Job is not afraid to assert his own understanding and there are times when we must defend ourselves. Of course the Christian knows that all understanding comes from the Lord and therefore he cannot boast about it. But neither can he say it is nothing, especially when the truth of God is being challenged by those with no understanding. Job’s defence of himself was really a defence of the truth of God, and it was no time to hide his light under a bushel. Zeal for the truth makes us defend it wherever it is found. At the risk of appearing vain, we must defend what we know. Job insists that he has just as much knowledge as these three. The apostle Paul too was forced at times to defend even his own person because his authority was so bound up with his message. However uncomfortable it may be for the believer to speak like this, sometimes he cannot avoid it. It is certainly not the natural way of speaking for a believer; circumstances have to force him to do it.
They have pronounced on Job’s situation, but all they have come up with is commonplace, so that there is scarcely anyone who cannot say that they know this much – ‘who knoweth not such things as these?’ Of course God rewards righteousness and punished wickedness, but the case before them could not be resolved by this elementary principle alone.