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Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
19 Then Job answered and said:
“How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
know then that God has put me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
He has stripped from me my glory
and taken the crown from my head.
He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
He has kindled his wrath against me
and counts me as his adversary.
His troops come on together;
they have cast up their siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
“He has put my brothers far from me,
and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
My relatives have failed me,
my close friends have forgotten me.
The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
My breath is strange to my wife,
and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
Even young children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me!
Why do you, like God, pursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
“Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”
(ESV)
Job 19 Commentary
by Hank Workman
In ancient Israel, one who was called a redeemer was family member who bought and paid for a slave’s freedom. As read in the book of Ruth, it was also one who would take care of a widow. In the latter case and a beautiful story, it would be Boaz who volunteered to take full responsibility for extended family. This was called a kinsman-redeemer.
A redeemer was one whom people could look toward that would defend their cause, take to task the wrongs which had come against the individual and even through the law could have charges leveled against them acquitted. On the personal front, a redeemer held the responsibility to defend the oppressed, step in with aid to one suffering. Many times, this individual would literally stand beside you as an advocate.
Beautiful thoughts, no?
Job is struggling. He feels completely isolated. His friends have turned against him. His physical being is ravaged. He is attacked both physically by the hands of Satan and emotionally by the words of supposed friends. His isolation is thick. And yet it is here, and this will be a turning point for Job from here on out, there is that amazing flash of faith!
After lamenting and truly calling out these three who have bombasted him with hurtful, unbending words and judgment he declares:
“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last He will take his stand on the earth.”
Job 19:25
As you consider what we’ve dug into so far through this book, this is one amazing statement! For up until this point, God has not acted in a way he thought he would. More to the point, he didn’t know of the ‘meeting’ in the throne room between God and Satan. He had misdirected his thoughts as to who was against him. This makes the statement all the more powerful. He is proclaiming that although all that has come against him, the hardship he has endured, his Redeemer, God Himself would come to his rescue and stand in, buy him back. He would stand alongside of him as his dearest Advocate because He was his nearest relative.
On many fronts this statement is a prophetic word of Christ and what He does for us. Consider once again the ancient thoughts of who a redeemer was and how it correlates to Jesus Himself. He bought us out of slavery. He takes care of those in need. He defends our cause and as our Advocate wins the case every time, no matter what the great accuser may level against us. He defends the oppressed, relieves the suffering and stands beside us.
Jesus is our Kinsman-Redeemer who voluntarily and willing does all this. I love this statement of Charles Spurgeon:
“Remember it was always considered to be the duty of the redeemer not merely to redeem by price, but where that failed to redeem by power!”
No doubt, it was Jesus’ love for us that brought him into the full blown Redeemer for all. He redeemed not only by the price he paid as He was slaughtered on Calvary but He redeemed by power as He conquered the grave!
Oh reader – cry out to your ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer as you struggle. Declare that no matter what has come against you, what trials you face, what unknown situation you wade through – you have an Advocate who is pleading your case right now beside the throne of God. Know that you have one who has bought your freedom and is standing beside you through this time. You have a Redeemer who lives!
Job 19 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
The most magnificent phrase in this chapter shines in verses 25-26. It is so surprising and unexpected. Job has lamented for many chapters now, and wished death upon himself. In this chapter, he concludes that all he can really do is speak. He’s lost everything. There is no rational reason for him to have restorative faith.
The big question that has puzzled scholars is, what is Job actually talking about here? Is he prophesying that he will be physically restored when he sees God?… or, is he talking about spiritual restoration in Heaven? Is he even talking of his own restoration?… or, is he speaking to the restoration of Christ one day? Some of the greatest minds have taken different sides of the fence on this one.
No matter what, I believe one fact is certain – Job’s response was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
There is no other explanation. I don’t believe in his flesh that he had this in him. I don’t believe that as he’s gone on and on now for chapters about his torment and suffering that he would be able to muster up such a beautiful, accurate, and hopeful string of verses.
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 NASB
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. He intercedes according to the will of God. We must believe this! Way back in Chapter 1, I wrote this…
“Can saving faith be broken in those who are God’s children? Satan certainly thinks so, and it was not the first time (leading angels to rebel with him in Revelation 12) and would not be the last (see the disciples being sifted in Luke 22) that he would challenge this thought.”
The truth is, he challenges this thought today. The enemy is challenging Job, but I believe that saving faith cannot be broken in those who are God’s children. The Holy Spirit will not allow it. This doesn’t mean we sit back casually and let the Holy Spirit do His thing. It’s an active call to patient endurance, perseverance, and relentless faith. The Holy Spirit did not abandon Job and He will not abandon true believers. This should give us great hope in being able to face and overcome anything that would seek to destroy us. He intercedes for us according to the will of God. Don’t forget that!