For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Job 9:1-20

1 Then Job replied:

2 ‘Indeed, I know that this is true.
    But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
3 Though they wished to dispute with him,
    they could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
    Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
5 He moves mountains without their knowing it
    and overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth from its place
    and makes its pillars tremble.
7 He speaks to the sun and it does not shine;
    he seals off the light of the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens
    and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He is the Maker of the Bear[a] and Orion,
    the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
10 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
    miracles that cannot be counted.
11 When he passes me, I cannot see him;
    when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.
12 If he snatches away, who can stop him?
    Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
13 God does not restrain his anger;
    even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.

14 ‘How then can I dispute with him?
    How can I find words to argue with him?
15 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him;
    I could only plead with my Judge for mercy.
16 Even if I summoned him and he responded,
    I do not believe he would give me a hearing.
17 He would crush me with a storm
    and multiply my wounds for no reason.
18 He would not let me catch my breath
    but would overwhelm me with misery.
19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty!
    And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him[b]?
20 Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me;
    if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.

A. Find Out

1. What did Job acknowledge? v.2
2. Why couldn’t a man dispute with God? v.3,4
3. What does God do? v.5-10
4. What other limitation does Job have? v.11,12
5. What does this leave Job feeling? v.14-19
6. What does it leave Job feeling about himself? v.20

B. Think:

1. What main point is Job making in these verses?
2. What outcome does that leave him with?

C. Comment:

Job acknowledges that what Bildad has been saying is true (v.2), that God will bless the righteous, but then he queries whether any one of us can be called righteous.  He realises that if we tried to argue with God (to justify ourselves?) we would be outclassed (v.3) for God’s wisdom is so vast we wouldn’t have a chance (v.4). After all, he muses, God moves mountains (v.5), shakes the earth (v.6), gives or takes away light (v.7), makes the heavens (v.8), in fact makes everything (v.9), and does things that are just beyond our understanding (v.10). What makes it worse, He is invisible (v.11) so I can’t see Him. If He wants to take away things from us, how can we stop Him? (v.12). When He gets angry even the greatest of creatures cower before Him (v.13).

So, he concludes, how can I possibly argue with Him (v.14). Even if I were innocent, I couldn’t stand up to His cross examining; I would just have to plead for mercy (v.15). He’s so great even if I called Him, He wouldn’t come (v.16). If He wanted to, He could just crush me (v.17,18). If it were a matter of strength or wisdom or justice, He outclasses me (v.19). Even if I were innocent, I’d say something stupid and condemn myself (v.20). Result? I have no hope of arguing my righteousness with God!

D. Application:

1. God sees everything, knows everything, and knows my every weakness and thus I can’t pretend before Him.
2. For these reasons, our salvation depends on grace alone – that and God’s mercy.

Passage: Job 9:21-35

21 ‘Although I am blameless,
    I have no concern for myself;
    I despise my own life.
22 It is all the same; that is why I say,
    “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”
23 When a scourge brings sudden death,
    he mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked,
    he blindfolds its judges.
    If it is not he, then who is it?

25 ‘My days are swifter than a runner;
    they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
26 They skim past like boats of papyrus,
    like eagles swooping down on their prey.
27 If I say, “I will forget my complaint,
    I will change my expression, and smile,”
28 I still dread all my sufferings,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 Since I am already found guilty,
    why should I struggle in vain?
30 Even if I washed myself with soap
    and my hands with cleansing powder,
31 you would plunge me into a slime pit
    so that even my clothes would detest me.

32 ‘He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,
    that we might confront each other in court.
33 If only there were someone to mediate between us,
    someone to bring us together,
34 someone to remove God’s rod from me,
    so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35 Then I would speak up without fear of him,
    but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

A. Find Out

1. Why does Job say he has no concern? v.21,22
2. What does he say appears to happen? v.23,24
3. What does he feel about the passing of time? v.25,26
4. Why does it seem hopeless to Job? v.27,28
5. What also does he feel, that makes him feel hopeless? v.29-31
6. What does he wish for? v.32-35

B. Think:

1. What does Job feel about God’s sovereignty in v.21-25?
2. Why does he feel hopeless according to v.27-31?
3. What point is he making in v.32-35?

C. Comment:

Job starts by declaring his innocence (v.21a) but at the same time expresses his sense of hopelessness because, after all, God destroys both righteous & sinners (v.22,23) and part of His judgement seems, sometimes, to cause blindness to the authorities so that injustice and death prevail (v.24). The truth is that God does bring judgment on whole nations and, indeed, sometimes the innocent do seem to get carried away for no known reason beyond the fact that we live in a Fallen World and things do ‘go wrong’. Upsets (death included for the righteous) occur for that reason rather than for God’s judgement on God’s children, but Job hasn’t the revelation of the New Testament to reassure him.

His days seem to flash by meaninglessly (v.25,26) and he feels it is pointless trying to ‘put on a good face’ (v.27) because he can never be declared utterly innocent (v.28) so what’s the point struggling to change (v.29). Whatever he does will make no difference (v.30,31). God isn’t a human being to be confronted (v.32); He is inaccessible (implied). If only there was an intermediary, someone between humans and God who could act as a spokesman (v.33) to get God to hold back, to give Job sufficient respite so he could speak without fear (v.34), then perhaps he could speak up, but that doesn’t seem possible (v.35).

D. Application:

1. Upsets come in a Fallen World but God will be working in all things for the good of His children (Rom 8:28)
2. Jesus has become our intermediary (see 1 Jn 2:1)