Job 19 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Job 19 Short Summary:

In Job 19, Job rebuts the accusations of his friend Bildad. He admits that God’s actions are beyond his understanding. He describes his sadness at having lost much of his family and many of his closest friends. But at the end of the chapter, his faith shines through as he says, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”

Job 19 Bible Study

SHORT OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF JOB

• Job 1-2 – Job is Persecuted by Satan

• Job 3-37 – Job and His Friends Discuss the Reason He is Experiencing Persecution

• Job 38-41 – God Speaks with Job and Reveals His Greatness to Him.

• Job 42 – God Restores What Job Lost

WHEN:

• The date of the writing of Job is unknown and still debated. Some believe it was written during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) or even earlier, while others suspect it was written during the time of Judah’s Babylonian captivity (607-537 B.C.).

• I take the earlier date. The description of Job as the “greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3) and an absence of references to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple suggests to me that this book was written early.

KEY CHARACTERS:

• Job – A blameless and upright man who Satan persecuted in an attempt to turn his heart away from God.

• Job’s Friends – Job refused to accept his friend’s interpretation of his circumstances and rebuts their accusations with his words in chapter 19.  

WHERE:

• Job lived in the land of Uz. Most scholars surmise the land of Uz was in northern Saudi Arabia, either immediately south of the Dead Sea, I the land that would become known as Edom, or immediately east of the Dead Sea, which is today the country of Jordan.

OUTLINE:

• JOB’S LOSS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS (19:1-22):

  • After Bildad’s speech in chapter 18, Job once again rebuked his companions for being his accusers rather than his friends. They chose to accuse even though they were unaware of any wrongdoing on Job’s part.

  • Though Job hadn’t sinned, he felt like he had been put in the place of a sinner and received the punishment due to a sinner.

  • His description of his suffering in chapter 19 is more personal than in previous chapters.

  • He began by talking about how God had trapped him within high walls that were impossible to escape. He said that God had stripped him of his glory and uprooted his hope.

  • “He has kindled His wrath against me and counts me as His adversary” (19:11). This expression was technically wrong, but it was the way Job felt.

  • Then Job described his loss of family and friends. His brothers wanted nothing to do with him, his acquaintances acted like they had never met him, his servants didn’t respect him, even his wife was distant from him.

    He said, “All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me” (19:19).

  • Job asked his three friends to have mercy on him instead of deriding him.

• “I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES” (19:23-29):

  • In verses 23-24, Job said something really interested. He expressed his desire for his words to be preserved either in a book or written on stone.

  • He wanted other people to know about his experience and his confidence in His own restoration, which he is about to express in the following verses.

  • Job had no idea that millions of people would read his words and that God intended to preserve them in the Bible.

  • In verses 25 and 26, Job’s strong faith shines through the gloom yet again. He said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”

  • Job believed that he was going to be redeemed and saved from his circumstances and that it would be God who would do it.

  • He knew that his deliverance might only come after his physical body was ravaged by disease and grief, but he was confident God would come through for him in the end.

  • How devastating this statement must have been to Satan, whose goal was to turn Job against God. Job had been given no reassurance from God since the beginning of his suffering, yet Job’s faith in Him remained unwavering.

APPLICATION

• Job’s confidence that a Redeemer would save him has a beautiful application for us, and I suspect Job’s word choice was by design of the Holy Spirit and intended to be prophetic.

• Job needed a savior to save him from Satan. Jesus is our Savior who saves us from Satan. 

• Job knew his redeemer would stand upon the earth. Jesus came to earth and physically walked on it.

• Job knew that his redeemer could save him even after his flesh was destroyed. Jesus is our Savior in life and from death, raising us to new life even after our flesh is destroyed.

• Job said that he would see God. Those who walked with Jesus saw God incarnate and we will all see Him on the resurrection morning. Our eyes will see our Redeemer and we’ll rejoice having put sadness, sickness, death, grief, and pain behind us.

• May we all have such confidence in the Redeemer during our darkest hours. Life may be extremely difficult, but redemption is coming!