SUMMARY
Job longs for an audience with God, but he cannot find God.
ANALYSIS
Job wants his day in court. He wants to speak with God directly:
“I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me….
There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.” (23:4-5, 7)
The problem is that Job cannot find God. God is hidden from him:
“If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn to the right, but I cannot see him.” (23:8-9)
Even though Job cannot find God, he is sure that when he does finally have his day in court, he will be vindicated:
“But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.” (23:10)
Earlier in the book, Job wanted God to leave him alone, to look away from him long enough for Job to swallow his spit (7:17-20). Now, Job wants to speak with God directly, to argue with God, but he despairs of ever having his day in court. This desire of Job’s is answered just a few chapters later. God shows up in answer to Job’s laments. The dialogue takes place, however, not in a courtroom but in the wild arena of creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More, and it is God who demands answers from Job.
