Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
In this chapter Job describes God's power, and that same power is what crushes him. Verse 12 is where his description turns into a complaint: God takes away, and no one can call Him to account.
Where the verse falls in Job's speech
Here Job turns from God's power to God's distance.
Samuel RidoutComing to the heart of his trouble, Job says that he can have no access to this great and mighty Being, who hides Himself and gives no account of His ways to anyone. His words are beautiful poetry, and only the misery of his complaint runs deeper than their beauty. He passes by, unseen as the winds; He deals in anger, but no one can ask a reason.
Why the truth of it made his pain worse
Job never doubted where his losses came from. That certainty is what tightened the knot.
William Kelly"Behold, He snatches away; who can turn Him back? Who will say to Him, What are You doing?" That is exactly where Job was. He was quite sure that it was of God, and that is the very thing that made the difficulty. Because his conscience was pure toward God, and he knew the goodness of God, and yet how was this? He could not understand it, and neither did they in the slightest degree.
Sovereignty is not bare power
Job states the fact in despair. Taken on its own, the same fact gives rest, because of who this sovereign One is.
Frederick William GrantHe does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, "What are You doing?" We rest, because we know who reigns. It is not mere sovereignty, the almighty despotism of bare will, to which we bow because we must, but the sovereignty of wisdom, holiness and goodness — of One in whom love is revealed in light.
The question God allows
No one has the standing to cross-examine God. Yet God did not shelter behind His rights. He opened His dealings to full examination.
Frederick William GrantHe is, and must be, sovereign in His doing, so that "none can stay His hand, or say to Him, What are You doing?" Yet He will allow the question, and let everything come into the fullest light. He takes away Job's hedge and allows Satan wide limits within which to deal with him. The end, of course, is blessing for the sufferer and full vindication of God's perfect ways.
The real question underneath
Earlier in the chapter Job asked how a man could be right with God. His words about a God no one can stop come out of that unsolved problem. He saw God's power and God's mercy, but no righteous ground where the two could meet.
William KellyJob did not doubt that God would see him through all his difficulties. But he could not see on what righteous ground God would do it. If man was a poor sinful man, and God still showed him saving mercy, how was man to be just? You cannot put justice and sins together until you have Christ, who died for the sins and rose again for the believer's justification.
Later in the same speech Job looks for a "daysman" — an umpire who could stand between himself and God.
Samuel RidoutWhere is there a daysman, a mediator who could enter into judgment, laying his hands upon God and Job alike? Consumed with terror, Job cannot speak. Thank God, we know, as Job later knew in part, that there is such a Daysman.
The purpose behind the taking away
Job also assumed that God neither hears nor replies. That assumption was wrong, and so was his verdict that the wounds had no cause.
William KellyThat was great ignorance of God, because God does answer and God does hear. "For He breaks me with a tempest" — and that was true — "and multiplies my wounds without cause." Ah, without cause; that is a little too much to say. He had His own wise cause; He had His own blessed purpose. He meant that Job should be a far happier man, and brighter in his state, than he had ever been before.
Summary
- Fact. No one can hold God back or call Him to account. That is true of God, whoever says it.
- Colour. Job says it in despair, as of a God who hides Himself and explains His ways to no one. The mistake is in his tone, not in the fact.
- Character. God rules by wisdom, holiness and goodness, not by bare will. Knowing who reigns turns that fact into rest.
- Patience. God need not answer. Yet He allows the question and brings the whole case into the light. The end is blessing for Job and full vindication of His ways.
- Answer. Job longed for someone to stand between himself and God. There is such a Daysman: Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for the believer's justification.