Job 6:22 - Meaning and Application

Poor Job goes on here and rebukes his friends for their lack of kindness and the harsh way they treated him. He appeals to them about several things that would both clear him and condemn them. If they would think fairly and speak honestly, they would have to admit this.

First, even though he was in need, he was not always asking for help or being a burden to his friends. People who are always begging because of their troubles are often less pitied than poor people who stay quiet. Job would have been glad to see his friends, but he did not say, “Bring me help” (Job 6:22), or, “Deliver me” (Job 6:23). He did not try to make them spend money on him. He did not ask them to take up a collection to set him up again in the world. Even though he could have said that his losses came from God’s hand, not from any fault or foolishness of his own, that he had been completely ruined and impoverished, that he had once lived well, and that he had been generous when he had means, he still did not say, “Give me some of your wealth.” A good man, when he is troubled himself, is careful not to become troublesome to his friends.

He also did not ask them to raise the country for him, to help him recover his cattle from the Sabeans and Chaldeans, or to take revenge on them. “Did I send for you to rescue me from the hand of the mighty?” No, he says. He never expected them to put themselves in danger or spend money for his sake. He would rather endure his suffering and make the best of it than live by taking from his friends. Paul later worked with his own hands so that he would not be a burden to anyone.

Job’s not asking for help did not excuse his friends from offering it when he needed it and when they were able to give it. But it made their unkindness much worse, because he asked for no more than a kind look and a good word, and he still could not get those. It often happens that from people, even when we expect little, we get less. But from God, even when we expect much, we receive more (Ephesians 3:20).

Second, even though Job disagreed with them, he was not stubborn. He was ready to yield if they could prove him wrong. He was willing to lower his sails to the truth as soon as it was shown to him (Job 6:24, Job 6:25). “If, instead of jealous remarks and unkind hints, you would give me plain teaching and solid arguments that prove themselves, I am ready to admit my mistake and be silent. Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, because I have often seen with pleasure and wonder how powerful right words are. But your way of arguing will never win anyone over. What are you really proving? Your idea is wrong, your guesses have no solid ground, your handling of this case is weak, and your application is harsh and unkind.”

Fair reasoning has real power, and it is no wonder if people are persuaded by it. But harsh words and abuse are useless and foolish, and it is no wonder if they only make people more angry and more fixed in their views. An honest man truly wants his errors corrected. He is glad to understand where he has gone wrong, and he will admit that right words are powerful and good, even if they go against what he first thought.

Third, even if Job had been wrong in some things, they still should not have treated him so harshly (Job 6:26, Job 6:27). He asks, “Do you mean to reprove words with great skill,” that is, to pick apart some passionate words I spoke in my desperate condition, as if they were proof that I had no fear of God and no faith? A little fairness and charity would have excused those words and given them a better meaning. Should a man’s spiritual condition be judged by a few rash words that sudden trouble forced from him? Is that fair, kind, or just? Would you want to be treated that way yourselves?

Two things made their treatment of him worse. First, they took advantage of his weakness and helpless state. “You overwhelm the fatherless” is a proverb for cruel and inhuman behavior. The fatherless cannot protect themselves from insults, so base people are tempted to trample on them. Job, though he was not a literal orphan, felt as exposed as a fatherless child (Psalm 127:5), and he had good reason to be offended when they treated him that way. Those who oppress people in such a helpless condition not only cast off human pity, they also fight against the compassion of God, who is and will be a Father to the fatherless and a helper of the helpless.

Second, they pretended to be kind. “You dig a pit for your friend.” They were not only unkind to him, their friend, but they used the language of friendship to trap him. When they came to sit with him, he thought he could speak freely and that the more bitter his complaints were, the more they would comfort him. That made him speak more openly than he otherwise would have done. David, though he held back his feelings when wicked people were present, would likely have spoken more freely if only friends had been there (Psalm 39:1). But their claim to care for him led him to speak this way, and then they used those words against him. In that sense, they dug a pit for him. When our hearts are hot within us, we are often tempted to twist what is merely bad into something we think was done on purpose.

Fourth, even though Job had spoken in a passionate way at times, he was still right in the main point. His sufferings, though very unusual, did not prove that he was a hypocrite or a wicked man. He still held fast to his integrity and would not let it go. To show this, he appeals first to what they could see in him (Job 6:28): “Look at me. What do you see that shows I am either a madman or a wicked man? Look at my face, and you may see a patient and submissive spirit in all this. Let my appearance witness for me that, even though I have cursed the day I was born, I do not curse my God.”

Or, more likely, he means, “Look at my sores and boils, and by them it will be clear that I am not lying.” That is, he is not complaining without cause. He wants them to use their own eyes and see that his condition is truly miserable, and that he is not making his trouble seem worse than it is in order to quarrel with God.

He also appeals to what they heard from him (Job 6:30).

You hear what I have to say. Is there any falsehood on my tongue, the kind of wrongdoing you accuse me of? Have I cursed God or turned away from him? Are not my words now true and fair? Do you not see, from what I say, that I can tell wrong ideas from right ones? I can spot your mistakes and false arguments, and if I were wrong myself, I could notice it. Whatever you think about me, I know what I am saying.

He then appeals to their calmer, second thoughts (Job 6:29). “Please come back and think this through again, without bias or partiality, and do not let your decision become injustice. Then you will find my righteousness in it,” meaning, “You will see that I am right in this matter. Even if I do not always control my temper as I should, I still keep my integrity. I have not said, done, or suffered anything that proves I am anything other than an honest man.” A fair cause asks for nothing more than a fair hearing, and, if needed, a hearing again.