Job 10:3 Commentary and Bible Study

Job’s language is violent and out of order. He speaks to the Lord as one might speak with an unresponsive person who needs to be jolted into doing the right thing; by reminding him that he appears to do the opposite, he will be persuaded to change the way he acts. In this case Job knows that he has no right to remind God of anything, and that it is completely inappropriate for him to question his Creator. He cannot really believe that God would need to be reminded of his own attributes, but he says this to show his extreme anguish. He would happily embrace another explanation for his trials if God were to offer it, but the heavens are silent and he is left in the dark.Does it seem good to God that he should oppress his own children? Having made man, and in the case of believers having redeemed them from their sin, will he now favour the wicked above his own and appear to assist their cause against the cause of his own children? Job knew himself to be the work of God’s hand in both the natural sense and the spiritual sense, or else he would not contrast himself with the wicked. Won’t the whole government of the world be disturbed if God allows the wicked to flourish, and treats the righteous as his enemies? He has been put in a position where he is having great difficulty defending his integrity and events are conspiring against him to encourage those who wish to bring him down. Ultimately he knows all these things come from God, for he is convinced of the sovereignty of God. But does God take into account his frailty in allowing such strong forces to assault him? Does he consider what it is for a mere human being to experience such overwhelming sorrows? Man is so different to God. He has eyes of flesh and has only limited knowledge; God sees everything. Man is mortal and only has a short life on earth. In his youth he is optimistic about life; at the end he looks back on much failure and sorrow and knows that the curtain will soon be drawn. But God lives for ever; he undergoes no such change. The Lord’s eternal life is spoken of as if it is measured in years; by comparison, man’s life is only in days. Why does the Lord enter into such an unequal contest with his feeble creatures? Job is oppressed by the thought that God pursues him relentlessly and examines the minutia of his life, when, because of his frailty, his life will not bear such scrutiny. When he insists that God knows he is not wicked, he is not saying that he has no sin and that he is perfect. The words must be understood in context. This means no more than that Job insists he is not a hypocrite. If God decides to examine him closely, he knows that he will not be able to defend himself, for he will certainly find errors in him, and who can deliver out of God’s hand? Who can justify when God condemns? All that the Lord does is irresistible. There is no hand stronger than his that can help us, no arbitrator between him and us.What God is doing to him, Job fears, will give encouragement to the wicked exactly where there should be none. His enemies are poised to bring him down, and prove he is false. That is not the case, but God, by examining him so closely is assisting them in their endeavour. Yet God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts. He has reasons for allowing Job to suffer, which are so long sighted that they are far beyond the thinking of the comforters. Ultimately the wicked will not triumph, for the Lord sets a limit on our trials: ‘if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?’ (Psalm 11:3).