Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:19
If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]?
19 21. These three verses read as follows,
If you speak of the strength of the mighty, Here I am! (saith He)
If of judgment, Who will set me a time?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong – There has been a considerable variety in the interpretation of this passage. The meaning seems to be this. It refers to a judicial contest, and Job is speaking of the effect if he and God were to come to a trial, and the cause were to be settled before judges. He is urging reasons why he would have no hope of success in such a case. He says, therefore, If the matter pertained only to strength, or if it were to be determined by strength, lo, he is more mighty than I am, and I could have no hope of success in such a controversy: and if the controversy was one of judgment, that is, of justice or right, I have no one to manage my cause – no one that could cope with him in the pleadings – no one who could equal him in setting forth my arguments, or presenting my side of the case. It would, therefore, be wholly an unequal contest, where I could have no hope of success; and I am unwilling to engage in such a controversy or trial with God. My interest, my duty, and the necessity of the case, require me to submit the case without argument, and I will not attempt to plead with my Maker. That there was a lack of right feeling in this, must be apparent to all.
There was evidently the secret belief that God had dealt with him severely; that he had gone beyond his deserts in indicting pain on him, and that he was under a necessity of submitting not so much to justice and right as to mere power and sovereignty. But who has not had something of this feeling when deeply afflicted? And yet who, when he has had it, has not felt that it was far from being what it should be? Our feeling should be, we deserve all that we suffer, and more than we have yet endured. God is a sovereign; but He is right. Though he afflicts us much, and others little, yet it is not because he is unjust, but because he sees that there is some good reason why we should suffer. That reason may be seen yet by us, but if not, we should never doubt that it exists.
Who shall set me a time to plead? – Noyes renders this, Who shall summon me to trial? Dr. Good, Who should become a witness for me? The sense is, Who would summon witnesses for me? If it was a mere trial of strength, God is too mighty for me; if it were a question of justice, who would compel witnesses to come on my side? Who could make them willing to appear against God, and to bear testimony for me in a controversy with the Almighty?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong] Human wisdom, power, and influence avail nothing before him.
Who shall set me a time] mi yoideni, “Who would be a witness for me?” or, Who would dare to appear in my behalf? Almost all the terms in this part of the speech of Job, Job 9:11-24, are forensic or juridical, and are taken from legal processes and pleadings in their gates or courts of justice.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If my cause were to be decided by power,
lo, he is strong, i.e. stronger than I. If I would contend with him in a way of right, there is no superior judge that can summon him and me together, and appoint us a time of pleading before him, and oblige us both to stand to his sentence; and therefore I must be contented to sit down with the loss.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. UMBREITtakes these as the words of God, translating, “What availeth themight of the strong?” “Here (saith he) behold! whatavaileth justice? Who will appoint me a time to plead?” (So Jer49:19). The last words certainly apply better to God than to Job.The sense is substantially the same if we make “me” applyto Job. The “lo!” expresses God’s swift readiness forbattle when challenged.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] strong,…. Or think of it, or betake myself to that, and propose to carry my point by mere force, as some men do by dint of power and authority they are possessed of; alas! there is nothing to be done this way; I am a poor, weak, feeble creature in body, mind, and estate; I am not able to contend with so powerful an antagonist on any account, in any way: God is strong, he is the “most strong” w, as some render it; he is mighty, is the Almighty; the weakness of God is stronger than men; there is no disputing with God upon the foot of strength:
and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]? If I think and propose to put things upon the foot of justice, to have the cause between us issued in that way, I cannot expect to succeed by right, any more than by might; he is so strictly just and holy, that no righteousness and holiness of, mine can stand before him; he is God, and I a man, and therefore not fit to come together in judgment; and he a pure and holy Being, just and true, and without iniquity, and I a sinful polluted creature; and besides, there is none superior to him, that I can appeal unto, none that can appoint a place, or fix a time, for the hearing of the cause between us, or that can preside in judgment and determine the matter in controversy; nay, there is not one among the creatures that can be a daysman, an arbiter or umpire; yea not one that can be so much as employed as council, that can take the cause in hand, and plead it, and be a patron for me, and defender of me; so that, let me take what course I will, I am sure to be nonsuited and worsted, see Jer 49:19.
w “robustissimus est”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) If I speak of strength.All this is the most uncompromising acknowledgment of the absolute inability of man to stand in judgment before God. The whole of this is so very abrupt and enigmatical that it is extremely difficult to be sure of the argument, though naturally the general drift of it is obvious enough. If it were a trial of strengthWho is Almighty?and if it was a matter of judgment, is He not judge and court together? and what authority that He would acknowledge could give me the opportunity of pleading my cause before Him? Were I righteous, my own mouth would show me wicked; were I perfect, then would it or He prove me perverse. Were I perfect, I should not know myself, or know it myself. I despise my life under such conditions; therefore, said I, it is all one: He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked alike.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. If of strength Many moderns see in the abrupt and startling , behold! and , who will cite me! the responses of Deity, and read, If it be a question of the strength of the strong. God replies, Behold, (me,) here I am. And if of right, God again replies, Who will cite me? Compare Jer 49:19. Davidson regards the whole verse as words of God, and remarks: The sufferer imagines for a moment that he had cited his great adversary; his citation is attended with unexpected success. God appears appears in a whirlwind, dashing his challenger about, (17 a,) multiplying his plagues, (17 b,) filling him with the bitterest pains, (18.) coming in magnificence, and rioting in the jubilant consciousness of omnipotence, as if to say, I have been cited, challenged. Was it to a trial of strength? here I am! To a trial at law? who will venture to implead me?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:19. If I speak of strength If we were to plead by strength, he is most strong; if by law, or judgment, who shall bear testimony for me? Houbigant. The meaning is, says Heath, “If I think to right myself by force, it is in vain; for he is infinitely stronger than I: if I choose to decide our dispute by law, who hath authority to call us before him?”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 9:19 If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]?
Ver. 19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong ] Neither by might nor right can I deal with him. Broughton renders it, As for force, he is valiant. The Lord is a man of war, saith Moses, Exo 15:3 . Yea, he is the Lord of arms, saith David, Psa 84:1-12 Yea, he alone is a whole army of men, van and rear both, saith Isaiah, Isa 52:12 , there is no doubt, then, but he will carry the day, since no creature is able to grapple with him. The weakness of God (if any such thing there were) is stronger than men, 1Co 1:25 , and by the weakest means he can effect the greatest matters, as once he did in Egypt.
And if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he is strong: Job 9:4, Job 36:17-19, Job 40:9, Job 40:10, Psa 62:11, Mat 6:13, 1Co 1:25, 1Co 10:22
who shall: Job 9:32, Job 9:33, Job 31:35, Job 33:5-7
Reciprocal: 1Ch 29:12 – power Job 14:3 – bringest Job 22:4 – will he enter Job 23:6 – plead Job 35:14 – yet Job 36:5 – mighty Job 37:23 – excellent Psa 13:2 – take Psa 21:13 – Be thou Psa 89:8 – a strong Isa 26:4 – in the Jer 49:19 – appoint me the time Rom 9:19 – Why doth Rev 18:8 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:19. If I speak of strength If my cause were to be decided by power; he is strong Infinitely stronger than I; and if of judgment If I would contend with him in a way of right; who shall set, &c. There is no superior judge that can summon him and me together. Heath thus explains the words: If I think to right myself by force, it is vain; for he is stronger than I: if I choose to decide our dispute by law, who hath authority to call us before him?
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:19 If [I speak] of strength, lo, [he is] {n} strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time [to plead]?
(n) After he has accused his own weakness, he continues to justify God and his power.