Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones….(Job 19:1-22)

…but your words have crushed me! Far from bringing comfort and consolation, the Comforters Three have only succeeded in crushing the spirit of Job. In the face of such an overwhelming lack of pity, Job’s faith shines even more brilliantly.

19:1 Then Job responded, 2 “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? 3 These ten times you have insulted me; you are not ashamed to wrong me. 4 Even if I have truly erred, my error lodges with me. 5 If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me and prove my disgrace to me, 6 Know then that God has wronged me and has closed His net around me.”

Read those same verses from The Message, "How long are you going to keep battering away at me, pounding me with these harangues? Time after time after time you jump all over me. Do you have no conscience, abusing me like this? Even if I have, somehow or other, gotten off the track, what business is that of yours? Why do you insist on putting me down, using my troubles as a stick to beat me? Tell it to God—He’s the one behind all this, He’s the one who dragged me into this mess.” (19:2-6)

Adam Clarke writes this in his commentary, “Not one of them seems to have been touched with a feeling of tenderness towards him, nor does a kind expression drop at any time from their lips! They were called friends; but this term, in reference to them must be taken in the sense of cold-blooded acquaintances.”

In their commentary Keil & Delitzsch state that the united strength of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar only serves to torture Job’s spirit by stretching him upon the rack of their so-called “comfort”!

“Know then that God has wronged me…” (vs. 6) It is the greatest reversal of fortunes. The first part of verse 6 is literally “He has turned me upside down!” Job’s chapter-one world is turned upside down and inside out.

In the second part of verse 6 Job states that “God has closed His net around me…” The word “closed” is the same as “destroy” in verse 26; when you connect the two verses it seems that Job is implying that God’s maggot army has him surrounded.

19:7 “Behold, I cry, ’Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice. 8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths. 9 He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head. 10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree. 11 He has also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy. 12 His troops come together, and build up their way against me and camp around my tent.”

Notice Job’s complaint:
He has walled up my way
He has put darkness on my path
He has stripped my honor
He has removed my crown
He breaks me down
He uproots my hope
He kindles His anger against me
He considers me His enemy
He camps against me

You sense Job’s intense turmoil and agony of spirit when you closely examine verses 10-12. Notice the words “every side” in vs. 10. In chapter one the precise Hebrew words are used by Satan in his complaint to God (You’ve made a hedge about him on every side!). Verse 11 from one version reads “I am to Him as one of His haters.” And verse 12 from another translation reads, “…they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent.” In ancient times armies would take months or years to lay siege against a fortified city in order to conquer it; all the while building mammoth ramps of earth and timber against the city walls (i.e. Masada). Job is saying that God’s entire army is building an enormous siege work against his puny worm infested tent! And verse 12 from The Message reads, “He has launched a major campaign against me, using every weapon He can think of, coming at me from all sides at once.” It seemed that Job suffered continuously under a relentless and divinely ordained “Shock and Awe” campaign.

Job was in the valley (the darkest of valleys), and for all practical purposes it seemed that God had abandoned him. But He hadn’t.

19: 13 "He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14 My relatives have failed, and my intimate friends have forgotten me. 15 Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. 16 I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore him with my mouth. 17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and I am loathsome to my own brothers. 18 Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me. 19 All my associates abhor me, and those I love have turned against me. 20 My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth. 21 Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh?”

In chapter one God characterized Job as a man of integrity, a whole man. That meant that not only was he complete in his relationship with God, but that he was also “whole” in his relationships with his family, friends and associates. Job was no “holy hermit” – earthly relationships were vital to him. So when Job suffered, it was not only physically (the loss of his health) and spiritually (the loss of communion with God), but also in his interactions with people. To put it simply, he was abandoned by everyone. Notice all of the people groups described in verses 13-22:

My brothers and acquaintances
My relatives and kinsfolk
My relations, those living in my house
My close friends and everyone who knows me
My houseguests
My intimate friends
My family, neighbors, and kinsman
Sojourners in my house
My maids and those who live temporarily in my house
My guests
My servants
My attendants
My wife and my blood brothers
My own family
The street urchins
The young children
The little boys
Those I love
My circle of friends
Every one I have been close to
The men of my inner counsel (the most trusted business associates)

And notice the reactions and the treatment recorded in these verses by those people:
Estranged
Alienated
Removed
Stayed far away
Failed and forgotten
Avoided and counted me a stranger
Considered me an alien or a bum off the streets
Don’t answer
My breath is offensive to them
They scorned, ridiculed, taunted, and jeered
They turned their backs
They detested and abhorred
They abominate me (vandals spray painted his house: The Abominable Job Man!)

The city council voted unanimously to put up this one-word neon flashing sign over Job’s ash heap: ABANDONED!

No wonder he was in such despair. It is against this dark backdrop that Job’s faith and character shines so brilliantly.

Conclusion:
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

Yes they do. Words are very powerful. The Bible says that “life and death are in the power of the tongue.” We meet people every day that are in need of encouragement – some words that will bring hope to their despair.

A listening ear and a kind word can make a genuine difference in someone’s life this week.