I called my servant, and he answered not; I entreated him with my mouth.
Job has lost his wealth, his children and his health. In this reply to Bildad he counts up everyone who has left him — brothers, friends, relatives, household staff, even his wife. Verse 16 catches one small, sharp detail in that list: the master calls his own servant, gets silence, and has to beg.
The verse turns on a reversal of roles. Job must beg the man who should come at a word, and his own staff treat him as an outsider.
Samuel RidoutTurning to man, Job sees the same injustice, which by implication comes from God. It is His troops who besiege him. His own brothers have forsaken him; his relatives have forgotten him. His own slaves look on him as a stranger, and even to his own servant he has to keep pleading before he will be heard. Worst of all, the wife he loves recoils from the foul smell of his body. Boys mock him, friends detest him.
Job's illness made him hard to be near. His own household drew back from him, not just the servants.
Leslie M. GrantAt least Job's three friends did sit with him and listened to him. But his servants would not even answer when he called. His breath was offensive to his wife, which was no doubt literally true. His wife was clearly no help to him in his sufferings (vv. 16-17)... We can understand what children would feel on seeing him sitting in an ash heap covered with sores. Yet Job felt them shrinking back from him, in contrast to their former respect.
Job does not blame the servant. He traces every loss to one hand — and says that hand would not answer him either.
William KellyIt was He who refused to listen to Job's cry and gave no ear to his appeals. And not only this: it was He who embittered his social circle and the privacy of home. He removed his brothers, estranged his acquaintances, made his relatives fail and his close friends forget him. His guests and his maid counted him a stranger, an alien. Job called his servant in vain, though he begged him humbly. Job was an object of disgust to his wife, even when he was longing after those nearest to him.
The friends never had to drag this admission out of Job. He names each loss himself, and says openly that God is behind it.
William KellyDid they say that God was against Job? "God has overthrown me," he acknowledges... He himself points to his universal desertion, not they. His wife, his brothers, his servants, his household all left him. Even youngsters treated him with contempt. Those who once respected him had now all deserted him.
Kelly weighs what that boldness was worth:
William KellyAnd this, as far as it goes, could not have been without real faith, though it was far below the meek submission of our blessed Lord.
A few verses later, the man nobody will answer speaks of a Redeemer who lives.
Samuel RidoutThen, in the middle of these laments, he speaks magnificent words of faith. He says, "I know that my Redeemer lives." But this was the very God whom he had just been charging with injustice! How good it is to see Job's faith in all this turmoil turning to the very One he was speaking against! Truly these — not his own protests of innocence — are the words worth carving into lasting rock.
What Job still waited for is already done:
Samuel RidoutHere, then, we have a glimpse of the blessed Lord whom we know. He is not One who is yet to arise. He has already triumphed over death and the grave. He has vindicated us — not from attacks on some imagined righteousness of ours, but from sins of the deepest kind. He has enabled us to say, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?"
- Called. The master of the house calls one servant and gets silence. He must beg for an answer, while his own staff treat him as a stranger.
- Repelled. His illness drove people back. His breath sickened his wife, and children shrank from the man on the ash heap.
- Attributed. Job does not stop at the servant. He says God Himself refused to hear his cry and embittered even the privacy of his home.
- Confessed. Job names every deserter himself; his accusers never had to force it out of him. That honesty shows real faith, though it falls short of Christ's submission.
- Answered. The lips that got no answer say, "I know that my Redeemer lives." His faith turns to the very One he had been accusing. Those are the words worth carving in rock.
My breath is strange to my wife, and my entreaties to the children of my [mother's] womb.
Job has already lost his property, his health, and the sympathy of his friends. Now the loss reaches inside his own home, where his wife cannot bear to be near him and his own family turns away.
One writer takes the complaint literally. He also answers a question the wording raises: Job's sons and daughters had already died, so who are these children?
Leslie M. GrantHis breath was offensive to his wife, which was no doubt literally true. His wife was evidently no help to him in his sufferings (vv. 16-17). He also says, "I am repulsive to the children of my own body. Even young children despise me." Of course he was not speaking of his sons and daughters, who had already been taken in death, so it is likely his grandchildren he speaks of. We can understand what children would feel on seeing him sitting in an ash heap covered with sore boils, yet Job felt them recoiling from him, in contrast to their former respect for him.
The wording quoted here, "the children of my own body," comes from an older translation. The ESV reads "the children of my own mother" — that is, Job's brothers. Either way, his own blood relatives pull back from him.
Job lists his losses in order, and the circle tightens as he goes: relatives, then houseguests, then servants, then his wife. He was still reaching out to them as they pulled away.
William KellyHis brothers were put far from him. His acquaintances turned cold. His relatives failed him, and his close friends forgot him. The guests in his house and his maid counted him a stranger, an alien. He called his servant in vain, though he begged him humbly. He was an object of disgust to his wife, even while he was yearning after those nearest to him.
Another writer puts the wife's disgust at the very worst of it:
Samuel RidoutWorst of all, his own wife recoils from the foul smell of his body. Boys mock him, friends hate him. It is a dreadful picture of a horrible disease, and sad beyond words when we remember that he could not turn to God for comfort.
Job traces every one of these desertions back to God. Commentators differ on whether he was right. One notes that Job himself, not his friends, names God as the source:
William KellyDid they say that God was against Job? "God has overthrown me," he acknowledges. If it was any comfort to them to know it, he confesses that his trouble came from His hand... It is Job himself, not his friends, who points to his complete desertion: his wife, his brothers, his servants, his household. Even youngsters treated him with contempt. Those who once respected him had all now abandoned him.
Another explains why the people around Job turned on him, and judges that Job blamed the wrong hand:
Leslie M. GrantPeople generally live by a legal principle, so it is understandable that they took the same attitude toward Job as his friends did. Job's brothers had removed themselves from him, and Job blamed God for this. His acquaintances, relatives and close friends had distanced themselves from him. Even those living in his own house, including maidservants, treated him as though he were a stranger, a foreigner not worth considering... Of course Job's guess was wrong. God did not move these people against him, though no doubt Satan did.
Job's household is small. What happens inside it is what happens everywhere when trouble strikes.
J. G. BellettThere is a little reality, a little of the "friend in need" who "is a friend indeed," but there is a great deal of scorn and desertion in the hour of calamity, still so well known in the world. Job has three friends who sit with him among his ashes and broken pottery, but everyone else sees him only from a distance. Is not all this "the present evil world" drawn to the life?
With nothing left, Job begs his friends for pity. They answer with suspicion, and out of that moment comes his great statement of faith.
William KellyHow pitiable! He had come down very low to ask his dear friends to have pity. All they gave him was ugly suspicion, and it wounded him deeply... "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth." This is a most wonderful expression of faith.
- Literal. His wife's disgust is physical, not poetic. The disease has made Job's own breath hard for her to bear.
- Inward. The desertion moves inward — brothers, acquaintances, servants, wife. The closest tie fails last, and hurts most.
- Disputed. Job lays every desertion at God's door. Commentators differ: is this real faith, or a wrong guess about who was moving these people?
- Ordinary. What happens in Job's house still happens in the world. Trouble brings a little true friendship, and a great deal of scorn.
- Upward. Friends gave suspicion instead of pity. From that lowest point comes his confidence: his Redeemer lives, and He will stand on the earth at the last.