Job 17

“He has made me a byword among the peoples, a creature in whose face they spit. I am nearly blind with grief, my limbs reduced to a shadow. The upright are perplexed at this, the innocent aroused against the hypocrites. Yet the righteous hold-on to their way, and those with clean hands grow stronger and stronger.  But as for you all, turn around!  Come back! – yet I won’t find a wise man among you.”  Job 17:6-10 (CJB)

Job 17 is a continuation of Job’s answer, beginning in the 16th chapter. True to the form, Job 17 is full of Messianic imagery, which those familiar with the New Testament will recognize. We see substitutionary atonement: “Be my guarantor yourself! Who else will put up a pledge for me?” (v. 3)

In today’s passage, we see a parallel between Jesus’ persecution and Job’s. Job describes how his suffering condition led him to become a byword among the people, to the point of being spat upon:  

“Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists. Others slapped Him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit You?’” Matthew 26:67-68 (HCSB)

Not everyone who observed Job’s condition threw insults at him. Job said that the righteous were “perplexed” and that his state aroused the innocent against the hypocrites.  Surely, Job was the talk of the town as everyone commented about Job and tried to reckon his suffering with their personal theologies. The whole scene is reminiscent of how James exhorted followers of Jesus to consider the trials they were facing as the result of obedience to God.

“Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” James 1:2-8 (CSB)

Through it all, Job held firm to his faith. He pleaded with his friends to turn from their sin. Perhaps the best indicator that we truly believe the gospel is our willingness to suffer to share it and to share it in the midst of our suffering. Job also knew that a reckoning was coming. Just because the Lord has not judged your sin yet doesn’t mean that He won’t.  Still, He gives us the opportunity to repent beforehand.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)