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Commentary on Job 13 verses 1–12
Job here warmly expresses his resentment of the unkindness of his friends.
I. He comes up with them as one that understood the matter in dispute as well as they, and did not need to be taught by them, Job 13:1, Job 13:2. They compelled him, as the Corinthians did Paul, to commend himself and his own knowledge, yet not in a way of self-applause, but of self-justification. All he had before said his eye had seen confirmed by many instances, and his ear had heard seconded by many authorities, and he well understood it and what use to make of it. Happy are those who not only see and hear, but understand, the greatness, glory, and sovereignty of God. This, he thought, would justify what he had said before (Job 12:3), which he repeats here (Job 13:2): "What you know, the same do I know also, so that I need not come to you to be taught; I am not inferior unto you in wisdom." Note, Those who enter into disputation enter into temptation to magnify themselves and vilify their brethren more than is fit, and therefore ought to watch and pray against the workings of pride.
II. He turns from them to God (Job 13:3): Surely I would speak to the Almighty; as if he had said, "I can promise myself no satisfaction in talking to you. O that I might have liberty to reason with God! He would not be so hard upon me as you are." The prince himself will perhaps give audience to a poor petitioner with more mildness, patience, and condescension, than the servants will. Job would rather argue with God himself than with his friends. See here, 1. What confidence those have towards God whose hearts condemn them not of reigning hypocrisy: they can, with humble boldness, appear before him and appeal to him. 2. What comfort those have in God whose neighbours unjustly condemn them: if they may not speak to them with any hopes of a fair hearing, yet they may speak to the Almighty; they have easy access to him and shall find acceptance with him.
III. He condemns them for their unjust and uncharitable treatment of him, Job 13:4. 1. They falsely accused him, and that was unjust: You are forgers of lies. They framed a wrong hypothesis concerning the divine Providence, and misrepresented it, as if it did never remarkably afflict any but wicked men in this world, and thence they drew a false judgment concerning Job, that he was certainly a hypocrite. For this gross mistake, both in doctrine and application, he thinks an indictment of forgery lies against them. To speak lies is bad enough, though but at second hand, but to forge them with contrivance and deliberation is much worse; yet against this wrong neither innocency nor excellency will be a fence. 2. They basely deceived him, and that was unkind. They undertook his cure, and pretended to be his physicians; but they were all physicians of no value, "idol-physicians, who can do me no more good than an idol can." They were worthless physicians, who neither understood his case nor knew how to prescribe to him - mere empirics, who pretended to great things, but in conference added nothing to him: he was never the wiser for all they said. Thus to broken hearts and wounded consciences all creatures, without Christ, are physicians of no value, on which one may spend all and be never the better, but rather grow worse, Mar 5:26.
IV. He begs they would be silent and give him a patient hearing, Job 13:5, Job 13:6. 1. He thinks it would be a credit to them if they would say no more, having said too much already: "Hold your peace, and it shall be your wisdom, for thereby you will conceal your ignorance and ill-nature, which now appear in all you say." They pleaded that they could not forbear speaking (Job 4:2, Job 11:2, Job 11:3); but he tells them that they would better have consulted their own reputation if they had enjoined themselves silence. Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose or that which tends to the dishonour of God and the grief of our brethren. Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is accounted wise, because nothing appears to the contrary, Pro 17:28. And, as silence is an evidence of wisdom, so it is a means of it, as it gives time to think and hear. 2. He thinks it would be a piece of justice to him to hear what he had to say: Hear now my reasoning. Perhaps, though they did not interrupt him in his discourse, yet they seemed careless, and did not much heed what he said. He therefore begged that they would not only hear, but hearken. Note, We should be very willing and glad to hear what those have to say for themselves whom, upon any account, we are tempted to have hard thoughts of. Many a man, if he could but be fairly heard, would be fairly acquitted, even in the consciences of those that run him down.
V. He endeavours to convince them of the wrong they did to God's honour, while they pretended to plead for him, Job 13:7, Job 13:8. They valued themselves upon it that they spoke for God, were advocates for him, and had undertaken to justify him and his proceedings against Job; and, being (as they thought) of counsel for the sovereign, they expected not only the ear of the court and the last word, but judgment on their side. But Job tells them plainly, 1. That God and his cause did not need such advocates: "Will you think to contend for God, as if his justice were clouded and wanted to be cleared up, or as if he were at a loss what to say and wanted you to speak for him? Will you, who are so weak and passionate, put in for the honour of pleading God's cause?" Good work ought not to be put into bad hands. Will you accept his person? If those who have not right on their side carry their cause, it is by the partiality of the judge in favour of their persons; but God's cause is so just that it needs no such methods for the support of it. He is a God, and can plead for himself (Jdg 6:31); and, if you were for ever silent, the heavens would declare his righteousness. 2. That God's cause suffered by such management. Under pretence of justifying God in afflicting Job they magisterially condemned him as a hypocrite and a bad man. "This" (says he) "is speaking wickedly" (for uncharitableness and censoriousness are wickedness, great wickedness; it is an offence to God to wrong our brethren); "it is talking deceitfully, for you condemn one whom yet perhaps your own consciences, at the same time, cannot but acquit. Your principles are false and your arguings fallacious, and will it excuse you to say, It is for God?" No, for a good intention will not justify, much less will it sanctify, a bad word or action. God's truth needs not our lie, nor God's cause either our sinful policies or our sinful passions. The wrath of man works not the righteousness of God, nor may we do evil that good may come, Rom 3:7, Rom 3:8. Pious frauds (as they call them) are impious cheats; and devout persecutions are horrid profanations of the name of God, as theirs who hated their brethren, and cast them out, saying, Let the Lord be glorified, Isa 66:5; Joh 16:2.
VI. He endeavours to possess them with a fear of God's judgment, and so to bring them to a better temper. Let them not think to impose upon God as they might upon a man like themselves, nor expect to gain his countenance in their bad practices by pretending a zeal for him and his honour. "As one man mocks another by flattering him, do you think so to mock him and deceive him?" Assuredly those who think to put a cheat upon God will prove to have put a cheat upon themselves. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. That they might not think thus to jest with God, and affront him, Job would have them to consider both God and themselves, and then they would find themselves unable to enter into judgment with him.
1.Let them consider what a God he is into whose service they had thus thrust themselves, and to whom they really did so much disservice, and enquire whether they could give him a good account of what they did. Consider, (1.) The strictness of his scrutiny and enquiries concerning them (Job 13:9) "Is it good that he should search you out? Can you bear to have the principles looked into which you go upon in your censures, and to have the bottom of the matter found out?" Note, It concerns us all seriously to consider whether it will be to our advantage or no that God searches the heart. It is good to an upright man who means honestly that God should search him; therefore he prays for it: Search me, O God! and know my heart. God's omniscience is a witness of his sincerity. But it is bad to him who looks one way and rows another that God should search him out, and lay him open to his confusion. (2.) The severity of his rebukes and displeasure against them (Job 13:10): "If you do accept persons, though but secretly and in heart, he will surely reprove you; he will be so far from being pleased with your censures of me, though under colour of vindicating him, that he will resent them as a great provocation, as any prince or great man would if a base action were done under the sanction of his name and under the colour of advancing his interest." Note, What we do amiss we shall certainly be reproved for, one way or other, one time or other, though it be done ever so secretly. (3.) The terror of his majesty, which if they would duly stand in awe of they would not do that which would make them obnoxious to his wrath (Job 13:11): "Shall not his excellency make you afraid? You that have great knowledge of God, and profess religion and a fear of him, how dare you talk at this rate and give yourselves so great a liberty of speech? Ought you not to walk and talk in the fear of God? Neh 5:9. Should not his dread fall upon you, and give a check to your passions?" Methinks Job speaks this as one that did himself know the terror of the Lord, and lived in a holy fear of him, whatever his friends suggested to the contrary. Note, [1.] There is in God a dreadful excellency. He is the most excellent Being, has all excellencies in himself and in each infinitely excels any creature. His excellencies in themselves are amiable and lovely. He is the most beautiful Being; but considering man's distance from God by nature, and his defection and degeneracy by sin, his excellencies are dreadful. His power, holiness, justice, yea, and his goodness too, are dreadful excellencies. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness. [2.] A holy awe of this dreadful excellency should fall upon us and make us afraid. This would awaken impenitent sinners and bring them to repentance, and would influence all to be careful to please him and afraid of offending him.
2.Let them consider themselves, and what an unequal match they were for this great God (Job 13:12): "Your remembrances (all that in you for which you hope to be remembered when you are gone) are like unto ashes, worthless and weak, and easily trampled on and blown away. Your bodies are like bodies of clay, mouldering and coming to nothing. Your memories, you think, will survive your bodies, but, alas! they are like ashes which will be shovelled up with your dust." Note, the consideration of our own meanness and mortality should make us afraid of offending God, and furnishes a good reason why we should not despise and trample upon our brethren. Bishop Patrick gives another sense of this verse: "Your remonstrances on God's behalf are no better than dust, and the arguments you accumulate but like so many heaps of dirt."
41. Seeing that Almighty God is of a nature unchangeable, in the wrath of judgment He is not capable of being moved; but by the expression proper to man, of God’s being ‘moved,’ is understood nothing else than that enforcement of His rule of righteousness, by which the wickedness of man is chastised. Now righteous men conceive a dread of God before His indignation is stirred up against them; they fear Him at rest, lest they should feel Him as moved. But, on the other hand, the wicked then for the first time fear to be smitten, when they are under the rod, and terror then rouses them from the sleep of their insensibility, when vengeance is troubling them. And hence it is said by the Prophet, And only the vexing alone shall supply understanding to the hearing. [Is. 28, 19] For when they have begun to be stricken in vengeance for the contempt and neglect of God’s precepts, then they understand the thing that they heard. And the Psalmist saith, When He slew them, then they sought Him. [Ps. 78, 34] Therefore it is well said, As soon as He stirreth up Himself, He will trouble you, and His dread will fall upon you; in that the hearts of the children of perdition have not fear producing repose, but punishment producing fear.
The author seems to say that Job’s friends will abstain from pronouncing reproaches, because of the fear of God and the terror that he inspires.
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SUMMARY
Job 13:11 stands as a potent rhetorical challenge from Job to his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who have presumed to speak for God with arguments Job deems deceitful and ill-informed. Through this incisive question, Job compels them to confront whether the overwhelming majesty and inherent awe of God's character should not naturally inspire in them a profound, holy fear, thereby preventing them from uttering falsehoods or misrepresenting divine justice. This verse serves as a stark and timeless warning against presumptuous speech about God and a fervent call to cultivate genuine reverence for the Almighty.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 13:11 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its profound and challenging message. The most prominent device is the Rhetorical Question, "Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?" This question is not posed to elicit information but to make a forceful, undeniable assertion, compelling the friends to confront their own conscience and exposing their spiritual blindness. It carries an implicit, self-evident answer: Yes, God's majesty should indeed make them afraid. This rhetorical strategy amplifies the weight of Job's accusation and underscores the gravity of their presumptuous speech. The verse also exhibits striking Synonymous Parallelism, where the second clause ("and his dread fall upon you?") echoes, reinforces, and intensifies the meaning of the first ("Shall not his excellency make you afraid?"). "His excellency" is paralleled by "his dread," and "make you afraid" by "fall upon you," emphasizing the overwhelming nature of God's character and its inevitable, impactful effect on those who truly perceive it. Furthermore, there is a subtle yet powerful element of Personification in "his dread fall upon you," which imbues the abstract concept of "dread" with an active, almost physical quality of descending upon the friends. This vivid imagery underscores the inescapable and weighty consequence of their actions, highlighting that God's character itself will be their judge.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 13:11 serves as a profound theological statement on the very nature of God and humanity's proper, reverent response to Him. It asserts that God's inherent majesty, glory, and unapproachable holiness are so immense that they naturally evoke a deep, reverential fear—a fear that is not mere terror but an awe that compels profound humility, unwavering integrity, and truthful speech, especially when discussing divine matters. Job directly confronts his friends' shallow, reductionist theology, which attempts to confine God within simplistic human logic and "defend" Him with deceitful arguments. He implies that such actions dishonor God far more than they defend Him. The verse powerfully underscores that God does not require human lies, manipulative arguments, or partiality to uphold His truth or vindicate His character; rather, He demands absolute integrity and a humble recognition of His unapproachable greatness from those who claim to speak in His name. It highlights the grave danger of presuming to speak for God without genuine reverence, spiritual understanding, and a deep awareness of His transcendence—a warning that resonates throughout the entirety of scripture.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 13:11 issues a timeless and profound challenge to each of us: to meticulously examine the integrity of our own speech and actions, particularly when we claim to speak for God, defend His truth, or offer theological commentary. Do our words truly reflect the infinite majesty, unblemished holiness, and unfathomable wisdom of God, or are we, much like Job's friends, inadvertently using Him to justify our own opinions, prejudices, or incomplete understandings? This verse calls us to cultivate a deeper, more profound sense of reverence and humility before the Almighty. It serves as a stark reminder that God's "excellency" should inspire such a profound awe that it naturally purifies our motives, sanctifies our words, and prevents us from engaging in manipulative arguments, spreading falsehoods, or offering simplistic answers, even if our intentions seem good. True faith does not demand that we invent defenses for God or construct elaborate theological systems to explain away His mysteries; rather, it requires us to live and speak truthfully, with integrity and humility, in the light of His revealed, yet ultimately transcendent, character. We are called to embody the "fear of the Lord"—a reverential awe that leads to unwavering integrity, genuine wisdom, and a profound respect for the divine mystery that often transcends our finite human comprehension.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the difference between "excellency" and "dread" in this verse?
Answer: While closely related and interconnected, "excellency" (Hebrew: sᵉʼêth, H7613) refers to God's inherent, majestic greatness, His glorious dignity, and supreme splendor. It is the very essence of His being that commands awe and reverence. "Dread" (Hebrew: pachad, H6343), on the other hand, describes the overwhelming, profound fear, awe, or terror that God's presence, power, or impending judgment naturally evokes. So, God's "excellency" is the source or cause—the intrinsic quality that demands reverence—and "dread" is the appropriate, inevitable response or effect. Job is essentially asking if God's supreme majesty doesn't naturally cause a holy, purifying fear to fall upon those who truly perceive it, thereby preventing them from speaking deceitfully, as warned in Proverbs 14:27.
Why does Job use a rhetorical question here instead of a direct statement?
Answer: Job masterfully employs a rhetorical question to heighten the dramatic effect and to imply that the answer is so self-evident and undeniable that it requires no explicit affirmation. By asking "Shall not his excellency make you afraid?", he is not seeking information but powerfully asserting a profound theological truth: the very nature of God's majesty should naturally inspire awe and prevent presumptuous, deceitful speech. This technique forces his friends to confront their own spiritual blindness, the inadequacy of their arguments, and the lack of reverence underlying their counsel, making the accusation far more piercing and convicting than a simple declarative statement. It challenges them to look inward and acknowledge the obvious implications of God's character, much like the challenging rhetorical questions found in Psalm 14:4.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job's profound longing for a mediator, his relentless wrestling with the mysteries of divine justice, and his deep desire for vindication find their ultimate and complete fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The very "excellency" and "dread" of God, which Job so powerfully articulates, are perfectly embodied, revealed, and ultimately reconciled in Christ. He is not merely a reflection of God's glory but "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3), the very Word through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together (John 1:3; Colossians 1:17). While God's excellency in the Old Testament often evoked a terrifying dread that kept humanity at a distance, in Christ, this dread is wondrously transformed for those who believe. Jesus, through His perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross, experienced the full, terrifying "dread" of God's righteous wrath against sin, allowing believers to now approach God not with terror but with reverent confidence and boldness, having found grace and mercy at the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). He is the true wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), who perfectly revealed the Father, ensuring that those who speak of God do so truthfully, not with the falsehoods and presumptuousness Job so vehemently condemned. In Christ, God's majestic and awe-inspiring character is not diminished but is made profoundly accessible, inviting a holy reverence that leads to eternal life and reconciliation, rather than the judgment Job's friends risked by their ill-informed and deceitful counsel.