Job 17:8 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters | Metropolitan Tabernacle

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Job 17:8

Comments

Job rehearses his sorrows and examines them from all angles. If there were righteous men to witness what was happening to him, they would be appalled; they would shudder. He wants to enlist the righteous on his side to strengthen his case against the three comforters. The reaction of others who saw this comprehensive change in his appearance would be astonishment. How could such a great man, the greatest in the whole region of the east (1:3), come to this? Surely change does not happen without reason; God does not deal randomly with human beings. The upright in particular would be deeply affected by Job’s experience, because they count him as one of their own, a pre-eminent member of the godly, and so they have a particular interest in what happens to him. Seeing what happens to a godly man like Job they would be anxious to distinguish between the genuine servant of God and the hypocrite. They would be concerned to deliver his good name and to expose those who only pretend to be walking by faith. This is what Job imagines they would say.He who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger, for his choice of the Lord’s path and his determination to obey the Lord will begin to bear fruit in time and lead to a gradual but growing strength. This is a very optimistic note from Job and differs markedly from some of the morbid things he has said earlier and is about to say again. His mind is vacillating between hope and despair. Here he expresses his firm conviction that the righteous will never finally lose their way, but he is unable to maintain this optimism and immediately after lapses back into despondency. Although he still believes that the righteous flourish, he is unable to believe that he will share in their blessings.With searing irony he invites the comforters to return again and offer him more of their worthless counsel. However long they go on speaking, they will have nothing worthwhile to say for they lack the one thing necessary to be able to instruct and comfort; they do not have the wisdom that comes from above in their hearts and there is not one among them who understands evangelical doctrine. Job is very clear that though they claimed to be men who knew the Lord, they were in fact still without any true wisdom.

Application

‘God does not execute his judgments in this world so that all things are ruled well, and nothing is out of square. On the contrary, things are confounded, and if we see a wicked man punished, a righteous man is punished much more; and if we see a good man prosper, a wicked man is doubly prospered … If then we judge present things by natural reason we will be, as it were, overwhelmed, and Holy Scripture tells us we shall be so. Although God allows us to experience this, he also graciously warns us of it by his word, so that we are not dazzled and troubled as we see things as they seem to be now, and go no further’ (Calvin – English updated).

Does God not come to the aid of his children? Does he allow them to be crushed by a multitude of misfortunes? Does he allow them to be confused with hypocrites? Yes, he does answer his children and he does deliver them, but not always immediately. He does not prevent them from going through deep waters and painful experiences which work together for their good. By contrast with the hypocrite, the righteous will holds on his way. Though he too faces troubles and though at times it is unclear to the less discerning whether or not he is truly loved by God, the final outcome will reveal all and deliver him from the slurs of the ungodly. The righteous will hold on their way, though that way is rough, confused, and it is hard to see far ahead. He is nevertheless on the right way, for it is the way of trust in God, of holding to his word, of believing that God is good, just, and faithful.

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Job 17:8 Commentary and Bible Study