1.

The Patience ofJob

James 5:11 speaks ofthe en-
durance of Job, i.e., his pa-
tience and steadfastness duriIlg
suffering. Patience does not
mean that godly sufferers
"should have no sadness, that
they should not be at all of-
fended when they experience
some affliction; but the virtue
is when they are able to restrain
themselves and so hold them-
selves in bounds that they do
not cease to glorify God in the
midst of all their affliction, that
they are not troubled by anguish
and so swallowed up as to quit
everything; but that they fight
against their passions until
they are able to conform to
the good pleasure of God,
and to conclude as Job here
does, and to say that He is
entirely just." - John Calvin,
JOB, p. 19.
In Job 1 :20-22, we see
how deeply sorrowful a
truly patient man can be-
come.
Then Job arose and tore his
robe and shaved his head, and he
fell to the ground and wor-
shipped. And he said, "Naked I
came from my mother's womb,
and naked I shall return there.
The LORD gave and the LORD
has taken away. Blessed be the
name of the LORD.
This was Job's immediate re-
sponse to the news about the
loss of his property and the
death of his children. Notice
several things about it.
First, he tore his robe and
shaved his head. Shaving one's
head, placing ashes on it and
wearing sackcloth was the cus-
tomary way of showing grief in
the East, reminding us that grief
is a violent passion, of which no
emotion is more difficult to re-
strain. In this appropriate and
sincere action of Job, we see
that "the sadness of this holy
person was so great and so ve-
hement that he was not able to
satisfy himself, that he went be-
yond ordinary custom by tear-
ing his robe, to show that he ex-
perienced such anguish that it
had grieved him to the bottom
of his heart."- Calvin, JOB, p.
20.
How did Job tear his robe
and shave his head, and presum-
ably sit grieving iu sackcloth
and ashes, without displeasing
God and weeping as those who
TheI-Ieart
oFa
Godly1'v1an
Part II
ReI', ,I 0(' M men" Ii, III
have no hope? It was not to
nourish an ungodly sorrow;
rather it tended to humility and
was a sign of repentance. Job
said, I repent in sackcloth and
ashes, 42:6. "For he who
wears sackcloth, who has ashes
on his head, protests that he no
longer has any basis to glorify
himself, that he must keep his
mouth closed, that he is as if he
were already buried, as ifto say,
'I am not worthy that earth
should sustain me, but it ought
to be on top of me; and God
should cast me down so low
that I should be as it were trod-
den under foot. "'- Calvin, JOB,
p.22.
Second, Job fell to the
ground and worshipped. He
did this for the purpose of hum-
bling himself under the mighty
4 - THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon - April/May, 1999
hand of God and of physically
expressing the desire of his
heart to be submissive to the
will of God, revealed and
unrevealed. He did not throw
himself to the ground in anger
or despair or bitterness, but to
worship his God, looking to
Him to humble him before His
high majesty and to receive him
in this moment of intense need.
"For when we experience the
haud of God, it is then that we
ought to do Him more homage
than ever;"- Calvin, p. 22.
Third, Job said, Naked I
came from my mother's
womb, and naked I shall re-
turn there. What Job is
saying here is this: "Nake'd
I came out of the womb of
my mother; for a time God
willed to enrich me, that I
had a great quantity of live-
stock, I had a large family,
I had a multitude of chil-
dren; in brief, I was well-
adorned with gifts and
blessings with which God had
enlarged me. Now He wills that
I go away entirely naked; He had
enriched me with all these
things, and He has taken them
from me, in order that I may re-
turn to my first estate, and that
I may now get ready to go to
the grave." - Calvin, p. 23-24.
For Job could not better prove
his patience thao by resolving to be
entirely naked, ioasmuch as the
good pleasure of God was such.
Surely men resist io vain; they may
grit their teeth, but they must return
entirely naked to the grave. Even
the pagans have said that death
alone shows the littleness of men.
... we must allow that God should
deprive us of everythiog, and that
we should live entirely undressed
and naked, and that we should be
prepared to return to the grave io
such condition. This is how we
shall prove that we are patient.
Surely we ought to have this
very well imprinted on our hearts:
namely, that God does not will that
we lack anything, that He would
not have put us in the world unless
He was willing to feed us; yet we
must always acknowledge that this
comes from outside ourselves, and
we should not suppose that we
have by our own right what we
possess by the gratuitous goodness
of our God.
All the more are we bound to
receive the goods which God gives
us with all modesty, knowing that
He owes US nothing and, because
we are poor, we must come to Him
to beg every day from His infinite
liberality. So then, when we have
some need, let us run to Him ... and
acknowledge, "Whence came I
out? From the womb of my
mother, entirely naked, a poor,
miserable creature; I needed help
and to be cleansed from the poverty
in which I was; I would have
utterly perished uuless I had been
helped from elsewhere. It pleases
God, then, to feed and preserve me
until now and to do me an infinite
number offavors. And howsoever
now He may will to afflict me, it is
very right that I should bear
everything patiently, since it comes
from His hand." - Calvin, pp. 24-
25.
Fourth, Job went on to say,
The LORD gave and the
LORD has taken away. All Job
possessed he recognized came
as gifts from His Lord; and
since God had given them, it
remains true that God disposes
of whatever He puts in our
hands, because it is His own
property, not ours. When God
sends us wealth and property,
He does not give up title for
them, as the Creator of alI
things. The Lord assumes pro-
prietorship over everything He
entrusts to man as stewardship.
We must always acknowledge
"what liberty our Lord has to
give us enjoyment of His goods
and also, when it may please
Him, to deprive us of them in a
minute .... whenever we think of
the goods of this world we
should remember that we hold
everything from God. And on
what condition? It is not by
property right, that He should
not longer wish any claim over
it, and that He should no longer
have any mastery over it; but if
it pleased Him to put it in our
hands, it is on the condition that
He may take it back when it
seems good to Him. Let us ac-
know ledge then, that we are so
much more obligated to Him
when He shall have caused us
to enjoy some benefit, a day, a
month, or some space of time,
and afterwards, if He despoils
us of it, that we should not find
it too strange; but that we
should run back to that ac-
knowledgment which I have
said, 'May God always retain
such superiority over us that He
can dispose of His own as
seems good to Him.' Seeing then
how God ought to have mastery
not only over what we possess
but also over our persons and
over our children, we ought to
humble ourselves before Him by
subjecting ourselves entirely to
His holy will, without any con-
tradiction."- Calvin, JOB, p.
26f.
Fifth, Job knew God as the
LORD, i.e., Jehovah or
Yahweh, who is the God of the
Covenant, who is self-con-
tained, eternal, sovereign,
present with His people, who
reveals Himself and His will to
them. Job's use of the name
corresponds to its use in the
Penteteuch of Moses. When
Job thinks of God as Jehovah,
he is thinking of God as the one
who orders His life according to
His own perfect and eternal plan
in love and grace for His
people, who is worthy of all
praise, whether in His wise
providence He gives or He takes
away. Do you know God like
Job knew Him?
Sixth, Job concluded with
this ascription of praise:
Blessed be the name of the
LORD. There is no way Job
could have blessed the name of
the Lord in praise, worship and
thanksgiving, if he had not first
of all confessed that the Lord
is always righteons, wise and
good in all His dealings with us.
The person who bitterly com-
plains against God's providence,
as if God were treating him cru-
elly and unjustly, who does not
recognize that God is His lov-
ing Father in Christ, who does
not confess to God's abundant
generosity with him, cannot
bless God at all. To bless the
name of the Lord is to confess
that God is just, good and mer-
ciful.
God wills that amidst the
miseries of this world we may
always have a peaceable heart, and
tllat we may be so assured of His
goodness that we may rejoice and
content ourselves therein, and that
we may be able to glory against
Satan and against all our enemies.-
Calvin, p. 18.
2. The Humility of Job
Behold, how happy is the
man
l
whom God reproves, so do
not despise the discipline of the
Almighty. For He inflicts pain,
and gives relief; He wounds, and
His hands also heaI.- Job 5:17-18
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Cha1cedon - 5
Eliphaz, Job's friend and at-
tempted comforter, was deeply
concerned about Job <turing his
suffering, and came to him to
comfort him by explaining why
he was suffering in terms of the
justice of God against sin. Al-
though his argument was a de-
ficient one, failing to account
for the love of God, and not
only the justice of God, in the
infliction of suffering on His
people, Eliphaz did make several
true statements, such as the one
above. However, Job already
had taken this truth into consid-
eration, humble man that he
was, knowing that there was
more to his situation than
Eliphaz's simplistic approach
recognized.
Job knew that God lovingly
disciplines His own when they
sin; and that the consciousness
of that truth brings deep happi-
ness to the believer's heart. He
knew God as his Great Physi-
cian, who often inflicted pain
and whose wounds are preven-
tive as well as corrective disci-
pline;, but who at the same time
brings relief, and whose hand
brings healing to the wounds He
has inflicted. He understood
that "corrections are as testi-
monies that God is ready to re-
ceive us in mercy, if we ac-
knowledge our faults and sin-
cerely ask Him for forgive-
ness."- Calvin, p. 33.
Assuming wrongly that Job
is guilty of a great sin that is
calling down such severe treat-
ment from God, and that Job is
on the verge of despising such
treatment, Eliphaz calls upon
Job not to refuse the correction
of Almighty God, because He is
the Physician who will heal all
the wounds of his judgment,
and the Healer of all our dis-
eases, if we confess, our sins
and repent of them. However,
Eliphaz misses the mark with
Job, because Job was in all hu-
mility acknowledging his faults
along with his constant need of
God's grace.
This is the point of Job's
statement, (which soundS like
something Paul would say)-I
know it is true that man shall
not be jnstified in God's
sight.- KJV - In trnth I
know that this is so, but how
can a man be in the right be-
fore God? If one wished to
dispute with Him, He could
not answer Him once in a
thousand times. Wise in
heart and mighty in strength,
who has defied Him without
harm?- NASV, Job 9:1-4. Job
makes his point as clear as pos-
sible: man cannot justify Him-
self in the sight of God, for all
his sins condemn him. And al-
though sometimes God's treat-
ment of sinners appears harsh,
yet no one can argue with God.
If a mau should enter into a de-
bate with God about his merits
deserving less severity of r e a t ~
ment than God has given him,
he would be crushed in the de-
bate. If a man says to God,
"Why should I get such rough
treatment, when I ajll no worse,
or not as bad, as the next fel-
low," he is declaring that he is
failing to take into consideration
the incomprehensible majesty of
Almighty God. He is judging
himself by how he appears in
the sight of man, not by how he
appears in the sight of God. "All
our pretended plausibility for
justifying ourselves may well be
convincing before men, be-
cause they cannot see as clearly
as the situation requires; but
when we approach God, all that
goes away into nothingness."-
6 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - April/May, 1999
Calvin, p. 51. Even if a person
admits to a thousand sins, in
comparing himself to other
men, once God enters into the
debate, He will find thousands
more.
Let us guard well, then, againSt
raising ourselves to the point of
fighting against God and bringing
suit to justify ourselves. For
otherwise God will havetocon-
foUnd us, and so hurl Himself
against us that we shall be OP"
pressed and crushed by a thousand
crimes, and we shall notbe able to
answer a single charge; when We
shallbe accl.1sed of a thousand
mortal sins, that is to say, an
infinite nuniber, if we wish to
defend ourselves against a single
charge, our case will be dismissed
for lack of evidence.- Calvin, p. 57.
Rather than debating with
God about our merits and his se-
verity, let us condemn ourselves
for our sin and rest upon Him
alone for silivation as the only
V(ay of being absolved by Him-
'There i ~ therefore now no
conde,mnation for those who
are in Christ' Jesus, Romans
8: 1. Au'd the reason Jobgives
for humility before 'God instead
, pI- pride is that God is wisein
heart and, mighty in strength.
God's wisdomis comprehensive
of man's true condition and His
mighty strength briugs to con-
fUSion every, attempt by proud
and defiant man to justify him-
self before Him.
Jusi as pride is the ,chief
source of all sins, so humility
is the chief source of all vir-
tues. Pride shows itself when
we forget the majesty of God in
comparison to our own sinful-
ness and insignificance when
compared to God's greatness-
Then the LORD answered Job
and said, "Will the faultfinder
i
l
contend with the Almighty?"
- Then Job answered the
LORD and said, "Behold, I am
insignificant; what can I re-
ply to Thee? I lay my hand
on my mouth," Job 40:1-4.
Therefore, nothing can crush
our pride and self-love except
the true knowledge of God and
of ourselves according to His
Word.
God is never justly praised or
truly exalted unless our shame is
manifested, unless our pride is
broken to pieces, unless we are
plunged into shame and buried in
the dust. ... willingly we must learn
a perfect humility in order to cast
out all self glory. God can be truly
glorified only if man disrobes
himself entirely on his own. ... the
man who knows himself has little
self esteem. - Jacob T. Hoogstra,
JOHNCALVIN: CONTEMPO-
RARYPROPHET, p. 23.
True humility in a godly man
is voluntary and not forced. It
is not masochistic nor morbid,
resulting in "a chronic inferior-
ity complex in front of oneself
or others. Humility is not de-
spair, it is not an end in itself.
On the contrary! It is the nar-
row road of grace, the only path
which leads us to the grace of
God. The humility of man and
the grace of God are an insepa-
rable couple. 'The more feeble
you are within yourself, the
more willingly God receives
you,' states St. Augustine. As
long as man knows that in
God's perfection is the remedy
for his own weakness, his hu-
mility can find no limit."-
Hoogstra, p. 24. As Peter says:
. clothe yourselves with hu_
mility toward one another, for
GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE
PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE
TO THE HUMBLE. Humble
yourselves, therefore nnder
the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the
proper time, casting all your
anxiety upon Him, because
He cares for you, I Peter 5:5-
7.
3. The Faith of Job
A. The Petsevering
and Triumphant
Faith of Job
Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him ... - Job 13:15
Job was a fellow-believer.
His faith was a persevering
faith. Although sometimes a
struggling faith, it was a trium-
phant faith, not because of any
inherent qualities in it, but be-
cause of the One in whom faith
rested. Regardless of the sever-
ity of God's providence in his
life and his unknowingness re-
garding why God was cansing
him to suffer, all of Satan's best
efforts could not break Job's
faith. God overruled Satan's
evil schemes and intentions to
accomplish His own intentions
in Job's life. He used Satan to
terrify Job's soul "out of all
self-dependence and creature-
dependence, and compel(ed) it
to find refuge in an almighty
Savior."- Green, p. 49.
The constancy of Job and the
power of his faitll could never have
been made to appear so conspicu-
ous, ifit had not been for the
severity of the test to which he was
subjected.- Green, p. 52.
The triumph in Job's life is
the triumph of faith over sight.
According to what he saw with
his eyes, he was without hope:
accused of being deceived by a
false certainty of integrity, he is
punished by a just God because
of what he considered false ac-
cusations. And yet, because of
his faith in God, he turns from
an angry God to that God Him-
self in whom he trusts, regard-
less of His apparent hostility to-
ward him. "God is still his only
refuge, even from the fierce-
ness of His own displeasure.
Though He slay me, yet will I
trust in Him." - Green, p. 152.
"Nothing God can do to me will
keep me from Him, from trust-
ing Him, from loving Him, from
moving closer to Him!"
Job's triumph was not easily
gained. He was indeed hardly beset
by tile adversary. The struggle was
desperate, and tested his constancy
to the utmost. TIle contest was not
barely one of fortitude, of capacity
to endure, of power to bear up
under calamities and sufferings, and
to rise superior to that terrible
combination of distresses which
. was weighing him down. The
question to be settled was not
whether Job had that heroic
finnness, and indomitable self-
mastery and self-control, or rather
self-sufficiency, which was the
Stoic's ideal, and conld calmly bear
all outward losses, and support
undisturbed tile most grievous
afflictions of pain and sorrow. His
trial lay in a totally different plane.
The point of it was, whether he
would still cleave to God and
maintain his trust in Him, when
there no longer remained any thing
external to attract him to His
service, but everything combined to
repel him and drive him from it.-
Green, pp. 152-53.
B. The Object of
Job's Faith
And as for me, I know that
my Redeemer lives, and at the
last He wiD take His stand on the
earth. Even after my skin is
flayed, yet without my flesh I
shall see God; whom I myself
shall behold, and whom my eyes
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 7
shall see and not another.- Job
19:25-27
With this confession of faith
in words of triumphant assur-
ance, Job vanquishes Satan and
wins the conflict in his soul.
"In all this agony and darkness
and inexplicable mystery, Job
cannot let go his ineradicable
trust in God. Brought, as it
might seem that he was, alIIlost
to the point of abandoning it,
the strength of that trust only
becomes more conspicuous
from the strain to which it has
been subjected. The faith that
seemed to be vanishing ... rises.
unexpectedly superior over all
the tumult of his soul, and all
depressing circumstances."-
Green, p. 175. Job 19:25-27,
therefore, deserves to be ranked
as the most important passage
in all Job's discourses, and as
one of the eminent in the Old
Testament. This "triumphant
assertion of his unShaken con-
fidence in God" marks Job as
no less an example of saving
faith than Abraham-"the one as
distinguished and heroic in his
constancy in suffering as the
other in his unswerving obedi-
ence."- Green, p. 181
... deserted by all, and despairing
of relief from any quarter, he utters
as his last wish, while the grave is
opening before him, that this
amount of justice may be done him,
to place his asseveration of inno-
cence on record in the rock. And
as he utters the wish, the certainty
that justice must and will be done
flashes with strong conviction on
his soul. I have asked a record on
the rock; and all the while I know
that my RedeeIIler liveth. I need no
monument of stone to vindicate me,
no inscription graven with an iron .
pen and filled in with letters of
molten lead. I have an ever-living
and almighty Redeemer, who will
rescUe me from wrong, and defend
me against calumny, and who will
certainly, and in spite of all preseilt
appearances, reveal :Himself to me
as my Friend, and to whom,
therefore, with implicit confidence,
I intrust my cause.- Green, p. 195.
Is your faith a triumphant
faith in a living Person or is it
only in doctrines, ethics and in-
stitutions, all of which are
empty without the Person?
(1.) The Identity ofJob's Redeemer
deemer is one who has the
power to save and to destroy,
and who exerts His power
whenever He pleases, with no
one being able to withstand or
detract. His hand. When he acts
it is with real, substantial, last-
ing, incdepth effect. And Job
is confident that God will arise
and act in his behalf, even if it
is in the distant future. He clln
pray confidently with the
psalmist: Arise for our help,
and redeem us for Thy mer-
cies' sake; Psalm 44:26.
(2.) The Messianic Nature ofJob's
Confession of Faith
When Job addresses Jehovah
as hiscoveIlanted Redeemer,
and seeks from him that assis-
tance that only He c'ansupply,
making Him the only basis of his
hope for deliverance as weIhs
the chief desire of his heart, we
know that it is in fact the Son
of God to whom he makes his
. appeal.
2
Although no overt
sianic prophecies occur in the
book of Job, it does have a pro-
found messianic element. In
fact, all. O. T. books look fot-
Job's Redeemer is none
other than the God, "who seems
to be persecuting him with such
relentless hostility."- Green, p.
196. By faith he is certain,
however it appears to the con-
trary to sight and sense, faith
knows that this God is not his
Enemy, but his Redeemer. A
Redeemer, go' el in Hebrew, is a
"next-of-kin" who had the re-
sponsibility toward his close
relatives in trouble to avenge his
death, to rescue his property
and name, to buy him out of sla-
very, if necessary, and to vin-
dicate his honor, 35:9-
ward to Jesus Christ. in some.
28, Ruth 2:1,20,3:12-13,4:4-
6. Job's "next-of-kin" was Je- sense. As the risen.Christ
hovah Himself, to whojnhe
turned in agony to be his Vindi-
cator. He is confident that God
will redress the wrongs and
slanders. against him, avenge the
injuries inflicted upon him, de"
liverhim out of the bondage of
his sorrows, and vindicate his
integrity fully and publicly. He
longs for God to take his side
andto openly avow Himself to
be his Friend. 1,11 triumphant
faith Job knows he has a living
Witness, Defender, Vindicator,
Redeemer, Friend in God, al-
though His providential dealings
with him are often mysterious
and confusing, A living Re-
self said: "Thes.eare My words
which I 'spoke'to you whileI
was still with YOII, all
things which are, written
about Me in the Law of Moses
and the Prophets and the
Psalms must be fulfilled."
Then He opened their minds
to understand the' Scrip-
tures , Luke 24:44-45. .
, '
Th\l messili:nicpassages in
the book of Job are unique in
that "they do not foreshadow
Christ from the human side but
from the divine ... suggesting. a
distinction in God which faintly
foreshadowed the New Testa"
ment distinction in the persons
8 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - April/May, 1999
of the Godhead, Job 9:32-33,
16:19-21,19:25-27,33:23-24,"
(John Raven, THE HISTORY
OF THE RELIGION OF IS-
RAEL, p. 603), which also look
forward to a manifestation of
God in history. Job makes an
indistinct distinction between
God and God manifested, be-
tween the God who afflicts him
and the God who is on his side
and wiIJ vindicate him, not be-
cause he is a polytheist, but be-
cause a distinction of persons
does in fact exist in the
Godhead. This is not to say that
Job had a full-blown N.T. doc-
trine of the Trinity. It is to say
that he had some intimations of
the Trinity, because the God he
and all O. T. believers wor-
shipped was none other than
the Triune God of the N.T.
In 9:32-33, Job says of God:
For He is not a man as I am
that I may answer Him, that
we may go to court together.
There is no nmpire between
us, who may lay his hand upon
us both. Here we feel Job's
longing for God and himself to
stand on common ground face
to face to settle the matter of
his integrity and the reasons for
God's severe treatment of him.
Since the infinite and transcen-
dent God is not a finite man as
he is, his longing is for an um-
pire, a mediator, who would
play the part of a go-between,
laying his hand upon them both,
representing the interests of
both, and working toward full
understanding and reconciliation
if needed. On one hand, he is
distressed that no such media-
tor presently exists for him; but
on the other hand, his statement
contains hope.
Having given his denial [of the
present reality of a mediator 1
definite shape in a speech, he began
to doubt his own words. It was
too terrible to be true. It could not
be true. God must be human.
There must be an umpire between
God and man. So easily does denial
pass over into affirmation, skepti-
cism into faith, blindness into
vision. Job had made a great
advance when he spoke on the
subject again."- Raven, p. 605 He
said:
Even now, behold, my witness
is in heaven, and my advocate is
on high. My friends are my
scoffers; my eye weeps to God.
o that a man might plead with
God as a man with his neighbor!-
Job 16:19-21
This is a virtual denial of
what he had said before. Ear-
lier he said: There is no um-
pire between us. Now he says:
Behold my witness is in
heaven and my advocate is on
high. This witness-advocate,
who vouches for Job, is God
Himself. "Before, he thought
God was not human.' Now he
pleads with God as his truest
friend. There may be no um-
pire between God and man; but
there is something better. An
umpire is entirely impartial and
neutral; but the one that Job
sees is called a witness and one
that vouches for him.' - So
Job believed that God would
protect him from God. God
would maintain his [standing]
with God."- Raven, p. 606.
Here we see "shadowy" intima-
tions of the Trinity and of the
fact that the promised Redeemer
is God and at the same time
from God.
Having confessed that God is
his witness and advocate, Job
expresses his faith with passion
and conviction that God is his
Redeemer, who would continue
to be his Living Vindicator af-
ter he himself was dead-And
at the Last He will take His
stand on the earth, vs. 25b.
Such a God is human, the
compassionate God for whom he
longed,9:32. Job would need no
umpire, no mediator between
himself and such a God, 9:33. He
could meet him face to face, vs.
26-27. He had already called God
his witness in heaven and the one
that vouched for him on high,
16:19. This witness in heaven
would maintain Job's right with
God and with his neighbor, 16:21.
Here he sees something better still.
This witness, this sponsor, this
redeemer, this vindicator will stand
upon the earth after Job's death.-
Raven, p. 609.
Verse 26 is difficult to trans-
late. The KJV has it: And
though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. One
NASV edition translates it:
Even after my skin is flayed,
yet without my flesh I shall
see God. A new NASV edition
has it: yet from my flesh I
shall see God. And the NIV has
it: And after my skin has
been destroyed, yet in my
flesh I will see God. Literally
it reads, And after my skin-
they have struck this away,
then from my flesh I shall see
God.-Raven, p. 609. The rea-
sons for the difficulty in trans-
lating it are that the sentence is
apparently incomplete and the
ambiguity of the phrase from
my flesh. The Hebrew word
translated literally from can be
translated "without" as one
NASV has it or "in" as the KJV
and NIV have it, or "from" as
another NASV has it. It may
mean "from my flesh," i.e., Job
is in his resurrected flesh and
April/May, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 9
looking out from it seeing God,
or it may mean "out of my
flesh," i.t;., without his .flesh
and separated from his flesh,
Job will see God. It appears
that the better translation is
"from my flesh," because it bet-
ter fits the context and Job's
thought in 14:7-15. According
to Job, God will stand on the
earth in silch a physical form
that his physical eyes will see
Him. Notice the use of the
word see in verses 26 and 27. '
In Job 14:13-15' the sufferer
prayed that God would hide him in
Sheol [the grave] and thenraisehim
from the dead. So here he ex-
pressed his faith in such a resurrec-
tion. God would appear in human
form. Job also would have new
flesh, a new body. Then he would ,
see God face to face. Job was
rejoicing that his vision of God
would not be through an umpire, an
intermediary, 9:33, but direct and
personal. Job felt that God had been
against him; but looking far into the
futnre he now expressed the belief
that after his death and resurrection
he would see God standing on the
earth, no longer hostile but on his
side.'
Similarly in the next line he said
that in that blessed time his eyes
would behold God and not as a
stranger. God had seemed as an
alien, a stranger to him, unfriendly
and even inhuman. It would not
always be so. God would at last be
human, his witness in heaven, his
sponsor on high, his ever-living
Vmdicator. Best of all he would see
Him with his own eyes, standing
upon the earth after his death, on
his side, not as a stranger. This
waS enough. Job felt as David did
when he exclaimed: As for me, I
shall behold Thy face in righ-
teousness. I shall be satisfied,
when I awake, with beholding
Thy form, Psalm 17:15.
This was Job's hope and as-
surance: His understanding may
have been, vagne and not as clear
and complete as ours on this
side of the completion of the
entire written revelation of God.
But God was his hope, and God
would stand on the earth in the
future, and a physically resur-
rected Job would see Him-his
Divine Redeemer as a human be-
ing. Whatever Job understood
by these words, the Holy Spirit
intended them to refer to Jesus
Christ. As Jerome said centu-
ries ago: "No one spoke con-
cerning the resurrection as
openly after Christ, as Job be-
fore Christ."- Fr'ancis Turretin,
INSTITUTES OF ELENCTIC
THEOLOGY, Vol. III, P 563.
Do you live in the light of this
hOpe as Job did?
.. . as Abraham saw Christ's day,
it may likewise be said of Job that
he rejoiced to see Christ's day, and
he saw it and was glad. It was his
divine Redeemer that gladdened the
believing soul of the man ofUz.-
Green, p. 215.
(3.) The Hope for Resurrection in
Job's Confession
Psalm 19:25-27 points us to
Christ and also expresses Job's
belief in physical resurrection.
The idea of resurrection and of
Christ are brought together in
this verse as they are in Hosea
6:1-2-Come, let us return to
the LORD. For he has toru
us, but He will heal us; He
has wounded us, but He will
bandage us. He will revive us
after two days; He will raise
us up on the third day that we
may live before Him.
Job does not simply speak of
a physical rescue from his
physical suffering. He speaks
of a resurrection on the last
day-At the Last [Day] He will
10 - THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon - April/May, 1999
take His stand on the earth.
He anticipates this to take place
after his death, after worms
have destroyed his skin and
body, and he has returned to
dust-Even after my skin is
flayed. And when Christ takes
His stand on the earth on the
Last Day, He will make Job
alive again-yet in my flesh I
shall se'e God; whom I myself
shall behold, and whom MY
EYES shall see and not an-
other, -19:27.
7
These words are
unmistakable: Job is saying that
with his own physical eyes he
will see God in a visible, aud
presumably human, form. "All
this cannot relate to the resto-
ration of his health, but is a clear
reference to the resurrection on
the last day." a Brakel, THE
CHRISTIAN'S REASONABLE
SERVICE, Vol. IV, p. 330 .
(4.) The Assurance of Salvation in
Job's Confession
Job's assurance of his
Redeemer's love for him is obvious
in his confession-And as for me,
I KNOW that my Redeemer
lives, aud at the Last He WILL
take His stand . from my flesh I
SHALL see God, whom I myself
SHALL behold This contains
all the confident assurance of Paul
who said: For I am persuaded,
that neither death nor life . shall
be able to separate us from the
love of God, Romans 8:38-39, and
For I know whom I have be-
lieved, and am persuaded that
He is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him
against that day, II Timothy 1:12.
1 "Eliphaz speaks here ouly of
those whom God chastises as His
children to their profit ... when God
chastises the reprobates, it is just as
if He had already begun to show
His wrath upon them, and that the
fire ofit were already kindled."-
Calvin, SERMONS FROM JOB, pp. 33,35.
2 The title, Redeemer, is repeatedly in the O.T. a name
for God, Isaial141:14, 43: 14, 44:6,24, 47:4, 48: 17, 49:7,26,
54:5,8,59:20,60:16,63:16. Io the N.T. Christ is said to be
our Redeemer, Luke24:21, Galatians 3:13, 4:5, Titus 2:14,
I Peter 1:18.
3 AltllOugh some of Raven's expressions can be more
carefully and correctly stated, nevertlleless the point is well-
taken: Job believed in an incarnate-divine Redeemer. Raven
says some of the things he does to emphasize tllat, altllOugh
Job says notlnng contrary to tlle full-orbed Biblical doc-
trine of the llinity, he only had a "shadowy" understanding
of it since it appears that he lived outside the redemptive
history of revelation in tlle covenant commmlity.
4 TIlese two Hebrew words in Job 16:19-21-witness
and advocate-----occur together in Genesis 31 :47. After Jacob
leaves Ins uncle Laban with a large portion of Laban 's flocks
and herds, his uncle comes after him. At Laban's sugges-
tion they set up a pile of stones, which Laban called, "Jegar-
sailadutlm," which in Aramaic, Laban's language, means
"tlle heap of witness," and winch Jacob called in Hebrew,
"Galeed," which also means "ilie heap of witness." The
word of witness iliat Jacob used is tlle same word trans-
lated witness in Job 16:19, and Laban's name for iliepile of
stones is the phrase he that voucheth for me (KJV) in
Job 16:19. "Evidently Job expected God as his witness to
do for him what Laban and Jacob expected from the heap
of stones."- Raven, THE RELIGION OF ISRAEL, p. 606.
Laban said: This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a
witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for
harm, aud you will not pass by this heap and this pillar
to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of
Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us, Gen-
esis 31:52-53. TIle pile of stones would protect Laban from
Jacob.
s Oh that Thou wouldst hide me in Sheol [the
grave], that Thou wouldst conceal me until Thy wrath
returns to Thee, that Thou wouldst set a limit for me
and remember me! If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait, until my
chauge [resurrection] comes. Thou wilt call, aud I will
answer Thee; Thou wilt long for the work of Thy
hands, Job 14:13-15.
6 The phrase in ilie NASV's translation of Job 19:27-
Whom I !l!XBflfshail behold-is literally translated on
my side, Psalm 118:6, or for me, Psalm 56:9.
7 The AutllOrized Dutch Bible differs from the KJv.
Where ilie KJV has "he shall stand at ilie latter day upon ilie
earili," the Dutch Bible has "He shall at ilie latter day resur-
rect my dust."
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