Job 17:3

Second strophe That God alone will, or can, guarantee the righteous adjudication of Job’s cause, is evident from the blind and unprincipled conduct of his representative friends; and that God should do this is urged by Job’s own outrageous sufferings, and by the injury that would otherwise result to the cause of virtue. HIS PRAYER STILL IS FOR A MEDIATOR, Job 17:3-9.

3. Lay down שׂימה . “A pledge” is evidently understood; some kind of security like that which binds a bargain. The clause reads, Lay down, ( a pledge,) I pray.

Put me in a surety Better, Be thou my surety with thee. ערב , ‘ harab, signifies to pledge one’s self for another, and by implication protect or deliver. Comp. Genesis 43:9; Psalms 119:122; Isaiah 38:14; ( undertake for me.) In Job 16:21, Job speaks of God in a twofold character: also here, “as a judge and He who gives security before the judge.” Olshausen. The security became liable for his client’s debts in case he failed. Strike hands, etc. The custom of ratifying compacts by the joining or striking together of hands prevailed quite universally in ancient times. Proverbs 6:1. The “surety” struck hands with the party he represented, “for Solomon warns his son against giving his hand to a stranger, that is, against being surety for a person unknown.” MICHAELIS, Laws of Moses, 2:323. Ewald takes an erroneous view, that “the debtor and surety gave the hand to the creditor,” ( Alt., S. 165,) whereas the surety joined hands with the debtor. (Dillmann, etc.) Job’s prayer, “Be thou my surety with thee,” is urged by the momentous consideration, Who is he? who can be my surety if not thou? If man have hope at all, it must come from the Godhead. Christ, the Son of God, strikes hands with man, assumes his nature, becomes his surety. The prayer of Job became wonderfully prophetic.