Job 16, "God, My Accuser and Advocate"

Job tires of the relentless attack by his "friends".

Job 16:1-3, Endless speeches

Then Job replied:

"I have heard many things like these; 

miserable comforters are you all!

Will your long-winded speeches never end? 

What ails you that you keep on arguing?

Job's friends bring no comfort. Their long-winded speeches say little and give no relief. (And are simply wrong.) Job asks, "Why are you so angry at me?"

I have struggled to come up with a term for Job's "friends", who now seem to only be accusing him. Job's gives me the term: "miserable comforters"!

Job 16:4-5, I would encourage you

I also could speak like you, if you were in my place;

 I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.

But my mouth would encourage you;

 comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

If the situations were reversed, Job could also make fine speeches. But he would try to encourage the sufferer and give comfort with his lips.

Job 16:6, Either way, I hurt

"Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; 

and if I refrain, it does not go away.

Whether Job speaks or not, he is in pain. So he will go on and say more....

Job 16:7-14, My adversary and accuser

Surely, O God, you have worn me out; 

you have devastated my entire household.

You have bound me--and it has become a witness; 

my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

God assails me and tears me in his anger 

and gnashes his teeth at me; 

my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

Men open their mouths to jeer at me; 

they strike my cheek in scorn 

and unite together against me.

God has turned me over to evil men 

and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

All was well with me, 

but he shattered me; 

he seized me by the neck and crushed me. 

He has made me his target;

his archers surround me. 

Without pity, he pierces my kidneys 

and spills my gall on the ground.

Again and again he bursts upon me; 

he rushes at me like a warrior.

Job views God as his accuser, One who has attacked him. God assails him and tears him up. Job's  illness leads to people jeering at him, laughing at him. Although Job has done no wrong, he is turned over to those who are evil and wicked. God shoots arrows at Job and shatters him. 

We know, from the first few chapters that it is indeed Satan, who is The Accuser, that attacks Job, but Job does not have that information. He knows he has been attacked and destroyed and sees God as the one doing the accusing.

Hartley says that verse 12, translated here "he shattered me... and crushed me" is assonance in the Hebrew: "way·p̄ar·pə·rê·nî, ... way·p̄aṣ·pə·ṣê·nî".

Job 16:15-17, Weeping and praying

"I have sewed sackcloth over my skin 

and buried my brow in the dust.

My face is red with weeping, 

deep shadows ring my eyes;

yet my hands have been free of violence 

and my prayer is pure.

Job has sackcloth sewn over his wounds ("scabby skin" translates Hartley) and his weeping has distorted his face. Yet, despite his sorrow and weeping, Job says he has continued to be pure in his prayer and actions.

Job 16:18-22, Advocate on high

"O earth, do not cover my blood; 

may my cry never be laid to rest!

Even now my witness is in heaven; 

my advocate is on high.

My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;

on behalf of a man he pleads with God 

as a man pleads for his friend.

"Only a few years will pass 

before I go on the journey of no return.

Even now, Job argues that he has an advocate on high who intercedes with God. He still believes that justice will come and that he, himself, is innocent. Yet, if this is to happen, it must happen quickly, for Job may soon "go on the journey [to Sheol] of no return". (David makes a similar complaint in Psalm 30: 9, warning God that if he goes down to the pit, he cannot praise God.) 

The identity of Job's intercessor is unclear. Job may have no idea who it is -- and it may in fact be God himself -- but Job seems confident that justice requires he have an advocate.