FRAMEWORKS:
Job 17: Job's
fifth speech [Part 2 of 2]
[Preliminary
Comments: The subject of the mockers [does he see the
three ‘friends' as these?] continues [v.2] and so recognising
that no one seems to be able to help him, he calls on the Lord
again [v.3,4]. Those who turn on their friends, he suggests, bring
trouble on their family [v.5]. The trouble is that even many good
people see what has happened and think ill of him unfairly [v.6-9].
He appeals to those with him to think again, for he himself feels
a glimmer of light in the darkness [v.10-12] even though the future,
at the moment, only heralds death [v.13-16]
v.1,2
I feel down and out with all these mockers against me
v.1
My spirit
is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.
v.2
Surely mockers
surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
v.3,4
Lord, give me your support for no one else understands
v.3
“Give
me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security
for me?
v.4
You have
closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let
them triumph.
v.5
Betrayers only bring trouble on themselves
v.5
If anyone
denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children
will fail.
v.6-9
Many good people think ill of me
v.6
“God
has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
v.7
My eyes have
grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.
v.8
The upright
are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
v.9
Nevertheless,
the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands
will grow stronger.
v.10-12
Come on, any of you got any wisdom to suit my terrible circumstances?
v.10
“But come
on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.
v.11
My
days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my
heart
v.12
turn
night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.
v.13-16
At the moment my only hope is death and what hope is there?
v.13
If
the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed
in the realm of darkness,
v.14
if I say to
corruption, ‘You are my father,' and to the worm, ‘My mother'
or ‘My sister,'
v.15
where then
is my hope— who can see any hope for me?
v.16
Will it go
down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the
dust?”
[Concluding
Comments: In the face of ongoing absence of helpful encouragement,
that verges on mockery, he cries to the Lord, from a place where
even the righteous think badly of him. Verses 11 & 12 suggest
he has hope but as death appears the only thing on the horizon
at the moment, he calls on the friends for extra effort to come
up with some hope in the face of the complete absence of it.]