Job 13:1-22 - Homilies By E. Johnson

Man's injustice and the justice of God.

Job proceeds to turn the tables upon these self-complacent friends, who are so disposed to moralize and find illustrations of their conceptions of the Divine righteousness at his expense. His friends, however, really do him a service; not, indeed, by manifesting the sympathy he craves, but by throwing him upon his own resources—still better, by throwing him upon his God. The tonic of opposition is sometimes far more needed in mental suffering than is the soothing draught of sympathy. The former braces, the latter enervates. It appears to be so now with Job. He rouses the forces of his soul, as the palm tree stirs up its vital energies beneath the weight attached to its branches; and he rushes upon the last cast. He will throw himself, regardless of consequences, upon the pity and justice of the Eternal.—J.