25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner ; They flee away , they see no good . 26 "They slip by like reed boats , Like an eagle that swoops on its prey . 27 "Though I say , 'I will forget my complaint , I will leave off my sad countenance and be cheerful ,' 28 I am afraid of all my pains , I know that You will not acquit me. 29 "I am accounted wicked , Why then should I toil in vain ? 30 "If I should wash myself with snow And cleanse my hands with lye , 31 Yet You would plunge me into the pit , And my own clothes would abhor me. 32 "For He is not a man as I am that I may answer Him, That we may go to court together . 33 "There is no umpire between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both . 34 "Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me. 35 "Then I would speak and not fear Him; But I am not like that in myself.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 9:25-35
Commentary on Job 9:25-35
(Read Job 9:25-35)
What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves, and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job, and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm, and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; give not place to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusions about thyself. Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.