19:1 Then Job answered:
Job answered the second response of Bildad (the traditionalist).
19:2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
Job asked his three friends how much longer they would continue to torture him with their attacking words.
19:3 These ten times you have been reproaching me; you are not ashamed to attack me!
The three friends have attacked Job over ten different times. It is possible that not all of the dialogue which took place was recorded in Scripture. When believers get to heaven, they may be able to learn the entire dialogue.
19:4 But even if it were true that I have erred, my error remains solely my concern!
If Job did sin, then the sin is his problem and not the problem or business of his three friends.
19:5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and plead my disgrace against me,
These three friends were even more sinful than Job, so they were committing another sin by exalting themselves above him. God would later call Job one of the three most righteous men in history.
19:6 know then that God has wronged me and encircled me with his net.
This is Job’s biggest sin. He does not know all of the details. He is unaware of the spiritual warfare surrounding him. He blames his predicament upon God.
19:7 “If I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I receive no answer; I cry for help, but there is no justice.
Job cried out that God had done violence to him, but God answered him with silence. He claimed that he received no justice from God.
19:8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, and has set darkness over my paths.
Job accused God of blocking his path and placing him in darkness.
19:9 He has stripped me of my honor and has taken the crown off my head.
Job accused God of stripping away his honor and taking away his crown by removing his place of esteem in the community. At one time, the community honored the name of Job. Now, the community has inherited the attitude of Job’s friends. They think that God is punishing Job for some terrible secret sin in which he committed.
19:10 He tears me down on every side until I perish; he uproots my hope like one uproots a tree.
Job accused God of demolishing him like a building. He accused God of uprooting him like a tree.
19:11 Thus his anger burns against me, and he considers me among his enemies.
Job accused God of burning His anger against him. He accused God of making him His enemy. Satan was the real enemy. He was not only the enemy of Job, but he was the enemy of God as well.
19:12 His troops advance together; they throw up a siege ramp against me, and they camp around my tent.
Job accused God of assaulting him just as soldiers assault a siege ramp which goes up and over a city wall. He accused God of surrounding his tent with soldiers in an attempt to kill him.
19:13 “He has put my relatives far from me; my acquaintances only turn away from me. 14 My kinsmen have failed me; my friends have forgotten me.
Job accused God of turning his relatives, friends, and acquaintances away from him.
19:15 My guests and my servant girls consider me a stranger; I am a foreigner in their eyes. 19:16 I summon my servant, but he does not respond, even though I implore him with my own mouth.
Job accused God of turning his servants against him. These servants refused to honor their former employer who had hired them and treated them with prosperous working conditions.
19:17 My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my brothers.
Job accused God of giving him bad breath, which caused his wife and brothers to stay away from him.
19:18 Even youngsters have scorned me; when I get up, they scoff at me.
In ancient Middle Eastern culture, youngsters showed great respect to elders. However, the youngster of Uz mocked and ridiculed Job. Satan had turned even the children against one of the most righteous men in history.
19:19 All my closest friends detest me; and those whom I love have turned against me.
Job was speaking about his three friends who were standing in front of him.
19:20 My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth.
Job continued to lose weight. His teeth had fallen out. Only his gums were unaffected.
19:21 Have pity on me, my friends, have pity on me, for the hand of God has struck me.
Job asked his friends to quit attacking him with vicious words and show some compassion to him.
19:22 Why do you pursue me like God does? Will you never be satiated with my flesh?
Job asked his friends to quit attacking him, as God had done. Why do they need to be ruthless, like wild beasts who attempt to devour his flesh?
19:23 “O that my words were written down, O that they were written on a scroll,
Job wanted to write his words down on a scroll. This desire expressed that no one except for Job would have known the details of these words which were spoken. Therefore, Job must be the original author of this book.
19:24 that with an iron chisel and with lead they were engraved in a rock forever!
Job wanted present and future generations to read and know about his innocence. This prayer was answered, as the Book of Job has been read by many generations of people all throughout history.
It was the common practice of that age for people to write upon stone tablets. These stone tablets somehow must eventually have come into the possession of Moses, who according to Jewish tradition, later published them.
19:25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth.
The Hebrew word for “redeemer” is גָּאַל (gael), meaning a near relative who pays off the debt of one who is in slavery. Job believed that God was attacking him, but he also believed that God would redeem him and vindicate his innocence. This redeemer must be human and a near relative. Therefore, the Redeemer must be God and man simultaneously. Job lived during the time period of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), but he possessed advanced knowledge of a coming Savior.
19:26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God,
Job believed in the resurrection of the dead.
19:27 whom I will see for myself, and whom my own eyes will behold, and not another. My heart grows faint within me.
Although worms will eat the body of Job, he was confident that his own eyes would gaze upon God for all eternity. God would no longer be his enemy. God would be on his side.
19:28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him, since the root of the trouble is found in him!’
Job warned his three friends. They needed to stop pursuing him with their vicious tongues. Job knew that he was not being punished for some terrible sin that he had done.
19:29 Fear the sword yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment by the sword, so that you may know that there is judgment.”
If these friends did not quit accusing Job of a sin that he did not commit, then they would be the recipients of God’s wrath. Job was able to look beyond the grave and see his future acquittal and fellowship with God through a future Redeemer who would be both God and man.