Job 13:17 Commentary and Bible Study

Initially, this is spoken to the comforters – the word ‘your’ is plural in Hebrew. Job is about to request and audience with God, but he wants them to witness this. For these three men to hear diligently was first of all for them to change their attitude towards Job and to put away their prejudices against him; they must stop regarding him as a hypocrite and inferior to them, and to start taking his words seriously. There is preparation to be done to make ourselves good hearers and the gospel also commands men to be careful how they listen. Our ears do not just absorb sounds but to filter them through our whole understanding. We have a way of so acting upon the speech of others that we can alter the whole import of what we hear and make it mean the opposite of what was intended. We can change the meaning of words; we can impute motives to the speaker that make us discount what he says; we can accuse him of lying when there are no grounds for saying so; we can quibble at his words in an unreasonable way. When the speaker does his utmost to be honest, sincere, and straightforward, the hearer has an equal duty to hear and to receive his words with simplicity.Literally, ‘Behold I pray, I have set in order my judgment; I know that I shall be justified or vindicated.’ Job is making his defence and setting out his case before this unsympathetic audience and in spite of their hostility. He knows that he will be approved eventually not only by God but also by them. The word ‘justified’ is not used in a forensic sense here, but in the sense of ‘vindicated’, not absolutely – Job is not approaching God on the basis of the law as one who justifies himself – but with regard to the issue in dispute: his integrity. They will eventually be as convinced of this as he is.In defiance of all his accusers he insists that he will make his defence and none will be able to resist it. Indeed, he feels so strongly about it that if he were to remain silent, the pressure to speak would kill him. (The alternative view of these words – that ‘if any were to successfully bring charges against him, he should perish’ – fits the context far less well.) He addresses these words primarily to God as the following verses show. All that really matters is that he can defend himself before God. The Lord will persuade these unwilling witnesses against him, at a later date.