although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
Job answers his friends from the bottom of his suffering, and the two things he holds up are his hands and his prayer. The commentators press one question. Can a man be clean before other people and still be undone before God?
The Charge Behind the Answer
Job is not making an unprompted boast. Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, had accused him of holding back prayer before God. One commentator reads this verse as the direct reply.
William KellyBut was it true that he restrained prayer before God? Listen to his own words: "My face is red with weeping, and on my eyelids is deep darkness, although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure." Eliphaz had thoroughly wronged him. … Whether prayer had been restrained could be judged absolutely by none but God Himself.
Clean Hands Under Crushing Blows
The force of the verse lies in the gap between what Job suffered and what his hands had done. His friends needed a hidden crime to explain the disaster. Job denies the crime and admits the disaster.
Leslie M. GrantHe calls to the earth not to cover his blood, that is, not to cover up the fact of his undeserved suffering… If he had been guilty of violence and hypocrisy, this would be understandable, but he insists that no violence was in his hands and his prayer was pure.
Elsewhere the same writer lists every blow named in this chapter. The verse then falls at the end of them as the exception.
William Kelly…so he was brought down to the lowest depth of misery and disgrace, grief upon grief. Nothing stood before his eyelids except the shadow of death. Yet no violence stained his hand, and his prayer was pure.
True Before Men, Not Yet Seen in God's Sight
Job's claim is honest, yet the writers note something still missing in it. He measures himself against men and against their accusations, and that measurement stops short.
The Bible TreasuryHe could not deny that he was afflicted. Measuring himself against man, he did not see that he had done anything to bring such great affliction on himself. And his friends harassed him… He has not yet seen himself in the sight of God; and therefore he maintains (ver. 17), "there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure"; and so he looks to plead with God, as a man pleads for his neighbour. He has a partial sense of God's greatness, but not of His holiness. The reason is that he has never been near enough to God. It is nearness to Him that produces the sense of His holiness.
The same writer still sees faith alive inside the complaint. Through all the bitterness, "now and again the link he has with God, as a soul born again, shows itself."
Integrity Turned Into a Garment
One commentator reads this verse with Job's other protests. He describes what happens when a man wears his real innocence like clothing.
J. N. DarbyBut these spiritual affections of Job did not prevent his turning this consciousness of integrity into a robe of self-righteousness which hid God from him, and even hid him from himself. He declares himself to be more righteous than God (Job 10:7-8; 16:14-17; 23:11-13; 27:2-6).
The problem is not a lie exposed. It is a true record used as a cover. Commentators differ in emphasis. Some stress that his friends wronged him. Others stress that this same self-defence was what God had to deal with.
The Words Come Back Later
Verse 17 is not forgotten in the book. When Elihu speaks, he builds his case not on suspicion but on quotation.
Samuel RidoutElihu refers to many of Job's own statements in proof of the dishonour done to God. Some of these he quotes exactly; for others he gives the substance of much that Job had said… Compare such statements as these: "You know that I am not wicked" (Job 10:7); "there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure" (Job 16:17); "till I die I will not put away my integrity from me…" (Job 27:5-6).
His complaint is not about what Job had done. It is about what Job's own words did to God's honour.
Summary
- Answer — The verse replies to the charge that Job had stopped praying. The writers call that charge false, and say only God could settle it.
- Exception — Job admits the suffering but rejects the explanation. If violence had stained his hands, the blows would make sense. They do not.
- Measure — He defends himself against men, not yet in God's sight. So an honest claim still falls short.
- Robe — A real integrity, worn as self-righteousness, hid God from Job and hid Job from himself.
- Echo — Elihu later quotes these very words back to Job, using Job's own defence as proof that Job had dishonoured God.