Job’s Reply to Zophar (12:1 – 14:22) — continued

13:1-12
Job told his friends (critics) to quit looking down their long theological noses at him (13:1-2). He called them “worthless physicians” (13:4) unable to render a proper diagnosis and prescribe a proper cure (13:3-4). It would be better if they all just kept silent (13:5-6). Job accused them of misrepresenting God (13:7-11) and branded their counsel as worthless as ashes and brittle clay (13:12).

13:13-19
After answering his accusers, Job turned to speak to God. He told his friends to let him speak without interruption (13:13) while he argued his case before God. Job said it would be better to cast himself upon God, even if it cost him his life (13:14-15), than to listen to his heartless friends. Job wanted to be vindicated by God alone. He was more concerned about what God had to say than what his friends had to say.

13:20-28
Job wisely and humbly asked God to reveal to him anything in his life that was sinful and rebellious so that he might deal with it. Jeremiah 17:9 states, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Job wanted to know from God if what his critics said about him was really true. He wanted to know why God was treating him like an enemy (13:24). He was, after all, just a mere human being as frail and defenseless as “a driven leaf” or “dry chaff” (13:25). He asked God if he was being punished for some sins he might have committed as a youth (13:26). “Why,” Job asked, “am I being treated like a criminal in stocks, rotting away in a forgotten prison” (13:27-28).