Job 16:17 - Meaning and Application

Job’s condition was very painful, but he was not without comfort. He tells us here what held him up. He had the witness of his own conscience that he had lived honestly and had not allowed himself in any serious sin. He was always ready to admit his sins of weakness, but after careful self-examination he could not accuse himself of any great crime that would make him suffer more than others, Job 16:17.

He says he had kept a clear conscience in two ways. First, toward other people, he had not been guilty of any wrong in his hands, any wealth gained or kept by injustice. Eliphaz had pictured him as a cruel oppressor, but Job denies it plainly. He says he had never done anyone harm and had always despised the profit of oppression. Second, toward God, he says, “My prayer is pure.” Prayer cannot be pure while injustice remains in our hands, (Isaiah 1:15). Eliphaz had accused him of religious hypocrisy, but Job points to prayer, the main act of worship, and says that in this he was pure. He does not mean he had no weakness at all, but that he was free from settled and approved deceit. His prayers were not like the Pharisees, who only prayed to be seen by others.

Job supports this claim with a solemn wish for shame and confusion on himself if he is lying, Job 16:18. If there was injustice in his hands, he wants it to be exposed. “O earth, do not cover my blood” means, “Do not hide the innocent blood of others, if I am guilty of shedding it.” Murder will be brought to light, and Job says, let it be so if he has ever been guilty of it, (Genesis 4:10-11). The day will come when the earth gives up its blood, (Isaiah 26:21), and a good man need not fear that day. If there was impurity in his prayers, he wants them to be rejected: “Let my cry have no place.” He is willing to be judged by the rule, “If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me,” (Psalm 66:18).

There is also another possible meaning here. Job may be laying his death, as it were, at the feet of his friends, because their harsh accusations were breaking his heart. In that case, he asks God to avenge the wrong and not let the cry of his blood be hidden, but to let it rise to heaven and be heard by the one who searches out bloodshed.

Job also could appeal to God’s own knowledge about his integrity, Job 16:19. The witness in our own hearts is of little use if we have no witness in heaven too, because God knows us better than our own hearts do. We are not our final judges. So Job can say, “My witness is in heaven.” This is a great comfort for a good man when others accuse him unfairly, because God in heaven knows his integrity and will make it clear in time. See (John 5:31, John 5:37). One witness from God is worth a thousand human voices.

Job also had a God he could go to and pour out his heart before, Job 16:20, Job 16:21. His friends called themselves his friends, but he could not speak freely with them. He did not expect fair hearing from them or fair treatment. They mocked him, opposed him, and used all their skill and words to bring him down. The scorn of friends hurts more than the scorn of enemies, but we should expect it and be ready for it.

Between him and God, the matter was different. He knew that God saw his suffering. “My eye pours out tears to God” means his sorrow was brought before the Lord. He had said before that he wept much, and here he tells us where those tears went. His grief was not like the grief of the world. He wept before the Lord and offered him the sacrifice of a broken heart. Even tears, when given to God, bring relief to a troubled spirit. If people overlook our grief, it comforts us that God sees it.

Job also believed that God would clear his innocence in time, Job 16:21. He cries, “O that one might plead for a man with God!” If he could stand at God’s bar with the same freedom people have before a human judge, he believes his case would succeed, because the Judge himself knows he is upright. This sounds like the words in (Isaiah 50:7-8), “I know that I will not be ashamed, for he who justifies me is near.” Some understand this in a gospel sense, and the original language allows it. It can mean that there is one who will plead for a man with God, even the Son of Man for his friend, or neighbor. Those who pour out tears before God, though they cannot fully plead for themselves because of their weakness and distance from God, have a friend who does plead for them, even the Son of Man. On this we must rest all our hope of being accepted by God.

Job also looked ahead to death, which would end all his troubles. He had such confidence in God that he could think of death with peace. He speaks of “a few years,” the years set and appointed for him, and then says, “I shall go the way from which I shall not return.” To die is to go a way we do not come back from. It is a journey, a long journey, a journey for good. It is leaving this world for another country, from the world we see to the world of spirits. It is a journey to our long home. There is no returning to our life here, and no changing our condition in the next world.

We will all certainly, and very soon, go this way. For those who keep a good conscience, it is a comfort to think about death, because it is the crown of their integrity.