Job 19
Job replies to Bildad with a plea for his friends to stop tormenting him (Job 19:2), saying they should be ashamed of themselves (Job 19:3), and arguing that even if he has sinned somehow, he hasn’t hurt any of them. (Job 19:4) He then warns them that if they are magnifying themselves against him in their condemnation, they need to recognize that it is God who is bringing all this on Job (Job 19:5-6), implying that they need to be very careful or judgment may come on them next.
In Job 19:7-22, Job further describes how thoroughly God has afflicted him. Not only has He caused physical suffering, but He has destroyed Job’s reputation and turned him into a pariah. His wife, his brothers, his relatives, his close friends — all have turned their backs on Job. He even has to plead with his servants for a bit of kindness. He begs for mercy from his friends.
But then Job utters what are perhaps the most famous verses in this book:
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
Job 19:25,26
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God.
We are, of course, inclined to read these verses through a post-Resurrection lens, with a very Messianic understanding that identifies the “Redeemer” as Christ, and that Job is expressing faith in an afterlife in which he shall see God. And knowing what we know from the New Testament, that is a very reasonable perspective. But I have severe doubts that Job means anything like that here. I don’t really know what Job means; I just doubt that it is “Christianity in a nutshell”. Reading to the end of the chapter, I think he is really just expressing some faith that he will ultimately be vindicated by the truth of his innocence and that his “friends” will ultimately find themselves facing a backlash of judgment for their ill treatment of Job.
I’d like to hear your thoughts.
I keep trying to come up with an answer to your question, John, and it’s hard to come up with a better interpretation. It seems like Job is calling God his Redeemer. And it seems like he expects to see God while in the flesh. But he also has that phrase in between these thoughts about “after my skin is destroyed” which I would naturally take to mean after he dies. So, no good answers are coming from me except a vision of an afterlife where he will have his questions answered.
Thanks for chiming in, Katey. One thought that occurs about “after my skin is destroyed” is that Job need not die before his skin is gone. I know that’s a rather gruesome idea, but I think that illustrates just how horrid Job’s condition is.
To John’s question… Thus far Job has asked for a mediator (Job 9:33) and a witness (Job 16:19). Note that for both of these persons, Job is himself the spokesperson, presenting his case before God. Now he sees that his arguments are falling on deaf ears (his friends), and he is now going one step further, seeking a redeemer (or a vindicator, if you will), seemingly someone who will argue his case for him before God. And as John points out, from Job’s perspective this redeemer that he is seeking could be making his case before God even after Job’s death. That is, Job believes that he will ultimately be vindicated, either in this life or in the next. At a minimum, redeemer or not, Job wants his words recorded in a book or in stone (vv. 23-24) so that, with no heirs his legacy will live on.
A couple of other verses touched me: Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? (vv. 21-22) His friends have not been friendly. Now Job is, quite humbly I think, asking them to lay off! But it is at that low point that Job makes that next strong statement, the one that we most remember from the entire book. I can see Job rising from this lowest point and forcefully reclaiming his position. Read verse 25 again as if Job has stood upright, fist in the air, bellowing his words!! That’s how I saw verse 25 the first time I ever read Job. Forceful!!