What is the meaning of Job 19:21? Have pity on me Job opens with a plea for compassion. He is not demanding solutions, only the warmth of shared sorrow. Scripture consistently exalts pity: • Psalm 103:13 declares, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him”. • Luke 10:33-34 shows the Good Samaritan moved by pity to practical help. • Hebrews 4:15 reminds us that our High Priest “is able to sympathize with our weaknesses,” establishing divine precedent for human empathy. Job’s cry teaches that when suffering people ask for pity, they are echoing a theme God Himself models. my friends Job addresses those who should be closest. Friendship carries covenant-like expectations: • Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity”. • Galatians 6:2 urges believers to “carry one another’s burdens.” Yet Job’s friends sit in judgment, mirroring Psalm 55:12-14 where betrayal by a companion cuts deepest. Christ reverses that pattern with, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). True friends move toward pain, not away. have pity Job repeats the request, underscoring urgency. Scripture often uses repetition for emphasis, as in Genesis 41:32. His double plea reminds us: • Mercy is to be continual (1 Peter 3:8: “be compassionate and humble,”). • God never wearies of showing pity—Isaiah 49:15 pictures Him as a mother who “cannot forget the baby at her breast.” When suffering persists, compassion must persist as well. for the hand of God Job recognizes that behind secondary causes stands sovereign providence. He is experiencing what he previously confessed: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (Job 1:21). Other texts echo this balance: • Isaiah 45:7, God “forms light and creates darkness… brings prosperity and creates calamity.” • Psalm 39:10, David pleads, “Remove Your scourge from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand”. God’s hand can discipline yet also uphold (Isaiah 41:10). Acknowledging His hand gives believers permission to lament without surrendering faith. has struck me Job names his suffering honestly. Scripture never minimizes pain: • Lamentations 3:1, “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath.” • Hebrews 12:6 reminds, “Whom the Lord loves He disciplines.” • 2 Corinthians 1:9 shows how affliction drives reliance on God “who raises the dead.” Job’s wording anticipates the greater Innocent Sufferer, Christ, who was “stricken by God” (Isaiah 53:4) for our redemption. The blow against Job is temporary; the blow against Christ secures eternal hope. summary Job 19:21 captures a threefold truth: sufferers need compassionate friends, honest lament must acknowledge God’s sovereign hand, and affliction—though real—is not the final word. By heeding Job’s plea, believers mirror the heart of the Savior who both understands our pain and supplies the pity we are called to extend. |
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