Job 13

“It is not why I suffer that I wish to know, but only whether I suffer for Your sake.” —L Y B

Job’s three friends were old men, so Zophar must have been the youngest since he spoke last. His first speech is not long; but what it lacks in length, it makes up for in animosity, for it reveals that Zophar was angry. There is a proper time and place for the display of righteous anger (Eph. 4:26), but Job’s ash heap was not the place, and that was not the right time. “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1: nkjv). What Job needed was a helping hand, not a slap in the face.

Zophar makes three accusations against Job: Job is guilty of sin (Job 11:1–4); Job is ignorant of God (vv. 5–12); and Job is stubborn in his refusal to repent (vv. 13–20). In his reply, Job answers all three accusations: He affirms God’s greatness (Job 12) and his own innocence (Job 13), but he has no hope, so why should he repent (Job 14)?

Zophar’s speech was a brief one, but Job took a long time to answer each of Zophar’s accusations. Job began with Zophar’s second accusation that Job had no knowledge of God (Job 11:5–12). Job affirmed that he had wisdom and understanding just as they did (Job 12). Then he replied to Zophar’s first accusation that Job was a guilty sinner (11:1–4). Job once again affirmed his integrity (Job 13). Job then closed his speech by challenging Zophar’s third point, that there was still hope (11:13–20). In Job 14, Job admits that his hope is almost gone.

The greatness of God (Job 12). First, Job challenged his friends’ declaration that they had more wisdom than he did. True, they were older than Job; but age is no guarantee of wisdom. There are old fools as well as young fools.

Then, Job rebuked them for being so unfeeling toward him and turning him into a laughingstock. He felt he was just and upright, which is the way God described him (1:1, 8; 2:3). “You who are at ease have no concern for people who are slipping. You say God is punishing me for my sins. Then why doesn’t He punish robbers and other people who provoke God?” (12:5–6). Zophar claimed that wisdom was not accessible to man (11:7–9), but Job said that God’s creatures could teach them what they needed to know (12:7–11; see Gen. 1:26–28). Even “dumb” creatures know that God’s hand made everything and keeps everything going. In fact, the very breath they were using to accuse Job was God’s gift to them; and He could remove it without their permission. God gave men and women the ability to taste and judge food. Would He not give them the even more important ability to evaluate words and assess truth (Job 12:11)?

In verses 12–25, Job describes the wisdom and power of God. Verse 12 likely refers to God, “the Ancient One” and “the One who lives long.” These divine names are a rebuke to Job’s aged friends who thought that their years of experience had taught them so much!

Job pointed out that God is completely sovereign in what He does with nature (vv. 14–15) and with people (vv. 16–25). What He destroys cannot be rebuilt, and what He locks up cannot be released (Rev. 3:6–8). He can send drought or flood, and nobody can stop Him (Job 12:15). He has the wisdom to know what to do, and He has the power to accomplish it (vv. 13, 16).

In His sovereignty over people, no matter what their status, God is in control. Job’s argument is that all kinds of people experience difficulties in life because God can do what He pleases. He is no respecter of persons and is not impressed by a person’s rank, wealth, or social status.

For example, if it is God’s will, king’s counselors will lose their authority and wealth, and judges will become confused and mad. In fact, kings themselves will lose their girdles (an insignia of authority), and priests (“princes,” v. 19 kjv) will be stripped and become captives. Wise people like counselors and elders will be silenced (v. 20), and princes (nobles) and the mighty (v. 21) will lose their respect and strength.

But God is sovereign over nations as well as individuals (vv. 23–25; Dan. 2:20–22; Acts 17:24–28). He can enlarge a nation or destroy it, or give it freedom or bondage. All He has to do is take wisdom away from the leaders, and the nation’s destruction is sure. Proud people don’t like to hear this message. Ever since the city of Enoch (Gen. 4:16–18) and the Tower of Babel (11:1–9), mankind has been trying to build and manage things without God; and the end has always been failure and judgment.

The integrity of Job (Job 13). In this part of his defense, Job first expressed his disappointment in his three friends (vv. 1–12), then his declaration of faith in the Lord (vv. 13–17), and finally his desire that God come to him and get the issue settled once and for all (vv. 18–28).

(1) Disappointment (vv. 1–12). Job’s friends had not been an encouragement to him. They had taken a superior attitude as judges, assuming that they knew God better than Job did. They did not identify with him in his grief and pain. Job called them “forgers of lies,” “physicians of no value,” and “deceitful defenders of God.”

The word forgers (v. 4) also means “whitewashers.” They smeared the whitewash of their lies over the discussion so that they avoided the difficult problems while maintaining their traditional ideas (Ps. 119:69). They stayed on the surface of things and never went deep into God’s truth or Job’s feelings. Counseling that stays on the surface will accomplish very little. If we are going to help people, we must go much deeper; but this demands love, courage, and patience.

As physicians, their diagnosis was wrong so their remedy was useless (Jer. 6:14; 8:11). And as “defenders of God,” they would be better off silent; for they did not know what they were talking about. They had such a rigid and narrow view of God, and such a prejudiced view of Job, that their whole “case” was a fabrication of lies. What would they do when God turned the tables and examined them? (See Rom. 14:1–13.) “Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay” (Job 13: niv). What the three friends thought were profound statements of truth were only warmedover ashes from ancient fires, clay pots that would fall apart. A good counselor needs much more than a good memory. He or she also needs wisdom to know how to apply the truth to the needs of people today.

(2) Declaration (vv. 13–17). This is one of the greatest declarations of faith found anywhere in Scripture, but it must be understood in its context. Job is saying, “I will take my case directly to God and prove my integrity. I know I am taking my life in my hands in approaching God, because He is able to slay me. But if He doesn’t slay me, it is proof that I am not the hypocrite you say I am.” Later, Job will take an oath and challenge God to pass judgment (Job 27). To approach God personally was a great act of faith (Ex. 33:20; Judg. 13:22–23), but Job was so sure of his integrity that he would take his chances. After all, if he did nothing, he would die; and if he was rejected by God, he would die; but there was always the possibility that God would prove him right.

(3) Desire (vv. 18–28). These words are addressed to God. Job has “prepared his case” (v. 18 niv) and is sure that he will win. Job has two desires: that God would remove His chastening hand and give Job relief, and that God would come to Job in such a way that He would not frighten him. Job is asking God to meet him in court so they can talk over God’s “case” against Job and Job’s “case” against God. In verse 22, Job gives God the option of speaking first!

Why does Job want to meet God in court? So that God can once and for all state His “case” against Job and let Job know the sins in his life that have caused him to suffer so much. “Why should God pay so much attention to me?” asks Job. “He treats me like an enemy, but I’m just a weak leaf in the wind, a piece of chaff that is worth nothing. I’m a piece of rotting wood and a moth-eaten garment, yet God treats me like a prisoner of war and watches me every minute.” Job felt the time had come to settle the matter, even if it meant losing his own life in the process.

The hopelessness of Job (Job 14). Zophar had assured Job that there was hope for him if only he would acknowledge his sins and repent (Job 11:13–20). But Zophar was not in Job’s situation! From Job’s point of view, his future was bleak. In verses 1–12, Job used several images to illustrate the hopeless condition of man in this world. He is like a flower that is soon cut down, a shadow that slowly disappears, a hired man that puts in his time and then is replaced. God knows the limits of our days (7:1; 14:5; Ps. 139:16). A suicide may foolishly hasten the day of death, but nobody will go beyond the limits that God has set for his or her life.

Since man is only a flower, a shadow, and a servant, why should God pay any attention to him? Since life is so short, why should God fill man’s few days with grief and pain? “So look away from him and let him alone,” prays Job (Job 14: niv). “Let me have some peace before my brief life ends!” (paraphrase)

Job’s strongest image is that of the tree (vv. 7–12). Chop it down, and its stump remains, and there is always a possibility that the tree might sprout again. The tree has hope, but man has no hope. When he dies, he leaves no stump behind. Man is more like water that evaporates or soaks into the ground; it can never be recovered again (v. 11; 2 Sam. 14:14). Man may lie down at night and awaken in the morning; but when he lies down in death, there is no assurance that he will be awakened again.

Early believers like Job did not have the revelation of future life as we now have it in Christ (2 Tim. 1:10). Passages in the Old Testament hint at future resurrection (Ps. 16:9–11; 17:15; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2), but Job did not have any of these books to read and ponder. “If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). Job asked this important question but did not answer it. Later on, Job will make a great statement about future resurrection (19:25–26); but at this point he is vacillating between despair and hope.

In 14:13, Job asked God to give Himself a reminder to bring Job back from Sheol, the realm of the dead. Job was probably not thinking of resurrection, but of a brief return to earth so God could vindicate him before his accusers. Of course, a believer today is sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13–14); and God will not forget one of His children at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:50–58).

Job reminded the Lord that he was the work of God’s hands (Job 14:15), an argument he had used before (10:3). It seemed to Job that, instead of caring for His creature, God was doing nothing but keeping a record of his sins. What hope could Job have as long as God was investigating him and building a case against him? Instead of cleansing Job’s sins, God was covering them and would not even tell Job what they were!

“Thou destroyest the hope of man,” Job complained (14:19), and he used two illustrations to make his point. Man seems like a sturdy mountain, but the water gradually erodes the rock, and it eventually crumbles. Or an earthquake might suddenly move the rocks from one place to another and change the mountain. Death may come gradually or suddenly, but it will come; and man will go to a world where he knows nothing about what his family is doing. Job longed for that release from sorrow and pain.

When people are experiencing intense grief and pain, it is easy for them to feel that the future is hopeless and that God has forsaken them. The eminent American psychiatrist Karl Menninger called hope “the major weapon against the suicide impulse.” Hopeless people feel that life is not worth living since they have nothing to look forward to but suffering and failure. They conclude that it is better for them to die than to live and be a burden to themselves and to others.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called hope “the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.” But an individual who believes in Jesus Christ shares in a “living hope” that grows more wonderful every day (1 Peter 1:3ff.).

Dead hopes fade away because they have no roots, but our “living hope” gets better because it is rooted in the living Christ and His living Word. The assurance of resurrection and life in glory with Christ is a strong motivation for us to keep going even when the going is tough (1 Cor. 15:58).

Charles L. Allen has written, “When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.” Job had not yet slammed the door, but he was getting close to doing it; and his friends were not helping him at all.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15: nasb).