“O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.
Job's friends insist that such crushing losses can only mean hidden guilt, so he refuses to let his case die with him. He appeals over the heads of his friends to God, though commentators ask how much self-defence runs through that appeal.
The Words Themselves
Blood that soaks into the ground disappears. Blood left uncovered stays visible and demands an answer. That is the picture behind Job's plea. He asks the same for his cry:
William KellySo Job calls on the earth not to hide his blood. His life was, as it were, poured out, and he wanted it to stand out in open view. With the same purpose, he asks that his cry should find no place to rest down here, but go straight up on high.
No one has murdered Job. Another writer explains what the blood stands for, and where Job's confidence lay:
Leslie M. GrantHe calls to the earth not to cover his blood. That is, he asks it not to cover up the fact of his undeserved suffering. He also asks that his cry should have no resting place, apparently so that it should be heard rather than silenced. For he was confident that the witness of his innocence was in heaven, even though his friends on earth had refused it and scorned him.
Blood That Cries Like Abel's
The picture reaches back to Abel, the first man to be murdered. Job is willing for his blood to cry out like that. Underneath the demand for vengeance there is something better:
Samuel RidoutHe would let his blood cry for vengeance like Abel's. Yet he instinctively knows there is a just God in heaven who has the record of his life. To Him he can appeal against the false charges of his friends. He knows, though not fully, for he has not yet seen, that there is One who pleads for him before God. What he longs for, we know that we have — One who pleads for us with God as a man pleads for his neighbour.
The Accusation Behind the Outburst
Eliphaz, one of the friends, had charged Job with giving up prayer. This cry is Job's answer to that charge:
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. "O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place. Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high" — that is, on this point he can turn to God. Only God Himself could judge for certain whether Job had held back from prayer.
Faith Mixed with Self-Defence
Commentators differ on how to weigh the cry. Ridout hears real faith in it. Others hear a man building his own case:
F. B. HoleIt was good that he did take it all from the hands of God. But we still see that note of self-righteousness and self-vindication marring his prayer, above all in verse 17. So his prayer did pass into a complaint that God was dealing harshly with him. The complaint grew mainly because he felt he could speak of God on high as the Witness to his integrity, even though his friends scorned him.
How His Friends Answered It
Job summons heaven and earth as his witnesses. Zophar, another of the friends, turns both witnesses around:
Samuel RidoutThe heavens are against him; their holy light only reveals his iniquity. Job had appealed to heaven and earth to witness to his righteousness. Zophar hints at the exact opposite. The heavens only declare his sin, and earth rises up in the judgment against him.
More Than He Asked For
Kelly adds what Job's appeal never reached for:
William KellyJob did not expect vindication in this life. But grace was yet to give, as it gives us too, more than faith looks for. Faith is in us, though it comes from God, and it has its measure. Grace is in Him — free, unmixed, and unlimited.
Summary
- Blood — Job asks the ground not to swallow the evidence of his suffering. Blood left in plain sight keeps his case open.
- Cry — He wants his cry to settle nowhere on earth, so it travels straight up instead of dying away among his friends.
- Witness — The appeal lands in heaven, where God keeps the record of his life, while every voice on earth turns against him.
- Flaw — The same prayer carries a note of self-vindication. It slides into a complaint that God is dealing harshly with him.
- Answer — What Job could only long for — One who pleads for a man with God — believers now know they have. Grace gives more than faith looks for.