TEXT [Commentary]

  2.   God as an advocate (16:18–17:16)

18 “O earth, do not conceal my blood.

Let it cry out on my behalf.

19 Even now my witness is in heaven.

My advocate is there on high.

20 My friends scorn me,

but I pour out my tears to God.

21 I need someone to mediate between God and me,

as a person mediates between friends.

22 For soon I must go down that road

from which I will never return.

CHAPTER 17

1 “My spirit is crushed,

and my life is nearly snuffed out.

The grave is ready to receive me.

2 I am surrounded by mockers.

I watch how bitterly they taunt me.

3 “You must defend my innocence, O God,

since no one else will stand up for me.

4 You have closed their minds to understanding,

but do not let them triumph.

5 They betray their friends for their own advantage,

so let their children faint with hunger.

6 “God has made a mockery of me among the people;

they spit in my face.

7 My eyes are swollen with weeping,

and I am but a shadow of my former self.

8 The virtuous are horrified when they see me.

The innocent rise up against the ungodly.

9 The righteous keep moving forward,

and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.

10 “As for all of you, come back with a better argument,

though I still won’t find a wise man among you.

11 My days are over.

My hopes have disappeared.

My heart’s desires are broken.

12 These men say that night is day;

they claim that the darkness is light.

13 What if I go to the grave[*]

and make my bed in darkness?

14 What if I call the grave my father,

and the maggot my mother or my sister?

15 Where then is my hope?

Can anyone find it?

16 No, my hope will go down with me to the grave.

We will rest together in the dust!”

NOTES

16:20 My friends scorn me. The uncertainties of the flow of thought and the ambiguity of the vocabulary of this verse have led to various translations. The older English versions (KJV, RSV) are followed by some more recent versions (NRSV, NLT) in moving the thought back to mocking friends in contrast to the advocate before God in heaven. This, however seems to be an unwarranted disruption of thought. Job has declared that his advocate is in heaven (16:19), and his weeping eyes look to this advocate to defend his case with God (16:20b-21). It is unlikely the intervening line refers to mocking (assuming melitsay is a participial form of the verb lits [TH3887, ZH4329]). It is more probable the verse continues the thought of an advocate (melits [TH3887B, ZH4885]), the same sense of the word used by Elihu (33:23). The problem then is the identity of the advocate. Rather than meaning “friend,” rea‘ [TH7453, ZH8276] may be an Aramaic loanword meaning “thought” or “intention” (Koehler and Baumgartner 4:1171). The latter word is assumed in the Gr. translation and various modern versions (REB, NJB): the argument (or prayer) of Job will act as an advocate for him. This would be the same thought Job had expressed earlier (13:15-16): his salvation would be that he could make his case before God so that truth might prevail. However, Job was advancing that thought in this speech. If truth is to prevail, there must be a witness to the truth. That witness is in heaven (16:19), and that witness can be none other than God, for he alone knows the whole truth. In tears Job looks to God (16:20), for God is the advocate in heaven who must plead his case. Rather than “my friends mock me,” we must translate “my advocate is my Friend.” Though God has treated Job as an enemy, Job declares that God is yet his friend and will defend his case (16:21). Job’s faith advances as the dialog progresses.

17:5 They betray their friends. This verse is an illustration of those whose thinking is irrational, but the nature of it is not clear. “He that speaketh flattery” (KJV) is a common meaning for the noun kheleq [TH2506A, ZH2749] (see Prov 7:21), but this has no obvious relevance to the hungering children (lit., “the eyes of his children languish”). The noun kheleq may also refer to a share of property, in which case the “proclaiming” (yaggid [TH5046, ZH5583]) might be a denouncing of friends in order to receive a share of property (RSV, NRSV, NLT) or an invitation to friends to share in it (NJB). A third proposed meaning for kheleq is “destruction,” in which case, a good rendering is “one denounces friends to their ruin” (REB). Finally, instead of “friend” (rea‘ [TH7453, ZH8276]) we may read the word “evil” (ra‘ [TH7451A, ZH8274]) and make it the subject: “my lot (kheleq) is described as evil” (NAB). The verse is a proverbial saying now obscure to us. The most likely sense of the saying is “they invite their friends to a feast while their own children long for food.” The point is that a proclamation of receiving a portion of something (kheleq) is made to others before the eyes of one’s own needy children.

17:12 These men say that night is day. The subject could be those proclaiming false wisdom who “set the night to day.” However, the dashed hopes of Job are the immediate antecedent, and the logical sequel is that Job had plans and dreams that could have “turned the night to day.”

they claim that the darkness is light. In the Heb. this line complements the first with a further reference to “light,” but the syntax is obscure: “out of darkness light is near.” The general sense is that “only in darkness can light come near” or “as light comes near the darkness grows distant” (Koehler and Baumgartner 3:1063). In the mouth of the friends, this would be an attempt at encouragement; they would be saying “the longer the night, the nearer the dawn.” For Job, this would be a false hope (NLT), for they did not understand the kind of darkness that engulfed him. If, however, the plans and wishes of Job were the subject of the first line, the second would have quite a different sense: These hopes could have brought light out of darkness.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Job had lamented his lonely situation, where the best of people insulted and assaulted him (16:10), saying he was deserving of his punishment. The deepest of the lament psalms have a similar sentiment; friends abandon and despise the sufferer (e.g., Ps 22:6-8). The lament psalms declare confidence and faith in God in a remarkable way, even when it would seem God had abandoned and forsaken the psalmist (e.g., Ps 22:1-5, 21-22). Faith in such circumstances can exacerbate the pain, as expressed in the first section of Psalm 22. It is certain that God is faithful and fair, so his silence in such painful circumstances aggravates the anguish. Job was in an even more desolate situation. God had been his adversary, mercilessly attacking him (16:12-14) for reasons Job could not understand. Even so, in such circumstances all one can do is turn to God, even if he is the adversary. Job could not stop having faith in God, for God was his advocate and friend. Having been abandoned by his friends, Job could not let the matter rest (16:18). Injustice was crying out from the earth (cf. Gen 4:10; Isa 26:21), and it could not be silenced before the God of justice. All the pain could not take away this faith from Job.

There was only one witness who knew the truth and could give testimony on behalf of Job. He was in heaven, and he was an advocate for the truth (16:19). Job poured out his grief to God because he was certain God would come to his defense, just as any other person would for a friend. Job had earlier expressed the certainty that truth must prevail. Job would make his case before God though it cost him his life (13:15); his salvation was to come before God to make such a case (13:16), a privilege the ungodly do not have, for they cannot come into the divine presence. In this response, Job was advancing this confidence further—a faith that will crescendo in his next response to Bildad (cf. 19:25). Not only was Job assured that the case of his righteousness would be known, but he was sure that God was his advocate and friend. The author of Job would not have considered this to be more contradictory than the laments of the psalms he knew so well. If they could cry out to the God who had forsaken and abandoned them, Job could cry out with that same confidence to the God who had attacked him. Job, at least, had no doubt that God was fully aware of his presence and his plight.

Job hoped that righteousness would prevail, but he did not have any hope for his present life. His time was short, his spirit broken, his life snuffed out—all that remained was the grave, and in the meantime he must endure the mockers and leave his life to God. It was not that others, who had abandoned Job, were really at fault (17:4)—they simply didn’t know the truth. Job had a proverb for them (17:5): they were like those who invite friends to a feast while their own children languish in famine. God had treated Job in such a way that he himself had become an object of proverbial mocking—he was a hissing and a byword among the people who said, “Remember Job!” Such words were spit in the face of Job and there was nothing he could do about it. His eyes were exhausted from weeping; his body was wasting to a shadow. All Job could do was wait for the end and trust that God would vindicate him.

Good and morally upright folk were appalled when they saw Job in his situation. All they could conclude was that some excessive wickedness had been responsible for such a plight. They, being righteous, were horrified. Job was a powerful moral example for them; they would be more determined than ever to live as they knew they should, more resolute in the purity of their ways. Job invited them all to come and observe; let them go on thinking what they cannot help but think. Job, however, knew there was not one wise person among them (17:10). There are truths in the secrets of heaven Job did not understand, but at least he knew they are there. That gave him a wisdom unknown to the righteous. The upright were not quite “pure in heart,” for their ignorance had left them bereft of meekness. They did not know that they did not know—such was the tragedy of their plight.

As for Job, there was nothing left in this life (17:11). Though hope can turn night to day (see note on 17:12), Job had lost his hope—his dreams and life-goals would not be realized, his future was the grave. As far as enjoyment in this life was concerned, there was nothing to wait for. If you lose money, you lose a lot; if you lose friends, you lose more; if you lose hope, you lose everything. The likelihood was that there would be no return in this life for Job. He faced this, abandoning any false hopes.

False hope was the bedeviling curse the friends had repeatedly tried to foist on Job. He would have none of it. Hopelessness for his life was not faithlessness, as the friends had presumed. Job did have faith; God was his friend, his advocate, his witness, and Job needed nothing more.