Job 16:9

JOB RECOGNIZED THAT HIS REAL ENEMY WAS NOT GOD; BUT THE WICKED INTO WHOSE HANDS GOD HAD DELIVERED HIM

"He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;

He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:

Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me,

They have gaped upon me with their mouth;

They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:

They gather themselves together against me.

God delivereth me to the ungodly,

And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;

Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:

He hath also set me up for his mark.

His archers compass me round about;

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;

He poureth out my gall upon the ground.

He breaketh me with breach upon breach,

He runneth upon me like a giant.

I have sowed my sackcloth upon my skin,

And have laid my horn in the dust.

My face is red with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure."

"God delivered me to the ungodly" (Job 16:11). Here there is profound understanding on Job's part that God is good, and that all of the evil that has befallen him, while allowed by God and, in some incomprehensible manner, is actually God's will; nevertheless the actual evil that came to him came finally at the hands of the ungodly.

There are magnificent overtones of Calvary itself in this remarkable chapter. Job 16:4 reveals that Job's friends "did shake their heads" at him; Job said that God had "delivered him to the ungodly" (Job 16:11); "They gaped upon me with their mouth" (Job 16:10); "They gather themselves together against me" (Job 16:10); "They have smitten (my) cheek reproachfully" (Job 16:10); "And have laid my horn in the dust" (Job 16:15).

Now observe that all of these things were prophesied as events connected with the crucifixion of Christ in Psalms 22.

He will be forsaken by God

(delivered to the ungodly).......Psalms 22:1

They shake the head at him.........Psalms 22:7

They gape upon him.................Psalms 22:13

They place him in the dust.........Psalms 22:15

The evil men surround him..........Psalms 22:16

Thus, it must be held as sublime fact that, "The Man of Sorrows in the Old Testament (Job) is in many respects a type of the Man of Sorrows (Christ) in the New Testament. The Psalmist David constantly applied statements regarding Job to the Messiah, as witnessed not only by Psalms 22, but also in Psalms 35:16 and in Psalms 37:12)."[4]

Of special significance is the employment both in this chapter of Job and in Psalms 22 of the metaphor of wild animals attacking their prey. In Psalms 22, we have the "Strong bulls of Bashan"; and here much of the terminology is applicable to wild animals. "Several of the words used here are commonly used to describe the mutilations of their prey by rapacious animals, such as a lion."[5] It is a mistake, however, to understand any of this as either hatred, or disrespect for God. All of the terrible things that were happening to Job came upon him by the hands of the wicked, a fact made perfectly clear here in Job 16:11.

"There is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure" (Job 16:17). In these final verses of this paragraph, Job again affirmed his integrity in these verses. This Job knew to be a fact, and all of the cunning ingenuity of Satan himself, through his chosen instruments (Job's friends), could not dislodge Job from this fundamental integrity.