I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Job 19:5-6,22-25 – If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me…Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever!  I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Psalm 40:7 – Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.

Exodus 6:6 – “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

Proverbs 23:10-11 – Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.

Isaiah 41:14 – Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, little Israel, do not fear, for I myself will help you,” declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 59:20 – “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.

Job 9:33-34 – If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together, someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Job 5:1 – “Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Ruth 2:20 – “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

Job 42:10 – After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Application:

• ·         The wicked may get themselves into trouble, as Bildad had pointed out, but Job here attributes his suffering to God.
• ·         Some take “it is written about me in in the scroll” to be a reference to a prophecy. The context, however, strongly suggests that the “scroll” refers to the personal copy of the law that the king is to “write for himself” at the time of his enthronement to serve as the covenant charter of his administration.
• ·         Job expresses confidence that ultimately God will vindicate His faithful servants in the face of all false accusations.
• ·         The verbs “bring…free…redeem” stress the true significance of the name Yahweh—“the Lord”—who is the Redeemer of His people.
• ·         “Defender” means guardian-redeemer or protector, someone who helped close relatives regain land or who avenged their death.
• ·         “Redeemer” was Deliverer from Babylonian exile. As Guardian-Redeemer, He redeems His people’s property, guarantees their freedom, avenges them against their tormentors and secures their posterity for the future. The title “Holy One of Israel” occurs with “Redeemer”.
• ·         The Redeemer will “Come to Zion” in the return from exile, but more fully in the person of Christ.
• ·         God is so immense that Job feels he needs someone who can help him, someone who can argue his case in court.
• ·         The idea of a mediator, someone to arbitrate between God and Job, is an important motif in the book.
• ·         The guardian-redeemer was responsible for protecting the interests of needy members of the extended family—e.g., to provide an heir for a brother who had died, to redeem land that a poor relative had sold outside the family, to redeem a relative who had been sold into slavery and to avenge the killing of a relative.
• ·         Job’s prayer for those who had abused him is a touching Old Testament illustration of the high Christian virtue our Lord taught.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV