I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
Job is answering his friend Bildad, and the argument has moved from how God rules the world to where a man stands before Him. Job is sure God has already judged him guilty, so he asks why he should keep trying — and behind that lies the question the whole chapter circles: how can man be just with God?
The Verdict Job Assumes
Job is not confessing wickedness here. He is arguing from a verdict he believes God has already given. The older translation the commentators quote reads, "If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?" Job takes the verdict as given and draws the obvious conclusion.
Samuel RidoutJob hints that there is no use in his making any effort to clear himself. If he is already pronounced wicked, he labours in vain to convince God that he is not. He may wash his hands in innocence, in snow water, only to be taken by this irresistible Power and plunged into the ditch! All efforts to alter the judgment are vain.
Another commentator ties that verdict to Job's suffering. Job "feels that God does not hold him innocent or he would not be suffering as he was." So he asks "why did he labour to do what was good if this only led to his being condemned?" (Leslie M. Grant).
Effort That Cannot Reach the Root
Job's "labour" is the effort to be good enough to stand. One writer says the harder a man works at that, the more he learns about his own nature.
J. N. DarbyThe more a man labours to be good, the more he finds he is like the Ethiopian who cannot change his skin. The evil is in his nature, and he cannot get rid of it. When there is real integrity of heart, there is struggle. A sense of integrity, without the knowledge of righteousness, brings much misery to the heart.
Job fits that description. He has real integrity, yet he is miserable, because integrity is not the same as righteousness before God.
The Struggle of a Soul Under Conviction
Job swings between asking God to leave him alone and wanting to be washed clean. One writer describes what happens when God's arrow has gone deep and will not come out.
The Bible TreasuryIt is a happy thing to see that when the arrow of God has got deep into the heart, no efforts can draw it out. A man may keep up the appearance of happiness before others, but the wound keeps aching inside. Here he may try to be religious with an earthly mind. There it may only make him more miserable. Or he may throw himself into pleasure, because he is unhappy. If I am wicked, I may ask to be let alone. Such are the struggles of a soul under conviction, and a hard struggle it is.
The same writer explains why the next move fails too: God "sees too far, He sees motives," so all Job's washing is vain and "his hands are washed for no purpose."
Two Grounds to Stand On
Job fears that God will show him defective in the end. One commentator agrees, then turns the point on the reader.
William KellyGod will show him to be defective after all. That is true. If you are resting upon yourself, you are resting upon a ground that is not approved before God. If you are resting upon Christ, you have got the only solid ground that never can be taken from you.
Kelly goes on to say that what Job lacked, "any daysman between us," is exactly what Christ became: "a mediator who is equally divine with the God before whom He acts as mediator for us."
The Question Job Could Not Answer
Behind Job's complaint stands a question. One writer traces how long that question waited for an answer.
W. W. FeredayBoth Job and his friend Bildad long ago raised the question, "How can man be just with God?" (Job 9; 25). Both had in mind that man is fallen and guilty. Their question found no definite answer in Old Testament times. For this riddle, as for many others, men had to wait until God sent forth His beloved Son. "But now," says the Apostle, "the righteousness of God has been manifested" (Rom. 3:21). It is offered "to all," and it is "upon all who believe." Its foundation is the blood of Christ.
Summary
- Verdict. Job speaks as a man already sentenced. If the judgment stands, every effort to clear himself is wasted.
- Vain. His labour fails not because he is insincere but because "the evil is in his nature, and he cannot get rid of it."
- Conviction. Wanting to be let alone, then wanting to be washed — this is the hard struggle of a soul under conviction, and God's arrow will not come out.
- Ground. Resting on yourself is ground God does not approve; resting on Christ is ground that can never be taken away.
- Answer. Job's question waited for the Son: righteousness from God, founded on the blood of Christ, for all who believe.