All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
Job says this at the lowest point of his reply to his friend Bildad. Family, servants and even the children in his house had turned away — so who is behind such loss, and what does a man have left?
What the Desertion Looked Like
The verse is the last line of a long list. One writer walks through it, tracing every loss to God's hand. The circle shrinks inward: the wider family, then the household staff, then his wife, and last of all his closest friends.
William KellyIt was God who embittered his social circle, and the privacy of his home. His brothers were put far away, his acquaintances estranged, his relatives failed, his close friends forgetful. The guests of his house and his maid counted him a stranger, an outsider. He called his servant in vain, though he begged him humbly. He was an object of disgust to his wife... The very youngsters despised him. If he rose, they spoke at him instead of showing any respect. All his closest friends loathed him, and those he loved turned against him.
The Cruelty of Friends Who Do Not Feel It
Job's three friends were still there with him. What they never did was weigh the cost of what he described.
Leslie M. GrantAnyone who has been through such rejection is bound to feel the pain of it. Yet Job's friends do not seem to have even considered how deeply this must have hurt Job.
Job Blames God for It
Job does not put his abandonment down to bad luck. He blames God, and pictures God's troops laying siege to him. One writer gives a different account of why people pulled away.
Leslie M. GrantSince people generally live by a legal principle, it is understandable that they had the same attitude toward Job as his friends did. But Job counted them as God's troops come together, "building roads" against him. Of course Job's guess was wrong. God did not move these people against him, though no doubt Satan did. Job's brothers had removed themselves from him, and Job blamed God for this.
Notice also who raises the subject. His friends had not thrown his isolation in his face; he brought it up himself.
William KellyHe himself points, not they, to his complete desertion: his wife, his brothers, his servants, his whole household, and even youngsters treating him with contempt. Those who once respected him had all now deserted him. So complete, and so sudden, was Job's fall... It was the painful truth, and he admits it all.
Job Set Beside Christ
A line like this can sound like Christ — an innocent man loathed by those closest to him. One writer says the likeness is really a contrast.
William KellyJob's words may often seem to come close to the words of Christ in the Psalms. But they really stand in contrast with His perfection. For He always remained in the love of His Father. He never failed to justify His God, even when abandoned by 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 to Christ. We cannot rely on the old and modern writers who agree in saying that Job was a picture of Christ as the Victim or the undeserving Sufferer.
What Comes Next
This verse sits in the part of the chapter given to human scorn. It is not the end of Job's answer. A few verses later the same crushed man rises into words of faith.
Samuel RidoutHe boldly charges God with having wronged him. He is the object of divine cruelty and of human scorn. And yet it is wonderful to see the poor crushed spirit rise from the dust in those words of faith and hope, "I know that my Redeemer lives." ... (3) The scorn of man (vv. 12-20). (4) The plea for pity (vv. 21-24). (5) The triumph of faith (vv. 25-27).
Summary
- Scorn. The verse closes a run of verses on human contempt. Brothers, relatives, servants, wife and children pull away, and last of all his closest friends.
- Silence. His three friends stayed and talked. They never weighed how much such rejection hurts.
- Misreading. Job traces the whole desertion to God's hand. One writer answers that God did not move these people against him, though Satan did.
- Contrast. Job's words sound like Christ's words in the Psalms. Yet one writer reads him as a foil, not a portrait: Christ justified God even when abandoned; Job charged God with wrong.
- Turn. From this lowest point — scorn, then a plea for pity — comes the triumph of faith: "I know that my Redeemer lives."