Job 19:23-27 | TNotes | STEP | 19:23 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 ).

19:23 ^a 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 ^b).
19:25 ^c Job’s faith in a Redeemer could find fulfillment only in Christ; the same was true of his request for an advocate (9:33 ^d) and a witness in heaven (16:19 ^e). 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 ^f) or redeem lost property, perhaps by buying back a slave or marrying the heir’s widow (Lev 25:25 ^g, 47-49 ^h; 27:11-13 ⁱ; Ruth 3:13 ^j). The Old Testament knew the Lord as redeemer (Exod 6:6 ^k; Pss 19:14 ^l; 103:4 ^m; Prov 23:10-11 ⁿ; Isa 43:1 ^o [“ransomed”]; Isa 54:5 ^p); New Testament believers know the Redeemer as the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 1:7 ^q, 14 ^r; Heb 9:12 ^s; 1 Pet 1:18 ^t). Job wanted his Redeemer to declare his innocence (see Job 1:1 ^u and corresponding study note).
19:26 ^v Job had faith that he would be vindicated even if death came first.
19:27 ^w I will see him for myself: The thought is the same as the psalmist’s in “when I awake” (Ps 17:15 ^x). For Job, this hope could only be fulfilled in seeing God at the end of time (Matt 5:8 ^y; 1 Cor 13:12 ^z; 1 Jn 3:2 ^aa; Rev 1:7 ^ab) in transformed flesh (1 Cor 15:43-53 ^ac; Phil 3:21 ^ad).