Job reminds his friends that they aren’t addressing an inferior, someone lacking a good solid education. Nothing they’ve said is new. For seven days they sat in proper silence until they decided to judge Job. Had they not opened their mouths, no one would have heard how silly they were. Job is addressing God, if they don’t mind. God is not like earthly rulers who might tolerate or even favor slavish lackeys who jockey for position by creative flattery. It’s not as if God’s favor is so fickle that He would smile on someone only so long as they fill the air before Him with silly superlatives. God pays far more attention to a man’s heart than to his mouth.
Here we see Job pointing out something for which his ancient tongue possessed no phrases: They had made their abstract logic into a god of sorts. They felt God was bound to their theories of justice. The Pharisees confronted Jesus with the same folly, made worse by their adoption on Hellenism, but it was hardly a new sin. The arrogance of man’s intellect is hard to measure.
Job is fully confident from the depths of his soul that if he stood before God, he would suffer less than he does at the hand of his friends. How could he do better than face God? He asks his friends to pay close attention and stop judging with such shallow thinking. Would God strike him down? If God were judging so, then all men would be marked for death. Otherwise, Job knows from within his spirit that he is acceptable in the sight of God, for simply coming into the Presence is possible only for the upright. Thus, with confidence he would approach the Divine Throne and seek mercy. He would ask God for a break from this suffering.
Unlike Adam and many other men who faced God’s holiness, Job was wide open to learn of his sins. He had no impulse to run and hide. He would ask God to explain, if He would, this time of terror and sorrow. What was there to gain from tormenting someone so insignificant? What had he done? He was ready to repent before he even knew.
