Job 19:3

We must take Job's words as literally true: the speeches of Bildad and the others crushed him by their cruel severity. "Ten times" — a complete number — they had heaped reproaches on him, and had stunned him with the unjust charges they had made against him without shame. What proof did they have of sins in his past? If he had really done wrong, the secret lay in his own heart, where they had no right to look.

This was the worst of the speeches so far, and under the hand of God Job is led far out of and beyond himself… "How long," answered Job, "will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?" — for he felt that in their reproaches there was no weight, nothing but words.

Job did not lose his temper at Bildad's unjust accusations. But he shows here that his friends' reproaches have struck deep into his soul… He is pointing out that the best he can say of their words is that they are unfair. Ten times they had reproached him. Should they not be ashamed that they had actually wronged him? They had accused him of evil without knowing of anything evil in him. If he had done wrong, then he alone knew of it. They were only striking in the dark.

It is remarkable, that when the three friends of Job come, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, we hear no more of Satan. And what better weapons can Satan use, than the words of mistaken friends? To be misjudged and misunderstood by those we love; surely this is bitterness.

What the storm Satan raised against Job failed to do, the sympathy of his friends brings about. Poor heart of man! Job's uprightness and even his patience had been shown, and Satan had no more to say. But God alone can search out what the heart really is before Him… God did this with Job. At the same time He showed that in such cases He acts in grace, for the good of the soul He loves.

No doubt the friends were wrong, quite wrong, — wrong in their notions about God, wrong in their method of dealing with Job. But their being wrong did not make him right. If Job's conscience had been in the presence of God, he would have made no reply to his friends. It would not have mattered if they had been a thousand times more mistaken and harsh in the way they treated him. He would have bowed his head in meekness… He would have put the very harshness of his friends to good use, treating it as healthy moral discipline for his heart.

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." There is a deeply moving, though useless, appeal to the friends for pity… (1) Reproach (Job 19:1-6). (2) God's hand (verses 7-11). (3) The scorn of man (verses 12-20). (4) The plea for pity (verses 21-24). (5) The triumph of faith (verses 25-27).