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Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
Job 17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Introduction

The book of Job is 42 chapters long. It is a record of the humiliation and judgment of Job, stemming from three separate sources: first, the loss of all of his possessions, including the loss of all of his ten children; secondly, his affliction with boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet; and his third means of judgment is the torment of the false accusations from his three “miserable comforters”, who before were some of his closest friends. Nothing hurts more than to discover that those whom you thought most loved and respected you now consider you to be the enemy of God and a secret sinner who is withstanding God.

This book also records Job’s three accusers, who he had before considered to be his close friends, each being given the opportunity to bring accusation against Job, which in reality applied equally to themselves and to all of mankind. Job of course is also given the opportunity of judging each of his three miserable comforters with the same self-righteous spirit with which they are judging him.

So this whole experience of Job, up until the arrival of Elihu who is sent to speak in behalf of God, is the Old Testament type and shadow of the struggles of our own self-righteous carnal mind to defend itself.

As we have demonstrated, the number three signifies the process of judgment, and that is exactly what is happening to Job as the type and shadow of the process of judgment which comes first upon the house of God:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

There are three separate rounds of these three men assaulting their friend Job, even though Zophar does not participate in the third round of accusations.

In this 17th chapter, Job is responding to Eliphaz’s second attack. Eliphaz, as a type of us, still sees Job’s great trials and tribulations as proof positive that he is a great sinner above all men. This is part of the mental torment Job is enduring, which has been added to the loss of all of Job’s possessions, including his seven sons and three daughters, and to the physical pain of being afflicted with boils from his head to his feet. Shortly after the loss of his entire family except for his wife, Job is then stricken with boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. So Job has long since despaired of life. He tells us that he has endure “months of vanity, and wearisome nights…”

Job 7:3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

This 17th chapter is the beginning of the second of three rounds of Job’s defense of himself against the unfounded accusations of his friends who consider Job’s self-righteousness and his pride (what is in all of us) as really the only things that are now keeping him going and enduring this trial.

It is most revealing to know that our pride is apparently strengthened in our rebellion against God’s ways by simply knowing that we are no more of a sinner than those who are looking down on us while we are suffering at the hands of our Creator.

Job cannot deny that God is destroying him, but neither can he understand why. He knows he had done nothing more than his friends have done to deserve the judgment which had come upon Him. He has no clue that he is being used as a type of those who are to be the first to be judged in “the time of reformation” in which we live.

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

In His pride and self-righteousness Job is actually inspired to increase his own criticism of his detractors.

Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

The Hebrew for ‘breath’ in verse one is ‘ruach‘ which is most often translated with the English word ‘spirit’. It is the same word translated as ‘breath’ in this verse of Genesis 6:

Gen 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

Here is the most common way this Hebrew word is translated:

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit [Hebrew: ruach] of God moved upon the face of the waters.

It will help us to know just how few times this Hebrew word ‘ruach‘ is translated as ‘breath’ as compared to the more common translations of ‘spirit’ and the next most common translation as ‘wind’. Here is how e-sword breaks down the translation of this word in the King James Version:

H7307
ru ach
Total KJV Occurrences: 379
spirit, 227
Gen_6:2-3 (2), Gen_41:8, Gen_41:38, Gen_45:27, Exo_6:9, Exo_31:3 (2), Exo_35:21, Exo_35:31, Num_5:14 (2), Num_5:30, Num_11:17, Num_11:25-26 (3), Num_11:29, Num_14:24, Num_24:2, Num_27:18, Deu_2:30, Deu_34:9, Jos_5:1, Jdg_3:10, Jdg_6:34, Jdg_9:23, Jdg_11:29, Jdg_13:25, Jdg_14:6, Jdg_14:19, Jdg_15:14, Jdg_15:19, 1Sa_1:15, 1Sa_10:6, 1Sa_10:10, 1Sa_11:6, 1Sa_16:13-16 (5), 1Sa_16:23 (2), 1Sa_18:10, 1Sa_19:9, 1Sa_19:20, 1Sa_19:23, 1Sa_30:12, 2Sa_23:2, 1Ki_10:5, 1Ki_18:12, 1Ki_21:5, 1Ki_22:21-24 (4), 2Ki_2:9, 2Ki_2:15-16 (2), 1Ch_5:26 (2), 1Ch_12:18, 1Ch_28:12, 2Ch_9:4, 2Ch_15:1, 2Ch_18:20-23 (4), 2Ch_20:14, 2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_24:20, 2Ch_36:22, Ezr_1:1, Ezr_1:5, Neh_9:20, Neh_9:30, Job_4:15, Job_6:4, Job_15:11-13 (3), Job_21:3-4 (2), Job_26:13, Job_27:3, Job_32:8, Job_32:18, Job_33:4, Job_34:14, Psa_31:5, Psa_32:2, Psa_34:18, Psa_51:10-12 (3), Psa_51:17, Psa_76:12, Psa_77:3, Psa_77:6, Psa_78:8, Psa_104:30, Psa_106:33, Psa_139:7, Psa_143:3-4 (2), Psa_143:7, Psa_143:10, Pro_1:23, Pro_11:13, Pro_14:29, Pro_15:4, Pro_15:13, Pro_16:18-19 (2), Pro_16:32, Pro_17:22, Pro_17:27, Pro_18:14 (2), Pro_25:28, Pro_29:23, Ecc_1:14, Ecc_1:17, Ecc_2:11, Ecc_2:17, Ecc_2:26, Ecc_3:21 (2), Ecc_4:4, Ecc_4:6, Ecc_4:16, Ecc_6:9, Ecc_7:8-9 (3), Ecc_8:8 (2), Ecc_11:4-5 (2), Ecc_12:7, Isa_4:4 (2), Isa_19:2-3 (5), Isa_19:14, Isa_26:9, Isa_28:6, Isa_29:10, Isa_29:24, Isa_30:1, Isa_31:3, Isa_38:15-16 (3), Isa_40:7, Isa_40:13, Isa_42:1, Isa_42:5, Isa_44:3, Isa_48:16, Isa_54:6, Isa_57:15-16 (3), Isa_59:19, Isa_59:21, Isa_61:1, Isa_61:3, Isa_63:10-11 (2), Isa_65:14 (2), Isa_66:2, Eze_1:11-12 (2), Eze_1:20-21 (4), Eze_2:2, Eze_3:12, Eze_3:14 (2), Eze_3:24, Eze_8:3, Eze_10:17, Eze_11:1, Eze_11:5, Eze_11:19, Eze_11:24 (2), Eze_13:3, Eze_18:31, Eze_21:7, Eze_36:26-27 (2), Eze_37:1, Eze_37:14, Eze_39:29, Eze_43:5, Dan_2:1, Dan_2:3, Hos_4:12, Hos_5:4, Joe_2:28-29 (2), Mic_2:7, Mic_2:11, Mic_3:8, Hag_1:14 (3), Zec_4:5-6 (2),
Zec_6:8, Zec_7:12, Zec_12:1, Zec_12:10, Zec_13:2, Mal_2:16
wind, 82
Gen_8:1, Exo_10:13 (2), Exo_10:19, Exo_14:21, Exo_15:10, Num_11:31, 2Sa_22:11, 1Ki_18:45, 1Ki_19:11 (3), 2Ki_3:17, Job_1:19, Job_6:26, Job_7:7, Job_15:2 (2), Job_21:18, Job_30:15, Job_30:22, Job_37:21, Psa_1:4, Psa_18:10, Psa_18:42, Psa_35:5, Psa_48:7, Psa_78:39, Psa_83:13, Psa_103:16, Psa_104:3, Psa_107:25, Psa_135:7, Psa_147:18, Psa_148:8, Pro_11:29, Pro_25:14, Pro_25:23, Pro_27:16, Pro_30:4, Ecc_1:6 (2), Ecc_5:16, Ecc_11:4, Isa_7:2, Isa_11:15, Isa_17:13, Isa_26:18, Isa_27:8, Isa_32:2, Isa_41:16, Isa_41:29, Isa_57:13, Isa_64:6, Jer_2:24, Jer_10:11-13 (4), Jer_13:24, Jer_14:6, Jer_18:17, Jer_22:22, Jer_51:1, Jer_51:16, Eze_5:2, Eze_12:14, Eze_13:11, Eze_13:13, Eze_17:10, Eze_19:12, Eze_27:26, Eze_37:9 (2), Hos_4:19, Hos_8:7, Hos_12:1, Hos_13:15, Amo_4:13, Jon_1:4, Zec_5:8-9 (2)
breath, 27
Gen_6:17, Gen_7:15, 2Sa_22:16, Job_4:9, Job_9:18, Job_12:10, Job_15:30, Job_17:1, Job_19:17, Psa_18:15, Psa_33:6, Psa_104:29, Psa_135:17, Psa_146:4, Ecc_3:19, Isa_11:4, Isa_30:28, Isa_33:11, Jer_10:14, Jer_51:17, Lam_4:20, Eze_37:5-6 (2), Eze_37:8-10 (3), Hab_2:19
winds, 11
Job_28:25, Jer_49:32, Jer_49:36 (2), Eze_5:10, Eze_5:12, Eze_17:21, Eze_37:9, Dan_8:8, Dan_11:4, Zec_2:6
mind, 6
Gen_26:35, Pro_29:11, Eze_11:5, Eze_20:32, Dan_5:20, Hab_1:11
side, 5
Jer_52:23, Eze_42:16-19 (4)
spirits, 5
Num_16:22, Num_27:16, Psa_104:4, Pro_16:2, Zec_6:5
blast, 4
Exo_15:8, 2Ki_19:7, Isa_25:4, Isa_37:7
vain, 2
Job_16:2-3 (2)
air, 1
Job_41:16
anger, 1
Jdg_8:3
cool, 1
Gen_3:8
courage, 1
Jos_2:11
quarters, 1
1Ch_9:24
sides, 1
Eze_42:20
spiritual, 1
Hos_9:7
tempest, 1
Psa_11:6
whirlwind, 1
Eze_1:4
windy, 1
Psa_55:8

So while Job considers himself to be above reproach, his own mouth is condemning him as being of a ‘corrupt breath’ or ‘corrupt spirit’, destined and more than ready, to join all those who are at rest in their graves. One of the main reasons he desires to die is: “Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?” As contradictory as it may seem, the self-righteous pride that causes Job to prefer death to life is the same element which drives him to defend himself against the accusations of his “miserable comforters”.

Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

Heb 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Christ is surety for our salvation, but His sacrifice was the death of the flesh, not its continuation. Even our Lord Himself “was sown a natural body, [but it] was raised a spiritual body” (1Co 15:44-45).

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

It was that “last Adam” for whom Christ “was…made a surety.” “The first man Adam” is nothing more than “a strange woman” to our Lord.

Pro 20:16 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

His closest “inward friends” have proven that they have no intention of being surety for Job. To the contrary, they think he is guilty of some great hidden sin for being dealt with by God in this manner, and Job feels the pain of being forsaken by his closest associates.

Job 19:19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

The one thing Job knows is that it is God who is working all these things – the destruction of all his possessions, his affliction with boils, as well as the torment of being accused of great sin by his closest friends. Nevertheless Job has no intention of justifying the false accusations of his “miserable comforters”. So he tells them:

Job 17:5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

If the father cannot see the corrupt fruit of flatteries, it is certain that his children will not have ‘eyes that see’ any better than their father.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Job 17:6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

“He hath made me also a byword” is speaking of God. Job is acknowledging that all of this is of God. As the Old Testament type of Christ and His elect, Job is made a spectacle to the world and to angels:

1Co 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

“As He is so are we in this world”:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Job was one day “the toast of the town” and then, the very next day, he became “a byword of the people” just like our Lord, which is what Job is in type. Our Lord himself was brought into Jerusalem being proclaimed “the king of the Jews”, and almost the very next day the same people were crying out that He be crucified.

Luk 19:36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
Luk 19:37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
Luk 19:38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
Luk 23:13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
Luk 23:14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:
Luk 23:15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.
Luk 23:16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.
Luk 23:20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
Luk 23:21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Those are our own words when our old man learns that Christ’s ways involve our death to this world. Those are also the words of Job when he is faced with the loss of all that he holds dear in this life. He wants the judgment of the Christ to be over with and done. He does not like being “made a spectacle [and] a living sacrifice unto God”.

Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

God beseeches us to present our physical bodies as a living sacrifice simply because He knows in advance that is not what our natural man wants to do. We all just naturally want to skip the judgment phase of our spiritual development. Our natural man cannot see this spiritual event taking place right before his eyes for the same reason Job cannot see what is taking place right before his eyes.

Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Both Job, and each of us, are first just simply “the natural man”.

Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

The sorrow of our trials and the judgment of God upon our old man ‘dims our eyes’ so that we “cannot hear [His] word”.

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Of course there was no spiritual discernment before the day of Pentecost. So Job as the type of all of us, openly declares his astonishment at what the Lord is doing to him. To this day our natural man cannot fathom how or why God judges us in the way He does.

Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

Job knew that the things which had happened to him would be a mystery for many years to come for any natural-minded man. To this very day, mankind struggles to understand why good people seem to be required to suffer right along with the unrighteous. So the self-righteous spirit of Job is alive and well now, in our day of judgment, as well as it will be in the lake of fire, as these words of our Lord demonstrate:

Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

That is the same pride and self-righteousness of Job within us causing us to reprove, contend with and condemn our Lord all the while wondering why we are being judged so harshly.

Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

Being extremely self-righteous, we, like Job, ascribe verse nine to ourselves, but verse ten is always applied to anyone who condemns our old self-righteous man within us.

Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

Not knowing or understanding why, Job realizes he is being destroyed. That is the fate of our own carnal-minded old man. His days are numbered, his carnal purposes are being burned up, and his very thoughts are being dissolved and changed into the purposes and thoughts of our Lord and master who is working all these changes within us.

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

The holy spirit through Christ and through the apostle Peter warns us of this day of judgment which must begin at God’s own house:

Luk 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
Luk 19:42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
Luk 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

These are not words which apply only to those whose fate it is to be in the lake of fire. These words are especially for God’s elect to whom belong all things and who must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4 and 1Co 3:21-22).

Our carnal mind begins thinking it is young, wealthy and invincible. However, Job reveals to us what becomes of that young, successful and apparently invincible carnal-minded man within us, and Solomon bears witness to the same lesson we find in this book of Job.

Ecc 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

“They change the light into day” refers to Job’s own thoughts, which he was speaking of in the previous verse:

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

Job has made those thoughts perfectly clear. He feels that “his days are past”, and he simply wants to die and rest in the dust.

Job 7:21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

“The light is short because of darkness”, should be ‘the light is near because of the darkness of the grave’ which Job longs to know. Nevertheless the self-righteousness of both Job and his friends make this verse in Isaiah applicable to them all as types of us.

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Job actually feels both wise and prudent to reprove his Creator for his harsh judgment. He feels completely justified in requesting to die, rather than enduring this judgment of his self-righteous, carnal mind. So he continues to complain to his Maker:

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

“Where now is my hope, who will see it?” Job’s entire complaint in these last four verses reflects the same hopelessness we all feel when we are forced to acknowledge that our own fabled ‘free will’ is of no value or help at all as the remedy for our hopeless and helpless situation, and so, with the apostle Paul, we cry out to our Lord:

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister” is the same as acknowledging these verses which immediately precede Rom 7:24:

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

“In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” is a truth with which neither Job nor his friends are yet acquainted. They are the types of our own self-righteousness, and from the perspective of our own self-righteous, carnal minds we are above reproach, and as such we are justified in contending with and condemning our own Creator,

So what is the only solution to the fact that “in me, (that is, in my own flesh), dwelleth no good thing”? What hope have we against a law in our members which causes us to sin? Here is our only hope:

Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

“The mind” Paul refers to is “the mind of Christ” which dwells in all whom He is calling out of this world.

1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The world will condemn us if we claim and believe that “we have the mind of Christ [and we] know the truth”, but in doing so they are just admitting that they do not have the mind of Christ, and they cannot know the Truth which is Christ.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If we do not “know the Truth”, then we, out of our own mouths, do not know God or His Son, and if that is the case, then we do not yet have life eternal:

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will hear Bildad’s second attempt to convince Job that his fate is in his own hands, that it is “his own counsel” which is casting him down, and that all he needs is the will to repent and make a change in his life.

Here are Bildad’s words to Job for our next study:

Job 18:1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Job 18:2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
Job 18:3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
Job 18:4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Job 18:5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
Job 18:8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Job 18:9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.
Job 18:10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.