Job's Confession of Faith

The outburst of faith that is found in Job 19:23-27 is quite encouraging for us to consider, though the interpretation of these words has been contested in the history of biblical scholarship. The intent of this reflection is to narrow in on one point of interpretation that reinforces the idea that Job is, in fact, making a confession of faith in the only living and true God. To begin, we should note that in vv23-24 Job expresses his wish that his testimony, which likely includes the prior proof of his integrity as well as the subsequent confession of faith, could be etched into stone permanently. Job seeks an enduring witness that would outlast himself. While Job may not have intended to prepare the way for his confession of faith with imagery that is pregnant with meaning, we may discern in this imagery a fuller sense of what Job is doing really is confessing.

Consider, then, how rock imagery is fertile soil for appealing to God as one’s only hope. Throughout the Psalms especially God is described as a rock, whose sturdiness and strength is a source of comfort and hope. So, David cries out in Psalm 61, “from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps 61:2 ESV; see also Ps 18:2, 31, 46; 28:1; 31:2; 62:2, 6-7; 71:3; 73:26; 78:35; 89:26; 92:15; 94:22; 95:1; 144:1). This notion is seen especially in the conclusion of Psalm 19 (v14 ESV): “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” Besides the strength of God, which is like a rock, David makes the connection between God as rock and as redeemer, which draws us back to Exodus 17. While God’s people are wandering in the wilderness, thirsting for water when there is none, God says to Moses, “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” (Exod 17:6 ESV). In a fuller sense, then, God is both rock and redeemer, as Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians: “For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (10:1-4 ESV).[1]

With these preparatory remarks, pregnant with meaning, in place, Job then turns to his confession. He knows that his redeemer lives. This language of redeemer is used in a general sense to designate the nearest relative who upholds the cause of an individual. So, consider that Boaz must wait for the kinsman redeemer to do his duty (or not) before he may uphold the cause of Naomi’s son by caring for Ruth (Ruth 4). But, this language is also used in a specific sense with respect to God’s redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt.[2] Furthermore, this redeemer “lives.” Or, if “lives” is instead an adjective, then Job’s redeemer is life (itself). This advances the prior idea that Job’s words might be a stony testimony to his faith, his integrity. Job hopes for more, which is that his redeemer will, in the future or “at the last,” stand up or rise up upon the dust. The reference to the dust could be a suggestion that Job’s redeemer will meet him on the ash heap (cf. Job 2:8).[3] More generally, it could suggest that Job’s redeemer will meet him in this fallen world, since dust can refer to humility and perishability (cf. Gen 3:19; 1 Kgs 16:2). Either way, the point is that Job expects to see God, his living redeemer (Job 19:26).

How, though, can Job confess that God is his redeemer when Job is also accusing God of being his adversary? In a way, this sums up the conflict that is raging within Job, and it would be asking too much of Job to reason with a level head and perfectly consistently throughout this discourse while he is suffering so much. It is the folly of comfortable armchair “theologians” to critique Job for this blessed inconsistency. More importantly, however, is the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is our redeemer, who is both God and man. This is what Paul says to Timothy (1 Tim 2:5-6), and it brings us full circle. The Rock is Christ, and he is the only Redeemer of God’s elect. The fuller sense of Job’s confession points us to Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, the only way to the Father. May we find comfort in the fact that Christ, our rock and our redeemer, is a witness whose testimony will outlast us.

[1] It is possible that Job 29:6 is an oblique reference to Exodus 17. Cf. Christopher Ash, Job: The Wisdom of the Cross, Preaching the Word (Crossway, 2014), 291–92.

[2] John E. Hartley, The Book of Job, NICOT (Eerdmans, 1988), 292.

[3] Hartley, The Book of Job, 294.