Job’s Second Response to Eliphaz the Spiritist (16-17)
16:1 Then Job replied:
Job gave his answer to Eliphaz (the spiritist).
16:2 “I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all!
Job let his three comforters know that they were very bad at comforting him! They told Job nothing new. They did not tell him anything that he did not already know.
16:3 Will there be an end to your windy words? Or what provokes you that you answer?
These three comforters of Job were speaking empty words that accomplished nothing. They talk as though they were angry with life. They talked as though they were taking their anger out on Job.
16:4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could pile up words against you and I could shake my head at you.
If the situation was reversed, Job could choose to speak harshly to them as well. He could choose to relentlessly attack them.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my words; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
If the situation was reversed, Job would not attack them with hostile words. Instead, he would comfort them with kind and compassionate words and give them some relief.
16:6 “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I refrain from speaking—how much of it goes away?
If Job speaks or remains silent, his pain still remains with him.
16:7 Surely now he has worn me out, you have devastated my entire household.
God has weakened Job with His attacks. God has devastated Job’s entire household.
16:8 You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me.
Job was physically crippled by God.
16:9 His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me.
God tore into Job like a savage beast.
16:10 People have opened their mouths against me, they have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me.
People began to make fun of Job.
16:11 God abandons me to evil men, and throws me into the hands of wicked men.
God placed evil men in control of Job’s life.
16:12 I was in peace, and he has shattered me. He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
Job was living a godly and prosperous life in peace with his family and prosperity. Then, God shattered him into pieces. God seized Job by the neck and crushed him. God made Job His own personal target.
16:13 his archers surround me. Without pity he pierces my kidneys and pours out my gall on the ground.
God was like an archer who was using Job for target practice. God wounded Job with His arrows, causing his gall to spill out.
16:14 He breaks through against me, time and time again; he rushes against me like a warrior.
God was like a mighty warrior who continually rushed and attacked Job without feeling fatigue.
16:15 I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust;
Job was humbling himself before God by wearing sackcloth and sitting on the dust of the ground.
16:16 my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness,
Job’s face was red and his eyes were black with tears.
16:17 although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
Job had committed no violence. His prayers were pure. Yet, why was God punishing him?
16:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood, nor let there be a secret place for my cry.
Job asked the earth not to cover his blood in the grave until he has been found innocent of these charges from his “comforters.”
16:19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.
Verse 19 is a key verse of the Bible. Since God was God and had never suffered as a man, then Job felt that God could not understand his sufferings. Unless God becomes a man, then this predicament exists in all religions. Allah, Krishna, Zeus, and all of the other so-called gods have never become a man, so they will never understand suffering. Therefore, Job desired a mediator who would be both God and man. Job did recognize that he had an advocate in heaven. This advocate is the Lord Jesus Christ. He became man and suffered even greater than Job. He is both God and man. Therefore, the Lord can understand the holiness of God and the suffering and temptations of man.
16:20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
Job was confident that he had an intercessor in heaven who listened to the tears of his eyes.
16:21 and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend.
Job was confident that this intercessor was pleading to God the Father on his behalf. Job lived after the flood during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). He possessed tremendous insight into the identity of the future Messiah to come.
16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return.
Since Job felt that he had very little of life left inside of him, he needed this intercessor right away.
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17:1 My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me.
Job’s spirit was broken. His life was fading away. The grave awaited him.
17:2 Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
Job’s life was a mockery. Life had been very hostile to him.
17:3 Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me?
Though God was against Job, Job knew that only God could provide a pledge for him. This pledge was a courtroom bond which was given to the defendant as a guarantee that no advantage would be taken against him.
17:4 Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.
Since Job’s best friends had closed their minds to Job’s innocence, then only God could provide this courtroom pledge for him.
17:5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, the eyes of his children will fail.
Since these men were such faithless friends to Job, then judgment may come upon their children in the form of blindness.
17:6 He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit.
The people did not show sympathy to Job. They mocked him and spit upon his face. The people may have come to the same conclusion as Job’s three friends. They may thought that he was being punished by God for some evil act. This is very prevalent in Hinduism. Hindus believe that those who are born into poverty are “untouchables,” because they did some evil act in their past lives to place them in this position of life.
17:7 My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.
Job is losing his eyesight and his muscle frame.
17:8 Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless.
Anyone who was upright and innocent would be appalled at this terrible treatment of Job.
17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Job was implying that anyone who did not show compassion to his present situation was not a righteous man. This insinuation included Job’s three friends.
17:10 “But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you.
Job sarcastically challenged his three friends to find one wrong act that he had done, but he knew that they were not wise enough to do so.
17:11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart.
Job’s life was fading. His hopes, plans, and desires were unfulfilled.
17:12 These men change night into day; they say, ‘The light is near in the face of darkness.’
It was unrealistic for these three friends to tell Job that the darkness was almost over and the light was about to appear.
17:13 If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
Job’s only hope was the darkness of the grave.
17:14 If I cry to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
While Job is in his grave, his father will be his body corruption. His mother will be the worm who devours his physical body in the grave.
17:15 where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it?
Job asked his three friends if they could offer any hope.
17:16 Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”
The only hope of Job was to go down to the barred gates of death. Job and his hope would descend into the dust of death.