In the context of mankind being at war with God, why should anyone believe that God would differentiate between the actual rebels and the righteous, so called, who by their own unrighteous deeds enable the rebels? Job’s argument against the friends, then, is why should he believe his cause would be singled out by God, though he (Job) carefully chose his words for his defense (Job 9:14)? By what worldview would a powerful enemy differentiate between a foe who drew a sword against him and the folks who made the sword at the command of the mighty man’s enemy? Such a worldview simply isn’t logical. Munitions plants are destroyed by one warring nation in an effort to bring his enemy under his power. The workers in the munitions factories may not point the weapons they manufacture at an invading army, but they labor to arm those who would.
The fact remains that, even if Job could number himself among the righteous, he wouldn’t, therefore, be justified before God (Job 9:15; cp. 1Corinthians 4:4). In other words, although Job was not conscious of any great sin on his part, he acknowledged that God is greater than his own understanding (1John 3:20). Put another way, whatever Job believed about himself, God knew him better than Job knew himself. Therefore, instead of pleading his cause, he would, rather, seek mercy. On the other hand, even if Job would seek to have a hearing before God, why should he expect a sovereign God to hear him? By what logic could anyone expect a sovereign God to surrender his sovereignty and permit the unrighteous to have power over him (Job 9:16)?
Job then tells the friends that the Lord breaks (H7779) him with a tempest and multiplies his wounds without cause (Job 9:17). The word Job uses (H7779) is the same word the Lord used in Eden to differentiate between the seed of the woman and the seed of the man. The one would bruise (H7779) the other’s head, while the other would bruise (H7779) the one’s heel (Genesis 3:15). In other words, in saying the Lord breaks him with a tempest, Job is merely saying what the Lord had said from the beginning, namely, that one can expect to be bruised or broken (H7779), with or without cause (Genesis 3:15; cp. Job 9:17). Job complained that he was bruised with a tempest, meaning he was at the point of death. Similarly, Jesus also told his friends (disciples) that he was sorrowful (depressed) to the point of death (Matthew 26:38; Mark 14:34).
Job complained that the Lord didn’t even permit him to catch his breath, for his life was filled with only calamity (Job 9:18). How could he protect himself from so powerful a Being and, if Job should seek a reason, who had the right to summon God and break through the heavens of iron (Job 9:19; cp. Genesis 3:24)? Yet, even if it could be done, what could Job say? If he should seek to defend himself by saying he is innocent, his own words would condemn him, and out of his own mouth he would be judged. Even though Job wasn’t conscious of sin, yet he knew he was a sinner, and he despised his life (cp. 1Corinthians 4:4), because he had no right to gain an audience with God (Job 9:20-21; cp. Genesis 3:34).
Both Jesus and Job experienced the silence of God, and both found this silence more than they could bear (cp. Matthew 26:38). Jesus sought to renew his fellowship with the Father by seeking it through his friends (disciples; cp. Matthew 26:40), but they were no better than Job’s friends, who accused him of hiding his sin. In the end the Father answered Jesus by sending an angel to comfort him (Luke 22:43), and later the Lord would do something similar with Job (cp. Job 38:1).
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