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Commentary on Job 9 verses 25–35
Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God's wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. The beginning of that strife with God is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.
I. His complaint here of the passing away of the days of his prosperity is proper enough (Job 9:25, Job 9:26): "My days (that is, all my good days) are gone, never to return, gone of a sudden, gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went express" (like Cushi and Ahimaaz) "with good tidings make such haste as all my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does there remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does of an eagle in the air or a ship in the sea," Pro 30:19. See here, 1. How swift the motion of time is. It is always upon the wing, hastening to its period; it stays for no man. What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out, runs on so fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes! 2. How vain the enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived of while yet time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine of our prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been. The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of our having got a great deal of worldly wealth when it is all lost and gone. "They flee away, past recall; they see no good, and leave none behind them."
II. His complaint of his present uneasiness is excusable, Job 9:27, Job 9:28. 1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would fain forget his complaints and praise God, would leave off his heaviness and comfort himself, that he might be fit for converse both with God and man; but, 2. He found he could not do it: "I am afraid of all my sorrows. When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and proves too hard for me!" It is easier, in such a case, to know what we should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in than to get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said. Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not easily brought into the subjection they ought to be kept in to religion and right reason. But,
III. His complaint of God as implacable and inexorable was by no means to be excused. It was the language of his corruption. He knew better, and, at another time, would have been far from harbouring any such hard thoughts of God as now broke in upon his spirit and broke out in these passionate complaints. Good men do not always speak like themselves; but God, who considers their frame and the strength of their temptations, gives them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by repentance and will not lay it to their charge.
1.Job seems to speak here, (1.) As if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his integrity: "I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. My afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast, that I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by delivering me out of them and restoring me to a prosperous condition. Right or wrong, I must be treated as a wicked man; my friends will continue to think so of me, and God will continue upon me the afflictions which give them occasion to think so. Why then do I labour in vain to clear myself and maintain my own integrity?" Job 9:29. It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged. With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not only despairs of relief, but expects that his endeavour to clear himself will render him yet more obnoxious (Job 9:30, Job 9:31): "If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my integrity ever so evident, it will be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me. Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch" (the pit of destruction, so some, or rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), "which will make me so offensive in the nostrils of all about me that my own clothes shall abhor me and I shall even loathe to touch myself." He saw his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort, but of his reputation. Yet these words are capable of a good construction. If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with them, - if we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world, - yet God, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocency, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy God. Paul, while a Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the commandment came and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know lust, that plunged him in the ditch. (2.) As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. [1.] He complains that he was not upon even terms with God (Job 9:32): "He is not a man, as I am. I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but he is infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists with him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him." Note, First, God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes we may say, "They are men as we are," but not of the great God. His thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God is not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the independent an immortal Creator. Secondly, The consideration of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the controversy (Job 9:33): Neither is there any days-man between us. This complaint that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the Septuagint reads it: O that there were a mediator between us! Job would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this. [3.] That the terrors of God, which set themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he was formerly wont to approach him, Job 9:34, Job 9:35. "Besides the distance which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency, his present dealings with me are very discouraging: Let him take his rod away from me." He means not so much his outward afflictions as the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God's wrath; that was his fear which terrified him. "Let that be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be amazed with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and then I would speak and order my cause before him. But it is not so with me; the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God still fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever; and what to do I know not."
2.From all this let us take occasion, (1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good men have been put into such consternation by it, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (2.) To pity those that are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for themselves. (3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of him are the inlets of much mischief. (4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but rejoice with trembling.
“If I am ungodly, why have I not died?” You see how he does not deny being a sinner. “Why have I not died?” he says. This is not the expression of a man who accuses but who searches. I do not know at all, he says, God’s plans. “For if I should wash myself with snow and purge myself with pure hands [that would be useless]. You have thoroughly plunged me in filth, and my garment has abhorred me.” He means, before everybody’s eyes I am an example of impiety. It would be necessary that the wicked disappeared, so that I might not play the role of master for the others anymore. If I become purer than the sun, I still retain filthiness, and not an ordinary filthiness. “My garment has abhorred me.” What can I say about people, if even my garment despises me? This is what he more or less means. Even my closest relations have begun to hate me. They have turned away from me not because I am condemned but because they think I am cursed and impure.
5. For if we be examined pity set aside, our work which we look to have recompensed with a reward is deserving of punishment. ‘Therefore the holy man shrinking under secret judgment, says, But if even so I be wicked, why, then, have I laboured in vain? Not that he repents of having laboured, but that it grieves him even amidst labours to be in uncertainty about the reward. But we must bear in mind that the Saints so doubt that they trust, and so trust that notwithstanding they do not slumber in security. Therefore because it is very often the case that the mind, even when bent upon right courses, is full of fears, it follows that after the good deed is done, deprecating tears be had recourse to, in order that the humility of entreaty may bear up the deserts of right practice to eternal rewards. But yet we must bear in mind that neither our life nor our tears have power to make us perfectly clean, so long as the mortal condition of our state of corruption holds us fast bound.
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SUMMARY
Job 9:29 encapsulates Job's profound anguish and existential crisis, as he grapples with the apparent futility of his righteous life in the face of overwhelming and inexplicable suffering. He questions the very purpose of striving for integrity if, despite his blamelessness, he is treated as one deserving of divine punishment, leading him to conclude that any effort to justify himself or live uprightly is ultimately meaningless and in vain. This verse is a poignant expression of a soul in deep despair, struggling to reconcile his experience with his understanding of divine justice.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 9:29 is rich in literary devices that amplify Job's despair and articulate his profound crisis of faith. The verse functions as a powerful Rhetorical Question, not seeking an answer but expressing the speaker's profound frustration and the perceived absurdity of his situation. Job knows he is not wicked, so the question highlights the illogical and unjust nature of his suffering, challenging the simplistic retribution theology of his friends. There is a strong element of Irony present; Job, a man explicitly described as blameless and upright by God Himself, is treated as if he were wicked, making his efforts to live righteously appear utterly futile. This creates a tragic irony that underscores the central conflict of the book. Furthermore, the verse is a quintessential expression of Lament, a common biblical genre where an individual pours out their sorrow, confusion, and complaint to God in the face of suffering or injustice. The language chosen—"labour," "in vain"—evokes a sense of weariness, hopelessness, and existential weariness, characteristic of a deep lament.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 9:29 stands as a stark testament to the human struggle with inexplicable suffering and the perceived silence or indifference of God. It challenges simplistic notions of divine justice, forcing the reader to confront the reality that righteousness does not always guarantee earthly prosperity, nor does suffering always signify sin. Job's lament highlights the profound mystery of God's ways, which often transcend human comprehension and expectations. It also touches upon the theme of human futility when faced with overwhelming divine power, prompting a deeper reflection on the nature of faith that perseveres even when all seems lost and efforts appear to be "in vain." The verse invites us to consider the true nature of God's justice, which is not always immediately discernible through human experience or conventional wisdom.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 9:29 offers a powerful validation for those who feel their efforts to live righteously have gone unrewarded or have even led to greater hardship. It reminds us that the Bible does not shy away from expressing raw human emotion, including despair, confusion, and a sense of futility in the face of inexplicable suffering. In moments when our circumstances seem to contradict our understanding of God's justice or our own integrity, Job's lament provides a voice and a biblical precedent for honest wrestling with God. It challenges us to hold onto faith even when God's ways seem inscrutable, trusting that His ultimate purposes, though hidden in the present, are always good. Our "labor" in righteousness is never truly in vain in God's economy, even if the immediate returns are not what we expect or if the path is fraught with pain. This verse encourages us to bring our honest questions and frustrations before God, knowing that He can handle our lament and that true perseverance is found in continuing to seek Him despite the pain and confusion.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Job 9:29 imply that Job was considering abandoning his integrity?
Answer: While Job's statement "why then labour I in vain?" expresses profound despair and a sense of futility, it does not necessarily imply he was considering abandoning his integrity. Rather, it reflects his agonizing dilemma: if God already perceives him as wicked (as his suffering suggests to him and his friends), then all his attempts to live uprightly or to plead his case are pointless and futile. It's a cry of anguish from a righteous man who cannot reconcile his blameless life with his catastrophic suffering and the prevailing theological framework of his time. His integrity remains, but his understanding of divine justice is shattered, leading to this desperate rhetorical question. The Book of Job ultimately shows that Job does not abandon his integrity, even in the face of such profound confusion and despair, demonstrating a resilient faith that questions without collapsing.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 9:29, with its cry of "why then labour I in vain?" finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Job, an innocent man, suffered as if he were wicked, questioning the purpose of his blameless life in the face of divine judgment. Similarly, Jesus, the only truly blameless and righteous man, "who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth" as affirmed in 1 Peter 2:22, was treated as the ultimate wicked one. He "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" as revealed in 2 Corinthians 5:21. From a human perspective, Christ's suffering and death on the cross could have appeared to be the ultimate "labor in vain"—a righteous life ending in public humiliation and apparent defeat. Yet, this seeming futility was precisely the means by which God accomplished His greatest purpose: the redemption of humanity. What appeared to be a meaningless, unjust death was, in fact, the triumphant victory over sin and death, demonstrating that God's ways are indeed higher than our ways and His thoughts deeper than ours, as declared in Isaiah 55:8-9. Job's lament foreshadows the innocent suffering of the Messiah, whose "labor" was not in vain, but secured eternal life for all who believe, fulfilling the promise of John 3:16.