Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face:
Job has told his friends to be quiet. He turns to God with his case, but first he asks for two things — and those two requests expose the deepest problem of the book: how can a man come near God when God's presence is exactly what terrifies him?
The two requests
One commentator reads the request with the lines that follow, where Job names the two things and promises he will not hide once they are granted:
William KellyAll he wanted was to be put right if he was wrong. He now says, "Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face. Withdraw your hand far from me" — the outward thing — "and let not dread of you terrify me" — the inward — "then call, and I will answer" — and so he did — "or let me speak, and you reply to me. How many are my iniquities and my sins?"
Why he turns to God at all
Job has just finished his long answer to Zophar, one of his three friends. He now turns to the only other party left:
Samuel RidoutIn this answer he turns, in effect, from his friends to God; but sadly, he finds no answer to his awful terror of doubt and darkness.
Dread of the One he wants to approach
One writer hears in Job's two requests a cry for someone to stand between him and God:
Samuel RidoutBut how dare he speak before the One from whose presence he would instinctively flee? Let Him at least remove the awful dread that chills Job's heart, and relieve him of his pain, and he will answer Him or address Him. How these words, beautiful in their very anguish, cry aloud for the blessed Daysman, the Mediator! Thanks be to God, we can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Job could only grope in darkness.
"Daysman" is an old word for an umpire — someone who stands between two sides and settles the matter.
What Job lacked and believers now have
Another writer ties Job's two requests straight to Christ. Job had no one to stand between himself and God:
J. N. DarbyYou see, Job could not answer God, and he is struggling under this. What does he say he wants? "There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both." Oh, I have no arbiter! "Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not dread of Him terrify me." What Job says he did not have is exactly what we have now in Christ. Was Christ a terror in this world? The law was exactly that; there were thunderings and lightnings. Even Moses said, "I tremble with fear," and the people said, "Do not let God speak to us." The law struck with terror, but it produced no real change in man, and no confidence in God.
God's answer, through Elihu
God answered, though not the way Job expected. A new speaker, Elihu, opens by meeting both of Job's conditions. The older translation has Elihu say, "I am according to thy wish in God's stead":
William Kelly"Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay." This is exactly what Job had desired, and now beyond his expectation. When his friends had completely disappointed him, God supplies the help that was needed: patient consideration of the terribly trying circumstances, with jealousy for God's glory at the right moment. And it comes from the last quarter Job would have looked to for it. "Behold, no fear of me need terrify you." He had complained that God acted this way on his soul and body… "my pressure will not be heavy on you." It was God's hand that Job had so strongly pleaded against.
A prayer that still fell short
Job's request was honest, but one writer points out what Job still could not see:
William KellyHe asked only for a reprieve from suffering, and that His dread should not overwhelm him. He wanted to find out everything that was wrong in himself, and begged to know why he was driven back and forth like a leaf or dry stubble. He did not yet know the grace that was giving him self-judgment.
Summary
- Two conditions. Job asks God to lift the hand that afflicts him and to take away the dread — one outward, one inward.
- One direction. Done with his friends, he turns to God alone — and still hears no reply.
- One gap. He longs to speak with God and dreads Him at once. What he lacks is a mediator to lay a hand on both sides.
- One answer. Elihu arrives saying what Job had asked for — no terror, no heavy hand — help from the quarter Job least expected.
- One gift. What Job lacked, believers have in Christ: God near without terror, and confidence to come to the throne of grace.