Job 17:1–12

A man might plead for his neighbour or friend. But Job felt there was no one to step in between God and himself, and he could only expect a short time before his end. His breath was corrupt and the grave ready for him, as he stated in the first verse of Job 17. We probably have little idea of the extreme, long-lasting bodily corruption and misery he had been enduring.

Job 17 carries on the same line as the close of Job 16. Job speaks of what he naturally could not help expecting under such a weight of overwhelming blows and piercing stabs. His spirit was broken, the light of his days gone out, the graves before him... But others take the sense to be a form of assertion: "Truly mockery is with me." That is, it refers to their effort to make him, a dying man, confess what he knew had no basis. It existed only in their evil suspicions.

Death has marked him. His very breath declares the corruption the grave waits for — and "friends" stand by and mock!

"Are there not mockers with me?" — surely there were three of them... If that was the case with these three men who had been his friends, what was the feeling of all the people round about who knew? You may depend on it, it would be quite as bad as that of the three friends, or worse. We must not think it was limited to them. It is the natural conclusion of the natural mind, working on the thought that God's moral government is exact now. Such a mind does not know that God, on the contrary, is waiting for His direct government, when Christ shall rule. He alone is able to hold the reins and govern.

Nothing could test a man more completely than that. A bad conscience would have shrunk from death, since death strips away every disguise and means ruin to the soul. Job did the opposite. His earnest desire to depart and be with God proved not only that he was real, but also what state his conscience was in. We see his confidence in God, even while he spreads out his sorrows with no other thought before him than death.

But the very fact that Job longs for such an intercessor shows the faith hidden in his soul. That faith will soon say, "I know that my Redeemer lives." Meanwhile he looks down to the grave, without a pause for God to speak to him.

His language may often seem in words to come close to that of Christ in the Psalms. In truth it stands in contrast with His perfection. For He always remained in the love of His Father. He never failed to justify His God, even when abandoned by Him on the cross. Job was never abandoned like that, and neither was any other servant of His who ever lived... We see serious inconsistency not in Christ but in Job. Yet Job had real integrity and unselfishness, whatever his friends or Satan said.

He is marked for death. His very breath announces the decay for which the grave stands open — and "friends" stand by and mock!

His distress was so extreme that the statements of his friends seemed to him nothing but mockery.

Was it true that mockers were with him? They might think they were comforters, but were they not mocking?

So extreme was it that the statements of his friends seemed to him but mockery.

The next clause is unclear, mainly because of its opening words. Taken as "if not," they imply that, unless he were mistaken, he was subject to the strangest illusions. These were so constantly present that his eye could dwell on nothing else. But others understand the sense to be a form of strong affirmation: "Truly mockery is with me, and on their quarrelling, or stubbornness, my eye dwells." The mockery was their effort to make him, a dying man, confess what he knew was unfounded, and what existed only in their evil suspicions.

My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, / For me the graves! / Truly mockeries are with me, / And my eye dwells on their contention.

Surely there were three of them. And if that was true of these three men who had been his friends, what did all the people around him feel? You may depend on it: just as bad as the three friends, or worse. We must not suppose it stops with them. Working on this thought, the natural mind concludes that God's moral government is exact now. It does not know that God is waiting instead for His direct government, when Christ will rule. He alone is able to hold the reins and govern.

In all his sufferings Job felt the hand of God on him, as he had often declared. He connects this with the scorn of these contemptible men, who took advantage of God's dealings to vent their hatred on him.

Scorn them as he may, Job has to admit that they mock him, that he is their song and their byword. We can only compare his anger at their taunts with the meekness of Him "who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not." All through life our Lord had the shadows of man's rejection falling on Him. But in His darkest hour they poured out their curses and their taunts. … He was not a man lamenting over former grandeur. He was One who had given up His glory of His own will, in love for His enemies. At any moment He could have delivered Himself from His troubles, by an appeal to His Father or by putting forth His own power.

So Job asks God to step in and be surety for him with Himself: who else would strike hands with him? His friends had shown they were morally unfit. And God, who had closed their hearts to understanding, would not lift them up.

He must be one who can stand between us — between God, holy and just beyond measure, and the sinner, guilty and troubled in conscience — and put his hand on us both. And, he says, I know no one who can do it. I have felt the need of such a one, longed for Him, sought for Him, but I have not found Him.

Again the longing cry for the priesthood of Christ goes up from the heart of Job.

The Psalmist asks God to be surety for him for good, Ps. 119:122; and the Lord Jesus is made surety of a better testament, or covenant, than that made with Israel. Heb. 7:22. He is the powerful One. He is certain to bring about, at the right time, everything foretold that He will do in carrying out God's purpose.

He became surety of a better Covenant (Hebrews 7:22). Solomon, who was both wealthy and wise, warns in his book of Proverbs against standing surety: whoever is surety for a stranger will suffer for it (Proverbs 11:15). Still, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His matchless grace, took up our cause — strangers indeed. He Himself took on our liabilities and paid our debts. The sorrows and sufferings of the Cross show us the price He had to pay for our Redemption.

Job knows, though not fully, since he has not yet seen, that there is One who pleads for him before God. What he longs for, we know that we have — One that pleads for us with God as a man pleads for his neighbour. We know a High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, who "ever lives to make intercession for us."

So Job begs God to step in and be his guarantee with Himself: who else would shake hands on it with him? His friends had shown they were morally unfit, and the One who had closed their heart to understanding would not exalt them. If someone betrays his friends so they are plundered, the eyes of his children will waste away.

The natural mind, following this thought, concludes that God's moral government is exact now. It does not know that God is waiting instead for His direct government. Then Christ will rule, and He alone is able to hold the reins and govern.

They had no true understanding of God's character, so they could not understand His dealings with a soul. They had no proper sense of sin. So they did not know that if God would deal in blessing with man, it must be entirely on the ground of grace. They did not know how to meet his case. They had said many true things, but not one single right thing as it applied to Job, because they did not understand him.

Something in Job's heart had to come out somehow. It is remarkable that Job's friends, not the enemy, seem to have been the means. And God has a very humbling lesson for them, as He has a humbling lesson for Job. They all got it. In fact, Job's friends were more ignorant of God's ways than Job. They took a very bad view of his case, and that is always a danger when it is about a good man... I have no doubt that they were highly respectable, and that people also thought them very pious men indeed. But pious men have to find their level.

All human efforts to comfort, apart from God and the truth, are ineffective, because they are more or less ignorant. The more bitter the trial, the plainer that failure becomes... These friends did not understand the ways of God with His own at all. Their false and unworthy suggestions made Job feel how completely unable they were to help him, and threw him back on God Himself.

Again he spoils his testimony. He blames his misery on God as well as on man, and says that his sufferings stumble upright people. Even so, Job keeps on his steady way. But in the way he meets the friends' attack there is a tone of self-satisfaction, and it does not quite suit the truly lowly. Verse 10 seems to be a challenge to keep up their attacks, since they utterly lack the discernment that marks the wise.

So Job begs God to give a pledge for him with Himself. Who else would shake hands with him? His friends had proved that they lacked moral judgment. He who had closed their heart to understanding would not lift them up. If someone betrays his friends so that they are plundered, the eyes of his children will waste away.

He is marked for death. His very breath declares the decay that the open grave is waiting for. And his "friends" stand by and mock!

Men are ignorant. They are mere flatterers who cannot be trusted. Others render the line, "He who gives his friends for spoil, the eyes of his children shall languish." So he threatens his friends for their disloyalty.

In verse 5 he was certainly not accusing his friends of flattering him. But did he mean that he would not dare to flatter them?

Once more the sin of flattery is mentioned. "A man that flatters his neighbour spreads a net for his feet." Flattery is close to lying. It can never be right. It is always a mistake, and it leads to the gravest consequences. Flattery has ruined more servants of the Lord than anything else. It is literally, as this proverb says, "spreading a net for his feet."

I am sure you will feel, my dear friend and brother, that no one can do a greater injury to another than by praising him and feeding his pride. "He that flatters his neighbour spreads a snare for his feet," and a flattering mouth brings ruin.

Again he spoils his testimony. He blames his misery on God as well as on man, and says his sufferings make upright people stumble. Yet despite it all, Job keeps on his steadfast way. In his answer to the friends' attack, though, there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not suit a truly humble man.

But the very fact that Job longs for such an intercessor shows the faith hidden in his soul. That faith will soon say, "I know that my Redeemer lives."

Job 17:6, "And in the past I was as a tabret." In the previous clause Job speaks of himself as a byword. It is best to take this clause as describing something similar. The meaning then would be, "I am one whose face is spit upon" — someone they view with disgust. The word occurs elsewhere only as a proper name.

Among the people generally he had become a "byword," or a "proverb," and the second clause of that 6th verse is elsewhere translated, "I am become one to be spit on in the face."

Job mourns his condition in a very solemn way, and compares it with what he once was. "In the past I was as a tabret," that is, "I made music, as it were, in the ears of people as I had to do with them." But now he is a byword not just of the three friends, but "of the people!"

Instead of people flattering him, Job now thought that God had made him a byword of the people (v.6), one in whose face men would spit. If this was not literally true, it was true figuratively... As he says, "he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger" (v.9). This is true, but at the time did Job feel stronger and stronger? Thank God, his experience would end with him made stronger.

Again he damages his testimony by blaming his misery on God as well as on man, and by saying that upright people are stumbled by his sufferings. Yet despite it all, Job keeps on his steady way. But in answering the attack of his friends, there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not quite fit a truly humble man.

This would astonish upright men. Job seems to turn the tables on his critics, suggesting that they might prove to be the hypocrites, while the righteous would hold on his way and the man with clean hands would grow stronger. As for these "friends," there was not one wise man among them.

He had made up his mind for death, and for the complete collapse of every plan he valued... if he was to hope, the grave was his house, his bed was spread in darkness, and decay and the worm were his closest relatives. Where, then, was his hope?... What a blessed contrast to such gloomy words of a believer is the strong encouragement we have! We have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us, and we hold it as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

If this was not true in the literal sense, it was true as a picture. His sorrow had affected his eyesight, and he felt the parts of his body were like shadows.

He acknowledged the truth. He does not blame his ruin on the Chaldeans, or on any other secondary cause. He does not explain it away by the means that were used. He saw God's hand in it, yet he did not enter in the least into God's mind about the trial, still less into His love. That was the very reason why it was all so unexplainable to him at the time. He holds fast to his integrity, completely sure that there was nothing of what they imagined against him — no dreadful secret, no crushing sin, that God was punishing in this way.

However he himself might now be a bye-word, and openly an object of insult, his eye dim through grief and his whole frame a shadow, upright men should yet be amazed at this, and the guiltless roused against the ungodly, but the righteous should hold fast on their way, and the man of clean hands increase in strength.

"The righteous" — you see it is turned for good — "holds to his way." That is what he looked forward to. His record was on high; his witness was in heaven; he clung to God. "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him." That was Job's language; that was his spirit. He had far more faith than any one of the three.

Job would hold to his way despite the opposition. As he says, "he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger." This is true, but at the time did Job feel stronger and stronger? Thank God his experience would certainly end with him being strengthened.

Again he spoils his testimony. He charges his misery on God as well as on man, and says that upright people are tripped up by his sufferings. Yet despite it all, Job keeps on his steady way. In answer to the attack of his friends, though, there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not really suit a truly humble man.

Satan is always trying to occupy me with myself. That never leads to a true judgment of myself, though moaning over my inconsistencies may look pious and humble to some. The true object is outside myself... But Satan can get a good man taken up with himself. Job is an example of this, and he expresses it through twenty chapters; but God had to empty him of all that.

If men were upright they would be astonished at Job's sufferings, but his friends showed no such astonishment. Job knew he was innocent of the charges against him. So his friends' hypocrisy stirred him up, and he would hold to his way despite their opposition. As he says, "he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger" (v.9). This is true, but at the time did Job feel stronger and stronger? Thank God, his experience would surely end with him strengthened.

Among the people generally he had become a "byword," or a "proverb," and the second half of verse 6 is translated elsewhere as, "I have become one to be spit on in the face." This, however, would astonish upright men. Job seems to turn the tables on his critics by implying that they might turn out to be the hypocrites, while the righteous would hold on his way, and the man with clean hands would grow stronger. As for these "friends," there was not one wise man among them.

He himself might now be a byword and an open object of insult, his eye dim through grief and his whole body a shadow. Even so, upright men should be amazed at this, and the guiltless stirred up against the ungodly. But the righteous should hold fast to their way, and the man of clean hands should grow stronger.

"Yet the righteous" — you see it is turned for good — "holds to his way." That is what he was looking ahead to. His record was on high; his witness was in heaven; he clung to God.

Once again he spoils his testimony. He blames his misery on God as well as on people, and says that his sufferings make upright people stumble. Still, despite it all, Job keeps steadily on his way. But in the way he meets his friends' attacks there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not suit a truly humble man.

But how did these godly men come to make such a strange mistake? Nobody makes stranger mistakes than godly people who are not walking in dependence on God. Their very godliness gives them a stronger hatred of evil. And if the power of grace is missing, and the sense that they need God Himself to guard them by His grace, then no one will be more severe and no one less just. This is a solemn warning.

Job mourns his condition very solemnly, and compares it with what he once was. Now he is a byword — not just of the three friends, but "of the people!" But then: "The righteous also" — you see, it turns for good — "shall hold on his way." That is what he looked forward to. His record was on high; his witness was in heaven; he clung to God. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." That was Job's language; that was his spirit. He had far more faith than any one of the three.

He himself might now be a byword and an open target of insult, his eye dim through grief and his whole frame a shadow. Even so, upright men should be amazed at this, and the guiltless stirred up against the ungodly. But the righteous should hold fast on their way, and the man of clean hands increase in strength.

In Psalm 24 we read, "Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place?" He must have "clean hands" — that implies righteousness. He must also have "a pure heart" — which shows holiness. The pure heart governs the movements of the clean hands.

This, however, would astonish upright men. Job seems to turn the tables on his critics by suggesting that they might prove to be the hypocrites. The righteous would hold on his way, and the one who had clean hands would increase in strength. As for these "friends," there was not one wise man among them.

In fact Job knew himself innocent of the charges against him. He was stirred up against the hypocrisy of his friends, and he would hold to his way despite the opposition. As he says, "he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger" (v.9). This is true, but at the time did Job feel stronger and stronger? Thank God, his experience would end with him strengthened.

Again he damages his testimony. He blames God as well as man for his misery, and says that his sufferings stumble upright people. Yet despite it all, Job keeps on his steadfast way. But in the way he meets the attack of the friends, there is a tone of self-satisfaction which does not quite suit a truly lowly man.

In verse 10 Job pleads with his friends to come back again. He means, no doubt, that they should come back to a sensible position of really being comforters. He had found none of the three to be wise men.

In the way he meets the attacks of his friends, though, there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not suit a humble man. Verse 10 seems to be a challenge to them to keep attacking, since they completely lack the discernment that marks the wise. They hold out light to him if he will repent, while he is drawing ever nearer to death.

Not one of the three friends understood Job. What is more, they did not know God's character, or His purpose in dealing with His dear servant. They were completely mistaken. They did not know how to present God to Job. As a result, they did not know how to bring Job's conscience into the presence of God. Instead of leading him to judge himself, they only fed a spirit of self-defence. They did not bring God into the scene. They said some true things, but they did not have the truth.

They press the teaching that God's government of this world is a full measure and display of His righteousness, and of the righteousness of man, which would match it. That teaching proves total ignorance of what God's righteousness is, and of His ways.

Job seems to turn the tables on his critics. He suggests that they might prove to be the hypocrites, while the righteous man would hold on his way, and the one with clean hands would grow stronger. As for these "friends," there was not one wise man among them.

Job's friends thought they had "the secrets of wisdom" (ch.11:6), but Job could see that their arguments were not wise at all. So he faces them with this: wisdom is not so easily obtained. In fact, wisdom cannot be bought with gold or silver.

They might have been of use if his had been an ordinary case. But here was a deeply righteous man stripped of every earthly possession in a way never seen before, and their tongues were silent. They did not understand the ways of God with His own at all. By their false and unworthy suggestions they made Job feel how powerless they were to help him, and they threw him back on God Himself. So in the end he said, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (Job 42:5).

My days are gone, my plans are broken — the possessions of my heart. They put night in place of day, and light close at hand in the face of darkness!

In verse 10 Job pleads with his friends to come back again — no doubt to come back to a sensible position of being real comforters. He had found none of the three to be wise men. (v.11). It seemed to him his life was finished, and there was nothing to live for.

Again he spoils his testimony by blaming his misery on God as well as on man… Yet in spite of it all, Job keeps on his steady way. Verse 10 seems to be a challenge to keep up their attacks, since they completely fail in the discernment that marks the wise. They are holding out light to him, if he repents, while he is drawing ever nearer to death.

A bad conscience would have shrunk from death, as stripping it of all disguise, and destruction to the soul. Job, on the contrary, proved not only that he was real, but the state of his conscience, by the fact of his earnest desire to depart and be with God. We see his confidence in God then, even while he spreads out his sorrows, with no other thought than death before him.

His face is now turned toward the gloom of death, with barely a gleam of hope of anything beyond. His spirit has clearly not yet found rest, and victory is not yet his. But, unlike the friends, he sometimes has his face in the right direction. If his mouth were only closed long enough to hear God speaking to him, he would see the full deliverance that comes to those who justify the Lord.

He had made up his mind for death, and for the complete collapse of every plan he had set his heart on… What a blessed contrast to such gloomy words from a believer is the strong encouragement we have! We have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. That hope is an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast. It reaches inside the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us — Jesus, made a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

It seemed to him his life was finished, and there was nothing to live for. In verse 12 he seems to refer to his friends as changing the night into day. That is, they treated Job's distressing night-time experiences as light enough for them to understand that his troubles came from his sin.

His friends might hold out fresh and bright hopes to him if he would repent. They put night for day, and made light seem near in the middle of very darkness. But if he was to hope, the grave was his house, his bed was spread in darkness, and decay and the worm were his closest family. Where, then, was his hope? Yes, his hope, who sees it? He sees nothing but going down to the grave, where they would rest together in the dust. What a blessed contrast to these gloomy words of a saint is the strong encouragement we have! We have run for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. We hold that hope as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. It reaches inside the veil, where Jesus has gone in ahead of us as our forerunner, made a high priest for ever in the order of Melchizedek.

Again he spoils his testimony. He blames his misery on God as well as on man, and says that his sufferings make upright people stumble. Yet through it all, Job keeps to his steady way. In answering the attack of his friends, though, there is a self-satisfied tone that does not suit a truly humble man. Verse 10 seems to be a challenge to them to keep up their attacks, since they completely lack the discernment that marks a wise man. They are holding out light to him, if penitent, while he is drawing ever nearer to death.

In verse 5 Bildad refers back to Job's claim that his friends were changing the night into day, saying the light is near in the face of darkness (ch.17:12). "The light of the wicked indeed goes out," Bildad says. He implies that Job had no clear light in the darkness of his experience, so Job must be wicked.

We may divide this reply, as we did the address of Eliphaz, into five parts: (1) He reproaches them for their heartlessness (Job 16:1-5). (2) Under the wrath of God and the hatred of man (verses 6-14). (3) He appeals to God in it all (verses 15-22). (4) The experience of bitter trial (Job 17:1-12). (5) The dark outlook toward the grave (verses 13-16).