Job 27:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Who is Job referring to by ‘my enemy’? Although it would be ‘unnecessarily harsh’ (Barnes) to understand the term ’my enemy’ as applying explicitly to the three friends, he definitely raises the possibility that they could be included if they continue their attack. He includes all the wicked, and leaves open the question of the status of the friends.The discourse on the wicked that follows is intended to show that his understanding of the final state of the wicked is orthodox – they will perish and justly so. But he says this for another reason also: it is part of his defence. He distances himself from the hypocrite in order to show that he is not one of them. He takes this very strong stance against any other theology, because he is so sure that he has the truth. It is right that we should have the same strong determination on matters of such importance. This is why he characterises the wicked as his enemy. He is utterly opposed to them and shuns them, because he hates their ways and is committed to a contrary way. After all that he has been through, Job still has fight left in him. He is secretly strengthened by the Lord to argue his case even though he believes at this stage that he is alone and without any helper. What follows sounds somewhat like what Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had said (Job 15:20-35; 18:5-21; 20:4-29), but Job is not saying the same thing as them. The three friends argue that all of this takes place in this life and is a marker here and now of who is righteous and who is wicked. But Job who also believes that the wicked are punished, insists that their punishment is reserved primarily for the afterlife.The position of the hypocrite, the godless, the profane person is abhorrent to Job, because he knows that any gain they have is short term, imagined, easily taken away. The idea of choosing that path fills Job with terror. Why should he give up so much for so little? How can a man count something as truly his and derive any satisfaction from it, when it is all going to be taken away from him, and that, as a judgment against him? The hypocrite has a hope, and he draws some comfort from it, but it would be better if he didn’t. All that hope can do is attempt to deny the inevitable. Can a man draw comfort from what is certain to be taken away from him? Who is he deceiving but himself? True hope is based on God’s approval by grace, but the hypocrite, who wants to believe what he tells himself, thinks of the future and pretends that God is with him; he comforts himself with the thought that God hears him, and yet the Lord is not taken in for a moment. Will he gain the great prize of the righteous and delight himself in the Lord? No, everything about him is transient. He is permitted to keep up this pretence only while he remains in this world of darkness; he cannot keep it up forever; he is hollowed out by his hypocrisy. He will not always call on God, because day will come when the foundation of his religion will be discovered to be rotten. Oh, to be delivered from such a snare!The godless man makes his riches a substitute for God and treats them as an idol, but it is all misery. He can only enjoy them by pretending to himself that he does not have an eternal soul with eternal needs to be satisfied. Once he admits this then it is clear that nothing from this passing world is sufficient for eternity. God’s good gifts in this life may be enjoyed by the righteous, but they are only tokens of his love. The real source of our eternal blessing is God himself and so nothing can ever be put in his place. The profane person does not understand this, says Job, and therefore, may he never become such a person.