9:1 Then Job answered: 9:2 “Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God? 

 

Job answered Bildad. According to God, Job was the most righteous man in all of the world. However, Job knew that he came short of God’s standard. He needed some kind of assistance to become“justified with God.”

 

9:3 If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand. 

 

Later, God will ask Job 38 different questions. Job will not be able to answer any of them.

 

9:4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength— who has resisted him and remained safe?

 

God possesses supernatural wisdom and strength. No one can stand up to God and win.

 

9:5 He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger; 

 

God overturned all of the mountains during the flood. There are sea life fossils on the top of every mountain in the world.

 

9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place so that its pillars tremble; 

 

God used earthquakes to break up “all of the fountains of the great deep” at the beginning of the Flood. These earthquakes from the global flood still continue to this day.

 

9:7 he who commands the sun and it does not shine and seals up the stars; 

 

According to Genesis 1:7, there were pre-Flood “waters above the firmament” which originally created a canopy around the earth. This icy, water canopy was broken at the flood. Its effects blotted out the light of the sun and stars for the first time in history. This icy rain continued for five months. This is why archaeologists have found Siberian elephants frozen with food still undigested in their stomachs. The atmosphere would have to change drastically and instantaneously for these fossils to exist today.

 

9:8 he alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea; 

 

It was God , not the Big Bang, who spread out the universe. Nothing cannot explode into everything. If the universe is expanding, it is because God supernaturally caused it to do so.

 

9:9 he makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky; 

 

God created and named the stars and the constellations. The stars were originally created as as evangelical “signs” in the sky. Zodiac means “the way to God.” The original zodiac began with Virgo, not Sagittarius. The original Virgo announced the virgin birth of the Messiah. The original Zodiac ended with Leo, or Judah the Lion. Judah the Lion is a picture of the Second Coming of Christ. The original Zodiac was probably perverted by Satan after the Tower of Babel.

 

9:10 he does great and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number. 

 

God’s invisible power is at work everyday in great quality and quantity.

 

9:11 If he passes by me, I cannot see him, if he goes by, I cannot perceive him. 

 

God is always everywhere, but He is invisible.

 

19:2 If he snatches away, who can turn him back? Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ 

 

When God snatches a life out of this universe, no one can stop Him from doing so. No one can question Him.

 

9:13 God does not restrain his anger; under him the helpers of Rahab lie crushed. 

 

Rahab was a mythological monster who was subdued by the god Marduk. Rahab was a figurative expression for pride. Job is not saying that he believes in the myth. He is using this well-known myth of that day as a metaphor to describe God’s absolute power.

 

9:14 “How much less, then, can I answer him and choose my words to argue with him! 

 

Job cannot answer God. If Job went to court with God, Job would be too confused to even defend himself.

 

9:15 Although I am innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my judge for mercy. 

 

The three friends told Job that his punishment was a result of some secret sin. Job again declared his innocence. If he was guilty of some secret sin, then Job wanted God to identify the sin.

 

9:16 If I summoned him, and he answered me, I would not believe that he would be listening to my voice— 

 

If Job could summon God to court, then Job would have a hard time believing that God would even listen to his case.

 

9:17 he who crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds for no reason. 

 

Instead of of attending a court session which Job called, God would instead just simply crush Job with a tornado and multiply Job’s sufferings. Job thought that he was suffering “for no reason,” but he was unaware of the spiritual conflict in heaven.

 

9:18 He does not allow me to recover my breath, for he fills me with bitterness. 

 

If Job called God to court, then God would cause such bitterness on Job, that Job would not even be able to breathe.

 

9:19 If it is a matter of strength, most certainly he is the strong one! And if it is a matter of justice, he will say, ‘Who will summon me?’ 

 

God is too strong and too righteous to be defeated in a court battle.

 

9:20 Although I am innocent, my mouth would condemn me; although I am blameless, it would declare me perverse. 

 

Even if Job was innocent, he would say something which would condemn himself. 

 

9:21 I am blameless. I do not know myself. I despise my life. 

 

Job was not blameless. He hated his life in his present condition.

 

9:22 “It is all one! That is why I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the guilty.’ 

 

For the first time, Job is saying that God is unfair. He destroys the good and evil people. Satan is beginning to get to Job. The entire angelic world is listening.

 

9:23 If a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks at the despair of the innocent. 

 

Job is saying that human judges sometimes whip the innocent person to death with a scourge. He is saying that God is like these human judges. Sometimes, God judges innocent people and whips them to death, even though they were innocent. God will later judge Job for these comments.

 

9:24 If a land has been given into the hand of a wicked man, he covers the faces of its judges; if it is not he, then who is it? 

 

Job is comparing God to crooked human judges who steal land from the innocent and give it to the wicked.

 

9:25 “My days are swifter than a runner, they speed by without seeing happiness. 

 

Job’s life is fleeing away like a track star runner.

 

9:26 They glide by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey. 

 

The reed boats were the Egyptian speed boats of that day. Job’s life was speeding away like an Egyptian speed boat. His life was speeding away like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

 

9:27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and be cheerful,’ 

 

It was impossible for Job to be cheerful about his suffering.

 

9:28 I dread all my sufferings, for I know that you do not hold me blameless.

 

Job dreaded his suffering.

 

9:29 If I am guilty, why then weary myself in vain? 

 

If Job was guilty, then why should he worry?

 

9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands clean with lye, 9:31 then you plunge me into a slimy pit and my own clothes abhor me.

 

Job cleanses his hands with soap and water, but God throws him into a slimy pit.

 

9:32 For he is not a human being like I am, that I might answer him, that we might come together in judgment. 

 

Job cannot answer God, because God is not a human being. He has never been a human being.

 

9:33 Nor is there an arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both, 

 

Since God has never been a human being, then He should not be allowed to judge this case. Job needs a mediator to judge his case who understands deity and humanity. Job needs an arbiter who is both God and man. Only a God-man would be able to understand God’s position and Job’s position. Job is asking for God to become a man so that he can understand his human suffering. 

 

This is what Jesus did. He became a man and suffered even worse than Job. Jesus understands the righteous requirements of God, as well as the sufferings and temptations of man. Jesus is the perfect Judge.

 

9:34 who would take his rod away from me so that his terror would not make me afraid. 

 

This mediator of both God and man would be able to understand Job’s court case against God.

 

9:35 Then would I speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me. 

 

Job needs a mediator. Job needs Christ. This chapter, written after the days of Abraham, showed man that he needed a mediator from God the Judge. This mediator needed to be both God and man.  “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

 

10:1 “I am weary of my life; I will complain without restraint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 

 

Job continued his third discourse in an answer to the accusations of Bildad. Since Job had no mediator to communicate his bitterness, he will conduct his own defense to the crowd who is listening. Job is very honest in his speech. He is tired of living. He is going to complain about his desperate condition. He is going to speak from the bitterness of his soul, or his personality. His personality is very bitter at this time in his life.

 

10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.’ 

 

Job gave an imperative command to God. He ordered God not to condemn him. He commanded God to tell him why God was punishing him in such a terrible way.

 

10:3 Is it good for you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? 

 

Job cannot understand why he must suffer so much, while there are wicked men who are walking around on the earth and not suffering at all. In fact, many of them are prospering. Why is God oppressing Job, but smiling when evil men get away with murder? Does God get some kind of sadistic pleasure out of abusing Job, although God had made Job with His very own creating hands?

 

10:4 “Do you have eyes of flesh, or do you see as a human being sees? 

 

“God, do you not see what is going on around you?”

 

10:5 Are your days like the days of a mortal, or your years like the years of a mortal, 

 

Job is saying that God is immortal, so He should see the difficulty of Job’s situation.

 

10:6 that you must search out my iniquity, and inquire about my sin, 

 

Since God is omniscient, He knows the spiritual condition of Job.

 

10:7 although you know that I am not guilty, and that there is no one who can deliver out of your hand? 

 

Since God is immortal and omniscient, then He knows that Job is innocent. God has the omnipotence to deliver Job out of this situation.

 

10:8 “Your hands have shaped me and made me, but now you destroy me completely. 

 

God used His own hands to create Job in the womb, and then God destroyed him.

 

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust? 

 

God molded Job in the womb as with clay, but now God is ready to send him back to the dust.

 

10:10 Did you not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese? 

 

God poured Job in the womb like milk and then curdled him in the womb like cheese.

 

10:11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. 

 

God clothed Job with flesh in the womb and then knit him together.

 

10:12 You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit. 

 

God breathed life into Job. Job was born with a dead spirit, but God intervened and watched over this dead spirit. Eventually, God made this spirit alive so that Job could know God.

 

10:13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart; I know that this is with you: 

 

Job thinks that he knows God. Job was one of the three most righteous men in the history of the world, so he probably knew God much better than all other men who have ever lived.

 

10:14 If I sinned, then you would watch me and you would not acquit me of my iniquity. 

 

If Job sins, then God is ready to mark this sin against Job.

 

10:15 If I am guilty, woe to me, and if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head; I am full of shame, and satiated with my affliction. 

 

If Job is guilty of sin, then God will punish him. If Job is innocent of sin, then he will still be afflicted with judgment from God. It is important to note that this is Job’s human philosophy. Job does not yet know what happened in heaven. Cults and isms like to use these verses to teach incorrect attributes of God. They will lift one verse out of Scripture, quote it, interpret it, and hope that their victim does not have enough bible doctrine to discern their false teaching.

 

10:16 If I lift myself up, you hunt me as a fierce lion, and again you display your power against me. 

 

God was stalking Job like a lion, waiting to pounce on him when he committed a sin.

 

10:17 You bring new witnesses against me, and increase your anger against me; relief troops come against me. 

 

Job claimed that God was sending people to accuse him of a sin which he did not commit. Each witness was life relief troops. The first witness would battle Job, and then God would send in another witness in relief. The truth was that Satan was the one who was sending these attacks against Job. Satan will use nonbelievers and baby Christians who are devoid of bible doctrine in order to attack more mature believers. 

 

10:18 “Why then did you bring me out from the womb? I should have died and no eye would have seen me! 

 

Again, Job was claiming that it would have been better to have never been born. However, he is now asking God for the reason that he was born.

 

10:19 I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave! 

 

Job was saying that it was better if he had never even existed. He said that it would have been better if he was stillborn; then, he could have escaped all of this misery.

 

Many cults and isms use this verse to teach soul sleep. Job is not confirming the false doctrine of soul sleep. He is just wishing that he had never existed. Elijah and Jonah also wished that they would have never existed. However, wishing oneself out of existence is not an option. Later on, Job would condemn the false teaching of soul sleep by claiming, “For I know that my Redeemer liveth … yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25–26). Job believed in the resurrection. 

 

Jesus did teach a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto death. He did teach that those who rejected Him would spend their eternal life in the Lake of Fire. It is the teaching of Jesus, not the cults and isms, which must be one’s final doctrine. Cults and isms pick out verses like these to confuse those who are not grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God.

 

It is important to note that this is the philosophy of Hinduism. Since man has to suffer, it is better if he had never been born. Therefore, man attempts to escape this endless cycle of being born over and over through reincarnation by reaching nirvana. Nirvana is an escape from the Hinduism cycle of suffering, death, and rebirth.

 

10:20 Are not my days few? Cease, then, and leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, 

 

Job wanted God to leave him alone and allow him to die. Job did not yet understand that there was a purpose for his suffering. God still had a plan for Job’s life. 

 

10:21 before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow, 10:22 to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

 

Job explained death like kinds of darkness.