Job 23:7

_THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM; SO SHOULD I BE DELIVERED FOR EVER FROM MY JUDGE._ There - rather, Then: if God would 'attend' to me (Job 23:6). RIGHTEOUS - i:e., the result of my dispute would be, He would acknowledge ME as righteous. Job means, by "the righteous," himself, then recognized as such by God. DELIVERED - from suspicion of guilt on the part of my Judge....

1-7 Job appeals from his friends to the just judgement of God. He wants to have his cause tried quickly. Blessed be God, we may know where to find him. He is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself; and upon a mercy-seat, waiting to be gracious. Thither the sinner may go; and there the believer may order his cause before Him, with arguments taken from his promises, his covenant, and his glory. A patient waiting for death and judgment is our wisdom and duty, and it cannot be without a holy fear and trembling. A passionate wishing for death or judgement is our sin and folly, and ill becomes us, as it did Job....

Verse Job 23:7. _THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM_] נוכח _nochach_, might _argue_ or _plead_. To _dispute with God_ sounds very harsh. _SO SHOULD I BE DELIVERED FOR EVER_] Mr. _Good_ translates: "And triumphantly should I escape from my condemnation." The Hebrew word לנצח _lanetsach_ may as well be translated _to victory_ as _for_ _ever_: and in this sense the _Vulgate_ understood the words: _Proponat_ _aequitatem contra me; et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum_. "He would set up equity against me; and would lead on my cause to victory." _Coverdale_ renders thus: - _But let hym give me like power_ _to go to lawe, then am I sure to wynne my matter._ Nothing less than the fullest conviction of his own innocence could have led Job to express himself thus to the Judge of quick and de

THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM - One who is conscious of his integrity might carry his cause there, with the assurance that he would be heard, and that justice would be done him. There can be no doubt that Job here refers to himself, though. he speaks in the third person, and advances this as a general proposition. SO SHALL I BE DELIVERED FOREVER FROM MY JUDGE - From him who would judge or condemn me (משׁפטי _mı̂shâphaṭı̂y_). He does not here refer to “God,” as if he would be delivered from him, but to anyone who would attempt to judge and condemn him, as his friends had done. The meaning is, that having, as he confidently expected he would, obtained the verdict of God in his favor, he would be ever after free from condemnation. The decision would be final. There was no higher tribunal, and no one would dare to condemn him afterward. This shows his conscio

EXPOSITION VERSES 1-24:25 Job replies to Eliphaz in a speech of no great length, which, though it occupies two chapters, runs to only forty-two verses. He begins by justifying the vehemence of his complaints, first, on the ground of the severity of his sufferings (verse 2), and secondly, on the ground of his conviction that, if God would bring him to an open trial before his tribunal, he would acquit him (verses 3-12). By the way, he complains that God hides himself, and cannot be found (verses 3, 8, 9). He then further complains that God is not to be bent from his purpose, which is set against Job (verses 13-17). In Job 24:1. he goes over ground already trodden, maintaining the general prosperity of the wicked, and their exemption from any special earthly punishment (Job 24:2). H

THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM,.... That is, at his seat, either at his mercy seat, where even God allows sinners to come and reason with him, for pardoning grace and mercy, upon the foot of his own declarations and promises, and the blood and sacrifice of his son, Isaiah 1:18; or at his judgment seat, pleading the righteousness of Christ, which is fully satisfactory to law and justice. Job most probably means himself by the righteous or upright man, being conscious to himself of his sincerity and integrity; and relying on this, he feared not to appear before God as a Judge, and reason his case before him, dispute the matter with him, and in his presence, which was in controversy between him and his friends, whether he was an hypocrite or a sincere good man: SO SHOULD I BE DELIVERED FOR EVER FROM MY JUDGE; either from those who judged harsely of him, and were ver

Always remember, dear friends, that one of the great lessons of the Book of Job is this, that we may never judge a man's character by his condition. The best of men may have the most of suffering and of poverty, while the worst of men may prosper in everything. Do not imagine, because a man suddenly becomes very poor or a great sufferer, that therefore he must be a great sinner; otherwise, you will often condemn the innocent, and you will, at the same time, be guilty of flattering the wicked. Job's friends had cruelly told him that he must be a hypocrite, or else he would not have lost his property, and have been smitten with such a remarkable sickness; so he appeals to God against their unrighteous judgment. Job 23:1. _Then Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning._ «Although my groaning is heavy, yet it is not so burde

CHAPTER S 23-24 JOB'S REPLY _ 1. O that I knew where I may find Him (Job 23:1)_ 2. Trusting yet doubting (Job 23:10) 3. Hath God failed? (Job 24:1) 4. Job's further testimony as to the wicked (Job 24:13) Job 23:1. Job here does not disprove at once the false charges of Eliphaz. He can afford to wait till later, till their mouths are completely silenced. Then he speaks the final word. He acknowledgeth that he is still rebellious. His hand which is upon him is heavier than all his groanings. Then that outburst which reveals the longing of his t

Job still rebels, though he does his best to repress his complaints (Job 23:2). Translate as _mg._ Job 23:6 f. shows the gain Job has got. Job 23:8. He is still in quest of God, but now is convinced that if he could find Him, God would treat him reasonably (contrast Job 9:14). God's inscrutableness (Job 23:8 f.) now causes him no fear (Job 23:10). Trial will but be the touchstone that will reveal his innocence (Job 23:10)

Job's Reply to the Third Speech of Eliphaz. Job continues to miss any Moral Government of the World by God As before, in the two preceding cycles of debate, Job's mind is too much absorbed in contemplation of the painful mystery of God's providence, which he had set before his view in ch. 21, to be able yet to turn away from it and give attention to the direct charges of wickedness which Eliphaz made against him (ch. Job 22:1-10). The riddle of the painful earth still fascinates him, the injustice and cruel wrong that goes unpunished, the misery of the poor and innocent, and the peaceful end of flagrant transgressors, who are "of those who rebel against the light" (ch. Job 24:13). What he misses in the world is any true retributive rule of God (ch....