“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort.
Job's three friends have had their say, and now he takes his turn. He asks for one small thing: not agreement, not sympathy, just a hearing — and he says that hearing can take the place of the comfort they never gave.
The word "consolation" carries a sting
Job's friends had come to console him. By the time he reaches this speech, he uses their own word back at them, and one writer reads the whole line as a jab.
F. B. HoleVerse 2 has been translated, "Hear attentively my speech, and let this replace your consolations." To sum up the speeches of the three friends as "consolations" was of course sarcasm. What he really thought of their words is plain at the end of the next verse. There he told them that after he had spoken they could "mock on!"
Listening is the one comfort they can still offer
The request has a logic to it. If they will not give him comfort, they can at least give him their attention — and that silence would be worth more than everything they have said so far.
Samuel RidoutHe begins with a plea that at least they will listen to him. This will at least take the place of the consolation which they refuse to give him. After that they can resume their taunts. For himself, he says he has stopped expecting any right judgment from people — and no wonder, if that were all his hope. This implies that he has turned to God, which is itself a sign of the faith at the bottom of his heart.
The tone of the appeal
Commentators differ on how to hear Job here. Hole finds sarcasm; another writer hears self-control, and thinks that restraint should itself have been an argument to his friends.
Leslie M. GrantJob does not reply in the same argumentative spirit his friends had used. He appeals to them to weigh what he is saying. He controlled himself, and that alone should have impressed them enough to give him some serious consideration.
Another writer marks this speech as a turning point. The sign of it is in how Job now handles the men arguing against him.
William KellyJob answers, "Keep listening to my words." From this point there seems to be a real improvement in Job... What marks the change more than a little is that from now on he grants whatever truth there was in what his friends had pressed on him. Hardly anything shows a man gaining the moral advantage over his opponents as much as this... You never bring a dispute to a good close until you admit whatever is true in the man who opposes you.
Speaking out was itself a relief
Job asks to be heard because he needs to be heard. He has given up on winning their sympathy, but he has not given up on saying what is true.
William KellyIt was a great relief to this tried man to speak out. He had failed completely to win their sympathy. Still, Job preferred to speak plainly, and he had no trouble meeting anything they had to say. "And let this be your comfort. Bear with me, and I will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on." It was harsh, but it was no more than they deserved.
Why their comfort failed
The friends were not villains. They were sincere, and still no help at all.
The Bible TreasuryHis three friends were clearly sincere in their care for the sufferer, and eager to help him in his hour of sorrow. But the cause of his suffering baffled them completely... They might have helped if his had been an ordinary case. But here was a truly righteous man, stripped of every earthly possession in a way no one had ever seen, and they had nothing to say. They did not understand God's ways with His own at all. So their false and unworthy suggestions only made Job feel how useless they were to him, and threw him back on God Himself. In the end he said, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you."
That failure leaves a warning for anyone who sits with a grieving friend. The same writer points to a better model.
The Bible TreasuryBut we are told to act as He did, Whose mission was to comfort those who mourn: "Jesus wept." We are to "weep with those who weep", and not to pretend we know too much about the mysterious causes of their suffering. It is possible we may be mistaken in our judgments.
Summary
- Asked — Job asks for one thing only: attention. He offers his friends a way to comfort him that costs them nothing but silence.
- Answered — What they gave instead was talk. Calling their speeches "consolations" was sarcasm. He expects mockery the moment he stops speaking.
- Attempted — Their failure was sincere, not malicious. Job's case was outside anything their reasoning could explain. So their comfort came out as blame.
- Adjusted — From this point Job improves. He begins to admit whatever was true in his opponents' words. Hardly anything shows a man gaining the moral advantage more.
- Abandoned to God — Job has given up on fair judgment from people. That throws him back on God Himself, and far later he can say, "now my eye sees you."