Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Job 19:29 stands in chapters 3-31, the colloquies or debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering. That debate consists of three rounds of speeches. The verse belongs to Job's answer, in which the wicked may prosper in this life but face punishment in the future.
Job was a real man and the book that records his words is inspired, but inspiration means the speeches were truly spoken, not that every word spoken is true. What his friends said was generally true but misapplied to Job, while Job himself judged from the same standpoint of human wisdom and observation while knowing his own integrity. The abiding truth in the verse is that wrath brings the punishments of the sword and there is a judgment, so that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Even though the wicked may prosper in this life, they face punishment in the future. Affliction and suffering upon a man do not prove that he is under the displeasure of God.
The passage in Job 19:23-29 teaches the state of the dead as part of a full and clear doctrine on death. Its teaching is right and harmonizes with the rest of the Bible, and it gives no support for death as the gate of endless life. Its view of the grave and of death is gloomy as silence and darkness. That gloom is removed by the resurrection, which is the resurrection-life to be gloried in. Job's great hope was that he had a living Redeemer who would stand upon the earth at the latter day, and that after being destroyed he would yet see his Redeemer when called from his sleep in the dust, so having a living Redeemer made his resurrection sure.
Job 19:29 stands in chapters 3-31, the colloquies or debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering. That debate consists of three rounds of speeches. The verse belongs to Job's answer, in which the wicked may prosper in this life but face punishment in the future.
Job was a real man and the book that records his words is inspired, but inspiration means the speeches were truly spoken, not that every word spoken is true. What his friends said was generally true but misapplied to Job, while Job himself judged from the same standpoint of human wisdom and observation while knowing his own integrity. The abiding truth in the verse is that wrath brings the punishments of the sword and there is a judgment, so that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Even though the wicked may prosper in this life, they face punishment in the future. Affliction and suffering upon a man do not prove that he is under the displeasure of God.
The passage in Job 19:23-29 teaches the state of the dead as part of a full and clear doctrine on death. Its teaching is right and harmonizes with the rest of the Bible, and it gives no support for death as the gate of endless life. Its view of the grave and of death is gloomy as silence and darkness. That gloom is removed by the resurrection, which is the resurrection-life to be gloried in. Job's great hope was that he had a living Redeemer who would stand upon the earth at the latter day, and that after being destroyed he would yet see his Redeemer when called from his sleep in the dust, so having a living Redeemer made his resurrection sure.