Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 19:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 19:7. I cry out of wrong — I complain of violence and of injustice; but no one comes to my help.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Bildad (19:1-29)

Again Job rebukes his friends and rejects their assertion that his sufferings prove he must be a great sinner. Even if he has sinned, he argues, that is no concern of theirs (19:1-4). As Job sees things, he has not been wicked, but God has made it look as if he has by placing him in this humiliating situation (5-6). God has used his power against Job and Job can do nothing about it. He feels helpless (7-12). Relatives, friends and servants have all turned against him (13-16). His wife has forsaken him, children laugh at him, and people in general find him repulsive (17-20). Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are the only ones who have chosen to stay with him. Can they not therefore take pity on him and give him some comfort (21-22)?
Job wishes that his words could be recorded permanently, so that some day someone would declare him right (23-24). At this thought Job recalls his previous wish for new life after death (see notes on 14:13-17). This time, however, his words are more than just a wish. He is now confident that there must be a new and victorious life after death, for if God is to make a declaration that Job is righteous, Job must be there to hear it. So though his body may die, he will somehow live again. In his own body, with his own eyes, he will see God (25-27).
When that day comes, justice will be done to those who at present insist that Job’s suffering is the result of his secret sins. His accusers will be proved wrong and his persecutors will be punished (28-29).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

JOB'S ACCOUNT OF WHAT GOD HAS DONE TO HIM

"Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry for help, but there is no justice. He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, And he accounteth me unto him as one of his adversaries. His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent."

Many do not understand the tenor of these words. They do not mean that Job considers God unjust, unmerciful, or unfair in any way. His attitude here is exactly that of the grieving and bereaved parent whose only son was run over and killed by a drunken driver; and, at the funeral, he cried, "The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." He did not mean that God had unjustly killed his son; but that the disaster had come under the umbrella of God's permissive will. It is the ancient view that nothing can occur, or happen, except that which God's permissive will allows. This is profoundly true; and Job was exactly right in ascribing the disasters that came upon him as being indeed what God (in that permissive sense) had willed, or allowed. Satan was the perpetrator of all that injustice to Job, but he could not have lifted a finger against him without God's permission.

To the prior question of whether or not it is morally right for God to allow such evil, the answer is clear enough. When God allowed mankind the freedom of the will, and the inalienable right to choose good or evil, that Divinely conferred endowment made it absolutely certain that wickedness would prevail upon the earth. It could not possibly have been otherwise.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Behold, I cry out of wrong - Margin, or “violence.” The Hebrew word (חמס châmâs) means properly violence. The violence referred to is that which was brought upon him by God. It is, indeed, harsh language; but it is not quite sure that he means to complain of God for doing him injustice. God had dealt with him in a severe or violent manner, is the meaning, and he had cried unto him for relief, but had cried in vain.

No judgment - No justice. The meaning is, that he could obtain justice from no one God would not interpose to remove the calamities which he had brought upon him, and his friends would do no justice to his motives and character.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 19

Then Job answered and said, How long will you vex my soul, and break me in pieces with your words? These ten times you have reproached me: and you're not ashamed that you made yourself like a stranger to me. And be it indeed that I have erred, my error remaineth with myself. If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: Know now that God hath overthrown me, encompassed me in his net ( Job 19:1-6 ).

Now this is the thing that upsets them, that he is blaming God for the calamities. This is the thing that really ires his friends, but Job repeats it. "Look, I don't care what you say, fellas. God has overthrown me." Now God allowed Job to be overthrown. So Job doesn't understand it fully himself.

Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there's no judgment. He's fenced up my way, I cannot pass, he has set darkness in my paths. He's stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and my hope hath he removed like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, he counts me unto him as one of his enemies. His troops have come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tent. He has put my brothers far from me, mine acquaintance are estranged from me. My kinsfolk [my family] have failed, and my familiar [close] friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me as a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. I called to my servant, and he doesn't even answer me; I beg with him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, though I begged her for the children's sake of my own body. Yea, the young children despise me; I arose, and they spake against me. All my inward friends abhor me: and they whom I have loved have turned against me. My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped [I'm only living] by the skin of my teeth. Have pity on me, have pity on me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? ( Job 19:7-22 )

So Job is, oh man, you talk about misery and you talk about everything going against you. Everybody turning against you. "My servants, they won't even listen to me. I call them and they won't even answer. I beg them to come and help me and they're my servants, but they won't even listen. My wife, the one who bore my children, she's turned against me. I beg her, and she doesn't even listen. My friends, my close friends, they've all turned. Here I am, all alone. Nobody understands me." Have you ever thought that? Nobody understands. Boy, Job was really in the pit.

Now, you can't get any lower than this. There's no way. I don't care how bad you've had it; you can't get any lower than Job was. I mean, he is at the bottom. But so many times it is when we get to the bottom that we look up. And Job can't go any lower than the cry that he's just made. I mean, this is it. This is bottoming out. And at this point of total despair, hopelessness, "God has turned against me, my family has turned against me, my friends have turned against me, my nephews have turned against me, the little kids hate me. Nobody loves me. I haven't a friend in the world left," yet Job said,

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! ( Job 19:23 )

Well, Job, they are.

That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! ( Job 19:24 )

"Oh, that I could carve these words in the rock." What words?

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin the worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me ( Job 19:25-27 ).

Out of the midst of the darkest despair, this cry of glorious victory. "I know." You see, I don't know much at this point, I don't understand anything at this point, but I do know this: the foundation upon which I stand. My Redeemer liveth.

Now remember that Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. Job perhaps lived about the time of Abraham. At this point, they had not had the prophets to testify to the people of the coming Messiah, the Deliverer. Job's revelation was very limited, but yet he knew that his Redeemer lived. He believed in the Messiah. And in the latter days, He's going to stand upon the earth. And though the worms and all eat this body, yet I'm going to see Him. I'm going to see Him for myself. What a glorious hope. And this is the sustaining hope. Though I may not understand a lot of things, I know this: my Redeemer lives. Someday He's going to come again and establish His kingdom upon earth and I'm going to see Him. Peter said, "Whom having not seen, yet you love and even though you do not see Him now, still we rejoice with a joy unspeakable and full of glory" ( 1 Peter 1:8 ). I'm glad for the knowledge and the assurance that my Redeemer lives.

Now, Job has the capacity of coming out with these bright things and then jumping right back down in the pit.

But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment ( Job 19:28-29 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

4. Job’s second reply to Bildad ch. 19

This speech is one of the more important ones in the book, because in it, Job reached a new low and a new high in his personal experience. He revealed here the extent of his rejection by his friends, relatives, and servants, but he also came to a new confidence in God. Bildad had spoken of the terrors of death, and now Job described the trials of life, his own life. He did so by using seven figures to describe himself: an animal trapped (Job 19:6), a criminal in court (Job 19:7), a traveler fenced in (Job 19:8), a king dethroned (Job 19:9), a structure destroyed (Job 19:10), a tree uprooted (Job 19:10), and a city besieged (Job 19:11-12). [Note: Wiersbe, pp. 39-40.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The hostility of God 19:7-12

Job agreed with his friends that God was responsible for his troubles, but while they believed God was punishing him for his sins, he contended that God was acting unjustly. He saw evidence of God’s injustice, too, in God’s silence when he cried out for help (Job 19:7). Job then named ten (cf. Job 19:3) hostile actions of God against himself (Job 19:8-12). Note the recurrence of "He" in these verses that emphasizes God’s responsibility. Bildad had previously cited what overtakes the wicked. Job now showed that God was the source of their troubles (cf. Job 19:8 b with Job 18:5-6; Job 18:18; Job 19:9 with Job 18:16-17; Job 19:10 a with Job 18:7; Job 18:12; Job 19:10 b with Job 18:16; and Job 19:12 with Job 18:14).

Some readers of Job’s words in this pericope have accused Job of blasphemy. However, blasphemy is "any remark deliberately mocking or contemptuous of God." [Note: Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language.] Job was neither mocking God nor was he being contemptuous of God. He was simply describing God as he perceived Him to be. He could not understand why God was apparently treating him unjustly, and he repeatedly asked God to solve this mystery for him.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Behold, I cry out of wrong,.... Or of "violence" m, or injury done him by the Sabeans and Chaldeans upon his substance, and by Satan upon his health; this he cried out and complained of in prayer to God, and of it as it were in open court, as a violation of justice, and as being dealt very unjustly with:

but I am not heard; his prayer was not heard; he could get no relief, nor any redress of his grievances, nor any knowledge of the reasons of his being thus used; see Habakkuk 1:2;

I cry aloud, but [there is] no judgment; notwithstanding his vehement and importunate requests; and which were repeated time after time, that there might be a hearing of his cause; that it might be searched into and tried, that his innocence might be cleared, and justice done him, and vengeance taken on those that wronged him; but he could not obtain it; there was no time appointed for judgment, no court of judicature set, nor any to judge. Now seeing this was the case, that the hand of God was in all his afflictions; that he had complained to him of the injury done him; and that he had most earnestly desired his cause might be heard, and the reasons given why he was thus used, but could get no answer to all this; therefore it became them to be cautious and careful of what they said concerning the dealings of God with him, and to what account they placed them; of which he gives a particular enumeration in the following verses.

m חמס "violentiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c. "injuriam", Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Then Job answered and said,   2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?   3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.   4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.   5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:   6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.   7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

      Job's friends had passed a very severe censure upon him as a wicked man because he was so grievously afflicted; now here he tells them how ill he took it to be so censured. Bildad had twice begun with a How long (Job 8:2; Job 18:2), and therefore Job, being now to answer him particularly, begins with a How long too, Job 19:2; Job 19:2. What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had to think him long who only vindicated himself. Better cause may be shown for defending ourselves, if we have right on our side, than for offending our brethren, though we have right on our side. Now observe here,

      I. How he describes their unkindness to him and what account he gives of it. 1. They vexed his soul, and that is more grievous than the vexation of the bones, Psalms 6:2; Psalms 6:3. They were his friends; they came to comfort him, pretended to counsel him for the best; but with a great deal of gravity, and affectation of wisdom and piety, they set themselves to rob him of the only comfort he had now left him in a good God, a good conscience, and a good name; and this vexed him to his heart. 2. They broke him in pieces with words, and those were surely hard and very cruel words that would break a man to pieces: they grieved him, and so broke him; and therefore there will be a reckoning hereafter for all the hard speeches spoken against Christ and his people, Jude 1:15. 3. They reproached him, (Job 19:3; Job 19:3), gave him a bad character and laid to his charge things that he knew not. To an ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. 4. They made themselves strange to him, were shy of him now that he was in his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him (Job 2:12; Job 2:12), were not free with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity. Those are governed by the spirit of the world, and not by any principles of true honour or love, who make themselves strange to their friends, or God's friends, when they are in trouble. A friend loves at all times. 5. They not only estranged themselves from him, but magnified themselves against him (Job 19:5; Job 19:5), not only looked shy of him, but looked big upon him, and insulted over him, magnifying themselves to depress him. It is a mean thing, it is a base thing, thus to trample upon those that are down. 6. They pleaded against him his reproach, that is, they made use of his affliction as an argument against him to prove him a wicked man. They should have pleaded for him his integrity, and helped him to take the comfort of that under his affliction, and so have pleaded that against his reproach (as St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 1:12); but, instead of that, they pleaded his reproach against his integrity, which was not only unkind, but very unjust; for where shall we find an honest man if reproach may be admitted for a plea against him?

      II. How he aggravates their unkindness. 1. They had thus abused him often (Job 19:3; Job 19:3): These ten times you have reproached me, that is, very often, as Genesis 31:7; Numbers 14:22. Five times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches, and could tell just how many they were. It is but a peevish and unfriendly thing to do so, and looks like a design of retaliation and revenge. We better befriend our own peace by forgetting injuries and unkindnesses than by remembering them and scoring them up. 2. They continued still to abuse him, and seemed resolved to persist in it: "How long will you do it?" Job 19:2; Job 19:5. "I see you will magnify yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is shut to reason. 3. They were not ashamed of what they did, Job 19:3; Job 19:3. They had reason to be ashamed of their hard-heartedness, so ill becoming men, of their uncharitableness, so ill becoming good men, and of their deceitfulness, so ill becoming friends: but were they ashamed? No, though they were told of it again and again, yet they could not blush.

      III. How he answers their harsh censures, by showing them that what they condemned was capable of excuse, which they ought to have considered. 1. The errors of his judgment were excusable (Job 19:4; Job 19:4): "Be it indeed that I have erred, that I am in the wrong through ignorance or mistake," which may well be supposed concerning men, concerning good men. Humanum est errare--Error cleaves to humanity; and we must be willing to suppose it concerning ourselves. It is folly to think ourselves infallible. "But be it so," said Job, "my error remaineth with myself," that is, "I speak according to the best of my judgment, with all sincerity, and not from a spirit of contradiction." Or, "If I be in an error, I keep it to myself, and do not impose it upon others as you do. I only prove myself and my own work by it. I meddle not with other people, either to teach them or to judge them." Men's errors are the more excusable if they keep them to themselves, and do not disturb others with them. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself. Some give this sense of these words: "If I be in an error, it is I that must smart for it; and therefore you need not concern yourselves: nay, it is I that do smart, and smart severely, for it; and therefore you need not add to my misery by your reproaches." 2. The breakings out of his passion, though not justifiable, yet were excusable, considering the vastness of his grief and the extremity of his misery. "If you will go on to cavil at every complaining word I speak, will make the worst of it and improve it against me, yet take the cause of the complaint along with you, and weigh that, before you pass a judgment upon the complaint, and turn it to my reproach: Know then that God has overthrown me," Job 19:6; Job 19:6. Three things he would have them consider:-- (1.) That his trouble was very great. He was overthrown, and could not help himself, enclosed as in a net, and could not get out. (2.) That God was the author of it, and that, in it, he fought against him: "It was his hand that overthrew me; it is in his net that I am enclosed; and therefore you need not appear against me thus. I have enough to do to grapple with God's displeasure; let me not have yours also. Let God's controversy with me be ended before you begin yours." It is barbarous to persecute him whom God hath smitten and to talk to the grief of one whom he hath wounded,Psalms 69:26. (3.) That he could not obtain any hope of the redress of his grievances, Job 19:7; Job 19:7. He complained of his pain, but got no ease--begged to know the cause of his affliction, but could not discover it--appealed to God's tribunal for the clearing of his innocency, but could not obtain a hearing, much less a judgment, upon his appeal: I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. God, for a time, may seem to turn away his ear from his people, to be angry at their prayers and overlook their appeals to him, and they must be excused if, in that case, they complain bitterly. Woe unto us if God be against us!