In Chapter 18 Bildad continues with the same theme that he, Eliphaz and Zophar had been developing all along—the judgment of God that comes on the wicked. And in chapter 19 Job replies in the same manner as before—that unconfessed sin was not the explanation for his suffering. In fact, in chapter 19 he goes farther than he had ever gone before; he says “God has wronged me (v. 6).” That was, of course, a false charge and a sin against God. Job was correct that God had not afflicted him for his sins, but it did not follow that therefore God had wronged him. God has other reasons for afflicting his own children. That’s something that all Christians need to understand.
In the verses immediately following Job describes some of these wrongs. 1) He will not hear my cry for justice (v.7). 2) He has done terrible things to me. He has blocked my way so that I cannot escape my misery, made me live in darkness, stripped me of my glory, broken me down and left me without hope (vv. 8–10). 3) He counts me as an enemy (v. 11). 4) he has deprived me of all human support (vv. 12–19).
In verses 12–19 there is a lengthy list of all the people of whose support God has deprived him. He mentions (according to the NKJV translation) brothers, acquaintances, relatives (this would include uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces and so on), close friends, those who dwell in his house, maidservants (who count him as a stranger), menservants (who will not obey his orders even if he begs them), wife, children (perhaps grandchildren, since his immediate children were dead), young children (not of his own family), close friends and “those whom I love” (who returned hatred for his love).
A few of these need further explanation. “Close friends” in verse 14 is literally “those known by me.” Job knows them, but they have forgotten him. “Those who dwell in my house” would be better translated as “those who sojourn in my house,” i.e., guests. “Close friends” in verse 19 means “men of my secret counsel” (his most intimate friends).
Everyone in his circles had turned against him; he had no one at all left. This, he says, is God’s doing: “He has removed my brothers far from me (v. 13).
Yet in this same chapter we find Job making the strongest and most beautiful confession of faith in the whole book, we might even say in the Scriptures. It’s found in verses 25–27, and contains the well-known words, “I know that my Redeemer lives… In my flesh I shall see God.” There are four things we want to notice about that speech. 1) He expects God himself to be his redeemer, and the word he uses for redeemer is the Hebrew word “goel.” In the Mosaic law the “goel” was a kinsman who avenged the blood of his murdered relative by executing the murderer and who also redeemed him from slavery and his property from creditors if he fell into debt. Boaz redeeming the property of Naomi and taking Ruth as his wife is a wonderful example. 2) There is a strong emphasis on “I” and “my” in the verses: I know (v. 25), my flesh (v. 25), I shall see (v. 26), I shall see (v. 27), my eyes shall behold (v. 27). This is a deeply personal confession of faith in his redeemer. 3) There is an equally strong emphasis on seeing. I shall see God (v. 26), whom I shall see for myself (v. 27), my eyes shall behold (v. 27). He expects to see God face to face and in his own flesh.
It is a confession of faith in the resurrection of the body., and Job’s longing for it is intense. “How my heart yearns within me (v.27).”
Two questions arise from it. The first is, how can he make such a wonderful confession of faith and at the same time be so miserable and even charge God with wronging him? I think that the answer to that must be, that his hope of resurrection is for the future and gives him no comfort for the present. He even says, in verse 25, my Redeemer will stand at last on the earth. The KJV has a little stronger translation: “he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” That great hope is the not yet; the now is that God has become his enemy, and he still sees no escape from his misery.
The other question is, why does Job make that confession at this particular point in the arguments with his friends? The answer is that Bildad had tried to frighten him with a vivid description of the terrors that overtake the wicked (18:5–21). Job refuses to be frightened into making false confessions. His trouble is not that he has no future hope, but rather that he has no present comfort.
His hope was the hope of every believing heart since God revealed the gospel of grace (Gen. 3:15) after Adam sinned and died and dragged us down to death with him, and it is the hope confirmed by the glorious resurrection of our Lord who laid down his life and took it up again for his own sheep (Jn. 10).