Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.
Two blows have hit Job. First came disaster, then three friends who insist his suffering proves hidden guilt. In the middle of his bitterest speech he suddenly looks up. Whatever people on earth decide about him, someone in heaven knows the truth and will say so.
Faith surfacing in the middle of the complaint
Most of chapter 16 is raw protest. This verse breaks the pattern. One writer sees faith stirring here, not fading.
But in all these ravings, faith, which sleeps in his breast, asserts itself and tries to wake. He says, "my witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high." So he clings to God. It hardly needs saying how beautifully this word suits us. We know Him who has gone on high, and who vouches for us there. But Job did not know Him as we know Him.
Who the witness is
Job's witness is not an idea or a hope. It is God Himself, testifying for him in heaven while his friends mock him on earth.
William KellySo his eye turned upward. His disasters were not beyond explanation, only unexplained so far. Yet he speaks in confident faith: his witness is in heaven, even God Himself, to testify on his behalf in those high places. His friends were only mockers. They completely misunderstood his case and rushed to judge him instead of admitting their ignorance. From them he can only weep out his sorrow and his prayer to God.
A cry that must not be buried
The verse follows straight on from Job's plea that the earth not cover his blood. He wants his case left open, not settled and buried here on earth.
Leslie M. GrantHe calls to the earth not to cover his blood — that is, not to cover up the fact of his undeserved suffering. He also asks that his cry find no resting place, apparently so that it should be heard and not silenced. For he was confident that the witness of his innocence was in heaven. His friends on earth had refused it and scorned him.
Reaching past his own knowledge
Job's appeal to a record kept on high is more than a protest against his friends. He reaches toward someone who would speak to God for him. What he could only long for, we now have.
Samuel RidoutHe would let his blood cry out for vengeance, as Abel's did. Yet he knows by instinct that there is a just God in heaven who keeps 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. We know a High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, who "always lives to make intercession for us."
Where the appeal is right, and where it strains
Commentators differ on the tone of these words. Kelly hears an honest man answering a false charge. Only God could settle whether Job had stopped praying:
William Kelly"My witness is in heaven, and my record is on high" — that is, on this point he can turn to God. None but God Himself could judge for certain whether he had held back from prayer.
Another writer hears self-defence in the same claim. The prayer then slides into a complaint about how God is treating him.
F. B. HoleIt was good that he took it all from the hands of God. But we still notice that note of self-righteousness and self-vindication spoiling his prayer, especially in verse 17. So his prayer did pass into a complaint that God was dealing harshly with him. He felt this all the more because he could speak of God on high as the Witness to his integrity, even though his friends scorned him.
What the confidence carried him through
Whatever is mixed in it, this upward look is what keeps Job from letting go — and it points him forward, past the grave he expects, to a settled outcome.
William Kelly"The righteous also" — you see it is turned for good — "shall hold on his way." That is what he looked forward to. His record was on high; his witness was in heaven; he clung to God. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." That was Job's language; that was his spirit. He had far more faith than any one of the three.
Summary
- Witness identified — the one who testifies for Job is God Himself, speaking for him in heaven.
- Witness needed — his friends had closed the case on earth, so he sent his cry higher than their verdict.
- Witness sought — he reached toward One who would plead for him with God, though he had not yet seen Him.
- Witness given — what Job longed for, we now have: a High Priest who feels our weaknesses and always lives to intercede for us.
- Witness holding — his record was on high, so he clung to God. He expected no clearing in this life, yet grace gives more than faith looks for.