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.