Job 9:13-20 – How Can One Win an Argument with God?

Summary

Job wants to argue his innocence before God, but he doubts he will get a fair trial. It is as if God is both the accuser (the prosecuting attorney?) and also the judge.

Analysis

In Job's mind, God is the one in charge. Nothing happens without God willing it. It is God who has caused all his troubles, even though Job cannot see any reason why he deserves such treatment. But where does Job turn to seek an appeal, a neutral judge who will look at his case impartially? Is there a higher court to which one can turn for relief if God is the one who brings the accusation?

It seems to Job that God is both prosecutor and judge. Since God has already assumed Job is guilty and has caused his great torment, how can God be expected to listen to Job, hear the evidence, and give a fair verdict? The odds are stacked against him, Job thinks. There is no place to turn except to God, but there is little hope that God will act fairly. Job's trust in a loving, protecting, just God has been badly eroded.

• Job 1:1-5
  The Pious and Affluent Job Is Introduced
• Job 1:6-12
  The First Encounter between God and Satan
• Job 1:21
  God Gives and God Takes Away
• Job 2:11-13
  Job’s Well-Intentioned Friends
• Job 3
  Job Curses the Day of His Birth
• Job 4:1-5
  Easy Answers Fade When Reality Contradicts Them
• Job 4:7-8
  Those Who Sow Trouble Reap the Same
• Job 5:17-21
  Accept Suffering as the Discipline of the Almighty
• Job 6:14-27
  Job’s Rebuke of His Counselors
• Job 7:1-6
  Nights Are Too Long and a Life Is Too Short
• Job 8:8-10
  Trust the Spiritual Teachings of the Past
• Job 9:22-24
  God Is Unjust
• Job 10:8-12
  Job Remembers That God Lovingly Created Him
• Job 11:7-12
  God’s Ways Are beyond Human Understanding
• Job 13:1-12
  Do Not Lie for God
• Job 14:7-17
  If Mortals Die, Will They Live Again?
• Job 16:18-19
  My Witness Is in Heaven
• Job 19:20
  Job Escapes by the Skin of His Teeth
• Job 19:23-27
  I Know That My Redeemer Lives
• Job 28
  Only God Knows Wisdom
• Job 29:1-6
  Job Longs for the “Good Old Days”
• Job 31:35-37
  If Only I Knew the Indictment, I Would Wear It Proudly
• Job 33:13-18
  God May Be Speaking to Job through His Suffering
• Job 38:1-18
  God Finally Speaks to Job
• Job 39:1-8
  God Cares Even for the Offspring of Wild Animals
• Job 41:1-11
  Humans Are Helpless before the Ferocity of Leviathan
• Job 42:1-6
  Job Accepts His Limits and Will Not Continue to Protest
• Job 42:10
  Job Receives a Double Restitution