"For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."
Job 19:25-26
Part 1
These words from our verses today were not put in the Scriptures just so that George Frederic Handel could have a rich text for his “Messiah.” Although, I do love to hear this sung, and no one does it better than Handel.
“For I know that my redeemer liveth.”
The key to understanding these verses is in the word “redeemer.” Job’s faith comes through this passage loud and clear. The term “redeemer” comes from the Hebrew word goel. Author G. Campbell Morgan is an excellent help with the meaning to us here.
“The ‘Goel’ stood for another to defend his cause, to avenge wrongs done to him, and so to acquit him of all charges laid against him.” [1] (Morgan)
“When Job, amid the desolation, declared that he had a ‘Goel’ living and active, he was uttering a profound truth, the truth that in God, man has is Redeemer in all the fullest senses of that great word. It was a spiritual apprehension of an abiding fact, which fact came into clear shining when God was manifest in flesh.” [2] (Morgan)
And our “Redeemer” is alive!
“That my Redeemer liveth — I am a dying man, and my hopes as to this life are dying, but he liveth, and that for ever; and, therefore, though I die, yet he both can and will make me to live again in due time, though not in this world, yet in the other, which is much better” [3] (Benson).
“And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.”
Job had confidence that his God will raise him from the dead in the last days at the end of the world. But note that he also firmly believed in the incarnation of the Messiah. He knew that Christ would appear and stand on the earth (or “dust”). This same dust where His saints have laid down and “slept,” Christ Jesus will stand! He will be standing on the “dust,” on the graves, on death – His enemy.
“For He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).
Come back tomorrow as we see Job’s great faith regarding his God and resurrection.
[1] Morgan quoted by Guzik. David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary, the electronic version in eSword. Please see John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible on Job 19:25, his take on goel, also in eSword.
[2] Guzik, ibid.
[3] Joseph Benson, Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, the electronic version in eSword.