#662 As You Say Be

And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

3 as long as my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4 my lips will not speak falsehood,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;

till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6 I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;

my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7 “Let my enemy be as the wicked,

and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

9 Will God hear his cry

when distress comes upon him?

10 Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call upon God at all times?

11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

why then have you become altogether vain?

13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,

and his descendants have not enough bread.

15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,

and his widows do not weep.

16 Though he heap up silver like dust,

and pile up clothing like clay,

17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,

and the innocent will divide the silver.

18 He builds his house like a moth's,

like a booth that a watchman makes.

19 He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;

he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;

in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

21 The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;

it sweeps him out of his place.

22 It hurls at him without pity;

he flees from its power in headlong flight.

23 It claps its hands at him

and hisses at him from its place. Job 27 ESV

Job goes on, and swears by God, that it is God who has taken away justice and made him bitter. He declares that he is not lying, that to agree with his friends in this situation would be the end of his integrity. It is somewhat interesting that they did not reply between this and the last poem, I think they are done with Job, have given him over so to speak. He cannot come to agree with them in causation because that would be a lie, and he fears God more than men.

Let my enemy be as the wicked - this is as harsh a rebuttal as we have heard from Job yet, and it comes after a consistent barrage of allegations from his "friends." They have called him wicked and become like his enemies, so if I am innocent then let these false accusers receive the wages back that they would have placed on me. He then goes on to describe the hypocrisy of the wicked, they will call out to God once or twice, but when He does not answer right away or their way, they turn on God. They do not continue to pray or to delight in God or His word.  

I will teach you - He decries the wicked, those that hate God, he does not admit to treason though because God also hates lying, but he continues to show these men that he agrees with and affirms basic truths, but it doesn't apply here. Look, you have seen all these things yourselves. The wicked prosper for a while, the wicked reproduce, rise to power, and I agree they will all come to an end and rightly so. I also agree that everything about the end of the wicked looks like my current state here. Yes, I suffer as you think the wicked should, but you falsely assume that I have used their means to get here. I still affirm God, praise God, and swear that it is from Him and by Him that I suffer these things. Men could not do this so effectively, and so I see the hand of Him Who made me, and I know that He Who would allow this can also deliver me from it.


“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”a
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.


57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15: 55-58