Job was as good as dead, but he was not left in his grave. The Redeemer lives, and he vindicates the suffering Job against the accusations of his friends and raises Job to new life. Though many accuse him, Job 19:25–27 succinctly shows that Job holds fast to both vindication and resurrection hope. This confident hope is not confined to Job.

When the finger is pointed at us, we want to be justified. When our name is dragged through the mud, we want it cleared. When we stand in court, we want the prosecutor’s accusations to fall flat and our case to be vindicated by the judge. We all desire justice to prevail and for truth to declare the final word. But what happens when no vindication comes? Without such vindication, it is as if our lives have been taken from us, as if we are dead. In the book of Job, Job is like a dead man: buried under the weight of his suffering, pierced by the sharp accusations of his friends, and seemingly abandoned by the living Redeemer. In this article, I will argue that Job 19:25–27 presents Job as expressing hope for a near vindication by God in the midst of suffering and accusations but also points forward to a deeper hope of resurrection from the grave.

Accused, Yet Hopeful

Job is in an intense debate with his friends over whether his suffering was caused by a sin he committed. We as readers of the book know from chapters 1–2 that Job’s suffering was not caused by sin. Yet, his friends try to convince him that he is suffering because of his sin. This debate is very frustrating to Job on many levels. In Job 19, which is midway through the second cycle of speeches, Job vents his frustration with how everyone is mistreating him. Not only do his three friends (Job 19:1–5) and God (Job 19:6–13) mistreat him, but he also has estranged relationships with his brothers (Job 19:13), his relatives (Job 19:14), his close friends (Job 19:14), his guests (Job 19:15), his servants (Job 19:15), and his wife (Job 19:17). He is even despised by young children (Job 19:17b–18). No one has stood with Job, and yet, Job is convinced that he has a kinsman redeemer who will come to his aid. He even expresses confidence that he will see God. Even though Job has expressed that God acts like his enemy, there is no one else who can bring about a change in Job’s situation. This chapter has one of the strongest statements of hope in the book (Job 19:25–27).

It sounds strange to say that Job sees God as his enemy but also as the only one who can bring deliverance. A person who is suffering may experience periods of despair and moments of confidence. There are conflicting views of God at war in Job’s mind depending on his emotional state at a particular moment.^[1] Sometimes Job despairs over his relationship with God but there are also statements of confidence, such as God “. . . knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:10). In another speech Job states that he holds fast his righteousness and will not let it go (Job 27:6). Job’s speeches end with strong assertions of innocence in the form of oaths (Job 31).

Vindication Hope

In Job 19:25–27, Job expresses confidence that there will be a resolution with God and that he will be vindicated. There is a lot of debate about the meaning of the individual words used in these verses and what the outcome of Job’s situation will be. Because this is a short article, I can only sketch how I understand the passage.^[2] Job knows that his redeemer lives (Job 19:25). The word for redeemer (gō’ēl) refers to a close relative who is willing to act on behalf of a person in trouble. Such actions include redeeming family property that has been sold due to financial hardship (Lev. 25:25), redeeming a family member who has had to sell himself to pay off a debt (Lev. 25:47–49), or avenging the blood of a family member who has been murdered (Num. 35:19). God is also portrayed as a redeemer (Isa. 43:14; 48:17; Prov. 23:10–11). But when and how does Job expect God to act on his behalf? Considering Job’s debate with his friends, who have accused him of sin as the reason for his suffering, for Job to die in his state of suffering would prove the friends were right, would leave Job without vindication, and would mean he was speaking falsehood in his oath of innocence (Job 31). In fact, Job emphatically expresses in Job 19:26b–27 that “yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” It is significant that he experiences this in his earthly life before his death. When God appears to him in the whirlwind and confronts Job for calling into question his justice in the way he runs the world, Job declares, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” He then repents for his words against God’s justice stated in the context of the debate with his friends (Job 42:5–6). God then vindicates Job before his friends affirming that Job’s situation of suffering was not brought on because of sin (Job 42:7–9).

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