Job
Chapter 19
Job Responds to Bildad
Job answered:
How long will you vex me, crush me with your words?
Ten times now you have reviled me, you have attacked me shamelessly.
If indeed I am at fault, I alone am concerned with it.
If you want to gloat over me and use my humiliation as an argument,
know then that God has treated me unfairly and surrounded me with torment.
Though I cry out against injustice, I am not heard; though I call for help, it is in vain.
He has blocked my way to stop me from passing; he has covered my path and made it dark.
He has stripped me of my honor and taken the crown from my head.
On every side, he tears me down and uproots my hope until it is gone.
He directs his anger against me and considers me his enemy.
His troops build a siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
He has separated me from my brothers, completely alienating me from my friends.
My relatives and companions have gone away; my guests have abandoned me.
My maidservants see me as an outsider, as if they never knew me.
I call my servant, but he doesn’t answer, even when I beg him.
My wife finds my breath offensive; to my own brothers, I am disgusting.
Even young children mock me: Come! Let’s make fun of him!
All my close friends despise me; those I love have turned against me.
I have become emaciated, barely more than skin and bones, having escaped with only my gums.
Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me!
Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never be satisfied with destroying my flesh?
Oh, that my words were written down, or recorded in bronze
with an iron tool, a chisel, or engraved forever on the rock!
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end, he will stand upon the earth.
I will be there behind my skin, and within my flesh, I will see God.
With my own eyes, I will see him— me and not someone else. How my heart yearns!
If you say, “We will pursue him! Let us find a charge against him”,
be afraid of the sword yourselves; when Wrath is inflamed against wrongdoing, you will know there is judgment.
Commentaries
Job Responds to Bildad.
With a typical lament, Job is asking: “How long?” He clearly states that God is treating him unjustly (6), recalling the times when God acted this way toward him (7-14). Not only has God abandoned him, but also his friends and family (13-22). He feels alone and ashamed, close to death, clinging to the last hope to prove his innocence (23-29). He desires his declaration of innocence to be etched in stone so it can speak for him after his death (23f). Then, in verses 25-27, he seeks another form of vindication. This is one of the most well-known and challenging passages in the book (25). The “defender”—similar to our “Ombudsman”—was an office in tribal society tasked with defending and protecting the weakest members of the family. Although the functions of the defender varied (cf. Lv 25:23f; 47-55; Dt 25:5-10; Ruth 4:1-6), their primary duty was to preserve the unity of the family or tribe. Who is this defender? Some interpret it as God; others, more convincingly, see it as a third party who, alongside Job, can stand up to the one who acts as judge, accuser, and executioner—namely, God. But when will this happen? Job clings to the hope of a last-minute rescue while he is still alive, which is his heartfelt desire (26b). He concludes with a warning and a prophecy: those who continue to condemn him will ultimately face judgment themselves (28f; cf. 42:7-9).