Chapter Twenty-Three

Job’s response to Eliphaz in the third dialogue. 1–2. General characterization of the speech. 3–7. The desirability of drawing near to God in light of the inevitability of vindication. 8–14. The unfeasibility of such a desire. 15–17. New torments of Job.

Job 23:2. Even now my complaint is bitter; my sufferings are heavier than my groans. From all of Eliphaz’s speech, only the counsel to draw near to God (Job 22:21) brings comfort to Job: it coincides with his own desire (Job 16:21). But the drawing near to God that the sufferer desires is not permitted by Him (vv. 6 and 9), and so Job’s new speech is full of bitterness and complaints. Yet these are nothing in comparison with his sufferings; these latter cannot be expressed in words: “my sufferings are heavier than my groans.” Such is the meaning of the Synodal reading, in which the expression “sufferings” represents a translation of the Hebrew word “yadi”—“my hand.” The possibility of such a rendering is explained by the fact that “yad” means both “hand” and “afflictions, sufferings” (Job 1:11; Ps 31:4 and so forth). The literal translation of the Hebrew reading of this place is thus: “my hand is heavy over my sighing,”—I am forced to continue my cries and complaints. The LXX and Peshitta, instead of “yadi”—“my hand”—read “yado”—“his hand,” that is, God’s.

Job 23:3. Oh, if I knew where to find Him and could come before His throne! Drawing near to God is possible only on condition of clearing Job’s case. And he, desiring such nearness, strives for judgment (“could come before His throne”) with Him who has so far not been found by him and hides from him (Job 13:24).

Job 23:4. I would lay out my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments; Job 23:5. I would learn the words He would answer me and understand what He would say to me. For his part, Job would do everything at trial to put an end to the enmity. Recognized by God as a sinner and therefore as an enemy (Job 7:20), he would try to scatter such a view by presenting evidence in favor of his innocence: “fill my mouth with arguments” (“tokahot”),—proofs of the rightness of one and the wrongness of the other (Ps 37:15). He would lay them out in opposition to those objections from God, which so far remain unknown to him (v. 5; cf. Job 10:2).

Job 23:6. Surely He would not contend with me in the fullness of His power? Oh, no! If only He would turn His attention to me. Job 23:7. Then a righteous man could contend with Him,—and I would forever gain my freedom from my Judge. Doubts about the possibility of reconciliation with God. Certainly, those arguments that Job intends to bring at his trial with God would lose their force and significance if He should appear in the role of an angry, threatening judge (Job 9:20; cf. Job 9:33-35). But such a supposition is eliminated by the confidence that the Lord will mercifully hear the sufferer. And if God, as an angry, arbitrary Judge, condemns even a righteous man (Job 9:20), then under the presumed condition, the innocence of the righteous man will be taken into account, and he, the righteous man (Job 9:35) will cease to be considered by God as an enemy, “would gain freedom” (cf. Job 7:12).

Job 23:8. But look, I go forward—and He is not there, backward—and I do not find Him; Job 23:9. Does He do something on the left side, I do not see it; does He hide on the right, I do not perceive it. Against Job’s drawing near to God stands God Himself. He does not allow him to the trial with Him, which would provide grounds for reconciliation. The sufferer seeking the Lord (v. 3) finds Him nowhere.

Job 23:10. But He knows my path; let Him test me,—I will come out as gold. Job 23:11. My foot follows firmly the path He has marked; His ways I have kept and have not turned aside. Job 23:12. From the commandment of His lips I have not departed; the words of His lips I have treasured more than my own ordinances. God hides from Job in order not to give him the opportunity to justify himself (a manifestation of enmity), because He knows that from trial he would emerge as pure as gold from the furnace (v. 10; cf. Prov 17:3; Zech 13:9). The inevitability of the latter is explained by the fact that Job throughout all his life had remained steadfast in piety. He did not turn aside from the path indicated by God (v. 11; cf. Ps 16:5; Ps 124:5; Isa 30:11), preferred divine will to his own desires (“ordinances,” Heb. “hukki”—laws of sinful nature opposed to divine laws, cf. Rom 7:23).

Job 23:13. But He is firm; and who will turn Him aside? He does what His soul desires. Job 23:14. So He will accomplish what is appointed to me, and there is much of the like with Him. Despite Job’s innocence, the Lord’s decision not to allow him justification remains unchanged (“He is firm”), and no one is able to force Him to act otherwise (cf. Job 9:12). In consequence, He will fulfill to the end His decree concerning Job to subject him to sufferings and humiliation (“what is appointed to me”; cf. Job 10:13-14). There is nothing surprising in this; the Lord treats many others in the same way (“there is much of the like with Him”; cf. Job 9:23).

Job 23:15. Therefore I am terrified before His face; when I think of it, I fear Him. Job 23:16. God has weakened my heart, and the Almighty has terrified me. Meditation upon such inexplicable for man the relations of God disturbs and frightens Job, and is accompanied by complete collapse of mental activity: “weakened my heart.”

Job 23:17. Why am I not destroyed before this darkness, and He has not hidden the gloom from my face! The literal translation of this verse from the Hebrew is: “for I am perishing not from the presence of darkness, nor from the gloom which covers my face.” Job does not perish from the sufferings which promise him nothing comforting in the future, but from the strange behavior of the Lord.