And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and again work wonders against me.
Job is answering his friend Bildad, but by the end of his reply he is arguing with God, not with them. He pictures his Maker as a hunter and himself as the prey — so what happens in a heart when pain makes God look like an enemy?
The Picture Job Draws
Job had known better days. One writer keeps the stress on what Job feels, not on what God is doing.
Leslie M. GrantHis head had been exalted, but now he feels that God is hunting him like a fierce lion, showing Himself so awesome as to inspire fear in the poor man's heart (v.16).
One writer, reading the whole outburst aloud, does not soften what Job is doing here.
William Kelly"I am full of confusion; therefore see my affliction, for it increases." And he uses very ungodly language now. "You hunt me as a fierce lion; and again you show yourself marvellous upon me. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation upon me; changes and war are against me."
The Trap Behind the Words
Look at the lines just before. Job is caught between two outcomes, and neither one helps him.
Leslie M. GrantOn the one hand, Job knew that if he sinned God would mark it and would not acquit him. At that time Job did not know "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," so for sin he could only expect "woe." On the other hand, even if he was righteous — as he considered himself to be — he could not lift up his head. He was in a state of misery and confusion, full of disgrace (vv.14-15).
Trapped on both sides, Job reaches a verdict about the God he is dealing with.
Samuel RidoutIf he sins, God would note it, and woe be to him; if he is innocent he dare not lift his head, for God would quickly hunt him as a fierce lion seeking his prey. God would display His wondrous power, and bring up witnesses against him like a countless host of invaders. In other words Job declares he is at the mercy of an almighty, arbitrary enemy!
What Was Really Wrong
Note where the wound actually lay. The suffering was severe, but something else produced this speech.
Samuel RidoutWords fail to describe the misery that would lead Job to speak like this against God. It is not the bodily suffering that has wrung this bitter cry from him. He has lost, or is in danger of losing, faith in God's goodness. There is hardly a gleam of light in his whole speech. In this closing part (Job 10) he lets himself loose in the dark despair that has settled on his soul. He does not peer into that darkness like the despairing man of the poem; he pours out all those thoughts before the eye of God. May not this very abandonment of misery suggest the root of faith in his heart? He will at least tell God to His face that he doubts Him.
Words That Came Back
These sentences were not forgotten. Elihu, speaking much later in the book, quotes Job's own charges back to him.
Samuel RidoutSo he had declared, "These things you have hidden in your heart… You humble me as a fierce lion… changes and war are against me" (Job 10:13-17). "Why do you hide your face, and hold me for your enemy?" (Job 13:24; so also Job 19:11). So the insult against divine majesty becomes glaring — Job is pure, but God treats him as impure!
The wording here comes from an older translation of Job.
The Voice Feeding the Despair
One writer names the voice behind this kind of despair, and the answer the unbelieving heart gives it.
C. StanleyHow great is the distress of soul when Satan can insinuate that God is against the believer! How he will magnify every trial, every affliction! "There," says he, "does not that show you are a hypocrite, and that God is against you? Now He will deal with you as your sins deserve." Yes — and how ready the unbelieving heart is to say, "It must be so. Surely no one ever felt such despairing feelings as I feel."
The Truth Job Could Not Yet See
The book itself overturns the verdict Job reaches here.
James BoydJob thought God was against him; but he has to learn that God was the only One that was truly for him. Satan, Sabeans, the winds and the fire of heaven, his wife and his three friends — all were against him… And all God's dealings with him were for his good. God controlled every enemy on that list. He let them go only so far. They would have destroyed Job, body and soul, if He had allowed it, but God sets a limit to their power… He thought he was being treated harshly, but it was all brought on him in the goodness and love of God, and in the end he can give thanks for it all.
Summary
- Feeling — Job says how the suffering felt, not what God was doing. He feels hunted, and God's power looks aimed at him.
- Cause — The damage was not physical. He was losing his hold on God's goodness, and once that went, every trial read like hostility.
- Whisper — Behind such despair is a whisper from the enemy: your pain proves God is against you, and He is paying back your sins.
- Fact — God held every force lined up against Job inside a limit. The One he called his hunter was the only One truly for him.
- End — What Job called war, he gave thanks for in the end. The dark verdict was wrong; the goodness and love behind the trial were real.