Chapter Nine

The first half of Job’s response to the speech of Bildad.

Job 1:1-35. God’s justice is the justice of a powerful being, who violates the demands of righteousness in relation to all people, and in particular in relation to Job.

Job 9:1. And Job answered and said: Job 9:2. Truly, I know that it is so; but how can a man be righteous before God? Agreeing with Bildad’s opinion about Divine Justice (Job 7:3), Job at the same time does not allow, like the psalmist (Ps 142:2), the thought of the possibility of justification of man before God (“how can a man be righteous before God?”). From this it follows of itself that Divine Justice appears to him in a different light than to his friends.

Job 9:3. If he wishes to contend with Him, He will not answer him one of a thousand. Job 9:4. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? In Job’s view, man must acknowledge God as righteous because He excels him in two respects: wisdom and all-powerful might – strength. God is wise; man is not able to answer even one of a thousand of His words, and therefore each of them is forced to acknowledge as true and just. The wise in heart, the Lord possesses sufficient strength to make people fulfill His commands. And however much man may resist them, in the end he is compelled to submit to them, to agree that this is as it should be (“who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?” v. 4). God’s righteousness is the righteousness of a being strong in wisdom and, thanks to all-mightiness, immovable in His determinations.

Job 9:5. He moves mountains, and they do not know it; He overturns them in His anger; Job 9:6. He shakes the earth from its place, and its pillars tremble; Job 9:7. He says to the sun, and it does not rise; and He seals up the stars. This strength that allows no opposition (v. 4) manifests itself above all in the physical world, in such phenomena as earthquakes and eclipses. During the former mountains move and are destroyed, the earth is shaken from the place (Isa 13:13) that it occupies in world space (Job 26:7), and its foundations quake (Ps 103:5; Job 38:6), during the latter the sun gives no light, seeming as though not risen, and the brightness of the stars grows weak (“to seal” in the sense of limiting strength in Dan 9:24).

Job 9:8. He alone spreads out the heavens and walks upon the heights of the sea; Job 9:9. He made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south; The evidence of divine all-mightiness are further the heavens spread out, like a scroll, (Isa 40:22; Ps 103:2); the storms arising at the Lord’s will (Ps 106:25-26; Hab 3:15) and finally the constellations of the northern and southern hemisphere: “Bear” – the Great Bear, “Orion” – Orion (cf. Amos 5:8), “Pleiades” (“heap”) – the constellation of the Pleiades and the chambers of the south – all the stars of the southern hemisphere.

Job 9:10. He does great things which we cannot comprehend, and innumerable wonders! All the facts adduced by Job constitute an insignificant part of the incalculable mighty deeds of God (cf. Job 5:9).

Job 9:11. Behold, He passes by me, and I do not see Him; He goes by me, and I do not perceive Him. Job 9:12. If He takes, who will hinder Him? Who will say to Him: what are you doing? The same incomprehensible and unlimited all-mightiness appears also in God’s dealings with men. He acts with them without their knowledge (v. 11), much more without asking their assent or dissent (v. 12; cf. Isa 40:9; Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44); acts solely according to His own judgment (cf. Ps 77:38).

Job 9:13. God will not turn away His anger; beneath Him the helpers of pride bow down. The irresistible will of the all-mighty Lord tramples the will of “helpers of pride” (Hebrew “ragav”), all the proud and haughty. As is evident from Ps 88:11, Isa 51:9, “ragav” means sea monsters, hence the reading of the LXX: “ὑπ αὐτοῦ ἐκάμφθη κήτη τὰ ὑπ οὐρανῶν”, – “the whales under heaven humbled themselves under Him.”

Job 9:14. How much less can I answer Him and choose my words before Him? Job 9:15. Although I were righteous, I could not answer; I would have to plead with my Judge. Before the face of a wise God and immovable in His determinations, who turns to nothing human reasoning, count for nothing the considerations brought forward by man to prove his righteousness. Such a God cannot be convinced, but only entreated, asked to turn away His anger to mercy. A similar outcome pointed to Bildad (Job 8:5), and Job himself inclines toward it.

Job 9:16. Even if I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He heard my voice, Job 9:17. for He breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause, Job 9:18. and does not let me catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. One can entreat God, but cannot reckon on the entreaties reaching their goal. The Lord in His anger strikes Job (v. 16), and for not a moment does He give him relief from suffering. And if anger is irresistible (v. 13), then the entreaties are in vain and the hope created by them for forgiveness.

Job 9:19. If it is a matter of strength, behold, He is mighty! If it is a matter of judgment, who will set me a time? Job 9:20. Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me; though I am blameless, it will pronounce me guilty. One cannot even compel God to hear entreaties: all-mightiness is not subject to the pressure of a weak man. Eliphaz advised Job to commit his cause to God (Job 5:8). But, first, no one is able to compel the all-mighty Lord to enter into examination of his case. Second, if judgment were to take place, its results would be unfavorable for Job. Job’s self-justification the wise God will turn into an accusation. If he should even manage to justify himself, to prove his innocence, yet the Lord who does not turn away His anger will declare him guilty; and to such a sentence of the all-mighty God Job must submit.

Job 9:21. I am blameless; I do not care about myself; I despise my life. Job 9:22. It is all one; therefore I say: He destroys both the blameless and the guilty. Job 9:23. If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the despair of the innocent. Job 9:24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? In such a position Job cannot avail himself of the counsel of his friends to await an improvement in his condition (Job 5:19 and following; Job 8:21). As an innocent man (v. 21), he might hope for this, and yet he does not wish even to care about his life – to be concerned for it (Hebrew “yada,” see Gen 39:6), he feels aversion to it. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the fact that under Divine injustice the innocence and sinfulness of man are indifferent (“it is all one,” v. 22) to his fate. If the Lord equally destroys the guilty and the innocent, in the violation of righteousness goes so far as to find pleasure in prolonging the suffering of the righteous, and makes the representatives of righteousness incapable of distinguishing good and evil (v. 24; cf. Isa 29:10), then Job’s innocence will not save him from suffering, and such a life is repugnant to him (Job 6:7).

Job 9:25. My days are swifter than a runner; they flee, they see no good, Job 9:26. they pass like swift boats, like an eagle swooping on its prey. Life inspires Job only with aversion; the desire for its continuation is out of place. This desire is not supported by present reality: in Job’s life, passing so swiftly that it cannot be compared with the swift pace of a runner, a papyrus boat made light (Hebrew “ebeh”; cf. Isa 18:2) and an eagle (Job 7:7; Ps 89:10), there is nothing cheerful; all has remained behind.

Job 9:27. If I say: I will forget my complaint, I will put aside my sad demeanor, and be cheerful; Job 9:28. I am afraid of all my suffering, knowing that You will not hold me innocent. The desire for life can be supported artificially, by way of creating a cheerful disposition, by way of encouraging oneself (v. 27). But even this is impossible in view of the fact of suffering. They are indicators of God’s irresistible anger (v. 17–18), indicators that God considers Job a sinner and will not free him from punishment.

Job 9:29. But if I am guilty, why do I weary myself in vain? Job 9:30. Even if I washed myself with snow water and thoroughly cleansed my hands, Job 9:31. then even then You would plunge me into the mire, and my own clothes would loathe me. Nor is life desirable in the role of guilty. It is “torment” (v. 29), tormenting expectation of punishment. The latter is inevitable in view of the impossibility for the guilty to justify themselves before God. Even at the highest cleanness, such as that achieved by washing with snow-water (Ps 50:9; Isa 1:18) and lye (“I washed my hands with soap,” more precisely; cf. Jer 2:22), God would find him so unclean that even his clothes would feel loathing toward him.

Job 9:32. For He is not a man, as I am, that I might answer Him, that we should come together in judgment! Job 9:33. There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both. Such an unarguable judgment on the part of Job is the result of the fact that he and the Lord are two unequal parties in judgment. God is a wise and unlimited in strength being; he is a weak, insignificant mortal, not having the possibility to answer anything to even one of a thousand divine words (v. 3), much more to free himself from submission to the will of the Lord (v. 4). An end to such a relationship could be put by an umpire, a third disinterested party, a representative of righteousness, having the power to limit the injustice of God. But there is none; nor is there a possibility to escape from the role of the guilty; nor is continuation of life desirable.

Job 9:34. Let Him take His rod away from me, and let His terror not make me afraid, Job 9:35. then I would speak and not fear Him, for I am not so in myself. There is no umpire between God and Job; however, an equal judgment ensuring him the opportunity to prove his innocence might take place even under the condition that the Lord for a time puts an end to suffering – ceases to be his enemy (cf. Job 23:3-7). For his own part Job is able to prove his innocence, so that he “is not so in myself” – his conscience does not make such reproaches as would put him in an defenseless position before God. * * * Notes Constellations corresponding to present names: the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades.