Job 9:33-35 | KingComments | STEP | Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain ( ). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right. He addresses himself directly to God in . ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together. We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one. Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him ( ). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering? Again, in , Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” ( ) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person. There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God ( ). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later ( ). Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job ( ). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him ( ). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result. Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him. God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.

‏ Job 9:33-35

Job’s Longing for an Umpire

Job says that whatever he does to convince God of his innocence will always be in vain (Job 9:29). So why should he do his best? Surely he can never compete with God. That is why it is best for him to submit to Him. He does this not because he agrees with God in His dealings with him, but because God is stronger than he is and therefore always right.

He addresses himself directly to God in Job 9:30-31. ‘Imagine’, he says to God, ‘that I wash myself thoroughly with the purest snow and cleanse my hands with lye. It couldn’t be any cleaner. But what are You doing then? Then You plunge me into a cesspool full of filth, where I come out so dirty and smelly that I can’t put my clothes on anymore.’ Job uses this extraordinarily strong language to express the feeling he has about how God treats him. Whatever he tries to prove his innocence, God does nothing with it. On the contrary, God increases his suffering. Surely in this way he cannot appear before God to go to court together.

We could say that Job has and gives a very wrong portrayal of God. Then we would be right because God is not like that as Job experiences Him. We know that from Scripture. At the same time we would be on the side of Job’s friends. Therefore, it is not the intention to attack Job because of what he says. That’s what the friends do. God wants to teach us to become a true friend of Job by listening carefully to him and being aware of who is speaking. It is the language of a totally desperate one.

Job sees himself confronted by Someone Who is not his equal. Against a man, a lawsuit would be a real possibility. But he is faced with Someone Who is at infinite distance from him (Job 9:32). There is an unbridgeable gap between him and God. It is a completely unequal and therefore unfair relationship. If Job and God were to come together to court to plead their case, Job would be nowhere. How can he, smeared with dirt, appear before that holy God? How could he give Him an adequate answer, one that would satisfy Him with regard to his vision of his suffering?

Again, in Job 9:33-35, Job tries to propose a possible lawsuit where he still has some chance of being proved right. According to Job, there is no “umpire” (Job 9:33) between him and God. The umpire that Job desires is someone who can “lay his hand upon us both”. By this he means someone who stands above the parties and for whom both parties, that is to say he and God, are equal. This umpire could then, of course, understand the situation of Job and bring reconciliation between the two parties. But there is indeed no such person.

There is ‘an umpire’, a Mediator, the Lord Jesus, Who has met man’s needs toward God by satisfying all the holy demands of God (1Tim 2:5). This “Umpire” has not proven Job’s innocence, but has taken on Job’s guilt. Job will see this partly later (Job 16:20-21 ; Job 19:25-27).

Since there is no umpire, he himself takes up his case and calls upon God to take away “His rod” with which He disciplines Job (Job 9:34). He asks the same for the “dread of Him”. Let God take it away as well, so that the dread of God may be removed. Then there will be room for him to speak without fear of Him and to account for himself before Him (Job 9:35). Then he will face a lawsuit against Him with confidence. With his statement “but I am not like that in myself”, he indicates that there is no sin to be pointed out with him. So he will plead his innocence with good result.

Job presupposes that he can prove that he has not deserved the suffering that has been inflicted on him if he is given a fair chance in a trial. Because he doesn’t get that chance, he necessarily submits to his suffering, without acknowledging that God is righteous in what He brings over him.

God is often accused of injustice, severity, and harshness. This does not always happen out loud, but in the heart. We should not blame Job for his impatience and irreverent language when we have not yet come to know our own heart in times of trial similar to what has befallen Job.