THE LIVING
REDEEMER (JOB 19:23-27)
Job’s suffering was so severe that at
times he thought he might die. In Job 19, he noted his dire physical condition:
“My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of
my teeth” (Jb 19:20). Since he did not know how long he might live, the most
famous passage in Job begins with his wish that his thoughts would be made
permanent: “I wish that my words were written down! I wish they were inscribed
on a scroll or engraved in stone forever with an iron stylus and lead! (Jb
19:23-24, authors’ translation). What he was about to say was so important that
Job wanted it to be made long-lasting—eternal in the heavens.
In Job’s day, a few things were
recorded in writing since writing materials were expensive and often had to be
manmade. Scribes were trained to make their own ink and quills. Moreover, few people
knew how to write. Most people never owned a written text of any kind. Those scrolls
that were in existence were considered precious and carefully archived to
preserve the words in them. Carved inscriptions were more durable than scrolls,
and so Job mentions a stone engraving as an even more ideal medium to record what
he was about to say.
“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the end he will stand upon the earth” (Jb 19:25, authors’ translation).
Job knows that he has a Redeemer, a go’el. . . . This person will act as
his defender when Job is defenseless. He will be one to rescue Job. Later, the
prophet Isaiah would use this term go’el to describe God as the defender
of His people. (Is 41:14; 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, 26; 54:5, 8;
60:16; 63:16) Job was confident that he had a divine Redeemer.
At the same time, Job said that his Redeemer
would “stand upon the earth.” He pictured his Redeemer not simply as God but
also as man—the Messiah who would be both human and divine. Moreover, He would
do this “at the end,” that is, at the end of time when God executes His final
judgment. Job’s confidence here is that even though he may die, his Redeemer
will continue to live and will be at the judgment to defend him and rescue him.
Then Job added, “Even after my skin has
been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart faints within me!” (Jb
19:26-27, authors’ translation). Not only did Job anticipate he would die, but
also that his corpse would decay. Nevertheless, he boldly proclaimed, “Yet in
my flesh I shall see God.” This is not the first time Job spoke of the resurrection.
Early, he had said to God,
I wish you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint a
set time for me, and remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the
days of my service I would wait, until my renewal would come. You would call,
and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands. For then you
would number my steps, but you would not keep a record of my sin. My
transgression would be sealed upon in a bag, and you would cover over my
iniquity. (Jb 14:13-17, authors’ translation)
Job answers his own question, “If a
man dies, he will live again?” with a positive affirmation that he will—God will
call, and Job will answer. Not only that, but Job knows that he will be
forgiven by God.
In chapter 14, Job describes the
landscape of his life. “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of
trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers” (Jb 14:1-2). Like a flower,
Job is withering away. “The mountain falls and crumbles away” (Jb 14:18). Like
a mountain, Job’s life is eroding and crumbling. “Water wears away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil” (Jb 14:19). Like stones and soil, Job’s life
is wearing and washing away.
Job’s world is filled with pain and
sorrow. But amid wilting flowers, eroding and crumbling mountains, worn stones,
and washed-away soil, Job contemplates the tree, which was hope since, if cut
down, it can sprout again (Jb 14:7-9). Though Job sees no visible evidence for
the hope of an afterlife (Jb 14:10-12), his faith overcomes human reason: “If a
man dies, he will live again? All the days of my service I would wait, until my
renewal would come” (Jb 14:14). The term renewal in Job 14:14 comes from
the same word Job used to describe the tree sprouting in Job 14:7. With
renewal, therefore, Job is thinking of an afterlife. He also speaks of God hiding
him in Sheol (denoting the general realm of the dead) until divine wrath
passages over and God remembers him (Jb 14:13). Reconciliation would be a real possibility
if God were to overlook sin, seal up transgression in a pouch, and plaster over
iniquity (Jb 14:16-17). Resurrection and redemption—these are the Messiah’s
gifts for Job and indeed for all who believe.
Now in Job 19, he once again affirms that
even after death he will have life, and not simply as a disembodied soul but in
his flesh (v. 26). He will see God with his own eyes in his resurrected body. God will be no stranger. The thought of the
Redeemer raising Job on the Last Day was so overwhelming that he could only
say, “My heart faints within me!” (Jb 19:27).
Job’s statement is clear: the resurrection
at the end of time is tied to the living Redeemer and clearly points to Christ.
Paul elaborates on this resurrection in Christ for those who trust in Him as
Job did:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall
not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be
raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put
on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the
perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then
shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in
victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The
sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Co 15:51-57) (R.
Reed Lessing and Andrew E. Steinmann, The Messianic Message: Predictions,
Patterns, and the Presence of Jesus in the Old Testament [St. Louis, Miss.:
Concordia Publishing House, 2023], 114-17)