Job 17

1 My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me. 2 Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. 3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me? 4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. 5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.

6 “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit. 7 My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. 8 The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly. 9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

10 “But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you. 11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart 12 turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near. 13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness, 14 if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,' 15 where then is my hope— who can see any hope for me? 16 Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

Job 18

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2“When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk. 3 Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight? 4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning. 6 The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out. 7 The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down. 8 His feet thrust him into a net; he wanders into its mesh. 9 A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast. 10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path.11 Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step. 12 Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls. 13 It eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs.

14 He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling. 16 His roots dry up below and his branches wither above. 17 The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land. 18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world. 19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived. 20 People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror. 21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Job 19

1 Then Job replied: 2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? 3 Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me. 4 If it is true that I have gone astray, my error remains my concern alone.

5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, 6 then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me.7 “Though I cry, 'Violence!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice. 8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10 He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree. 11 His anger burns against me; he counts me among his enemies. 12 His troops advance in force; they build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent. 13 He has alienated my family from me; my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

14 My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. 15 My guests and my female servants count me a foreigner; they look on me as on a stranger.16 I summon my servant, but he does not answer, though I beg him with my own mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own family. 18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me. 19 All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. 20 I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! 28 “If you say, 'How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,' 29 you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment. ”

SS22 Spiritual Mouthwash

Job 17-19

Chapter 17

Job is ready to die.  He tells God (V3) to put up the security deposit for him.  What an intriguing thought.  He asks God to pay his way.  Another Messianic theme since Christ is our full payment for our sin debt.  

I don't understand verse 5:  

5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.

It occurs in a paragraph where he is complaining that people are mocking him.  I wonder if this is something people are telling him.  Accusing him of selling out friends and blaming him for the deaths of his children.  Having lost a child, I can say that is the cruelest accusation imaginable.   Thought I better look it up.  Here is what Biblehead Adam Clarke said:

The man who expects much from his friends will be disappointed: while depending on them his children's eyes may fail in looking for bread.

So, he thinks this means that listening to his friends will result in starvation.  I better look at other translations because I just don't see it.  

NKJ

5 He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail.

Maybe?  Almost sounds like he is so blindly complimenting friends that his children end up blind.  Whatever – it is not a compliment.  Moving on.  

Job is blind with grief.  He says upright people would be appalled by what is happening.  He believes that innocence and righteousness will lead to strength.  

Let's enjoy V10 from job:

10 “But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.

No, not much contemporary worship music comes from the book of Job.  Here he calls his friends dumb butts.  He is tempted just to give in.  But then he will be dust with a worm family.  Yes, that is in there.  

Chapter 18

Bildad jumps in next:  Stop talking nonsense.  Why are you calling us dumb cows?  Yes, that is in there (V3).  

Bildad goes on to talk about how bad things happen to wicked men including:

-he loses electricity (paraphrased but lamps are out in his tent).

-he walks weakly into traps

-he is paranoid

-he is headed for disaster.  Okay, here it gets zombie weird: 13 It (calamity) eats away parts of his skin; death's firstborn devours his limbs.

So, life eats away at wicked men like a bad luck zombie.  

-he is always putting out fires

-he withers

-he has no legacy

-people are appalled by the situation

Well, I do not know about Job, but I feel encouraged.  Is it true?  Sometimes.  But sometimes wicked ungodly men have wonderful lives.  Think of Hugh Hefner.  Not godly.  Not good.  Very wealthy.  Very successful.  Lived to 91.  Bildad would be horrified.

Chapter 19:

Job gets on to his friends about repeatedly verbally crushing him.  He says that if he is a sinner, that is his business alone.  He says that “God has wronged” him.  God has:

- ignored his call for justice

-blocked his path

-taken away his nice clothing and honor

-uprooted him

-treated him like an enemy

-left him without friends, family or servants

Ok, Job is in a full out session of accusing God here.  But it starts to get a bit funny next and I suspect the person writing the poem about Job's life intends it as a such:

17 My breath is offensive to my wife;

Yep, there is a bad breath verse in the Bible.  If I were a dentist, I would totally get wall art with that verse on it.  The verses continue with more funny stuff:

18 Even the little boys scorn me; when I appear, they ridicule me.

In my mind, I see Nelson the bully kid from the Simpsons saying, “Ha -Ha” at Job.  

The verses go on with more interesting accusations.  He says that his good friends (the group to which he is speaking) hate him.  He then says two things that have found their way into colloquialisms we use all of the time:

-I am skin and bones

-I escaped by the skin of my teeth

If you ever wonder where some of the odd things we say come from?  It is usually either the Bible or Shakespeare.  

I imagine Job's story being passed on orally until it was written down.  It would make a great oral telling.  Each complaint gets more and more absurd.  The story is then placed in writing with all of this woven in.  The situation is undoubtedly serious, but just like us, when Job gets into his pity party, his thoughts get more and more separated from the reality of the situation.  

Job asks his friends why they are going after him just like God is.  It then gets funny again:

23 “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!

I want to meet the guy who wrote this story down.  He is probably a hoot.  He is writing down the story and adds that the story should be written down.  

Job is really, really feeling let down by God.  He is crushed.  But he always comes back to God.  He knows that his “redeemer lives” and that he will come to earth.  That is a definite messianic foreshadowing.   He also says that after he dies, he will see God.  That is a reference to the afterlife.  I know that Christians get a lot of afterlife material in the NT.  But Jews are divided about the afterlife.  Some believe in it some don't.  When we get to the NT, we meet the Sadducees, a group defined by the lack of belief in the afterlife.  So I am always interested in mentions of the afterlife in the OT.  Job clearly believes there is an afterlife where he will see God.  

At the end of this section, Job basically tells his friends to judge not lest they be judged.  If I were Job's friend, I would have paused.