Dr. Kim Riddlebarger continues his commentary on Job:
Job returns to the theme of his sins. In 14:1, Job reminds us, “man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment? Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!” Clearly, Job is aware of human sin and that no man can do anything to save himself. He continues in verses 5-6: “Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.” But hope is beginning to arise in Job’s heart. As we read in verse 13, “if only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.”
Sadly, Job’s suffering once again erodes his hope. Again, he returns to a lament in verse 18: “as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope. You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away. If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.” The dialogue between Job and his friends has two more rounds to go, before Elihu speaks, and then Job gets his answer from God himself from the midst of a whirlwind. But the light is starting to dawn. Job now seeks a mediator. And he knows he will be vindicated. Thus even now, the suffering Job is pointing us to such a mediator and vindicator, Jesus Christ. The resolution to his troubles may yet be at hand!
Amen.
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