I was at ease, and he broke me apart; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;
Job turns from his friends to a far harder question: what has God done to him? In a few violent pictures — a settled life smashed, a man seized by the neck, a target set up for archers — he names God as the hand behind his ruin.
The blow traced to God
Job refuses to stop at the raiders, the storm, or his friends. He looks past every visible cause to God Himself.
Leslie M. GrantStill, it is commendable that Job recognised that in the end he was dealing with God. He looks beyond his friends to see that God was behind all that was coming upon him. This shows he was a true believer, though he made deductions that were wrong, for he was virtually blaming God as though God was doing wrong.
The pictures behind the words
One writer weighs how harsh Job's picture of God has become.
Samuel RidoutIn his blind misery Job links the scoffs of the ungodly, glad at his calamity, with the hand of God. It is difficult in these words of Job to separate between God and evil men; in his blurred view they are all acting together. What terrible language to use of God: "he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces." It is the picture of a wild beast tearing its prey, or of a mighty giant running at a small victim to destroy it.
Whose hand struck
Commentators differ on how far to press Job's "He." Grant hears a real, though mistaken, charge against God. Kelly hears something less direct.
William KellyHe does not say it was God. I think it is too much to suppose that he means that. But he does mean that God allowed it, and so, in an indirect way, he says "He." But it was God allowing the devil to do it — his enemy. Otherwise it would be a dreadful inconsistency with the rest of his language. We are not bound to press that further than a surface inconsistency; it is not basic.
Why the ease had to be broken
The opening words matter as much as the violence that follows. Job had been at ease, and Darby names what had grown in that ease.
J. N. DarbyJob was upright, but he began to make this his righteousness, which clearly proves that he had never really been in the presence of God. The result was that he charged God with injustice and with wanting to harass him without cause. And this was so even though he reasoned more correctly than his friends, and showed a heart that felt far more deeply than they did what God is.
A sufferer who did not speak this way
In the same speech Job describes men mocking him, striking his cheek, and gathering against him.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAnd now he charges God with being responsible for it all… This was done to another Sufferer, the Lord Jesus Christ. But He did not murmur; He did not dishonour God as Job did, but glorified Him. It is interesting to contrast these two sufferers. It brings out the perfection and loveliness of our Saviour.
The one Friend he mistook for an enemy
Job names many attackers, and he puts God at the head of the list. Boyd turns that list around.
James BoydJob thought God was against him; but he has to learn that God was the only One who was truly for him. Satan, Sabeans, the winds and the fire of heaven, his wife and his three friends — all were against him, and set on his destruction or condemnation. And last of all he has to learn that he was against himself. There was only one Friend in the universe, and He was the One Job counted as his enemy. And all God's dealings with him were for his good. All the enemies mentioned were controlled by God. They were only allowed to go so far. They would have destroyed Job body and soul had they been allowed, but God sets a limit to their power. Like the lance in a skilled surgeon's hand, it can only touch what is destructive to life, and separate the precious from the worthless. He thought he was being treated harshly, but it was all brought on him in the goodness and love of God, and he is able to give thanks for it all in the end.
Summary
- Ease. Job's prosperity was the soil where his self-righteousness grew. He had never yet stood in God's presence to see it.
- Shattering. The breaking, the shaking, the target — Job speaks as a man who sees God and human enemies acting as one.
- Misreading. He was right that God was behind it. He was wrong about why, and his wrong deductions blamed God for doing wrong.
- Contrast. Another Sufferer met the same mockery and blows, and glorified God instead of charging Him.
- Discovery. The One Job named as his attacker was his only Friend, who limited every other enemy and worked it all for his good.