Job 13:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Far from being grateful to them for such partiality, God will scrutinise their motives very closely. Do they think that they can buy his favour by falsely taking his side, and avoid having to face his justice themselves? No, all comes under his jurisdiction, and the Lord will make no exceptions. He searches every one, and he searches thoroughly. Therefore the flatterer of God should beware. His false appeal to God is bound to be discovered. How insecure is he whose hope relies on remaining at a distance from the judgment seat of Christ. Job can see through their theology and knows that it will not hold water. Let the friends not think that they can mock God in the same way that they might succeed in mocking another human being. The mockery he has in mind is the mockery of pretence, when one man pretends to be concerned for the welfare of another, but really has another agenda. He is less than straightforward, and yet he is sure that the other does not know what he is really about. Let no one think that they can treat God like that.There are some we deal with who we know have such strong commitment to integrity that nothing will persuade them to abandon their principles. No one could take advantage of their friendship to get them to compromise their principles. If anyone tried to do so, it would result in a very strong response. That friendship means a lot, but they will not allow it to be abused. There are others who can quite easily be taken advantage of. There is a flaw in their character and they are not prepared to hold on to the truth at any price. They do not have the moral strength to take a stand on a principle. They are incapable of resisting flattery, and making a firm decision to break that friendship for the sake of truth. The three friends should be assured that God is like the former not like the latter. Jesus showed his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem and there ‘suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day’ (Matthew 16:21). Peter’s response is to urge the Lord to abandon the path of obedience and avoid going to the cross. This concern for his Master’s welfare seems to be motivated by love, but Christ rejects it in the strongest possible terms: ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men’ (Matthew 16:23). What Peter suggested was the path of compromise and disobedience to the will of God. Christ saw Satan’s hand in this suggestion, temping him through the weakness of Peter, who should have cared more about the plan of God which Christ had just explained in the clearest terms. The Lord will not allow partiality even when it is shown towards himself. It is something so objectionable to him that he would rather sever the relationship than go along with it. Have the three comforters realised who they are dealing with? They think to win God over to their side but they are just arousing his anger against them.