Throughout the book, Job faces adversity — first the losses, then from his wife, and then from his friends. At one point, we read this heart-wrenching utterance, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him” (Job 13:15).
The book of Job troubles people. How can a loving God permit such devastation in the life of a man the Bible says was, “blameless and upright,” (Job 1:1) and of whom God Himself said, “there is none like him on the earth” (Job 1:8)? And yet God allowed Satan to touch Job’s life with calamity and Job lost his property and his children. But in all his loss, Job worshiped God and did not charge God with wrongdoing or sin (Job 1:20, 22).
Throughout the book, Job faces adversity — first the losses, then from his wife, and then from his friends. At one point, we read this heart-wrenching utterance, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him” (Job 13:15).
What Is the Context of This Verse?
As readers, we get to take a peek behind the curtain, so to speak, as God reveals a scene from heaven. The introduction and explanation of the behind-the-scenes events are encompassed in Job 1:6-2:10. Satan, being the accuser (Revelation 12:10), goes before the throne of God to give an account of his travels on earth. God asked him if he knew of Job, His servant, a blameless man.
God allows Satan to touch first Job’s family and his belongings (buildings, beasts, and land). And then, because Job worshiped God when stricken by the news, Satan told God Job would surely curse Him if Job was physically touched. God gives Satan permission and Job suffers from boils on his body (Job 1-2).
When his friends arrive, they wisely sit with him in silence for seven days but in chapter 3 their wisdom turns to accusations and windy wisdom (because they too are ignorant of the facts).
According to John MacArthur, three cycles exist in the book of Job. Cycle One encompasses Job 3:1-14:22. It is the first round of conversations between Job and his acquaintances. Cycle Two includes Job 15:1 – 21:34, where the second sequence of accusations and answers ensue between Job and the three. Cycle Three (Job 32-37) shows us the entrance of Elihu, a younger man who speaks some truth, but he is as clueless as are the others. Chapters 38-42 reveal Job’s deliverance.
Who Is Speaking in This Verse, and to Whom?
In chapters twelve and thirteen, Job is acknowledging and lamenting his situation to Zophar’s latest rebukes and counsel.
In this particular passage, Job is speaking to his friends (and yet to God) as he laments his condition. He is ignorant of the why, so he cries out to all within earshot, the closest being his wife (Job 2:9), his friend, Zophar (his immediate audience), with Bildad (Job 8), and Eliphaz (Job 4, 5) close by. God is always within hearing range, and we can assume Satan hears the discourse between Job, these people, and God.
What Else Happens in Job 13?
As we have seen, Job is answering Zophar’s latest charge against Job’s ways. Job:
- Tells him he is not inferior to them (v. 2)
- Wants to “argue his case with God (v. 3)
- Rebukes his friends for their wrong counsel (v. 4)
- Tells them it would have been wiser had they remained silent (v. 5)
- Tells them to listen to his argument in his pleas to God (v. 6-7)
- Asks them who are they to speak for God (v. 8)
- Reminds them they are not without sin and God will rebuke them for partiality (vv. 9-10)
- Asks if they fear Him (v. 11)
- Rebukes them for their false defenses and maxims ( v.12)
- Counsels them to hush so he can speak (v. 13)
Job then asked why he should set himself up for God’s wrath (v. 14). He seems to lead to verse 15 by inferring his defense is just and God will vindicate him. He said he trusted God, no matter the outcome — even to death. And his salvation will include the knowledge that godless people will not be in God’s presence. He knows who he is and he knows he is “in the right” because no one can say he is other than righteous.
Job switched his direct audience to God in verse 20 when he asked God to take His hand off him and keep him from terror of Him. He then asked God to point out his transgressions. He accused God of hiding from him and calling him (Job) an enemy.
What Does This Verse Mean, and What Does It NOT Mean?
Job is stating his case to his earthly audience and also to God. He is sure of his righteousness but is not sure of how God sees him. Even if God would bring Job to death, Job’s trust in God would not fail. He still planned to argue his innocence before God and not as a self-righteous man or a fraud, but as one who loved and trusted his God.
We have found the first part of Job 13 means Job would not be surprised if God took his life. The verse does not mean God would be anything other than just or righteous. God’s character is fully “operational” in whole. Not one of His attributes supersedes another. He is fully loving and He is fully just all the time.
The second part of the verse could be taken as Job thinking he can change God’s mind or that Job knows better who he is than does the Lord God. Again, God knows everything about us. Job said he would defend his ways before God by virtue of God’s goodness and not his own.
Why Can We Trust in God, Even When We Are Facing Difficult Trials?
God is sovereign over every aspect of our lives, including physical and spiritual exterior influences. Nothing surprises Him. His Word tells us that for those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose, He works all things together for good — His glory and our good (Romans 8:28). This is an oft-quoted verse, and rightly so, but the following verse gives even greater hope. Romans 8:29 tells us He created us to be conformed to the image of His Son, our Savior.
When a person makes a promise, so much of it is conditional. The person may have all good intentions, but what if that promise maker lied, or has a change of heart, or even dies? What if something makes the promise impossible to fulfill? God is eternal and is unchanging. When He makes a promise, He always delivers. It’s impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). He also tells us in His Word He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:15).
This was as true for Job as it is true for us as believers. Job faced extreme calamity, and many of us do, too. We are not alone. God wastes nothing and will use whatever we endure to grow us more into the image of Christ — Christ who suffered crucifixion and death so we may live.
Jesus told us to expect hardship, even tribulation (John 16:33; Romans 12:12), and He told us to “take heart” for He has overcome the world. James 1:2 tells us to consider it a joy to meet trials. And 1 Peter 1:6 gives us more assurance – no matter what we face here on earth, we have a heavenly dwelling awaiting us. That’s good news!
One day we believers will meet our biblical “heroes.” Yet we, as did Job (we can assume), will seek Jesus first! After our initial face-to-face introduction to our Lord and Savior, we might be afforded the chance to talk with all the righteous people we have read about in the Scriptures. We might want to ask Job how he endured. I can imagine him saying nothing as he points to Jesus. May we be speechless as well.
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