Have You Ever Felt Crushed By God?
Have you ever felt like God, not Satan, is the source of your pain? This was certainly how Job felt. I
Job 15-17
Today's Scripture Passage
A Few Thoughts to Consider
Have you ever felt like God, not Satan, is the source of your pain?
This was certainly how Job felt. In Job 15–17, Eliphaz delivers another speech, accusing Job of arrogance and suggesting that his suffering is due to his own wickedness. He insists that no human is righteous before God and portrays Job's resistance to their counsel as defiance. Job responds with deep anguish, defending his innocence and lamenting his friends' lack of compassion.
As David Clines notes, “The mood changes from a mere sense of grievance to a feeling of oppression, as Job recounts the hostile acts of God against him.”[1] In Job 16:9, Job says of God, “He gnashes his teeth at me.” “The image calls to mind an animal baring its teeth and snarling to drive other contenders away from the prey.”[2] Job continues in verses 11-14 with these words:
11 God hands me over to the unjust;
he throws me to the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks through my defenses again and again;
he charges at me like a warrior.
“Using explosive language, Job describes God as a warrior rushing to hand-to-hand combat.”[3] Robert Alden notes, “A literal translation would read, ‘He bursts upon me with burst in the face of burst.’”[4]
