Jesus was job's umpire

JESUS WAS JOB'S UMPIRE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Job 9:32 For He is not a man like me, that I can
answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
DespairOf Purification
Job 9:30, 31
W.F. Adeney
Job is possessedby a terrible thought. He imagines that God is so determined
to have him as an objectof condemnation that nothing he can do can sethim
right; even if he makes himself ever so clean, God will plunge him back in the
mire, God will overwhelm him with guilt. This is, of course, a wholly false
view of God, though it is not altogetherinexcusable with Job in his ignorance
and awful distress.
I. GOD ONLY DESIRES OUR PURIFICATION. We may not be tempted to
fall into Job's mistake, for we have more light, and our circumstances are far
more hopeful than his were. Still, it is difficult for us to conceive how entirely
averse to making the worstof us God is. He cannot ignore sin, for his
searching glance always reveals itto him, and his just judgment always
estimates it rightly. He must bring our sin home to us; for this is for our own
good, as well as necessaryin regardto the claims of righteous-neat. Thus he
seems to be forcing out our guilt. But in doing so he is not plunging us into the
mire, but only making apparent the hidden evil of our heart. The process is

like that of a photographerdeveloping a picture, like that of a physician
bringing a disease to the surface. The result makes apparent what existed
before, unseen but dangerously powerful.
II. IT IS HOPELESS TO ATTEMPT OUR OWN PURIFICATION. Here Job
was right. We may washourselves, but we shall not be clean. Sin is more than
a defilement; it is a stain, a dye, an ingrained evil. It is like the Ethiopian's
skin and the leopard's spots;sin has become a part of the sinner's very
constitution. Tears ofrepentance will not wash it out. Bloodof sacrificed
victims will not cleanse it away. Penance and gooddeeds will not remove it.
We cannotundo the past, cannotdo awaywith the fact that sin was
committed. Therefore we cannot remove the guilt of our sin, nor its
contaminating, corrupting influence from our consciences.
III. GOD PROVIDES PURIFICATION FROM SIN. We need not despair.
Job is not only mistaken; the truth is the very opposite to what he imagines it
to be. God himself, insteadof aggravating guilt, has provided the only
efficacious means for its removal. This was promised in the Old Testament:
"Come now, and let us reasontogether, saiththe Lord," etc. (Isaiah 1:18). It is
accomplishedin the New Testament. Christ offered forgiveness ofsin
(Matthew 9:2). By his death on the cross he made that forgiveness sure to us.
What no tsars or works of ours cando is effectedby the blood of Christ,
which "cleansethus from all sin" (1 John 1:7). That is to say, Christ's death is
the greatpurifying sacrifice. Whenwe trust in him the cleansing of guilt that
is given, on condition of the perfectsacrifice, is ours. Our despairof
purification outside Christ should only drive us to Christ that we may receive
it. - W.F.A.
Biblical Illustrator

If I washmyself with snow water.
Job 9:30-32
An estimate of the morality that is without godliness
T. Chalmers, D. D.
In the eyes of the pure God, the man who has made the most copious
application in his powerof snow waterto the visible conduct, may still be an
objectof abhorrence;and that if God enter into judgment with him, He will
make him appear as one plunged in the ditch, his righteousness as filthy rags,
and himself as an unclean thing. There are a thousand things which, in
popular and understood language, man cando. It is quite the general
sentiment, that he can abstain from stealing, and lying, and calumny — that
he can give of his substance to the poor, and attend church, and pray, and
read his Bible, and keepup the worship of God in his family. But, as an
instance of distinction betweenwhat he can do, and what he cannot do, let us
make the undoubted assertionthat he can eatwormwood, and just put the
question, if he can also relish wormwood. That is a different affair. I may
command the performance; but have no such command over my organs of
sense, as to command a liking or a taste for the performance. The illustration
is homely; but it is enough for our purpose if it be effective. I may accomplish
the doing of what God bids; but have no pleasure in God himself. The forcible
constraining of the hand may make out many a visible actof obedience;but
the relish of the heart may refuse to go along with it. The outer man may be
all in a bustle about the commandments of God; while to the inner man God is
an offence and a weariness.His neighbours may look at him; and all that their
eye canreach may be as cleanas snow watercan make it. But the eye of God
reaches a greatdeal farther. He is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart; and he may see the foulness of spiritual idolatry in every one of its
receptacles. The poorman has no more conquered his rebellious affections
than he has conquered his distaste for wormwood. He may fearGod; he may
listen to God; and, in outward deed, may obey God. But he does not, and he
will not, love God; and while he drags a heavy load of tasks, and duties, and
observancesafterhim, he lives in the hourly violation of the first and greatest

of the commandments. Would any parent among you count it enough that you
had obtained a service like this from one of your children? Would you be
satisfiedwith the obedience ofhis hand, while you knew that the affections of
his heart were totally awayfrom you? The service may be done; but all that
can minister satisfactionin the principle of the service, may be withheld from
it; and though the very last item of the bidden performance is rendered, this
will neither mend the deformity of the unnatural child, nor soothe the feelings
of the afflicted and the mortified father. Godis the Father of spirits; and the
willing subjectionof the spirit is that which He requires of us — "My son, give
Me thy heart"; and if the heart be withheld, God says of all our visible
performances, "To whatpurpose is the multitude of your sacrificesunto
Me?" The heart is His requirement; and full indeed is the title which He
prefers to it. He put life into us; and it is He who hath drawn a circle of
enjoyments, and friendships, and interests, around us. Everything that we
take delight in, is ministered to us out of His hand. He plies us every moment
with His kindness;and when at length the gift stole the heart of man away
from the Giver, so that he became a lover of his own pleasure rather than a
lover of God, even then would He not leave us to perish in the guilt of our
rebellion. Man made himself an alien, but God was not willing to abandon
him; and, rather than lose him forever, did He devise a way of accessby which
to woo and to welcome him back again. The way of our recoveryis indeed a
way that His heart was setupon; and to prove it, He sentHis own Eternal Son
into the world, who unrobed Him of all His glories, and made Himself of no
reputation. If, after all this, the antipathy of nature to God still cleave to us —
if, under the powerof this antipathy, the service we yield be the cold and
unwilling service of constraint — if, with many of the visible outworks of
obedience, there be also the strugglings of a reluctant heart to take awayfrom
this obedience all its cheerfulness, is not God defrauded of His offering?
(T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Washedto greaterfoulness

The similitudes of grief are here piled up in heaps, with what an old author
has spokenof as the "rhetoric of sorrow." Physicalsufferings had produced a
stain on Job's mind, and he soughtrelief by expressing his anguish. Like some
solitary prisoner in the gloomy keepof an old castle, he graves on the walls
pictures of the abjectdespondencies whichhaunt him.
I. At the outsetwe observe that QUICKENED SOULS ARE CONSCIOUS OF
GUILT. They know it; they feel it; and they blush to find that they are
without excuse for it. All men are sinners: to most men, however, sin appears
to be a fashionof the times, a necessityofnature, a folly of youth, or an
infirmity of age, which a slight apologywill suffice to remove. Not till men are
quickened by Divine grace do they truly know that they are sinners. How is
this? Some diseases are so insidious that the sufferers fancy that they are
getting better, while in very truth they are hastening to the grave. After such
manner does sin deceive the sons of men: they think they are savedwhen they
are still unrenewed. How is this, you ask again? Few give themselves the
trouble to think about these matters at all. Ours is an age in which men's
thoughts are keenupon politics and merchandise, practicalscience,and
economic inventions. To natural ignorance we may attribute much of the
ordinary indifference of men to their own sinfulness. They live in a benighted
age. In vain you boastthe enlightenment of this nineteenth century: the
nineteenth century is not one whir more enlightened as to the depravity of
human nature than the first century. Men are as ignorant of the plague of
their own hearts today as they were when Paul addressedthem. Hardly a
glimmer of the humbling truth of our natural depravity dawns on the dull
apprehension of the worldly wise, though souls taught from above know it and
are appalled by it. In divers ways the discovery comes to those whom the Lord
ordains to save. Sometimes a preacher sentof God lets in the dreadful light.
Many men, like the false prophet Mokanna, hide their deformity. You may
walk through a dark cellarwithout discerning by the eye that anything
noisome is there concealed. Letthe shutters be thrown open! Bid the light of
day streamin! You soonperceive frogs upon the coldclammy pavement,
filthy cobwebs hanging on the walls in long festoons, foulvermin creeping
about everywhere. Startled, alarmed, horrified, who would not wish to flee
away, and find a healthier atmosphere? The rays of the sun are, however, but

a faint image of that light Divine shed by the Holy Spirit, which penetrates the
thickestshades of human folly and infatuation, and exposes the treacheryof
the inmost heart.
II. We pass on to notice that it often happens that AWAKENED SOULS USE
MANY INEFFECTUALMEANS TO OBTAIN CLEANSING. Job describes
himself as washing in snow water, and making his hands never so clean. His
expressions remind me of my own labour in vain. By how many experiments I
tried to purify my own soul! See a squirrel in a cage;the poor thing is working
away, trying to mount, yet he never rises one inch higher. In like case is the
sinner who seeks to save himself by his own goodworks or by any other
means: he toils without result. It is astonishing what pains men will take in
this useless drudgery. In seeking to obtain absolution of their sins, to establish
a righteousness oftheir own, and to secure peace ofmind, men tax their
ingenuity to the utmost. Jobtalks of washing himself "with snow water." The
imagery is, no doubt, meant to be instructive. Why is snow waterselected?
1. The reasonprobably was, first, because it was hard to get. Fareasier,
generally, to procure waterfrom the running brooks than from melted snow.
Men seta high value on that which is difficult to procure. Forms of worship
which are expensive and difficult are greatlyaffectedby many, as snow water
was thought in Job's day to be a bath for kings;but, after all, it is an idle
fashion, likely to mislead.
2. Besides,snow waterenjoyed a reputation for purity. If you would have a
natural filtered watergatherthe newly-fallen snow and melt it. Specimens yet
remain among us of piety more than possible to men, religiousness above the
range of mortals; which piety is, however, not of God's grace, and
consequentlyis a vain show. Though we should use the purest ceremonies,
multiply the best of goodworks, and add thereto the costliestofgifts, yet we

should be unable to make ourselves cleanbefore God. You may wash yourself
till you deny the existence ofa spot, and yet you may be unclean.
3. Once again, this snow wateris probably extolled because it descends from
the clouds of heaven, insteadof bubbling up from the clods of earth.
Religiousnesswhichcan colouritself with an appearance ofthe supernatural
is very taking with many. If I "make my hands never so clean," is an
expressionpeculiarly racy in the original. The Hebrew word has an allusion to
soapor nitre. Such was the ordinary and obvious method anyone would take
to whiten his hands when they were grimy. Tradition tells that certain stains
of blood cleave to the floor. The idea is that human blood, shed in murder, can
never be scrubbed or scrapedoff the boards. Thus is it most certainly with the
dye of sin. The blood of souls is in thy skirts, is the terrible language of
Jeremiah(Jeremiah 2:34). These worthless experiments to cleanse yourselves
would be ended once for all if you would have regard to the greattruth of the
Gospel:"Without shedding of blood there is no remissionThe blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleansethus from all sin."
III. BUT AS SURE AS EVER QUICKENED SOULS TRY TO GET PURITY
IN THE WRONG WAY, GOD WILL THRUST THEM DOWN INTO THE
DITCH. This is a terrible predicament. I find, on looking at the passage
closely, that it means "headover ears in the ditch." Often it happens with
those who try to getbetter by their own goodworks, that their conscienceis
awakenedby the effort, and they are more conscious ofsin than ever. The
word here rendered "ditch" is elsewhere translated"corruption." So in the
sixteenth Psalm: "Neitherwilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see
corruption." Language cannotpaint abasement, reproach, or ignominy in
strongerterms. "Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch." Is it not as though God
Himself would undertake the business of causing His people to know that by
their vain ablutions they were making themselves yet more vile in His eyes?
May we not regard this as the discipline of our Heavenly Father's love, albeit
when passing through the trial we do not perceive it to be so? "As many as I

love, I rebuke and chasten:be zealous therefore, and repent." Perhaps the
experience I am trying to describe will come to you through the preaching of
the Word. Frequently our greatLord leaves a poor waywardsoul to eat the
fruits of its own ways, and this is the severestform of plunging in the ditch.
While striving after righteousness in a wrong way, the man stumbles into the
very sin againstwhich he struggled. His empty conceitmight not have been
dislodgedfrom its secretlurking place in his depraved nature without some
such perilous downfall. Thus do we, in our different spheres, fly from this to
that, and from that to the other. Some hope to cleanse awaysin by a supreme
effort of self-denial, or of miraculous faith. Let us not play at purification, nor
vainly hope to satisfyconsciencewith that which renders no satisfactionto
God. Persons ofsensitive disposition, and sedentary habits, are prone to seek a
righteousness ofinward feeling. Oh, that it could turn from feeling to faith;
and look steadily out of inward sensationto the work finished once for all by
the Lord Jesus!
IV. By such severe training THE AWAKENED ONE IS LED TO LOOK
ALONE TO GOD FOR SALVATION, and to find the salvationhe looks for.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(32, 33) For he is not a man, as I am . . .—Is not that confession, if we believe
that such a daysman as Job longed for has been given, itself a witness that it
came from God, and was given by God? The light that has shined upon us was
shining then in the heart of Job, and shines for ever in the pages ofhis book.
Job felt, as he had been taught to feel, that in himself there not only was no
hope, but no possibility of justification with God, unless there should be an

umpire and impartial mediator, who could make the cause ofboth his own,
and reconcile and unite the two in himself. It is useless to inquire what other
particular form the aspiration of Job may have taken, or how far he
understood and meant what he said; but here are his words, and this is what
they must mean, and it is for us to adore the wisdom by which they were
taught accuratelyto correspondwith what we know has been given to us by
God. We know that a daysman has laid his hand upon us both; and while we
see that this is what Job wanted, we cannot but see more plainly that this is
what we want. It is to be observedthat this word daysman, or judge, is
immediately connectedwith the Scripture phrase, “the day of the Lord,” and
St. Paul’s words, “the day shall declare it” (1Corinthians 3:13).
BensonCommentary
Job 9:32-33. Forhe is not a man as I am — But one infinitely superior to me
in majesty and power, wisdom and justice. That I should answerhim — That
I should presume to debate my cause with him, or answerhis allegations
againstme. That we should come togetherin judgment — Face to face, to
plead upon equal terms. Neitheris there any days-man — Or, umpire; that
might lay his hand upon us both — Order and governus in pleading, and
oblige us to stand to his decision. The laying the hand on both parties implies
a coercive powerto enforce the executionof his decrees. This no one could
have over the Almighty: it was in vain, therefore, to contend with him. Our
Lord Jesus Christ is now the blesseddaysman, who has mediated between
heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both: to him the Fatherhath
committed all judgment. But this was not made so clearthen as it is now by
the gospel, whichleaves no room for such a complaint as this.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
9:25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem
time, when it runs on so fasttowards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of
time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of
having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards;so will not the
remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's
complaint of God, as one that could not be appeasedand would not relent,

was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or
Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us
with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come
unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the
depths of the sea, we shall be washedfrom all our filthiness, and made whiter
than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed
with the robes of righteousness andsalvation, adorned with the graces ofthe
Holy Spirit, and presentedfaultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. May we learn the difference betweenjustifying ourselves, and
being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossedsoulconsiderJob,
and notice that others have passedthis dreadful gulf; and though they found it
hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the
storm, and brought them to the desiredhaven. Resistthe devil; give not place
to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusionsaboutthyself. Come to Him
who invites the wearyand heavy laden; who promises in nowise to castthem
out.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
For he is not a man as I am - He is infinitely superior to me in majesty and
power. The idea is, that the contestwould be unequal, and that he might as
well surrender without bringing the matter to an issue. It is evident that the
disposition of Job to yield, was rather because he saw that God was superior
in power than because he saw that he was right, and that he felt that if he had
ability to manage the cause as well as God could, the matter would not be so
much againsthim as it was then. That there was no little impropriety of
feeling in this, no one can doubt; but have we never had feelings like this when
we have been afflicted? Have we never submitted to God because we felt that
he was Almighty, and that it was vain to contend with him, rather than
because he was seento be right? True submission is always accompaniedwith
the belief that God is RIGHT - whether we can see him to be right or not.
And we should come togetherin judgment - Fortrial, to have the case
adjudicated. That is, that we should meet face to face, and have the cause tried
before a superior judge. Noyes.

Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
32. (Ec 6:10; Isa 45:9).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
He is not a man, as I am; but one infinitely superior to me in majesty, and
power, and wisdom, and justice.
That I should answerhim; that I should presume to debate my cause with
him, or answerhis allegations againstme.
That we should come together, face to face, to plead upon equal terms before
a superior and indifferent judge.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For he is not a man, as I am,.... Forthough the parts and members of an
human body are sometimes ascribedto him, yet these are to be understood by
an anthropopathy, speaking afterthe manner of men, there being something
in him, which in a figurative sense answersto these; otherwise we are not to
conceive ofany corporealshape in him, or that there is any likeness to which
he is to be compared: he is a spirit infinite, immortal, immense, invisible, pure
and holy, just and true, and without iniquity; whereas Jobwas but a man, a
finite, feeble, mortal creature, and a sinful one; and therefore there being such
a vast disparity betweenthem, it was in vain to litigate a point with him, to
plead his cause before him, or attempt to vindicate his innocence;the
potsherds may strive and contend with the potsherds of the earth their equals,
but not with God their Creator, who is more than a match for them; he sees
impurity where man sees itnot, and canbring a charge againsthim, and
support it, where he thought there was none, and therefore it is a vain thing to
enter the lists with him:

that I should answerhim; not to questions put by him, but in a judicial way to
charges and accusations he should exhibit; no man in this sense cananswer
him, for one of a thousand he may bring, and men are chargeable with;
wherefore Jobonce and againdetermines he would not pretend to answer
him, as he knew he could not, see Job9:3,
and we should come togetherin judgment; in any court of judicature, before
any judge, to have the cause betweenus heard, and tried, and determined; for
in what court of judicature can he be convenedinto? or what judge is there
above him, before whom he can be summoned? or is capable of judging and
determining the cause betweenus? there is the high court of heaven, where we
must all appear, and the judgment seatof Christ, before which we must all
stand; and God is the judge of all, to whom we must come, and by whose
sentence we must be determined; but there is no court, no judge, no judgment
superior to him and his; there is no annulling his sentence, ormaking an
appeal from him to another; there is no coming togetherat all, and much less
"alike" (p), as some render it, or upon equal terms; the difference between
him and his creatures being so vastly great.
(p) "pariter", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius.
Geneva Study Bible
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answerhim, and we should come
togetherin judgment.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
32–34.The preceding verses describedhow unavailing all Job’s efforts were to
make out his innocence in the face of the fixed resolution of God to hold him

guilty. Now Job comes back to what is the real difficulty,—God is not a man
like himself.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 32. - For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answerhim; and we
should come togetherin judgment (comp. vers. 2-14). On one of two
conditions only, Job thinks, could the contestbe even betweenhimself and
God.
(1) If God, divesting himself of all his Divine attributes, became man;
(2) if some thirdsman could be found, some umpire or arbitrator, to preside
over the contest, and decide it. Neither condition, however, was (he thought)
possible;and therefore no satisfactoryjudgment could take place. Recent
commentators observe that the Christian scheme, which Job could not
anticipate, provides almost a literal fulfilment of both conditions, since the
God who is to judge us is "true Man," and is also a Mediator, or "Thirds-
man," betweenus and the offended Father, with authority to make the final
decision, 'the Father having committed all judgment unto the Son "(John
5:22), and" given him authority to execute judgment also'" for the very
reasonthat he is "the Son of man" (John 5:27).
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
25 My days were swifter than a runner,
They fled awaywithout seeing prosperity,
26 They shot by as ships of reeds,
As an eagle whichdasheth upon its prey.

27 If my thought is: I will forgetmy complaint,
I will give up my dark looks and look cheerful;
28 I shudder at all my pains,
I feel that Thou dost not pronounce me innocent.
Such, as described in the preceding strophe, is the lot of the innocent in
general, and such (this is the connection)is also Job's lot: his swiftly passing
life comes to an end amidst suffering, as that of an evil-doer whom God cuts
off in judgment. In the midst of his present sufferings he has entirely forgotten
his former prosperity; it is no happiness to him, because the very enjoyment
of it makes the loss of it more grievous to bear. The days of prosperity are
gone, have passedswiftly awaywithout ‫,הבוט‬ i.e., without lasting prosperity.
They have been swifter ‫ץר‬ ‫.יּנ‬ By reference to Job7:6, this might be
consideredas a figure borrowed from the weaver's loom, since in the Coptic
the threads of the weft (fila subteminis) which are wound round the shuttle
are called"runners" (vid., Ges. Thesaurus);but Rosenmllerhas correctly
observedthat, in order to describe the fleetness ofhis life, Job brings together
that which is swifteston land (the runners or couriers), in water(fast-sailing
ships), and in the air (the swooping eagle). ‫,םע‬ Job9:26, signifies, in
comparisonwith, aeque ac. But we possessonly a rather uncertain tradition
as to the kind of vessels meantby ‫טוא‬ ‫.תברנא‬ Jerome translates, afterthe Targ.:
naves poma portantes, by which one may understand the small vessels,
according to Edrisi, common on the DeadSea, in which corn and different
kinds of fruits were carried from Zoar to Jericho and to other regions of the
Jordan (Stickel, S. 267);but if ‫אוט‬ were connectedwith ‫,או‬ we might rather
expect‫,אּבט‬ after the form ‫אּׁשט‬ (from ‫,)אא‬ instead of ‫.טוא‬ Others derive the

word from ‫,טוא‬ avere:ships of desire, i.e., full-rigged and ready for sea
(Gecatilia in Ges. Thes. suppl. p. 62), or struggling towards the goal(Kimchi),
or steering towards (Zamora), and consequently hastening to (Symmachuc,
σπευδούσαις), the harbour; but independently of the explanation not being
suited to the description, it should then be accentedbeh, after the form ‫,טדנ‬
‫,קצט‬ insteadof bh. The explanation, ships of hostility (Syr.),
(Note:Luther also perhaps understood pirate ships, when he translated, "wie
die starckenSchiff.")
i.e., ships belonging to pirates or freebooters, privateers, whichwould suit the
subject well, is still less admissible with the present pointing of the text, as it
must then be ‫טוא‬ (‫,)טורא‬ with which the Egyptian uba, against, and adverse
(contrarius), may be compared. According to Abulwalid (Parchon, Raschi),
en reviregral a fo eman eht si ‫אוט‬ar the scene ofthe book of Job; which may
be understood as either the Babylonian name for river Arab. 'bby, or the
Abyssinian name of the Nile, ab; and ‫טוא‬ may be comparedwith ‫טנול‬ in
relation to the Arabic, lubna. But a far more satisfactoryexplanation is the
one now generallyreceived, according to the comparisonwith the Arabic
abâ'un, a reed (whence abaa-t-un, a reed, a so-calledn. unitatis): ships made
from reeds, like ‫אלר‬ ‫א‬ ‫,י‬ Isaiah18:2, vessels ofpapyrus, βαρίδες παπύριναι. In
such small ships, with Egyptian tackling, they used to travel as far as
Taprobane. These canoeswere made to fold together, plicatiles, so that they
could be carriedpast the cataracts;Heliodorus describes them as
ὀξυδρομώτατα.
(Note:There is no Egyptian word which can be compared to ‫,טוא‬ whereas han
(hani) or an (ana) in Egyptian, like the Hebrew ‫,טרנא‬ means a ship (vid.,
Chabas, Le Papyrus magique Harris, p. 246, No. 826, cf. pp. 33, 47); it is
written with the sign for setequals downwards, since they fastened a stone at
the front of the vessel, as was evenknown to Herodotus, in order to accelerate

its speed in descending the river. From this one might conjecture for the
passagebefore us ‫ןוא‬ ‫תברנא‬ equals swift sailers.)
The third figure is the eagle, whichswoops downupon its prey; ‫,הּוט‬ like
Chaldee ‫,הּוט‬ by which the Targ. translates ‫,טא‬ Habakkuk 1:8; Grtz'
conjecture of ‫ראּוה‬ (which is intended to mean flutters) is superfluous. Just as
unnecessaryis it, with Olshausen, to change ‫א‬ ‫רי‬ ‫םא‬ into ‫א‬ ‫רתי‬ ‫:םא‬"if my
saying (thinking)" is equivalent to, "as often as I say (think)." ‫םרנפ‬ is here (as
in the German phrase, ein Gesichtmachen) an ill-humoured, distorted, wry
face. When Job desires to give up this look of suffering and be cheerful (‫,גרלוט‬
like Job10:20, hilaritatem prae se ferre, vultum hilarem induere), the
certainty that he is not favoured of God, and consequentlythat he cannotbe
delivered from his sufferings, all his anguish in spite of his struggles againstit
comes everafresh before his mind. It is scarcelynecessaryto remark that
seod boJ tahteciton ot tnatropmi si tI .dadliB ot ton,doG otdesserdda si ‫תנקנר‬
not speak ofGod without at the same time looking up to Him as in prayer.
Although he feels rejectedof God, he still remains true to God. In the
following strophe he continues to complain of God, but without denying Him.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCESON VERSE 33
Job 9:33 Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his
hand upon us both.
The Mediator
Job 9:33

R. Green
The objectdesired by Job - and here he speaks forall sinful ones - is to obtain
reconciliationwith Jehovah, againstwhomhe acknowledgeshimselfto have
sinned. He cries for a mediator, an arbiter, an umpire; one able to "lay his
hand upon us both' - to bring us together, mediating betweenus.
I. THE NECESSITYFOR THIS ARISES:
1. From Job's consciousnessofsin. In his prayer (ver. 28) he confesses to God,
"I know thou wilt not hold me innocent." "I am not innocent," is the first
confessionofguilt. "If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me."
2. From Job's inability to "answer" to God. Of this he has made both
complaint and confession. "Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not
answer" (ver. 15). Fearand just humility seize him. "How much less shallI
answerhim?" (ver. 14). Man cannot order his own cause before the eternal
Judge. "He cannot answerhim one of a thousand" (ver. 3).
3. From their utter inequality. "He is not a man, as I am" (ver. 32). They
could not therefore "come togetherin judgment." How vain of poor, ignorant,
feeble, sinful man to suppose that he cananswerto God - that he can "appear
before him!" How vain even to imagine himself justified and pure before him!
Yet many "appearbefore" God in the presumptuous, self-excusing, self-
justifying thoughts of their minds. All such self-justificationcondemned by
Job's wise words and just views of things.
II. JOB'S CRY IS THE UNCONSCIOUS CRYOF THE UNIVERSAL
HEART OF MAN FOR A MEDIATOR. Seenin all religious systems - the
faith in the priest - the consciousignorance ofhidden spiritual verities. The
uninterpreted apprehensionof a spiritual world and government and future,

and yet the inability to deal with these and to put one's self in a right attitude
respecting them. This cry is heard in all lands, languages, andtimes. "Oh that
there were a daysman!" This cry prepares for and anticipates the true
Mediator.
III. THE RESPONSE TO THE UNIVERSAL NEED IN THE "ONE
MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN." Happily "himself Man." God
"hath spokenunto us in his Son" - no longerin prophets, but in a Son, who is
at the same time "the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his
substance;" and yet "Man" - "bone of our bone." "God manifested in the
flesh," and yet "in all things" "made like unto his brethren." Speaking with
Divine authority to us in our language, and of heavenly things on our level
And revealing within the compass of a human life, and by means of human
acts and human sentiments, the thought and love and pitiful mercy of God.
And representing us - doing what Job felt (and all have felt whose views were
just) he could not do, "appearbefore the face of God for us." Now we "have
our accessthrough him in one Spirit unto the Father." If we cannot order our
speechor our cause, he can. If we cannotanswerone of a thousand, he can.
For he is able, indeed, to "put his hand upon both." - R.G.

Biblical Illustrator
Neither is there any daysman.
Job 9:33
The daysman
Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.
At this point of the poem we are seeing Job at his worst. He has become
desperate under his accumulated miseries. In this chapter Job answers
Bildad. He admits that God is just; but from His infinite justice, holiness, and
power, he concludes that the best man has no hope of being approved by Him.
His protesthe clothes in the figure of a legaltrial. God comes into court, first
as plaintiff, then as defendant; first asserting His rights, snatching awaythat
which He has a mind to claim, then answering the citation of the man who
challenges His justice. In either case man's cause is hopeless. If the subject of
His powercalls Him to account, He appears at the bar, only to crush the
appellant, and, with His infinite wisdom, to find flaws in his plea. As we study,
certain deep-lying instincts begin to take shape in cravings for something
which the theologyof the day does not supply. The sufferer begins to feel
rather than see that the problem of his affliction needs for its solution the
additional factorwhich was supplied long after in the person and work of
Jesus Christ, — a mediator betweenGod and man. As he sees it, plaintiff and
defendant have no common ground. God is a being different in nature and
condition from himself. If now there were a human side to God. If there were
only some daysman, some arbiter or mediator, who could lay his hand upon
us both, understand both natures and both sets of circumstances, — then all
would be well. This desire of Job is to be studied, not as a mere individual, but
as a human experience. Job's craving for a mediator is the craving of
humanity. The soul was made for God. Christ meets an existing need.
Manhoodwas made for Christ. With Christ goes this fact of mediation. There
is a place for mediation in man's relations to God. There is a craving for

mediation in the human heart to which Job here gives voice. One needs but a
moderate acquaintance with the history of religion to see how this instinctive
longing for someone or something to stand betweenman and God has asserted
itself in the institutions of worship. This demand for a mediator is backedand
urged by two great interlinked facts — sin and suffering. Job's question here
is, How shall man be just with God? He urges that man as he is cannot be just
with God as He is. Let him be as good as he may, his goodness is impurity
itself beside the infinite perfectionof the Almighty. God cannot listen to any
plea of man basedon his own righteousness Again, this craving for a mediator
is awakenedby human experience of suffering; a fact which is intertwined
with the factof sin. We need, our poor humanity needs, such a daysman,
partakerof both natures, the Divine and the human, to show us suffering on
its heavenly as well as on its earthly side, and to flood its earthly side with
heavenly light by the revelation. In Christ we have the human experience of
sorrow and its Divine interpretation. Job's longing therefore is literally and
fully met. Despise not this Mediator. Seek His intervention.
(Marvin R. Vincent, D. D.)
The daysman
J. Elder Cumming, D. D.
This passageis one whose difficulty does not arise from crudities of
translation, but rather from the subtle sequences ofpassion-movedthought. It
consists ofa lament over the absence ofan umpire, or daysman, betweenGod
and the sin-strickensoul, and a vehement longing for such a one. In the notion
of an umpire, there are three generalthoughts apparent at the outset. There is
a deep-seatedoppositionbetweenthe two parties concerned:this is only to be
removed by vindicating the right; and the result aimed at is reconciliation.
How far does sucharbitration differ from mediation? It is mediation, with the
additional element of an agreemententered into betweenthe opposing parties.
A daysman is a mediator who has been appointed or agreedon by both. Let us
see how these generalthoughts are applicable to this cry of Job.

I. HE IS LABOURING UNDER A SENSE OF HOPELESS SIN. This is not
less true because it is not persistent through the Book of Job, but intermittent;
sometimes lightly felt, at other times crushing. It is on that accountonly a
truer exhibition of human character. Here the feverish sense of it is at its
strongest.
1. He is "plunged in the ditch," in the mire, in the "sewer";so that his
"clothes abhorhim." The mire is his covering:he is all sin!
2. In this state he is self-condemned. He cannot"answerGod," he cannot
come into judgment with Him! That is probably the true meaning of these
words, and not the common explanation, that he is afraid to answerGod. God
is not a man; He is not to be answered. He is Himself the judge; He must be
right. That was not always Job's spirit, it is true; but that is his spirit in the
present passage.
3. Then again, he cannot put away his pollution. He cannotmake himself
pure. "If I washmyself in snow water, and make my hands never so clean
('cleanse them with lye'), yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch." Struggling to
get free only shows one's utter helplessness.
4. And why does he feelso helpless? Whatis it that reveals his sin to him? It is
the characterofGod! God's holiness!God's law! He had not known sin but
for that law. God's requirement, God's inspection of the soul after it has done
its best, seems to "plunge it into the ditch."
II. IT IS THIS SENSE OF HOPELESS SIN THAT HAS TAUGHT JOB THE
NEED OF A MEDIATOR.

1. As yet he can find none. His words do not go the length of asserting that
there is not a daysman betweenGod and any man; they are confined to his
own need at the presentmoment — "Betwixtus!" For him there is none, and
that is his overwhelming trouble.
2. But there is a need. He longs (more than one of the Hebrew words bring out
the longing) for an umpire who should mediate betweenhim and God.
3. This mediator must be able to "lay his hand upon us both." Notsurely in
the poor and irreverent sense (for it is both), that by a restraining hand of
powerhe might control the action of the Almighty. The meaning is surely the
simple one, that the umpire must be one who can reachboth parties.
4. On the one hand we must do justice to God's holiness. In the mediation that
must be sacred. It must issue from the trial not less glorious than before.
5. And on the other hand, the mediator must confess anddeal with the sin of
man. He must neither concealnorexcuse it; but, admitting, and rightly
measuring the fact, he must be able to dealwith it so as to satisfy God and to
save man.
III. THE RESULTS OF SUCH MEDIATION ARE INDICATED. Generally
there is reconciliation, the removal of that state of enmity existing betweenthe
sinner and his God.
1. Specifically, there is pardon. "Let God take His rod awayfrom me!" God's
punishment, whateverform it may assume, shall pass wholly away. "Thy sins
be forgiven thee!" That would come from such a "daysman."

2. Next there is peace "Letnot His fear terrify me!" May I look up to God, the
Omnipotent and the holy God, and say, I am not afraid; for I have been
reconciledunto Him! The mediator has laid a hand upon both, has reached
God's holiness, and has reachedmy sin.
3. Then fear passes, and trust comes. "Thenwould I speak, andnot fear
Him." There can be no communion with God till the daysman has castout the
fear which has torment. Till then I can neither speak to Him nor hear Him.
IV. WE HAVE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THE ANTITHESIS OF THIS
LONGING CRY OF JOB. "The law (says Paul, Galatians 3:19, 20) was
ordained in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one;
but God is one." And who is the other party? It is sinful man. And "Jesus is
the Mediatorof the new covenant" (Hebrews 12:24), "laying a hand on both,"
mediating betweentwo who have been long and sorelyat variance;the
"daysman betwixt us" and God, who "pleads as a man with God, as a man
pleadeth for his neighbour" (Job 16:21). The need then of a mediator, as a
spiritual necessityof the sinner who has come to look down into his own heart
and to compare it with God's holiness, is one of the strange teachings ofthe
Book ofJob.
(J. Elder Cumming, D. D.)
The need of a daysman
George Wagner.
There are two attributes of God — His might and His righteousness. The one
a natural and the other a moral attribute. One manifested in creation, the
other dimly discernible in the moral nature, that is, the conscienceofman,

and yet greatly needing a revelationto bring it home to man's heart with
awful reality and power. Job's thoughts were evidently occupied in this
chapter with both these attributes. But if we are askedwith which he is most
occupied, we must answer, not with the highest, not with the righteousnessso
much as with the power of God. These verses seemto show a two-fold feeling
in Job's mind, corresponding to the two attributes — the righteousness and
the powerof God; but the predominating feeling was that of the irresistible
powerof God. Job longed for something to bridge overthe terrible chasm
betweenthe Creatorand himself, and not for some thing only, but some living
person, some "daysman, who should lay his hand upon them both." Taken
critically and historically, the word "daysman" seems to signify an "umpire."
If Job felt "the power of God" more than His righteousness, andhis own
weakness more than his guilt, this is preciselywhat he would want. He could
not, he felt, contend with God himself; could not stand on a level with the
Creatorin this greatcontroversy. He felt, therefore, his need of an umpire.
But what is the difference betweena "daysman" so explained and a mediator?
The difference is not great, but such as it is, it corresponds to the difference
betweenfeeling the "power" and the "righteousness"ofGod. The feeling of
wanting a mediator is the higher. A consciousnessofguilt and inward
corruption is a higher feeling than that of weakness;and the longing for a
"Mediator" a higher longing than that for a "daysman."
(George Wagner.)
A Mediator betweenGodand man
T. Chalmers, D. D.
When no man could redeem his neighbour from the grave — God Himself
found a ransom. When not one of the beings whom He had formed could offer
an adequate expiation — did the Lord of hosts awakenthe swordof
vengeance againstHis fellow. When there was no messengeramong the angels
who surrounded His throne, that could both proclaim and purchase peace for
a guilty world — did God manifest in the flesh, descendin shrouded majesty
amongstour earthly tabernacles,and pour out His soul unto the death for us,

and purchase the Church by His ownblood, and bursting away from the
grave which could not held Him, ascendto the throne of His appointed
Mediatorship; and now He, the lust and the last, who was dead and is alive,
and maketh intercessionfortransgressors, "is able to save to the uttermost all
who come unto God through Him"; and, standing in the breach betweena
holy God and the sinners who have offended Him, does He make
reconciliation, and lay His hand upon them both. But it is not enough that the
Mediatorbe appointed by God — He must be acceptedby man. And to incite
our acceptancedoes He hold forth every kind and constraining argument. He
casts abroadover the whole face of the world one wide and universal
assurance ofwelcome. "Whosoevercomethunto Me shall not be castout."
"Come unto Me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." "Where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded."
"Whatsoeverye ask in My name ye shall receive." The path of accessto
Christ is open and free of every obstacle, whichkept fearful and guilty man at
an impracticable distance from the jealous and unpacified Lawgiver. He hath
put aside the obstacle, and now stands in its place. Let us only go in the wayof
the Gospel, and we shall find nothing betweenus and God but the Author and
Finisher of the Gospel — who, on the one hand, beckons to Him the approach
of man with every token of truth and of tenderness;and on the other hand
advocates ourcause with God, and fills His mouth with arguments, and pleads
that very atonementwhich was devisedin love by the Father, and with the
incense of which He was wellpleased, and claims, as the fruit of the travail of
His soul, all who put their trust in Him; and thus, laying His hand upon God,
turns Him altogetherfrom the fierceness ofHis indignation. But Jesus Christ
is something more than the agent of our justification — He is the Agent of our
sanctificationalso. Standing betweenus and God, He receives from Him of
that Spirit which is called"the promise of the Father";and He pours it forth
in free and generous dispensationon those who believe in Him. Without this
Spirit there may, in a few of the goodlierspecimens of our race, be within us
the play of what is kindly in constitutionalfeeling, and upon us the exhibition
of what is seemly in a constitutional virtue; and man thus standing over us in
judgment, may pass his verdict of approbation; and all that is visible in our
doings may be pure as by the operation of snow water. But the utter
irreligiousness ofour nature will remain as entire and as obstinate as ever.

The alienationof our desires from God will persistwith unsubdued vigour in
our bosoms;and sin, in the very essenceofits elementary principle, will still
lord it over the inner man with all the power of its originalascendency — till
the deep, and the searching, andthe prevailing influence of the love of God be
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. This is the work of the great
Mediator. This is the might and the mystery of that regeneration, without
which we shall never see the kingdom of God. This is the office of Him to
whom all poweris committed, both in heaven and in earth — who, reigning in
heaven, and uniting its mercy with its righteousness, causesthem to flow upon
earth in one stream of celestialinfluence;and reigning on earth, and working
mightily in the hearts of its people, makes them meet for the societyof heaven
— thereby completing the wonderful work of our redemption, by which on
the one hand He brings the eye of a holy God to look approvingly on the
sinner, and on the other hand makes the sinner fit for the fellowship, and
altogetherprepared for the enjoyment of God. Such are the greatelements of
a sinner's religion. But if you turn from the prescribeduse of them, the wrath
of God abideth on you. If you kiss not the Sonwhile He is in the way, you
provoke His anger;and when once it begins to burn, they only are blessed
who have put their trust in Him. If, on the fancied sufficiency of a
righteousness thatis without godliness, you neglectthe great salvation, you
will not escape the severities of that day when the Being with whom you have
to do shall enter with you into judgment; and it is only by fleeing to the
Mediator, as you would from a coming storm, that peace is made betweenyou
and God, and that, sanctifiedby the faith which is in Jesus, youare made to
abound in such fruits of righteousness as shallhe to praise and glory at the
last and the solemn reckoning.
(T. Chalmers, D. D.)
The daysman
Robert Maguire, M. A.
How is this daysman, Jesus Christ, constituted to hold this office? Jobknew
what were his realwants; he did not know how these wants were to be

supplied, and yet he gives us in the contextthe whole constitution of the office
of a daysman. In the depth of his woe, in the valley of his degradation, while
he sat in dust and ashes, he sighed forth, "If I washmyself with snow water,
and make my hands never so clean;yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and
mine own clothes shall abhor me. For He is not a mail, as I am, that I should
answerHim, and we should come togetherin judgment. Neither is there any
daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." Mark this
context. Here the patriarch gives utterance to a full recognitionof his guilt, of
his consciousnessofthe wrath that had descendedfrom heavenupon him, of
the impossibility of his making himself just with God. He dwells in the ditch of
corruption, and is self-abhorred; and God, whom he has offended, "is not a
man" that he should answer Him, that they should come face to face, that they
should reasontogether. "He is not a man as I am." He lookedupon Godas the
heathen lookedupon Him, — as a God of Majesty, a God of holiness, a Godof
sublimity and of glory, inaccessible to man. God is not a man, that I should
come near Him, said Job, and I have none to introduce me to Him. That was
his misery — "God is not a man," that I should speak to Him, and I have none
to stand between myself and God to present my prayer to Him. Hopeless,
hapless, wretchedpatriarch! What he wanted was a daysman betwixt the two
to lay his hand upon them both. I have come here to tell you that that
daysman is Christ — "the man Christ Jesus."And what saith He? "Behold, I
am according to thy wish in God's stead;I also am formed out of the clay."
That is my plea, and that is my glory, that God has become a man as I am,
and I now cananswerHim. I now can come to Him face to face;I now can fill
my mouth with arguments; I now can come, and by His own invitation reason
with Him. He is "formed out of the clay";thus is He the one betweenGod and
man; and He lays His hand upon us both. This is Jesus;therefore is He
constituted a MediatorbetweenGod and man; and this He has attained by
His atoning sacrifice. Atonement! — what is the meaning of that word? We
pronounce it as one word; but it is really three words, "at-one-ment";and
that is its meaning. By reasonofour sin, there are two parties opposedthe one
to the other; there is no clement of union, but every element of antagonismto
part and keepus asunder. Christ is the atoning sacrifice, andHis atonement is
a complete satisfaction. This is because Christ, our daysman, is both God and
man, both natures in one person. To be a mediator it is necessaryto have

powerand influence with both parties. Christ, as our daysman, has power
with God, for He Himself is God; and to obtain influence with man He became
a man, and bare our sorrows and endured our griefs. He became as one of us,
"sin only excepted." Beholdthe sympathy of Jesus!— a participator in our
sufferings, a sharer in our sorrows, andacquainted with our grief. It is true
the majestyof God was unapproachable;no man could approachunto it; the
spotless gloryof that Presence wastoo dazzling for mortal sight to behold; His
holiness was too pure to come into any contactwith sin; the height of that
glory was beyond what man had any power to attain unto. Then God in Christ
came down to us. Oh, what grace!And whereas the Majestyof the Godhead
was too august, He left it there upon His Father's throne, and He wrapped
Himself for a time in the familiar mantle of our humanity; He became a man
as we are. Inasmuch as man could not approachunto God, Christ brought the
Godheadto the level of our humanity, that He might raise the human race
from death and sin to the enjoyment of the life of righteousness.This is the
true dignity of man, that Christ has dignified him and elevatedhim to His
Father's glory. "To him that overcomethwill I grant to sit with Me upon My
throne, even as I also have overcome, and am setdown upon My Father's
throne." This is the Daysman who lays His hand upon us both. Does not that
span the gulf? You know a bridge, to be of use and service, must restits
springing arch upon one bank and upon the other. To stop midway spoils the
bridge. The ladder that is lifted up must touch the place on which you stand
and the place where you would be, So is Christ the daysman. He lays His hand
upon both parties. With one hand He lays hold upon God, for He Himself is
God, and with the other He stoops until He lays hold upon sinful man, for He
Himself is man; and thus laying His hand upon both parties, He brings both to
one — He effects anat-one-ment, and "Godis in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself." Oh, blessedmeeting! happy reconciliation!where mercy and
truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissedeachother! Again: a
mediator for sin must suffer, and by his sufferings he
(Robert Maguire, M. A.)
The sinner's daysman

G. Hadley.
All that a sinner needs he may find in the Saviour.
I. THE SINNER NEEDSA "DAYSMAN." Nothing but a sense of sin will ever
lead a man in reality to seek a Saviour.
1. Mark the situation in which the sinner stands before his God — a
condemned criminal
2. The sinner cannot plead his own cause.
3. There are none around to befriend his cause.
II. A "DAYSMAN" IS PROVIDED. The Gospelis calledthe "ministry of
reconciliation." It bears this name because it points to Jesus as the sinner's
"daysman." He is fitted for the characterHe sustains, and He effectually
discharges the office.
III. THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR SEEKING AN INTERESTIN THIS
"DAYSMAN." He is not our "daysman" unless we have sought Him. We
must come to Him, and it must be by faith. The interest in Him surely should
be sought at once.
(G. Hadley.)
The greatarbitration case

The patriarch Job, when reasoning with the Lord concerning his great
affliction, felt himself to be at a disadvantage and declined the controversy,
saying, "He is not a man, as I am, that I should answerHim, and we should
come togetherin judgment." Yet feeling that his friends were cruelly
misstating his case, he still desired to spreadit before the Lord, but wished for
a mediator, a middleman, to actas umpire and decide the case. Butwhat Job
desired to have, the Lord has provided for us in the person of His own dear
Son, Jesus Christ. There is an old quarrel betweenthe thrice holy God and
His sinful subjects, the sons of Adam.
I. First of all, let me describe what are THE ESSENTIALS OF AN UMPIRE,
AN ARBITRATOR, OR A DAYSMAN.
1. The first essential is, that both parties should be agreedto accepthim. Let
me come to thee, thou sinner, againstwhom God has laid His suit, and put the
matter to thee. God has acceptedChrist Jesus to be His umpire in His dispute.
He appointed Him to the office, and chose Him for it before He laid the
foundations of the world. He is God's fellow, equal with the MostHigh, and
can put His hand upon the Eternal Fatherwithout fear because He is dearly
beloved of that Father's heart. But He is also a man like thyself, sinner. He
once suffered, hungered, thirsted, and knew the meaning of poverty and pain.
Now, what thinkest thou? God has acceptedHim; canstthou agree with God
in this matter, and agree to take Christ to be thy daysman too? Art thou
willing that He should take this case into His hands and arbitrate between
thee and God? for if God acceptethHim, and thou acceptHim too, then He
has one of the first qualifications for being a daysman.
2. But, in the next place, both parties must be fully agreedto leave the case
entirely in the arbitrator's hands. If the arbitrator does not possess the power
of settling the case,then pleading before him is only making an opportunity
for wrangling, without any chance of coming to a peacefulsettlement. Now
God has committed "all power" into the hands of His Son. Jesus Christ is the
plenipotentiary of God, and has been invested with full ambassadorialpowers.

If the case be settledby Him, the Father is agreed. Now, sinner, does grace
move thy heart to do the same? Wilt thou agree to put thy case into the hands
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man? Wilt thou abide by His
decision?
3. Further, let us say, that to make a goodarbitrator or umpire, it is essential
that he be a fit person. If the case were betweena king and a beggar, it would
not seemexactlyright that another king should be the arbitrator, nor another
beggar;but if there could be found a personwho combined the two, who was
both prince and beggar, then such a man could be selectedby both. Our Lord
Jesus Christ preciselymeets the case. There is a very greatdisparity between
the plaintiff and the defendant, for how greatis the gulf which exists between
the eternalGod and poor fallen man? How is this to be bridged? Why, by
none except by one who is God and who at the same time can become man.
Now the only being who cando this is Jesus Christ. He can put His hand on
thee, stooping down to all thine infirmity and thy sorrow, and He can put His
other hand upon the Eternal Majesty, and claim to be co-equalwith God and
co-eternalwith the Father. Dostthou not see, then, His fitness? There cannot
surely be a better skilled or more judicious daysman than our blessed
Redeemer.
4. Yet there is one more essentialof an umpire, and that is, that he should be a
person desirous to bring the case to a happy settlement. In the great case
which is pending betweenGodand the sinner, the Lord Jesus Christhas a
sincere anxiety both for His Father's glory and for the sinner's welfare, and
that there should be peace betweenthe two contending parties. It is the life
and aim of Jesus Christto make peace. He delighteth not in the death of
sinners, and He knows no joy greaterthan that of receiving prodigals to His
bosom, and of bringing lost sheepback again to the fold. Thou seestthen,
sinner, how the case is. Godhas evidently chosenthe most fitting arbitrator.
That arbitrator is willing to undertake the case, andthou mayest well repose
all confidence in Him: but if thou shalt live and die without accepting Him as

thine arbitrator, then, the ease going againstthee, thou wilt have none to
blame but thyself.
II. And now I shall want, by your leave, to TAKE YOU INTO THE COURT
WHERE THE TRIAL IS GOING ON AND SHOW YOU THE LEGAL
PROCEEDINGSBEFORETHE GREAT DAYSMAN. "The man, Christ
Jesus," who is "God overall, blessedforever," opens His court by laying
down the principles upon which He intends to deliver judgment, and those
principles I will now try to explain and expound. They are two fold — first,
strict justice; and secondly, fervent love. The arbitrator has determined that
let the case go as it may there shall be full justice done, justice to the very
extreme, whether it be for or againstthe defendant. He intends to take the law
in its sternestand severestaspect, andto judge according to its strictestletter.
He will not be guilty of partiality on either side. But the arbitrator also says
that He will judge according to the secondrule, that of fervent love. He loves
His Father, and therefore He will decide on nothing that may attain His
honour or disgrace His crown. He so loves God, the Eternal One, that He will
suffer heaven and earth to pass awaysoonerthan there shall be one blot upon
the characterofthe MostHigh. On the other hand, He so loves the poor
defendant, man, that He will be willing to do anything rather than inflict
penalty upon him unless justice shall absolutelyrequire it. He loves man with
so large a love that nothing will delight Him more than to decide in his favour,
and He will be but too gladif He can be the means of happily establishing
peace betweenthe two. Let justice and love unite if they can. Having thus laid
down the principles of judgment, the arbitrator next calls upon the plaintiff to
state His case. Letus listen While the greatCreatorspeaks. "Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and
brought up children." The Eternal God charges us, and let me confess atonce
most justly and most truly charges us, with having brokenall His
commandments — some of them in act, some of them in word, all of them in
heart, and thought, and imagination. He charges upon us, that againstlight
and knowledge we have chosenthe evil and forsakenthe good. All this, calmly
and dispassionately, according to the greatBook ofthe law, is laid to our
charge before the Daysman. No exaggerationof sin is brought againstus. The

plaintiff's case having thus been stated, the defendant is called upon by the
Daysmanfor his; and I think I hearHim as He begins. First of all, the
trembling defendant sinner pleads — "I confess to the indictment, but I say I
could not help it. I have sinned, it is true, but my nature was such that I could
not welldo otherwise;I must lay all the blame of it to my ownheart; my heart
was deceitful and my nature was evil." The Daysmanat once rules that this is
no excuse whatever, but an aggravation, forinasmuch as it is concededthat
the man's heart itself is enmity againstGod, this is an admissionof yet greater
malice and blackerrebellion. Then the defendant pleads in the next place that
albeit he acknowledges the facts allegedagainsthim, yet he is no worse than
other offenders, and that there are many in the world who have sinned more
grievously than he has done. The sinner urges further, that though he has
offended, and offended very greatlyand grievously, yet he has done a great
many goodthings. It is true he did not love God, but he always wentto chapel.
The defendant has no end of pleas, for the sinner has a thousand excuses;and
finding that nothing else will do, he begins to appeal to the mercy of the
plaintiff, and says that for the future he will do better. He confessesthat he is
in debt, but he will run up no more bills at that shop. What is the poor
defendant to do now? He is fairly beaten this time. He falls down on his knees,
and with many tears and lamentations he cries, "I see how the case stands;I
have nothing to plead, but I appealto the mercy of the plaintiff; I confess that
I have broken His commandments; I acknowledgethat I deserve His wrath;
but I have heard that He is merciful, and I plead for free and full
forgiveness."And now comes anotherscene. The plaintiff seeing the sinner on
his knees, withhis eyes full of tears, makes this reply, "I am willing at all
times to deal kindly and according to loving kindness with all My creatures;
but will the arbitrator for a moment suggestthat I should damage and ruin
My own perfections of truth and holiness;that I should belie My own word;
that I should imperil My own throne; that I should make the purity of
immaculate justice to be suspected, and should bring down the glory of My
unsullied holiness, because this creature has offended Me, and now craves for
mercy? I cannot, I will not spare the guilty; he has offended, and he must die!
'As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but would rather that
he should turn from his wickedness andlive.' Still, this 'would rather' must
not be supreme. I am gracious and would spare the sinner, but I am just, and

must not unsay My own words. I swore with an oath, 'The soul that sinneth
shall die.' I have laid it down as a matter of firm decree, 'Cursedis everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them.' This sinner is righteouslycursed, and he must inevitably die; and yet I
love him." The arbitrator bows and says, "Evenso; justice demands that the
offender should die, and I would not have Thee unjust." The arbitrator,
therefore, after pausing awhile, puts it thus: "I am anxious that these two
should be brought together;I love them both: I Cannot, on the one hand,
recommend that My Fathershould stain His honour; I cannot, on the other
hand, endure that this sinner should be casteternally into hell; I will decide
the case,and it shall be thus: I will pay My Father's justice all it craves;I
pledge Myselfthat in the fulness of time I will suffer in My own proper person
all that the weeping, trembling sinner ought to have suffered. My Father, wilt
Thou stand to this?" The Eternal God accepts the awful sacrifice!Yes, sinner,
and He did more than say it, for when the fulness of time came — you know
the story. Here, then, is the arbitration. Christ Himself suffers; and now I
have to put the query, "Hast thou acceptedChrist?"
III. Let us now look at THE DAYSMAN'S SUCCESS.
1. Forevery soulwho has receivedChrist, Christ has made a full atonement
which God the Fatherhas accepted;and His success in this matter is to be
rejoicedin, first of all, because the suit, has been settledconclusively. We have
known casesgo to arbitration, and yet the parties have quarrelled afterwards;
they have said that the arbitrator did not rule justly, or something of the kind,
and so the whole point has been raisedagain. But, O beloved, the case between
a savedsoul and God is settledonce and forever. There is no more conscience
of sin left in the believer.

2. Again, the case has been settledon the best principles, because, you see,
neither party can possibly quarrel with the decision. The sinner cannot, for it
is all mercy to him: even eternal justice cannot, for it has had its due.
3. Again, the case has been so settled, that both parties are well content. You
never hear a saved soulmurmur at the substitution of the Lord Jesus.
4. And through this Daysman both parties have come to be united in the
strongest, closest,dearest, andfondest bond of union. This lawsuithas ended
in such a way that the plaintiff and the defendant are friends for life, nay,
friends through death, and friends in eternity. What a wonderful thing is that
union betweenGod and the sinner! We have all been thinking a greatdeal
lately about the Atlantic cable. It is a very interesting attempt to join two
worlds together. Thatpoor cable, you know, has had to be sunk into the
depths of the sea, in the hope of establishing a union betweenthe two worlds,
and now we are disappointed again. But oh! what an infinitely greaterwonder
has been accomplished. ChristJesus saw the two worlds divided, and the
greatAtlantic of human guilt rolled between. He sank down deep into the
woes ofman till all God's waves and billows had gone over Him, that He
might be, as it were, the greattelegraphic communication betweenGod and
the apostate race, betweenthe MostHoly One and poor sinners. Let me say to
you, sinner, there was no failure in the laying down of that blessedcable.
( C. H. Spurgeon.).
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
9:25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem
time, when it runs on so fasttowards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of

time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of
having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the
remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's
complaint of God, as one that could not be appeasedand would not relent,
was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or
Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us
with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come
unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the
depths of the sea, we shall be washedfrom all our filthiness, and made whiter
than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed
with the robes of righteousness andsalvation, adorned with the graces ofthe
Holy Spirit, and presentedfaultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. May we learn the difference betweenjustifying ourselves, and
being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossedsoulconsiderJob,
and notice that others have passedthis dreadful gulf; and though they found it
hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the
storm, and brought them to the desiredhaven. Resistthe devil; give not place
to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusionsaboutthyself. Come to Him
who invites the wearyand heavy laden; who promises in nowise to castthem
out.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Neither is there any daysman - Margin, One that should argue, or, umpire.
The word daysman in English means " "an umpire or arbiter, a mediator."
Webster. Why such a man is calleda daysman I do not know. The Hebrew
word rendered "daysman" ‫בכרמ‬ môkı̂yach is from ‫רכמ‬ yâkach, not used in the
Qal, to be before, in front of; and then to appear, to be clear, or manifest; and
in the Hiphil, to cause to be manifest, to argue, prove, convince;and then to
argue down, to confute, reprove; see the word used in Job6:25 : "What doth
your arguing reprove?" It then means to make a cause clear, to judge,
determine, decide, as an arbiter, umpire, judge, Isaiah11:3; Genesis 31:37.
Jerome renders it, "Non estqui utrumque valeat arguere." The Septuagint,
"if there were, or, O that there were a mediator ὁ μεσίτης ho mesitēs, and a
reprover (καί ἐλέγχων kaielengchōn), and one to hearus both" (καί διακούων
ἀναμέτονἀυφοτέρων kaidiakouōnanameton amphoterōn).

The word as used by Jobdoes not mean mediator, but arbiter, umpire, or
judge; one before whom the cause might be tried, who could lay the hand of
restraint on either party. who could confine the pleadings within proper
bounds, who could preserve the parties within the limits of order and
propriety, and who had powerto determine the question at issue. Job
complains that there could be no such tribunal. He feels that Godwas so great
that the cause could be referred to no other, and that he had no prospectof
successin the unequal contest. It does not appear, therefore, that he desired a
mediator, in the sense in which we understand that word - one who shall come
betweenus and God, and manage our cause before him, and be our advocate
at his bar. He rather says that there was no one above God, or no umpire
uninterested in the controversy, before whom the cause could be argued, and
who would be competentto decide the matter in issue betweenhim and his
Maker. He had no hope, therefore, in a cause where one of the parties was to
be the judge, and where that party was omnipotent; and he must give up the
cause in despair.
It is not with strict propriety that this language is ever applied to the Lord
Jesus, the great MediatorbetweenGod and man. He is not an umpire to settle
a dispute, in the sense in which Job understood it; he is not an arbiter, to
whom the cause in dispute betweenman and his Makeris to be referred; he is
not a judge to listen to the arguments of the respective parties, and to decide
the controversy. He is a mediator betweenus and God, to make it proper or
possible that God should be reconciledto the guilty, and to propose to man the
terms of reconciliation;to plead our cause before God, and to communicate to
us the favors which he proposes to bestow on man.
That might lay his hand upon us both - It is not improbable that this may
refer to some ancient ceremony in courts where, for some cause, the umpire or
arbiter laid his hand on both the parties. Or, it may mean merely that the
umpire had the power of control overboth the parties; that it was his office to
restrain them within proper limits, to check any improper expressions, andto

see that the argument was fairly conducted on both sides. The meaning of the
whole here is, that if there were such an umpire, Job would be willing to argue
the cause. As it was, it was a hopeless thing, and he could do nothing more
than to be silent. That there was irreverence in this language must be
admitted; but it is language takenfrom courts of law, and the substance of it
is, that Jobcould not hope to maintain his cause before one so greatand
powerful as God.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
33. daysman—"mediator," or"umpire"; the imposition of whose hand
expresses powerto adjudicate betweenthe persons. There might be one on a
level with Job, the one party; but Jobknew of none on a level with the
Almighty, the other party (1Sa 2:25). We Christians know of such a Mediator
(not, however, in the sense ofumpire) on a level with both—the God-man,
Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Daysman; or, a reprover; or, a judge or umpire, whose office was to reprove
the guilty person. That might lay his hand upon us both, i.e. use his powerand
authority to appoint the time and place of our meeting, to order and governus
in pleading, and to oblige us to stand to his decision. The
hand is oft put for power, and laying on the hand upon anotherwas ofttimes
an act and sign of superiority and dominion.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us,.... Or "one that reproves" (q); who
upon hearing a cause reproves him that is found guilty, or is blameworthy, or
has done injury to another; but there is no such person to be found, among
angels or men, capable of this, supposing, as if Job should say, I should appear
to be the injured person; or there is no "umpire" or "arbitrator" (r), to whom
the case betweenus canbe referred; for, as Bar Tzemachobserves, he that

stands in such a characterbetweentwo parties must be both more wise and
more mighty than they; but there is none among all beings wiser and mightier
than God:
that might lay his hand upon us both; and restrain them from using any
violence to one another, as contending persons are apt to do; and compromise
matters, settle and adjust things in difference betweenthem, so as to do justice
to both, and make both parties easy, and make peace betweenthem.
Herodotus (s) makes mention of a custom among the Arabians,"whenthey
enter into covenants and agreements with eachother, another man stands in
the midst of them both, and with a sharp stone cuts the inside of the hands of
the covenanters nearthe larger fingers;and then takes a piece out of eachof
their garments, and anoints with the blood seven stones that lie betweenthem;
and while he is doing this calls upon a deity, and when finished the covenant
maker goes withhis friends to an host or citizen, if the affair is transacted
with a citizen; and the friends reckonit a righteous thing to keepthe
covenant.''To which, or some such custom, Job may be thought to allude.
Now, whereas Christis the daysman, umpire and mediator betweenGod and
men, who has interposed betweenthem, and has undertaken to manage affairs
relating to both; in things pertaining to God, the glory of his justice, and the
honour of his law, and to made reconciliationfor the sins of men, and to make
peace for them with God by the blood of his cross;which he has completely
done, being every way qualified for it, inasmuch as he partakes ofboth
natures, and is God and man in one person, and so could put his hand on
both, and make both one; or bring them who were at variance to an entire
agreementwith eachother, upon such a bottom, as even the strict justice of
God cannot objectunto. Now, I say, Job must not be understood as if he was
ignorant of this, for he had knowledge ofChrist as a Redeemerand Saviour,
and so as the Mediatorand Peacemaker;the Septuagint version renders it as
a wish, "O that there was a mediator betweenus!" and so it may be
consideredas a prayer for Christ's incarnation, and that he would appear and
do the work of a mediator he was appointed to, which Jobplainly saw there
was greatneed of; or, as others (t), "there is no daysman yet"; there will be
one, but as yet he is not come; in due time he will, which Job had faith in and
full assurance of:but there is no need of such versions and glosses:Job is here

not speaking ofthe affair of salvation, about which he had no doubt, he knew
his state was safe, and he had an interest in the living Redeemerand blessed
Mediator; but of the present dispensationof Providence, and of the clearing of
that up to the satisfactionofhis friends, so that he might appear to be an
innocent person; and since God did not think fit to change the scene, there
was none to interpose on his behalf, and it was in vain for him to contend with
God.
(q) "arguens", Montanus, Bolducius, Drusius; "redarguens",Vatablus,
Mercerus. (r) "Arbiter", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens.
(s) Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 8. (t) So some in Caryll.
Geneva Study Bible
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, {a} that might lay his hand upon us
both.
(a) Who might make an accordbetweenGodand me, speaking ofimpatience,
and yet confessing Godto be just in punishing him.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
33. any daysman] i. e. any umpire, or, arbiter. The word possibly comes from
the Lat. diem dicere, to fix a day for hearing a cause.
For what art thou
That mak’st thyself his dayes-man to prolong

The vengeance prest?
Spenser, Fae. Q. ii. 8. 28. (Wright, Bible Word-Book.)
lay his hand] i. e. impose his authority on both, and do justice betweenthe
two. There is no prophecy of the incarnation in these verses. But there is a cry
of the human heart amidst its troubles that it might meet and see Godas a
man. Then man’s relations to Him might be understood and adjusted. That
the cry is uttered under a misconceptionof God and of the meaning of His
providence does not make the expressionof man’s need any the less realor
touching, for in our greatdarkness here misconceptions of God prevail so
much over true conceptions ofHim.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 33. - Neither is there any daysman betwixt us; literally 'judge or
arbitrator calleda "daysman," since he appoints the day on which the
arbitration is to come off. The LXX. renders by μεσίτης, "mediator." That
might lay his hand upon us bosh. Moderate betweenus, that is; keepus both
in cheek;assertan authority to which we must both submit.
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
25 My days were swifter than a runner,
They fled awaywithout seeing prosperity,
26 They shot by as ships of reeds,
As an eagle whichdasheth upon its prey.
27 If my thought is: I will forgetmy complaint,

I will give up my dark looks and look cheerful;
28 I shudder at all my pains,
I feel that Thou dost not pronounce me innocent.
Such, as described in the preceding strophe, is the lot of the innocent in
general, and such (this is the connection)is also Job's lot: his swiftly passing
life comes to an end amidst suffering, as that of an evil-doer whom God cuts
off in judgment. In the midst of his present sufferings he has entirely forgotten
his former prosperity; it is no happiness to him, because the very enjoyment
of it makes the loss of it more grievous to bear. The days of prosperity are
gone, have passedswiftly awaywithout ‫,הבוט‬ i.e., without lasting prosperity.
They have been swifter ‫ץר‬ ‫.יּנ‬ By reference to Job7:6, this might be
consideredas a figure borrowed from the weaver's loom, since in the Coptic
the threads of the weft (fila subteminis) which are wound round the shuttle
are called"runners" (vid., Ges. Thesaurus);but Rosenmllerhas correctly
observedthat, in order to describe the fleetness ofhis life, Job brings together
that which is swifteston land (the runners or couriers), in water(fast-sailing
ships), and in the air (the swooping eagle). ‫,םע‬ Job9:26, signifies, in
comparisonwith, aeque ac. But we possessonly a rather uncertain tradition
as to the kind of vessels meantby ‫טוא‬ ‫.תברנא‬ Jerome translates, afterthe Targ.:
naves poma portantes, by which one may understand the small vessels,
according to Edrisi, common on the DeadSea, in which corn and different
kinds of fruits were carried from Zoar to Jericho and to other regions of the
Jordan (Stickel, S. 267);but if ‫אוט‬ were connectedwith ‫,או‬ we might rather
expect‫,אּבט‬ after the form ‫אּׁשט‬ (from ‫,)אא‬ instead of ‫.טוא‬ Others derive the
word from ‫,טוא‬ avere:ships of desire, i.e., full-rigged and ready for sea
(Gecatilia in Ges. Thes. suppl. p. 62), or struggling towards the goal(Kimchi),
or steering towards (Zamora), and consequently hastening to (Symmachuc,

σπευδούσαις), the harbour; but independently of the explanation not being
suited to the description, it should then be accentedbeh, after the form ,‫נדט‬
,(.ryS) ytilitsoh fo spihs ,noitanalpxe ehT .hb fo daetsni ,‫קצט‬
(Note:Luther also perhaps understood pirate ships, when he translated, "wie
die starckenSchiff.")
i.e., ships belonging to pirates or freebooters, privateers, whichwould suit the
subject well, is still less admissible with the present pointing of the text, as it
must then be ‫טוא‬ (‫,)טורא‬ with which the Egyptian uba, against, and adverse
(contrarius), may be compared. According to Abulwalid (Parchon, Raschi),
egral a fo eman eht si ‫אוט‬river near the scene ofthe book of Job; which may
be understood as either the Babylonian name for river Arab. 'bby, or the
Abyssinian name of the Nile, ab; and ‫טוא‬ may be comparedwith ‫טנול‬ in
relation to the Arabic, lubna. But a far more satisfactoryexplanationis the
one now generallyreceived, according to the comparisonwith the Arabic
abâ'un, a reed (whence abaa-t-un, a reed, a so-calledn. unitatis): ships made
from reeds, like ‫אלר‬ ‫א‬ ‫,י‬ Isaiah18:2, vessels ofpapyrus, βαρίδες παπύριναι. In
such small ships, with Egyptian tackling, they used to travel as far as
Taprobane. These canoeswere made to fold together, plicatiles, so that they
could be carriedpast the cataracts;Heliodorus describes them as
ὀξυδρομώτατα.
(Note:There is no Egyptian word which can be compared to ‫,טוא‬ whereas han
(hani) or an (ana) in Egyptian, like the Hebrew ‫,טרנא‬ means a ship (vid.,
Chabas, Le Papyrus magique Harris, p. 246, No. 826, cf. pp. 33, 47); it is
written with the sign for setequals downwards, since they fasteneda stone at
the front of the vessel, as was evenknown to Herodotus, in order to accelerate
its speed in descending the river. From this one might conjecture for the
passagebefore us ‫ןוא‬ ‫תברנא‬ equals swift sailers.)

The third figure is the eagle, whichswoops downupon its prey; ‫,הּוט‬ like
Chaldee ‫,הּוט‬ by which the Targ. translates ‫,טא‬ Habakkuk 1:8; Grtz'
conjecture of ‫ראּוה‬ (which is intended to mean flutters) is superfluous. Just as
unnecessaryis it, with Olshausen, to change ‫א‬ ‫רי‬ ‫םא‬ into ‫א‬ ‫רתי‬ ‫:םא‬ "if my
saying (thinking)" is equivalent to, "as often as I say (think)." ‫םרנפ‬ is here (as
in the German phrase, ein Gesichtmachen) an ill-humoured, distorted, wry
face. When Job desires to give up this look of suffering and be cheerful (‫,גרלוט‬
like Job10:20, hilaritatem prae se ferre, vultum hilarem induere), the
certainty that he is not favoured of God, and consequentlythat he cannotbe
delivered from his sufferings, all his anguish in spite of his struggles againstit
comes everafresh before his mind. It is scarcelynecessaryto remark that
seod boJ tahteciton ot tnatropmi si tI .dadliB ot ton,doG otdesserdda si ‫תנקנר‬
not speak ofGod without at the same time looking up to Him as in prayer.
Although he feels rejectedof God, he still remains true to God. In the
following strophe he continues to complain of God, but without denying Him.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Christ in the PoeticalBooks -Job
A M Hodgkin
In whatever aspectwe look at it, the Book ofJob is perhaps the most
wonderful poem that has ever been written. Tennysoncalled it ''the greatest
poem whether of ancient or modern literature.'' Luther regardedit as ''more
magnificent and sublime than any other book of Scripture.''

The scene is laid in patriarchal times, and it is said to be the oldestbook in
existence. ThatJob was a real person is settled by Scripture itself. Through
the prophet Ezekiel, Godsays of the land: ''Though these three men, Noah,
Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their ownsouls'' (Ezek
14:14,20).
The book is wonderful in the beauty of its language, in the wide sweepof
knowledge it displays, in its scientific accuracy. It is wonderful in that it deals
with the mystery of pain, and with the riddle of all times, ''Why do the
righteous suffer?'' It lifts the veil of the spirit world, and teaches us both the
extent and the limit of the powerof Satan. It is wonderful in clearly revealing
the factof the resurrection, and, above all, in foreshadowing the mystery of
redemption.
The language ofthe book is sublime in its simplicity. The pathos of Job's
description of his sufferings has found an echo in countless souls who have
been brought into God's crucible. As Elihu describes the gathering storm, we
can see the clouds rolling up, the flashing of the lightning, and hear the roar of
the thunder. Out of the midst of the storm God speaks.
God's Book.
Though the objectof the Bible is not to teachscience, its language is always
abreastof the latestdiscoveries. This is nowhere more noticeable than in the
Book ofJob.
''He hangeth the earth upon nothing'' (Job 26:7). What could more accurately
describe the poise of our world in space?

''Canst thou bind the sweetinfluence of the Pleiades?''(Job38:31). Alcyone,
the brightest of these sevenstars, is actually, so far as it is known the pivot
around which our whole solarsystem revolves. How mighty and at once how
sweetmust be its influence to hold these worlds in place at such a distance and
to swing them round so smoothly!
''The morning-stars sang together''(Job 38:7). Only modern science has
discoveredthat the rays of light are vocal, and that if our ears were more
finely tuned we should hear them (see Job19:1-3).
''By what way is the light parted?'' (Job 38:24). Could language more exactbe
employed even after the discoveries ofthe spectrum analysis?
Had Bildad been taught the chemicalabsorption of chlorophyll by plants from
light, he could have used no [more exact]term than this: ''He is green (Job or,
'is full of juice') before the sun'' (Job 8:16).
The Mystery of Suffering.
The Book ofJob deals with the mystery of human suffering, especiallythe
suffering of the righteous. Job's friends erred in thinking that all suffering is
God's specialjudgment upon some specialsin. ''Who ever perished, being
innocent?'' (Job 4:7) was the burden of all their consolation. Theyreckoned
that Job's sin againstGodmust be exceptionallygreatto accountfor such
exceptionalsuffering. In this connection, it is important to remember Job's
attitude towards God. He was one who, having accessto Him through the
blood of sacrifice (Job1:5), was walking with Him in integrity of heart and
conformity of life. God's own testimony of him was, ''There is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth

evil'' (Job 1:8). ''Of all men, he was the one most fitted to be entrusted with
the service ofsuffering, being chosenas a pattern of the ways of God in the
ages to come, for all His children in the service of trial.'' [quoted from The
Story of Job, by Mrs. Penn-Lewis.]Jobknew that his heart was true to God,
and he could not acceptthe accusationsofhis friends. He shows them that
their conclusionis false, and that the wickedoften prosperin the world.
''They gatherthe vintage of the wicked''(Job 24:6). One of the elements of
danger in a course of sin is that it is so often successful. The young man who
wins his first stake in gambling is in far greaterperil than the one who loses.
Chastisement.
Elihu, who had been listening to the argument of Job and his friends, sums up
their discussionin two terse sentences:''Against Jobwas his wrath kindled,
because he justified himself rather than God. Also againsthis three friends
was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had
condemned Job'' (Job 32:2,3). Elihu was a true messengerfrom God to Job,
and brought out His gracious purpose in the chastisementof His children.
Elihu's words prepare the way for God's own revelation of Himself which
followed. Chastisementis the Key-note of this book. [cp. Heb 12:5-11]
Spectators ofthe Conflict.
But God has a deeper purpose in the suffering of His children than even their
personalperfection. We have the clue in the words of Paul: ''To the intent that
now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known
by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God'' (Eph 3:10,11). An unseencloud
of witnesses is eagerlywatching the conflict carried on in the arena of this
little world. God is unfolding to the angels of light and to the hosts of darkness
''the eternal purposes''of His grace in His dealings with His redeemed

children on the earth. The adversaryhad challengedthe integrity of Jobin the
council of heaven, and God's honor is in question. How little did Jobrealize
the issues whichhung upon his steadfastness, whenhe said, ''The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away;blessedbe the Name of the Lord'' [Job 1:21];
and again, ''Though He slayme, yet will I trust in Him'' [Job 13:15]. How
little the Church today realizes the issues which hang upon her faithfulness, or
God would find among those who trust Him a largernumber of saints whom
He could trust.
The Adversary.
Both the extent and the limit of Satan's powerare brought out in this book.
He had power to bring up the hordes of hostile Sabeans andChaldeans to
carry off the oxen and the assesandthe camels. He had powerto manipulate
the lightning to consume the sheep, to summon the wind to slay Job's children,
and to smite Job himself with a terrible disease;for is he not the Prince of the
powerof the air, the spirit that now workethin the children of disobedience?
[Eph 2:2]. And did he not bring againstPaul a thorn in the flesh, the
messengerofSatanto buffet him? [2Cor12:7]. But, on the other hand, he had
no power at all, except in so far as God permitted him to break through the
protecting hedge with which He had surrounded His servant (Job 1:10). What
comfort there is here for the child of God: no calamity can touch him except
as his Fatherpermits it; and He who has ''shut up the sea with doors,'' and
said, ''Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed'' (Job 38:8-11), will never suffer us to be tempted above that
we are able, or allow the furnace to be hotter than we can bear [1Cor10:13].
We have, in the Book of Job, not merely the theory of suffering, but a living
example of one of God's children placedin the crucible, and the effectof it
upon his life. BecauseGod trusted Job, He assignedto him the ministry of
suffering. BecauseHe loved him, He chastenedhim [Heb 12:6]. Even in the

midst of his anguish, Jobrecognizedthat it is only the gold that is worth
putting in the fire. Job, in his prosperity and uprightness and benevolence,
was in danger of becoming self-confident, and not recognizing that he had
only held his power and position in trust for God. But as God dealt with him,
we see him broken (Job16:12,14 17:11)and melted (Job 23:10)and softened,
so that he could say, ''The hand of Godhath touched me'' (Job 19:21); ''God
maketh my heart soft'' (Job 23:16).
''Now mine Eye seethThee.''
But it was the vision of God Himself that completed the work and brought Job
into the very dust. He had protested that he was prepared to reasonwith God
over His strange dealings with him [eg. Job 10:2 Job 13:3]. But when God
took him at his word and said, ''Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty
instruct Him?'' Jobreplied, ''Behold, I am vile (Job or, contemptibly mean
[low, common] ); I will lay mine hand upon my mouth'' [Job 40:1-4]. God
continued to deal with him until Job was brought to the very end of himself,
and cried out, ''I have uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for
me, which I knew not. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now
mine eye seethThee:wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust an ashes''
(Job 42:1-6).
God's ''Afterward.''
God's chastened, softenedservantis now ready to intercede at God's
command for the friends who had so aggravatedhis woe. Before his own
misery is relieved, he offers the appointed sacrifice which they have brought,
and prays for them. As he does so, God turns the captivity of Job, and his
prosperity returns to him, doubled in every particular. Twice as many sheep
and camels and oxen and assesfell to Job's portion as before-- but only the

same number of children, sevensons and three daughters. We have here the
most beautiful intimation of the certainty of resurrection. Job's prayers had
evidently been answered, and his sacrificesaccepted, onhis children's behalf
[Job 1:5], and the factthat he was only given the same number [of children] as
before was God's assurancethat those who had been takenwere safe in His
keeping, ''where the wickedceasefrom troubling, and the weary are at rest''
(Job 3:17).
''My RedeemerLiveth.''
Job's vision of the future life had been obscure at first, for we find him asking
the question, ''If a man die, shall he live again?''(Job 14:14). But with his
affliction his faith grows, and he answers his own question in the glorious
words: ''I know that my Redeemerliveth, and that He shall stand at the latter
day upon the dust: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in
my flesh shall I see God:Whom I shall see for myself and on my side. Mine
eyes shall behold Him and not a stranger''(Job literal translation, Job 19:25-
27). Howeverdimly Job himself may have understood the Spirit-given words,
what a vision of the future life we have here, what a prophecy of the coming
Savior, sounding forth in the earliestages!Job sees Him as the Goel, the
Kinsman Redeemer--not a stranger;the One who, because He is the next of
kin, has the right to redeem. Again and again, in this book, we have the
foreshadowing ofthe Savior. We see Him in the acceptedsacrifices whichJob
offered for his children as the book opens, and for his friends as it closes. We
see Him in Job's question, ''How shall man be just before God?''[Job 9:2]. A
question answeredonly in Him who has justified us ''by His blood'' (Job Ro
5:9).
One Mediator.

We see Him in the ''Daysman,'' the ''Umpire,'' [whom] Job longs for between
him and God. ''For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answerHim, and
we should come togetherin judgment. Neitheris there any Daysman betwixt
us, that might lay His hand upon us both'' (Job 9:32,33). The need of the
human heart has only been met in ''God our Savior,'' the one Mediator
betweenGod and men-- Himself, Man-- Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a
ransom for all'' (Job 1 Ti2:4-6, R.V.).
A Ransom.
Yet once more, we see Christ again, in the words of Elihu, ''Then He is
gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have
found a ransom'' (Job margin, ''atonement'') [Job 33:24]. The ransom
prophesied by Elihu and the ransom proclaimed by Paul are one [1 Ti 2:6].
''Job had seenhis Redeemeras the living One who would vindicate him in the
day of His coming, but [He] let him now see Him as the ransom, the One who
would be gracious to him, and deliver him from going down into the pit-- not
on the ground of Job's integrity, but on the ground of His own shed blood as
the price paid for the redemption of fallen man.'' [quoted from The Story of
Job, by Mrs. Penn-Lewis.]
The next verse gives the result of this ransom. ''His flesh shall be fresherthan
a child's: he shall pray unto God, and He shall be favorable unto him; and he
shall see His face with joy.'' Cleansing and communion resting on the ground
of full atonement.
Yet once again, we see the Cross dimly foreshadowedin Job's sufferings. His
sufferings were through the enmity of Satan. ''The suffering upright man
pointed the way to the suffering sinless man-- the Man of Sorrows.''[cp. Isa
53:3]. Job was wounded by his friends. He was ''the song and by-word'' of

base men. ''They spare not to spit in my face... Mysoul is poured out upon
me... my bones are pierced in me. He hath castme into the mire, and I am
become like dust and ashes....I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answerme''
(Job 30:16-20).
How closelyall this answers to the description of the suffering Savior [cp. Ps
22:1-31]. But while Jobcomplained and justified himself, the sinless Lamb of
God was dumb before His shearers, and poured out His soul a sacrifice for
our sins [Isa 53:7,12].The BookofJob from Christ in All the Scriptures
ALBERT BARNES
Verse 32
For he is not a man as I am - He is infinitely superior to me in majesty and
power. The idea is, that the contestwould be unequal, and that he might as
well surrender without bringing the matter to an issue. It is evident that the
disposition of Job to yield, was rather because he saw that God was superior
in power than because he saw that he was right, and that he felt that if he had
ability to manage the cause as well as God could, the matter would not be so
much againsthim as it was then. That there was no little impropriety of
feeling in this, no one can doubt; but have we never had feelings like this when
we have been afflicted? Have we never submitted to God because we felt that
he was Almighty, and that it was vain to contend with him, rather than
because he was seento be right? True submission is always accompaniedwith
the belief that God is RIGHT - whether we can see him to be right or not.

Jesus was job's umpire

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Jesus was job's umpire