Universal truth is simply not within reach of the human mind, because truth is nothing less than the Person of God Himself. Rather, any knowledge of God is inherently contextual,and we dare not assume anyone else is obliged to accept our ideas. This was the primary sin of Job’s trio of friends. It is also the primary fault of our postmodern age to arrogantly assume that our understanding of God is universal, that people who experience Him differently, or simply express it differently, are wrong. It comes dangerously close to blasphemy to suggest that the alien culture of Job, far away and long before, was somehow inferior, that God was only practicing until we came along.
It also helps to notice that Job is no longer actually talking to his friends. He recognizes that they are present, but that he now regards himself as standing in the Court of Divine Justice. The implication is that Job recognizes what wonderful things God had done for him in the past. The choice to address God in the Third Person is a recognize protocol even today. This and the next two chapters form a unit, a complaint he files with the court.
Job is not promoting himself as the model of human goodness in this chapter. Rather, he laments the loss of a very good life. Most of this qualifies as common figures of speech from his world, expressions you can find elsewhere in Scripture and in other ancient literature of that time and place. The vast majority of this whole book falls into that category. Job notes how other people treated him with respect. We should read it as hyperbole, entirely normal and acceptable in its own context. The whole chapter could be summed up in our modern expression: “What a lucky man he was!”
