Job 19

“He has made my brothers keep their distance, those who know me are wholly estranged from me, my kinsfolk have failed me, and my close friends have forgotten me. Those living in my house consider me a stranger; my slave girls too – in their view, I am a foreigner. I call my servant, and he doesn’t answer, even if I beg him for a favor!” Job 19:13-16 (CJB)

As we move into the second half of the book of Job, the Messianic imagery gets more identifiable to the narrative of Jesus’ suffering. It is as if Job had heard the story of Jesus. Try reading today’s chapter alongside Isaiah 53.

Moving on to today’s passage, it is as if we are transported to Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin at Ciaphas’ home. Earlier, Jesus predicted that his close followers would abandon Him when he began to suffer persecution leading up to His crucifixion.  

“‘You will all fall away,’ Jesus told them, ‘for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Mark 14:27 (NIV) (Their abandonment was also prophesied in Zechariah 13:7)

Specifically, Jesus told Peter (who was declaring he would follow Jesus, even unto death) that he would deny Him outright.

“Peter declared, ‘Even if all fall away, I will not.’ ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.’” Mark 14:29-30 (NIV)

There is an interesting twist in today’s passage. Nestled in the midst of Job’s lament that his friends have abandoned him, Job mentions that his slave girls consider him a foreigner. Consider the dialogue between Ciaphas’ servant girl and Peter, as he was warming himself by the fire in the high priest’s courtyard, afraid to identify with Jesus:

“As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you are saying.’ And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed. And the servant girl saw him again, and began to say to those who stood by, ‘This is one of them.’ But he denied it again. And a little later those who stood by said to Peter again, ‘Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.’” Mark 14:66-70 (NKJV)

Hebrews 4:14-16 describes how Jesus is our superior “High Priest.” That being the case, shouldn’t the high priest’s home have been Jesus’ home? And shouldn’t the servant girl of the high priest have been Jesus’ servant girl, strictly in principle? Yet, she considered Jesus a “Nazarene” when, in fact, He was actually a Judean by birth. In Israel’s history, the Galilee region was part of the northern kingdom of Samaria, known for idolatry. So, the servant girl’s mention of Peter’s accent was also a strong racial slur.