Commentary on
The Book of Job

Chapter Ten: You Hunt Me Down

I Will Say Unto God

I Will Say Unto God

Job: chapter 10
¹ My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
³ Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
⁴ Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
⁵ Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days,
⁶ That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
⁷ Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
⁸ Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
⁹ Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
¹⁰ Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
¹¹ Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.
¹² Thou hast granted me life and favor, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
¹³ And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee.
¹⁴ If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity.
¹⁵ If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

¹⁶ For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvelous upon me.
¹⁷ Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
¹⁸ Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
¹⁹ I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
²¹ Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
²² A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Job continues his reply to Bildad with his would-be defense before God. He begins, “Do not condemn me, shew me wherefore thou contendest with me” (10:2). ‘What are the charges against me,’ asks Job? The charge against Job is that he might turn away from God if pressed to the limit (1:11 & 2:4). Of course, this is a possibility and not offense already punishable. While this claim may appear dubious and unfair, it stems from a character flaw in Job that both God and Satan see. In essence, although the contest seems jocular, God and the opposer of our soul are contending for the soul of Job. The energy poured into this contention shows this is no whimsey.

Job stubbornly clings to his rights, ignoring the ‘still small voice’ (1 Kings 19:12). In my personal life, I not only ignored character flaws for years, but believed them to be virtues. Job believes that God is being cruel and unjust and refuses to see that God has a purpose. Now I have a question: I assume you have read the book of Job before, did you see God's purpose? Is it just possible that you are ignoring a still small voice?

Is it Good to Oppress?

Job opens with a series of challenges to God. “Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress...the work of thine hands” (10:3)? This question implies the charge of injustice. He also questions God's mercy. Finally, Job asks, “Hast thou eyes of flesh?” (10:4). Job is questioning whether God is in His lofty domain doesn't see the situation down on the ground. Job is stepping into a very slippery place. He is embracing the challenge of Eliphaz's night vision (4:13-21).

Job insists that he is not guilty (10:6), without knowing that his innocence is not in question. He questions God's ability to understand him (10:4-5). We know that it is Job who does not understand God. At this point in the tale, we are likely to ask questions about God's fairness to Job? We know that Job is innocent. We know that Job is suffering on account of a seemingly capricious bet. Job begins to challenge God on these very points.

You know I am innocent (10:7) of whatever the charges are. Without knowing the charges, Job expounds: You made me, would you destroy me (10:8-9)? You poured me out like milk (10:10). You created me and blessed me richly (10:11). Now, you hide your kindness (10:13), and curdle me like cheese (10:10). On the face of it, Job has a powerful argument: If I being innocent am made to suffer so horribly, what good is all my righteousness? If some minor infraction can cause me condemnation with no chance for mercy, how can I hope to escape wrath? Why should I have been created for this torment? This reminds me of young Martin Luther's terror at the thought of forgetting some sin for which, without confession, he would be eternally condemned. Job is trapped in this vise, he doesn't know what his sin is and so he cannot repent. It appears to Job that there is no exit, he is in an existential trap. God is crushing him without cause. Job is using the argument of the ‘night vision’ to challenge God.

Sated With Disgrace

The charge of injustice is a serious one if God is in a covenant with Job which guarantees a good life in this world based on good behavior. Job believes this to be the case. God has a much finer desire for Job, an eternal one which rises above this world. Without a relationship with God, Job's worldly righteousness has no eternal significance. Job's righteousness is the stumbling block in his way at the moment. Satan is focused on destroying Job's righteousness. Does he even see the eternal reward that Job could gain? When God has secured an eternal path to reward for Job, He will restore all of Job's worldly comfort. But, by then it will mean very little to Job.

Job doesn't know some important facts. He doesn't know that God is pleased with him, and that he is not being punished. He doesn't seem to know how desperately Satan wants his soul. And Job doesn't know the corruption in him that Satan is quietly cultivating. Job states the facts as he knows them. “I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery” (10:15, NASB). “Thou huntest me as a fierce lion” (10:16). One of the things which troubles Job the most is the disgrace that has befallen him. The interpretation of verse 15 from the New American Standard Bible, “I am sated with disgrace”, closely matches the meaning in Hebrew (Strong, H7646 & H7036). “Sated with disgrace” wonderfully illustrates Job's agony over his fall from worldly regard. His agony over disgrace comes fully to the surface in chapter 30. Job doesn't realize how high he is in God's regard. He is painfully aware of how low he is in the regard of men. His priorities are badly askew.

God is trying to lift Job to a much higher level, but Job is still earthbound. He is clinging to his accomplishments, he is clinging to the reward that he had among men. Like Lot (Gen. 19:15-23), he is being run out of his comfortable world. Like Lot's wife (Gen. 19:26), he is looking backwards. Mercifully, Job is not turned into a pillar of salt. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).

Confronting God

Job's argument concludes bitterly, if You are going to destroy me without good cause, “I should have been carried from the womb to the grave” (10:19), I should have died at birth. ‘Therefore, quit tormenting me that I might have some comfort before I die’ (10:20).

Jonathan Edwards, who in several sermons vividly builds the case that only the mercy of God stands between us and eternal damnation, makes it clear, we have no rights. Moreover, he declares, our presumption to any rights is in and of itself an affront to God. “And yet now are you ready to quarrel for mercy, and to find fault with God, not only that he does not bestow more mercy, but to contend with him, because he does not bestow infinite mercy upon you, heaven with all it contains, and even himself, for your eternal portion. What ideas have you of yourself, that you think God is obliged to do so much for you, though you treat him ever so ungratefully for his kindness wherewith you have been followed all the days of your life” (Edwards, The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners, 12).

Although Job is very forceful in his confrontations with God, and although Job presumes upon his previous good fortune as a right, God ignores the offense. God will condemn Job's three friends for false accusations, but not Job (42:7). Job does not claim to speak for God and pours out his feelings without posturing. When Job wags his finger in God's face here, he is being totally honest with God: ‘I do not think this is right.’ God's challenge to Job will be that he storms at God without understanding (38:2) instead of continuing to cry out for answers.

At the heart of it, Job's assumption is no different from that of his friends: God torments the wicked and blesses the righteous. Job knows that he is righteous: “if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head” (10:15). There is never the understanding that those blessings are by God's kindness. Rather they all seem to assume a contract of sorts: If I am good, you must bless me. He is confident enough to confront God, “Thou knowest that I am not wicked” (10:7). Yet he is still in torment: “I am full of confusion” (10:15). Job is no more able to leave the confines of his elementary theology than his friends are. Job's faith in the goodness of God is shaken to the core. I cannot say it enough, this is not a capricious cruelty. God and Satan are contending for Job. It has nothing to do with justice, it has everything to do with God's grace. God intends to bless Job with a blessing that is out of this world. Job doesn't know this, and is having a very hard time conceiving of it.

It is Zophar's turn to speak up:

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*All Bible quotes are from the King James Version unless otherwise indicated.

Commentary onThe Book of Job