Chapter 4

Between Rebellion and Hope

in the Speeches of Job
4.1 Introduction
The central charge in the dialogue is that God perverts justice. Job utters this
grave and decisive accusation in Job 9.1 Even though this allegation is one of
the main points of the dialogue, Job’s speeches also include other elements.
Job holds on to his innocence, keeps his wish to enter into a lawsuit with
God, and insists that God treats him unjustly. But he also explores his
situation from different perspectives and looks at whether other insights
could be helpful in explaining God’ s involvement in his current blameless
suffering. Job considers several possible motives for God’s intangible,
unintelligible and unjust actions. However, at the same time he also places
his hope in this same God. This ambivalent attitude towards God shows how
complex the situation of a sufferer is. On the one hand, it looks as if God
manifests himself as an opponent. God even brings upon himself the
suspicion that he abuses his sovereign position as Creator. Job suggests that
God had intentions other than partnership when creating human beings. On
the other hand, sufferers can only place their hope in this same God because
only God has the power to free them from his hand. Therefore, Job also
cautiously hopes that God can force an opening in his immovable case as his
witness and redeemer. In this way, Job moves between rebellion and hope in
his speeches.

The doubt about God’s righteousness remains an important topic in the

course of Job’s speeches. On the one hand, Job uses his own case in order to
demonstrate the unjust nature of God’s actions. He holds to his conviction
that he is innocent and repeats that God’s hand has wrongfully turned against
him. After Job 9, Job’s wish to plead with God and the impossibility of
having a case with God return. On the other hand, Job also casts doubt on
God’s irreproachable actions by directing the attention to the fate of the
wicked. Contrary to his friends, Job observes that the wicked live in
prosperity. According to Job, they are not punished with misery as may be
expected according to the concept of retribution. So, there are two lines of
argument in order to prove that God’s dealings are unsound, if it is
understood according to this concept: Job’s own innocent suffering and the
apparent prosperity of the wicked.
This fourth chapter explores the different aspects which Job mentions in
order to understand his situation and to explain God’s involvement in his
misery outside Job 9. It elaborates upon how Job perceives God as his
opponent and how he searches for motives for God’s hostile treatment of him
(4.2). Subsequently it maps out in the way in which Job applies the image of
the lawsuit in his other speeches outside Job 9. The chapter depicts how Job
holds to his conviction that he is blameless until the end and questions
whether Job does, nevertheless, admit that he has sinned to some extent (4.3).
In order to support his claim that God perverts justice, Job also draws
attention to the fate of the wicked. They prosper instead of suffering misery
(4.4). Another topic is the matter of why God gives life to those who meet
trouble. Thus, the question of the sense of a life in suffering is raised (4.5).
Finally, this chapter deals with Job’s trust in God in God’s role as heavenly
witness and redeemer (4.6).

1
See Ch.2.
4.2 God as Job’s Opponent 4.2.1 God’s Hostility towards Job
Job considers his miserable fate to be the result of a hostile attack by God. In
Job’s eyes, God treats him as if he is God’s enemy. God’s hostile action
towards human beings does not need to be controversial as such. According
to the concept of retribution, God legitimately punishes the wicked because
of their opposition against him. However, God’s action becomes dubious in
Job’s case because Job insists that he is blameless. Therefore, Job does not
deserve to be treated as an evildoer. In Job 9, Job makes it clear that he sees
God’s treatment of him as perversion of justice.2 This implies that each
depiction of God’s hostility after Job 9 has even more impact; then it not only
points out that God is the origin of Job’s misfortune, it also has the
connotation of unjust action. The images of attack and hostility emphasize
the intensity of Job’s suffering. This distress is all the more painful because,
in Job’s eyes, it affects him unjustly.

In the dialogue, Job identifies God as the origin of his misery for the first
time in 6,4. Here, he uses the image of the archer in order to depict how God
harasses him with trouble. Job reacts to Eliphaz’ question of why Job is
dejected so and does not trust his fear of God (4,2-6). Job tries to justify his
outburst of words by pointing to the weight of his trouble (6,2-3).3 The reason
for this intense reaction is that God has afflicted him with severe suffering.

6,4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks their poison.4

The terrors of God line up against me.5

God’s arrows, which have pierced Job, symbolize the anguish and misfortune
(6,2) that God has sent to Job. Normally, God’s arrows pierce evildoers or
opponents and bring disaster.6 In Ps.38,2-3, the psalmist characterizes his
illness as God’s arrows that have stuck in him. He implores God not to
discipline him for his iniquities in God’s anger. In 6,4, the image of God’s
arrows similarly evokes the context of the concept of retribution, in which
God punishes evildoers. Job attributes the origin of his misfortune to an
aggressive act by God. He considers himself as a target of God’s hostile
actions, with which God normally treats his opponents. Within the image,
Job’s spirit drinks the poison of God’s arrows (6,4b). This causes his illness
and trouble.7 The word xwr (spirit) can express the centre of someone’s
thinking and feeling. Several times it appears parallel with #$pn (breath of
life/someone’s inner centre) which indicates the centre of someone’s life.8
Job indicates that his misfortune has affected his whole being. In the words
of a dichotomy with which Job is not familiar: he suffers physically as well
as mentally.9 A new image occurs in 6,4c. Here, the terrors of God represent
Job’s trouble. God lines up his terrors before his opponent like a general
besieges and attacks an enemy.10 The images of God’s arrows and terrors
illustrate the origin of Job’s distress, but they also underline the weight of his
anguish. God afflicted Job with a miserable fate that God’s opponents
normally suffer.
One could wonder whether this depiction of God’s hostile actions in 6,4
already suggests the feeling that God wrongfully acts in Job’s case. This
accusation is explicitly heard for the first time in Job 9. It is true that Job
casts doubt on the relation between the extent of his misery and his
conviction that he has lived a righteous life in Job 6-7.11 He does not
understand why God pays such close attention to insignificant human beings
and makes Job his target (Job 7). Job also mentions his righteous way of
life.12 However, Job does not draw any conclusion from these considerations
and leaves the question of God’s injustice open in Job 6- 7. The images of
God’s arrows and terrors show the origin and severity of Job’s anguish. They
explain Job’s tempestuous reaction. But Job has not yet suggested in Job 6-7
that divine injustice is at the basis of his fate.13
In the course of the dialogue, the images of archer and target return. Job then
uses even more extensive military images in order to express his feeling that
God harasses him. The image of God as archer returns in 16,12-14. Job
complains that God afflicts and crushes him. God has set Job up as his target
and his projectiles14 surround him (16,12c-13a). These projectiles hit the vital
parts of a human being. God pierces Job’s kidneys without pity (16,13b/c).
The kidneys as well as the liver symbolize the vital core of human life.15
God’s hostile attack affects Job’s vigour and mental state. In Job 9, Job has
charged God with unjust actions because he is convinced that he is
blameless.16 In this light, the depictions of God’s attack with a great display
of power demonstrate the lack of proportion in God’s actions in relation to
Job’s case.17 They now represent God’s unjust actions in the Creation. Job is
a defenceless victim of God’s hostile and unjust show of strength towards
him.
The depiction of God’s hostility in 16,12-14 concludes with images from the
battlefield. Job compares God’s attack to a combatant who breaches through
the wall of a besieged city.18 In Job’s view, God acts like a warrior on the
battlefield.
16,14 He breaches me breach after breach, he rushes against me like a
warrior.

These two images express the gravity of God’s attack. According to Job, he
has become an enemy in God’s eyes. The image of God breaching walls
suggests that God has turned away from a person or his people and left them
in the hands of opponents. Normally, the reason for this attitude is God’s
disappointment in their way of life.19 Apparently, Job belongs to this
category. The breaches in the wall could refer to the blows, which Job
experiences in his life. These actions by God are compared to those of a
warrior assaulting a city (16,14b). In Isa.42,13, God goes to war against his
enemies as a warrior in order to bring deliverance to his own people. 20 This
bellicose attitude has also turned against Job. While Eliphaz depicted the
wicked as those who rush against God (15,26), Job now describes God as the
one who rushes against him. God besieges Job like a warrior besieges a
hostile city. In this way, Job attributes the initiative for hostility and attack
solely to God.21
These military images are further extended in 19,8.12. There, God sends his
troops like a commander would in order to besiege Job’s tent (19,12). These
more or less military images attribute Job’s misfortune to violent
characteristics of God. Job still supposes that God acts according to a close
relation between a person’s actions and what befalls them. Therefore, these
aggressive measures against Job illustrate the disproportionate and unjust
character of God’s treatment of Job because Job is convinced that he is
innocent. God treats Job unjustly as an evildoer or enemy. Job is obviously
an opponent and an enemy in God’s eyes.

19,11 He has kindled22 his anger against me and counts me as his enemy23.

God’s perception of Job has apparently changed in comparison to the

beginning of the book of Job. Job’s former prosperous state indicated that
God considered Job to be a righteous man (1,1-5). His current misery can
only be a sign that God has changed his mind. Job understands his fate as an
outburst of God’s anger.24 This is usually turned on evildoers and opponents
and brings calamity.25 God only sends such grave misery if he judges Job to
be an evildoer. Therefore, Job can only derive from his misfortune that God
now counts him as his enemy.
While God considers Job as his enemy, according to Job, there is the question
of whether or not Job also sees God as his enemy because of his currently
unjust miserable state. Job calls God his adversary in law (9,15) and depicts
his suffering as hostile assaults by God. However, do these images suggest
that God has become Job’s enemy? Possible proof for the view that Job also
calls God his enemy is 16,9c, in which Job states that his enemy sharpens his
eyes against him. 16,9c would also refer to God and call God an enemy, if it
is taken as a third colon parallel to 16,9ab, where Job describes that God has
torn him in God’s anger and gnashes his teeth at him like an animal. 26
However, it is preferable to read 16,9c parallel with 16,10a because of the
parallelism between sharpening the eyes (16,9c) and opening the mouths
wide (16,10a).27 Thus, yrc (my enemy) refers to the group of pursuers that is
mentioned in 16,10a and not to God.28 Whereas Job takes arms up against
God, calls God his adversary in law, and charges God with perverting justice,
he does not go to battle against God as if God is his enemy. Instead of a
frontal counterattack, Job chooses the way of the lawsuit in order to denounce
God’s hostile attitude towards him.29
Job also mentions other images in order to depict God’s hostility. He
characterizes his miserable state as a situation of captivity and persecution.
God has put Job’s feet in stocks (13,27),30 has thrown his net over Job
(19,6),31 breaks
him down on every site (19,10), and persecutes him (19,12). Job experiences
God’s hostility personally. God terrifies Job with dreams and visions (7,14)
and Job has the feeling that God hides his face from him (13,24). Hiding
God’s face can be an expression of his anger32 which has been caused by
transgressions, turning to other gods, or a lack of faithfulness. 33 It puts into
words Job’s feeling that God refuses to be concerned with somebody’ s
distressing situation.34 In Job’ s eyes, God has turned away from him and
considers him as an opponent. This impression is summarized in 30,20-22 in
which Job complains that God does not answer his cry for help and has
become cruel.
2
See Ch.2.

3
The verb ((l (to speak uncontrolled) in 6,3 does not mean that Job apologizes for
untruthful speaking, since that would undermine his plea in the continuation of the
dialogue (see also Van Selms, Job I, 63; Clines, Job, 170). It characterizes more the
sometimes emotional and sharp nature of Job’s words. Furthermore, in the words of
Job in 6,2-4, a reference could be seen to the remark of Eliphaz in 5,2 that resentment
kills the fool. For, the word #&(k (resentment) in 5,2 returns in 6,2. However, in 6,2,
the word #&(k has the broader meaning ‘anguish’ because of the parallel with ytwh
(Qere; my misfortune).
4
Hesse considers this line as an addition (Hesse, Hiob, 62).

5
Fohrer considers this line as a gloss (Fohrer, Hiob, 160). Several scholars change
ynwkr(y (are arrayed) into ynwrk(y (‘disrupt me’) (Fohrer, Hiob, 160; Hölscher,
Hiob, 20; De Wilde, Hiob, 121: Van Selms, Job I, 63). However, the meaning of the
Masoretic text is clear and does not need to be changed (see art. Kr(, HAL II, 885).
6
Num.24,8; Deut.32,23.42; 2 Sam.22,15; Ps.7,14; 18.15; 64,8; 77,18; 144,6;
Zech.9,14.

7
The image of God as archer belongs to the category of God as ‘divine warrior’. It
can probably be more specifically traced back to the Syrian and Egyptian (18th
dynasty) deity Resheph, who sends plagues to people by means of arrows.


8
7,11. See also 16,13, where God affects Job’s kidneys.


9
See also Fohrer, Hiob, 169; Van Selms, Job I, 63.

10
Compare Ps.88,16-18, where the psalmist understands his miserable and desperate
situation as the result of God’s terrors which surround and destroy him. He associates
God’s terrors with God’s burning anger.
11
6,30; 7,12.20-21.

12
6,10c (some scholars delete this line (Fohrer, Hiob, 161; Hölscher, Hiob, 22; Hesse,
Hiob, 62) or are unsure of its originality (Driver-Gray, Job, 61; Pope, Job, 52));
6,29b.


13
Cf. Clines, Job, 171.

14
In Jer.50,29, the word br means ‘archer’ because of the parallel with t#$q ykrd (those
who bend the bow). Therefore, several scholars also read ‘archer’ in 16,13. They see
God as a commander directing his archers to the target (Clines, Job, 371; Pope, Job,
122; Habel, Job, 273). However, the meaning ‘projectile’ is more probable in 16,13
because God is the subject in 16,12-14. God personally attacks Job in these verses (so
Hölscher, Hiob, 40; Fohrer, Hiob, 278; Horst, Hiob, 250; De Wilde, Hiob, 189.192;
Hesse, Hiob, 113; Van Selms, Job I, 145).


15
Compare Lam.3,12-13 and Prov.7,23.


16
Job repeats this conviction in 16,17.


17
Fohrer, Hiob, 287; Clines, Job, 383-384.

18
See also 30,14.
19
Isa.5,5; Ps.80,13; 89,41.

20
See also Jer.20,11; Sef.3,17; Ps.78,65. In Ps.24,8, God is called hmxlm rwbg
(mighty in

battle).


21
Cf. Fohrer, Hiob, 288; Clines, Job, 385.

22
Changing the vocalization of hrx (to kindle) into qal (so Driver-Gray, Job, phil.
notes, 123; Fohrer, Hiob, 308; Strauß, Hiob, 3) is not necessary because the line
expresses the active action of kindling God’s anger (cf. Clines, Job, 429.444).

23
Reading a singular wrck (cf. LXX) is more probable because in 13,24 and 33,10,
the comparison is also in singular. Moreover, the line refers to Job.


24
See also 14,13; 16,9.

25
4,9; 20,23.28; 21,17.
26
So Horst, Hiob, 248-249; Clines, Job, 382.

27
In this way, a regularly composed poem by means of distiches comes into being
(16,12- 13 can also be read as three distiches).

28
So Fohrer, Hiob, 280; Hesse, Hiob, 112.118; Hölscher, Hiob, 40; Driver-Gray, Job,
145; De Wilde, Hiob, 192; Pope, Job, 123. Except for Pope, these scholars consider
16,9c-11 as a later interpolation that interrupts the coherence of the speech, since
16,9ab and 16,12-14 deal with God, while 16,9c-11 deals with a group of human
adversaries. Because of the relation with 16,10a, they mostly change the vocalization
of yricf into yracf (my enemies), which has been changed in order to adapt 16.9c to
16,9ab.

29
Within the context of Job 16, this keeps open the possibility of making an appeal to
God as Job’s witness. This would hardly have been possible if Job had called God his
enemy.

30
Elihu refers to this passage in 33,11. Fohrer changes dsb (in the stocks) into dysb
(with lime) cf. Tg., since the footprints in 13,27c suppose freedom of movement and
not being kept in stocks (Fohrer, Hiob, 238). However, the change is not necessary
because the three cola in 13,27 can be read as separate depictions of God who is
restricting Job’s freedom of movement (compare Clines, Job, 321-323).


 31 Some scholars derive wdwcm (his net) from hdwcm (fortress) because the image
of laying

siege to a city is more appropriate in the light of 19,7-12. They also take the verb rqx
(to surround) as an indication of this interpretation (Clines, Job, 428; Gordis, Job,
201; Habel,

Job, 291). However, the content of 19,7-12 is not exclusively military. Moreover,
iconographic evidence shows that throwing a net can be a more or less military image.
Enemies or prisoners are caught in a net (J.B. Pritchard, The Ancient Near East in
Pictures. Relating to the Old Testament, 2nd edition with supplements, Princeton 1969,
94.98).

Therefore, this image is not incongruous here (see also 18,8-10). Cf. C.L. Seow,
“Job’s gō`ē l, again”, in: M. Witte (ed.), Gott und Mensch im Dialog. Festschrift für
Otto Kaiser zum 80. Geburtstag II (BZAW 345/II), Berlin-New York 2004, 692.

32
Deut.31,17; Isa.64,6; Ps.27,9.
33
Deut.31,17-18; 32,20; Isa.59,2; 64,6; Jer.33,5; Ezek.39,23-24; Mic.3,4. See for the
expression also 34,29.

34
Ps.30,8; 69,18; 102,3. See also Fohrer, Hiob, 252; Clines, Job, 319.


4.2.2 The Hand of God and Its Effect

In an appeal to his friends for mercy, Job also expresses the origin of his
misery in a different way. He describes his suffering as an action of the hand
of God.

19,21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God
has touched me.
The image of the hand of God touching Job attributes the origin of Job’s
trouble and disasters to actions by God. The hand of God (dy) represents
God’s power over all living things.35 The hand of God effectuates positive as
well as negative things. It creates and it heals36, but it can also cause calamity.
Job identifies God’s terrors with the working of the hand of God (Pk). 37 The
words dy and (gn (to touch) in 19,21b are also used by the satan in the
prologue when he challenges God to stretch out his hand against Job in order
to touch Job’s wealth and body.38 In this way, a bitter irony appears. For, the
reader knows that Job’s analysis is right but the reason for God’s touch is
something other than wickedness. The satan’s challenge is at the basis of
God’s permission to touch the pious Job. In 30,21, Job mentions the activity
of God’s mighty hand parallel to God becoming cruel. So the touch of God’s
hand not only expresses the origin of Job’s fate, but also indicates some of
the aggressive and hostile nature of God’s actions.39
The results of Job’s afflictions affect Job in the social sphere. Job has lost his
honourable state and has been an outcast from the moment his misfortune
befell him. Job’s former social status and prosperity were connected to his
righteousness. His wealth showed that he was righteous in God’s eyes
because God blesses the righteous (1,1-3). Job’s sensible and high moral
behaviour demonstrated his upright nature and made him an esteemed person
in society. Job helped the weak, people listened to his advice, he was
respected (Job 29), and offered burning-offers for his children in case they
had sinned (1,5). However, those around Job conclude from his current
miserable state that Job must have sinned before. Apparently, such a
conclusion is reason enough for placing someone in social isolation. Job has
lost his prominent position and is cast out by his relatives. Young and humble
people mock and reject him.40 Job blames God for causing this alienation
from his surroundings. God has stripped Job’s honour from him (19,9) and
has made him a byword of the people (17,6). In this way, Job’s misfortune
not only affects his own body and life, but also deprives him of his honour
and places him in an isolated position in society.

35
10,7; 12,10.
36
5,18; 10,3 (Pk); 14,15.


37
13,21. See also 6,9.

38
1,11; 2,5. Compare e.g. Ruth 1,13.
39
In 12,9, Job also attributes his misery to an act of the hand of God. However, this
verse is controversial. Several scholars consider it as part of a later insertion, partly
because the divine name hwhy is used in this verse and does not occur in the rest of
dialogue (Driver- Gray, Job, 114; Hölscher, Hiob, 33; Horst, Hiob, 184; De Wilde,
Hiob, 166; Fohrer, Hiob, 244; Hesse, Hiob, 93). Clines reads 12,7-12 as Job
paraphrasing the way in which the friends address him (Clines, Job, 292. Van Hecke
adopts this view (Van Hecke, Job 12-14, 151)). Tur-Sinai thinks that here the writer
gives the customary version of the story in Israel (Tur-Sinai, Job, 210-211).
40
19,13-19; 30,1.9-10
4.2.3 The Search for Motives for God’s (Unjust) Actions
The experience of such grave and unjust suffering makes Job wonder what
motives could be at the bottom of God’s hostile treatment of him. Since
punishment for wickedness can not be the reason because of Job’s innocence,
Job has to explore other possible reasons for God’s puzzling behaviour. Job
first focuses on God’s perception of human beings. In Job 7, he wonders
whether God’s hostile treatment of human beings and intensive concern with
them maybe follows from an overestimation of the significance of human
beings. The disproportion of God’s suspicious treatment of humankind and
the imbalance of God’s grotesque measures against people with their actual
offences and real threat are important issues in this speech. Job tries to find
reasons for this divine behaviour towards human beings. Job complains that
God even harasses him in his sleep (7,14). He appeals to God to leave him
alone (7,16). Then Job asks why God pays such close attention to human
beings.

. 7,17 What is a human being that you make so much of him41 and that you
fix your attention on him, 


. 7,18 that you inspect him every morning and test him every moment? 


These verses are a parody on Ps.8,5ff.42 Job hints at the prominent position
of human beings in the Creation and God’s particular care for them of which
the psalmist here sings. In Ps.8,5f, the psalmist is surprised at God’s high
esteem of human beings. God is well-disposed to humble mortals and looks
after them according to the psalmist. However, this prominent position of
human beings and God’s care are placed in a bad light within the context of
Job 7. The significant position of humankind seems to be a reason for
continuously observing and harassing them. Whereas dqp (to be concerned
with) has a positive meaning standing parallel to rkz (to be mindful) in Ps.8,5,
this verb is coloured negatively because of its parallel to Nxb (to test) in 7,18.
God’s attention now becomes an examining interest. God tests (Nxb) the
heart and the kidneys of people in order to evaluate their way of life. 43 He
tests both righteous and wicked (Ps.11,5) and gives to them according to the
result of this test (Jer.17,10). Job connects this privileged position with God’s
observing and suspicious attention. He bitterly wonders why God values
mortals44 so highly that God harasses them with his inspecting and testing
attention each moment. Is such concern not disproportional and an
overestimation of the real significance of perishable human beings in
comparison to God?
This general question is applied to Job’s own case in the rest of Job 7. The
significance of human beings as well as the nature of God’s attention is
further specified. Job mentions the significance of human beings in two
ways. On the one hand, he suggests that God considers him as a larger threat
than he actually is. Job asks whether he is the sea or a sea-monster (7,12).
The My (sea) and the Nynt (sea- monster) refer to powers of chaos which
God has suppressed.45 In 38,8, God shuts the sea in with doors. God seems to
treat Job as if he is a power of chaos that threatens God’s order.46 However,
this would be an overestimation of the importance of the mortal Job and his
threat to God. Job’s suggestion is that God’s measures against him which
come up in his suffering are not in proportion with his position as a perishable
mortal.47 On the other hand, Job wonders to what extent God’s ‘well-being’
depends on right behaviour by humble mortals.48 He asks what he does to
God if he has sinned (7,20a).49 According to Clines, Job means that every sin
he may have committed is hardly worth retribution since in any case he will
be dead soon.50 However, Job does not mention retribution in 7,20a, but
suggests that the sin of a humble mortal does not harm the exalted God.51
Therefore, God’s well-being can not be a reason for examining human
behaviour so intensively. For, it does not depend on human actions. 52 The
following questions assume the same view: why does God make Job a target,
why has Job become a burden to God, and why does God not overlook Job’s
sin?53 Job plays with the significance of humble mortals in his search for a
motive for God’s treatment. Does God not overestimate the power of human
beings if he considers Job as a threatening force of chaos? Moreover, is it not
true that human behaviour does not affect God? God would undermine the
fundamental difference between creatures and Creator if he considered Job
as a serious threat.
The nature of God’s attention is elaborated upon in different ways. First, Job
describes the negative nature of God’s attention as continuous harassment.
Even when Job tries to find rest in his sleep, God terrifies him with dreams
(7,14). Job is not able to swallow his spittle as long as God looks at him
(7,19) and it is his express wish that God leave him alone (7,16). Secondly,
Job uses the image of watcher in order to illustrate God’s observing attitude.
He calls God a Md)h rcn (watcher of humanity; 7,20). Furthermore, he uses
the root rm#$ (to watch over) in order to express that God set a guard over
him (7,12) and watches him in order to punish any iniquity (10,14). Whereas
the verbs rcn and rm#$ mostly express that God preserves people from evil
or threats,54 these verbs have an observing and examining meaning in Job’s
mouth. God’s watching serves to inspect and test in the light of 7,18.55 Thus,
God’s watching is a negative activity in Job’s eyes. God pursues Job
constantly in order to test and prosecute him.
After Job charged God with unjust actions in Job 9, the focus of Job’s search
for a motive for God’s actions changes. While Job concentrated on God’s
perception on human beings in Job 7, he considers God’s own nature and
being in Job 10. Now the wicked nature of God’s actions has been determined
(Job 9), Job openly casts doubt on God’s upright motivations and suggests
that God had false intentions for creating human beings (Job 10). Several
possible motives are considered. God might benefit from playing with human
beings or he might lack some divine characteristics; what we would label
omniscience and immorality. The second half of Job’s first answer to Bildad
(Job 9-10) opens with Job’s question of why God contends with him (10,2).
As in 9,3, Job understands his misfortune as God’s charge against him.56
While Job draws the conclusion that God treats him unjustly in Job 9, he asks
for reasons for this hostile behaviour towards him in Job 10.

Three rhetorical questions place some possible motives before God (10,3-7).
The questions are constructed with the interrogative particle h and followed
by a conclusion introduced with yk (that). The first one concerns God’s
benefit.

10,3 Does it benefit you to oppress,
 to reject the work of your hands,

and shine on the plan of the wicked?57

While the dependence of God’s ‘well-being’ on human actions has already
been mentioned implicitly in 7,20, Job now explicitly wonders whether
God’s unjust treatment of him gives God any benefit.58 The combination Kl
bw+ (good for you) expresses the benefit someone has from something.59
Could it be that God oppresses human beings in order to obtain some
advantage for himself instead of rewarding them for some wrong? This
oppression and rejection refer to God’s cruel treatment of Job. Whereas
Bildad stated that God does not reject (s)m) the upright (8,20), the innocently
suffering Job now suggests that God rejects the work of his hands in general.
The combination Kypk (ygy (the work of your hands) expresses the result of
someone’s labour which has been accomplished with effort.60 It refers to Job
within this context.61 This expression sharpens the poignant character of the
question because it would be a harrowing conclusion that God rejects what
he himself has created with labour and care.62 Does it offer God any pleasure
or benefit when he harasses what he himself has created?

The status of 10,3c remains unclear because the verb (py (to shine) can have
a positive as well as a negative meaning. This verb describes God’s
manifestation among human beings. God appears in order to bless and deliver
or in order to judge the wicked.63 Negatively understood, 10,3c would mean
that God critically stands in relation to the plan of the wicked and condemns
their actions .64 Understanding (py positively, it would mean that God favours
the plan of the wicked according to Job.65 10,3c only has sense in Job’s mouth
if it is understood in the latter way. For, then it fits with Job’s charge that
God perverts justice. 10,3c contrasts with 10,3b and serves as an illustration
of the unjust character of God’s actions.66 While the righteous are rejected
and oppressed by God, God benefits the wicked.67 Does such perversion of
justice benefit God in any way? Did God actually create human beings in
order to have playthings which he can punish arbitrarily instead of having a
relationship with them which is based on respect and care? However, it
would be strange, if God benefited from ‘playing’ with his creation as he has
everything at his disposal. It would be questionable whether God is worth
worshipping any longer if this was the case.
Job further explores an example of a possible benefit in 10,8-17. Here, he
contrasts God’s meticulous creation of Job and his careful providence with
God’s hidden purpose to watch and persecute Job. God is confronted with
the fact that he has created Job but now destroys him (10,8-9). Job expounds
how God constructed his body and provided him with care and loyalty
(10,10-12). But he must conclude from his current miserable situation that
God’s motive for this concern was something other than a partnership
between God and human beings.

. 10,13 But this you hid in your heart,
 I know that this was your purpose:



. 10,14 if I sinned, you would watch me68
 and would not acquit me from
my iniquity. 


Job suggests that God’s hidden aim for creating human beings was
apparently to raise them in order to be able to observe them intensively and
to punish them if they make a slip. The words hl) (this) and t)z (this) in 10,13
refer to 10,14, where the image of God as watcher (Job 7) returns. A
wordplay with this root rm#$ (to watch) makes clear the contrast between the
expected and hidden real purpose of God’s providence. Whereas in 10,12
God’s watching is characterized as loyal and caring, it is understood as God
hunting for sinning people in 10,14. God’s seeming preservation now turns
out to be an investigating and observing activity. The verb yt)+x (I sinned)
expresses a hypothetical case because of the conjunction M) (if). Therefore,
Job does not admit that he has sinned. Also, he does not charge God with
punishing slight sins either.69 Nor does he restrict this hypothetical case to
sins stemming from natural human weakness.70 For, the verb )+x (to sin) is
not restricted to a specific field of sins.71 In 10,13-14, Job denounces God’s
obsessive desire to catch Job out. Apparently, God created him in order to
make him into a target which God could hunt. Thus, Job does not critcize the
fact that God would discipline him if he sinned. However, he reproaches God
for God’s obsessive behaviour which goes beyond the limit of fair treatment.
In Job’s eyes, being righteous or guilty does not matter anymore: in both
cases, Job is weighted down by his misery.72
The second and third rhetorical questions that suggest a possible motive for
God’s current treatment of Job73 compare God’s being and actions with
human being and actions. Job wonders whether a limited ability of perception
or a restricted lifetime is the cause of God’s hostile behaviour towards him.
While God’s answer will later confront Job with the fact that Job does not
posses divine attributes (40,8-14), Job ponders whether God has human
characteristics.

. 10,4 Do you have eyes of flesh
 or do you see as a human sees, 


. 10,5 are your days like the days of a mortal or your years like the years of
a man, 


. 10,6 that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, 


. 10,7 although74 you know that I am not guilty and nobody can deliver out
of your hand? 


Job’s second question touches on –what we would call– God’s omniscience

(10,4).75 Job considers the possibility that God’s observation is limited. Could
it be that God misjudges Job’s way of life because he lacks the ability to
oversee all Job has done? The word r#&b (flesh) refers to the human body.
The eyes of flesh refer to human perception. Human beings are unable to
survey the coherence of everything that happens in the world.76 Does God’s
perception of what happens in the Creation go no further than that of human
beings? In Isa.31,3, the divine is distinguished from creatures by the fact that
the divine is spirit (xwr) instead of flesh (r#&b). This makes it clear that this
consideration can not be true. God is not flesh. His perception goes beyond
a person’s outward appearance and looks upon the heart.77 Human ways are
under his gaze and his eyes range throughout the entire earth. 78 Thus, God
would deviate from his divine characteristics if he perceived in the same
limited way as human beings do. The third question (10,5) proposes that a
restricted lifetime forces God to act rashly and with such close attention.79
This might harm the caution of God’s judgement. However, God is
everlasting (Ps.102,28). Therefore, he does not need to quicken the process
of observation and examination by risking careless actions. In this way, Job
confronts God with the possibility that he lacks some divine characteristics.
Limited perception or inaccurate judgement might be the reason for the
unjust treatment of Job. However, at the same time it is clear that these
considerations are not correct.
The content of God’s actions, for which Job is looking for explanations, is
elaborated upon in 10,6-7. The conjunction yk (that) in 10,6 connects these
verses with the two preceding ones. It is the paradox in God’s dealings that
puzzles Job.
On the one hand, God closely examines Job in order to find sins (10,6). With
the verbs #$qb (to seek) and #$rd (to search), the issue of intensive inspection
(7,17- 18) returns in 10,6. While Eliphaz incites Job to seek (#$rd) God, here
God is the one who searches for sins. On the other hand, God must be familiar
with the fact that Job is innocent (10,7a). Therefore, such persistent and
intensive observation seems a pointless undertaking. What is more, if God is
inspecting Job so intensively, he must have noticed Job’s integrity. The
tragedy of Job’s situation is that a human being is not able to escape from
God’s power or to prevent what God wants to do.80 Nobody can deliver him
from the misfortune with which God afflicts him (10,7b). Thus, two
important elements from Job 9 return in 10,7: Job’s conviction that he is
blameless (10,7a) and his impotence to contest or evade his unjust suffering
(10,7b). In this way, an accusation can be heard in 10,6-7. It smacks of abuse
of power because God ceaselessly examines Job and looks for iniquities,
even though he knows that Job is innocent and God’s actions can not be
stopped by human beings. It was this dubious and incomprehensible action
by God that forced Job to examine what motives might be at the root of this.

41
Pope and Fohrer translate ldg (Pi) with ‘to rear’ or ‘to bring up’ (Pope, Job, 58;
Fohrer, Hiob, 164. Horst gives this interpretation in his comment (Horst, Hiob,
120)). However, Job does not ask here why God creates human beings but why he
attributes so much significance to them.
42
Compare also Ps.144,3.

43
Jer.11,20; 17,10; 20,12; Ps.7,10; 17,3; 26,2; Prov.17,3; 1 Chr.29,17. In 23,10, Job
states that he would be as gold if God tested him.


44
See the description in 7,1-10.

45
Nynt: 51,9 (parallel to Rahab); Ps.74,13. My represents the mythological and
dangerous sea-god Yam, who is the adversary of Baal.
46
Habel, Job, 162; Fohrer, Hiob, 179; Clines, Job, 188.

47
Clines, Job, 188-189; Hesse, Hiob, 70-71.


48
See also the remarks of Eliphaz and Elihu on this topic: §3.2.3.

49
Several scholars consider 7,20ab as a gloss (Fohrer, Hiob, 164; Hölscher, Hiob,
24; Hesse, Hiob, 64). Pope only deletes yt)+x (Pope, Job, 62). Even if 7,20ab is a
gloss, the following questions bear the same view.

50
Clines, Job, 194. He thinks that Elihu comes closer to the position that the sins of
mere human beings are so trivial as to be unworthy of God’s consideration (35,5-
8).

51
Horst, Hiob, 121; De Wilde, Hiob, 130; Driver-Gray, Job, 74; Weiser, Hiob, 64.
The same idea can be found in 22,2-3 and 35,6-8.

52
The question of whether God profits from having a case with Job (10,3) hints at
the same idea that God’s well-being or enjoyment does not depend on human
behaviour.

53
7,20cd-21ab. yl( (to me) in 7,20d is one of the tiqque sopherim and has to be read
as

Kl( (to you) (cf. LXX). On the relation between 7,21ab and Job’s conviction that he
is blameless, see §4.3.2.
54
rm#$: e.g. Ps.121,7; 140,5; 141,9; 145,20. rcn: e.g. Deut.32,10; Isa.27,3; Ps.64,2;
140,2.
55
See also 13,27; 14,16. Elihu refers to it in 33,11. In Prov.24,12, God is the one
who keeps watch over (rcn) the soul and examines the heart.

56
See §[Link].
57
Several scholars regard 10,3c as a gloss (Fohrer, Hiob, 200; Hölscher, Hiob, 30;
Hesse, Hiob, 80; De Wilde, Hiob, 151; Driver-Gray, Job, 98 (maybe a gloss)).


58
See also the remarks of Eliphaz and Elihu on this topic: §3.2.3.

59
Pace HAL, who takes it as ‘is it all right with you’ (art. bw+, in: HAL II, 371,
nr.4). Terrien explains the nature of the benefit as ‘pleasure’ (Terrien, Job, 101).
60
Gen.31,42; Hag.1,11.


61
Cf. Clines, Job, 245.

62
See also 10,8-12. Terrien understands the benefit for God as ‘pleasure’ and states
that God would be a kind of masochist if he enjoys damaging what he created
(Terrien, Job, 101-102). However, this way of dealing does not necessarily suppose
a masochistic nature. It can, in Job’s eyes, also point to an evil purpose in creating
human beings as is further explored in 10,8-17.


63
Blessing and delivering: Deut.33,2; Ps.80,2. Judging: Ps.94,1.

64
See also 5,13; 18,7. Obviously, Fohrer and Hesse understand 10,3c in this way
since they think that 10,3c is a gloss that attempts to restrict God intervening with
the wicked (Fohrer, Hiob, 200; Hesse, Hiob, 80). So, God’s shining is an elaboration
of God’s oppression and rejection and is attributed only to the wicked in their
view.


65
So Clines, Job, 245; Habel, Job, 198; Horst, Hiob, 154.

66
Although the lack of an introducing yk could be an argument for taking 10,3c as a
gloss.
67
Compare 9,23-24.
68
Fohrer and Hesse translate the verb rm#$ with ‘to imprison’ (Fohrer, Hiob, 218;
Hesse, Hiob, 80). However, 10,14 refers to the image of God as watcher and
therefore the verb has to be translated with ‘to watch’.


69
Pace Rowley, Job, 103.


70
Pace Fohrer, Hiob, 218.

71
In the prologue as well as in Job 31, the verb )+x refers to conscious and rather
serious sins. In the prologue, the narrator assures that Job does not sin (1,22; 2,10)
and in 31,30, Job says that he did not permit his mouth to sin by wishing his enemies
dead by a curse. In 7,20, such a hypothetical case is also supposed.

72
10,15. Cf. 9,22.29.
73
The first is 10,3.
74
For the same meaning of l(, see 16,7; 34,6.
75
De Wilde, Hiob, 151.
76
This will be an important argument in God’s answer.

77
1 Sam.16,7. See also 31,4; 34,21.
78

 Prov.5,21; 2 Chr.16,9.

79
Thus, 10,5 introduces a second element separate from 10,4. Pace Horst, who
interprets 10,5 as a close parallel to 10,4 that reinforces 10,4 (Horst, Hiob, 155).
80
Deut.32.39; Isa.43,13.


4.2.4 The Irresistibility of God’s Actions

There is a different notion in the speeches of Job that strengthens the
impression that Job finds himself in strained circumstances. This is the
awareness that human beings will not succeed in influencing God’s actions.
According to Job, God executes what he has planned to do. Human requests
do not change these activities. This notion can be found in 9,12-13 where
Job asks who can resist God, if he snatches away. He concludes that God’s
anger is fixed; God does not withdraw it.81 The idea that God’s actions are
irresistible returns in Job 23. Here, Job explores the possibility of bringing
his case before God. He determines that God is untraceable (23,3.8-9) and
assures that he kept God’s way and did not turn aside (23,10-12). Then he
says about God:

23,13 But he chooses82 and who can resist him? What he wishes, he does.

The notion that nobody can resist God or influence what he does is
connected with Job’ s feeling of impotence. Challenging God’ s actions is
as such already impossible because of God’s superior power and because
God is untraceable and imperceptible. However, it would not make any
sense at all since nobody can change God’s mind or influence his way of
dealing. Job’s question wnby#$y ym (who can resist him) in 9,12 returns
here. Job connects God’s wish or choice to do something with human
impotence to change this. The question hnbw#$ ym occurs elsewhere
parallel to the question who can annul (rrp) what God has planned and the
statement that nobody can deliver from the hand of God.83 God works and
who can hinder it (Isa.43,13)? So no human being is able to change or resist
what God is doing or what he has planned to do. In 23,13, God’s decisions
and wishes can not be influenced, therefore, each protest or attempt to
challenge God’s dealings in a lawsuit will not change God’s treatment of
Job. If God wanted to ‘play’ with his creatures or treat them unjustly, no
human being would be able to stop God or alter his conduct towards them.
Thus, the notion of the irresistible nature of God’s actions underlines the
fact that God has a powerful position which he could also misuse
unhindered. It stresses Job’s impotence to influence God’s treatment of him
or alter his miserable fate in any way.84
The question wnby#$y ym (who can resist him) is also asked by Zophar in his first
speech (11,10). This speech takes up several elements from Job 9. Zophar explicitly
declares Job guilty (11,6) and asks whether Job can find the depths (rqx) of God
(11,7). With questions that call to mind God’s answer, he confronts Job with his
own lack of power and knowledge (11,8-9). Then Zophar asks who can resist God,
if God passes through, imprisons, and summons (11,10). Job mentioned the
inscrutability of God’s ways and the irresistible nature of his actions as arguments
for his charge that God misuses this sovereign position and perverts justice (Job 9).
On the contrary, Zophar connects these elements with God’s righteous actions. He
explains the impossibility of resisting God’s actions with the fact that God is aware
of the worthless people and sees injustice (11,11).85 Job referred to the notion of the
irresistibility of God’s actions in order to show that he powerless before God and
can not influence any possible abuse of divine power by God. Zophar, on the other
hand, makes it clear that nobody can resist God’s dealings because they are
86
righteous rather than arbitrary actions. In other words, it is not necessary to affect

God’s actions since God is doing right according to Zophar. It would even be
overconfident if human beings were to think that God’s actions needed to be
influenced or critcized.
81
See §[Link]. In 10,7b, this notion returns in a veiled way; nobody can deliver out
of the hand of God.

82
Reading rxb (to choose) cf. LXX (Budde, Hiob, 132; Fohrer, Hiob, 363; Driver-
Gray, Job, 203; Hölscher, Hiob, 58; Hesse, Hiob, 145; De Wilde, Hiob, 243; Pope,
Job, 172-173). The verbs rxb (to choose) and hw) (to wish) also occur parallel in
Ps.132,13. Furthermore, the lack of a verb in the first half of 23,13a, also compared
to 9,12 and 11,10, can be mentioned as an additional argument for changing (Driver-
Gray, Job, phil. notes, 162; Fohrer, Hiob, 363). Several scholars maintain dx)b (in
one) and understand the b as a beth-essentiae (Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley,
Grammar, §119i; Habel, Job, 346; Strauß, Hiob, 73; A. van Selms, Job II (POT),
Nijkerk 1983, 24; Gordis, Job, 262). They explain it as an expression that God is
unchangeable, sovereign or unique. However, changing dx)b