Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 19:25
For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:
25. For I know ] Rather, but I know. This is now something higher to which his mind rises. He desires no doubt to be vindicated before men, and would wish that all generations to come should know his claim to rectitude, when he no more lived himself to make it ( Job 19:23-24); but what he desires above all things is that he might see God who now hides His face from him, and meet Him, for the meeting could not but be with joy (cf. ch. Job 23:6 seq.). Job’s problem is first of all a problem of religious life, and only in the second place a speculative one. And the speculative elements in it have no further meaning than as they aggravate the practical religious trouble. A solution of his problem, therefore, was possible in only one way, viz. by his seeing God (cf. ch. Job 42:5) for to see God is to see Him in peace and reconciliation. And it is to grasp the assurance of this that Job’s heart now reaches forth its hand.
my Redeemer liveth ] “Liveth” means more than is, exists. Job uses the word in opposition to himself he dies but his redeemer lives after him. The term redeemer (Heb. g’l) is frequently used of God as the deliverer of His people out of captivity, e.g. very often in Isaiah 40 seq. (ch. Isa 49:7; Isa 49:26, Isa 54:5; Isa 54:8), and also as the deliverer of individuals from distress, Gen 48:16; Psa 19:14; Psa 103:4. Among men the Goel was the nearest blood-relation, on whom it lay to perform certain offices in connexion with the deceased whose Goel he was, particularly to avenge his blood, if he had been unjustly slain (Rth 2:20, &c.; Num 35:19). Job here names God his Goel. The passage stands in close relation with ch. Job 16:18-19, where he names God his “witness” and “sponsor” or representative. It is probable, therefore, that there is an allusion to the Goel among men Job has in God a Goel who liveth. This Goel will vindicate his rights against the wrong both of men and God ( Job 19:3 ; Job 19:7). At the same time this vindication is regarded less as an avenging of him, at least on others (though cf. Job 19:28-29), than as a manifestation of his innocence. This manifestation can only be made by God’s appearing and shewing the true relation in which Job stands to Him, and by Job’s seeing God. For his distress lay in God’s hiding His face from him, and his redemption must come through his again beholding God in peace. Thus the ideas of Goel and redeemer virtually coincide.
he shall stand at the latter day ] To stand means to arise and appear, to come forward (as a witness, Deu 19:15; Psa 37:12), or to interpose (as a judge, Psa 12:5). The word day has no place here. The expression “the latter” means either last or later. It is used of God as the first and the last (Isa 44:6; Isa 48:12), but also otherwise in a comparative sense, later, to come, following (Psa 48:13; Psa 78:4; Ecc 4:16; Job 18:20). Here the word is an epithet of God and can hardly describe Him as the last, for Job certainly does not contemplate his vindication being put off till the end of all things. The expression is parallel to “my Goel” in the first clause, and literally rendered, means: and he who cometh after (me) shall stand; or, and as one who cometh after (me) he shall stand. The trans., in after time he shall stand, is nearly equivalent. Ewald and other high authorities render, an afterman, i. e. a vindicator.
upon the earth ] Better, the dust. The word does not mean earth in opposition to heaven; such an antithesis did not need to be expressed; if God came forward or interposed in Job’s behalf He must do so upon the earth. The word “dust” carries rather an allusion to the earth as that wherein Job shall have been laid before God shall appear for him the same allusion as is carried in the words “Goel” and “he who cometh after me;” cf. ch. Job 7:21, Job 17:16, Job 20:11, Job 21:26, &c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For I know that my Redeemer liveth – There are few passages in the Bible which have excited more attention than this, or in respect to which the opinions of expositors have been more divided. The importance of the passage Job 19:25-27 has contributed much to the anxiety to understand its meaning – since, if it refers to the Messiah, it is one of the most valuable of all the testimonials now remaining of the early faith on that subject. The importance of the passage will justify a somewhat more extended examination of its meaning than it is customary to give in a commentary of a single passage of Scripture; and I shall
(1.) Give the views entertained of it by the translators of the ancient and some of the modern versions;
(2.) Investigate the meaning of the words and phrases which occur in it; and
(3.) State the arguments, pro and con, for its supposed reference to the Messiah.
The Vulgate renders it, For I know that my Redeemer – Redemptor meus – lives, and that in the last day I shall rise from the earth; and again, I shall be enveloped – circumdabor – with my skin, and in my flesh shall I see my God. Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another – this, my hope, is laid up in my bosom. The Septuagint translate it, For I know that he is Eternal who is about to deliver me – ho ekluein me mellon – to raise again upon earth this skin of mine, which draws up these things – to anantloun tauta (the meaning of which, I believe, no one has ever been able to divine.) For from the Lord these things have happened to me of which I alone am conscious, which my eye has seen, and not another, and which have all been done to me in my bosom. Thompsons trans. in part. The Syriac is in the main a simple and correct rendering of the Hebrew. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the consummation he will be revealed upon the earth, and after my skin I shall bless myself in these things, and after my flesh. If my eyes shall see God, I shall see light. The Chaldee accords with our version, except in one phrase. And afterward my skin shall be inflated, ( ) – then in my flesh shall I see God. It will be seen that some perplexity was felt by the authors of the ancient versions in regard to the passage. Much more has been felt by expositors. Some notices of the views of the moderns, in regard to particular words and phrases, will be given in the exposition.
I know – I am certain. On that point Job desires to express the utmost confidence. His friends might accuse him of hypocrisy – they might charge him with lack of piety, and he might not be able to refute all that they said; but in the position referred to here he would remain fixed, and with this firm confidence he would support his soul. It was this which he wished to have recorded in the eternal rocks, that the record might go down to future times. If after ages should be made acquainted with his name and his sufferings – if they should hear of the charges brought against him and of the accusations of impiety which had been so harshly and unfeelingly urged, he wished that this testimony might be recorded, to show that he had unwavering confidence in God. He wished this eternal record to be made, to show that he was not a rejecter of truth; that he was not an enemy of God; that he had a firm confidence that God would yet come forth to vindicate him, and would stand up as his friend. It was a testimony worthy of being held in everlasting remembrance, and one which has had, and will have, a permanency much greater than he anticipated.
That my Redeemer – This important word has been variously translated. Rosenmuller and Schultens render it, vindicem; Dr. Good, Redeemer; Noyes and Wemyss, vindicator; Herder, avenger, Luther, Erloser – Redeemer; Chaldee and Syriac, Redeemer. The Hebrew word, go’al, is from ga’al, to redeem, to ransom. It is applied to the redemption of a farm sold, by paying back the price, Lev 25:25; Rth 4:4, Rth 4:6; to anything consecrated to God that is redeemed by paying its value, Lev 27:13, and to a slave that is ransomed, Lev 25:48-49. The word go’el, is applied to one who redeems a field, Lev 25:26; and is often applied to God, who had redeemed his people from bondage, Exo 6:6; Isa 43:1. See the notes at Isa 43:1; and on the general meaning of the word, see the notes at Job 3:5. Among the Hebrews, the go’el occupied an important place, as a blood-avenger, or a vindicator of violated rights.
See Num 35:12, Num 35:19, Num 35:21, Num 35:24-25, Num 35:27; Deu 19:6-12; Rth 4:1, Rth 4:6,Rth 4:8; Jos 20:3. The word go’el, is rendered kinsman, Rth 4:1, Rth 4:3,Rth 4:6, Rth 4:8; near kinsman, Rth 3:9, Rth 3:12; avenger, Num 35:12; Jos 20:3; Redeemer, Job 19:25; Psa 19:14; Isa 47:4; Isa 63:16; Isa 44:24; Isa 48:17; Isa 54:8; Isa 41:14; Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16; kin, Lev 25:25, et al. Moses found the office of the go’el, or avenger, already instituted, (see Michaeliss Commentary on laws of Moses, section cxxxvi.) and he adopted it into his code of laws. It would seem, therefore, not improbable that it prevailed in the adjacent countries in the time of Job, or that there may have been a reference to this office in the place before us. The go’el is first introduced in the laws of Moses, as having a right to redeem a mortgaged field, Lev 25:25-26; and then as buying a right, as kinsman, to the restoration of anything which had been iniquitously acquired, Num 5:8.
Then he is often referred to in the writings of Moses as the blood-avenger, or the kinsman of one who was slain, who would have a right to pursue the murderer, and to take vengeance on him, and whose duty it would be to do it. This right of a near relative to pursues murderer, and to take vengeance, seems to have been one that was early conceded every where. It was so understood among the American Indians, and probably prevails in all countries before there are settled laws for the trial and punishment of the guilty. It was a right, however, which was liable to great abuse. Passion would take the place of reason, the innocent would be suspected, and the man who had slain another in self-defense was as likely to be pursued and slain as he who had been guilty of willful murder. To guard against this, in the unsettled state of jurisprudence, Moses appointed cities of refuge, where the man-slayer might flee until he could bare a fair opportunity of trial.
It was impossible to put an end at once to the office of the go’el. The kinsman, the near relative, would feel himself called on to pursue the murderer; but the man-slayer might flee into a sacred city, and remain until he had a fair trial; see Num. 35; Deu 19:6-7. It was a humane arrangement to appoint cities of refuge, where the man who had slain another might be secure until he had an opportunity of trial – an arrangement which eminently showed the wisdom of Moses. On the rights and duties of the go’el, the reader may consult Michaeliss Com. on the laws of Moses, art. 136, 137. His essential office was that of a vindicator – one who took up the cause of a friend, whether that friend was murdered, or was oppressed, or was wronged in any way. Usually, perhaps always, this pertained to the nearest male kin, and was instituted for the aid of the defenceless and the wronged.
In times long subsequent, a somewhat similar feeling gave rise to the institution of chivalry, and the voluntary defenee of the innocent and oppressed. It cannot now be determined whether Job in this passage has reference to the office of the go’el, as it was afterward understood, or whether it existed in his time. It seems probable that the office would exist at the earliest periods of the world, and that in the rudest stages of society the nearest of kin would feel himself called on to vindicate the wrong done to one of the feebler members of his family. The word properly denotes, therefore, either vindicator, or redeemer; and so far as the term is concerned, it may refer either to God, as an avenger of the innocent, or to the future Redeemer – the Messiah. The meaning of this word would be met, should it be understood as referring to God, coming forth in a public manner to vindicate the cause of Job against all the charges and accusations of his professed friends; or to God, who would appear as his vindicator at the resurrection; or to the future Messiah – the Redeemer of the body and the soul. No argument in favor of either of these interpretations can be derived from the use of the word.
Liveth – Is alive – chay Septuagint, immortal – aennaos. He seems now to have forsaken me as if he were dead, but my faith is unwavering in him as a living vindicator. A similar expression occurs in Job 16:19. My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. It is a declaration of entire confidence in God, and will beautifully convey the emotions of the sincere believer in all ages. He may be afflicted with disease, or the loss of property, or be forsaken by his friends, or persecuted by his foes, but if he can look up to heaven and say, I know that my Redeemer lives, he will have peace.
And that he shall stand – He will stand up, as one does who undertakes the cause of another. Jerome has rendered this as though it referred to Job, And in the last day I shall rise from the earth – de terra surrecturus sum – as if it referred to the resurrection of the body. But this is not in accordance with the Hebrew, dequm – he shall stand. There is clearly no necessary reference in this word to the resurrection. The simple meaning is, he shall appear, or manifest himself, as the vindicator of my cause.
At the latter day – The word day here is supplied by the translators. The Hebrew is, ye‘acharyon – and after, afterward, hereafter, at length. The word literally means, hinder, hinder part – opposite to foremost, former. It is applied to the Mediterranean sea, as being behind when the eye of the geographer was supposed to be turned to the East; (see the notes at Job 18:20😉 then it means after, later, applied to a generation or age. Psa 48:14, to a day – to future times – ( yom ‘acharyon), Pro 31:25; Isa 30:8. All that this word necessarily expresses here is, that at some future period this would occur. It does not determine when it would be. The language would apply to any future time, and might refer to file coming of the Redeemer, to the resurrection, or to some subsequent period in the life of Job. The meaning is, that however long he was to suffer, however protracted his calamities were, and were likely to be, be had the utmost confidence that God would at length, or at some future time, come forth to vindicate him. The phrase, the latter day, has now acquired a kind of technical meaning, by which we naturally refer it to the day of judgment. But there is no evidence that it has any such reference here. On the general meaning of phrases of this kind, however, the reader may consult my notes at Isa 2:2.
Upon the earth – Hebrew al aphar – upon the dust. Why the word dust is used, instead of ‘erets earth, is unknown. It may be because the word dust is emphatic, as being contrasted with heaven, the residence of the Deity. Noyes. What kited of an appearance God would assume when he should thus come forth, or how he would manifest himself as the vindicator and Redeemer of Job, he does not intimate, and conjecture would be useless. The words do not necessarily imply any visible manifestation – though such a manifestation would not be forbidden by the fair construction of the passage. I say, they do not necessarily imply it; see Psa 12:5, For the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, (Hebrew: stand up – ‘aqum, saith the Lord. Psa 44:26, arise (Hebrew qumah – stand up) for our help. Whether this refers to any visible manifestation in behalf of Job is to be determined in other words than by the mere meaning of this word.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 19:25-27
For I know that my Redeemer liveth.
Of the resurrection (on Easter Day)
This text is a prophecy and prediction of our Saviour Christs glorious resurrection. A sacred truth, requiring not only the assent, but the devotion and adoration of our faith. Here Job foresees and foretells the resurrection of Christ. He tells us that Christ, who by His death redeemed him, hath again obtained an endless life. That after His fall by death, He is recovered and got up again; stands, and shall stand, at last upon the earth. And Job prophesies of his own resurrection, that, though he were now in a dying condition, death had already seized upon him; yet he knew there was hope in his death, that he should be raised from the grave of corruption to an ever-living and blessed state and condition.
I. Jobs belief concerning Christ. Here is–
1. The saving object of his faith; that is, Christ, his Redeemer; his Redeemer dead and alive again; and to appear again at the last day to judge the quick and the dead. Here is a personal interest he claims in Christ. My Redeemer.
2. Jobs assurance. I know. It fully expresses the nature of faith; it is strongly persuaded of what it believes; it puts it beyond ifs, and ands, and hopeful supposals. Faith is an evidence, not a conjecture; not a supposition, but a subsistence. This knowledge of Job will appear the greater and more admirable, as his belief was beset with three great impediments.
(1) There is the resurrection of the dead. That is a matter beyond all reach of reason.
(2) Things at a distance are not discernible.
(3) Distance hinders sight; but darkness and indisposition of the air, much more. Yet Job, in the thickest mists of contrariety and contradiction, sees clearly and believes assuredly.
3. Jobs close and personal application. The word mine makes Christ his own.
II. Jobs belief concerning his own resurrection. Although death had already seized upon him, yet he was assured he should rise again, and be made partaker of a joyful resurrection.
1. The several truths included in this faith of Job concerning his own resurrection. He apprehends the truth of the resurrection. It is easier to conceive of Christs resurrection than of ours. He lays the ground and foundation of his faith. Why is he sure he shall rise again? Because he is sure that Christ is risen. We may strongly argue, from Christs resurrection to the possibility of ours. Job expects a true, real, substantial, bodily resurrection. Nay, here is not only a reality, but an identity; he shall have a body, and the very same body.
2. The motions and evidences of piety his faith expresses. Here appears the great strength of his faith; the alacrity and cheerfulness of his faith, against present discouragements. It is a point of his piety, that he longs for the seeing of his Saviour, the beholding of God.
3. Notice the benefit Job makes to himself of this meditation. It supports his spirits under present afflictions. It settles and composes him. It is his defence and apology against the accusations of the friends. (Bishop Brownrig.)
I know that my Redeemer liveth
When was Jobs greatest conquest won? At what part in the malign struggle does he march forth in the greatness of his strength? The crown of the crisis is passed and the real victory won when there bursts forth, with all-enlightening ray from the dark-rolling clouds of Jobs sorrows, the sublimely strong convictions, chronicled in the familiar, immortal, and exhaustless words of the text. That is the hour and power of Job. There in his Gethsemane he triumphs.
I. Jobs supporting convictions.
1. At the outset we must take care lest we misjudge our facts, and fail to get at the precise power of Jobs convictions, through crediting him with more light than he beheld, and reading into his great sayings the ideas of a new and largely different world. Men have read into these verses such doctrines as eternal redemption; the humanity of the Redeemer; the resurrection of the flesh; and the so-called Second Advent. It is not perhaps surprising that a saying of such superlative wealth in itself, so impressive in its setting, stirring in its influence on the hearts of the sons and daughters of suffering, should have been enlarged by the gifts of loving hearts, and invested with the ideas of eager and admiring readers. It is, in fact, a bold challenge made by a suffering mart to the ages, an appeal from the accusations of clever but mistaken and unsympathetic friends, to the tribunal of the God of eternity. You cannot miss the ring of conviction in the mans speech. He says what he knows. He believes, and therefore speaks. It is not desire or caprice, wish or will, faith or hope, but unwavering, absolute knowledge, whose voice arrests our listening ear, and directs our expectant thought. Three distinct assertions follow the quickening preface.
I. He declares that God is the vindicator of right-seeking and right-doing men. The language is indicative of a state of thought and of social life wholly alien to our own, in which the administration of justice proceeds on lines with which we are no longer familiar. The sacred duty of kinsmen to avenge the damage done to their kin, is the one social form in which faith in the power that makes for righteousness finds expression, and kinship is the principal instrument for the execution of the decrees of justice, embracing and discharging the functions of police and witnesses, judge and jury, gaoler and executioner. God is Jobs Goel. He will act for him. Redemption from loss, and pain, and wrong, and calumny is in Him! Of the fact he is sure; of the how, and when, and where he says nothing, but an invincible faith that, before the last moment in his history comes, God will be his Redeemer from all the ills of which he is then the unfortunate victim, animates and sustains his suffering spirit. Nor is that all. Job is sure that he himself, in his own conscious person, will be the rejoicing witness of that Divine vindication. He sees beforehand the glorious reassertion of his integrity. He does not expect that clearing here. He is beyond that hope. It is personal and conscious witnessing of his vindicated character that neutralises the poison of the bitter cup he is drinking, and leaves him in full-toned spiritual health. But even that is not the most precious treasure in this chaplet of pearls. The chief, conquering, and most meritorious quality in Jobs mood of mind, is his clear and steadfast recognition of the real but dimly revealed law that the suspension of the accepted and outward manifestations of the Divine care and regard is not the suspension of the Divine sympathy, nor the withdrawal of the Divine love and help. Our difficulty, and Jobs, is to believe in the living God, in His unbroken love. The suspension of the ordinary signs of the Divine favour is no proof whatever of changed purpose, or exhausted love to God! Is not that the trial of our faith? Because happiness is not our portion, and power not to our hand, do we not conclude that God does not delight in us? We have no misgivings as to His existence, but if He is, why does He hide Himself? Resist the diabolical sophistry which identifies a cloudless sky with an existing sun, affirms the unseen to be the non-existent, and the unhappy to be the unholy. God is love. That is His nature, the essence of His being; not an accident, an occasional emotion, or a passing mood; and therefore He is, as Job saw and felt, the Redeemer and Vindicator of all souls that sincerely seek Him, and diligently serve Him; the guarantee that defeated, and humiliated, and oppressed man will be set free, and exalted to behold the triumph of eternal righteousness; and the witness that man is at present, and here in this world, scarred and defaced with evil though it be, the object of Gods pitiful sympathy, redeeming care, and constant protection.
II. The fruitful origin of these strength-giving convictions in the mind of Job. For it is often more important to know why a man says what he has to say, than it is to know what it is that he does say. It goes without saying that Jobs most far-reaching and comprehensive declaration falls unspeakably short of that abolition of death, and bringing of life and immortality to light, accomplished by the Gospel of Christ; but what it lacks in fulness and breadth, it gains in the burning intensity and glow out of which it springs, and the sublime motives which urge and impel him, not only to speak, but also to covet a monumental and immortal pulpit for his words. His sayings form a window through which we look into his soul; a lit lamp by whose clear ray we see the workings of his mind, and enter into partnership, not only with his ideas, but with himself, as those ideas are born in his soul, and take their place in his life. The impulse, the goad to Jobs heavenward ascent is suffering itself; the very sharpness of his tribulation causes the rebound, pushes his thought far afield to the things unseen and eternal, carries him over the dark river, and supplies the background for his vision of final triumph. But though the impulse to speak comes from the very sufferings which his friends cite as witnesses to his hypocrisy and insincerity, the power of wing, the motive force is obviously inward, and of the mind and spirit.
1. First in the genealogy of Jobs convictions comes his passion to set the great controlling and cleansed faith of his life in the spotless excellence and living sympathy of God with men, directly over against all the seeming contradictions, chaotic perplexities, and bewildering entanglements of his experience; and so to prove that the view of the three friends would receive its doom as essentially a lie and a libel, later, if not sooner.
2. We may fairly credit Job with the desire to guide the friends to the perception of the one true principle in the criticism of life. They are the victims of sense. They judge by appearances. And still men fasten on the trivial and accidental, and neglect the weightier matters of principle and aim and spirit.
3. The deepest reason and strongest motive of all with Job must have been an insatiable yearning that the truth he had lived and felt and suffered might secure an immortal career of enlightenment and benediction. God is better to us than our best desires, and gives a larger blessing than our fullest prayers. (J. Clifford, M. A.)
The Christians assurance of a glorious resurrection
I. The illustrious person spoken of. The Redeemer. The words redeem and Redeemer frequently occur in the sacred Book. To redeem is to buy or purchase, and the person thus buying is justly styled the Redeemer. As our Redeemer He was–
1. Divinely appointed. God sent forth His Son–made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. Here the benevolent act of sending the Redeemer is attributed to God.
2. He is our Redeemer by price; He gave Himself for us.
3. He is our Redeemer by power; that is, He delivered us from the captivity and misery of sin, and, consequently, from the wrath of God and the punishment of hell.
4. He is the living Redeemer. The knowledge of a living Redeemer afforded unspeakable consolation to the mind of Job. My Redeemer liveth. Yes, He was alive in Jobs day, and, in some way, was engaged in promoting his temporal and eternal welfare; consequently, such a consideration dispelled his fears, enabled him to wipe away his tears in transports of joy, and furnished him with a bright prospect of a happy immortality. Since then, the Redeemer has made a visit to our world, to effect the work of redemption. After which, He ascended to the celestial mansion whence He came. He lives, and because He lives, we shall live also.
II. An important event anticipated. He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, etc. The latter day is sometimes called the last day, and the great day. It is the day to which all other days are pointing; the day in which all other days will end.
1. He will stand to redeem us from death; He will ransom us from the power of the grave. No matter where that grave may be. But Job anticipated not a resurrection only, but a glorious one, In my flesh shall I see God.
2. He shall stand at the latter day; stand to direct, or rather to invite His people to their everlasting habitation. Where I am, says He, there ye may be also. See the Redeemer standing at the last day, at the head of His people,–a number which no man can number–arrayed in spotless white, with imperishable crowns upon their heads. In my flesh shall I see God. In my flesh. Flesh no more liable to toil, sorrow, sickness, suffering, and death; the former things shall have passed away.
III. The Christians assurance. We do not profess to have any extraordinary revelation, or personal inspiration; yet we know that we have a living Redeemer, and that He will raise us up at the last day.
1. We know from the testimony of Sacred Writ. The prophets in the Old Testament, and the apostles in the New, have clearly and fearlessly furnished us with a treasury of sterling information on this subject. And, above all, our Lord Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, brought life and immortality to light.
2. But we have additional evidence of our resurrection in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
We shall conclude by remarking–
1. This knowledge of the Redeemer is interesting and capable of supporting the mind.
2. This knowledge is of the utmost worth, as it cheers the mind amidst the sorrows, tolls, sufferings, and trials of this unfriendly region, and whispers to the fainting spirit.
3. This knowledge calms the troubled breast in the hour of bereavement.
4. This knowledge supports the Christian, smooths his pillow, and brightens his prospect in the extremity of life.
5. This knowledge furnishes the good man with an assurance of mingling with the pious of his family and with Christian friends in the better land forever.
6. Is not this, therefore, the most interesting knowledge? (A. Worsnop.)
Faith triumphing over circumstance
I. The circumstances of Job when he delivered this prophecy. We have all heard of the patience of Job, and know well the series of trials which called it forth. We have sympathised with him in his adversity, and rejoiced with him in his first and latter state of prosperity. The injudicious conduct on the part of his friends greatly embittered the sufferings. It is such injudicious conduct as this which causes much mischief as well as misery in the world at large. If our misery is attributable to ourselves, we know whence is the disorder, and, in general, by the same knowledge, we know how to provide a remedy, if the case is not altogether hopeless. If God is afflicting us, when He speaks, He speaks to be understood. If He is pleased to put our faith and obedience to a severe but wholesome test, by a single blow, or a long series of trials, the matter is entirely between God and a mans own soul.
II. Observe the faith of Job. I know that my Redeemer liveth, etc. The hardest lesson that man has to learn in this school of his probation is submission to the will of God. The permission of evil in the world, as it is one of the hidden mysteries of Gods righteous government, so is it, as might naturally have been expected, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, with which unbelief is wont to impede the progress even of a Christian. Faith supported the holy Job, not only under his unparalleled privations, but under a far more galling load, the accusations and suspicions of friends. In this painful dilemma, unable to vindicate his innocence to them, who, notwithstanding, suspected him guilty, he is borne on the wings of faith, over the head as it were of many intervening ages, to that glorious time when he should stand before God in the imputed righteousness of his Saviour. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Would you then realise the glories and know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,–imitate the faith and patience of Job in his various states and complicated trials. (John Stedman, D. D.)
Jobs faith in the Redeemer
I. The character of Jobs Redeemer. There is only one Redeemer of guilty men.
1. His person. A Divine Person, possessing the true and proper nature, titles, and perfections of the Godhead. Possessed of perfect humanity. In all things made like unto us, except being sinless. Thus He became the kinsman of every child of man. He was therefore both human and Divine.
2. His work. How did He redeem us? From natural depravity, by the purity of His nature. From the demands of the law, by His perfect obedience to all its commands. From the infliction of the curse, by His death upon the Cross. Being made a curse for us. From the power of Satan and death, by His resurrection from the dead. He redeems from the power of sin, and into the image of God, by the influence of the Spirit which He sends down into the hearts of His people. He redeems into heaven by entering it for us with His precious blood, and by receiving the souls of His people to His right hand in glory. He will redeem by His almighty power, all the bodies of His saints, from corruption and the grave, at the last day.
II. Jobs profession of him. My Redeemer.
1. Appropriation. Angels, devils, and those in unbelief cannot say this. The humble, devout believer both realises it and says it.
2. Assurance. I know. In religion there is consciousness and certainty. He is ours because we are sinners, and He was given to save sinners. He is ours because we believe in Him. We know because we love Him.
3. Confidence. In Christs unchanging existence. He liveth now. Therefore His promises shall be fulfilled, His cause maintained, His Church glorified; and His saints shall live with Him forever and ever. Application–
(1) This subject should be the support and joy of the Christian in temptations, afflictions, and death.
(2) It will be the song of the redeemed forever.
(3) Urge all to come and experience the saving power of this living Redeemer. (J. Burns, D. D.)
I know that my Redeemer liveth
I. First of all, then, with the patriarch of Uz, let us descend into the sepulchre. The body has just been divorced from the soul. The body is borne upon the bier and consigned to the silent earth; it is surrounded by the earthworks of death. Death has a host of troops. If the locusts and the caterpillars be Gods army, the worms are the army of death. These hungry warriors begin to attack the city of man. The skin, the city wall of manhood, is utterly broken down, and the towers of its glory covered with confusion. How speedily the cruel invaders deface all beauty. The face gathers blackness; the countenance is defiled with corruption. Where is beauty now? The most lovely cannot be known from the most deformed. The vessel so daintily wrought upon the potters wheel is cast away upon the dunghill with the vilest potsherds. The skin is gone. The troops have entered into the town of Mansoul. And now they pursue their work of devastation; the pitiless marauders fall upon the body itself. There are those noble aqueducts, the veins through which the streams of life were wont to flow, these, instead of being rivers of life, have become blocked up with the soil and wastes of death, and now they must be pulled to pieces; not a single relic of them shall be spared. Mark the muscles and sinews, like great highways that, penetrating the metropolis, carry the strength and wealth of manhood along–their curious pavement must be pulled up, and they that do traffic thereon must be consumed; each tunnelled bone, and curious arch, and knotted bond must be snapped and broken. But these invaders stop not here. Job says that next they consume his reins. We are wont to speak of the heart as the great citadel of life, the inner keep and donjon, where the captain of the guard holdeth out to the last. The Hebrews do not regard the heart, but the lower viscera, the reins, as the seat of the passions and of mental power. The worms spare not; they enter the secret places of the tabernacle of life, and the standard is plucked from the tower. Having died, the heart cannot preserve itself, and falls like the rest of the frame–a prey to worms. It is gone, it is all gone! Mother Earth has devoured her own offspring. Why should we wish to have it otherwise? Why should we desire to preserve the body when the soul has gone? The embalming of the Egyptians, those master robbers of the worm, what has it done? It has served to keep some poor shrivelled lumps of mortality above ground to be sold for curiosities, to be dragged away to foreign climes, and stared upon by thoughtless eyes. No, let the dust go; the sooner it dissolves the better. And what matters it how it goes! What if plants with their roots suck up the particles! What if the winds blow it along the highway! What if the rivers carry it to the waves of ocean!
II. Now, having thus descended into the grave, and seen nothing there but what is loathsome, let us look up with the patriarch and behold a sun shining with present comport. I know, said he, that my Redeemer liveth. The word Redeemer here used is in the original Goel–kinsman. The duty of the kinsman, or Goel, was this: suppose an Israelite had alienated his estate, as in the case of Naomi and Ruth; suppose a patrimony which had belonged to a family had passed away through poverty, it was the Goals business, the redeemers business, to pay the price as the next-of-kin, and to buy back the heritage. Boaz stood in that relation to Ruth. Now, the body may be looked upon as the heritage of the soul–the souls small farm, that little plot of earth in which the soul has been wont to walk and delight, as a man walketh in his garden or dwelleth in his house. Now, that becomes alienated. Death, like Ahab, takes away the vineyard from us who are as Naboth; we lose our patrimonial estate. But we turn round to Death and say, I know that my Goal liveth, and He will redeem this heritage; I have lost it; thou takest it from me lawfully, O Death, because my sin hath forfeited my right; I have lost my heritage through my own offence, and through that of my first parent Adam; but there lives One who will buy this back. Remember, too, that it was always considered to be the duty of the Goel, not merely to redeem by price, but where that failed, to redeem by power. Hence, when Lot was carried away captive by the four kings, Abraham summoned his own hired servants, and the servants of all his friends, and went out against the kings of the East, and brought back Lot and the captives of Sodom. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, who once has played the kinsmans part by paying the price for us, liveth, and He will redeem us by power. O Death, thou tremblest at this name! Thou knowest the might of our Kinsman! Against His arm thou canst not stand! Oh, how glorious the victory! No battle shall there be. He comes, He sees, He conquers. The sound of the trumpet shall be enough; Death shall fly affrighted; and at once from beds of dust and silent clay to realms of everlasting day the righteous shall arise. There was yet a third duty of the Goel, which was to avenge the death of his friend. If a person had been slain, the Goel was the avenger of blood; snatching up his sword, he at once pursued the person who had been guilty of bloodshed. So now, let us picture ourselves as being smitten by Death. His arrow has just pierced us to the heart, but in the act of expiring, our lips are able to boast of vengeance, and in the face of the monster we cry, I know that my Goal liveth. Thou mayst fly, O Death, as rapidly as thou wilt, but no city of refuge can hide thee from Him; He will overtake thee; He will lay hold upon thee, O thou skeleton monarch, and He will avenge my blood on thee. Christ shall certainly avenge Himself on Death for all the injury which Death hath done to His beloved kinsmen. Passing on in our text to notice the next word, it seems that Job found consolation not only in the fact that he had a Goel, a Redeemer, but that this Redeemer liveth. He does not say, I know that my Goel shall live, but that He lives,–having a clear view of the self-existence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the Lord and giver of life originally, and He shall be specially declared to be the resurrection and the life, when the legions of His redeemed shall be glorified with Him. Let us look up to our Goel, then, who liveth at this very time. Still the marrow of Jobs comfort, it seems to me, lay in that little word my. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Oh, to get hold of Christ! I know that in His offices He is precious. But, dear friends, we must get a property in Him before we can really enjoy Him. What is honey in the wood to me, if, like the fainting Israelites, I dare not eat? What is gold in the mine to me? Men are beggars in Peru, and beg their bread in California. It is gold in my purse which will satisfy my necessities, purchasing the bread I need. So what is a kinsman if he be not a kinsman to me? A redeemer that does not redeem me, an avenger who will never stand up for my blood, of what avail were such? But Jobs faith was strong and firm in the conviction that the Redeemer was his. There is another word in this consoling sentence which no doubt served to give a zest to the comfort of Job. It was that he could say, I know. To say, I hope so, I trust so, is comfortable; and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much farther. But to reach the marrow of consolation you must say, I know. Ifs, buts, and perhapses are sure murderers of peace and comfort. Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. I would not like to die with a mere hope mingled with suspicion. Assurance is a jewel for worth but not for rarity. It is the common privilege of all the saints if they have but the grace to attain unto it, and this grace the Holy Spirit gives freely. Surely if Job in Arabia, in those dark, misty ages when there was only the morning star and not the sun, when they saw but tittle, when life and immortality had not been brought to light,–if Job before the Coming and Advent still could say, I know, you and I should not speak less positively. God forbid that our positiveness should be presumption.
III. And now, in the third place, as thy anticipation of future delight, let me call to your remembrance the other part of the text. Job not only knew that the Redeemer lived, but he anticipated the time when He should stand in the latter day upon the earth. No doubt Job referred here to our Saviours first advent, to the time when Jesus Christ, the Goel, the Kinsman, should stand upon the earth to pay in the blood of His veins the ransom price, which had, indeed, in bond and stipulation been paid before the foundation of the world in promise. But I cannot think that Jobs vision stayed there; he was looking forward to the second advent of Christ as being the period of the resurrection. We cannot endorse the theory that Job arose from the dead when our Lord died although certain Jewish believers held this idea very firmly at one time. We are persuaded that the latter day refers to the advent of glory rather than to that of shame. Our hope is that the Lord shall come to reign in glory where He once died in agony. Mark, that Job describes Christ as standing. Some interpreters have read the passage, He shall stand in the latter days against the earth; that as the earth has covered up the slain, as the earth has become the charnel house of the dead, Jesus shall arise to the contest and say, Earth, I am against thee; give up thy dead! Well, whether that be so or no, the posture of Christ, in standing upon the earth, is significant. It shows His triumph. He has triumphed over sin, which once like a serpent in its coils had bound the earth. He has defeated Satan. On the very spot where Satan gained his power Christ has gained the victory. Then, at that auspicious hour, says Job, Sin my flesh I shall see God. Oh, blessed anticipation–I shall see God. He does not say, I shall see the saints–doubtless we shall see them all in heaven–but, shall see God. Note, he does not say, I shall see the pearly gates, I shall see the walls of jasper, I shall see the crowns of gold and the harps of harmony, but I shall see God; as if that were the sum and substance of heaven. In my flesh shall I see God. The pure in heart shall see God. It was their delight to see Him in the ordinances by faith. There in heaven they shall have a vision of another sort. Please to notice, and then I shall conclude, how the patriarch puts it as being a real personal enjoyment. Whom mine eye shall behold, and not another. They shall not bring me a report as they did the Queen of Sheba, but I shall see Solomon the King for myself. I shall be able to say, as they did who spake to the woman of Samaria, Now I believe, not because of thy word who did bring me a report, but I have seen Him for myself. There shall be personal intercourse with God; not through the Book, which is but as a glass; not through the ordinances; but directly, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be able to commune with the Deity as a man talketh with his friend. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The living Redeemer
Job seems to have entertained no expectation of deliverance from his troubles in the present world. Therefore he looks forward to the world beyond death and the grave for perfect felicity and undisturbed repose. Make some general observations for opening up the passage.
1. God, in His abundant mercy, has provided a Redeemer for fallen man. The word redeemer here means next-of-kin.
2. The living Redeemer has been the hope of the saints under every dispensation of grace, and in every period Of the world.
3. No distress or suffering can pluck asunder those bonds that unite the believer to his Saviour.
4. When the believer has attained to the knowledge of his interest in the Redeemer, this will administer great comfort and encouragement to him in suffering and distress.
Consider now the support and consolation which believers should derive from the assurance that their Redeemer liveth.
1. It should afford Christians consolation and support when struggling with a body of sin and death, to know that their Redeemer liveth; who shall at last be glorified in His saints.
2. It may afford the Christian support and consolation in the season of poverty and want.
3. It may afford the believer support and consolation in the prospect of death and the eternal world.
4. And under all the distresses and afflictions to which the Church is exposed in this evil world.
5. And also with respect to the public calamities and judgments which threaten the place or country where the believers lot is cast.
(1) Hence see to whom we are indebted for all the privileges and blessings and security which we now enjoy.
(2) Let us be encouraged to trust in Christ in every future exigency and difficulty.
(3) Let Christians make it their great study to live to the honour and praise of this living and exalted Redeemer.
(4) Let perishing sinners make it their great concern to get an interest in the living Redeemer. (James Hay, D. D.)
Jobs confident expectation
In this confession Job declares the promised Messiah to be his Saviour; and professes his faith in His coming to judgment; the resurrection of the dead; and the beatifical vision.
I. The matter of the comfort.
1. That there is a Redeemer. It implies that He is our kinsman after the flesh, or by incarnation. That He paid a price to God for us in His Passion. That He pursueth the law against Satan, and rescues us by His power; all which are notable grounds of comfort.
2. That He is their Redeemer. Job, by a fiducial application, makes out his own title and interest. Faith appropriates God to our own use and comfort.
3. The next ground of comfort is that our Redeemer liveth. This is true of Christ, whether you consider Him as God or as man. Christs living again in His resurrection is a visible demonstration of the truth of the Gospel in general, and in particular of the article of eternal life. His living after death was the solemn acquittance of our Surety from the sins imputed to Him, and a token of the acceptation of His purpose. His living implies His capacity to intercede for us, and to relieve us in all our necessities. His living is the root and cause of our life; for He having purchased eternal life, not only for Himself, but for all His members, ever liveth to convey it to them, and maintain it in them.
4. Another ground of comfort is the certainty of persuasion. I know. This implies a clear understanding of this mystery; and a certainty of persuasion, which includes a certainty of faith, or of spiritual sense.
II. The applicability of this comfort in our afflictions. Such as public troubles and difficulties; spiritual distresses; outward calamities; calumnies and slanders; and death. Exhortation–Believe and be persuaded of this truth. Endeavour to arrive at the highest degree of assent. (T. Manton.)
The believers triumph
1. Afflictions do not dissolve the endeared relation between the Redeemer and the redeemed.
2. Jesus Christ, as He is the only Redeemer of fallen man, has been all along so, even from the beginning.
3. A believer may attain a comfortable evidence of a special relation to Christ and interest in Him.
4. A believer knowing his Redeemer liveth, hath therein a spring of abundant consolation, whatever affliction he here labours under, or is liable to.
I. How the title Redeemer belongs to Christ. He is fitly called a Redeemer upon a threefold account. In regard to the bondage state He finds us in. His relation to us. And what, in that relation, He does for us. As our kinsman, He redeems us by paying the price of our redemption; and by rescuing us from the tyranny of Satan.
II. Believers will and ought to betake themselves to Christ, the living Redeemer, for relief and comfort under all their troubles.
1. As fallen creatures, there is no coming unto the Father but through a Mediator.
2. Christ is the only Mediator between God and man.
3. He is provided and exalted of God to this very end, that the weary and heavy-laden, under whatever burden, might apply to Him for ease and rest.
4. To them that believe He is precious, from the experience they have had of His power and grace.
III. It is of powerful use to the consolation of believers, in looking to their provided Redeemer, to know that He liveth, and that He is theirs. That He liveth may be said of Him as God, and as Immanuel, God-man. As Divine, and as risen. The resurrection speaks the value and efficacy of His death and sacrifice. His living again confirms the truth of His doctrine and promises.
3. It is no small addition to a Christians comfort that Christ lives in heaven. And Christ also is theirs; in gracious, helpful, personal relations with them.
IV. How believers may fetch suitable support from hence, under the trials wherewith they may be most sorely pressed.
1. What they feel upon a public account; their tender sense of the Churchs troubles, and concern for their brethren in the same household of faith, by reason of the hard things they suffer, and the deep distress they are sometimes brought into. He liveth, and has the turning of all the great wheels of providence.
2. As to public calamities that may happen in our day, or reach the place where our lot is cast. Christs voice to all is, Be not terrified.
3. In poverty and want, ,pinching necessities and straits, we may look up with comfort while able to say, I know that my Redeemer liveth.
4. As to losses in substance, or near and dear relations, bodily pains, the injuries and reproaches of enemies, and hard censures of friends, with whatever the Christian may undergo from heaven, he hath enough to feed his comfort in being able to say, I know that my Redeemer liveth.
5. As deprived of the sense of Gods favour.
6. As to the temptations of Satan, the wiles and assaults of the power of darkness.
7. Under the afflictive sense of sin, as to guilt and corruption.
8. As in solitude about finding the way to heaven by reason of error and delusion.
9. Under persecution of suffering for the sake of Christ, and devotedness to Him.
10. The Redeemers living is the believers security against the dread and danger of apostasy.
11. As afflicted with the death of the righteous, private Christians or ministers.
12. That the Redeemer liveth may keep up the believers joy when he comes to die. Application–
(1) Let your faith be well grounded and firm in this great truth, that there is a Redeemer living.
(2) How much is everyonr concerned to look after an interest in a living Redeemer.
(3) In order to this, let every heart open to a living Redeemer.
(4) Having a living Redeemer, follow His example, and tread in His steps.
(5) Long to be with your living Redeemer. (D. Wilcox.)
Glory of the resurrection
Faith is most sorely tried when the hand of God touches ourselves. Yet even then the patriarch Job believed in the coming of Christ, whom on earth he was not to see; he believed that the Redeemer who was to come akin to us, had then, too, life in Himself, and should come to redeem him also. I know that my Redeemer liveth. He should at the end stand the Last, as well as the First, with power over the dust; and though the worms should prey upon and bore through this poor body, he himself, for himself, should, out of that very flesh, behold and gaze on God. I know, said the patriarch. True faith is solid, sure as knowledge. God writes it on the heart, and the heart knows what it believes, more surely than the senses know what they perceive. See how Job contrasts, not only life with death, but life as the produce of death. And so it must be. After our bodies had through sin become subject to corruption, it had been endless misery for them to have lived on forever. And so God the Son took our nature upon Him in its purity, to make it to us a new origin of being. For us He was born as man. For us, to pay the ransom for us, He died. For us, not for Himself, He rose again. Jesus rose to give us all which He is. After His resurrection, the very being of His body was spiritual. The glory of Christ began with the grave. As to Him, so to us, if we are His, the grave is the vestibule to glory. Claudius says, The tokens of decay are the cock crowing to the resurrection. Yet the change and transformation must begin here. It consists in first giving our whole souls to God, yielding ourselves to His transforming grace, that He would change us as He wills; and then, with steady, unwavering step to obey each impulse of His grace, This will seem hard until thou knowest the sweetness of pleasing God. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Jobs sure knowledge
I. Job had a true friend amid cruel friends. He calls Him his Redeemer, and looks to Him in his trouble. The Hebrew word will bear three renderings, as follows–
1. His Kinsman. Nearest akin of all. No kinsman is so near as Jesus. None so kinned, and none so kind. Voluntarily so. Not forced to be a brother, but so in heart, and by His own choice of our nature: therefore more than brother. Not ashamed to own it. He is not ashamed to call them brethren (Heb 2:11). Even when they had forsaken Him, He called them My brethren (Mat 28:10). Eternally so. Who shall separate us? (Rom 8:35).
2. His Vindicator. From every false charge by pleading the causes of our soul. From every jibe and jest: for he that believeth in Him shall not be ashamed or confounded. From true charges, too; by bearing our sin Himself and becoming our righteousness, thus justifying us. From accusations of Satan. The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! (Zec 3:2.) The accuser of our brethren is cast down (Rev 12:10).
3. His Redeemer. Of his person from bondage. Of his lost estates, privileges, and joys, from the hand of the enemy. Redeeming both by price and by power.
II. Job had real property amid absolute poverty. He speaks of my Redeemer, as much as to say, Everything else is gone, but my Redeemer is still my own, and lives for me. He means–
1. I accept Him as such, leaving myself in His hands.
2. I have felt somewhat of His power already, and I am confident that all is well with me even now, since He is my Protector.
3. I will cling to Him forever. He shall be my only hope in life and death. I may lose all else, but never the redemption of my God, the kinship of my Saviour.
III. Job had a living kinship amid a dying family. My Redeemer liveth. He owned the great Lord as ever living–As the everlasting Father, to sustain and solace him. As head of his house, to represent him. As intercessor, to plead in heaven for him. As defender, to preserve his rights on earth. As his righteousness, to clear him at last. Our Divine Vindicator abides in the power of an endless life.
IV. Job had absolute certainty amid uncertain affairs. I know. He had no sort of doubt upon that matter. Everything else was questionable, but this was certain. His faith made him certain. Faith brings sure evidence; it substantiates what it receives, and makes us know. His trials could not make him doubt. Why should they? They touched not the relationship of his God, or the heart of his Redeemer, or the life of his Vindicator. His difficulties could not make him fear failure on this point, for the life of his Redeemer was a source of deliverance which lay out of himself, and was never doubtful. His cavilling friends could not move him from the assured conviction that the Lord would vindicate his righteous cause. While Jesus lives our characters are safe. Happy he who can say, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Have you this great knowledge? Do you act in accordance with such an assurance? Will you not at this hour devoutly adore your loving Kinsman? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
My Redeemer
There is no need to push these words too far. We lose a great deal by attempting to find in a passage like this what in reality is not in it. Suppose that Job is referring to Goel, the elder brother of the family, whose business it was to redeem, and protect, and lead onward to liberty–suppose that this is an Oriental image, that is no reason for saying that it is nothing more. There have been unconscious prophecies; men have uttered words, not knowing what they were uttering; thus Caiaphas said to the council, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not, not knowing himself what he said. We must allow for the unconscious region of life, the mysterious belt that is round about so-called facts and letters; we must allow for that purple horizon, so visible, so inaccessible. He would be an unwise teacher who said, Job knew all that we understand by Christ, resurrection, and immortality; but he would be unwiser still who said that when his soul had been wrought up to this high pitch of enthusiasm in the ardour of his piety he knew nothing of the coming glory. Let Job speak literally, and even then he leaves a margin. Here we find a man at the utmost point of human progress; figure him to the eye; say the progress of the world, or the education of the world, is a long mysterious process; and here, behold, is a man who has come to the uttermost point: one step further and he will fall over: there, however, he stands until vacuity is filled up, until vaticination becomes experience, until experience has become history, until history, again, by marvellous spiritual action, shapes itself into prophecy, and predicts a brighter time and a fairer land. There have been men who have stood on the headlines of history: they dare not take one more step, or they would be lost in the boundless sea. Thus the world has been educated and stimulated by seer, and dreamer, and prophet, and teacher, and apostle. There have never been men wanting who have been at the very forefront of things, living the weird, often woeful, sometimes rapturous, life of the prophet. What was a dream to Job is a reality to us. We can fill up all Job would have said had he lived in our day; now we can say, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. When these words are sung, do not think they are the words of Job that are being sung; they are Jobs words with Christs meaning. Yes, we feel that there must be a Redeemer. Things are so black and wrong, so corrupt, so crooked, so wholly unimaginable, with such a seam of injustice running through all, that there must be a Goel, a firstborn, an elder brother, a Redeemer. It is the glory of the Christian faith to proclaim the personality and reality of this Redeemer. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the almightiness of God, the very omnipotence of the Trinity, to everyone that believeth. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can we consent to change His name: what word sweeter than Redeemer? what word mightier? A poem in itself; an apocalypse in its possibilities; Divine love incarnated. Oh, come Thou whose right it is! Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. That same Son of Mary, Son of Man, Son of God. Accept Him as thy Redeemer! (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Jobs great hope
Let us clearly understand the point and value of the argument. It is not that a man who has served God here and suffered here must have a joyful immortality. What man is faithful enough to make such a claim? But the principle is that God must vindicate His righteousness in dealing with the man He has made, the man he has called to trust Him. It matters not who the man is, how obscure his life has been, he has this claim on God, that to him the eternal righteousness ought to be made clear. Job cries for his own justification; but the doubt about God involved in the slur cast upon his own integrity is what rankles in his heart; from that he rises in triumphant protest and daring hope. He must live till God clears up the matter. If he dies he must revive to have it all made clear. And observe, if it were only that ignorant men cast doubt on Providence, the resurrection and personal redemption of the believer would not be necessary. God is not responsible for the foolish things men say, and we could not look for resurrection because our fellow creatures misrepresent God. But Job feels that God Himself has caused the perplexity. God sent the flash of lightning, the storm, the dreadful disease; it is God who, by many strange things in human experience, seems to give cause for doubt. From God in nature, God in disease, God in the earthquake and the thunderstorm, God whose way is in the sea, and His path in the mighty waters,–from this God, Job cries in hope, in moral conviction, to God the Vindicator, the eternally righteous One, Author of nature and friend of man. This life may terminate before the full revelation of right is made; it may leave the good in darkness, and the evil flaunting in pride; the believer may go down in shame, and the atheist have the last word. Therefore a future life with judgment in full must vindicate our Creator, and every personality involved in the problems of time must go forward to the opening of the seals, and the fulfilment of the things that are written in the volumes of God. This evolution being for the earlier stage and discipline of life, it works out nothing, completes nothing. What it does is to furnish the awaking spirit with material of thought, opportunity of endeavour, the elements of life; with trial, temptation, stimulus and restraint. No one who lives to any purpose or thinks with any sincerity can miss in the course of his life one hour at least in which he shares the tragical contest, and adds the cry of his own soul to that of Job, his own hope to that of ages that are gone, straining to see the Goal who undertakes for every servant of God. By slow cycles of change the vast scheme of Divine providence draws towards a glorious consummation. The believer waits for it, seeing One who has gone before him, the Alpha and Omega of all life. The fulness of time will at length arrive, the time foreordained by God, foretold by Christ, when the throne shall be set, the judgment shall be given, and the aeons of manifestation shall begin. (Robert A. Watson, D. D.)
My Redeemer
Then there pass from Jobs lips words into which Christian translators have breathed a distinctness, a hope and certainty, which doubtless far transcends the sublime, but dim, faith of the original. I know, he cries, that my Redeemer, my Rescuer, my Vindicator, liveth. Liveth, for He is none other than the living God–no more mute inscription, no human Goel, or avenger–on whom Job rests his faith. And He, at the last, when all this bitter conflict is over, will stand upon the earth, or rather, on the dust, the dust of death into which I am sinking. And even after my skin, this poor skin with all that it encases, is destroyed–even when the first-born of death, and the King of Terrors himself, of whom you speak, have done their worst–yet, even then, not in, but rather from (in the sense most probably of removed from, or without) my flesh, though my body moulder in the dust, I shall see my God–the God now hidden, the God to whom he had appealed before to hide him for awhile from the world of the dead, and then to call him forth. He will manifest himself at last to his forgotten friend, who will have survived for this the shock of the meat Destroyer; whom I shall behold, he goes on, yea, I the prey of death, shall see Him, shall see Him for myself. (Or see Him on my side, the phrase is ambiguous.) Yea, mine eyes shall behold Him, I, and not another. My reins, my very inmost heart, consume, and melt within me at the vision . . . The sick heart faints with joy. Despair gives way to gladness. The poor tortured sufferer, who again and again has looked on the inevitable death which is waiting for him, as the limit of his days, as the final severer between himself and his God, rises to the region of a sublime, a rapturous hope. We dare not write into his words all the sure and certain hope of a joyful resurrection, which the Christian utters; still less that anticipation of a bodily rising from the grave, of a reclothing of his spirit in flesh, which the passage breathes in the great Latin translation, dear for ages to Western Christendom. We recognise even in the familiar words of our own older version, phrases and thoughts which outrun the patriarchs aspirations, the patriarchs faith. But for all that, when we have stripped the passage of all that is adventitious–all that even unconsciously imports into its framework the ideas and faith of another and later age–we still hear the cry of the saint of the old world, as he stands face to face with the King of Terrors; Though my outward man decay and perish, yet God shall reveal Himself to me, to my true self. He plants, as it has been well said, the flag of triumph on his own grave. And his words, in one form or another, have lived longer than he looked for. They will outlive the scroll for which he sighed, the very rock on which just now he wished to see them engraved. (Dean Bradley.)
The hope of restoration
Trans. thus, For I know that my Goel lives, and (my) Vindicator will arise upon the earth. The Fathers, both Oriental, and Occidental, regarded this passage as a proof text, not only of the imortality of the soul, but also of the resurrection of the body. Some even saw in it a conclusive proof of the divinity of Christ. This view prevailed through the Middle Ages. But this interpretation is now generally rejected by critics and commentators, though it was at one time almost universal. Two views need to be considered.
I. Job hoped for restoration in this life. This view has never been popular. Some scholars support it on the following grounds:–
1. The language requires such an interpretation.
2. Whatever there is in the passage which can be applied to a resurrection body, can also be referred with equal force to a restored body in this life.
3. If this passage refers to a future life, it is strange that this glorious doctrine is not more fully presented: Elihu passes it over in silence. Not a word is to be found regarding it in the sublime discourses of the Almighty.
4. The question of restoration to the favour of God in another existence is not even incidentally raised.
5. There is no force in the assertion often made that we cannot limit Jobs expectation for deliverance to this life without lowering the evidence and power of his faith. This is mere rhetoric. Instead of his faith being lowered, it is enhanced.
6. It would have been more satisfactory to Job to have been delivered from the unjust charges laid against him, and to have been justified by the Almighty, who could not err, in the presence of his friends and acquaintances, on the very scene of the conflict here on earth.
7. Certainly this would have been of more advantage to Jobs contemporaries, for whom the new revelation was intended.
8. The denouement, or final issue, favours this view.
II. Job did not expect deliverance in this life, bit in a disembodied state, after death. The following arguments for this view have been adduced.
1. This is evident from the plain meaning of the text. The two clauses in verse 26 are not antithetic, for the second has the same thought as the first, and must read, And after my skin is thus destroyed, and without my flesh (body) I shall see God. After my skin, without my flesh, and dust, are parallelistic equivalents.
2. That Job did not expect deliverance in this life is also shown by his desire to have his protestations of innocency engraved on the rock forever.
3. That Job expected no restoration here on earth is clear from his own words in other portions of the book . . . After carefully weighing the arguments pro and con, we are forced to the conclusion that Job expected restoration in this life. This is the most natural interpretation. It also accords with the development of doctrine in the Old Testament, for it is an intermediate step between Mosaism and Christianity in regard to suffering and retribution in this life. And in accepting this view, no one is forced to the conclusion that Job had no hope or knowledge of immortality, but only that the future life is not referred to in this passage. (W. W. Davis, Ph. D.)
Precious experience
I. The highest form of knowledge is the consciousness that we have a Redeemer.
1. This is the knowledge which diminishes the distance between us and God. Whatever else sin may be, it is the estrangement of the soul from the source of all its joys. Sin has made us to be far off from God. He is denied His place in thought. He is excluded from the counsels of the will. His own monitor–conscience–is indifferent to His presence. The heart has sought the fellowship of other lovers, but they all have left an aching void, which cries, Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. This has been attempted by many. Prophets, priests, and kings stretched their hands upwards towards God, and downwards towards man, but their arms were too short. Philosophers, moralists, and philanthropists have endeavoured to fill the gulf, and pave the way for the contending parties to approach each other, they also have all disappeared in that awful chasm. But there is One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Have we felt the reconciling touch of His hand? I know that my Redeemer liveth, is the only answer.
2. This is the knowledge which removes all differences. We cannot meet God, we cannot enjoy God, with the burden of guilt on our soul. The voice of justice in heaven cries against us; the voice of conscience within is not less in its denunciation.
3. This is the knowledge which restores the full harmony between us and the Father. There is no other platform from which we may survey the whole situation.
II. That the highest form of consciousness is faith in a living saviour. My Redeemer liveth. If we possibly can, let us bring the text to a nearer touch of our life. One of the functions of faith is to convert historical Christianity into a living power in the soul, by enacting the life of Jesus in our own.
1. The living Redeemer is the life of faith. Faith leans on a living bosom, and draws its comfort from a living heart.
2. The living Redeemer is the stay of faith. The Hebrew Goel was the next-of-kin who avenged his brothers wrongs, and redeemed his life and property. Our Saviour is that next-of-kin who watches over our affairs, and will see that justice is done. Remember, brethren, He is the custodian of your character and reputation. The man who deals a blow at your circumstances, must meet Jesus, and settle the matter with Him. Avenge not yourselves, but cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.
3. The living Redeemer is the satisfaction of faith. He who can say My Redeemer! has enough. Things of life are transmissible. The man goes to his solicitor to have the property he has bought conveyed to him. When it is done, he says, I want you to make my will. Then runs the instrument, I give and bequeath, etc. But my Redeemer is not a transitory possession; it abides the inheritance of the soul forever. Thomas made a noble confession, My Lord, and my God.
III. The final triumph of faith will be the meeting of the saint and the Saviour. Whom I shall see, etc. Faith will launch her bark into the sea of His presence.
1. Your rights will be vindicated, and all your trials explained. A light will be thrown on all the difficult passages in your life. Faith said all the time that His judgments are righteous and true; you will understand that then. That day will be a commentary on all the chapters of life, for the day will reveal it.
2. Immediate communion with Jesus. In that day they will all turn aside, and our eyes will feast on the beatific vision, for we shall see Him as He is. These eyes, which have wept many times, shall see Him in the clear light of heaven. Thank you, a thousand times, ye noble prophets and apostles, for your beautiful photos of Him, now we see Jesus Himself.
3. Faith will realise all anticipations and hopes. What is your ruling passion; is it Poetry? Then the muse will be on the heights of Parnassus, Music? The melody of the cross will have attracted all the harmonies of the universe to itself. Beauty? The rose of Sharon will be there. Life? Live on. Regarding the wonderful utterance in the text in the light of the circumstances in which the patriarch was placed, we have here a marvellous picture of faith. In the presence of such a faith, shall we allow ours to fret and fear in the face of small difficulties? Put all the difficulties and sufferings of your life by the side of those endured by the patriarch, and they will pale and die. However, we may not be the strong men in faith that his stature would suggest. Look to your Goel. (T. Davies, M. A.)
The living Redeemer
Schultens suggests that the patriarch, in the previous verses, refers to an inscription upon a sepulchral stone. Job relies upon God for his ultimate and full vindication. Expecting to go down to the grave under the reproach of guilt, he would have it engraven upon the stone at the door of his sepulchre, that his trust was in his Redeemer.
I. The meaning of the term Redeemer, as applied to our Lord Jesus Christ. The word Goal has two significations. One, to be stained or polluted with blood; the other, to ransom, redeem, or purchase back. The duties of a Redeemer among the Jews included–delivering a kinsman out of captivity by force or ransom; and to buy him out when his liberty had been forfeited by debt, buying back an inheritance that had passed out of the hands of a poorer kinsman; advocating the right of those who were too weak to sustain their own cause. All these offices of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus was fitted to sustain, and has executed, or will execute for us. To become our Redeemer He became our kinsman. Three principal things are intended by Christs title of Redeemer.
1. Atonement or satisfaction made to the Divine law in behalf of His people.
2. Deliverance and salvation of His people from all their enemies and difficulties.
3. The securing for them an eternal inheritance of life and blessedness.
II. The excellence of the Lord Jesus as a living Redeemer. He whom Job knew to be his Redeemer is the only-begotten Son of God in whom we trust. The excellency of Christ as our living Redeemer is seen in His resurrection, in His power, and in His glory. (Geo. W. Bethune, D. D.)
Jobs knowledge and triumph
I. A Redeemer is provided for sinners of mankind. This important truth Job plainly avows, in the solemn profession of his faith which he makes in the text. The character of Redeemer is, with peculiar propriety, ascribed to God our Saviour. That He might obtain complete eternal redemption for us, in the fulness of time, God sent forth His own Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Never was there such a glorious Redeemer as God manifest in the flesh. Never was such a price paid for redemption as the precious blood of Christ. He redeems us from all evil.
II. He is an ever-living Redeemer, who has accomplished our redemption. It is not said, the Redeemer hath lived, or shall live, but that He liveth. He is without beginning of days or end of life; the same yesterday, today, and forever. As God, He liveth forever and ever. As Redeemer, He is called a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the purpose and promise of God.
III. The living Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Lit., He shall stand the last upon the earth. He will again stand upon the earth, or over the earth, as the words may signify. He will come in glory, to raise the dead bodies of His people, and to judge the world in righteousness.
IV. The redeemed among men claim relation to their Redeemer. My Redeemer. Job expresses the confidence of a living faith in his intimate relation to the ever-living Redeemer, in whom he believed and trusted, with the other patriarchs of early ages.
V. The mortal bodies of the redeemed shall be consumed, but they shall see God. Though death doth no more to the soul of man than separate it from the body with which it is united, yet it entirely demolishes the curious structure of the body. The mighty Redeemer shall raise all His redeemed ones from the power of the grave. Their souls, when in the separate state, behold Him with the eyes of the mind; but after the resurrection they shall behold Him in their flesh with their bodily eyes.
VI. The knowledge of all this supports the servants of God under present trials, and the prospect of death. Job himself was a remarkable instance of the truth of this observation. (W. MCulloch.)
Jobs confidence
I. The title under which Christ is here spoken of. Redeemer. Our Redeemer has exceeded in His work the redeemers among the Jews. All they could do for their murdered relative was, put to death the murderer.
II. Job speaks of the Redeemer as living at the time when he spoke. And so He was. Before Abraham was, I am, He said of Himself. There never was a period when He was not. He was virtually the Redeemer of men, though He had not actually wrought out their redemption.
III. The personal interest which Job claims in the Redeemer. Here is no uncertainty or doubt, but the fullest assurance. A personal interest in Christ is absolutely necessary if you would be saved.
IV. An important truth respecting the future manifestation of the Redeemer. The time of the advent is sometimes called the last time, the latter, or last, days. It is, however, more probable that the words of Job refer to the second coming of Christ, which will be literally the latter or last day.
V. The blessed hope which the patriarch indulges. He refers to the inevitable lot of man at death. But we shall yet live again. Job could say, In my flesh I shall see God. When he should see God, he would learn the purpose of his affliction. Then his character would be cleared of the aspersions which had been cast upon it. Jobs confidence that he should see God would be a source of joy, inasmuch as to see God is heaven itself. (W. Cardall, B. A.)
Jobs confession
It regards–
I. The promised saviour. It speaks of Him–
1. As a Redeemer. A title peculiarly applicable to the Lord Jesus.
2. As a living Redeemer. Which applies to that grand and consolatory truth, the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. The words may, however, refer to His divinity rather than His resurrection.
3. As a Redeemer in whom he had a peculiar interest. His Redeemer in particular. My Redeemer liveth.
4. As a Redeemer who would stand at the latter day upon the earth. This may refer to the incarnation, but it must also refer to the great resurrection.
II. Jobs own joyful resurrection from the dead.
1. How he dwells on the effects which would be produced by death on his bodily frame.
2. How, in defiance of every difficulty which might obstruct or hinder it, he yet expressed his assured hope of a joyful resurrection.
We have here the views of this ancient believer respecting–
1. The resurrection of the body. The body, after the resurrection, would be true flesh, not a spirit, thin and subtle as the air, as some have vainly imagined. At the resurrection he would receive the very same body which he had on earth. The nature of that happiness to which the servant of God, after his resurrection, would be admitted, is indicated. It was the beatific vision of that God and Saviour in whose presence is fulness of joy. But those only will thus see Him who have received Him here as their Redeemer, by a faith which purifies the heart, overcometh the world, worketh by love, and maintaineth good works. (John Natt, B. D.)
Realising the second advent
The hardest, severest, last lesson which man has to learn upon the earth, is submission to the will of God. All that saintly experience ever had to teach resolves itself into this, the lesson how to say, affectionately, Not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Slowly and stubbornly our hearts acquiesce in that. The earliest record that we have of this struggle in the human bosom is found in this Book of Job. In the rough rude ages when Job lived, when men did not dwell on their feelings as in later centuries, the heart-work of religion was manifestly the same earnest passionate thing that it is now. What is the Book of Job but the record of an earliest souls perplexities? The double difficulty of life solved there, the existence of moral evil–the question whether suffering is a mark of wrath or not. Job appealed from the tribunal of mans opinion to a tribunal where sincerity shall be cleared and vindicated. He appealed from the dark dealings of a God whose way it is to hide Himself, to a God who shall stand upon this earth in the clear radiance of a love on which suspicion itself cannot rest a doubt. It was faith straining through the mist, and discerning the firm land that is beyond.
I. The certainty of Gods interference in the affairs of this world.
1. A present superintendence. The first truth contained in that is Gods personal existence. It is not chance, nor fate, which sits at the wheel of this worlds revolutions. It is a living God. To be religious is to feel that God is the ever-near. Faith is that strange faculty by which man feels the presence of the invisible. We must not throw into these words of Job a meaning which Job had not, Job was an Arabian Emir, not a Christian. All that Job meant was, that he knew he had a Vindicator in God above. At last God Himself would interfere to prove his innocence. God has given us, for our faith to rest on, something more distinct and tangible than He gave to Job.
2. The second truth implied in the personal existence of a Redeemer is sympathy. It was the keenest part of Jobs trial that no heart beat pulse to pulse with his. In the midst of this it seems to have risen upon his heart with a strange power, to soothe, that he was not alone. Note the little word of appropriation, My Redeemer. Power is shown by Gods condescension to the vast; sympathy by His condescension to the small.
3. The third thing implied in the present superintendence is Gods vindication of wrongs. The word translated here, Redeemer, is one of peculiar signification. Job was professing his conviction that there was a champion or an avenger, who would one day do battle for his wrongs.
4. There is a future redress of human wrongs, which will be made manifest to sight. There will be a visible, personal interference. If we use his words, we must apply them in a higher sense. The second Advent of Christ is supposed by some to mean an appearance of Jesus in the flesh to reign and triumph visibly. But every signal manifestation of the right and vindication of the truth in judgment, is called in Scripture a coming of the Son of Man. The visual perception of His form would be a small blessing; the highest and truest presence is always spiritual, and realised by the spirit.
II. The means of realising this interference. There is a difference between knowing a thing and realising it. Job knew that God was the vindicator of wrongs. It was true, but to Job it was strange, and shadowy, and unfamiliar. Two ways are suggested for realising these things. One is meditation. No man forgets what the mind has dwelt long on. You can scarcely read over Jobs words without fancying them the syllables of a man who was thinking aloud. The other is this–God ensures that His children shall realise all these things by affliction. If ever a man is sincere, it is when he is in pain. There are many things which nothing but sorrow can teach us. Sorrow is the realiser. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
A spiritual deliverance
In these remarkable words Job was not anticipating a mere temporal deliverance from his afflictions, but expressing his confidence in a higher deliverance, connected with another state of being, and involving his immortal happiness.
I. The glorious character he contemplates. A Redeemer. The word is used of the Blood Avenger (Goel) of ancient times. The title of Redeemer is used by the prophets as an appellation of Jehovah, and with peculiar adaptation it is appropriated to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom, it is stated, we have redemption. With propriety and force the Mediator between God and man is invested with the name of our Redeemer. The Mediator was unquestionably the revealed and acknowledged object of faith and hope in patriarchal ages. The future Messiah was the being now contemplated by Job when he spoke of a Redeemer.
II. The important truths he states. The first refers to the actual state of the Redeemer,–He liveth, or is now living. To His being, no commencement, however remote, can be assigned. We conceive that the patriarch was now rendering a specific ascription to Him, as essentially the living One, and was acknowledging Him in that attribute of absolute eternity which furnishes so immovable a basis for the confidence and joy of the saints throughout every period of the world. The second of these truths refers to the future manifestation of the Redeemer. He shall stand (arise) at the latter day upon (over) the earth. We consider this a prediction of the last day. The clause means, He shall arise in triumph over the ruins of mortality. From the certainty of that event, Divine truth derives the appropriateness and the efficacy of its appeals. In what manner, and with what feelings, do you look towards the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ?
III. The personal hope Job indulges. These remarkable words are strong affirmations of a personal interest in the grace and redemption of Him who at the latter day is to appear in His glory as the Judge; and are an anticipation of eternal happiness then to be awarded and enjoyed. The expressions furnish several remarks.
1. Death must be uniformly suffered before the happiness of true believers can be completed.
2. On the arrival of the latter day, the bodies of believers will be raised in a state refined and glorified.
3. Believers, in their state of restoration, will enjoy the presence and friendship of God forever.
IV. The absolute confidence Job asserts. I know. These expressions of certainty by the patriarch arose from no equivocal impulse. We who are now numbered among the heirs of promise, tell to the world that we have the same confidence too. We know in whom we have believed. (J. Parsons.)
The faith and expectation of the Patriarch Job
1. The glorious character ascribed to Jesus Christ. Redeemer. Goel. Christ became our Blood-relation, our kinsman after the flesh, and as such the right of redemption devolved upon Him. This right He exercises.
1. By redeeming our forfeited inheritance of eternal life.
2. By redeeming us from the slavery of sin.
3. He avenges the blood of His people on their murderer Satan.
II. Christ is the Living One, possessing life in Himself, and being the source of life to those whom He came to redeem. As God, this is a title peculiarly appropriate to Him, for He possesses independent and eternal life. His existence as our Redeemer is from everlasting to everlasting.
III. This living Redeemer would at some future period make His appearance on the earth. The resurrection of the dead is an event reserved for the second appearance of our Redeemer at the last day. Notice the assured confidence with which the patriarch interests himself in this living Redeemer, who was to stand at the latter day upon the earth. He uses the language of appropriation, My Redeemer. He infers the completion of his own redemption by Christ raising him from the dead, and permitting him to enjoy the beatific vision of God. These sublime truths are peculiarly fitted to comfort the children of God amid all the sufferings, anxieties, and sorrows of life and death. (Peter Grant.)
The believers confidence in the dominion of Christ after death
I. The subjection of the body to the dominion of death. Man is composed of body and soul. Die we must.
II. The subjection of death to the dominion of Christ. Jesus came to destroy death; He will come to complete His work. The resurrection of the dead will be universal.
III. The character in which Christ will assert His dominion. Redeemer.
1. There was infinite love in the price of redemption.
2. There is omnipotent power in the application of this work.
3. There will be immutable fidelity in the completion of this work. What a source of consolation in all the changes, troubles, and bereavements of the world.
IV. The final triumph of Christ over death will constitute the final happiness of all the redeemed. The text admits of two senses.
1. I shall see God my Redeemer in this my body.
2. I shall see God in my flesh, i.e. in that flesh which He assumed to become my Redeemer. (Edward Parsons.)
The staying power of certitudes
Jobs triumphant assertion of his confidence in God is deservedly ranked as the most important passage in all his discourses. The flukes of his anchor have taken bold of the immovable Rock of Ages; and the rage of the tempest, and the dashing waves and the heaving sea, cannot tear his vessel from its moorings. Held by the strong grasp of the invisible, he can defy all that is visible, and on the surface; and Satans most furious assaults have no power to dislodge him, or unsettle his well-grounded persuasion. My Redeemer shall arise last. Job and his friends had been contending first. My Redeemer shall arise last; and He shall enter latest on the scene. And He shall settle the matter unresisted, in His own way. And this shall be the final settlement of this muchdisputed case. And none shall come after Him to change what He has done. Abraham saw Christs day; and Job rejoiced to see Christs day; and he was glad. It was the seed of Abraham to whom the Father of the faithful looked forward. It was his Divine Redeemer that gladdened the believing soul of the man of Uz. (William H. Green, D. D.)
Certitude
The sceptic beholds his misgivings multiply and his doubts thicken. The believer as a rule sees them all vanish. Schiller, the great German thinker, goes to his study, sits down as usual to his desk, writes with that masterly ability which distinguished him, begins a new sentence, writes the word But–and then dies. The great advocates of Scepticism always die with a doubt, expire with a But. The Christian, however, grows in faith as he approaches death. I know that–in my flesh, etc. Christ mine:–Dean Stanley tells us that Dr. Arnold used to make his boys say, Christ died for me, instead of the more general phrase, Christ died for us. He appeared to me, says one whose intercourse with him never extended beyond these lessons, to be remarkable for his habit of realising everything that we are told in Scripture. (Life of Dr. Arnold.)
Natural tendencies to dissolution
There is in every living organism a law of death. We are wont to imagine that Nature is full of life. In reality it is full of death. One cannot say it is natural for a plant to live. Examine its nature fully, and you have to admit that its natural tendency is to die. It is kept from dying by a mere temporary endowment, which gives it an ephemeral dominion over the elements–gives it power to utilise for a brief span the rain, the sunshine, and the air. Withdraw this temporary endowment for a moment and its true nature is revealed. Instead of overcoming Nature it is overcome. The very things which appeared to minister to its growth and beauty, now turn against it and make it decay and die. The sun which warmed it withers it; the air and rain which nourished it rot it. It is the very forces which we associate with life which, when their true nature appears, are discovered to be really the ministers of death. (H. Drummond.)
The law of justice universal and unfailing
Whence came our sense of justice? We can only say from Him who made us. He gave us such a nature as cannot be satisfied nor find rest till an ideal of justice, that is of acted truth, is framed in our human life, and everything possible done to realise it. Upon this acted truth all depends, and till it is reached we are in suspense . . . Justice there is in every matter. The truthfulness of nature at every point in the physical range is a truthfulness of the over-nature to the mind of man, a correlation established between physical and spiritual existence. Wherever order and care are brought into view there is an exaltation of the human reason, which perceives and relates. Is it of importance that each of the gases shall have laws of diffusion and combination, shall act according to those laws, unvaryingly affecting vegetable and animal life? Unless those laws wrought in constancy or equity at every moment, all would be confusion. Is it of importance that the bird, using its wings adapted for flight, shall find an atmosphere in which their exercise produces movement? Here again is an equity which enters into the very constitution of the cosmos, which must be a form of the one supreme law of the cosmos. Once more, is it of importance that the thinker should find sequences and relations, when once established, a sound basis for prediction and discovery, that he shall be able to trust himself on lines of research, and feel certain that, at every point, for the instrument of inquiry there is answering verity? Without this correspondence man would have real place in evolution, he would flutter an aimless unrelated sensitiveness through a storm of physical incidents. Advance to the most important facts of mind, the moral ideas which enter into every department of thought. Does the fidelity already traced now cease? Is man at this point beyond the law of faithfulness? This life may terminate before the full revelation of sight is made; it may leave the good in darkness and the evil flaunting in pride; the believer may go down to shame, and the Atheist have the last word. Therefore a future life with judgment in full must vindicate our Creator. No one who lives to any purpose or thinks with any sincerity can miss in the course of his life one hour at least in which he shares the tragical contest, and adds the cry of his own soul to that of Job, his own hope to that of ages that are gone, straining to the Goel who under, takes for every servant of God, I know that my Redeemer liveth, etc. (R. A. Watson, D. D.)
In my flesh shall I see God.—
The general resurrection
Now, this clause of our text has been understood by the Church of Christ throughout all ages, as expressing Jobs assurance of the general resurrection of the body at the last day, and such appears to be the plain, straightforward meaning of the passage. Others, however, seem to think that Job, in these words, refers only to a metaphorical resurrection, that is, a restoration to his former happiness and prosperity. But if he expected such a resurrection, then his constantly longing for the approach of death, as his only hope of relief, seems totally inexplicable. It was under these circumstances of accumulated affliction that Job uttered the words of the text. How strong is faith–how rich the consolations of religion–how powerful that Divine influence which raised the spirit of the patriarch superior to the ills of her earthly tabernacle, and while, in near vision, contemplating the approach of the last enemy, illumined and quickened by the Sun of Righteousness, to record her feelings, and embody her prospects. I know that my Redeemer liveth. The true state of the case is here–Job looks toward the period when he should become a tenant of the house appointed for all living, as the due of his sorrows; and his grief was that he should sink into the grave in the estimation of his fellows as one punished by God for his hypocrisy; but his joy was that there would be a general resurrection of the body, which would be followed by a general judgment, when the shades should be removed from his character–and that character presented in its own unblemished rectitude. We say, then, that in the text, Job directs our attention to the general resurrection. In my flesh shall I see God. Now, unless Jobs body were remoulded, the statement in the text could not be realised. Man was at first created with body and soul, and he will live so throughout all eternity. The fact itself is certain; but how it shall be brought about we do not know. Our bodies will then undergo some change. Our bodies now are adapted to an earthly state; but the resurrection body will be adapted to the heavenly state. These bodies will undergo many general changes; this corruptible will put on incorruption; this mortal will put on immortality; this dishonour will put on glory; this weakness will put on power, and so forth. These bodies will undergo many particular changes; all blemishes, all deformities, will be done away; all varieties, arising from climate, from employment, from disease, and so on, will doubtless be done away. Now, doubtless, this will be met by a corresponding change in the conformation of our bodies. Our bodies will then be made of imperishable materials. But, amid all these changes, our bodies will be essentially the same; fashioned after the glorious body of our ascended Lord and Master. Yes, when the archangels trump shall sound, in the plenitude of omnipotence, these bodies which have long reposed in the noiseless chambers of the grave, will rise, from their dusty beds, superior to disease and death. Run in the same mould as that of Jesus Christ–they will be adorned with living splendour–splendour and honour surpassing the brightness of the noonday sun, and shall continue co-existent with the ages of eternity. At this glorious period our bodies will be exempt from those diseases which now desolate our world. We say, such a remoulding of the fabric which sin has dissolved and destroyed, Job anticipated in the words of the text; but he looked forward to another event, namely, the general judgment. And though, after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. The meaning of these words, Whom I shall see for myself, is, I shall stand before His throne; I shall plead my own cause; I shall be able to tell my own tale, and shall receive from His hands a righteous reward. Now I am misrepresented by my friends; now I am misconceived by my relatives; now I am treated as a hypocrite by those of my own household. But a period is coming when I shall stand before the bar of the Omniscient, when these clouds shall be dissipated by the brightness of His appearance, and I shall appear before an assembled world–before angels, and before the spirits of just men made perfect, as the sincere and devoted servant of the Most High. This, doubtless, had been a source of much consolation and comfort to the patriarch, and would doubtless throw a kind of calm over his troubled bosom when he thought of the day of restitution that was coming. That day when he should see God on his side, not estranged, but as his friend. This is often a source of much joy to Christians in general. It not unfrequently happens that clouds of calumny overhang their character; often are their actions and motives misconceived by their own Christian friends; often are they misrepresented by the wicked and ungodly; but it should be a source of joy to them that their record is on high–their testimony is with God; they should not indulge a principle of revenge, but live like men having in prospect the period of accounts, when all men shall receive according to the deeds done in the body. (S. Hulme.)
Job and the resurrection of the body
That God refrained from uttering to the ancient world the promise of the resurrection is easily understood. Many other important truths, cardinal truths, accepted by the modern world and necessary to its life and movement, were withheld, and for the same reason. The average human mind, even among His chosen people, was too simple, feeble, and benighted to appreciate thoughts so transcendent and refined. But this reason did not apply to a mind and soul like those of Job. The mountain tops catch the glory of the coming sunlight long before it strikes the levels below. We know that God did reveal it to Moses when, in the solitude and silence of the wilderness, He spoke from the burning bush. Why should He not reveal it to Job, His servant, His worshipper, His faithful friend, who was fighting his forlorn battle with the foes, as it were, of his own household, with the torment of his body and the anguish of his soul? (D. H. Bolles.)
Vision of God
There is a sense in which reason and the Bible assure us God cannot be seen. He is the Unapproachable, the Invisible. There is a solemn sense in which He can be seen, and in which He must be seen sooner or later. We make three remarks concerning this soul vision–
I. It implies the highest capability of a moral creature. The power to see the sublime forms of the material universe, is a high endowment. The power to see truth and to look into the reason of things, is a higher endowment far; but the power to see God, is the grandest of all faculties. To see Him who is the cause of all phenomena, the life of all lives, the force of all forces, the spirit and beauty of all forms,–this faculty the human soul has. Depravity, alas! has so closed it generally that there are none in their unregenerate state who see God. Jacob said, God is in this place and I knew it not.
II. It involves the sublimest privilege of a moral creature. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. In Thy presence is fulness of joy.
III. It includes the inevitable destiny of a moral creature. All souls must be brought into conscious contact with Him, sooner or later we must all appear before His judgment seat. Every soul must open its eye and so fasten it upon Him that He will appear everything to it, and all things else but shadows. The period of atheism, religious indifferentism, ends with our mortal life. (Homilist.)
The sight of God incarnate
The happiness of heaven is the seeing God; and because our Lord and Saviour is God incarnate, God the Son made man, by taking to Himself a soul and body such as ours, therefore to see Christ was, to faithful men, a kind of heaven upon earth, and losing sight of Him, as they did at His Passion, was like being banished from heaven. Of course, then, His coming in their sight again was the greatest happiness they could have. I do not say that St. John, St. Mary Magdalene, and the rest, were all of them at the time fully aware that He whom they had seen die, and whom they now saw rise again, was the very and eternal God. They probably came by slow degrees, some at one time, some at another, to the full knowledge of that astonishing truth. But thus much they knew for certain, that they could not be happy without seeing Him. The sight of God was the very blessing which Adam forfeited in Paradise, and which poor fallen human nature, so far as it was not utterly corrupt, has ever been feeling after and longing for. The holy men before the time of our Lords first coming in the flesh, looked on, by faith, to the happiness of seeing God. But the apostles, and those who were about Him when He came, actually had that happiness. They enjoyed in their life time that privilege which Job had to wait for till he came to the other world. In their flesh they saw God. Some of them even touched God, and handled Him with their hands. When they knew He was risen, it was their life and joy, the light of their eyes, and their souls delight, their comfort, their hope, and their all, come back again after seeming to be lost. This is why Easter was so bright a day to them. After forty days, He promised to send His Holy Spirit, which should make Him really, though invisibly, nearer to them than He had been as yet. Upon the faith of this promise we and all Christians even now live, and if we have not forfeited our baptismal blessings, are happy. But our happiness is so far dim and imperfect, in that we do not as yet see Christ. The apostles saw Christ, but were not yet members of His body; we are members of His body, but do not yet see Him. These two things, which are now separated, are to be united in the other world; and, being united, they will make us happy forever. Behold, He has mixed up the account of His resurrection, so awful to sinners, with the most affecting tokens of His mercy. From the moment of His rising to the hour of His ascension, He is never weary of giving them signs, by which they might know Him, however glorified, to be the same mild and merciful Jesus, the same Son of Man, whom they had known so well on earth. Think not that our Masters condescending grace in all these things was confined to those disciples only. Surely it reaches to us, and to as many as believe on Him through the apostles word. Though He be at the right hand of God, His human body and soul are there with Him, and all His brotherly pity for the lost children of men, and tender fellow feeling towards those who stand afar off and smite upon their breast. All these blessings of our Lords presence are sealed and made sure to us with the promise of the Holy Ghost, which makes us members of Him, in His baptism first, and afterwards in the holy communion. (Sermons by Contributors to Tracts for the Times.)
Jobs idea of resurrection
The question asked concerning this passage is, does it refer to the Messiah, and to the resurrection of the dead; or to an expectation which Job had, that God would come forth as his vindicator in some such way as He is declared afterwards to have done?
1. Arguments which would be adduced to show that the passage refers to the Messiah, and to the resurrection from the dead.
(1) The language which is used is such as would appropriately describe such events. This is undoubted, though more so in our translation than in the original.
(2) The impression which it would make on the mass of readers, and particularly those of plain, sober sense, who had no theory to defend.
(3) The probability that some knowledge of the Messiah would prevail in Arabia in the time of Job. This must be admitted, though it cannot be certainly demonstrated (Num 24:17).
(4) The probability that there would be found in this book some allusion to the Redeemer–the great hope of the ancient saints, and the burden of the Old Testament.
(5) The pertinency of such a view to the ease, and its adaptedness to give to Job the kind of consolation which he needed.
(6) The importance which Job himself attached to his declaration, and the solemnity of the manner in which he introduced it. This is perhaps the strongest argument.
2. The weighty arguments showing that the passage does not refer to the Messiah and the resurrection.
(1) The language, fairly interpreted, does not necessarily imply this.
(2) It is inconsistent with the argument, and the whole scope and connection of the book. The Book of Job is strictly an argument–a train of clear, consecutive reasoning. It discusses a great inquiry about the doctrine of Divine Providence, and the Divine dealings with men. Had they possessed the knowledge of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, it would have ended the whole debate. It would not only have met all the difficulties of Job, but we should have found him perpetually recurring to it–placing it in every variety of form,–appealing to it as relieving his embarrassments, and as demanding an answer from his friends.
(3) The interpretation which refers this to the resurrection of the dead is inconsistent with the numerous passages in which Job expresses a contrary belief.
(4) This matter is not referred to as a topic of consolation by either of the friends of Job, by Elihu, or by God Himself.
(5) On the supposition that it refers to the resurrection, it would be inconsistent with the views which prevailed in the age when Job is supposed to have lived. It is wholly in advance of that age.
(6) All which the words and phrases fairly convey, and all which the argument demands, is fully met by the supposition that it refers to some such event as is recorded in the close of the book. God appeared in a manner corresponding to the meaning of the words, here upon the earth. He came as the Vindicator, the Redeemer, the Goel of Job. He vindicated his cause, rebuked his friends, expressed His approbation of the sentiments of Job, and blessed him again with returning prosperity and plenty. The disease of the patriarch may have advanced, as he supposed it would. His flesh may have wasted away, but his confidence in God was not misplaced, and He came forth as his vindicator and friend. It was a noble expression of faith on the part of Job; it showed that he had confidence in God, and that in the midst of his trials he truly relied on Him; and it was a sentiment worthy to be engraved on the eternal rock, and to be transmitted to future times. It was an invaluable lesson to sufferers, showing them that confidence could and should be placed in God in the severest trials. (Albert Barnes.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth] Any attempt to establish the true meaning of this passage is almost hopeless. By learned men and eminent critics the words have been understood very differently; some vehemently contending that they refer to the resurrection of the body, and the redemption of the human race by Jesus Christ; while others, with equal vehemence and show of argument, have contended that they refer only to Job’s restoration to health, family comforts, and general prosperity, after the present trial should be ended. In defense of these two opinions larger treatises have been written than the whole book of Job would amount to, if written even in capitals. To discuss the arguments on either side the nature of this work forbids; but my own view of the subject will be reasonably expected by the reader. I shall therefore lay down one principle, without which no mode of interpretation hitherto offered can have any weight. The principle is this: Job was now under the especial inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and spoke prophetically.
Now, whether we allow that the passage refers to the general resurrection and the redemption by Christ, or to Job’s restoration to health, happiness, and prosperity, this principle is equally necessary.
1. In those times no man could speak so clearly concerning the general resurrection and the redemption by Jesus Christ as Job, by one class of interpreters, is supposed here to do, unless especially inspired for this very purpose.
2. Job’s restoration to health and happiness, which, though it did take place, was so totally improbable to himself all the way through, so wholly unexpected, and, in every sense, impossible, except to the almighty power of God, that it could not be inferred from any thing that had already taken place, and must be foreshown by direct inspiration.
Now, that it was equally easy to predict either of these events, will be at once evident, because both were in futurity, and both were previously determined. Nothing contingent could exist in either; with them man had nothing to do; and they were equally within the knowledge of Him to whose ubiquity there can be neither past nor future time; in whose presence absolute and contingent events subsist in their own distinctive characters, and are never resolved into each other.
But another question may arise, Which was most likely to be the subject of this oracular declaration, the general resurrection and redemption by Christ; or the restoration of Job to health and affluence?
If we look only to the general importance of these things, this question may be soon decided; for the doctrine of human redemption, and the general resurrection to an eternal life, are of infinitely greater importance than any thing that could affect the personal welfare of Job. We may therefore say, of two things which only the power of God can effect, and one of which only shall be done it is natural to conclude he will do that which is of most importance; and that is of most importance by which a greater measure of glory is secured to himself, and a greater sum of good produced to mankind.
As, therefore, a revelation by which the whole human race, in all its successive generations, to the end of time, may be most essentially benefited, is superior in its worth and importance to that by which one man only can be benefited, it is natural to conclude here, that the revelation relative to the general resurrection, c., is that which most likely the text includes.
But to this it may be answered, God does not do always in the first instance that which is most necessary and important in itself, as every thing is done in that order and in that time which seems best to his godly wisdom therefore, a thing of less importance may be done now, and a thing of greater importance left to a future time. So, God made the earth before he made man, produced light before he formed the celestial luminaries, and instituted the Mosaic economy before the Christian dispensation. This is all true, for every thing is done in that season in which it may best fulfil the designs of providence and grace. But the question still recurs, Which of the predictions was most congruous to the circumstances of Job, and those of his companions; and which of them was most likely to do most good on that occasion, and to be most useful through the subsequent ages of the world? The subject is now considerably narrowed; and, if this question could be satisfactorily answered, the true meaning of the passage would be at once found out.
1. For the sake of righteousness, justice, and truth, and to vindicate the ways of God with man, it was necessary that Job’s innocence should be cleared; that the false judgments of his friends should be corrected; and that, as Job was now reduced to a state of the lowest distress, it was worthy the kindness of God to give him some direct intimation that his sufferings should have a happy termination. That such an event ought to take place, there can be no question: and that it did take place, is asserted in the book; and that Job’s friends saw it, were reproved, corrected, and admitted into his favour of whom they did not speak that which was right, and who had, in consequence, God’s wrath kindled against them, are also attested facts. But surely there was no need of so solemn a revelation to inform them of what was shortly to take place, when they lived to see it; nor can it be judged essentially necessary to the support of Job, when the ordinary consolations of God’s Spirit, and the excitement of a good hope through grace, might have as completely answered the end.
2. On the other hand, to give men, who were the chiefs of their respective tribes, proper notice of a doctrine of which they appear to have had no adequate conception, and which was so necessary to the peace of society, the good government of men, and the control of unruly and wayward passions, which the doctrine of the general resurrection and consequent judgment is well calculated to produce; and to stay and support the suffering godly under the afflictions and calamities of life; were objects worthy the highest regards of infinite philanthropy and justice, and of the most pointed and solemn revelation which could be given on such an occasion. In short, they are the grounds on which all revelation is given to the sons of men: and the prophecy in question, viewed in this light, was, in that dark age and country, a light shining in a dark place; for the doctrine of the general resurrection and of future rewards and punishments, existed among the Arabs from time immemorial, and was a part of the public creed of the different tribes when Mohammed endeavoured to establish his own views of that resurrection and of future rewards and punishments, by the edge of the sword. I have thus endeavoured dispassionately to view this subject; and having instituted the preceding mode of reasoning, without foreseeing where it would tend, being only desirous to find out truth, I arrive at the conclusion, that the prophecy in question was not designed to point out the future prosperity of Job; but rather the future redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ, and the general resurrection of the human race.
After what has been stated above, a short paraphrase on the words of the text will be all that is necessary to be added.
I know, yadati, I have a firm and full persuasion, that my Redeemer, goali, my Kinsman, he whose right it was among the ancient Hebrews to redeem the forfeited heritages belonging to the family, to vindicate its honour, and to avenge the death of any of his relatives by slaying the murderer; (Le 25:25; Nu 35:12; Ru 3:13😉 but here it must refer to Christ, who has truly the right of redemption, being of the same kindred, who was born of woman, flesh of flesh and bone of our bone.
Liveth, chai, is the living One, who has the keys of hell and death: the Creator and Lord of the spirits of all flesh, and the principle and support of all life.
And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. The latter day, acharon, the latter day, or time, when God comes to judgment; or finally, or at last, or in the last time, or latter days, as the Gospel is termed, he shall be manifested in the flesh.
He shall stand, yakum, he shall arise, or stand up, i.e., to give sentence in judgment: or he himself shall arise from the dust, as the passage has been understood by some to refer to the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
Upon the earth, al aphar, over the dead, or those who are reduced to dust. This is the meaning of aphar in Ps 30:9: What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the DUST (i.e., the dead) praise thee? He shall arise over the dust – over them who sleep in the dust, whom he shall also raise up.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is the reason of his great confidence in the goodness of his cause, and his willingness to have the matter depending between him and his friends published and submitted to any trial, because he had a living and powerful Redeemer to plead his cause, and vindicate his person from all their severe censures, and to give sentence for him.
I know: I have no knowledge, nor confidence, nor hope of restitution to the prosperities of this life; yet this one thing I know, which is more comfortable and considerable, and therein I rejoice, though I be now a dying man, and in a desperate condition for this life.
My redeemer; in whom I have a particular interest, and he hath a particular care of me.
Quest. What redeemer and what deliverance doth Job speak of in this and the two following verses?
Answ. Some late interpreters understand this place metaphorically, of Gods delivering Job out of his doleful and desperate condition, and restoring him to his former splendour and happiness in the world; it being a very usual thing in Scripture to call eminent dangers or calamities by the name of death, as Psa 22:15; 88:4,5; Eze 37:11,12; 2Co 11:23; and great and glorious deliverances by the name of quickening and resurrection, as Psa 71:20; Isa 26:19; Rom 11:15. But the most interpreters, both ancient and modern, understand it of Christ, and of his resurrection, and of Jobs resurrection to life by his power and favour; which seems most probable for many reasons.
1. From that known rule, that a proper and literal interpretation of Scripture is always to be preferred before the metaphorical, where it suits with the text and with other scriptures.
2. From the Hebrew word goel, here used; which although sometimes it be used of God absolutely, or essentially considered, yet it most properly agrees to Jesus Christ; for this word, as all Hebricians know, is primarily used of the next kinsman, whose office it was to redeem by a price paid the sold or mortgaged estate of his deceased kinsman, Lev 25:25; and to revenge his death, Num 35:12; and to maintain his name and honour, by raising up seed to him, Deu 25:5; all which most fitly agrees to Christ, who is our nearest Kinsman and Brother, Heb 2:11, as having taken our nature upon him by incarnation; who also hath redeemed that everlasting inheritance which our first parents had utterly lost and sold by the price of his own blood; and hath revenged the death of mankind upon the great contriver of it, the devil, by destroying him and his kingdom; and hath taken a course to preserve our name, and honour, and persons to eternity. And if the places where God is called Goel in the Old Testament be examined, it will be found that either all or most of them may be, and some of them must be, understood of God the Son, or of Christ, as Gen 48:16; Isa 49:20. See also Psa 74:2; Isa 41:14; 44:16; 49:7; 52:3; 63:16.
3. Because Job was so far from such a firm confidence as he here professeth, that he had not the least degree of hope of any such glorious temporal restoration as his friends promised to him, as we have oft seen and observed in the former discourses, as Job 16:22; 17:12,13, &c. And therefore that hope which every righteous man hath in his death, Pro 14:32, and which Job oft professeth that he had, must necessarily be fixed upon his happiness in the future life.
4. Because some of the following expressions cannot without wresting and violence be applied to a metaphorical resurrection, as we shall see in the sequel.
5. Because this is a more lofty and spiritual strain than any in Jobs former discourses, and quite contrary to them. And as they generally savour of dejection and diffidence, and do either declare or increase his grief; so this puts him into another and much better temper. And therefore it is well observed, that after this time and these expressions we meet not with any such impatient or despairing passages as we had before; which shows that they had inspired him with new life and comfort.
6. Because this well agrees with other passages in this book; wherein Job declareth, that although he had no hope as to this life, And the comforts thereof, yet he had a hope beyond death, which made him profess, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, Job 13:15. Trust in him; for what? Surely for comfort and happiness. Where? Not in this life, for that he supposeth to be lost; therefore it must be in the next life. And this was one reason why he so vehemently desired death, because he knew it would bring him unto God and unto true felicity. And this his hope and confidence in God, and in his favour to him, Job opposeth to those foul and false aspersions which his friends had cast upon him, as if he had forsaken God, and cast off all fear of him, and hope in him.
Object
1. If this place had spoken of the resurrection of the body, some of the Hebrew writers or commentators upon this place, who did believe that doctrine, would have understood it so, and have urged it against the Sadducees, which they did not.
Answ.
1. All the Jewish writers which are now extant lived and wrote since Christs time, when the doctors of that people were very ignorant of many great truths, and of the plain meaning of many scriptures, and very corrupt in their principles as well as in their practices.
2. There was a manifest reason why they could not understand this text thus, because they believed that Job in his agonies did deny Gods providence, and consequently the resurrection and the future judgment, which though it was a most uncharitable and false opinion, yet forced them to interpret this text another way.
Object.
2. How is it credible that Job, in those ancient times, and in that dark state of the church, should know these great mysteries of Christs incarnation, and of the resurrection and life to come?
Answ. 1. The mystery of Christs incarnation was revealed to Adam by that first and famous promise, that the seed of the woman should break the serpents head, Gen 3:15; which being the only foundation of all his hopes for the recovery and salvation of himself, and of all his posterity, he would doubtless carefully and diligently teach and explain it, as need required, to those that descended from him.
2. That the ancient patriarchs and prophets were generally acquainted with these doctrines is undeniably evident from Heb 11; 1Pe 1:9-12.
3. Particularly Abraham, from whom Job is supposed to have descended, had the promise made to him, that Christ should come out of his loins, Gen 12:3; and is said to have seen, Christs day, and rejoiced to see it, Joh 8:56, and had his hopes and desires fixed upon a divine and heavenly city and country, Heb 11:10,16. And as Abraham knew and believed these things himself, so it is manifest that, he taught them to his children and servants, Gen 18:19, and to his kindred and others, as he had occasion. And therefore it cannot seem strange that Job professeth his faith and hope in these things.
My redeemer liveth: I am a dying man, and my hopes are dying, but he liveth, and that for ever; and therefore though I die, yet he both can and will make me live again in due time, though not in this world, yet in the other, which is much better; and though I am now highly censured and condemned by my friends and others as a great dissembler and a secret sinner, whom Gods hand hath found out; yet there is a day coming wherein my cause shall be pleaded, and my name and honour vindicated from all these reproaches, and my integrity brought to light.
He shall stand: I am falling and dying, but he shall stand firm, and unmovable, and victorious, in full power and authority; all which this word
stand signifies; and therefore he is able to make me stand in judgment, and to maintain my cause against all opposers. Or, he shall arise, as this verb most commonly signifies, i.e. either,
1. He shall exist, or be born, as this word is oft used; as Num 32:14; Deu 29:22; Jdg 2:10; 1Ki 3:12; Mat 11:11. And it notes Christs incarnation, that although as he was God he was now and from all eternity in being, yet he should in due time be made man, and be born of a woman. Or,
2. He shall arise out of the dust; which had been more probable, if it had been in the text from or out of, as now it is upon, the earth or dust; for Christs resurrection from the dead might be fitly mentioned here as the cause of Jobs resurrection, which followeth.
At the latter day; either,
1. In the days of the Messiah, or of the gospel, which are oft called the
latter or last days or times; as Isa 2:2; Hos 3:5; Joe 2:28, compared with Act 2:17; 1Ti 4:1; 2Ti 3:1; Heb 1:1. Or rather,
2. At the day of the general resurrection and judgment, which, as those holy patriarchs well knew and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the world, and which is called the last day, Joh 6:39,40,44,51; 11:24; 12:48; 1Pe 1:5; for this was the time when Jobs resurrection, of which he speaketh here, was to be. Heb. at the last; by which word he plainly intimates that his hope was not of things present, and of worldly felicities, of which his friends had discoursed so much; but of another kind of, and a far greater, blessedness, which should accrue to him in after-times, long after he was dead and rotten. Or, the last; who is both the first and the last, Isa 44:6; Rev 1:11, who shall subdue and survive all his and his peoples enemies, and after others the last enemy, death, 1Co 15:26, and then shall raise up his people and plead their cause, and vindicate them from all the calumnies and injuries which are put upon them, and conduct them to life and glory.
Upon the earth; the place upon which Christ shall appear and stand at the last day. Heb. upon the dust; in which his saints and members lie or sleep, whom he will raise out of it. And therefore he is fitly said to stand upon the dust, or the grave, or death, because then he will put that among other enemies under his feet; as it is expressed, 1Co 15:25,26. Some render the words thus, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew, the last, or at the last, he shall arise or stand up against (for so this very phrase is used, Gen 4:8; Jdg 9:18; Psa 44:3) the dust, and fight with it, and rescue the bodies of the saints, which are held in it as prisoners, from its dominion and territories. Some understand this of God, that he should stand last in the field, as Conqueror of all his enemies. But this neither agrees with the words, the Hebrew aphar signifying dust, and being never used of the field or place of battle; nor with Jobs scope, which was to defend himself against his friends accusations, and to comfort himself with his hopes and assurance of Gods favour to be exhibited to him in due time; which end the words in that sense would by no means serve, because God might and would be Conqueror of all his enemies, though Job himself had been one of them, and though his cause had been bad, and his friends should with God have triumphed over him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. redeemerUMBREITand others understand this and Job19:26, of God appearing as Job’s avenger before his death,when his body would be wasted to a skeleton. But Job uniformlydespairs of restoration and vindication of his cause in this life(Job 17:15; Job 17:16).One hope alone was left, which the Spirit revealeda vindication ina future life: it would be no full vindication if his soul alone wereto be happy without the body, as some explain (Job19:26) “out of the flesh.” It was his body thathad chiefly suffered: the resurrection of his body, therefore, alonecould vindicate his cause: to see God with his own eyes, andin a renovated body (Job 19:27),would disprove the imputation of guilt cast on him because of thesufferings of his present body. That this truth is not further dwelton by Job, or noticed by his friends, only shows that it was withhim a bright passing glimpse of Old Testament hope, ratherthan the steady light of Gospel assurance; with us thispassage has a definite clearness, which it had not in his mind(see on Job 21:30). The idea in”redeemer” with Job is Vindicator (Job 16:19;Num 35:27), redressing his wrongs;also including at least with us, and probably with him,the idea of the predicted Bruiser of the serpent’s head. Traditionwould inform him of the prediction. FOSTERshows that the fall by the serpent is represented perfectly on thetemple of Osiris at Phil; and the resurrection on the tomb of theEgyptian Mycerinus, dating four thousand years back. Job’s sacrificesimply sense of sin and need of atonement. Satan was the injurer ofJob’s body; Jesus Christ his Vindicator, the Living One who givethlife (Joh 5:21; Joh 5:26).
at the latter dayRather,”the Last,” the peculiar title of Jesus Christ, though Jobmay not have known the pregnancy of his own inspired words, and mayhave understood merely one that comes after (1Co 15:45;Rev 1:17). Jesus Christ is thelast. The day of Jesus Christ the last day (Joh6:39).
standrather, “arise”:as God is said to “raise up” the Messiah (Jer 23:5;Deu 18:15).
earthrather, “dust”:often associated with the body crumbling away in it (Job 7:21;Job 17:16); thereforeappropriately here. Above that very dust wherewith was mingledman’s decaying body shall man’s Vindicator arise. “Arise abovethe dust,” strikingly expresses that fact that Jesus Christarose first Himself above the dust, and then is toraise His people above it (1Co 15:20;1Co 15:23). The Spirit intendedin Job’s words more than Job fully understood (1Pe1:12). Though He seems, in forsaking me, to be as onedead, He now truly “liveth” in heaven; hereafter Heshall appear also above the dust of earth. The Goel orvindicator of blood was the nearest kinsman of the slain. So JesusChrist took our flesh, to be our kinsman. Man lost life by Satan the”murderer” (Joh 8:44),here Job’s persecutor (Heb 2:14).Compare also as to redemption of the inheritance by thekinsman of the dead (Rth 4:3-5;Eph 1:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For I know,…. The particle , which is sometimes rendered by the copulative “and”, by an adversative “but”, and sometimes as a causal particle “for”, should not be rendered here by either; but as an explanative, “to wit”, or “namely”, as it is by Noldius y; in connection with the preceding words; in which Job wishes some words of his were written in a book, or engrossed on sheets of lead, or were cut out on some rock, and particularly were engraved on his tombstone; “namely”, these following, “I know that my Redeemer liveth”, c. and to this agrees Broughton, “how that my Redeemer liveth” let these be the words written, engraved, and cut out there: by my Redeemer, he means not any mere man that should rise up and vindicate him; for the account of his then living, and of his standing on the earth in the latter day, will not agree with such an one; nor God the Father, to whom the character of a Redeemer is seldom or ever given, nor did he ever appear or stand on earth, nor was his shape seen at any time, Joh 5:37; but the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our “Goel”, the word here used, our near kinsman, and so our Redeemer, to whom the right of redemption belonged; and who was spoken of by all the holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, as the Redeemer of his people, who should redeem them from all their sins; from the law, its curses and condemnation; from Satan, and his principalities and powers; from death and hell, and everlasting destruction; and that by giving himself a ransom for them; all which was known in the times of Job, Job 33:24; and known by him, who speaks of him as living; he then existed not only as a divine Person, as he did from all eternity, but in his office capacity as Mediator, and under the character of a Redeemer; for the virtue of his future redemption reached to all the ages before it, from the foundation of the world; besides, the epithet “living” points at him as the “living God”, as he is, Heb 3:12; and so equal to the work of redemption, and able to redeem, and mighty to save; of whom it is said, not that he has lived, or shall live, but “liveth”; ever lives; and so an expression of the eternity of Christ, who is from everlasting to everlasting, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; and who, though he died in human nature, yet is alive, and lives for evermore; he has life in and of himself, as he is God over all blessed for ever; and has life in him for all his people, as Mediator; and is the author of spiritual life in them, and the donor of eternal life to them; and because he lives, they shall live also. Now Job had an interest in him as the living Redeemer, and knew he had, which is the greatest blessing that can be enjoyed; an interest in Christ is of infinitely more worth than the whole world, and the knowledge of it exceeds all others; this knowledge was not merely speculative, nor only approbational and fiducial, though such Job had, Job 13:15; but the knowledge of assurance of interest; to know Christ as a Redeemer of men, and not our Redeemer, is of no avail; the devils know him to be a Redeemer, but not theirs: men may have an interest in Christ, and as yet not know it; interest is before knowledge; it is neither knowledge nor faith that gives interest, but God of his grace gives both interest and knowledge: and such a knowledge as here expressed is a peculiar favour; it is owing to an understanding given to know him that is true, and that we are in him that is true; and to the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ, and to the testimony which he bears; and such knowledge will support under the greatest afflictions and sorest trials; under the ill usage of friends, and the loss of nearest and dearest relations, and in the views of death and eternity; all which was Job’s case:
and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth; appear in the world in human nature; be the seed of the woman, and born of one, be made flesh, and dwell among men, and converse with them, as Jesus did; who stood upon the land of Judea, and walked through Galilee, and went about doing good to the bodies and souls of men; and this was in the last days, and at the end of the world, Heb 1:1; as a pledge of this there were frequent appearances of the son of God in an human form to the patriarchs; nor need it seem strange that Job, though not an Israelite, had knowledge of the incarnation of Christ, when it is said to z be the opinion of the Indian Brahmans that God often appeared in the form and habit of some great men, and conversed among men; and that Wistnavius, whom, they say, is the second Person of the triune God, had already assumed a body nine times, and sometimes also an human one; and that the same will once more be made by him; and Confucius, the Chinese philosopher a, left it in writing, that the Word would be made flesh, and foresaw the year when it would be: or, “he shall rise the last out of the earth” b; and so it may respect his resurrection from the dead; he was brought to the dust of death, and was laid in the grave, and buried, in the earth, and was raised out of it; and whose resurrection is of the greatest moment and importance, the justification, regeneration, and resurrection of his people depending on it: but this is not to be understood as if he was the last that should rise from the dead; for he is the firstfruits of them that sleep, and the firstborn from the dead, the first that rose to an immortal life; but that he who, as to his divine nature, is the first and the last; or that, in his state of humiliation, is the last, the meanest, and most abject of men c; or rather, who, as the public and federal head of his people, is “the last Adam”, 1Co 15:45; and who did rise as such for their justification, which makes the article of his resurrection an unspeakable benefit: or, “he shall stand over the earth in the latter day” d in the last times of all, in the close of time, at the end of the world, at his appearing and kingdom, when he shall come to judge the quick and dead; those that will be alive, and those that will be raised from the dead, who will meet him in the air over the earth, and shall be for ever with him; and even then “he shall stand upon the earth”; for it is expressly said, that when he shall come, and all the saints with him, “his feet shall stand on the mount of Olives”, Zec 14:4; or, “he shall stand against the earth at the latter days” e; in the resurrection morn, and shall exercise his authority over it, and command the earth and sea to give up their dead; and when at his all commanding voice the dead shall come out of their graves, as Lazarus came out of his, he shall stand then upon the dust of the earth, and tread upon it as a triumphant Conqueror, having subdued all his enemies, and now the last enemy, death, is destroyed by the resurrection of the dead: what a glorious and enlarged view had Job of the blessed Redeemer!
y “nempe ego”, Nold. Ebr. Concord. Partic. p. 696. No. 1750. z Huet. Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 13. p. 234. a Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 4. p. 131. b “qui postremus ex palvere (terra) surget”, Nold. ib. c “Novissimus”, i.e. “miserrimus et abjectus”, Bolducius; “sic ultimus miserorum”, Ciceron. Orat. pro Flacco 24. d “Supra pulverem”, Cocceius, Schultens. e “Adhibebit suam vim pulveri”, Tigurine version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth.We must carefully note all the passages which lead up to this one. First, we must bear in mind that Bildad (Job. 18:17-20) had threatened Job with the extinction of his name and memory, so he now appeals to the verdict of futurity, and with what success we ourselves who read and repeat and discuss his words are witnesses. Then in Jobs own speeches we have, as early as Job. 9:32-35. his longing for a daysman to come between himself and God. Then in Job. 10:7; Job. 13:15-19, he emphatically declares his innocence, and appeals to God as conscious of it. In Job. 16:19, he affirms that his witness is in the high heavens; in Job. 19:21 of the same chapter he longs for an advocate to plead his cause. In Job. 17:3 he calls upon God to be surety for him. Therefore he has already recognised God as his judge, his umpire, his advocate, his witness, and surety, and in some cases by formal confession of the fact, in others by earnest longing after and aspirations for some one to act in that capacity. Here, then, he goes a step further in expression, if not by implication, and declares his knowledge that he has a Goel or Redeemer. This goel was the name given to the next of kin whose duty it was to redeem, ransom, or avenge one who had fallen into debt or bondage, or had been slain in a family feud. In Ruth, for instance, the goel is he who has to marry the widow of his relative, and to continue his name. The various and conditional functions, then, of this Goel, Job is assured, God will take upon Himself for him; He will avenge his quarrel (comp. Psa. 35:1; Psa. 35:23), He will be surety for him. He will vindicate him before men and before God Himself; He will do for him what none of his professed friends would undertake to do. And as to this matter, he has not the slightest doubt: he states most emphatically that he himself knows that this Goel liveth. And I, even I know; as for me, I know that my Vindicator is living, that He liveth, is a reality existing now, and not one to come into existence hereafter, though His manifestation may be a thing of the future, for He shall stand at the last upon the earth, or, He shall stand last upon earth (comp. Isa. 40:8), that is, after all others have passed away and gone down to the bars of the tomb. Now, this alone is assuredly a marvellous confession. It states the reality and eternity of God. It is faith in the I am. This same epithet of Redeemer is applied to God in Ps. 19:15; Isa. 59:20; in the former passage it is coupled with rock, which was the term Bildad bad applied to God (Job. 18:4).
Upon the earth is literally, upon dust; the word is thus used in Job. 41:33. This usage of the same words in the same book, where the meaning is not ambiguous, is strongly against the rendering some have preferred: over the dust, or over my dust.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. For I know “For” and. It is not uncommon in the classics to commence a distinct poem or treatise in like manner. (OVID, Amo 3:8; PROPERTIUS, Job 1:17.) Ewald pertinently renders it but, in the sense of “Yet whereto other thoughts?” Or it may be used in a manner similar to the of classic and N.T. Greek, which is often redundant before citations and declarative sentences. (Comp. THAYER’S Buttmann, pp. 245, 274.) And I, I know. The “I” stands forth with prominence as if to express the personal identity of the entire man. No one of the constituent natures answers to the “I;” but all body, mind, and spirit together constitute man. Thus in Job 19:27, “Whom I, I shall see for myself.” I know By degrees has Job been rising to this wondrous sunlight of faith. There has been all along not only a progress of doctrine, but a steady advance in faith. He has sighed for a daysman (Job 9:33) who might intercede for man with God. (Job 16:21.) The fearful struggle in the fourteenth chapter disclosed, for the miserable service in sheol, gleams of hope that God would bring it to an end. (Job 14:14.) Still horrors and doubts have “compassed him about” until, in agony, he cries out to God that he himself should be his sponsor with himself. (Job 17:3.) And all this time his “attester in the heights” (Job 16:19) has kept silence. But now the clouds vanish, and he cries triumphantly aloud, I KNOW my Redeemer liveth, etc. It is to be remembered that from this time forth we hear no more of the gloom of sheol, or of dismal doubts concerning the state of the dead.
My Redeemer Hebrew, Goel. The prime meaning of the verb is loose, set free. There is no word that, better than redeemer, expresses the fourfold duties of a goel or kinsman. On him devolved, first, the recovery of the lost possession of a kinsman; (Lev 25:25😉 second, the deliverance of a kinsman from bondage; (Lev 25:48-49😉 third, the avenging of the violent death of a kinsman; (Num 35:12😉 fourth, care for the widow of a deceased and childless kinsman; (Deu 25:5.) See vol. 3:308, 314. Christ is our nearest kinsman. Through his veins coursed a tide of blood in common with that of our entire race. The extremes of our race unite in him however remote the circle of humanity, its radii all centre in him. Each human being can lay claim to a relationship to this divine Goel as close and tender as that which bound the brothers and sisters of Jesus to himself. (Mat 13:56.) He stretches his arm of protection over our whole life, and draws to his heart each sorrowing child of Adam.
Liveth (Is) living. “He ever liveth,” “hath life in himself,” “in him was life.” Job’s Redeemer would be pre-eminently a living one. “Life, in the Hebrew and Semitic languages, is a more complete idea than being.” Dillmann.
He shall stand The posture of Christ in great emergencies. (Act 7:56.) Faith sees its future champion standing upon (not rising upon) the dust, as some would read the clause. The attitude is one of firmness, dignity, and endurance, like that of the angel of the last day. (Rev 10:5.)
At the latter day upon the earth Though Merx and others render at the latter, at last, it is plainly a substantive:
The last (Gesenius, Michaelis, Zockler, etc.) It is an attribute of Deity (Isa 48:12) which Christ assumes to himself, (Revelations Job 1:11,) and to which the apostle alludes (“ the last Adam”) in his description of the resurrection. (1Co 15:45.)
The earth The dust. That into which the dead body moulders; hence the “dusty death” of the classics. Shall the dust (dead body: De Wette) praise thee? (Psa 30:9.) Ewald and Merx read, instead of “upon the earth,” “on (my) grave.” a sense justified by the frequent use by Job of “dust” for the grave. (Job 7:21; Job 10:9; Job 17:16; Job 20:11; Job 21:26; Job 34:15.) The expression dust is peculiarly elegant in view of man’s origin and destiny. (Gen 3:19.) In the Arabic the tomb is called turbe, dust.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 19:25-27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, &c. We are now come to the celebrated text which has so much divided interpreters, and which has been generally thought to express Job’s strong faith in a future resurrection; and that so clearly, that some have imagined the passage an interpolation, as they conceive the declaration too strong for the time and faith of Job: while others, and those especially who contend for the modern date of this Book, give the words a very different explication, and suppose them to contain nothing more than a strong persuasion, on Job’s part, of a future restoration to God’s favour, and felicity in this life: accordingly, they render the passage, For I know that my Avenger liveth, and that he will at last stand on the earth; and although my skin be torn in this manner, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see on my side as mine eyes have beheld him, for he is no stranger. My reins within me are ready to faint with longing for him. See Mr. Heath’s note on the passage. Now, I, with respect to the interpolation, as there is not one reasonable and proper foundation whereupon to build such a suspicion; as we might with as good reason suppose any other passage which did not strike in with our opinions interpolated; and as the allowance of such an interpolation would break though all the rules of criticism, and all the faith of manuscripts, the opinion certainly deserves not the least attention. II. As to the supposition that the text refers to Job’s hope of a temporal deliverance, it seems utterly groundless; as, from all that has gone before, we evidently see that Job had no such hope. His earnest prayer, his utmost wish, was, for a deliverance from his troubles by death. See what we have said, chap. Job 14:7, &c. And if the interpretation that has been given of the preceding verses be admitted,and there does not seem the least doubt of its propriety,then to understand these verses as referring to an expectation of temporal deliverance would be most absurd; while they connect in the aptest manner, as alluding to Job’s hope of justification in a future life. Having given the most pathetical description of his afflictions, which might move any heart, he applies to his friends in the most affecting manner, to cease from persecuting him, and to pity his forlorn condition; a condition utterly irremediable, and from which while he had no hopes to be delivered, he wishes in the most earnest manner that his words, his justification of his own integrity, the account of his wonderful, and to him unaccountable sufferings, might be engraven on his sepulchral stone, might be written in the rock to last for ages, till the great day oh his justification should come; for, “Though, in my present extremity of grief, I expect nothing but death, and to be laid in the grave; yet I am well persuaded that that day will come because (Job 19:25.) I know that my Redeemer liveth; goali; he who is to avenge me, and see that I have right done me.” See Lev 25:25. This word, says Mr. Peters, is particularly apposite to Job’s purpose, as it signifies one who vindicates the injuries of his friend, and does him justice after death: and moreover, in this view, it does not imply any necessity that this holy man should be acquainted with the whole mystery of our redemption, which is the great difficulty objected by learned men to the received interpretation of this passage. What knowledge of this matter Job, or the men of that age, might have conveyed down to them by tradition, is a point which we have no need to enquire into at present. It is sufficient to our purpose to understand the word here used in its plain and proper signification, that of a vindicator, or avenger. The next clause in the Hebrew, veacharon al apar yakum, is literally and at last over the dust he shall arise: i.e. over those who are reduced to dust, the dead. This is a very easy metonymy in the Hebrew poetry, and we have an example of it, Psa 30:9. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee; i.e. the dead: the same word, apar, and the same beautiful figure as here. There seems to be a peculiar elegance and significancy in the use of the word in this passage, as it brings to mind the sentence passed upon Adam, Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return; from which sentence the good and just are now to be delivered; and therefore the day of resurrection is called in Scripture the day of their redemption: yakum, rendered by our translators, he shall stand, signifies properly, he shall arise, or stand up; that is, he shall stand up to give sentence or execute judgment. It can scarcely have any other meaning; and I believe this was the posture in which judges usually delivered their sentences in all ages and countries. The phrase of God’s arising to judgment is very usual in the sacred Scripture. See Psa 74:22; Psa 82:8 and, very remarkably, in the 14th verse of the 31st chapter of this Book, the very same word is used in exactly the same sense, What shall I do when God riseth up? i.e. to judgment. The next verse in our translation runs thus; and though, after my skin, worms destroy this body; yet in my flesh shall I see God. Here are three words supplied to fill out the sense; for in the Hebrew there is neither though, nor worms, nor body: the first and last, however, are rightly added; but as for the second, worms, there is no need of it. They have destroyed this, being in the Hebrew idiom the same with this be destroyed; and by this, must be meant this body, for there is plainly something wanting to fill up the sense, and there is no other word that we can think of so proper. I would just observe, that the Hebrew phrase is not in, but from my flesh I shall see God; which Vatablus, a judicious commentator, takes to mean, from, or after my flesh, thus consumed and destroyed. The next verse is, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eye shall behold, and not another, or a stranger. Possibly by the word zar, or stranger, Job, points at his mistaken friends and accusers; who, as he intimates, would be struck with shame and remorse in the day of judgment, and not be able to bear the sight of that Judge whom he himself should behold with pleasure. This gives an easy sense of the words, and, if I mistake not, a beautiful one. Or, supposing that by zar, a stranger, he meant, in general, one who is estranged from God and goodness, (for the word is often used in a bad sense) this will likewise render the passage easy. The next clause in our version is, though my reins be consumed within me. After this solemn declaration of his faith and hope in a resurrection, Job adds a few words more to close his speech, and they are very remarkable ones; such as, I think, confirm this interpretation of this famous text, and cannot possibly be reconciled with the other. There is nothing for though in the Hebrew; Job says, my reins are consumed within me; i.e. “I feel my very vitals fail me, and am hastening on apace towards that death which shall consign me to the future judgment.” Here is a just coherence and agreement with what went before; but what can we make of this text, if the foregoing passage is to be understood of a temporal deliverance? Does he hope and despair in a breath? He then desires his friends, Job 19:28 not to persecute him any more, since the root of the matter or argument, that is, the strength of it, was found in him: and bids them beware that they were not convinced to their cost of the certainty of a righteous judgment hereafter, by the experience of some or other of those common plagues which God was oftentimes seen to distribute in this life. He mentions the sword particularly, which destroys promiscuously the good and the bad without distinction, and is sent, or suffered, by God with this design, that men may from thence infer there is a judgment. The expression in the Hebrew is remarkable: For wrath, that is, the wrath of God, bringeth the iniquities of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment: Job 19:29 intimating, that the violence and iniquity which always accompanies the ravages of the sword, the many unjust and cruel things that are done and suffered amidst the rage of war, and, in short, every dispensation of Providence which levels the good and bad in this life, is a demonstration of a righteous judgment to be expected hereafter. That this must be the meaning, seems plain; nor can the passage be well understood of any other than a future judgment: for what other judgment was it which Job’s friends wanted to know, or to be put in mind of? Not God’s judgment upon sinners in this life: it was their great error that they carried this point to an excess, and interpreted all the calamities sent by God in this world, even upon particular persons, as so many judgments: at least they considered Job’s afflictions in this light. It was, therefore, quite foreign to his purpose to go about to persuade them of temporal judgments inflicted by God: but what he was most of all concerned to put them in mind of, was, that there was a future judgment to be expected after this life. Had they been as well assured of this as they should be, or had they well considered it, they would have seen less occasion for a strict retribution in this life; and, consequently, would have been less forward to interpret God’s inflictions upon Job as if they were a judgment on him for some secret wickedness. We conclude our note upon this passage with Houbigant’s translation, Mr. Peters’s paraphrase, and a short observation on part of Mr. Heath’s version. Houbigant’s rendering of Job 19:25 is, For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall hereafter arise over the dust: Job 19:26. And that even I, after my skin is consumed, shall behold my God in my flesh: Job 19:27. Yes, I shall behold him: my eyes, and not another’s, shall see him. This my hope is reposed in my bosom: Job 19:28. But if ye shall say, let us persecute him, and devise some cause of accusation against him; Job 19:29. Then be afraid for yourselves, from the threatening sword; for the sword will grow wroth against iniquities, that ye may know that a judgment hereafter is at hand. Mr. Peters paraphrases the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses as follows: “For I know that the vindicator of my innocence and reputation, which you have thus inhumanly attacked, now liveth, and shall live for ever; and that in some grand future period he shall arise to judge the dead; and though, after my skin, which you see so miserably affected, this whole frame shall dissolve, and turn into dust; yet, I believe that I shall live again hereafter, as truly and certainly as I do now, and shall appear personally before my Judge; whom I shall see for myself, or in my own cause, prepared to do me justice; and, conscious of my innocence, shall look up to him with hope and joy; whilst others, my accusers, unable to behold him, shall look down with shame and confusion.” The candid reader will immediately observe how natural and easy this interpretation is, and how strained is every expression upon the supposition that a temporal deliverance is meant. However, the latter clause of the 27th verse, as well as the 28th, I think may be admitted, even according to Mr. Heath’s version, upon the interpretation we have given the passage: for Job surely might as well say, in hope of a future as of a present appearance of God for him, my reins within me are ready to faint with longing for him. See Bishop Sherlock on Prophesy, p. 225 dissert. 2:
REFLECTIONS.1st, Severe and cutting were these harsh censures which Bildad laid upon this man of sorrows. With just indignation therefore,
1. He complains of the cruel usage that he met with; They vexed his soul, added gall to his cup, attempted to rob him of his only remaining comfort, his integrity; and exasperated his spirit by provocations more than man could bear. They broke him in pieces with words, every one had a stone to throw at him: they reproached him as a wicked hypocrite; they were not ashamed to make themselves strange to him, however zealously attached to him before; his afflictions had made them shy of him, and they blushed not at the baseness of their conduct. They magnified themselves against him, looked down upon and insulted him: they pleaded against him his reproach, turned his sufferings into an argument of his hypocrisy and iniquity; and this they persisted in, notwithstanding all his remonstrances; and ten times, or several times, (a certain number for an uncertain) repeated their cruel reflections and unkindness. Note; (1.) Inward vexation is among the severest trials. (2.) Reproach has been the portion of many a good man. (3.) False friends discover themselves in adversity. (4.) They who are fallen, are generally trampled upon. (5.) It needs great patience to sustain repeated insult.
2. He makes a concession for argument’s sake. Be it indeed that I have erred,who is infallible? and errors of judgment deserved not such rough treatment. Besides, mine error remaineth with myself; if what I hold concerning God’s dispensations be wrong, I only am chargeable with it, and answerable for it: or rather I must remain in what you call an error, receiving not the least conviction from your discourses. Note; (1.) It were the height of folly to conceit ourselves infallible. (2.) Truth is not the less precious, because proud and worldly-wise men stamp it with the brand of error.
3. He warns them not rashly to impute to God motives for his conduct that he would disavow. His sufferings were from his hand alone; he was compassed with God’s net of afflictions. He cried out for judgment against his plunderers, but was not yet heard: yea, though he cried aloud, and wished that the whole of his case might appear before God, no court was appointed for hearing it, nor judgment given. But God knew wherefore he withheld the answer to his prayer, without admitting their conclusion that he was a wicked man. Note; (1.) Though our prayers may seem to be repulsed, we must not faint. (2.) Sooner or later every man’s cause will be heard, and the righteous sentence be passed thereon.
2nd, Job acknowledged the hand of God in his afflictions; and here,
1. Complains of the displeasure of God therein manifested. Like a benighted traveller in a wood, with briars and thorns God had hedged up his way, and he could see no path out of his troubles. As one seized by robbers, he had lost his all; stripped of his earthly comforts, children, honours, and estate; destroyed on every side, his hope was gone, as a tree rooted up and dry, which never can revive again: but, more bitter than any thing beside, God’s wrath appeared kindled against him, and he seemed to treat him as an enemy, compassing him with legions of afflictions, and sore pressing him on every side, like a besieged city. Note; (1.) Many pious people are apt to write bitter things against themselves, and to mistake the rod of love for the scourge of ruin. (2.) Hope is the last support of the miserable; when that is gone, the case is deplorable indeed. (3.) Though we may see no way to escape out of temptation, he who laid the trial upon us knows how to bring us through it with safety.
2. He laments the unkindness of his friends and acquaintance, wherein also he sees God’s afflicting hand, His brethren he had put far from him. It was their sin that they were so faithless to him, but God suffered them. His relations failed him, his acquaintance shunned him, his familiar friends forsook him; his very domestics slighted him, and would not vouchsafe him an answer, though he called and intreated: the wife of his bosom cared not to come near him, and shunned his breath as if infectious; and, though he besought her by every endearing tie of conjugal affection; she paid no regard to his intreaty. Even the children in the streets had learned of their ungodly parents to mock at him; and as he went, or arose, to correct and silence them, they continued to revile him; nay, his bosom-friends, whom he loved as his own soul, not only forsook but abhorred him; not only as loathsome but as a wicked hypocrite; and, to justify their own perfidy, turned against him with the most virulent abuse. Note; (1.) They who are under frowning Providences will often see cause of complaint against man’s baseness and ingratitude. (2.) The nearer the relation, the greater our love, and just expectations of due return, the bitterer will be the disappointment.
3. He bemoans the painful and diseased condition of his miserable body, reduced and emaciated by his sores and sorrows, till his bones appeared ready to start through his skin, and that all over ulcerated, except his gums or lips; Satan probably leaving him the use of speech, not out of compassion, but that he might curse God.
4. He intreats, on this representation of his case, the pity of his friends: if they would grant him nothing more, his very miseries deserved pity at least: and he upbraids them with the savage cruelty of thus persecuting him whom God had smitten, as if in his stead, and vested with his authority, not content with all the miseries that he had already suffered, and striving to fill to the brim the cup of his afflictions. Note; (1.) The least that we owe to human woe is pity; a friend will do more, he will partake in it, and labour to remove, or alleviate, the sorrows of the afflicted. (2.) It is doubly grievous where God hath wounded, instead of binding up the broken-hearted, to aggravate their pains.
3rdly, We have here the glorious confession of Job’s faith, as his great and only support, when all beside seemed desperate. His friends might be convinced hereby that he was neither infidel nor wicked; he believed in a Divine Redeemer, and expected with confidence a judgment-day; when, if not before, all their unjust accusations would be confuted and confounded: and this is, to all the pious who are unjustly aspersed by calumny, and oppressed by the world, a most encouraging expectation. Some have explained away this remarkable scripture, as relative only to a temporal restitution; but it is evident from Job 19:10 that this he utterly despaired of; and from chap. Job 23:8-9 Job 30:23 it appears that he had not the least hope of prosperity returning in this world; and therefore he looked beyond the grave into a better, where his soul had cast anchor within the vail.
1. He prefaces his expectation with an earnest wish, that the words he was now about to say might be perpetuated to all ages, as a standing monument of his faith and hope, graven in the rock with an iron pen, and filled up with lead: perhaps, he wished that this inscription might be written on his tomb-stone, to testify, when he was dead, the sentiments which he entertained when alive. Note; It is for the glory of God, and the good of posterity, to leave behind us testimonies of our faith and hope; that in their works and writings, good men, like Job and Abel, (though dead) might still speak.
2. His confession deserves to be written, not merely in letters of lead on the rock, but on tables of gold, or rather on the fleshly tables of our hearts, for ever. For, or namely, this is what I would have inscribed on the rock, I know that my Redeemer liveth, my divine Goel, to whom the right of redemption belongs; he lives from everlasting to everlasting; and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, when he appears incarnate for his people’s salvation; or rather above the earth, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to judgment, with power and great glory, and all nations shall be assembled before him to receive their final doom: and though after my skin, worms destroy this body in the grave, and corruption consume this mortal tabernacle, yet in my flesh shall I see God. In the resurrection-day, when rescued from the dust my flesh shall be restored, with my bodily eyes shall I behold God manifest in the person of my Redeemer, whom I shall see for myself, with joy unutterable; and mine eyes, these eyes now dim with tears, shall behold his glory, and not another, or a stranger; an ungodly man shall have no such delight or comfort in meeting him. Though my reins, (or better without the though) my reins be consumed within me; my soul is consumed with eager longing for this day of my Redeemer’s appearance and glory. Note; (1.) The faith in a Redeemer was the only support of the saints of God in every age. (2.) The Lord Jesus hath offered himself to redeem for fallen man God’s forfeited favour, and the heavenly inheritance; and in him our right to both is restored. (3.) A comfortable certainty of his interest in the Redeemer’s regard is every believer’s privilege: he may say, He is mine, and add, I know it, by blessed and delightful experience. (4.) The hope of a judgment-day is the support of God’s suffering saints. (5.) Though our bodies return to the dust, they are not lost in the grave, but preserved against the resurrection-day. (6.) In the vision of the ever-blessed God consists the glorious happiness of the redeemed. (7.) Every day which brings us nearer to our last day, our desires should be more enlarged, and our longings for it more eager, while we cease not to pray, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
3. He intimates the effect that his declaration should have upon them. Instead of using him as they did, they should rather say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in him? He is found in the faith, and appears to be no hypocrite. At least, they ought to tremble for the consequences, if they persevered in using him ill. Be ye afraid of the sword of divine justice, for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword; an offended God will draw it from the scabbard, that ye may know there is a judgment; and woe unto you if he set his face against you. Note; (1.) If a man have the root of the matter in him, and is found in fundamentals, lesser differences should be overlooked. (2.) All persecution for conscience sake is detestable; and how especially guilty must it be to oppress those who hold one faith, one hope, one God, one Redeemer with us, merely because they will not square every opinion to our own, or, however weak their objections, dislike our form of worship, dress, or ceremonies. (3.) In a day of judgment, bigotry and censoriousness towards our brethren will be remembered; and if it destroy not our hope, it will tarnish our crown.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 469
CHRIST A LIVING REDEEMER
Job 19:25-27. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
THE trials of the saints have not only been eminently conducive to their own good, but also productive of the best effects to the Church at large. It is in afflictive circumstances that their graces have shone most bright; and under them they have made the most glorious confessions, which will be recorded with admiration as long as the world shall stand. Of all the calamities which Job endured, there was none more pungent than the uncharitable censures of his friends, which tended to rob him of his only consolation. But he rose superior to them all; and when he could not convince his friends by argument, he made his appeal to God, and wished it to be written for the vindication of himself, and the encouragement of others to the latest posterity. We shall point out,
I.
The substance of his confession
That Christ is the person spoken of, the very terms here used sufficiently declare.
Job speaks of him as then actually living
[Doubtless Job was no stranger to the promise made to Adam respecting the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpents head; or to those so often repeated to Abraham, of a seed, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed. The father of the faithful had anticipated the advent of that promised seed, and had rejoiced exceedingly in seeing, though at the distance of two thousand years, the day in which he should exist [Note: Joh 8:56.]. But Job seems not only to equal, but even to surpass that most distinguished friend of God; for he saw Christ as actually living; and understood that, which, when spoken by our Lord, so much confounded the Jewish doctors, Before Abraham was, I am [Note: Joh 8:58.]. Yes, Job beheld him in his pre-existent state, seventeen or eighteen hundred years before he became incarnate; he beheld him as having life in himself, and as being the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever [Note: Joh 1:4. Heb 13:8.].]
He even declares him to be God
[The same person whom he calls his Redeemer, he afterwards calls God. And in this he is supported by numberless other testimonies of Holy Writ. The evangelical prophet tells us that the very same person who was a child born, and a son given, was also the Mighty God [Note: Isa 9:6.]; and the New Testament assures us that He was Emmanuel, God with us, even God manifest in the flesh [Note: Mat 1:23. 1Ti 3:16.]. Job was accused of ignorance by his friends; but it is to be feared that they had not by any means such exalted views of Christ as he here exhibits.]
This holy man yet further confesses Christ as his Redeemer
[The word Goel imports the nearest of kin, in whom the right of redeeming any estate that had been sold was vested [Note: Lev 25:25.]. Behold then the depths of divine truths which had been revealed to Job! He sees his God incarnate; and himself as a member of Christs body, even of his flesh and of his bones [Note: Heb 2:11; Heb 2:14-15. Eph 5:30.]. He sees Christ redeeming his soul from death and hell; redeeming him at no less a price than his own blood; or, to use the words of an Apostle, he sees God purchasing the Church with his own blood [Note: Act 20:28.].]
Nor does he view him only as incarnate, or as dying for the redemption of man, but as coming again to judge the world
[The words used by Job might be applied to the incarnation and resurrection of Christ; but they seem rather to designate his appearance in the last day to judge the world. This office is committed to Christ because he is the Son of man; and when he shall execute it, he will come from heaven in like manner as he ascended up to heaven; He will not indeed any longer be seen in a state of weakness and humiliation, but in all the glory of his Father and his holy angels: nevertheless He will then appear as a lamb that has been slain; and will summon all those who pierced him to his tribunal.]
But that which gives inexpressible dignity to this confession, is, the full assurance it expresses of his rising from the grave in that day to behold and enjoy Christ
[He does not seem to have had any hope of restoration to temporal prosperity; but speaks in the most confident manner of his resurrection to eternal happiness. The destruction of his mortal frame by worms was not in his eyes any bar to its renovation in the last day. He knew that what was sown in corruption, weakness, and dishonour, should be raised in incorruption, power, and glory; that his vile body should be changed like unto Christs glorious body [Note: 1Co 15:42-43. Php 3:21.]; and that when his earthly tabernacle should be dissolved, he had an house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens [Note: 2Co 5:1.]. He knew that, having awaked up after his Redeemers likeness, he should behold him, not as now through a glass darkly, but face to face, and dwell for ever in his presence where is fulness of joy [Note: 1Co 13:12. 1Jn 3:2. Psa 16:11; Psa 17:15.]. This re-union of his soul and body, together with the beatific vision of his glorified Redeemer, was the one object of his most earnest desires, and most assured hopes. And he was determined, notwithstanding all the accusations of his friends, to maintain this rejoicing of his hope firm unto the end.]
We shall endeavour to improve this subject by considering,
II.
The lessons to be learned from it
Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning: and this confession in particular suggests to us that,
1.
A full assurance of hope is attainable in this world
[Jobs assurance seems to have been remarkably strong: he not only calls Jesus his Redeemer, but proclaims his confident expectation of dwelling with him for ever: he speaks of this, not as a thing which he surmised, or hoped, but as what he knew for certain. Nor was this a privilege peculiar to Job. Had not Paul also the same delightful confidence, when he said, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day [Note: 2Ti 1:12.]; and again, when he professed that henceforth there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge should give him [Note: 2Ti 4:8.]? And has not the same Apostle bidden us all to shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end [Note: Heb 6:11.]? Why then should we rest satisfied without attaining this blessed hope? Would it not serve as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast [Note: Heb 6:19.], amidst all the storms and billows of this tempestuous world? Would it not be an effectual antidote to the poisonous breath of calumny, which will ever strive to blast the fairest characters? Will not the testimony of a good conscience fill us with joy even when we are loaded with the bitterest accusations [Note: 2Co 1:12.]? Shall we not say with St. Paul, It is a small matter with me to be judged of you or of mans judgment, yea, I judge not mine own self, but he that judgeth me is the Lord [Note: 1Co 4:3.]? Seek then to know your election of God; strive to make it sure and evident to yourselves [Note: 1Th 1:4.]; and be continually living a life of faith on the Son of God, that you may be able to say, He has loved me, and given himself for me [Note: Gal 2:20.].]
2.
A clear knowledge of Christ in his person and offices is the best groundwork of an assured hope
[Though Job had been too ready to boast of his integrity, it was not on that that he founded his hopes of immortality and glory. He knew himself to be under the curse of Gods broken law; and that Christ, as his Redeemer, was his deliverer from that curse, having himself been made a curse for him. And what other foundations of hope can we have? Are we holier than Job, who notwithstanding all his holiness exclaimed, Behold, I am vile? Have we not at least as much reason as he to abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes [Note: Job 42:6.]? How then shall we pretend to be just before God? Let this be firmly settled in our minds, that we must flee to Christ for redemption, before we can know him to be our Redeemer: we must be united to him by faith, before we can claim him as our nearest kinsman: we must behold his glory now as it is exhibited in the glass of the Gospel, if we would behold it with joy in the great day of his appearing. Let us then seek to know Christ as he is revealed in the word: let us search the Scriptures, which testify of him, and pray for the illuminating influences of that Spirit, whose office is, to glorify Christ, by taking of the things that are his, and shewing them unto us. Let us be ashamed that Job, who lived before there was any written record of Christ in the world, should know more of Christ than we, who live in the meridian splendour of gospel light. And, whatever we have attained, let us seek daily to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.]
3.
There is no state, however afflictive, wherein an assurance founded on the knowledge of Christ will not support and comfort us
[It is worthy of observation, that from the instant Job uttered these words he was enabled to suppress, in a considerable measure, his bitter murmurings and complaints. And what greater support can any man need than to know that he has Christ for his redeeming God, and that after a few more conflicts he shall enjoy him for ever [Note: 1Th 4:17-18.]? We do not indeed expect that a person shall always be so elevated by these considerations, as to soar above all sense of his afflictions. But sometimes even this may be enjoyed; and at all times we may hope to possess our souls in patience, till patience have its perfect work, and we be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Let the sons and daughters of affliction then have recourse to this remedy: let them labour to attain a thankful sense that they have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Gods dear Son; and then they need not fear but that they shall be strengthened unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness [Note: Col 1:11-12.]. Let them seek an evidence that they are Christs: let them beg the Holy Spirit to witness to their spirit that they are children of God; and then their trials, however grievous at the time, shall only serve as a boisterous wind, to waft them more speedily to their desired harbour.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (26) And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (27) Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Every word in those verses is of vast moment, and deserves our closest regard. First, observe Job’s open and professed knowledge in a Redeemer: and that Redeemer his own. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Secondly, let us recollect what the scriptures in Job’s days, (even if we trace him back as far as the time of Moses,) had taught of a Redeemer. In the Levitical dispensation, the right a redemption was vested in a kinsman, the next of kin. See Lev 25:25 . And by comparing this law, with what was observed in the days of the Judges, we learn moreover that both the right of inheritance, and the marriage of the next of kin, by way of raising up the name of the dead upon that inheritance, were parts of the same service in redemption. Both these therefore were performed by JESUS, as the kinsman Redeemer of his people, in whom Job professed knowledge. See Rth 4:5-6 , with the commentary on these passages. Thirdly. This Redeemer in whom Job professed knowledge and faith, was GOD as well as man; for what is here called goel-Redeemer, in another scripture is called the same, and joined to the LORD of hosts. Isa 54:6 . Fourthly. Job’s conviction of his kinsman Redeemer’s living, is a most precious part in Job’s creed. None but a living Saviour can save a dead sinner. But Job’s faith led him to this precious conclusion, and which JESUS hath since most fully realized; if JESUS lives his people must live also. Joh 14:19 . Fifthly. There is another very precious article in this faith of the man of Uz; namely, his own personal interest in all this. It was not enough with Job, (neither, Reader, let it be with you or me,) to know that there is a Redeemer which liveth; but the sweetest part with him was that it was his Redeemer: I know, said he, that my Redeemer liveth. Sixthly. It was no small evidence of the strength of Job’s faith, and shows that the faith of the poor afflicted mourner, was true gospel faith, that he was looking forward with a certain assurance, that this his kinsman Redeemer should stand at the latter day upon the earth. Here are clearly included all the grand parts of the gospel. It points to JESUS in his human nature; in his incarnation. It points to JESUS in his crucifixion, that he who once did stand upon the earth in substance of our flesh; and was crucified, dead, and buried, is the very one who shall stand again at the latter day upon the earth. It points to the resurrection, in that it implies the grave was not able to retain him. It points to his ascension, and return at the right hand of power; because without this his redemption, power, and complete work had not been manifested. And it as fully points to his universal judgment, because this forms a grand part in the work of redemption. So vast therefore a subject of faith and hope, was included in this part of Job’s knowledge of his kinsman-Redeemer. Seventhly. Job’s confidence in the resurrection of the body, by virtue of his interest in this goel-Redeemer. Nothing can be more strongly asserted, than the Patriarch expresseth it. ‘Though after my skin worms destroy this body.’ And what body so miserable as Job’s with sore boils, which made him loathsome to himself and all that saw him? Yet, saith Job, in this very body shall I see him, and mine eyes shall see him for myself and not another for me. Sweet thought also, Reader! The raised bodies of believers will not only see JESUS for themselves, but they will see JESUS in their flesh. GOD in flesh, in their own nature. Oh! the glorious, inexpressibly glorious consideration!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 19:25 For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:
Ver. 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth ] Clarissima fidei confessio, saith Brentius, A most famous confession of his faith. Brevis et longa, totaque aurea, est haec apologia, saith another, This is Job’s short and yet long apology, but golden all over, and such as hath fulness of matter in fewness of words. Calvin and Mercer ( viri alioqui iudiciosissimi ) are mistaken here, when, following the Rabbis, they interpret this text as a temporal restoration of Job to such an estate of honour and riches as he had enjoyed in the former part of his life; this they call Job’s resurrection and redemption, &c. But his thoughts soared higher than so. “I know,” saith he; it is as if he should say, You take yourselves to be the only knowing men, and as for me, Bildad hath set me among such as know not God, Job 18:21 . But hereby I know that I know him, 1Jn 2:3 , because I know him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ, Joh 17:3 , not only as a redeemer, but as “my redeemer,” by a particular application of him to myself, which is the very pith and form of faith. This great mystery of godliness I know, whatever else I am ignorant of; and I know it savingly, because I am secure in my interest in Christ, my kinsman and redeemer; and, therefore, I am no hypocrite or wicked man, as you would make me. Were it not for this word of possession (mine), the worst man alive, nay, the devil, might say as Job here doth; yea, repeat all the Articles of the Creed to as good purpose as he; but that which tormenteth the devil is, he can say “my” to never a one of them. I know, said Job, when condemned for a hypocrite, that Christ is my redeemer, and that this my redeemer liveth for ever, and is for ever mine. So Dr Taylor, martyr, when condemned for a heretic, subscribed his last will and testament in these words, Rowland Taylor, departing hence in a sure hope, without all doubting of a glorious resurrection, I thank God, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, my certain Saviour (Acts and Mon.).
And that he shall stand
At the latter day
Upon the earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
know. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, to include all the effects of knowing.
Redeemer = next of kin. Hebrew. go’el. See notes on Exo 6:6, and compare Rth 2:20; Rth 4:1, Rth 4:3, Rth 4:6. Isa 59:20.
earth = dust of [the earth].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 19:25
Job 19:25
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that at last, he shall stand upon the earth.”
The importance of this verse justifies a glance at the way different versions have rendered it.
“I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” – KJV
“I know that my redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth.” – RSV.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.” – the New RSV.
“For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth.” – Douay.
“Still, I know One to champion me at last, to stand up for me on earth.” – Moffatt.
“I know there is someone to defend me. I know he lives! And in the end he will stand here on the earth.” – NIV.
“But I know that my vindicator liveth, and that hereafter he will stand upon the dust.” – S. R. Driver in International Critical Commentary.
All of these seven additional versions say everything that is affirmed in the one we follow, namely, the American Standard Version. Even some who did not capitalize the reference to the Redeemer, nevertheless place him in heaven, or place his appearance “in the end” “at last,” or “in the latter day,” any one of which words makes that `someone’ undeniably a supernatural person.
There are epic corollaries that automatically spin off from these words: (1) Since Job visualizes his vindication as coming in the “last day,” he believed in the resurrection of the dead. The critical canard that the resurrection is “a late Jewish doctrine” is not true. Even Abraham believed in the resurrection of the dead (Heb 11:19). (2) The doctrine of the Incarnation is also inherent in the revelation that, “The Redeemer,” that “someone,” that heavenly Person shall “Stand”! upon the earth. (3) God’s interest in his human creation is yet another. “There is a Redeemer provided for fallen man.” (4) Yet again, the ultimate victory of Christ over all his enemies is inherent in these glorious words. “And He shall stand upon the earth (the dust, literally).” And what is that dust? All of the enemies of Christ shall at last be as dust under his feet. “He shall stand”! This means his word shall stand; his authority shall stand; his name shall stand. (5) There is also the corollary of the Redeemer’s eternity in this. Job said, “He lives.” But he will also be there, at “the latter day,” “in the end,” etc. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb 13:8).
Who is this Redeemer which Job mentioned here? Only a fool could miss his identity.
“In Job 9:33, Job had already mentioned an Umpire between himself and God, who certainly could not have been any other than a Divine Person; and in 16:19 he declared his conviction that `His Witness’ is in heaven; and in Job 5:16-21 he mentioned an Advocate who would plead his case with God. Thus, prior to the glorious climax reached in these verses, Job had already recognized God as his Judge, his Witness, his Advocate, and his Surety, in some of these passages by formal announcement of the fact, and in others by his earnest longing for, and anticipation of, Someone who would act in such capacities.” After all this, what kind of simpleton could wonder whom he meant by “MY REDEEMER” in Job 19:25?
Another question which demands our attention here is this: “By what means did Job come to have possession of such epic Truth as that which shines in these verses”? We reject out of hand the supposition that, “It seems probable that we have in this passage another one of Job’s statements in which he seems to be feeling toward immortality.” No! A thousand times, No! If all Job was doing was “feeling his way” toward some great understanding of Truth, his words here are not worth the paper they are written on.
As laid out in our Introduction to this book, “Job was under the impulse of the Blessed Spirit.” As Adam Clarke accurately stated it, “There is one principle, without which no interpretation (of this passage) can have any weight; and that principle is this: Job was now under the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and spoke prophetically.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 19:25. There are several words in this verse that should receive a critical examination in order the better to understand and appreciate the noted passage. Redeemer is from GAWAL and is defined as follows: “A primitive root, to redeem (according to the Oriental law of kinship), i.e. to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative’s property, marry his widow, etc.)”–Strong. Liveth is from CHAY and the definition of Strong that pertains to our use is, “Alive . . . strong . . . life (or living thing).” Stand is from QUWM and Strong’s definition is, “A primitive root; to rise (in various applications, literally, figuratively, Intensively and causatively.” Young defines it, “To rise up; be established; stand firm.” It has no reference to the posture or condition of the body. The verse then means that Job’s bondage to affliction will be lifted from him and all of the hopes of final deliverance from this world of decay and suffering will be realized. The “nearest of kin” is the divine One who has power to redeem and he will show that he has such power over the things of earthly decay by bringing them out of their “bondage of corruption” [Rom 8:21] at the resurrection of the “latter day.”
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
redeemer
Heb. “goel,” Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield “Isa 59:20”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I Know that my Redeemer Liveth
But I know that my redeemer liveth,
And that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth:
And after my skin hath been thus destroyed,
Yet from my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself,
And mine eyes shall behold, and not another.
My reins are consumed within me.
Job 19:25-27.
1. The author of this book was a poet who felt the iron of suffering pass deeply into his own soul, and had been driven by the cold consolations of well-meaning, though unsympathetic, friends into open revolt against the God of popular imagination. He has fought his way through despair and doubt, if not to clear light on the problem of suffering, yet to a freer and nobler faith in the living God. And in the poem he has opened his heart, and spoken out all the feelings that passed through his soul in his agony of grief, till he found rest again in God.
2. The hero of the poem is depicted as suffering under the load of accumulated sorrows, until he regards death as the only possible release from trouble. Again and again Job returns, fascinated, to this thought. But as he gazes into the misty depths of Sheol, the horror of death seizes him. The place of the dead is
a land of darkness and murk,
A land of thick darkness and chaos,
Where the light itself is like pitch.
It is a land, too, whence there is no return. Therefore in Sheol Job can no longer hope to see the vindication of his rights, but must go down to posterity as a godless man. The thought is intolerable, and he revolts against it. The first gleam of a hope beyond breaks from ch. 14a passage of almost midnight gloom. Job is mourning over mans brief and troublous life and swift, untimely end. There is hope of the tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again. Its root may be old and decayed, and its stock cut down to the ground; yet at the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a fresh, young plant.
But man dieth, and is laid in the dust;
He yieldeth his breath, and is gone.
As the waters fail from the sea,
And the river dries up and is vanished,
Till the heavens be no more, he shall not awake,
Nor be roused out of his sleep.
But the hope of the tree suggests to the despairing soul a possible hope for man as well. If man too may die and live again, God may perchance bring him down to Sheol, to hide him there till His wrath is past, and then appoint him a set time and remember him. If he could only entertain this hope, he should wait patiently, and endure the cruellest pains, all the days of his warfare, till his release came; and when at last God called, he would answer joyfully, and forget the misery of the past in the bliss of his new life with God. It is a hope, however, too high for him to grasp; and he is plunged into deeper darkness than before.
The waters wear the stones,
The floods wash off the dust;
So Thou destroyest mans hope
He sleepeth, and riseth no more.
Thou prevailest against him for ever;
Thou changest his face, and dost banish him.
And the lot of the dead man in Sheol is utterly miserable. He knows nothing more of what passes in this upper sphere. He cannot follow the fortunes even of his dearest ones.
His sons are honoured, but he knoweth it not;
They are brought low, but he marketh it not.
Nor is the sleep of the dead unbroken rest. He sleepsperchance to dream! Though he knows nothing of his friends on earth.
Yet his own flesh hath pain,
And his own soul mourneth.
The sorely wounded sufferer seeks to move his friends to pity by the spectacle of all his accumulated woes: his glory stripped away, his hope plucked up by the root, his path enshrouded in darkness, his dearest friends estranged from him, and no one to hear his cry and bring him redress, for it is God that hath subverted his rights. But the friends are cold and pitiless as God Himself. In his despair Job turns for his vindication to posterity. If only he could write his defence in a book, or engrave it on the rock with iron stylus and beaten lead, future generations would read it, and judge justly, and attest his righteousness. But the record on the rocks is impossible. Thus he turns once more to his Witness in heaven.
But I know that my Goel liveth,
And as Afterman on my dust
He will stand as Witness before me,
And lift up His voice in my cause.
Then God shall I see in spirit,
Mine own eyes will look on His face;
No more estranged shall I see Him.
My reins are consumed at the thought.1 [Note: A. R. Gordon, The Poets of the Old Testament, 204.]
It has been wisely said that there is a Gethsemane in every noble life. Sometimes our path seems like a lane full of windings, where steep banks shut out light and air. But if we look up, we can never fail to see the fair blue hills of our Land of Promise rising high against the sky. The thorny wreath is sharp, but we shall exchange it by and by for that crown of glory which fadeth not away. Christs crown of thorns broke into blossom long ago, and its sweet odours of healing float through our daily lives, and are wafted over the earth by every wind that blows. So shall our sorrows burst into bloom, if only we are patient, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. The sweetness and sanctity of the Christian life lie in the firm conviction that a gentle, unfaltering, though invisible hand is weaving for us that crown of thorns which we are bidden to wear.2 [Note: Henry White.]
We reach here the Mont Blanc of this poem of poems; the highest range tracked by this inspired and victorious hero. There in his Gethsemane he triumphs. From that moment the prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in him out of which he can extract a ray of hope for his attacks. When the cup, charged to the full with bitterness, is in the sufferers hand, and he is ready to say, If possible let it pass on to another, an access of power arrives, enabling him to hold it with a firm grasp, and say, Not my will, but Thine, O living Redeemer, shall be done. I am convinced of the blessedness of the final issue. I am content. I am victorious.1 [Note: J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, 308.]
An interesting analogue to Jobs solution of the problem may be found in Sophocles ripest tragedies. schylus had regarded misfortune as the penalty paid for wrong-doing, with the view of working out the sinners moral discipline. On the other hand, Sophocles views suffering sub specie aeternitatis, in the light of the eternal harmony of things. Thus the grievous sorrows Philoctetes had to bear are conceived to have been laid upon him by the care of one of the gods, that he might be held in reserve, and braced in character, for his appointed task in the overthrow of Troy; and when Heracles at length reveals the purpose of the gods, he accepts his destiny with courage and joy. The tragedy of dipus ends in the same atmosphere of peace. The sorely-afflicted hero finds himself now reconciled to heaven, surrounded by the love of devoted children, and honoured by the friendship of kindly Athens and its chivalrous king, and gently yields his life to the touch of the gods, his destiny thus finding a perfect end. In both these dramas, then, Sophocles views the problem of human suffering with the eye of faith, and in proportion as he sets before him an ideal of an all-powerful Divinity, who is merciful, loving, and gracious, so does it become easy for him to bear patiently with the evil and suffering in the world, in the serene belief that, were mans vision wide enough, he would see joy and sorrow to be parts of one harmonious whole.2 [Note: Mrs. Adam, in Early Ideals of Righteousness, 42.]
In considering this great declaration, let us note
I.The Meaning of Jobs Words.
II.The Faith that they enshrine.
III.The Ground of Jobs Conviction.
I.
Jobs Words
In interpreting this passage we must distinguish between what it meant to Job and what it means to us who are able to turn upon it the blaze of the light of New Testament revelation, where life and immortality are brought to light in the Gospel. In thinking of Job, we must bear in mind the gloomy, hopeless doctrine of Sheol in which he had been nurtured, and which he had expressed so often. Even after the previous outburst of Job 14:13, we find him still speaking of Sheol in Job 16:22 as the place whence he shall not return. He could hardly pass suddenly from such views into the full meaning of Job 19:25 as we interpret it. And the subsequent discourses render it evident that he did not. If Job had realized all that we do in this text, the discourse would have ceased here; for this is the last word that even the New Testament can say. But we do not find any change in Jobs gloomy outlook. In fact, the third cycle is, in some respects, most pessimistic of all. Probably Job intended little more in this verse than he did in Job 14:13, that is, to express a firm conviction that God would vindicate him, and even if it should be delayed until his spirit had gone to Sheol and the flesh rotted from his bones, yet the vindication must come. God would call up his spirit from its abode of gloom, and he would answer, and would witness his vindication on the earth. But this is a germinal truth. It was intended by the Spirit of God to be so. The Old Testament prophets and sages often wrote far more profoundly than they knew. And this text was one of those which, pondered over by the saints of later days, opened up with new meaning, until it led to the brighter hopes of later Judaism, many of which received the sign-manual and royal imprimatur of the Great Master, whose life and Resurrection are here faintly foreshadowed.
Could I but see His face,
And hear His voice,
Oh! then I think
My heart would well forth love,
As from a fountain full,
And service would be my delight!
Yet if He showed His face
And spake to me,
Should I in truth
Arise to love and serve
Him as I ween? Alas!
I trust not my deceitful heart.
Een if I saw and heard
Him as I wish,
Would not dark doubts
Ere long invade my soul?
And I should wondering ask
Wast true that He appeared and spake?
Een so, my Lord, tis so;
And therefore I
Will be content,
That Thou Thyself reveal
By making strong, true, glad
My foolish, sad, inconstant heart.
And when my sinful heart
Is purified,
Made fair and fit
For Thine abode: Oh! then
My Lord, show Thou Thy face
And speak: so shall I love and serve.1 [Note: D. W. Simon in Life, by F. J. Powicke.]
1. What are we to understand by the term redeemer? We find that the word is frequently used of God as the deliverer of His people out of captivity, and also as the deliverer of individuals from distress. Among men the Goel was the nearest blood-relation, on whom it lay to perform certain offices in connexion with the deceased whose Goel he was, particularly to avenge his blood, if he had been unjustly slain. Job here means God is his Goel. The passage stands in close relation with ch. Job 16:18-19, where he means God is his witness and sponsor or representative. It is probable, therefore, that there is an allusion to the Goel among menJob has in God a Goel who liveth. This Goel will vindicate his rights against the wrong both of men and of God. At the same time, this vindication is regarded less as an avenging of him, at least on others, than as a manifestation of his innocence. This manifestation can be made only by Gods appearing and showing the true relation in which Job stands to Him, and by Jobs seeing God. For his distress lay in Gods hiding His face from him, and his redemption must come through his again beholding God in peace. Thus the ideas of Goel and redeemer virtually coincide.
Whoever alters the work of my hand, says the conqueror called Sargon, destroys my constructions, pulls down the walls which I have raisedmay Asshur, Nineb, Raman and the great gods who dwell there pluck his name and seed from the land and let him sit bound at the feet of his foe. Invocation of the gods in this manner was the only resource of him who in that far past feared oblivion and knew that there was need to fear. But to a higher God, in words of broken eloquence, Job is made to commit his cause, seeing beyond the perishable world the imperishable remembrance of the Almighty. So a Hebrew poet breathed into the wandering air of the desert that brave hope which afterwards, far beyond his thought, was in Israel to be fulfilled.1 [Note: R. A. Watson, The Book of Job, 232.]
2. Job says that this redeemer liveth. The term liveth is emphatic. Job may die, but his Vindicator cannot die. The order of the world, of which Job has caught a glimpse in his own life, is eternal. Jobs cause, the truth for which he so strenuously fought, is undying; for it is the expression of an infinite life which rules above all mortal destiny. Job sets the life of his Vindicator over against his own death. It is by bearing this opposition in mind, by emphasizing the undying life of the Vindicator over against the mortality of the vindicated that we see the fulness of the hope to which Job rises at this point in his conflict.
Historical events and characters to some extent sway the hearts of men. Trafalgar and Nelson quicken every man this day to do his duty. But Nelson is dead, and Trafalgar among the things of the past. Waterloo and Wellington kindle a memory of uusurpassed British bravery, but Wellington is no more, and Waterloo is not a living force in the national life of to-day. Calvary lives because its Hero lives, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. He further says, I live, and ye shall live also. The widow says of her departed husband, Had he been alive, things would have been very different with me from what they are. The orphan says of the sainted father, Had he been alive, I should not have been compelled to ask you this favour. Faith leans on a living bosom, and draws its comfort from a living heart.2 [Note: T. Davies, Sermons, 35.]
O Thou the Lord and Maker of life and light!
Full heavy are the burdens that do weigh
Our spirits earthward, as through twilight gray
We journey to the end and rest of night;
Tho well we know to the deep inward sight,
Darkness is but Thy shadow, and the day
Where Thou art never dies, but sends its rays
Through the wide universe with restless might.
O Lord of Light, steep Thou our souls in Thee!
That when the daylight trembles into shade,
And falls the silence of mortality,
And all is done, we shall not be afraid,
But pass from light to light; from earths dull gleam
Into the very heart and heaven of our dream.1 [Note: R. Watson Gilder.]
3. Job looks for a vindication of his character, when this Redeemer standing upon his dust takes up his cause. It can scarcely be that Job has any hope of deliverance in this life. He regards himself as already on the verge of the grave: every temporal prospect has vanished. Besides, if this were his expectation, he would be abandoning his own position, and adopting that of his friends. Job then looks for a vindication beyond the grave. Does he mean that apart from his body, stripped of flesh, he will see God; or that, clothed in a new body, looking out from restored flesh, he will yet see God? The expression from my flesh, out of my flesh, is ambiguous; and we can judge of Jobs thought only from the context and general scope of the book. But when we look at these, we conclude that what Job has in view is a real spiritual vision and not a resurrection of the flesh.
This corresponds best to the whole tone and movement of his thought. For obviously, he is expecting a Divine vindication of his integrity only after he lies in the dust; and it is not likely that, with this great hope suddenly invading his mind and taking instant but full possession of it, he would at once begin to speculate on whether or not, when he had shuffled off the mortal coil in which he was entangled, he should be clothed upon with flesh in some new and higher form. Such a speculation would have been well-nigh impossible at such a time. That Job, rising from his long agony, his long inquest, to a sudden recognition of a great light of hope burning behind the dark curtains of death, and so far streaming through them as to give him courage to sustain a burden otherwise intolerable, should instantly fall into a curious speculation about in the body, or out of the body, would be contrary to all the laws which, as experience proves, govern the human mind at a crisis such as that at which he had arrived. Most probably he neither knew when, or in what form, the great deliverance for which he hoped would be vouchsafed him, nor did he curiously inquire how, or in what form, it would find him when it came. All he knew was that, somehow, after his mortal body had been destroyed, God would redeem him; but whether he would then be in a body or out of a body, he cannot tell and does not speculate.
Why does He not, as Carlyle said in his blind agony, Why does He not do more? Why does He not turn back the rolling seas of wickedness, construct a world without earthquakes, states without injustice and oppression, cities without knavery, villages without poverty and disease, homes without envy and disorder, and churches without selfishness and impuritythat is to say, why does not God make a world of puppets, and arrange everything on the principles of mechanics, making men perforce good and pure and true, as a well-made and properly-regulated watch is constructed to keep time with the sun; instead of creating man on the basis of a sovereignly free and dignifying choice, the necessity of personal virtue, the supremacy of law, the discipline of experience, and the evolution of the riches of character by trial? Take for an example of suffering and patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call them blessed which endured; ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity and merciful. Resist the diabolical sophistry which identifies a cloudless sky with an existing sun, affirms the unseen to be the non-existent, and the unhappy to be the unholy. God is love. That is His nature, the essence of His being; not an accident, an occasional emotion, or a passing mood; and therefore, He is, as Job saw and felt, the Kedeemer and Vindicator of all souls that sincerely seek Him and diligently serve Him; the guarantee that defeated and humiliated and oppressed man will be set free, and exalted to behold the triumph of eternal righteousness; and the witness that man is at present, and here in this world, scarred and defaced with evil though it be, the object of Gods pitiful sympathy, redeeming care, and constant protection.1 [Note: J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, 317.]
Why should I wish to see God better than this day?
I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,
In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass,
I find letters from God dropt in the street, and every one is signed by Gods name,
And I leave them where they are, for I know that where-soeer I go,
Others will punctually come for ever and ever.1 [Note: Walt Whitman.]
4. In spite of death Job holds that in some way he will witness his own vindication. By the phrase, mine own eyes shall behold, not those of another, he does not, of course, mean to assert that no one but himself will be cognizant of his vindication; but that, come when it may, he himself must be cognizant of it; that, even though it should come when men account him dead, he shall be alive unto God and to the action of God on his behalf.
5. Job pants for this manifestation, until he almost faints. The words my reins consume me are an exclamation, meaning, I faint. The reins are the seat of the deepest feelings and experiences, especially of those toward God. Job began with expressing his assurance that he should see God, but as he proceeds, so vivid is his hope that it becomes almost reality, the intensity of this thought creates an ecstatic condition of mind, in which the vision of God seems almost realized, and he faints in the presence of it.
There is a deep pathos in the way in which Job assures himself of his personal participation in the coming triumph of moral truth. He says, with pathetic repetition and fond emphasis, I shall see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Then, as though overcome by the glorious vision, he ejaculates, My reins are consumed within me. Parallel to this are the words of the hymn
I thirst, I faint, I die, to prove
The greatness of redeeming love,
The love of Christ to me.2 [Note: J. Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, ii. 57.]
II.
Jobs Faith
I know that my redeemer liveth. It seems clear that in expressing himself thus Job attains to the thought of a future life, a life of blessedness in the presence of God. But this is not an easy thought for him. It is new and unfamiliar and strange. It is a vision that breaks upon him for a moment and then disappears. If he could only have held it fast, if he could have planted his foot upon it, then his trouble had been gone, the mental perplexity would have disappeared, and he would have been able to rest in patience till the great vision came. But he gets only a passing glimpse of the truth; the clouds soon gather, and he is plunged back again into his fear and perplexity.
1. Job represents humanity struggling into the light of a larger faith. Great moral truths are never discovered by nations or races, but by individual men. And yet even the wisest and most forward-looking men but rarely discover a truth much in advance of the thoughts and yearnings of their own race, in their own generation. As a rule, the new truth is in the air of the time; many have some dim consciousness or presentiment of it, and are groping after it, if haply they may find it. And at last one man, one happy man, prepared for the achievement by the peculiar bent of his nature, or gifted with the vision and the faculty Divine, or driven onward by peculiar personal experiences into untrodden regions of thought, grasps the present and widely-diffused but evasive truth, and compels it into a definite and permanent form.
(1) Of this common process of discovery we probably have an illustration in the case of Job. There are many indications that, both in the patriarchal age, i.e. the time of Job himself, and in the Solomonic age, i.e. the time of the Poet to whom we owe this divina commedia, the thought of a better and more enduring life, a strictly moral life, hidden from men by the darkness of death, was in the atmosphere; that the best and highest minds were reaching after it and yearning for it. And in Job this general thought took form, this common yearning rose to articulate expression, this widespread hope became a living and vitalizing faith. His personal experience, the wrongs and calamities he endured, the doubts and conflicts these miseries bred in his heart, prepared and qualified him to become the interpreter of the general heart of his time, to discover the truth which alone could satisfy it. It was simply impossible for him, since he believed the great Ruler of men to be just and unchangeable, to conclude that the God whom he had done nothing to offend was really hostile to him, though He seemed hostile, or that He would always continue to seem hostile to him, never acknowledging his integrity. And as he had lost all hope of being redeemed and vindicated in this life, as therefore he could no longer admit the present to be a strictly retributive life, he was compelled to look for, till he discovered, a retributive life beyond the bourn. Fading out of this world, he looks for, and finds, a juster and a better world to come.
Then what this world to thee, my heart?
Its gifts nor feed thee nor can bless.
Thou hast no owners part
In all its fleetingness.
The flame, the storm, the quaking ground,
Earths joy, earths terror, nought is thine,
Thou must but hear the sound
Of the still voice divine.
O priceless art! O princely state!
Een while by sense of change opprest,
Within to antedate
Heavens Age of fearless rest.1 [Note: J. H. Newman, Verses on Various Occasions, 20.]
(2) The life of humanity on earth is exactly typified by all that part of the drama of Jobs life which lies between its prologue and its epilogue, between its supernatural beginning and its supernatural ending. Through all that long story of a manfull, as it is, of tragic interestwhat is the very sorest trial to which it has ever been subjected, to which it still is and always must be subject? It is not merely the calamities, the sorrows of life, which come to all; it is the added suffering of the mystery of these sorrows. It is the thought of the apparent carelessness and capriciousness with which the joys and the pains of existence seem to be scattered among the children of the common Father. It is that suffering in this life seems to be neither penal nor yet remedial, but seems to come, as the rains of heaven fall and the winds blow, on just and unjust alike. It is that there is so much apparent waste and gratuitous suffering, so much purely useless and purposeless agony. It is that human lives seem wasted by myriads, poured out on the earth like water, seemingly unregarded, unpitied, unaided, unrequited. Suffering humanity, wherever it still retains its faith in a Divine Lord and Ruler, is still haunted by this question: Why is it thus with us? Like Job, too, it has been sorely vexed by false comforters, would-be friends who preach and lecture and rebuke and exhort, but who cannot console, because they cannot solve that enigma with which every sufferer finds himself confronted: Why, if God is good and just, does He thus afflict me? Surely the analogy is perfect here. Humanity seems to have still the old choice presented to it: to curse God and die; or to die believing in and blessing Him, and yet with a thousand reasons why it should not believe in, why it should not bless or praise, the Being who thus seems causelessly to afflict it. And the messagethe inspired message of this type of our race to all who strive to believe in a Father, though they have no visible and sensible proof of a Fathers loveis this: Believe as I did, although such proof be lacking. Believe as I did, in spite of all the seeming disproof that you see and feel. Believe that God is your Father; believe that He willindeed, must, because He is your righteous Fatherdo for you what He has done for me. Believe that for you, too, there is an avenger; one who will yet give you victory over all that now afflicts you. Believe that you shall yet see for yourselves the loving Father who is hidden from you now. Believe that a day is coming for you when you will discover that there was a need for all you mourn under; when you will receive from your Father double for all that He has done unto you.
The throb of Thy infinite life I feel
In every beat of my heart!
Upon me hast Thou set eternitys seal!
For ever alive, as Thou art.
I know not thy mystery, O my God,
Nor yet what my own life means,
That feels after Thee, through the mould and the sod,
And the darkness that intervenes.
But I know that I live, since I hate the wrong,
The glory of truth can see;
Can cling to the right with a purpose strong,
Can love and can will with Thee.1 [Note: Lucy Larcom.]
(3) The cry of the patriarch is the utterance of the desire of humanity. But it is more; it is a prophecy; it points forward to the completed drama of another life, in which once more appears, as in this older drama, the supernatural controlling the natural. Once more we see, behind the veil of the material and the visible, the Divine power that rules and overrules all things for good. We see once more a righteous sufferer, holy, harmless, undefiled, whose whole life was spent in absolutely perfect submission to the will of his Father in Heaven, and who was yet a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and whose sorest sorrow and deepest grief sprang from the intensity of His sympathy with His sorrowing and suffering fellow-men. We see Him rejected, despised, hated of those He loved so well, dying at last a death of shame and agony, which was regarded by those who inflicted it as the just punishment for offences against the laws of His country and His God, and we hear from Him in the moment of His supremest agony just that appeal to the justice and to the love of God which suffering has wrung from the heart of the righteous sufferer in all ages: My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me?2 [Note: W. C. Magee, Christ the Light of all Scripture, 223.]
Just as science tells us that each order in creationeach successive type in the long evolution of living creaturesgives, in some rudimentary organ or function, its mute mysterious prophecy of the higher type that is to follow it, so that each type is at once a prophecy and a fulfilment of a prophecy, an accomplishment of a past foreshadowing, a foreshadowing of a coming futureso in the slow evolution of redeemed humanity, all along its course, there may be seen like tokens and prophecies of its completion; prophecies all the more real, because they are not read in words, but in facts and events; profound analogies, marvellous correspondences between what has been and what is, and again between what is and what we are told is yet to be; successive and ever clearer indications of the one great design that runs through all the ages; prophecies, as the buds are of the springas the flowers are of the summeras the dawn is of the sunrise; prophecies which are, therefore, a far weightier evidence for Christianity than any number of merely verbal predictions, because they are predictions which could not possibly have been interpolations of later date, made to fit the events after they had occurred; prophecies entirely free from questions of dates, or authorship of books, or verbal niceties of translation, because they are interwoven through the whole structure of the sacred booksnay, throughout the whole structure of human historyof human life itselfwhich they illustrate and explain. As the cross in the ground-plan of some great cathedral shows that its idea from the first must have been Christian, whereas the external cross placed upon it might have been but the afterthought of later builders; so this prophetic structure of all sacred history is in itself a far greater, a far more certain word of prophecy than any single word or words of this or that individual prophet.1 [Note: W. C. Magee, Christ the Light of all Scripture, 215.]
2. Job turned from the harsh theories of men to the mercy of a Divine Vindicator. He had expected sympathy from his friends. They were men of his own age and standing; they were religious men, men of very sincere, though perhaps of somewhat narrow, piety; and, more than that, they were wise, thoughtful, experienced men, accustomed to trace the working of God in providence and to find the principles by which His dealings with men were regulated. They were men with whom it had been the pleasure in happier days of Job to converse upon the great mysteries of human life and destiny. And these men, when they heard of their friends trouble, did not desert him. They were mindful of the claims of friendship. They knew that Job needed their help, and so they made an appointment, and rose up each man from his place, and came to see Job and to comfort him in his affliction, and sat with him there seven days and seven nights in silence, respecting the sacredness of his grief. And yet we know that these men, so good, so faithful, so promising, failed Job utterly in the hour of his trouble. He had to say that they were like a deceitful watercourse, which the travelling caravan in the desert hastens to in order that it may be refreshed with water, and finds that the water has disappeared. So they had been to him. He had waited for their coming, he had waited after they came for their speaking, and when they spoke, and when he was able to hear the thoughts that were in their hearts with regard to him, he found that they were miserable comforters, that they could give him no help. And it is just then, when he has touched this lowest depth of despair, that he comes to see how near he is to the fountain of all hope and consolation. Why should he wish this impossible wish? What good would it do him to have his words recorded and read by future generations? Ah! was it not that deep in his heart, though he hardly knew it, there was a conviction of a day of witness somewhere else than upon earth, that those thoughts and words which had passed through his mind were all known to One? And that thought now breaks through his darkness, and he leaps up to meet it with this exclamation: But I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand up at the last upon the earth. It is Jobs appeal from the sympathy of man, which was refused, to the sympathy of God, which at last he dared to claim and to trust.
Into the heaven of Thy heart, O God,
I lift up my life, like a flower;
Thy light is deep, and Thy love is broad,
And I am not the child of an hour.
As a little blossom is fed from the whole
Vast depths of unfathomed air,
Through every fibre of thought my soul
Reaches forth, in Thyself to share.
I dare to say unto Thee, my God,
Who hast made me to climb so high,
That I shall not crumble away with the clod;
I am Thine, and I cannot die!
There have been four typical notes of despair in the region of literature. The first and most intense is the voice of Omar Khayym. It is despair absolute, despair of life all round, despair whose only relief is to drown itself in wine. The second is the Book of Ecclesiastes. I would call it despair of results. It does not deny that it is a pleasant thing to see the light of the sun; it does not dispute that there is a time to dance as well as a time to weep; but it asks, What is the good of it? does it not all end in vanity? The third is the cry of Pascal. It is despair of everything finitefinite reason, finite love, finite pleasure; the only possible joy is joy in God. The fourth is that dramatic portraiture which we call the Book of Job. I would describe it as the despair of old theories. It is the least despondent of the group. It does not say that the world is bad; it does not say that life is vanity; it does not even say that finite things cannot bring joy. What it does say is that all the past theories to explain the evils of the universe have been utterly powerless to account for these evils, but none of them is fit to sustain the weight of human woes, and that all of them put together are inadequate to wipe the tear from a single eye.1 [Note: George Matheson, The Representative Men of the Bible, 350.]
3. Job turned from the God of providence to the God of his conscience. Job had no idea of a distinction in the Godhead, such as we have. This was not yet revealed to him. And what he says of his Redeemer, he says of God generally. A fuller revelation has taught us that God the Redeemer is God manifested in His Son; and what Job says here of his Redeemer standing on the dust is fulfilled in the Son. Yet this distinction, as already said, was not one known to Job. God is his Redeemer. In the next verse he himself explains this to be his meaning: I shall see God. He shall vindicate him against the wrongs which he suffers, against the suspicions of men, against the aspersions of Satan; yes, and against another thingagainst the hardships that have fallen upon him from the general providence of God, where evil and disease and death are now elements of the current of events.
One of the most singular positions into which Job is driven by the riddles of his history is this: he divides God into two. One God, the God of outer providence, who rules, and whom events obey, persecutes him, holds him guilty, and refuses, with ears obdurately closed, to listen to the appeals of His creature for a hearing and an adjudication: Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come unto his place! I would fill my mouth with arguments. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? But behind all this is a God who knows his innocence, a heart conscious of his rectitude: My witness is in heaven, and he who can bear testimony to me is on high. And the suffering saint appeals to the one against the other, from the providence of God to the heart of God, from the Ruler of the universe to the gracious Redeemer: Mine eye poureth out tears unto God; that he would maintain the right of a man with God, and of a son of man with his neighbour!
There are strange riddles in life, strange mysteries of providence, irreconcilable with our ideas of Godthe miseries of the just, early deaths, earthquakes and shipwrecks swallowing up innumerable lives. Our spirits are bounded by iron walls on every side, cabined and confined; and we are mostly content to have it so. We are so familiar now with mystery that we are scarcely stirred by the most appalling occurrences; we are so used to the inexplicable, and so absorbed in what is around us, that the narrow limits of our knowledge hardly trouble us. But to an eagle spirit like Jobs this caging was unbearable; and he spread his wings and dashed himself against the bars of his cage demanding knowledgeresolved to come even unto Gods place, and pluck out the mystery from the darkness; demanding that the events of Gods providence should be made to correspond with this idea of God, and sure that if he know not now he shall know hereafter, when God will descend from the heavens, and stand upon the earth, to unravel the mysteries of his life here, and to proclaim his innocence and God-fearing way.1 [Note: A. B. Davidson, Waiting upon God, 86.]
Wherever a landscape-painter is placed, if he paints faithfully, he will have continually to paint effects of mist. Intense clearness, whether in the North after or before rain, or in some moments of twilight in the South, is always, as far as I am acquainted with natural phenomena, a notable thing. Mist of some sort, or mirage, or confusion of light, or of cloud, are the general facts; the distance may vary in different climates at which the effects of mist begin, but they are always present; and therefore in all probability it is meant that we should enjoy them. Nor does it seem to me in any wise difficult to understand why they should be thus appointed for enjoyment. In former parts of this work we were able to trace a certain delightfulness in every visible feature of natural things which was typical of any great spiritual truth; surely, therefore, we need not wonder now that mist and all its phenomena have been made delightful to us, since our happiness as thinking beings must depend on our being content to accept only partial knowledge, even in those matters which chiefly concern us. If we insist upon perfect intelligibility and complete declaration in every moral subject, we shall instantly fall into misery of unbelief. Our whole happiness and power of energetic action depend upon our being able to breathe and live in the cloud; content to see it opening here and closing there; rejoicing to catch, through the thinnest films of it, glimpses of stable and substantial things; but yet perceiving a nobleness even in the concealment, and rejoicing that the kindly veil is spread where the untempered light might have scorched us, or the infinite clearness wearied.1 [Note: Ruskin, Modern Painters (Works, vi. 89).]
Only the Dark! Only the Mystery!
He said. Only beyond, above, before!
OnlyO Captives of the wave-walled shore!
Only the incommensurable sea!
Only, for eyes that all too wisely see
The sun at midday, and are blind therefore,
Only the Darkwhere, lambent to the core,
Gyre the great stars deepening galaxy!
Only of ignorance the ancient wrong;
Only of life the viewless counterpart;
Only of truth the secret undivined;
Onlynew ranges for the feet of song,
New loves of the inextinguishable heart,
New powers of the imperishable mind!2 [Note: George Cabot Lodge, The Noctambulist (Poems and Dramas, ii. 154).]
4. Job turns from the present to the future, from his present misery and perplexity to a coming vindication. For, after all, as Job would have said to himself, this horrid confusion and contradiction must come to an end. There are not two Gods. The God who deals with me so harshly in providence and the God who speaks to me in my heart are one Being, and He must make His ways plain; He must reveal Himself, and declare Himself to be upon my side. Where that will take place, or how, or in what state of being, or whether in the body or out of the body, Job could not have told; but somehow and somewhere in the future God will be seen, God will vindicate his case, and Job will be there to see Him.
God is better to us than our best desires, and gives a larger blessing than our fullest prayers. The incised rock and molten lead are not to hand, but a place is given to the suffering preacher in that finer world of books within the world, yea, in that finest book-world of allthe Bibleso that, instead of speaking in one language, he speaks in hundreds, and where he might have reached the eyes of only a few solitary pilgrims he now addresses the hearts of myriads and shall have an increasing congregation for evermore. God is not unrighteous to forget our work of faith and labour of love, and fervency of missionary desire; but treats us with ineffable generosity, and rewards our poor and faltering work with unsearchable riches
No life is lost, no hope is vain,
No prayer without a sequent deed;
He turns all seeming loss to gain,
And finds a soil for every seed.
Some fleeting glance He doth endow,
He sanctifies some casual word,
Unconscious gifts His children show,
For all is potent with the Lord.1 [Note: J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, 323.]
III.
Jobs Conviction
1. I know. Job holds fast the living truth in his own life, and in so doing, lays fast hold of God. He will not deny the clear convictions of his spirit within him, and take refuge in the conventional platitudes of his friends. Their utterances are honoured and hoary, and sanctioned by high authority. The canons of the Fathers and the visions of the orthodox are set in array against him; and he has nothing to set against them except his consciousness of passionate sincerity and great living convictions of righteousness that have taken his life by storm, and made it their own. Yet this is enough. It is the living man, not the formulated creed, that stands nearest to God. In the truth that lived and conquered in his own life Job became assured of the living supremacy of the God that would vindicate that truth.
Jobs assurance is based on his own past experience, on his life with God, on his consciousness of being a God-fearing man, and on his ineradicable convictions in regard to the nature of God and His relations to men. Jobs circumstances cause his principle to appear in its barest form: the human spirit is conscious of fellowship with God, and this fellowship, from the nature of God, is a thing imperishable, and, in spite of obscurations, it must yet be fully manifested by God. This principle, grasped with convulsive earnestness in the prospect of death, became the Hebrew doctrine of immortality. This doctrine was but the necessary corollary of religion. In this life on earth the true relations of men and God were felt to be realized; and the Hebrew faith of immortalitynever a belief in the mere existence of the soul after death, for the lowest popular superstition assumed thiswas a faith that the dark and mysterious event of death should not interrupt the life of the person with God enjoyed in this world.1 [Note: A. B. Davidson, Job, 293.]
You cannot miss the ring of conviction in the mans speech. It resounds in every line, and fills the air with its thrilling music. He says what he knows. He believes, and therefore speaks. It is the grand outleap of his whole soul in emphatic declaration, defiant faith, and fearless appeal, rising with the aspiration of a flame, the beneficence of a fountain, and the certainty of unclouded midday sunshine. I know. It is not desire or caprice, wish or will, faith or hope, but unwavering, absolute knowledge, whose voice arrests our listening ear, and directs our expectant thought.2 [Note: J. Clifford, Daily Strength for Daily Living, 312.]
By Reason the limits of the finite may be transcended in knowledge, as for the dying saint they are in practice, and men may be certain that, could they comprehend as God comprehends, they should see the Eternal made manifest through the fleeting shadows of time. For there is but one Single Subject within which all knowledge and all reality fall. With and in that Single Subject philosophy and faith alike assure us that we are one. And so when his simple creed, pictorial, it may be, but symbolical of the deeper meaning of reality, bids the humblest soul in his greatest and last extremity be assured that his Redeemer liveth, it may be that there has come to him an insight in form only different from that of the profoundest thinker.3 [Note: Lord Haldane, The Pathway to Reality.]
Jesus my Redeemer lives,
Christ my trust is dead no more;
In the strength this knowledge gives
Shall not all my fears be oer,
Though the night of Death be fraught
Still with many an anxious thought?
Jesus my Redeemer lives,
And His life I once shall see;
Bright the hope this promise gives,
Where He is I too shall be.
Shall I fear then? Can the Head
Rise and leave the members dead?
Close to Him my soul is bound
In the bonds of Hope enclaspd;
Faiths strong hand this hold hath found,
And the Rock hath firmly graspd;
And no ban of death can part
From our Lord the trusting heart.1 [Note: Lyra Germanica, 93.]
Starting with the existence of an all-strong, all-wise, and all-loving God, Browning endeavours to prove the doctrine of a future life by pointing to the incompleteness of the present one. Infinite wisdom united with Omnipotence cannot make anything imperfect; but man in his earthly life is imperfect; therefore that life can only be a part of a scheme which is as yet unrevealed in its entirety:
I search but cannot see
What purpose serves the soul that strives, or world it tries
Conclusions with, unless the fruit of victories
Stay one and all stored-up and guaranteed its own
For ever!
If it be answered that, for all we know, the life of humanity as a whole, in its gradual development towards an as yet unconceived end, may be perfect in itself, without the need of a future life for individuals, Browning would rejoin that in the temple which God builds, not merely the edifice itself, but every separate stone composing it, must be without spot or blemish; for He is not subject to human limitations, and need not sacrifice the part to the whole. Consequently, Browning believed that if the individuals earthly life can be shown to be incomplete, the existence of Heaven is proved.2 [Note: A. C. Pigou, Robert Browning as a Religious Teacher, 55.]
2. Job reached his conviction by the painful path of suffering. As we look back upon the history, and as we read the book, we can see in what way Job was a gainer by his discipline. And we find it in these verses if we find it in any part of the book. It was just this, that he had learned a new view of God. He had learned a great new truth. He had not perhaps been able to grasp it as fully as he would afterwards, but it had dawned upon him, this thought of God as a Father and a God who would reveal Himself more fully in a future life; and the words that were wrung from him in that hour of his deepest trouble were put here for the admonition of all the ages; and saints of God who came after him, and followed sympathetically his history and his words, saw there a new light, a light that was strange to them, as it was to him, a light upon the far-distant horizon that cheered their souls through those dark ages that were to elapse until the coming of Christ. The dim and uncertain light led them on till at last the Sun of Righteousness came, bringing life and immortality to light.
On any morning of the year, how many pious supplications, do you suppose, are uttered throughout educated Europe for light? How many lips at least pronounce the word, and, perhaps, in the plurality of instances, with some distinct idea attached to it? It is true the speakers employ it only as a metaphor. But why is their language thus metaphorical? If they mean merely to ask for spiritual knowledge or guidance, why not say so plainly, instead of using this jaded figure of speech? No boy goes to his father when he wants, to be taught, or helped, and asks his father to give him light. He asks what he wantsadvice or protection. Why are not we also content to ask our Father for what we want, in plain English?
The metaphor, you will answer, is put into our mouths, and felt to be a beautiful and necessary one.
But why is the metaphor so necessary, or, rather, how far is it a metaphor at all? Do you think the words Light of the World mean only Teacher or Guide of the World? When the Sun of Justice is said to rise with health in its wings, do you suppose the image only means the correction of error? Or does it even mean so much? The Light of Heaven is needed to do that perfectly. But what we are to pray for is the Light of the World; nay, the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
You will find that it is no metaphornor has it ever been so.
To the Persian, the Greek, and the Christian, the sense of the power of the God of Light has been one and the Bame. That power is not merely in teaching or protecting, but in the enforcement of purity of body, and of equity or justice in the heart; and this, observe, not heavenly purity, nor final justice; but, now, and here, actual purity in the midst of the worlds foulness,practical justice in the midst of the worlds iniquity. And the physical strength of the organ of sightthe physical purity of the flesh, the actual love of sweet light and stainless colourare the necessary signs, real, inevitable, and visible, of the prevailing presence, with any nation, or in any house, of the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.1 [Note: Ruskin, The Eagles Nest (Works, xxii. 203).]
Without, as I heard the wild winds roar,
And saw the black clouds their floods outpour,
As the lightnings flashed,
And the thunders crashed,
And the hurricanes force waxed more and more,
I said, as I looked from my window warm,
Heaven never on me send such a storm!
Then came a dark day, when fierce and fast,
Down fell on my head the blinding blast!
Yet tho sore assailed,
I nor shrank nor quailed,
For tho loud the gale raged, as twould rage its last,
The struggle I waged, as I journeyed on,
A woke in me powers before unknown!
I felt my hot blood a-tingling flow;
With thrill of the fight my soul did glow;
And when, braced and pure,
I emerged secure
From the strife that had tried my courage so,
I said, Let Heaven send me or sun or rain,
Ill never know flinching fear again2 [Note: Thomas Crawford, Horae Serenae, 17.]
Be content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him, holding His right hand fast; for He knoweth all the fords. Be not afraid, therefore, when you come to the black and swelling river of death, to put in your feet and wade after Him. The death and resurrection of the Son of God are stepping-stones and a stay to you; set down your feet by faith upon these stones, and go through as on dry land.3 [Note: Samuel Rutherford.]
Literature
Clifford (J.), Daily Strength for Daily Living, 305.
Davidson (A. B.), Waiting upon God, 79.
Davies (T.), Sermons and Homiletical Expositions, 30.
Lockyer (T. F.), Seeking a Country, 41.
Magee (W. C.), Christ the Light of all Scripture, 207.
Metcalf (R.), The Abiding Memory, 77.
Price (A. C.), Fifty Sermons, xi. 209.
Ramage (W.), Sermons, 245.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, 1st Ser., 147.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, ix. (1863), No. 504; l. (1904), No. 2909.
Stone (H. E.), From Behind the Veil, 89.
Thomas (J.), Myrtle Street Pulpit, ii. 49.
Christian World Pulpit, xxx. 188 (Johnson), 345 (Boardman).
Churchmans Pulpit: Easter Day and Season, vii. 294 (Keble).
Homiletic Review, New Ser., xvi. 358 (Davis).
Sermon Year Book, ii. 48 (Skinner).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
I know: Job 33:23, Job 33:24, Psa 19:14, Isa 54:5, Isa 59:20, Isa 59:21, Eph 1:7
he shall: Gen 3:15, Gen 22:18, Joh 5:22-29, Jud 1:14
Reciprocal: Num 24:17 – I shall see him Deu 31:29 – the latter days Jos 2:9 – I know Rth 2:20 – one of our 2Sa 22:47 – Lord Job 13:15 – he slay me Job 14:12 – till the heavens Job 14:14 – shall he live Psa 138:7 – Though I walk Pro 14:32 – the righteous Isa 2:2 – in the last Isa 30:8 – the time to come Isa 41:14 – saith Jer 48:47 – in the latter Dan 12:2 – many Hos 13:14 – ransom Mat 22:29 – not Mar 12:24 – because Joh 5:28 – for Joh 11:25 – he that Act 2:27 – to see Act 24:15 – that Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 5:2 – and rejoice 2Co 5:1 – we know 1Th 1:10 – wait 1Th 4:13 – which have Tit 2:13 – the glorious Heb 9:27 – but Heb 11:13 – but 1Pe 1:5 – in Rev 1:18 – that liveth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
MY LIVING REDEEMER
I know that my Redeemer liveth.
Job 19:25
I. The office describedthe Redeemer. He redeems from wrath and sin and the grave.
II. The life declared.The Redeemer livethis the Living One; and though He died once, He lives again, and has the power of an endless life.
III. The interest claimed.My Redeemer, Who remembered me in my lost estateWho gave Himself for me, a ransom for my soulWho has delivered me in part, and in Whom I trust that He will yet deliver.
IV. The knowledge possessed.I know from the testimony of a well-accredited Revelation, and on the ground of my own experience. He that believeth hath the witness in himself.
V. The seasons when the thought of this is especially appropriate.
(a) On the return of the Lords Day. The early Christians were wont to salute one another on the first day of the week with The Lord is risen.
(b) In seasons of painful bereavement. My child is deadmy husband is deadmy friend is deadbut I know that my Redeemer liveth.
Illustration
To say I hope so, I trust so is comfortable; and there are thousands in the fold of Jesus who hardly ever get much further. But to reach the essence of consolation you must say I know. Ifs, buts, and perhapses are sure murderers of peace and comfort. Doubts are dreary things in times of sorrow. Like wasps they sting the soul! If I have any suspicion that Christ is not mine, then there is vinegar mingled with the gall of death; but if I know that Jesus lives for me, then darkness is not dark; even the night is light about me. Surely if Job, in those ages before the coming and advent of Christ, could say, I know, we should not speak less positively. God forbid that our positiveness should be presumption. Let us see that our evidences are right, lest we build upon an ungrounded hope; and then let us not be satisfied with the mere foundation, for it is from the upper rooms that we get the widest prospect. A living Redeemer, truly mine, is joy unspeakable.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 19:25. For I know, &c. Job proceeds now to assign the reason of his confidence in the goodness of his cause, and of his willingness to have the matter depending between him and his friends published and submitted to any trial. I know that my Redeemer liveth I have no knowledge, nor confidence, nor hope of being restored to the prosperities of this life; yet this one thing I know, which is much more comfortable and considerable, and therein I rejoice, though I be now a dying man, and in a desperate condition for this life; I know that I have a living and powerful Redeemer to plead my cause, and vindicate my person from all severe and unjust censures, and to give sentence for me: a Redeemer, whom I call mine, because I have a particular interest in him, and he hath a particular care of me. Hebrew, , jadangti goali chai, I know my living Redeemer; that is, My Redeemer is living, is now living, and I know him: I am acquainted, truly, experimentally, and savingly acquainted with him, because he hath revealed himself to me, and hath given me an understanding to know him. Remember, reader, this knowledge of him, this acquaintance with him, is absolutely necessary to thy salvation. But what Redeemer, and what deliverance, does Job speak of in this and the two following verses? Answer: Some late interpreters understand this passage metaphorically, of Gods delivering Job out of his afflictions and troubles, and restoring him to his former splendour and happiness in this world; it being, they say, a usual thing in Scripture, to call eminent dangers and calamities death, and great and glorious deliverances a quickening or resurrection. But most interpreters, both ancient and modern, understand it of Christ, and of his resurrection, and of Jobs resurrection to life by his power and goodness. And this seems most probable, for many reasons: 1st, Because a proper and literal interpretation of any passage of Scripture is always to be preferred before the metaphorical, where it suits with the text and with other passages. 2d, Because the Hebrew word, , goel, here used, although sometimes used of God, absolutely or essentially considered, yet most properly agrees to Jesus Christ: for this word is primarily spoken of the next kinsman, whose office it was to redeem, by a price paid, the sold or mortgaged estate of his deceased kinsman, Lev 25:25; and to revenge his death, Num 35:12, and to maintain his name and honour by raising up a seed to him, Deu 25:5. All which most fitly agrees to Christ, who is our nearest kinsman and brother, as having taken our nature upon him, Heb 2:11; who hath redeemed that everlasting inheritance which our first parents had utterly lost, by the price of his own blood; and hath revenged the death of mankind upon the contriver of it, the devil, by destroying him and his kingdom; and hath taken a course to preserve our name, and honour, and persons, to eternity. 3d, Because Job was so far from having a firm confidence, such as is here expressed, that he had not the least degree of hope of any such temporal restoration as that which his friends promised him, as we have often observed in his former discourses, as Job 16:22; Job 17:12-13. And, therefore, that hope which every righteous man hath in his death, and which Job often professes that he had, must necessarily have been fixed on his happiness in a future life. 4th, Because this is a more lofty and spiritual strain than any in Jobs former discourses; which generally savour of dejection and diffidence, and either declare or increase his grief; whereas, this puts him into another and much better temper. And, therefore, it is well observed, that after he uttered these expressions we meet not with any such impatient or despairing passages as we had before, which shows that he was now inspired with new life and comfort. 5th, Because this well agrees with several other passages in this book; wherein Job declares that, although he had no hope as to this life, and the comforts thereof, yet he had a hope beyond death, which made him profess, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, Job 13:15. Trust in him for what? Surely, for comfort and happiness. Where? Not in this life, for that he supposes to be lost; therefore it must have been in the next life. And this was one reason why he so vehemently desired death, because he knew it would bring him unto God, and unto true felicity. And this his hope and confidence in God, and in his favour to him, Job opposes to those foul and false aspersions which his friends had cast upon him, as if he had forsaken God, and cast off all fear of him, and hope in him. But it is objected, How is it credible, that Job, in those ancient times, and in that dark state of the church, should know these great mysteries of Christs incarnation, and of the resurrection and life to come? Answer, 1st, The mystery of the Messiahs incarnation was revealed to Adam by that first and noted promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head, Gen 3:15; which, being the only foundation of his hopes, for the recovery and salvation of himself and of all his posterity, he would doubtless carefully and diligently explain, as need required, to those that descended from him. 2d, That the ancient patriarchs and prophets were generally acquainted with these doctrines is undeniably evident, from Hebrews 11. and 1Pe 1:9-12. 3d, Particularly Abraham, from whom Job is supposed to have descended, had the promise made to him, that Christ should come out of his loins, Gen 12:3; and is said to have seen Christs day, and to have rejoiced to see it, Joh 8:56; and had his hopes and desires fixed upon a divine and heavenly city and country, Heb 11:10; Heb 11:16. And as Abraham knew and believed these things himself, so it is manifest that he taught them to his children and servants, Gen 18:19, and to his kindred and others, as he had occasion; and, therefore, it cannot seem strange that Job professes his faith and hope in these things.
That my Redeemer liveth I am a dying man, and my hopes as to this life are dying, but he liveth, and that for ever; and, therefore, though I die, yet he both can and will make me to live again in due time, though not in this world, yet in the other, which is much better. And, though I am now highly censured and condemned by my friends as a great dissembler and secret sinner, whom Gods hand hath found out; yet there is a day coming wherein my cause shall be pleaded, and my name and honour vindicated from all these reproaches, and my integrity brought to light. And that he shall stand in the latter day In the days of the Messiah, or of the gospel, which are often called the latter or last days, or times, as Isa 2:2; Hos 3:5; Joe 2:28; compared with Act 2:17; 1Ti 4:1; and 2Ti 3:1; Heb 1:1. Or at the day of the general resurrection and judgment, which, as those holy patriarchs well knew, and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the world; for this was the time when Jobs resurrection, of which he here speaks, was to take place. So that, in these words, Job may either be considered as professing his faith in the incarnation of the Messiah; that, as certainly as he then lived, as God was in existence, and had been from eternity, he should, in due time, be made man, and stand in human nature upon the earth: or, that he should rise out of the dust, and stand up the first-fruits of them that sleep, by his resurrection. Or he may refer to the day of general resurrection and final judgment, which, as those holy patriarchs well knew and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the world; and which is often termed the last day: see Joh 6:39-54; Joh 11:24; Joh 12:48; 1Pe 1:5. Then shall Christ appear and stand upon the earth, or dust, as , gnaphar, properly means; namely, the dust in which his saints and members lie or sleep, whom he will raise up out of it. And therefore he is fitly said to stand upon the dust, or the grave, or death; because then he will subdue and put that, among other enemies, under his feet, as it is expressed 1Co 15:25 : or, as the Hebrew, , vaacharon gnal gnaphar jakum, may properly be rendered, The last, or he, the last, shall arise, or stand up against the dust, and fight with it, and rescue the bodies of the saints, which are held in it as prisoners, from its dominion and territories.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:25 For I know [that] my {q} redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:
(q) I do not so justify myself before the world, but I know that I will come before the great judge who will be my deliverer and Saviour.