When the finger is pointed at us, we want to be justified. When our name is dragged through the mud, we want it cleared. When we stand in court, we want the prosecutor’s accusations to fall flat and our case to be vindicated by the judge. We all desire justice to prevail and for truth to declare the final word. But what happens when no vindication comes? Without such vindication, it is as if our lives have been taken from us, as if we are dead. In the book of Job, Job is like a dead man: buried under the weight of his suffering, pierced by the sharp accusations of his friends, and seemingly abandoned by the living Redeemer. In this article, I will argue that Job 19:25–27 presents Job as expressing hope for a near vindication by God in the midst of suffering and accusations but also points forward to a deeper hope of resurrection from the grave.
Accused, Yet Hopeful
Job is in an intense debate with his friends over whether his suffering was caused by a sin he committed. We as readers of the book know from chapters 1–2 that Job’s suffering was not caused by sin. Yet, his friends try to convince him that he is suffering because of his sin. This debate is very frustrating to Job on many levels. In Job 19, which is midway through the second cycle of speeches, Job vents his frustration with how everyone is mistreating him. Not only do his three friends (Job 19:1–5) and God (Job 19:6–13) mistreat him, but he also has estranged relationships with his brothers (Job 19:13), his relatives (Job 19:14), his close friends (Job 19:14), his guests (Job 19:15), his servants (Job 19:15), and his wife (Job 19:17). He is even despised by young children (Job 19:17b–18). No one has stood with Job, and yet, Job is convinced that he has a kinsman redeemer who will come to his aid. He even expresses confidence that he will see God. Even though Job has expressed that God acts like his enemy, there is no one else who can bring about a change in Job’s situation. This chapter has one of the strongest statements of hope in the book (Job 19:25–27).
It sounds strange to say that Job sees God as his enemy but also as the only one who can bring deliverance. A person who is suffering may experience periods of despair and moments of confidence. There are conflicting views of God at war in Job’s mind depending on his emotional state at a particular moment.[1] Sometimes Job despairs over his relationship with God but there are also statements of confidence, such as God “. . . knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10). In another speech Job states that he holds fast his righteousness and will not let it go (Job 27:6). Job’s speeches end with strong assertions of innocence in the form of oaths (Job 31).
1. John E. Hartley, The Book of Job, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 295.
Vindication Hope
In Job 19:25–27, Job expresses confidence that there will be a resolution with God and that he will be vindicated. There is a lot of debate about the meaning of the individual words used in these verses and what the outcome of Job’s situation will be. Because this is a short article, I can only sketch how I understand the passage.[2] Job knows that his redeemer lives (Job 19:25). The word for redeemer (gō’ēl) refers to a close relative who is willing to act on behalf of a person in trouble. Such actions include redeeming family property that has been sold due to financial hardship (Lev. 25:25), redeeming a family member who has had to sell himself to pay off a debt (Lev. 25:47–49), or avenging the blood of a family member who has been murdered (Num. 35:19). God is also portrayed as a redeemer (Isa. 43:14; 48:17; Prov. 23:10–11). But when and how does Job expect God to act on his behalf? Considering Job’s debate with his friends, who have accused him of sin as the reason for his suffering, for Job to die in his state of suffering would prove the friends were right, would leave Job without vindication, and would mean he was speaking falsehood in his oath of innocence (Job 31). In fact, Job emphatically expresses in Job 19:26b–27 that “yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” It is significant that he experiences this in his earthly life before his death. When God appears to him in the whirlwind and confronts Job for calling into question his justice in the way he runs the world, Job declares, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” He then repents for his words against God’s justice stated in the context of the debate with his friends (Job 42:5–6). God then vindicates Job before his friends affirming that Job’s situation of suffering was not brought on because of sin (Job 42:7–9).
2. For more discussion, see Richard P. Belcher, Jr., Job: The Mystery of Suffering and God’s Sovereignty (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2017).
With that context, Job affirms that his redeemer “at the last . . . will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). The phrase “at the last” (’āḥǎrôn) refers to sometime in the future when his redeemer will stand upon the earth (‘āfār). This word translated “earth” primarily refers to “dust,” but can also be used of the material of which the human body is composed (Gen. 2:7; 3:19), the surface of the ground (Job 30:6; Isa. 2:19), and the grave (Job 7:21; 17:16; 20:11; 21:26; Isa. 26:19; Dan. 12:2). The justification for the translation “earth” is related to the meaning “of the surface of the ground.”[3] Based on the use of the word ‘āfār in Job, it could refer to the grave, but it is also used to mean ashes (Job 30:19), which refers to the place where Job went after he was struck with his illness (Job 2:8). This would be where God appeared to him in the whirlwind.
3. Roy E. Hayden, “עפר,” in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem A. VanGemeren (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 3:472–73.
In 19:26, Job says, “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” Job’s illness was destroying his skin. Job 2:8 mentions that he must scrape his skin with a broken piece of pottery. Even though his skin is being destroyed, he expresses confidence that in his flesh he will see God. Job’s expectation is that from his weak, emaciated body he will be vindicated by God before he dies. Who is Job’s kinsman redeemer? It is God himself. Such a thought is so thrilling to Job that he emphasizes that it is truly God that he will see and that this makes his heart faint (Job 19:27). Although Job says many things in the despair of his suffering, his basic desire is to have a hearing before God so he can present his case to God. Job welcomes death at times because it will end his suffering, but he also knows that death will bring his days to an end without hope (Job 7:6). If he dies, God will seek him, but he will not be found (Job 7:21). There is hope for a tree if it dies, but there is no hope for a man if he dies (Job 14:7–12; 17:13–16). Job’s great desire is to be declared innocent by God before he dies. This would vindicate him before his friends who accuse him of sin, and this vindication is exactly what happens at the end of the book.
Resurrection Hope
Of course, Job never actually dies during his ordeal, and God vindicates him before his friends and restores to him double what he lost. But does the view that Job was vindicated before his actual death mean that the traditional view of resurrection argued from this passage is wrong? Not if Job 19 is understood within the rest of Scripture. Job’s constant hope is for God to hear his case so that he would be declared innocent and vindicated before his friends. There is an emphasis in the Old Testament that God would vindicate his people—who are often at the brink of death—before their enemies to show his power and greatness.[4]
4. For example, God delivers Israel at the Red Sea in between the waters that would drown and the Egyptian army that would kill (Exodus 14; see their murderous intent in Exod. 15:9). He delivers King Hezekiah and Judah on the brink of destruction by destroying the 185,000 enemy Assyrian soldiers (Isaiah 37). He delivers Jehoshaphat and the king of Israel in the desert from dying of thirst as a precursor to their victory over the Moabites (2 Kings 3). During the conquest of Canaan, Israel expected to win every battle because God was fighting for them; if they lost a battle (death), that meant something was wrong (Joshua 7).
With the coming of Christ there is an emphasis on suffering now for the sake of Christ—with a future vindication when Christ comes again. Christ was not taken down alive from the cross precisely because his death was God’s ordained means to save his people. Christ did not demonstrate his nation-subduing power to his enemies after his resurrection and before his ascension. This delayed vindication is more easily understood considering the clear teaching on the resurrection of Christ and his future coming in victory. Our hope of vindication parallels Job’s hope of vindication because Job is working with the same logic of redemption as the promise of the New Testament doctrine of resurrection.[5] But our hope is even greater because of Christ’s resurrection. Through faith we are united to him.
5. Hartley, Job, 297.
Thus, Job 19:25–27 can be read in a fuller way as referring to our resurrection hope. The term “dust” in the Old Testament can mean the grave, the destruction of Job’s skin can refer to death, and the phrase “in my flesh” can refer to our resurrection body from which we will see God.
Conclusion
Job was as good as dead, but he was not left in his grave. The Redeemer lives, and he vindicates the suffering Job against the accusations of his friends and raises Job to new life. Though many accuse him, Job 19:25–27 succinctly shows that Job holds fast to both vindication and resurrection hope. This confident hope is not confined to Job. Because Christ has been raised from the dead, we can have certainty that our resurrection hope is secured. There is no greater, glorious victory than participating in the vindication of Christ, which is our vindication, when we are resurrected on that day when he comes again. The accusations of sin, death, and the devil do not stand as the final word to believers, but instead, we receive a vindicating declaration of righteousness to everlasting life. Therefore, even in the present suffering, the church can wait with confidence as we say, “Even so, come quickly, Lord. Amen.”
