Job 17 Study Notes: Job's Hope Fades Toward the Grave
Job continues his reply, saying his spirit is crushed and death is near. He asks God to stand as his guarantor, mourns that he has become a public object of scorn, and wonders whether any hope can remain if the grave is to be his only home.
General
In 17:3-4, whom does Job ask to provide the pledge that will back his case?
Answer: God Himself, since no one else will stand surety for him
Job speaks to God and asks Him to give the pledge He requires, because no one else will act as Job's guarantor, a person who stands behind someone else's obligation (17:3). God has closed the minds of those around him to understanding (17:4), evidently the mockers of 17:2, who seem to include the friends, so none of them will stand with him. Strikingly, Job turns for help to the very God he feels is against him, just as he hoped for a witness in heaven (16:19). Other believers make the same kind of plea, asking God to ensure their well-being against the arrogant (Psalm 119:122) or crying out to the Lord to be their security (Isaiah 38:14).
- Job 17:3-4 (BSB)“Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor? You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.”Job asks God to supply the pledge, since no one else will be his guarantor and God has closed the minds of others to understanding.
- Job 16:19 (BSB)“Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.”Job had just declared that his witness and advocate are on high.
- Psalm 119:122 (BSB)“Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.”The psalmist asks God Himself to ensure his well-being.
- Isaiah 38:14 (BSB)“I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.””Hezekiah, in his sickness, asks the Lord to be his security.
Theological
In 17:3-4, to whom does Job turn for the pledge or surety his case requires?
Answer: God Himself, since no one else will stand surety for him
Job petitions God to supply the pledge He Himself demands, since no one else will act as guarantor for him (17:3); God has shut the minds of those around him, apparently the mocking friends, to understanding (17:4). Job thus appeals to God against God's apparent hostility, as with the heavenly witness of 16:19. The psalmist's request that God guarantee his well-being (Psalm 119:122) and Hezekiah's cry for the Lord to be his security (Isaiah 38:14) show the same reliance on God alone as surety.
- Job 17:3-4 (BSB)“Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor? You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.”Job asks God to supply the pledge, since no one else will be his guarantor and God has closed the minds of others to understanding.
- Job 16:19 (BSB)“Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.”Job had just declared that his witness and advocate are on high.
- Psalm 119:122 (BSB)“Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.”The psalmist asks God Himself to ensure his well-being.
- Isaiah 38:14 (BSB)“I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.””Hezekiah, in his sickness, asks the Lord to be his security.
General
In 17:13-16, if the grave is to be his home, what does Job ask?
Answer: Where his hope could be, if it sinks into the dust with him
Job says his days are over and his plans have been shattered (17:11), while others, apparently the friends, treat night as if it were day and say light is near (17:12). If he must look to Sheol (the realm of the dead) as his house and make his bed in darkness, calling decay his father and the worm his mother or sister (17:13-14), then where is his hope? It seems that it will go down to Sheol and lie in the dust with him (17:15-16). Earlier he said his days run out with no hope left (7:6) and that God wears away a man's hope as water wears down stones (14:19). Yet only two chapters later he will speak with confidence of a living Redeemer (19:25).
- Job 17:13-16 (BSB)“If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?””Job asks where his hope is if Sheol becomes his home.
- Job 7:6 (BSB)“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.”Job had said his days end without hope.
- Job 14:19 (BSB)“as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.”Job compared God's destroying of hope to water wearing away stones.
- Job 19:25 (BSB)“But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.”Shortly afterward Job declares that his Redeemer lives.
Theological
What question does Job pose in 17:13-16 about the prospect of Sheol as his home?
Answer: Where his hope could be, if it sinks into the dust with him
With his days spent and his plans broken (17:11), and others, apparently the friends, turning night into day with their talk of nearby light (17:12), Job contemplates Sheol as his house, decay as his father and the worm as his kin (17:13-14), and asks where any hope remains if it must descend with him into the dust (17:15-16). The despair echoes 7:6 and 14:19, yet within two chapters Job confesses a living Redeemer (19:25).
- Job 17:13-16 (BSB)“If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?””Job asks where his hope is if Sheol becomes his home.
- Job 7:6 (BSB)“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.”Job had said his days end without hope.
- Job 14:19 (BSB)“as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.”Job compared God's destroying of hope to water wearing away stones.
- Job 19:25 (BSB)“But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.”Shortly afterward Job declares that his Redeemer lives.
General
What does Job say in 17:6-7 that God has made of him?
Answer: An object of scorn, spat on, his body a mere shadow
Job says God has made him a byword, a name people use as a mocking example, and someone people spit at (17:6). Grief has dimmed his eyes, and his whole body is like a shadow (17:7). He describes the same contempt later, saying people mock him in song and spit in his face (30:9-10). A psalm uses the same language of God's people becoming a byword, mocked among the nations (Psalm 44:14).
- Job 17:6-7 (BSB)“He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit. My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.”Job says God made him a byword and object of spitting, worn down by grief to a shadow.
- Job 30:9-10 (BSB)“And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.”Job later describes being mocked in song and spat upon.
- Psalm 44:14 (BSB)“You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.”A psalm laments God's people being made a byword and a laughingstock.
Theological
How does Job describe his public standing and condition in 17:6-7?
Answer: An object of scorn, spat on, his body a mere shadow
Job traces his public disgrace to God: he has become a byword and one people spit at (17:6), while grief has dimmed his eyes and wasted his frame to a shadow (17:7). He returns to the same humiliation in 30:9-10, and the lament of Psalm 44:14 uses the identical image of becoming a byword before the peoples.
- Job 17:6-7 (BSB)“He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit. My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.”Job says God made him a byword and object of spitting, worn down by grief to a shadow.
- Job 30:9-10 (BSB)“And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. They abhor me and keep far from me; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.”Job later describes being mocked in song and spat upon.
- Psalm 44:14 (BSB)“You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.”A psalm laments God's people being made a byword and a laughingstock.
General
True or False: In 17:9, Job says that despite such troubles the righteous person keeps going on his path, while the person whose hands are clean gains strength.
Answer: True
This is true. After describing how upright people are shocked by what has happened to him (17:8), Job says that the righteous person still holds to his path, and the one whose hands are clean keeps getting stronger (17:9). Even in deep despair, Job holds that integrity is worth keeping. He later says that God knows the way he has taken and that he has stayed on God's path without veering from it (23:10-11). Psalm 24:3-4 describes the person whose hands are clean and whose heart is pure as the one who may stand before the LORD.
- Job 17:8-9 (BSB)“The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless. Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.”Job says the upright are appalled, yet the righteous hold to their way and the clean-handed grow stronger.
- Job 23:10-11 (BSB)“Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.”Job later says he has kept God's way without turning aside.
- Psalm 24:3-4 (BSB)“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.”The one with clean hands and a pure heart may stand in the LORD's holy place.
Theological
True or False: In 17:9, Job maintains that the righteous person persists on his path, while the person whose hands are clean gains strength.
Answer: True
This is true. Between the shock of the upright at his condition (17:8) and his renewed challenge to the friends (17:10), Job affirms that the righteous persist in their way and the clean-handed grow stronger (17:9). His integrity is not abandoned in suffering, as his later confidence that he has kept God's way shows (23:10-11). Psalm 24:4 likewise sets clean hands and purity of heart as the mark of the one who may ascend to the LORD.
- Job 17:8-9 (BSB)“The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless. Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.”Job says the upright are appalled, yet the righteous hold to their way and the clean-handed grow stronger.
- Job 23:10-11 (BSB)“Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.”Job later says he has kept God's way without turning aside.
- Psalm 24:3-4 (BSB)“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.”The one with clean hands and a pure heart may stand in the LORD's holy place.