Job 13:1 - Meaning and Application

Job here warmly shows his resentment of his friends’ unkindness.

He first says that he understands the issue as well as they do, and does not need to be taught by them (Job 13:1, Job 13:2). They forced him, as the Corinthians forced Paul, to speak up for himself and defend his own knowledge. Yet he is not boasting, only clearing himself. He had seen with his own eyes, heard from many witnesses, and understood well what he was saying. Happy are those who do not only see and hear, but truly understand the greatness, glory, and rule of God. Job thought this should prove what he had already said (Job 12:3), so he repeats it here: “What you know, I also know. So I do not need to come to you to be taught; I am not less wise than you.” Those who enter into debate are tempted to praise themselves and put others down more than is right, so they must watch and pray against pride.

Then Job turns from them to God (Job 13:3). He says, in effect, that he can expect no comfort from talking to them. “I would rather speak to the Almighty. I wish I could reason with God himself, because he would not be as harsh with me as you are.” A prince may sometimes hear a poor petitioner more calmly and kindly than his servants do. Job would rather plead his case before God than before his friends.

Here we see, first, the confidence people can have toward God when their hearts do not accuse them of deep hypocrisy. They can come before him with humble boldness and appeal to him. Second, we see the comfort of those whom their neighbors wrongly condemn. If they cannot speak to people and hope for fair treatment, they can still speak to the Almighty. He gives them open access, and he will receive them.

Job then condemns their unfair and unkind treatment of him (Job 13:4). They had falsely accused him, which was unjust. He calls them “forgers of lies.” They had built a false idea of God’s providence, meaning his wise rule over the world, as if God never greatly afflicts anyone except wicked people in this life. From that wrong idea, they drew a false conclusion about Job, saying he must be a hypocrite. For this serious mistake, both in doctrine and in applying it to him, Job treats them as men who had forged lies. To speak lies is bad enough, even by accident, but to invent them with planning is worse. Yet neither innocence nor excellence can always protect a person from this kind of wrong.

They had also deceived him in a low and hurtful way. They had offered to help him and claimed to be his doctors, but they were doctors of no value. They were worthless physicians who did not understand his condition and did not know how to help him. They were like poor healers who promised much but added nothing useful in their talks. He came away no wiser from everything they said. In the same way, broken hearts and wounded consciences find that every helper, without Christ, is a doctor of no value. A person may spend everything and end up no better, but worse (Mark 5:26).

Job then asks them to be quiet and listen patiently (Job 13:5, Job 13:6). He thinks it would honor them if they stopped talking, since they had already said too much. “Hold your peace, and that will be your wisdom,” he says, because then their ignorance and bad spirit would be less plain. They had argued that they could not keep from speaking (Job 4:2, Job 11:2, Job 11:3), but Job says they would have protected their own reputation better if they had stayed silent. It is better to say nothing than to say what is beside the point or what dishonors God and grieves fellow believers. Even a fool, when he keeps quiet, is thought wise, because nothing appears to prove otherwise (Proverbs 17:28). Silence often shows wisdom, and it also helps produce wisdom, because it gives time to think and listen.

He also says it would be fair for them to hear him out: “Hear now my reasoning.” Perhaps they were not interrupting him, but they were not really paying attention either. So he asks them not only to hear, but to listen closely. We should be ready to hear from people whom we are tempted to think badly of. Many a person, if only fairly heard, would be cleared even in the conscience of those who had criticized them.

Job next shows them the wrong they were doing to God’s honor while claiming to speak for him (Job 13:7, Job 13:8). They took pride in saying they were speaking for God, defending his justice and his dealings with Job. As they saw it, they were on the side of the ruler, so they expected the court to listen and rule for them. But Job tells them plainly that God and his cause do not need such helpers. “Will you argue for God, as though his justice were unclear and needed your defense? Will you, weak and passionate as you are, try to speak for him?” Good work should not be put into bad hands. “Will you accept his person?” That is, will you show favoritism because you think you are serving God? If people win a case without right, it is usually because the judge favors their person. But God’s cause is so just that it needs no unfair help. He is God, and he can plead for himself (Judges 6:31). If human mouths were forever shut, the heavens would still declare his righteousness.

Job also says that their way of handling the matter harmed God’s cause. Under the pretense of defending God in afflicting Job, they had confidently condemned him as a hypocrite and a bad man. “This,” Job says, “is speaking wickedly.” Unkindness and harsh judging are wickedness, and great wickedness. It is an offense against God to wrong our brothers and sisters. He also calls it deceitful speech, because they were condemning a man whom their own consciences could not fully convict. Their principles were false, and their reasoning was faulty. Would it excuse them to say, “We are doing this for God”? No, because a good purpose does not make a bad word or action right. God’s truth does not need our lies, and God’s cause does not need sinful tricks or sinful anger. Human anger does not produce the righteousness of God, and we must not do evil so that good may come (Romans 3:7, Romans 3:8). So-called pious frauds are really impious cheats, and religious persecution is a terrible insult to God’s name, like the actions of those who hated their brothers, cast them out, and said, “Let the Lord be glorified” (Isaiah 66:5; John 16:2).

He then tries to lead them to fear God’s judgment, so that they may take a better attitude.

Let them not imagine that they can deal with God the way they deal with a man like themselves. They should not expect to gain God’s favor in their wrongdoing by pretending to be zealous for him and his honor. “Can you deceive him the way one person flatters another?” Job’s point is clear: those who try to trick God will only end up tricking themselves. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.” To keep them from playing games with God and insulting him, Job wants them to think seriously about God and about themselves. If they do, they will see that they cannot stand in judgment against him.

First, let them think about what kind of God they are dealing with, since they had claimed to serve him while really doing him harm. They should ask whether they could give him a good account of what they were doing. Consider the strictness of his search and the way he examines people (Job 13:9). “Is it good for him to search you out?” Job means, can you bear to have the motives behind your judgments looked into, and have the truth about the matter exposed? We all need to ask whether it will help us or harm us when God searches the heart. It is good for an honest person who means well, because such a person can pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.” God’s all-knowing eye proves that person’s sincerity. But it is dangerous for someone who acts one way and means another, because God will uncover him and bring him to shame.

They should also think about the severity of God’s rebuke and anger against them (Job 13:10). “If you show favoritism, even in your heart, he will surely rebuke you.” God will not be pleased with their attacks on Job, even if they claim to be defending him. He will treat such conduct as a great offense, just as a ruler would be angry if a shameful act were done under his name and as if it served his cause. Whatever we do wrong will certainly be rebuked, sooner or later, even if it is done in secret.

They should also think about the fear that should come from his majesty, which would keep them from making themselves guilty before his wrath (Job 13:11). “Should not his greatness make you afraid?” Job is speaking to men who know much about God and claim to be religious, so how can they talk so boldly and give themselves such freedom with their words? Should they not walk and speak in the fear of God (Nehemiah 5:9)? Should not a holy dread restrain their passions? Job speaks like someone who knows the fear of the Lord himself and lives under it, even if his friends say otherwise. There is a terrifying greatness in God. He is the most excellent Being, and every excellence belongs to him in perfect fullness. His beauty is lovely in itself, but because of our distance from God by nature, and because sin has made us fallen and twisted, his excellence is also fearful. His power, holiness, justice, and even his goodness are awe-inspiring. “They will fear the Lord and his goodness.”

That holy fear should fall on us and make us careful. It should wake up stubborn sinners and lead them to repentance. It should also make everyone more eager to please God and more afraid of offending him.

Second, let them think about themselves, and how badly matched they are for a conflict with this great God (Job 13:12). “Your reminders,” that is, all you hope will keep you remembered after you are gone, “are like ashes.” They are worthless, weak, and easy to trample on or blow away. “Your bodies are like bodies of clay,” soft, fading, and returning to dust. You think your reputation will outlast your bodies, but it is as fragile as ashes that will be swept up with your dust. The thought of our own weakness and mortality should keep us from offending God, and it gives us a strong reason not to despise or crush our fellow people.

Bishop Patrick gives another meaning to this verse: their protests on God’s behalf are no better than dust, and the arguments they pile up are only heaps of dirt.