Job 10

10:1 I loathe my own life- This uses a different Hebrew word for loathes than is used in 9:21.

10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;- He is addressing God. With all he has said about the impossibility of receiving a fair trial before God, He is still the One to whom Job turns. Let me know why You contend with me- Contend is a form of the Hebrew rib, a word often used in a legal context (Job 9:3; 13:8, 19; 33:13; 40:2). It seems that a plaintiff was obligated to make known the charges against the defendant and Job has not been given that right. Job is genuinely confused and disoriented by this whole process and longs to know the why.

10:3 Is it right for You indeed to oppress, - The word translated right in the NASB is a word used repeatedly in the creation account in Gen. 1 . Is it good for God to act as He has toward Job? The verb oppress is used 35 times in the OT. It describes the horrors God’s people suffered at the hand of the Assyrians (Isa. 52:4) and the Babylonians (Jer. 50:33). God brings justice for those who are oppressed (Ps. 103:6; 146:7). Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker.” The one who oppresses men ultimately insults God. What is striking about this use of the verb in Job 10 is that it is God doing the oppressing. It is God who delivers the oppressed. This is the only time in the OT that God is the subject of the verb oppressed.

To reject the labor of Your hands,- The phrase work/ works of Your (His) hand/ hands is used in Ps. 138:8; Job 14:15; 34:19 speaking of man as the object of God’s care. But here instead of God showing compassion, God is rejecting, repudiating what His hands have made.

And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked? The verb look favorably is a rare word in the OT used in Ps. 94:1 where the author begs the God of vengeance to shine forth. In Ps. 50:2-3 God has shone forth to bring fire on his adversaries. In Job 10:3 Job laments that instead of God showing His vengeance to the wicked, He is showing His favor. The two words translated schemes of the wicked here are translated counsel of the wicked in Ps. 1:1. In that Psalm the man who avoids the counsel of the wicked is blessed.

10:4 Have You eyes of flesh? God is Spirit and not flesh in II Chron. 32:7-8; Isa. 31:3 /Or do You see as a man sees?- Here he emphasizes that God does not see the same way man sees (I Sam. 16:7; Job 26:6; 28:24; 31:4; 34:21; Prov. 16:2; 21:2).

10:5 And Your days as the days of a mortal, Or Your years as a man’s years- In 36:26 Job says of God that “the number of His years is unsearchable.” Ps. 90:1-12; 102:27.

10:6 That You should seek for my guilt- The word seek is often used to describe God being the object of man’s seeking (Job 5:8; I Chron. 16:10, 11; II Chron. 7:14; 11:16; 15:4, 15; 20:4). And search are my sin? The word search is also used with God being the object of our search in I Chron. 10:14; 15:13; 16:11; 22:19; II Chron.12:14; 14:4, 7; 15: 2,1 2; 16:12. Here it is God searching out our sin.

10:7 And there is no deliverance from Your hand- Often this word for deliverance is used in a context speaking of God as the One who gives deliverance (Gen. 32:11; Ex. 3:8; 6:6; I Sam. 10:18; 17:37). While God is usually the One who brings deliverance, here He is the One from whom deliverance is sought.

Jesus’ Fulfillment of Job 9:14-35 Job is not stating a prediction of the Messiah but is expressing a longing, a desire. Job was longing for an umpire who could somehow go between himself and God and lead to Job receiving a fair trial and being pronounced innocent before God.

The word for umpire in the NASB was translated mediator in the LXX. In the NT this word is used of the work of Jesus in I Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24. This is particularly tied to what was accomplished by the death of Jesus in several of these passages. Job as an innocent man (9:15, 20-21) longed for a mediator that he could get a fair trial before such a holy God. Jesus’ work as mediator goes far beyond what Job expected. It is not only innocent people who can stand before God, but guilty people, guilty people who have turned to Him for forgiveness. Rom. 4:5 tells us that God “justifies the ungodly.” These same three Greek words translated “justifies the ungodly” are used in the same order in the LXX of Ex. 23:7 to warn judges not to kill the innocent or righteous because God “will not acquit the guilty.” The reason God can now justify the ungodly is because Christ died for the ungodly in Rom. 5:6.

In Jesus we have One who is both God and man and can serve in the way that Job 9:32-33; 16:19-21; 19:23-27 describe. The deity of Jesus is stressed in the New Testament (John 1:1-3; 8:58; Phil. 2:5-8; Titus 2:13). The humanity of Jesus is also stressed (John 1:14; I Tim. 2:5-6; I John 4:1-3; II John 7).

While Job lamented “He is not a man as I am,” Paul proclaimed Jesus as the “man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5; Acts 17:31). The deity/ humanity of Jesus qualifies Him as a faithful and merciful high priest Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 5:7-10. Jesus would live and die to bridge the gap between God and man.

Job complained that God mocks the despair of the innocent (Job 9:23), but in Jesus’ death man mocks the pain and suffering of God (Matt. 20:19; 27:29, 31, 41; Mk. 10:34) (The Greek word in the LXX in Job 9:23 is not the same as used in these NT passages).

In Job 9 Job proclaimed his innocence (9:15, 20, 21) and stated that his wounds were without cause (9:17). Job had done nothing to earn them his suffering. His suffering showed (to Job) that God made no distinction between the blameless and the guilty (9:22-24). Job’s innocence does not compare to Jesus’ innocence (II Cor. 5:21; I Peter 2:22). While Job will complain in the bitterness of his soul (10:1), Jesus offered no complaint or protest (Isa. 53:6-7). Job feared that even though He was innocent the words of his mouth would be used against him (9:20). Unjust judges condemned Jesus by words from His own mouth (Matt. 26:64-66; Lk. 22:70-71).

Job 9:30-31 In the Bible story it is we who have plunged ourselves in the pit and soiled our clothes and it is God who washes us and makes us clean. God far from mocking the despair of the innocent (9:23) enters into this world of sin and suffering to redeem us. Jesus weeps with us and for us (John 11:35; Luke 19:41-44; Heb. 5:7).

Job lamented the brevity of life in Job 9:25-26. Job’s life was so full of pain that he could say he despised his life (9:21, 27-28). Jesus answered this lament via His resurrection. He gives eternal life (John 11:23-26; I Cor. 15:50-58; I Thess. 4:13-18). The pain that Job feared would One day pass away and be no more (Rev. 21:4).