Job concedes the point that God does not punish the righteous and even that he has had sin in his life.  But he is compelled to point out that all men have sinned, and he still contends that he can think of none that warrant such harshness toward him, nor can he think of any for which he has not repented.  Anyway, he says, nobody could argue with Him about it.

Georges de La Tour,
Job Mocked by his Wife

He acknowledges God’s awesome power at great length, ascribing His ability to command nature even in the form of great earthquakes, His creation of the heavens and the earth – even mentioning constellations in verse 9.  But he wonders in verse 22 if God is fair.  He believes it would be pointless for him to even try to bear his burden without complaint, for more misery is surely to come.  He sees no reason for it to ever stop because he sees no reason for it to have even begun in the first place (verses 27-31). His wife had not even stood with him.  But Job is hanging on to his integrity, as he feels it is all he has left.

As he points out in verse 33 that there is nobody to serve as an arbiter, one cannot help but see that the scripture is pointing us to Jesus.  Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”   This is the crux of Jesus as the Messiah and our High Priest as prophesied in Psalm 110, and as the Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 4:14-16:

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Read or listen to audio of ESV version of this selection from this link.

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.  For questions and help, please see the “FAQ” and “Summaries” pages there.