Job 19:19

Inward] i.e. intimate.

20a. The words describe his leanness. I am escaped, etc.] Some would substitute, 'And I am escaped with my flesh in my teeth' (cp. Job 13:14).

22b. 'You cannot tear me to pieces enough' An 'eater of flesh' is an Eastern expression for a slanderer.

23-27. Job had frequently expressed a hope that his righteousness would be proclaimed, as a reply to the insinuation of the friends that he was suffering for his sins (cp. Job 13:15). We have also noted his longings, more or less definitely expressed, that he might find a mediator or vindicator who would do this office for him (cp. Job 9:32; Job 17:3). In this chapter these longings, already turned into conviction in Job 16:19, receive an even higher expression. He utters his belief (Job 19:23) that God Himself will once more manifest Himself as his friend, and vindicate his character after his death, and that he shall be suffered to see God proclaiming his righteousness over his grave. It is unfortunate that the rendering 'Redeemer' and the traditional reference of the vindicator to Christ, together with the supposition that Job expects a resurrection of the body, have completely disguised the true meaning from most readers. The vindicator is God Himself, who is now his persecutor, and Job anticipates neither deliverance from death nor a resurrection of the body after death, nor even a deliverance from Sheol and renewed fellowship with God, only the experience of one thrilling moment, when his shade will wake from its semi-conscious stupor to see God standing over his grave and declaring his innocence to the universe.

23, 24. Job longs to write down or, better still, to engrave upon a rock (a durable material to last into the future) his protestation of innocence. Lead] This may refer to the pouring of molten lead into the carved-out letters, though we have no other mention of such a practice.