Job 19 | TNotes

19:3 ^a The number ten did not represent a specific count but an indefinite large number (e.g., Gen 31:7 ^b; Lev 26:26 ^c; Num 14:22 ^d; Dan 1:20 ^e).
19:6 ^f Job was convinced that justice had been delayed (19:7 ^g) and that God had wronged him (19:8-12 ^h). Later, Elihu (34:12 ⁱ) and God himself (40:2 ^j) disagreed.

• capturing me in his net: Job might have been responding to Bildad’s accusation (18:8-10 ^k).
19:7 ^l Help! (literally Violence!): Cp. Jer 20:8 ^m; Hab 1:2-3 ⁿ.

• no one answers: See Ps 22:2 ^o; Lam 3:8 ^p; Hab 1:2-3 ^q.
19:8 ^r blocked my way: See 3:23 ^s; 13:27 ^t; Ps 88:8 ^u; Lam 3:7 ^v, 9 ^w.
19:9 ^x stripped me of my honor: See 12:17-19 ^y; 29:7-14 ^z, 20 ^aa.
19:17 ^ab my own family: Job might have been referring to his tribal line, his parents, his own children, or his siblings.
19:19 ^ac Those I loved have turned against me: See 2:11 ^ad; also 6:14-15 ^ae, 21-23 ^af, 27 ^ag; cp. Pss 41:9 ^ah; 55:12-14 ^ai, 20 ^aj.
19:20 ^ak escaped death by the skin of my teeth: This is an idiom for a narrow escape; the Hebrew could also mean that Job was reduced to a skeleton with a toothy skull.
19:21 ^al The hand of God had struck Job through the permission he gave to Satan (1:11 ^am; 2:5 ^an).
19:22 ^ao persecute (literally pursue): Job complained that God had tracked him like a hunter (10:16 ^ap) or a warrior (16:13 ^aq).
19:23 ^ar Job wanted his words ... inscribed on a monument, not in a book; Job desired a permanent record of his claim to innocence in response to Bildad’s assertion that he would be forgotten (18:17 ^as).
19:25 ^at Job’s faith in a Redeemer could find fulfillment only in Christ; the same was true of his request for an advocate (9:33 ^au) and a witness in heaven (16:19 ^av). The term “Redeemer” (Hebrew go’el) comes from both criminal and civil law. An individual could redeem or avenge wrongful bloodshed (Num 35:12-18 ^aw) or redeem lost property, perhaps by buying back a slave or marrying the heir’s widow (Lev 25:25 ^ax, 47-49 ^ay; 27:11-13 ^az; Ruth 3:13 ^ba). The Old Testament knew the Lord as redeemer (Exod 6:6 ^bb; Pss 19:14 ^bc; 103:4 ^bd; Prov 23:10-11 ^be; Isa 43:1 ^bf [“ransomed”]; Isa 54:5 ^bg); New Testament believers know the Redeemer as the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:7 ^bh, 14 ^bi; Heb 9:12 ^bj; 1 Pet 1:18 ^bk). Job wanted his Redeemer to declare his innocence (see Job 1:1 ^bl and corresponding study note).
19:26 ^bm Job had faith that he would be vindicated even if death came first.
19:27 ^bn I will see him for myself: The thought is the same as the psalmist’s in “when I awake” (Ps 17:15 ^bo). For Job, this hope could only be fulfilled in seeing God at the end of time (Matt 5:8 ^bp; 1 Cor 13:12 ^bq; 1 Jn 3:2 ^br; Rev 1:7 ^bs) in transformed flesh (1 Cor 15:43-53 ^bt; Phil 3:21 ^bu).
19:29 ^bv Given the biblical principles against bearing false witness (13:7-11 ^bw; see Matt 7:1-2 ^bx; Jas 4:11-12 ^by), Job warned his friends that they should fear God’s judgment. They did eventually face his judgment, but they also received mercy (Job 42:7-8 ^bz).