Where Is My Father? Job 18-21: The Redeemer Who Stands With Us

How long am I going to have to keep enduring this?

Bildad throws Job's own question back at him as an accusation, and Job turns it into a plea. The waiting itself becomes part of the pain, and Job does not pretend otherwise. Lament is how he keeps talking to God while the answer stays far off.

Then Job answered, “How long will you torment me, and crush me with words? You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me. If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself. If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach, know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

Job 19:1–6

How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me? Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death; lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;” lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to Yahweh, because he has been good to me.

Psalms 13:1–6

It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.” Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.

Lamentations 3:22–26

I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?” Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 42:9–11

What are my words actually doing to the person in front of me?

Bildad aims a flamethrower at a man already on the ground, and later Zophar does the same. The proverbs say the tongue carries death and life, and Job's friends show what the death side looks like. Job himself knows how it feels to be pierced by words.

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, “How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak. Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight? You who tear yourself in your anger, will the earth be forsaken for you? Or will the rock be removed out of its place? “Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine. The light will be dark in his tent. His lamp above him will be put out. The steps of his strength will be shortened. His own counsel will cast him down. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh. A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him. A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him on the path. Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels. His strength will be famished. Calamity will be ready at his side. The members of his body will be devoured. The firstborn of death will devour his members. He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors. There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur will be scattered on his habitation. His roots will be dried up beneath. His branch will be cut off above. His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street. He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived. Those who come after will be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened. Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”

Job 18:1–21

There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.

Proverbs 12:18

In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

Proverbs 10:19

So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God. Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

James 3:5–10

For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps, who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.

1 Peter 2:21–24

Why does my suffering make me feel so alone?

Job's brothers, his servants, his wife, even children at the street all pull away from him, and he feels the distance as its own wound. Deep suffering has a way of thinning the people around us. Job takes that loneliness straight to God.

“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight. I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth. My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me. All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me. My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Job 19:13–20

You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape. My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you. Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah. Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

Psalms 88:8–18

At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

2 Timothy 4:16–17

Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5–6

Is there someone who will stand with me and plead my case?

Job's friends have turned into accusers, so he fixes his hope on a goel, a kinsman redeemer who will stand on the earth and answer for him. He cannot yet see who that is. He only knows he needs someone like himself to stand before God in his place.

“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh, whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger.

Job 19:23–27

Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”

Ruth 4:9–10

…whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time, that he might himself be just and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3:25–26

My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

1 John 2:1–2

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:15–16

Why do the wicked sometimes seem to get away with it?

Zophar insists the wicked get theirs quickly, and Job looks around and says that is not what I see. The book of Job lets Job's own observation stand in the messy middle. The retribution principle is not a reliable ledger in a fallen world.

“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

Job 21:7–15

Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me— until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.

Psalms 73:12–17

You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to plead a case with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? Because of the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals and birds are consumed; because they said, “He won’t see our latter end.”

Jeremiah 12:1–4

There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 8:14