Commentary - Job 19:23-27

Bird's-eye view

In the midst of some of the most profound suffering and eloquent complaint in all of Scripture, the book of Job presents us with this diamond. After being hammered by his friends, who insist that his suffering must be the direct result of some heinous, hidden sin, Job erupts with one of the most glorious, Spirit-inspired confessions of faith in the entire Old Testament. This is not just a man whistling in the dark; this is a man on an ash heap, scraping his boils with a piece of pottery, who sees with stunning clarity the final victory of God. He is surrounded by darkness, and yet he speaks of a light that will dawn at the end of all things.

This passage is a great creedal statement. Job understands the monumental importance of what he is about to say, desiring it to be permanently etched in rock for all posterity. He then declares his unshakable confidence in his living Redeemer, his Goel or kinsman-redeemer, who will one day stand upon the earth. This is not some vague hope in an amorphous afterlife. This is a robust, embodied hope. Job confesses his faith in a bodily resurrection, that even after his skin is destroyed and his body consumed by worms, he, in his own flesh, will see God. This is a personal, direct, and unmediated vision of God that he longs for, a hope so intense it consumes him. This passage is a flare of gospel light in the deep night of the Old Testament, pointing forward to the ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outline

Context In Job

This magnificent confession does not arise in a vacuum. It appears to come out of the wild blue random, a flash of lightning from a dark sky. Job has just spent the bulk of the chapter lamenting his utter desolation. God has fenced him in, stripped him of his glory, and incited his friends, family, and even his servants against him. He feels completely abandoned by God and man. His friends, with their tidy but false theological calculus, have been relentlessly prosecuting their case that Job is a great sinner. They are functioning as accusers, not comforters.

It is in this context of being utterly forsaken and wrongfully accused that Job's hope breaks through. His desire for his words to be written down is a desire for vindication. He knows he is righteous in the main, and he wants his testimony to stand. But his hope is not ultimately in a human court. His appeal goes much higher. He looks past his current misery, past even his own death, to a final court where his Redeemer will stand and vindicate him. This shining testimony sits in the midst of his complaints the same way the godly Job himself sat on the ash heap.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 23 “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

Job begins with a passionate wish. He is about to say something of immense importance, and he wants it preserved. In a world without printing presses, the desire for words to be written in a book, a scroll, was a desire for them to have permanence and weight. His friends have been speaking words that are little more than wind, but Job knows that what he is about to declare is solid truth, worthy of being recorded for future generations. He is, in effect, appealing his case to a future audience, beyond the kangaroo court of his comforters. And in the providence of God, his wish was granted in a way he could never have imagined. His words were indeed written, and inscribed in the Book of books.

v. 24 That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!

Job intensifies his desire. A scroll can perish, but an inscription in rock with an iron pen, the letters filled with lead, is about as permanent as it gets in the ancient world. This is monumental. This is for the ages. Job is not just thinking about his personal vindication; he is declaring a foundational truth for all of God's people in all time. He knows that this confession is not a flimsy opinion but is bedrock reality, and he wants it displayed as such. This is not the rambling of a sick man; this is the Spirit-given certainty of a prophet.

v. 25 As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will rise up over the dust of this world.

Here is the heart of the matter. "I know." This is not "I hope" or "I think." This is the language of absolute conviction. And what does he know? That his Redeemer lives. The word for Redeemer here is Goel, the kinsman-redeemer. This was a crucial figure in Israelite society, a near relative who had the duty to avenge, redeem, and protect his kin. Job, abandoned by all his earthly kin, knows he has a heavenly Kinsman. And this Kinsman is not dead, but lives. This is a profound statement of faith. Though God appears to be his enemy, Job knows that God is ultimately his champion, his family vindicator.

And this living Redeemer will have the last word. "At the last He will rise up over the dust." Some translations say "stand upon the earth." The picture is one of finality, of victory. When all the arguments of men have turned to dust, when all the empires of the world are dust, when Job's own body is dust, his Redeemer will stand. This is a picture of ultimate authority and triumph. Because his kinsman-redeemer will stand upon the earth, Job is confident that he also is going to stand upon the earth.

v. 26 Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall behold God,

Here Job makes his astounding leap of faith into the doctrine of the resurrection. He has no hope for his current body; he expects it to be utterly destroyed. The worms will have their way with him. He is looking past the grave. And what does he see on the other side? Not a disembodied spiritual existence, but an embodied one. "From my flesh," or as the King James has it, "in my flesh," I shall see God. This is a clear Old Testament affirmation of a future bodily resurrection. He expects to see God with resurrected eyes in a resurrected body. The hope is not an escape from the body, but the redemption of the body.

v. 27 Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

Job emphasizes the personal and direct nature of this future vision. This will not be a secondhand experience. "I myself" will see Him. "My eyes will see." He will not see God through a representative or as a stranger, but face to face. This is the beatific vision, the ultimate hope of every saint. To see God is the culmination of our redemption. And the thought of it is overwhelming. "My heart faints within me!" The anticipation of such glory is almost too much for his frail, suffering frame to bear. It is a longing so deep, so intense, that it exhausts him. This is not academic theology; this is a white-hot passion for the living God.

Application

First, we must see that true, robust, biblical hope is forged in the furnace of affliction. It is easy to sing "My Redeemer Lives" in a comfortable, air-conditioned church building. Job sings it from the ash heap. This kind of faith is not a denial of suffering, but a defiance of it. It looks the grim reality of pain, loss, and death square in the eye and declares that our Redeemer has the final word. When you are tempted to despair, when your comforters are miserable, when God seems distant, this is the time to drive the stake of your faith down deep into this bedrock truth: your Redeemer lives.

Second, this passage is a glorious testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. Job did not know His name, but he knew His office. Jesus is our ultimate Goel, our Kinsman-Redeemer. He took on our flesh and blood, becoming our near kinsman, precisely so He could redeem us. He stood upon the dust of this earth, and He will stand upon it again in judgment and victory. Because He was raised bodily from the dead, we have the certain hope that we too will be raised. Job's hope is our hope, only with the lens now sharpened by the full revelation of the gospel.

Finally, let your heart, like Job's, faint with longing for that day. We are so easily satisfied with the trinkets of this world. We need to cultivate a holy desperation to see God. This is our ultimate destiny and our greatest joy. The vision of our Redeemer, face to face, is the hope that purifies us and enables us to endure all present trials. Let this not be a dusty doctrine, but a consuming fire in your bones. I know that my Redeemer lives. May that be more than a line in a hymn; may it be the unshakable foundation of your entire life.