Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
The book of Job presents the problem of providence, sin, and suffering, and this verse belongs to that presentation. It falls within the debate between Job and his friends about his afflictions. More specifically, it is part of Job's appeal to God in answer to Zophar's call for repentance. It stands within Job 8 to Job 27, where his friends trouble him with constant accusations, implied and otherwise, and he answers them with his own responses, and by the close of that section the friends have ceased troubling him while he is in the middle of his last reply, so it is best read together with the surrounding accusations and responses.
In this setting Job is being disciplined through affliction, while his friends wrongly charge him with sin and blame his suffering on it, which warns against misjudging others in the same way. The verse expresses Job's anguished inability to understand God's dealings: conscious of his integrity, he feels that God is hiding from him and holding him as an enemy. He feels treated as guilty, pursued and threatened with punishment, with everything against him.
In saying this Job does not accuse God foolishly. God sees the end from the beginning and uses Job's trial to bring lasting comfort and hope to others. His later praise of the Lord reflects confidence in God's wise care despite that anguish.
The book of Job presents the problem of providence, sin, and suffering, and this verse belongs to that presentation. It falls within the debate between Job and his friends about his afflictions. More specifically, it is part of Job's appeal to God in answer to Zophar's call for repentance. It stands within Job 8 to Job 27, where his friends trouble him with constant accusations, implied and otherwise, and he answers them with his own responses, and by the close of that section the friends have ceased troubling him while he is in the middle of his last reply, so it is best read together with the surrounding accusations and responses.
In this setting Job is being disciplined through affliction, while his friends wrongly charge him with sin and blame his suffering on it, which warns against misjudging others in the same way. The verse expresses Job's anguished inability to understand God's dealings: conscious of his integrity, he feels that God is hiding from him and holding him as an enemy. He feels treated as guilty, pursued and threatened with punishment, with everything against him.
In saying this Job does not accuse God foolishly. God sees the end from the beginning and uses Job's trial to bring lasting comfort and hope to others. His later praise of the Lord reflects confidence in God's wise care despite that anguish.