Job 17:1-16
Q.1. Did Job’s friends understand his plight? Did Job believe that his darkness would give way to light? How did he view his future? – (Job 17:1-16) = Job felt that his friends now despised him, and that none would stand up to defend him (Job 17:2-3). Somehow God had kept them from empathizing with him (Job 17:4). Though his friends promised that his circumstances would change, Job was left with the belief that he would soon go to Sheol – the resting place of the dead (Job 17:12-14). His hope was crushed, as he faced a downward spiral to his death (Job 17:15-16).
Q.2. How do Job’s words relate to Christ’s sufferings? What was Christ’s consolation in the midst of His suffering? – (Job 17:1-9)
Job expressed sentiments that Jesus would have faced while enduring His suffering and pending death – 1 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. 2 “Surely mockers are with me, and my eye gazes on their provocation … 6 “But He has made me a byword of the people, and I am one at whom men spit. 7 “My eye has also grown dim because of grief, and all my members are as a shadow (Job 17:1-2, 6-7). Jesus knew that His own would understand His suffering and death very differently – 8 “The upright will be appalled at this, and the innocent will stir up himself against the godless. 9 “Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger (Job 17:8-9). He was also confident that those whom He chose would prevail and be overcomers (c.f. Jn.17:6-8).