Job 23, The Hidden God

Job continues his dialogue on pain, judgement and righteousness.

Job 23:1-7, Take me before my judge

Then Job replied:

"Even today my complaint is bitter; 

his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

If only I knew where to find him; 

if only I could go to his dwelling!

I would state my case before him 

and fill my mouth with arguments.

I would find out what he would answer me, 

and consider what he would say.

Would he oppose me with great power? 

No, he would not press charge  against me.

There an upright man could present his case before him, 

and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

Job ignores Eliphaz's tone-deaf call to repentance and returns to his desire to appear before God and lean on God's justice

Job 23:8-12, The Hidden God

"But if I go to the east, he is not there; 

if I go to the west, I do not find him.

When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; 

when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

But he knows the way that I take; 

when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

My feet have closely followed his steps; 

I have kept to his way without turning aside.

I have not departed from the commands of his lips; 

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

Job has been seeking God and cannot find Him. Still, he relies on his understanding of justice and expresses confidence that Justice is still available and God, although hidden, is nearby. This confidence is a significant theme of the book.

The Hebrew words translated "east, west, north, south" are literally "forward, backward, lefthand, righthand". The ancient Near East viewed directions by facing east, explains Hartley.

Job 23: 13-17, He does what he pleases

"But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? 

He does whatever he pleases.

He carries out his decree against me, 

and many such plans he still has in store.

That is why I am terrified before him; 

when I think of all this, I fear him.

God has made my heart faint; 

the Almighty has terrified me.

Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, 

by the thick darkness that covers my face.

God's power, invisibility, transcendent difference, all of that is beyond us. Job wants to see God but is frightened of what might happen when God appears.

Hartley sees, in the first phrase of verse 13, the Israelite recognition that there is only one God.

Hartley on verse 14: "Job's struggle for faith reaches its severest test when his confidence in God collides with his fear of God." (p. 342.) This is a significant issue in the book -- Job is confident of God's sovereignty and justice and yet sees these as colliding. God's power might overwhelm God's justice! In a similar manner, I have heard people dismiss the Christian God by arguing that God cannot be both all-powerful and also loving. (I recall this remark as attributed to the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell but surely many others have made this argument.)  Job, himself, is struggling with a similar conflict thousands of years before my time. This is a struggle I recognize.