Job 9:20

_IF I JUSTIFY MYSELF, MINE OWN MOUTH SHALL CONDEMN ME: IF I SAY, I AM PERFECT, IT SHALL ALSO PROVE ME PERVERSE._ If I justify myself. Maurer translates-`If I were just' - i:e., if I had right on my side х_ 'ETSDAAQ_ (H6663)]. This accords with Job 9:21. So also translate, not as English version, 'If I say I am perfect,' but '(If) I (were) perfect.' it-mine own mouth (Job 15:6). "Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant" (Luke 19:22). Or, 'He,' God, 'would prove me perverse.'...

14-21 Job is still righteous in his own eyes, ch. Job 32:1, and this answer, though it sets forth the power and majesty of God, implies that the question between the afflicted and the Lord of providence, is a question of might, and not of right; and we begin to discover the evil fruits of pride and of a self-righteous spirit. Job begins to manifest a disposition to condemn God, that he may justify himself, for which he is afterwards reproved. Still Job knew so much of himself, that he durst not stand a trial. If we say, We have no sin, we not only deceive ourselves, but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and give the lie to the Scripture. But Job reflected on God's goodness and justice in saying his affliction was without cause....

Verse Job 9:20. _IF I JUSTIFY MYSELF_] God must have some reason for his conduct towards me; I therefore do not pretend to justify myself; the attempt to do it would be an insult to his majesty and justice. Though I am conscious of none of the crimes of which you accuse me; and know not _why_ he contends with me; yet he must have some reason, and that reason he does not choose to explain....

IF I JUSTIFY MYSELF, MINE OWN MOUTH SHALL CONDEMN ME - That is, referring still to the form of a judicial trial, if I should undertake to manage my own cause, I should lay myself open to condemnation even in my argument on the subject, and should show that I was far from the perfection which I had undertaken to maintain. By passionate expressions; by the language of complaint and murmuring; by a want of suitable reverence; by showing my ignorance of the principles of the divine government; by arguments unsound and based on false positions; or by contradictions and self-refutations, I should show that my position was untenable, and that God was right in charging me with guilt. In some or in all of these ways Job felt, probably, that in an argument before God he would be self-condemned, and that even an attempt to justify himself, or to prove that he was innocent, would prove that he was g...

EXPOSITION JOB 9:1 Job, in answer to Bildad, admits the truth of his arguments, but declines to attempt the justification which can alone entitle him to accept the favourable side of Bildad's alternative. Man cannot absolutely justify himself before God. It is in vain to attempt to do so. The contest is too unequal. On the one side perfect wisdom and absolute strength (verse 4); on the other, weakness, imperfection, ignorance. guilt (verses 17-20). And no "daysman," or umpire, between them; no third party to hold the balance even, and preside authoritatively over the controversy, and see that justice is done (verses 33-35). Were it otherwise, Job would not shrink from the controversy; but he thinks it ill arguing with omnipotent power. What he seems to lack is the absolute conviction expressed by Abraham in the emphatic words'"_ _Shall not the Judge of al

IF I JUSTIFY MYSELF,.... Seek for justification by his own righteousness, trust in himself that he was righteous, say that he was so, and pronounce himself a righteous man, what would it signify? MINE OWN MOUTH SHALL CONDEMN ME; the words of it being sinful, vain, idle, and frothy; and if a man is to be justified, and condemned by his words, he may be sure of the latter: indeed, "if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man", James 3:2; but let a man be as careful as he can, and keep ever such a guard upon his lips, such is the imperfection of human nature, that, though a Moses, he will speak unadvisedly with his lips, at one time or another, and in many things will offend; which would be his condemnation, if there was no other way to secure from it; nay, for a sinful man to justify himself, or to say that he is a righteous man by his own righteousness, and insist upo

CHAPTER S 9-10 JOB ANSWERS BILDAD _ 1. The supremacy and power of God (Job 9:1)_ 2. How then can Job meet Him? (Job 9:11) 3. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked (Job 9:22) 4. Confession of weakness and the need of a daysman (Job 9:25) 5. Murmuring against God (Job 10:1) 6. Welcoming death (Job 10:18) Job 9:1. The final words of Bildad seemed to have had a momentary soothing

JOB 9:1 is Job's answer to the position taken up by Bildad, viz. that the Almighty cannot judge falsely (Job 8:3). In Job 2 accepts the general principle that God judges according to merit. But of what use is this? Man has no chance of asserting his righteousness before God, of putting in his claim to reward. There is no equality between the Judge and the person judged. If man wishes to maintain an argument with God (Job 9:3 _mg._) God can ask him a thousand questions that will baffle him. God is all-wise and almighty: who can withstand Him? (Job 9:4). He is almighty (Job 9:5 f). There follows a series of

From the operation of this terrible force in the physical world Job passes on to describe its display among creatures, and to shew how it paralyses and crushes them....

DISCOURSE: 459 THE EVIL OF A SELF-JUSTIFYING SPIRIT Job 9:20. _If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life_. IN controversies of every kind, and more especially in those which relate to religion, the disputants are, for the most part, more anxious to obtain the victory than to discover truth. Hence, instead of putting that precise construction on each other’s words which they were designed to bear, they labour to turn to their own advantage every expression of their adversary, and to derive from it an argument for the support of their own cause. Even good men are by no means so candid as they ought to be in relation to this matter, more especially when they become heated by opposition. The friends of Job were exceedingly faulty in this