Hello everyone! Today’s Bible study is on Job 16 – Job reproaches his pitiless friends. According to Bible scholars, the events of the book of Job took place approximately before 2100 B.C.
I encourage you to turn to Job 16 in your Bible. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and study Job 16 with me. I mention this in all the Bible Studies because it is through the Holy Spirit that we get fresh revelation and knowledge to understand the word of God. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scriptures that you find highlighted in purple in this post are from the NKJV.
In the Bible Study on Job 15, we read about Eliphaz accusing Job of sin again. Well, in this Bible study on Job 16, we will read about Job reproaching his pitiless friends. Most of the chapters of the book of Job capture the conversations between Job and his friends.
Without any further delay, let us begin the Bible Study on Job 16, shall we?
Job’s Friends Are Miserable Comforters
1Then Job answered and said:
2 “I have heard many such things;
Miserable comforters are you all!
3 Shall words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul’s place.
I could heap up words against you,
And shake my head at you;
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
In Verses 1-5 of Job 16, Job answered his friends and called them miserable comforters. He asked what provoked them to answer him in the way they did (in the previous chapters of Job). Job said that if he were in their place and they were in his place (reverse situation), they wouldn’t be speaking to him in such a way when they had truly experienced what Job was experiencing at that time. Also, he added that he wouldn’t speak so harshly to them and would strengthen them with his words and comfort them to relieve their grief.
Job’s friends haven’t comforted him much in his suffering. None of their words brought relief to Job. It only increased his suffering and torment mentally. They were trying to make him feel guilty for a crime that he did not commit.
Job Faces Adversity
6 “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?
7 But now He has worn me out;
You have made desolate all my company.
8 You have shriveled me up,
And it is a witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.
9 He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.
10 They gape at me with their mouth,
They strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.
In Verses 6-10 of Job 6, Job says that he can find no relief from his suffering. Talking or being silent does not make a difference in his suffering, for it is ever present. He says that God had worn him out. His shriveled flesh and lean stature bear witness against himself (that God is against him). According to him, God hates him and tears him. His adversary sharpens his gaze on him. They (adversary) gathered together against him not to comfort him but against him in reproach and to strike him on the cheek as an act of condemnation.
Job Thinks God Is Hunting Him Down
11 God has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has set me up for His target,
13 His archers surround me.
He pierces my heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a warrior.
In Verses 11-12, of Job 16, Job laments his situation. He says that God has delivered him in the hands of ungodly people who reproach and ridicule him. He was at ease all his life (he was the wealthiest man in the entire region) but now he is shattered and shaken to pieces and the target of God. In short, Job was reduced to nothing. He explains how he feels in Verses 13 and 14. His heart was so painful as if it was piecered with the archers arrow and his gall was poured out on the ground for all to see. His vital organs had become weak and they were giving up on Job. His skin broke afresh with wound after wound (boils) and, in his eyes, God was chasing him like a warrior chasing his enemy.
Observation
When Job thought that God was punishing him, he had no idea that it was satan causing the boils on his flesh. This is not mere speculation. It is written clearly in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Job about satan’s idea of stealing, killing and destroying Job’s life. He wanted to make Job ill to see how he would react. He wanted to test Job to see if he would still praise God or curse him to His face.
Why did he want to test Job’s character? The answer is – to prove two things. Firstly, he (satan) wanted to prove to God, that He (God) meant nothing to humans when they were in deep suffering/trouble and that they would curse Him to His face and turn away from Him by blaming Him for their suffering. Secondly, because God’s most-prized creation is the human being, he wanted to prove to God that humans are not worth boasting about and that they are not special in any way. He wanted to prove that they (humans) are frail and quick to forget their Creator and turn away from Him as soon as troulble comes their way.
Job Cannot Take On Suffering Anymore
15“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And laid my head in the dust.
16 My face is flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.
In Verses 15-17 of Job 16, Job explains how he has clothed himself with sackcloth and laid his head in the dust (a sackcloth was traditionally used for mouring among the Israelites. They also threw dust over their heads as a sign of mourning for bad health or God’s judgment or even death). Job’s face was flushed from weeping and his eyes were dimming day by day like a person in his last days before dying. He suffered physically and mentally even though he had done no act of violence and his prayer remained pure. At this point, Job had lost all hope.
Job Wants To Be Avenged
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place!
19 Surely even now my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.
21 Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his neighbor!
22 For when a few years are finished,
I shall go the way of no return.
In Verses 18-22 of Job 16, Job pleads with the earth to not cover his blood and let his cry continue on forever as he seeks justice. He surely has his witness in heaven with evidence before God Almighty. His friends ridiculed him and reproached him and he cried out to God with tears. He wanted someone to plead his cause before God, just as a man pleads for an innocent neighbour, before it was too late, because Job sensed that he only had a little more time left on the earth.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of the Bible Study on Job 16. Job in reply to Eliphaz, in Job 15, and his other friends replies to them in Job 16 to explain his suffering yet another time in at attempt to make them understand. Job is innocent and is desperate for relief from his suffering. He does not understand the reason behind all that he was going through. He wished that he had a mediator in heaven to speak on his behalf before God.
If you have any questions or comments for me, kindly leave them in the comments box. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Until Next Time!