Oh would that my words were written! oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Job has lost everything, and the friends who came to comfort him now accuse him. In chapter 19 he begs them for pity and gets none, so he reaches for something that will outlast them all: a record of his words that no one can erase.
The wish for a lasting record is not calm reflection. It bursts out after his friends ignore his plea and insist that his suffering proves his guilt.
Samuel RidoutThe plea for pity and sympathy might well move hearts of stone, but Job's words appear to fall on ears that will not hear. Their argument was that God's hand had been on him — for his sin. Job asks if they will persecute him as God was doing — a terrible charge. Will they feed wildly on his flesh with an appetite that is never satisfied? Such injustice drives him almost frantic. He longs to see his words — charging them, and God — written and cut into the rock forever, where nothing can erase them.
The older English word "printed" misleads a modern reader. Job is not asking for copies; he is asking for something no weather or enemy can wear away.
William Kelly"Oh that my words were," and so on — not exactly printed in a book, but pressed into stone, or however people wrote in those days. He is speaking of a very lasting form.
Why does he want everything fixed in stone? Because of what rises in him as he speaks: the certainty that God will step in at the end.
William KellyThe truth of God's intervention at the end blazes before his soul. So he wishes his words written, inscribed in the book — no, engraved with a pen of iron and with lead on a rock forever. And no wonder. He knows his Kinsman-Redeemer lives.
He does not want this kept private. The wish reaches past his three companions to everyone who will ever live.
J. G. BellettWhat intensity this is! The Holy Spirit enables Job to set his seal to all this precious confession of his faith. Job would have all men know it, and every generation of them. He would publish it far and wide. He would tell it out without any fear that he would ever have to cancel a letter of it. He would engrave it for eternity and fill the letters with lead in the rock — that he knew his Redeemer!
Job wants every word kept, including his protests of innocence and his complaints against God. He would not stand by all of them later.
Leslie M. GrantAt this point Job longs to have his words written down for good, for he was sure he was speaking the truth. In fact, what he has said stands in the Word of God for eternity. That is more lasting than rock engraved with an iron pen and lead poured into the letters. Job, however, will not think all those words true forever. Later he learned that God was not a persecutor at all, but One who in everything sought the greatest good of His servant.
Which part, then, was worth the chisel? Not his self-defence, but the confession that broke out of him about the One he had just been accusing.
Samuel RidoutAnd then, in the middle of all these laments, he speaks those magnificent words of faith: "I know that my Redeemer lives." But this was the very God he had just been charging with injustice! How good to see Job's faith turn, in all this turmoil, to the very One he was speaking against. These — not his own protests of innocence — are the words worth engraving on the lasting rock.
Rock inscriptions were a real practice, and some survive. Job received something better.
F. B. HoleHe longed to have his words kept in a book, or even engraved on the rock for good, as kings and great men used to do in those days. People have found such rock records and read them. Yet his desire came true in a more wonderful way than he imagined. His words stand in the inspired Scriptures, which outlast and outreach everything else.
His words outlived him, and they carry more than his own case.
The Bible TreasuryAnd his memorable words, written in the BOOK OF BOOKS forever, give us the first clear declaration of a life beyond the death that man's sin brought in.
- Pressure — His friends refuse him pity and read his suffering as proof of sin. The wish bursts out of that.
- Permanence — He does not ask for copies. He asks for stone: words no accuser can erase.
- Reason — He reaches for the chisel for one reason: his Redeemer lives, and God will step in at the end.
- Sifting — Job later dropped his charges against God. The words worth the rock were his confession of faith, not his self-defence.
- Answer — The wish came true in a better form. His words stand in Scripture, outlasting stone. They give the first clear declaration of life beyond death.
That with an iron style and lead they were graven in the rock for ever!
Job's friends read his suffering as proof of hidden sin, and his plea for pity fell on deaf ears. So he asks for the one thing no accuser could erase: his words cut into rock and filled with lead.
One reference work places the wish early in history and explains the craft behind it:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe history and book of Job are judged to be very early, and he speaks not only of writing but of a book. This refers to his words being engraved on a rock and filled in with lead.
Kings and great men used rock this way. Job's wish came true, but not in the form he pictured.
F. B. HoleHe longed for his words to be kept in a book, or even carved to last on the rock, as kings and great men did in those days. People have since found such rock records and read them. Yet his desire came true in a more wonderful way than he imagined: his words stand in the inspired Scriptures, which outlive and outlast everything else.
Job has just begged his friends for pity. They went on treating his agony as evidence against him.
Samuel RidoutThe plea for pity and sympathy might well move hearts of stone, but Job's words seem to fall on unhearing ears. It was their claim that God's hand had been upon him — for his sin. Job asks: will they persecute him as God was doing? What an awful charge! Will they feed madly on his flesh, never satisfied? Such injustice makes him almost frantic. He longs that his words — charging them, and God — were written, engraved in the rock forever, so they could never be erased.
A man asks for a permanent record when he is sure of what he has said. Yet Job's own view of those words would change.
Leslie M. GrantAt this point Job longs for his words to be written where no one could erase them (vv. 23-24). He was sure he was telling the truth. In fact, what he has said is inscribed in the Word of God for eternity. That lasts longer than rock engraved with an iron pen, with lead set into the letters. Job, however, will not consider all those words true for eternity. After this he learned that God was not a persecutor at all. He was One who in everything sought the greatest good of His servant.
Job's confession comes right after this wish: his Redeemer lives.
Samuel RidoutAnd then, in the middle of all these laments, he speaks those magnificent words of faith. He says, "I know that my Redeemer lives." But this was the very God 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 words worth engraving on the lasting rock.
Something breaks in on Job between the complaint and the confession.
William KellyThe truth of God's intervention at the end flashes so brightly before his soul that he wishes his words written, inscribed in the book, better still, engraved with a pen of iron and with lead on a rock forever. And no wonder. He knows his Kinsman-Redeemer lives.
A man asking for lead and rock expects to still agree with himself in a thousand years.
J. G. BellettAnd what fervency this is! The Holy Spirit enables Job to set his seal to all this precious confession of his faith. Job would have everyone know it, and every generation of them. He would publish it far and wide. He would tell it out without any fear that he might one day have to cancel a letter of it. He would engrave it for eternity and set it in lead in the rock — that he knew his Redeemer!
- Pressed — Friends who would not pity him drove Job to want his case written where no one could erase it.
- Pictured — He asks for the hardest material his world knew: letters cut into rock and filled with lead.
- Prompted — The wish rises above complaint because of what follows: he knows his Redeemer lives.
- Published — His words outlasted rock. They stand in Scripture, which outlives everything else.
- Purified — Not every word Job insisted on proved true. His confession of faith, not his protests of innocence, deserved the stone.