Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?
Job has stopped arguing with his three visitors and started warning them. They have been talking about God in a way that props up their own theory. So Job asks them a question: does the God they claim to defend not frighten them? It is a strange picture. The men defending God's honour are the ones in danger from Him.
Speaking for God Without Being Sent
Job's charge is not that his friends said untrue things about God in general, but that they claimed a commission they never had. One writer sums up Job's position at this point in the argument:
William KellyIn his view, they had spoken wickedly and deceitfully for God. God had given them no such authority, and He would surely rebuke them — as in fact He did.
Another writer agrees that Job was right about this much, whatever else he got wrong:
F. B. HoleHe felt they had talked as though speaking on God's behalf, and in so doing had misrepresented Him. In this, no doubt, Job judged rightly.
Why Majesty Should Have Silenced Them
The verse ties God's greatness to the care we owe Him when we speak in His name.
Leslie M. GrantJob knew that God was not deceitful, as his friends were proving to be. When the time came, God would search them out and would surely rebuke them… Men should fear to misrepresent God, whose glory is so high above the heavens. That is why Job likens their arguments to ashes and to clay (v.12).
Flattering God, and the Words Job Uses
The surrounding verses ask whether the friends will "show partiality" toward God — take His side the way a corrupt judge takes the side of the powerful man in court. One translation of the passage brings out both the force of Job's question and the images he uses for their arguments:
William KellyHe will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality. Does not His majesty terrify you, and His dread fall upon you? Your sayings are proverbs of ashes, your defences, defences of clay!
Their favouritism was not toward God only. It was also the habit of siding with whoever looked right:
William Kelly"Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Is it good that he should search you out?" Well, that is what He did. "Or as one man mocks another, do ye so mock him? He will surely reprove you." How remarkably that was fulfilled! "He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons" — and that is what they were doing. They were accepting persons falsely — according to appearance.
Lying for God
The sharpest reading of the verse is that the friends were bending the truth in God's name and felt no alarm about it.
Samuel RidoutNext, Job charges his friends boldly with being false witnesses for God. They used well-known truths, familiar to everyone, to back up their charge that Job was wicked… They presume to lie for God! Are they not falsely accusing an innocent man? Are they not afraid to play with the truth? Will God not deal with them? — for they are only men.
The same writer adds that Job was in no safer place. Job "is the victim of the same false theory," and he comes close to charging God with injustice.
The Warning Came True
At the end of the book, events answer Job's question. The men who were surest they were defending God are the ones He rebuked:
Samuel RidoutSo we need not be surprised that God turns to Eliphaz and his friends with a stern rebuke. It is for their part in the dispute — a dispute that has closed so happily for Job… The Lord declares His anger against them all, because they had not spoken what is right about Him, as His servant Job had. And yet their whole argument had seemed to be for God's righteousness!… Zealous for God's honour! — that had been their one theme.
Judging by Appearance
One writer traces their mistake to its root, and finds there the lesson of the whole book:
William KellyThere is no more instructive lesson for us than the danger of judging by appearances. It is beyond question a main point in this wonderful book. A quick glance is never the way to form a righteous judgment, as the Lord Himself warned in His day. If it was wrong in them then, it is far more blameworthy in us. Here we find a whole book given to guarding us from that trap.
Summary
- Unsent — the friends spoke for God when God "had given them no such authority."
- Partial — they judged Job by how things looked, then handed God the verdict as a compliment.
- Fearless — the majesty they praised should have made them afraid to misrepresent Him. Instead they offered "proverbs of ashes."
- Hollow — a defence of God built on a false theory is only "defences of clay." It cannot hold the weight of a real sufferer.
- Rebuked — Job warned that God "will surely rebuke you," and He did. The men whose "one theme" was God's honour had not spoken rightly of Him.