Chapter 16
Job replies:
2 "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. [Job 16:2 ESV]
Job once again tells his comforters what a lousy job they are all doing. He tells them he could easily say the same things if they were the ones being punished and he was giving comfort. They've told him nothing that he does not know, imparted no wisdom, opened his eyes to no sin. They ignore Job when he says there is no sin.
2023 - Look how Job starts: 3 Shall windy words have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? [Job 16:3 ESV], compared to what Eliphaz started with: 2 "Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? [Job 15:2 ESV]. These guys are smart. They are cutting in their remarks and their discussion seems to be getting ever more personal, ever more aggressive.
6 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me? [Job 16:6 ESV]
Wow...Job says that he can complain and gripe and wish for death and wish to hide in Sheol - and it doesn't make the pain (or the punishment) any less than it already is. And if he just sits in silence and endures...that doesn't stop the pain either. So what difference does it make?
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me. 11 God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked. [Job 16:10-11 ESV]
Messianic prophecy? Don't think I've ever seen it interpreted as such. MSB doesn't comment on these two verses at all.
Job is truly low in 6-17. He cannot appeal to God really, because it seems to him that God has become his enemy - relentless and unmerciful and implacable. Job's comforter had become his enemy, his friends are "miserable comforters all", his wife is perhaps the worst of all for him, so he is left desolate in his suffering. A truly lonesome condition.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. 20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, 21 that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor. [Job 16:19-21 ESV]
This looks for all the world like a reference to Jesus as our advocate with God. Certainly Job is referring to some kind of intercessor who will appeal to God on his behalf. MSB does not really address these specific verses, but he does say that God anticipated the need of an advocate, and He has provided One in Jesus. So while Job may not have had clear knowledge of the coming Savior, he foretells the need for one here. The NKJV translation doesn't give quite the same sense:
19 Surely even now my witness [is] in heaven, And my evidence [is] on high. 20 My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out [tears] to God. 21 Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man [pleads] for his neighbor! [Job 16:19-21 NKJV]
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths. [Pro 5:21 ESV]
We have no secrets. We cannot feint in one direction and make God look for us where we are not going. He knows where our deeds will take us, and He knows the plans we are making.
Look at this phrase in the NASB95: 22 "For when a few years are past, I shall go the way of no return. [Job 16:22 NASB95]. This is all of us. Death is out there, a few years in the future. Even our suffering is limited by the time we are given. And once we're gone...we cannot return, cannot do over, cannot try again. "The way of no return..."