It’s not surprising that we find Job telling his friends that everything they have said to him so far, has been really hurtful, Job 19:1-2. Job says they have tormented him, crushed him with their words, Job 19:2, they have reproached him ten times, Job 19:3 / Genesis 31:7 / Numbers 14:22, which isn’t literally ten times but speaks of completeness, they have completely reproached him. They have shamelessly attacked him, Job 19:3, and have not been able to prove any of their accusations against him, Job 19:4.
Job says to them, if what they are saying is true, Job 19:5, that God is punishing him for sin, then God has wronged him, Job 19:6. However, Job doesn’t believe this, he believes there is another explanation for what has happened to him.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Job maintains, rightly, that his calamities were not due to his sins, but, wrongly, that they were the result of God’s unjust action.’
He goes on once again to repeat one of his five main arguments, ‘I want to talk with God.’ He has no idea why he is suffering, hence, why he wants to speak to God to get some answers, he believed that God had unjustly brought punishment upon him. Job describes how he has gone from top to bottom, that is, he has been stripped of his honour, Job 19:7-9, and everyone assumed that he had sinned.
Back in Job 14:7, there was hope in that the tree was only cut down, leaving the roots to produce another tree. But here, the tree is plucked up with its roots, Job 19:10. There was no hope of another tree. He complains that God’s army had been set against him, Job 19:11-12.
Here, Job again repeats another of his five arguments, ‘you friends aren’t helping me’. Most commentators believe this is the saddest section in all the speeches of Job because these verses tell us in a more detailed way exactly what is happening to Job.
1. His brothers and his relatives no longer have anything to do with him, Job 19:13-14 / Job 19:17.
2. His household servants ignore him, Job 19:15-16.
3. His relationship with his wife and brothers is strained, Job 19:17.
4. Children do not like him, Job 19:18.
5. Other acquaintances have become his enemies, Job 19:19.
Notice how Job is physically deteriorating, he has become but ‘skin and bones’, Job 19:20. He believes his life is hanging on only by the skin of his teeth, Job 13:14. He was alone in his suffering and that loneliness brought him great despair, no one was there for him.
It’s not surprising that Job now cries out for some kind of compassion from his friends, Job 19:21. Job’s hope and honour are gone and now, he’s greatly discouraged. Why are his friends treating him this way? Job 19:22. Job wishes for a record of his suffering to be written on a scroll so that future generations might have a witness of his innocence, Job 19:23. The good news is that we do, God added it to his inspired Word, the Bible so that we can read of his innocence. Job wishes that the record have the permanence of that written in rock with the lasting nature of an iron tool, Job 19:24.
Job expresses his confidence that his redeemer lives, Job 19:25. The redeemer was a close relative who would claim and raise up the posterity of a deceased brother, Exodus 6:6 / Exodus 15:13 / Leviticus 25:25. God was Job’s redeemer and Job believed he will be defended and vindicated by God. By saying God will take his stand on the earth, Job 19:25, Job indicates a faith that his vindication will be while the world still stands.
In Job 19:26, Job is either expressing his confidence in the afterlife, believing he will see God after his flesh is gone or he is expressing his confidence that while still in the flesh, he shall see God, which would be equal to Job’s seeing his vindication while still alive.
He knows there is some kind of benefit from seeing God, the question is, when? In his lifetime or the afterlife, 1 Corinthians 15. Job does believe he will personally experience the joy of seeing his God, which causes him to nearly faint just thinking about such a great event, Job 19:27.
His friends up to this point have become self-appointed judges, juries, and executioners. However, Job once again is concerned for their eternal welfare, Job 19:28. They must be aware that they, too, will face God in judgment, Job 19:29 / Matthew 7:1 / James 3:1. They were due the same suffering as Job for their sinful behaviour and the words they had spoken to Job.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Whether or not Job might have understood the full implications of all the wonderful revelation God gave him in these precious verses, we cannot tell. An apostle explained that the inspired writers of the Old Testament did not always know what their holy words meant, 1 Peter 1:10-12, but what is truly important is that we ourselves should truly understand and appreciate them. Surely, in these few verses, we have stood within the Holy of Holies of Divine Revelation.’