Job 16:20

My Notes

What Does Job 16:20 Mean?

"My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God." The DUAL direction of Job's emotional world: his friends scorn him AND he cries to God. The horizontal relationship (friends) delivers contempt. The vertical relationship (God) receives tears. The friends mock. The eyes weep toward God. The human abandonment drives the divine appeal. The scorn produces the tears. The tears have a DESTINATION — they pour 'unto God.'

The phrase "my friends scorn me" (melitzay re'ay — my scorners/mockers are my friends) is a BITTER identification: the people who should COMFORT are the ones who SCORN. The word MELITZ can mean interpreter, intercessor, or scorner — the person who mediates between Job and reality is MOCKING him instead of advocating for him. The mediator has become the mocker. The friend has become the scorner.

The phrase "mine eye poureth out tears unto God" (ve'el Eloah dalphah eini — to God my eye drips/weeps) makes the tears DIRECTIONAL: they don't just fall. They fall TOWARD GOD. The tears have an ADDRESS. The weeping has a recipient. Even when Job's words accuse God, his tears reach FOR God. The tears go where the words can't — beyond the accusation, beyond the anger, to the God who is both the perceived source of suffering and the only possible source of comfort.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Where do your tears go — and have you let them fall toward God even when He seems to be the problem?
• 2.What does friends becoming SCORNERS teach about the deterioration of comfort into criticism?
• 3.How does crying 'unto God' (toward the one you're accusing) describe faith's paradox under suffering?
• 4.What makes directing tears TOWARD God (not away from Him) the most honest act of worship?

Devotional

Friends SCORN. Eyes WEEP toward God. The two directions of suffering: the horizontal delivers mockery and the vertical receives tears. The people who should comfort make it worse. The God who seems distant receives the grief that the friends won't hold. The tears have nowhere to go but UP.

The 'MY FRIENDS scorn me' is the loneliest phrase: not enemies. Not strangers. FRIENDS. The people who came to comfort (2:11 — 'they made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him') are now his SCORNERS. The comforters have become the critics. The visit that began with seven days of silent solidarity has deteriorated into rounds of accusation. The friendship has INVERTED.

The tears 'UNTO GOD' are the most honest worship in the book: the tears don't go to the friends (they've proven unworthy). The tears don't go to the ground (that would be despair). The tears go to GOD — the same God Job has accused of hunting him like a lion, of throwing him to the wicked, of breaking him with a tempest. Job's tears go to the One he's angry at. The appeal goes to the accused. The cry for help goes to the perceived source of the problem.

This is the PARADOX of faith under suffering: the only one you can turn to is the One you're turning against. The God who seems to cause the suffering is the only God who can address it. The tears go toward the problem because the problem is the only possible solution. The 'unto God' is the faith that survives the accusation.

Where do YOUR tears go — and have you let them fall toward God even when God seems to be the problem?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture