Job 19:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Job feels utterly isolated. He has reached the point where he thinks God is his enemy. He is like someone who is being violently attacked and cries out for help, but there is no one in earshot and he is left to face his attacker alone. He would desperately like the sympathy of his friends and the comfort of knowing that there was at least one other human spirit on his side bearing him up, but they have deceitfully taken what they claim is God’s side and turned on him. Job has no recourse to justice for, if the Lord is not going to deliver him justice, then there is certainly no one else he can appeal to. Who can appeal over the head of God? In Job’s mind, the foundations of his world have been moved out of place and he is left to cope with such disorder alone. This is the nightmare which no believer wishes to be placed in, for our comfort in the worst of circumstances is to know that God is still the same, still good, still benevolent, and he will appear for us.He says, ‘He has fenced in my way; I can make no headway with God.’ He feels deep frustration and alarm. It is as if God has erected such a barrier that Job knows he will never pass. No one can walk without the aid of light for he dare not put his foot forward when he may plunge into an abyss at any step, and yet Job is deprived of light so that he does not understand how to find his way out of this confusion. His mind is staggering under the terrible pressure of the unanswered questions concerning the behaviour and character of God. All his reputation is gone. He is like a king possessed of much visible glory and respected by all, but his crown is removed from his head and he is left without honour. In speaking like this, he shows that he valued this former glory a little too much. His attitude was quite unlike the indifference of the Apostle Paul who had learnt to rejoice in all experiences, whether rich or poor, exalted or humbled (Philippians 4:11-13). By removing the things which we wrongly depend on and love too much, God shows us attitudes within ourselves which we were not aware of and helps us to mortify them. Job had without doubt suffered greatly, but he had not lost anything that God could not restore, and his life was still hid with Christ in God beyond the reach of harm. As if he were a building being battered by demolition workers, Job says that the Lord repeatedly rains blows upon him to break him down. Soon he will be gone, obliterated so that one might ask whether he was ever there at all. In another picture he compares his life to a great tree which is plucked out of the ground perhaps by a mighty storm and left with its roots exposed. Who can ever put it back in the ground again and restore its life? All this is an agony to him for he cannot reconcile this treatment with the loving care of the God he thought he knew. He imagines God’s wrath being aroused as a man lights a fire. That fire is self-sustaining once lit. God’s indignation is focused on his former servant. Job can offer no explanation for this, but the visible tokens of this seem to be undeniable; he is unable to believe that God’s love lies hidden behind this frowning providence.In spite being in the pit of despondency, his language continues to be very rich. He moves from one telling illustration to another, never seeming to exhaust the supply of metaphors in his mind. He is like a city under siege. The opposing army has come out against him and taken great pains to gain entry to the city. Through much labour, they have prepared a way to force entrance to the city, perhaps a ramp up which siege engines and battering rams. As the inhabitants look out, all they can see is their enemies for they surround the city on all sides. Job felt surrounded by the Lord. He could not adequately defend himself against even one of the directions. His health had gone, he was deprived of sleep, his wife had repudiated his faith, his children were dead, his reputation was in tatters, his possessions were stripped from him, his friends had become his bitter critics, and he had no prospect of delivery.