Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.
Job has stopped arguing with his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, and now lays his case before God like a man in court. The question he throws out here — who will bring a charge against me? — is a dare to his accusers, but he speaks it in God's hearing — and that is where innocence is finally tested.
A challenge to his accusers
His friends had been pressing charges against him. His question demands that someone step forward and prove one, and he says his own life hangs on the answer.
Leslie M. GrantHe had not been careless in preparing his case for judgment. He was fully certain it deserved careful consideration, for he says, "I know I shall be vindicated" (v.18). No doubt he would be vindicated in the eyes of men in the end. But in the eyes of God it is a different matter, as Job admits in chapter 42:5-6, when God fully considered his case. Meanwhile he asks who could rightly contend with him, for his friends' contentions were empty. He felt it necessary to defend himself — or perish (v.19).
The cost of staying silent
The second half of the verse describes his condition, not a threat. Staying quiet under false accusation would finish him, and speaking was the only relief he had left.
William Kelly"Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die." That is, in the agony he was going through, it was a relief to him to speak out. All he wanted was to be put right if he was wrong.
Willing to die if guilty
Job does not claim to be untouchable. He wants the charge against him named, and he will take the consequences if it holds.
William KellyHe calls attention to his demand earnestly and forcefully, assured of his innocence, and not refusing to die if he deserved it.
God, not his friends
Job had decided his three visitors were useless as advisers and worse as witnesses. He wanted to deal with God instead, and he held on to his integrity — though he did not yet see what God was working in him.
William KellyIt was with God he wished to speak, not with such quacks as they, whose wisdom would be to keep quiet. He reckoned they had spoken wickedly and deceitfully for God, who had given them no such authority, and who would surely reprove them — as in fact He did. He would hold his integrity fast before Him, whatever they said, and he knew he would be justified... He did not yet know the grace that was giving him self-judgment.
The same question, turned around
Job asked who would contend with him. Much later God puts that same word back to him.
William Kelly"Moreover the LORD answered Job and said, Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct Him?" He ought to be able to, if he judges God. This is exactly what fills Job with shame... Job had contended with the Almighty. "He who reproves God, let him answer it."... Job was brought completely down in his own opinion of himself, ashamed of having complained against God and His ways without understanding the least of them.
Grant contrasts Job's tone here with his tone once God had spoken.
Leslie M. GrantHow different his words were when God spoke to him directly: "I lay my hand on my mouth" (ch.40:4) — that is, he kept quiet.
Summary
- Challenge. Job dares anyone to name a charge against him. His friends' accusations were empty, and he would sooner die than leave them unanswered.
- Silence. Keeping quiet under that pressure would have killed him. Speaking was his only relief, and he asked only for correction if he was wrong.
- Offer. Job claims no immunity. Sure of his innocence, he offers to fall silent and die if anyone can name a real charge.
- Gap. His integrity was genuine before men. But being cleared by men and being cleared by God are two different verdicts. Job had not yet learned that the grace at work in him was producing self-judgment.
- Answer. God later turns Job's own question around on him. The man who silenced three friends lays his hand on his mouth, ashamed of having complained about ways he never understood.