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Chapter 18
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Book of Job, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Suffering and Divine Justice
The Mystery of God
Human Wisdom vs. Divine Wisdom
Faith in Suffering
Summary
Analysis
Job asks his friends how long they’ll continue to torment him with their destructive words. Aren’t they ashamed to do him wrong? If Job’s words have been false, then that’s his affair; but in any case, Job is confident that it’s God who has wronged him. Even when Job calls on God for help, God continues to treat Job like an enemy.
Job suggests that his friends are actively harming him with their so-called comfort. And as he’s stated elsewhere, it’s not human beings’ judgment that Job is mainly concerned about, but God’s. However, God still seems to remain aloof from Job and even hostile.
Themes
Job’s family and friends have rejected him. Even his servants regard him as a stranger, and his wife and family find him abhorrent. He begs his friends to have pity on him and stop pursuing him to death like God does. Job wishes that his words could be written down, even engraved on a rock.
This passage connects back to the prologue, when Job’s wife seemed disgusted by Job’s refusal to curse God. Now Job has been abandoned by his entire social circle, whose “help” feels like persecution. Job is so certain that he’s right that he wishes his self-defense could be recorded for posterity somehow.
Themes
Job knows that his Redeemer lives, and that in the end, his Redeemer will be seen on earth. Even after Job’s flesh has been destroyed, he believes he will see God on his side. He warns his friends that a judgment is coming.
This is one of the book’s most famous passages. Normally, in Job’s context, a “redeemer” would be a next of kin who would vouch for a person. This is one possible interpretation of Job’s statement. However, the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible also frequently calls God the “Redeemer” of individuals and of Israel. Job’s specific statement that he expects to see God defending him even after his death lends support to the idea (popular in later interpretation) that Job trusts in a divine vindicator, not just a human one.
Themes
