“But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face.
Job is worn down by his suffering and by his friends' suspicion. He stops arguing and asks them to do one simple thing: look him in the face. They suspect he is hiding a secret sin. Can a man's own integrity carry the weight Job puts on it?
Look at me
His friends were sure he was hiding something. Kelly reads the line with an older translation, in which a lie would be obvious to them at once:
William Kelly"Now therefore, be willing; look at me" — yes, he begs them to look at him — "for it is clear to you if I lie." That is, "if there is something hidden underneath. That is what you suspect." "Please turn back; let it not be wrongdoing." He begs them to come back to that, and to a sound judgment of the case. Their poor friend had been put to a terrible trial, and he could not see why it had come on him.
The force of the Hebrew comes through in a closer rendering, where the lie, if there were one, would be visible on the spot:
William KellyBut now be pleased to face me, / And to your faces it will be if I lie. / Return, I pray, let there be no wrong; / Yes, return; I am still right in this.
What he had asked of them
Job had made no demands on his visitors. Even so, they failed him when he needed them most:
Samuel RidoutAt the time of his dire need they showed themselves utterly unfitted to be friends. They are not the "brother born for adversity." These "brothers" are like a summer stream, swollen in winter by melting snow and ice. It promises the thirsty a steady supply. But when the caravans of travellers arrive, they find only the dry stones to mock them. Yet he had asked nothing unreasonable from them — no money, no rescue from an enemy, only a little sympathy.
A face they already knew
These men had known Job before the disasters struck. He asks them to look at his face and judge for themselves:
Leslie M. GrantThen Job pleads with them to just look at him. Did they see deceit in his face? He insists, "I would never lie to your face;" yet they were certain he must be concealing sin in his life (v.28). "Yield now," he tells them; let them not be guilty of injustice in their attitude. "Yes, admit that my righteousness still stands!" Had his character changed since they last saw him?
Charges that name nothing
His friends hint at sin but never name one. Job wants them to point to the place where he went wrong:
F. B. HoleHe challenged his friends to leave vague insinuations for direct accusation. Let them show where he had erred, so that, taught by them, he might hold his tongue. He was right to say, "How forcible are right words." But what did Eliphaz's "arguing," or "upbraiding," achieve? How often among believers in Christ have vague insinuations, or even accusations, caused damage. In those cases "right words," based on specific facts, would have been forceful and done good.
Where his eyes should have been
There is a warning in Job's disappointment. He had put his friends in the place where God belonged:
Samuel RidoutEliphaz might speak in lofty language about the greatness and faithfulness of God. But what about himself? Was he acting the part of a true friend? Seen like this, Job might say of them, "Lover and friend You have put far from me." And when these failed, he could not add, "You are with me." Paul speaks very differently: "At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me… But the Lord stood by me" (2 Tim. 4:16-17). Let us learn from Job's failure not to put the dearest earthly friend between ourselves and God.
Kelly adds that even a clear conscience was not the ground Job needed: "He had to learn that his own righteousness, however real, could be no ground; he must have the righteousness of God to stand upon, though he hardly knew how that could be."
Summary
- Face. Job asks his friends to look straight at him. An honest look would settle the charge they never put into words.
- Ask. He had asked for no money and no rescue. He wanted sympathy, and his friends withheld even that.
- Unchanged. They had known him before the disasters. Nothing in his character had changed — only his circumstances.
- Words. Vague suspicion wounds. Plain, specific words would help. Job would fall silent if they could name his error.
- Ground. Job's integrity was genuine, but it could not hold him up. He needed a righteousness from God. Leaning on friends only deepened his pain.