job chapter 19

7/28/2019 Job Chapter 19

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Chapter 19

Job replies to Bildads second speech

Job thinks that God caused Jobs troubles

v1 Job replied. He said:

v2 You continue to upset me. Your words make me sad. v3 You have insulted me manytimes. You accuse me unfairly, but you are not ashamed. v4 I alone am responsible if I havedone evil things. v5 You think that you are great. You accuse me because I suffer. v6 So,know this fact! God has caused my troubles. This is why I cannot escape from my problems.

v7I shout, Help! But nobody hears me. I call aloud. But nobody is fair to me. v8 My life islike a dark path. My troubles are like a fence across this path. v9 God removes my honour.Nobody respects me still. v10 God attacks me. He destroys me, like a tree without roots. v11He is angry with me. He considers me to be an enemy. v12 God has sent his army to opposeme. Gods army surrounds me. And the army is ready to attack.

Chapter 19Verses 1-3

The friends upset Job because their speeches were not correct. The friends suggested that Jobwas a wicked man. But Job was a good, honest man (Job 1:1).

Verse 4

Job knew his own conscience. The friends did not need to accuse him. And they did not need tospeak so many times. They were trying to force Job to agree with them. But Job was suffering.They ought to have shown more sympathy.

Verse 5

The friends accused Job so often because they were proud. They wanted to prove that theywere right. But Jobs troubles did not prove that they were right.

Verse 6

In fact, the devil caused Jobs troubles. But Job did not realise this fact.

Verse 7

Job felt as if a robber was attacking him. But when Job called for help, nobody came to assist.

Verse 8

If a path is dark, the traveller cannot see the way ahead. If there is a fence, the traveller muststop. Job felt like that traveller. The traveller could not continue his journey. And it seemed thatJobs life could not continue.

Verse 9

Before his troubles, Job was a great man (Job 29:7-9). But nobody respected him now.

Verse 10Job continues Bildads story about a tree (Job 18:16). If Job was like a tree with dry roots, Godcaused this situation. Job was not responsible, because Job was innocent.

Verses 11-12

Job was sure that God was attacking him. But we know from Job 2:3 that God was not angrywith Job. God was proud of Job. God considered Job to be a loyal servant.


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Nobody cares about Job

v13 My brothers leave me. My friends leave me. v14 My family leave me. My close friendsforget me. v15 My guests think that I am a stranger. Even my maids think this. They considerme to be a foreigner. v16 If I call my servant, he does not answer me. He refuses to help me.v17 My wife hates the smell of my breath. My brothers hate me. v18 Even the little children

insult me. They laugh at me. v19 My friends, whom I love, hate me. v20 I am very thin. Mybody is just skin and bones. I am hardly alive.

v21 Comfort me, my friends! Comfort me! God has attacked me. v22 But you are not God.So you do not need to attack me. You do not need to make me suffer.

Verses 13-18

Other people are often not loyal when someone suffers. Jobs family left him alone. Jobsservant did not answer Job. Even Jobs wife advised Job to insult God. She thought that it wouldbe better for Job to be dead (Job 2:9).

Verses 19-22

Job loved his three friends. They came a long way to comfort him (Job 2:11). And they sat withhim silently for a long time (Job 2:13). But their speeches did not help him. The friends accused

Job. And they warned Job. Perhaps Job thought that it was Gods duty to punish him. But Jobsfriends did not need to punish him. And Job really wanted them to comfort him.

Job knows that he will see God

v23 Record my words! Write my words in a book! v24 Or use an iron tool to record my wordson rock.

v25 There is somebody who will rescue me. I know that he is alive. In the end, he will standon the earth. v26 My body will disappear in my grave. But, in my body, I shall see God. v27 I,myself, will see him. Yes, my own eyes will see God. I desire that day with my whole heart.

v28Do not say, We will oppose Job. He caused his own troubles. v29 If you think this, thenyou ought to be afraid yourselves. God will be angry with you. He will punish you severely.Then, you will know that God is a judge.

Verses 23-24

Bildad said that everyone would forget the wicked man (Job 18:17-19). But Job did not wantanyone to forget that he was innocent (Job 16:18). So Job wanted someone to write his wordsin a book. Then people would remember them always. And, of course, we still have the Book ofJob today. It may be the most ancient book that still exists. Job wanted a permanent record ofthe things that he and his friends discovered about God.

Verses 25-27

These verses may be the most important verses in the Book of Job. Elsewhere Job explainedhis troubles, fears and doubts. But in these verses, Job explained the reasons why he still hadhope.

Elsewhere Job had been doubtful whether he could ever prove himself innocent. He prayed. Buthe was not sure that God would ever help him. But in these verses, Job felt confident again.

Elsewhere, Job argued that death would be the end of everything. He did not think that a deadperson could ever live again. But in these verses, Job was sure that God could make a deadperson live again. And Job believed that he himself would meet God.

These are very important verses. But they are not easy verses to translate. Bible students areunsure about the exact meaning of many phrases.

But we understand enough to be confident about Jobs main ideas here:


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Firstly, Job was developing his thoughts in Job 16:19-21. There, Job said that somebody inheaven was helping him. He described that person as a lawyer or a friend. Job probably meantGod himself. With our knowledge of the whole Bible, we can add that these passages describeJesus well.

In Job 14:7-9, Job remembered about trees. A tree that seems dead can often live again.And in Job 14:13-17, Job prayed that this would happen to Job himself. Here in chapter 19, Jobseems confident that God will answer that prayer.

Job used a special word in verse 25. In the original language of the book (called Hebrew)this word is GOEL. A GOEL frees someone by either of two particular methods. Either theGOEL may pay a debt for that person. Or the GOEL may fight to free the person. The Englishword for GOEL is a redeemer. So:

(1) In the Book of Ruth, Boaz freed Ruth. He loved her. So he paid her debts and he marriedher. He was her redeemer or GOEL.

(2) God is often called a GOEL or redeemer. For example, Psalm 19:14 and Isaiah 63:16.

(3) The Bible teaches that Jesus is our redeemer (1 Peter 1:18-19). When he died for us, hefreed us from the devils power. The price for our freedom was Jesus death.

(4) In Job 19:25, Job uses this special word to describe God. At last, Job trusts God completely.God will rescue Job, even if God has to take Job from the grave to save him. God will rescueJob, even if God must pay to rescue him. And God will rescue Job even if God must fight forJob.

Job realised that his body would die. But Job now knew that death would not be the end. Inverse 26, the words in my body might mean without my body. The translation is difficult butthe meaning of Jobs words seems clear. After Jobs death, Job would see God. And Jobdesired that day, like Paul in Philippians 1:21-23.

Verses 28-29

Bildad argued this in Job 18:7-10. Job warned the friends not to be unfair. God would punishthem if their words were evil.

job chapter 19

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