Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
Job describes open mouths, a hand across his face, and a crowd gathering against him. Two questions follow. Whose hand did Job think was really behind it? And why do these same words come back later in Scripture, spoken by a very different Sufferer?
The picture Job is painting
The verse sits inside a picture of attack by a wild animal. One writer gathers the sequence and shows where the gaping mouth fits:
William KellyIt was as if a wild beast had torn him, with every mark of cruel, unsparing wrath — teeth gnashing, eyes sharpened, mouth gaping. So his enemies struck his cheeks with scorn, and gathered in full force against him.
The three actions build: first the open mouth of scorn, then the physical blow, then the massing of numbers. Job is not describing one rude remark. He is describing a pile-on.
Job's charge against God
The abuse comes from men. But Job does not stop there. He lays the whole thing at God's door:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAnd now he charges God with being responsible for all. What does he say? "You have made me desolate... You have laid fast hold on me... He has torn me in His wrath and persecuted me... He has gnashed at me with His teeth... He has delivered me to the ungodly." Verse 10 is remarkable... Another Sufferer went through the same thing, the Lord Jesus Christ. But He did not murmur; He did not dishonour God as Job did, but glorified Him.
The same words in the Psalms
Job's picture of gaping mouths appears again in the Psalms. The two sufferers use near-identical words, then say opposite things about God:
William KellyHe does use language that painfully describes the distress his soul was going through: "Men have gaped at me with their mouth." This is not the only time we notice wording here that links up strikingly with the Psalms... Who in the Psalms speaks of their gaping like a ravening lion? It is the Lord on the cross. But what a difference! "Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel." Not a word of this comes from Job. Because of the fiery trial he was going through, he speaks as if God were dealing harshly with him, as if God had mysteriously become his enemy. So he breaks out into bitterness, the natural effect of such a thought. The state of the soul must always depend on how one looks, or fails to look, at God.
That last line carries the practical weight of the verse. Both men suffered terribly. The difference lay in how each one looked at God.
The struck cheek
The cheek keeps appearing in Scripture as the place where contempt lands. One writer collects those passages and follows them to Christ on trial:
Jeffrey BrettThe number of Scriptures that mention striking on the cheek (1 Kings 22:24; 2 Chron. 18:23; Job 16:10; Ps. 3:7; Lam. 3:30; Micah 5:1; Matt. 5:39; Luke 6:29) would seem to suggest that His cheeks speak of the lowly grace that led Him to bear all the striking and insults heaped upon Him. In those circumstances His lips uttered no word of anger or reproof. Think of the pain when those cruel men at His trial tore the beard from His face — and still He never said a word!
Foreshadow or contrast?
Commentators differ on how far to press the link. Some read Job as a picture of Christ, the innocent sufferer. Others say the similar wording only sharpens the difference:
William KellyThe sufferer's words may often seem to come close to those of Christ in the Psalms. In reality they stand in contrast with His perfection. For He always remained in the love of His Father, and He never failed to justify His God. He did so even when His Father abandoned Him on the cross. Job was never abandoned like that, and neither was any other servant of God who ever lived. So Job stands as the instructive foil, and not merely as a man but as a man of God, to the second Man and last Adam. Some writers, old and modern, declare that Job prefigured Christ as the Victim or undeserving Sufferer. They are not much to be relied on.
Either way, the verse does its work. It shows what unjust suffering sounds like from the inside. Then it points to Someone who suffered worse and never accused God.
Summary
- Gaping — the open mouth of scorn comes first; mockery softens the ground before the hand ever moves.
- Striking — the cheek is Scripture's place of contempt. Christ took the blows there without one word of anger.
- Gathering — Job's enemies gathered in force against him; the crowd is part of the pain, not a detail.
- Charging — behind all three Job saw God's hand, and said so bitterly: God had handed him over to the ungodly.
- Contrasting — the Psalms put the same gaping mouths around the cross. Yet there the sufferer could still say to God, "you are holy." That difference, not the suffering, is the real measure.