with him;

So should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there;

And backward, but I cannot perceive him;

9 On the left hand, when he doth work, but I cannot behold him;

He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.

10 But he knoweth the way that I take;

When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11 My foot hath held fast to his steps;

His way have I kept, and turned not aside.

12 I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him?

And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

14 For he performeth that which is appointed for me:

And many such things are with him.

15 Therefore am I terrified at his presence;

When I consider, I am afraid of him.

16 For God hath made my heart faint,

And the Almighty hath terrified me;

17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness,

Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

COMMENT 23:1-17

Job 23:1This begins Job's seventh response. As Chapter 21 was entirely polemical, chapter 23 is completely devoted to Job's internal reflections and his search for God. There is no reference, except in Job 23:11-12, to his consolers or their doctrines. This speech is profoundly mournful. Now, suddenly, Job begins to dwell on God's remoteness and inaccessibility. God still has not broken His silence. Job's dark night of the soul haunts him oppressively, and God's absence is tormenting his soul, as the soul of one who loves and formerly knew God face to face.[257] His reply to Eliphaz falls into four sections: (1) Job's longing to meet GodJob 23:2-7; (2) The power and inaccessibility of GodJob 23:8-17; (3) Silence of God in the face of human oppression and injusticeverses Job 24:1-17; (4) Problem about continuity of Job 24:18-25. These verses do not appear to come from Job as they rather express the sentiments of his friends concerning the wicked.

[257] For discussion of Job's mystical theology, see Vie spirituelle, 1956, pp. 372-391.

The substance of Job's reply to Eliphaz is that his observation of the human situation provides no unchallengeable assurance of the moral structure of the universe.[258] Is it possible that we live in an amoral world? Are moral values nothing more than cultural mores, changing standards of social peer groups?

[258] Same thesis presented by R. L. Rubenstein, Job and Auschwitz, Union Seminary Quarterly, 1969, pp. 421-437; see also his After Auschwitz, Bobbs-Merrill, pb., 19

The friends have charged Job with impious rebellion against God's standards of morality. He respondsEven or still today my complaint is rebellious. So Job declares that he will continue to be a rebel in their eyes. The even or still implies that the debate has been going on for some time. My stroke should read his[259] hand is heavy (no justification for heavier in A. V.) in spite of my groaning. Job has no scruples against making the charge directly against God.

[259] The Hebrew suffixes which represent my and his have only slight variation in form. Following LXX, Dahood, and Bloomerde, we take the text as third masculine suffix.

Job 23:3Even though God suppresses Job, he desires to see HimJob 9:34 ff; Job 13:3. Strahan correctly observes that a major distinction between Job and his friends is that he desires to see God; they do not. Job aspires to appear before God's dwelling place, His judgment seat.

Job 23:4Once more the courtroom scene is evokedJob 9:13-21. But Job is no longer afraid that God would refuse to hear him or continue His agonizing silenceJob 13:18 a. He would prepare his case and present it to God.

Job 23:5Job merely wishes to hear God's charges against him. The divine indictment Job would accept, but not the wrathful innuendoes of his three consolers.

Job 23:6He is confident that God would give him a fair hearing and ultimately a vindication. God's power would give way (yasingive heed to) to His just consolation. Tur Sinai has shown that here koah means legal power and that rab-koah means power of attorney.[260]

[260] See his imaginative commentary, Tur Sinai (N. H. Torczyner) The Book of Job, rev., ed., 1969, Kirjath Sepher on this verse; see also the excellent analysis in G. Many, Der Rechtsstreit mit Gott (rib) im Hiobbuch, (Diss. Munchen, 1970), see Elenchus bibliographicus, 1972, p. 144, for full notation.

Job 23:7The verse is an echo of Job 13:16. The emphasis is upon upright. If he could get an audience with God, he would be vindicated (preserve my rights) as a righteous man. There is a powerful image set forth in this verse. The verb here is used in Job 21:10 b of a cow giving birth. The image is that of justice emerging successfully as from a womb. In Habakkuk 1:4 this idiom is employed to convey the distortion of justice, or its unsuccessful delivery.

Job 23:8His hope for encountering God is shattered. He goes forward (Heb. qedemeast, westall directionsIsaiah 9:11) seeking God, but He is elusive. In contrast, the Psalmist (Psalms 139:7 ff) declares that God is everywhere.

Job 23:9The Hebrew text says when he works as A. V., but this hardly makes sense. Even the grammatical difficulties do not hide the meaning of the verse, which might be rendered When I turn to the left I do not see Him. This translation would fit the parallelism of the second line very nicelyPss. 64:14; Psalms 73:6; Psalms 139:7-10.

Job 23:10There are two possible understandings of the verse: (1) God eludes Job's search because He always knows where Job is going; or (2) In spite of God's unavailability to Job, he knows that God is still watching over him. When God has completely tested Job, He will discover no dross in him, only pure goldPsalms 139:1-6 and Jeremiah 11:20. Dahood suggests that the verb translated come forth actually means shinewith reference to the shining surface of the crucible, after the dross is removed.

Job 23:11Job's assurance is grounded in his conviction that he has always walked in God's way. His integrity is matched only by his loyalty to GodPsalms 17:5. This verse is a denial of Job 22:6-9.

Job 23:12Eliphaz has exhorted JobJob 22:22to receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up His words in his heart. Job responds to this exhortation by asserting that he has always lived in that manner. The A. V. expands the Hebrew text in translating more than my necessary food, but for this theme see Psalms 119:11. Job's possible Israelite (patriarchal) background is suggested by his use of the word miswah for In my bosom I treasured the words of his mouth.[261]

[261] For a defense of this translation, see M. Dahood, Biblica, 1967, p. 427.

Job 23:13The first line in the A. V. incorrectly translates the text (adds mind), which literally says He is in one meaning that God freely chooses His own course, and His power is irresistible. The parallelism all but confirms the necessary emendation (change from b-'hd to bhr). In Psalms 132:13 the same two verbswish and chooseoccur in parallel structure.

Job 23:14God's decrees are unchangeableIsaiah 45:23; Isaiah 55:10-11. He will execute my sentence.[262] This does not imply any Calvinistic fatalism. The last line is ambiguous; it is not certain whether God has more suffering reserved for him or others or both.

[262] M. Dahood, Orientalia, 1963, p. 499; followed by Blommerde, Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job.

Job 23:15When he thinks of God's mysterious ways with men, he is terrified once moreJob 21:6.

Job 23:16The emphatic words in the text are God and Almighty. The verb translated made. faint means to be tender. It is used in parallel with fear in Deuteronomy 20:3; Isaiah 7:4; Jeremiah 51:46; in this verse it is in parallel with a strong word meaning overwhelms. Contemplating all of his misery, Job's heart fills him with horror.

Job 23:17There is a difficulty in the verse because of the presence of the negative (to). The Hebrew text reads in part of line one I was not annihilated because of darkness. The word rendered cut off can mean be silent; thus Dhorme translates I was not silent because of darkness.[263] Both make sense and describe how Job actually responded to the darkness of God's silence. In bondage to fear and darkness, Job is reduced to utter despondency. What disturbs Job more than his misery is the thought that God has decreed it.

[263] Dhorme, Job, p. 352.