The Bible Says
Job 23:8-17 Meaning

In Job 23:8-17, Job ponders the realities of a hearing before God, recognizing God’s awesome nature but steeling himself to speak boldly and gain deliverance. Speaking of the imagined tribunal before God, Job admits, “Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him” (v. 8).

He checks the future forward and the past backward and still can’t perceive God. We can reflect that Job is likely the first part of scripture to be written down. So Job’s knowledge of God would have come primarily through oral tradition and observation of nature (Psalm 19:1-4). Job might have lived in or near the time of Abraham, around 2000 BC, but the story of Abraham is not believed to have been submitted to writing for roughly another five hundred years, during the time of Moses.

Further, the Holy Spirit did not come to permanently indwell believers until after Jesus’s resurrection (Acts 1:3, 2:1-4). Prior to then the Holy Spirit came upon people for special service, and could also leave, as we see with David and Saul (1 Samuel 6:13-14). It is truly remarkable that Job was such a righteous person in spite of these disadvantages (Job 1:8). No wonder God so honors Job, both within this book, as in Job 1:8, but also elsewhere in scripture (Ezekiel 14:14, James 5:11).

We can further reflect on Jesus’s word concerning those who saw His works and heard His words as compared to those in ancient times, the era of Job. Jesus said that the men of Sodom would incur less judgment for their wickedness than those in Capernaum who saw Jesus’s miracles (Matthew 11:23-24). The inference is that knowledge brings accountability, and the men of ancient times had little knowledge. This again places Job’s lived righteousness into a unique and lofty category.

Notwithstanding, Job has sought for God and found Him far off. God is not far off; if we draw near Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). Job’s perspective will be totally overturned in Job 38-42:6. Job will come to see God and know Him in a new way (Job 42:5-6). Perhaps part of Job’s reward for faithfulness is to have this longing filled. Job restates the same sentiment, saying: “When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him” (v. 9).

Here Job is not only searching time; he’s scanning the present, looking left and right. He sees that God acts. Both Job as well as Eliphaz and his two friends properly attribute Job’s circumstances to God (Job 2:3). Job sees God’s acts, but he does not see God; he cannot behold Him. Job’s yearning is to engage directly with God and present his case before Him. He is frustrated that this seems far off.

For New Testament believers, scripture prepares us to trust God’s unseen work. Jesus told His disciples, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working” (John 5:17). Even when we “cannot see Him,” the Father and the Son are not idle. Faith learns to rest in that steady, hidden faithfulness. Job will learn this through getting to see God after his profound test of faith. New Testament believers have the same promise (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10-11).

Against the fog, Job plants a flag of faith: “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (v. 10).

The Hebrew word translated He knows in the phrase He knows the way I take is a verb type that emphasizes completed action more than tense (past, present, future). It is usually rendered to English as past tense to emphasize completion. In context, it seems apparent that Job is expressing confidence that once God has tried me, He will decide conclusively the righteousness of Job’s ways. Job’s confident assertion is that he will come forth from such a judicial trial with God as gold.

By using the metaphor of gold, Job invokes a biblical pattern that sees God as a refining fire, determining the quality of deeds just as a refining fire purifies gold (Malachi 3:2, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15). The New Testament says our faith is “more precious than gold,” being proved by fire so that it “may be found to result in praise and glory” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Here in saying God will change His mind once He sees the evidence, Job’s view of God is too small. God sees all. Nothing escapes His gaze. And He has already done what Job imagines, having judged Job as righteous. Again, Job underestimates God’s ways. God has a plan that is larger than Job can imagine. There is something much greater afoot. Job will learn this in chapters 38-40.

Job is part of a grand cosmic drama of which he is unaware. So are we. We now can be aware because we have the written word and this story of Job. God created humans to silence Satan through following God’s commands and living as servant leaders. By living as a servant leader, Job has already refuted the accusation of Satan. We can do so as well when we live as servant leaders and follow the Great Commission to teach Jesus’s commands to others (Matthew 28:18-20).

What Job does not know is that God has already made this assessment. He boasted to Satan of Job’s righteousness (Job 1:8, 2:3). He agrees with Job’s assessment: “My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside” (v. 11).

Job believes that once God sees, then He will know and vindicate Job because he knows he has held fast to His path. Job has maintained a focus on following God’s commands. He has kept His way and not turned aside from following God’s commandments. This is a witness that the oral tradition of God’s commands was in circulation and readily obtainable. This would explain how during this same epoch in which lived Abraham and Job, Melchizedek could be a holy priest of the One true God (Genesis 14:18).

Job states further of his faithfulness in following God’s ways, “I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (v. 12).

At this point it is hundreds of years in the future until God will speak in Deuteronomy 8:3 that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.” This is the same verse Jesus quoted to thwart Satan’s temptation to turn rocks into bread (Matthew 4:4).

Yet Job is already practicing this principle, that God’s word brings a lasting wealth. He recognizes that genuine treasure comes from the words of God’s mouth more than physical bread. This is likely a substantial reason why Job was able to worship God when he lost all his possessions and children in Chapter 1, Job 1:20-21. He already knew that the true gold in life is gained by listening to God. This is also taught directly by Jesus in Revelation 3:18-21. There Jesus advises believers to “buy” all the gold they want by hearing Jesus’s voice and inviting Him in to intimate fellowship with them, as we would invite someone for a meal.

Job’s statement that he has not departed from the command of His lips reminds us of the rich young ruler. The rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to know what he could do “to inherit eternal life.” In asking this, the young man was asking what he could do to gain the greatest possible benefit from life. Jesus answered that he should obey God’s commands, just as Job had obeyed God’s commands. When the rich young ruler said, as Job, that he had done this since his youth, Mark 10:21 says Jesus “felt a love for him” and told him he lacked only one thing, to sell all he had and come follow Jesus.

Because the rich young ruler was already following God’s commands he had most of what can be gained from life. But he could have gone deeper and laid up even more treasure in heaven, both through doing good works as well as by coming to know God deeper through walking with Him while on earth, an experience available to a select few.

Just as Jesus loved the rich young ruler and offered him more, God loves Job and is offering him more. In Job’s case, God allowed Satan to strip him of all he had. But Job will come to know God in a much deeper way through this trial, and knowing God is the source of the fullest experience of eternal life (John 17:3). Job will become an example of what James speaks about in the New Testament:

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
(James 1:12)

James acknowledges the testimony of Job later in his epistle, saying:

“We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”
(James 5:11)

Next Job confesses a heart that is righteous in its seeking. He acknowledges that God is God and owes nothing to Job: “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does” (v. 13).

Job has already expressed confidence that if God would hear his “case” Job would be vindicated. Here Job is likely acknowledging that it is God’s prerogative whether to take up his plea and give him a hearing. In this Job speaks truly. God is not an idol that He might be manipulated. He owes no man, and when He rewards, He does so based on His own judgment (1 Corinthians 4:4-5).

The Hebrew word translated unique is often translated “one” or “first.” God stands alone as the One True God. Job recognizes that God will do as God will do. Job cannot turn Him. God will do what His soul desires.

This story of Job completely validates this statement about God. However, God is not far off, as this implies. What Job will come to realize is that what God desires is to bless Job beyond measure, in a manner he could not have conceived, through a means he would not have chosen. Job is immortalized in scripture. He will come to know God through his walk of faith to an ultimate degree, which gives him the fullest experience of eternal life (John 17:3). Job will express this in Job 42:5-6, then God will double his blessing to further make the point (Job 42:10).

Job applies sovereignty personally: “For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such decrees are with Him” (v. 14).

Job applied this belief in Chapter 1, when he confronted the realities of losing his possessions and children,

“He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.’”
(Job 1:21)

Job’s correct view of God’s sovereignty led him to this righteous behavior, and to maintain his integrity, as the next verse says: “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God” (Job 1:22).

Job accepted his circumstances. But Job did not in any way perceive they would lead to an immense blessing. That lesson is to come. Still, Job’s example is a lesson for us. And we are told plainly to “count it joy” when we experience trials (James 1:2). This is because God has our greater good in view, and we can trust that what is appointed for us is for our good. What God desires is to bring us to “glory” as “sons” and grant us the “crown of life” for persevering in our faith (James 1:12, Hebrews 2:10).

Job’s belief in God’s sovereignty produces an appropriate awe of Him: “Therefore I would be dismayed at His presence; When I consider, I am terrified of Him” (v. 15).

Job is confident that if he could present his case before God, he would be vindicated, but he does not treat God lightly. He recognizes that he would be dismayed at His presence, and be terrified of Him. We can gain further insight into how Job became the most righteous man on earth by seeing here that Job has an appropriate fear of the Lord. This leads to his great knowledge and wisdom, as:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”
(Proverbs 1:7)

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
(Proverbs 9:10)

Job adds, “It is God who has made my heart faint, And the Almighty who has dismayed me” (v. 16).

The Hebrew verbs in verse 16 are of a type that emphasizes completed action. Job is stating here an accomplished fact; he is dismayed by the prospect of standing before God. The thought makes his heart faint.

But in spite of his fear, Job ends with resilience: “But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me” (v. 17).

In spite of his dread, Job still desires to have his “day in court” with God. He is not silenced because of the deep gloom that covers him when he considers standing before God.

This reminds us of God’s admonition to follow the boldness Job expresses here. Hebrews tells us:

“Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
(Hebrews 4:16)

The reason we are told we should have this boldness in our “time of need” is because “we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (Hebrews 4:15).

We are similarly exhorted to “enter the holy place” in heaven through Christ, who broke the “veil” standing between us and God. And “since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

This passage from Hebrews 10 tells us how to deal with sin. We should approach the heavenly throne boldly in order to have our consciences cleansed through confession and repentance of our sins before God.

Job has an appropriate fear of God, recognizing that God is God and cannot be manipulated. In saying this, Job speaks truly of God, as God will assert in Job 42:7-8. There, God will chastise Eliphaz and his two friends for speaking wrongly about Him. A primary contrast between Job’s speaking about God and Eliphaz and his two friends is that Job acknowledges that God is not one to be turned. That He decides what He decides apart from any enticements we might offer.

Throughout the dialogues, Eliphaz and his two friends consistently maintain that God will restore Job if he will repent. A list of such passages follows:

• In Job 4:6-8, Eliphaz maintains that human actions determine divine blessing
• In Job 8:6, Bildad infers that God is obligated to bless Job in a material way if he is righteous
• In Job 11, Zophar maintains that Job must be guilty of sin because of his troubles, inferring that God is transactional and can be manipulated by our actions.

The Book of Job opened with Satan maintaining that God is transactional, that He only blessed Job because Job appeased Him, and Job only worships God because he is getting bribed to do so (Job 1:9-11). Then Eliphaz and his two friends’ assertions reflect the same basic premise.

But God overturns this false perspective by allowing the righteous Job to go through great trials then pardoning the erroneous trio led by Eliphaz when Job interceded for them (Job 42:8-9). Then when Job interceded for Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, God restored Job’s fortunes, even doubling them (Job 42:10).

We can take from our study of Job 23 a number of lessons, but should be particularly mindful to note:

• That God is God, and cannot be obligated by our actions.
• That God’s benevolent desire for those who love Him goes dramatically beyond our capacity to grasp (1 Corinthians 2:9)
• That we should have the boldness of Job to approach God, even as we walk in the fear of the Lord