What is the meaning of Job 9:35? Then I would speak Job pictures a moment when the barrier between himself and the Almighty is lifted: “Then I would speak…” (Job 9:35a). - Earlier he longed for “an umpire between us” (Job 9:33) so he could present his case. - His desire echoes later statements: “I would speak to the Almighty and argue my case with God” (Job 13:3). - The New Testament shows this longing fulfilled: “For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (Ephesians 2:18). - Hebrews 4:16 invites believers to “approach the throne of grace with confidence,” a privilege Job could only imagine. without fear of Him Job adds, “…without fear of Him” (Job 9:35a). He is not rejecting reverence; he is wishing for freedom from the terror that silences honest speech. - Isaiah 41:10 reassures, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” - Romans 8:15 contrasts “the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear” with “the Spirit of adoption.” - “Perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18), a truth fully revealed in Christ but already hinted at in Job’s longing. But as it is Reality snaps back: “But as it is…” (Job 9:35b). - Job feels the gulf: “He is not a man like me, that I might answer Him” (Job 9:32). - This tension runs through the book—cries like “I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but get no response” (Job 19:7). - The phrase shows the contrast between the world as Job wishes it and the world as he experiences it, reinforcing his need for a mediator. I am on my own He concludes, “…I am on my own” (Job 9:35b). The isolation is palpable. - Yet he clings to hints of hope: “Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high” (Job 16:19). - Later he proclaims, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (Job 19:25), anticipating the One who would stand in the gap. - The New Covenant answers his cry: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). - Hebrews 7:25 celebrates that Jesus “always lives to intercede,” assuring today’s believer that no one who trusts Him is ever truly alone. summary Job 9:35 captures Job’s yearning for fearless, face-to-face dialogue with God. He imagines speaking freely, unafraid, yet acknowledges that without a mediator he stands alone. His cry previews the Gospel’s answer: in Christ, the mediator Job desired, believers now approach God with confidence, freed from terror and never abandoned. |
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