(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth.--We must carefully note all the passages which lead up to this one. First, we must bear in mind that Bildad (Job 18:17-20) had threatened Job with the extinction of his name and memory, so he now appeals to the verdict of futurity, and with what success we ourselves who read and repeat and discuss his words are witnesses. Then in Job's own speeches we have, as early as Job 9:32-35. his longing for a daysman to come between himself and God. Then in Job 10:7; Job 13:15-19, he emphatically declares his innocence, and appeals to God as conscious of it. In Job 16:19, he affirms that his witness is in the high heavens; in Job 19:21 of the same chapter he longs for an advocate to plead his cause. In Job 17:3 he calls upon God to be surety for him. Therefore he has already recognised God as his judge, his umpire, his advocate, his witness, and surety, and in some cases by formal confession of the fact, in others by earnest longing after and aspirations for some one to act in that capacity. Here, then, he goes a step further in expression, if not by implication, and declares his knowledge that he has a Goel or Redeemer. This goel was the name given to the next of kin whose duty it was to redeem, ransom, or avenge one who had fallen into debt or bondage, or had been slain in a family feud. In Ruth, for instance, the goel is he who has to marry the widow of his relative, and to continue his name. The various and conditional functions, then, of this Goel, Job is assured, God will take upon Himself for him; He will avenge his quarrel (comp. Psalm 35:1; Psalm 35:23), He will be surety for him. He will vindicate him before men and before God Himself; He will do for him what none of his professed friends would undertake to do. And as to this matter, he has not the slightest doubt: he states most emphatically that he himself knows that this Goel liveth. "And I, even I know; as for me, I know that my Vindicator is living, that He liveth, is a reality existing now, and not one to come into existence hereafter, though His manifestation may be a thing of the future, for He shall stand at the last upon the earth," or, "He shall stand last upon earth" (comp. Isaiah 40:8), that is, after all others have passed away and gone down to the bars of the tomb. Now, this alone is assuredly a marvellous confession. It states the reality and eternity of God. It is faith in the I am. This same epithet of Redeemer is applied to God in Ps. 19:15; Isaiah 59:20; in the former passage it is coupled with rock, which was the term Bildad bad applied to God (Job 18:4). . . . Verse 25. - For I know that my Redeemer liveth. Numerous endeavours have been made to explain away the mysterious import of this verse. First, it is noted that a goel is any one who avenges or ransoms another, and especially that it is "the technical expression for the avenger of blood" (Froude, 'Short Stories,' vol. 1. p. 284) so often mentioned in the Old Testament. It is suggested, therefore, that Job's real meaning may be that he expects one of his relatives to arise after his death as the avenger of his blood, and to exact retribution for it. But unless in the case of a violent death at the hands of a man, which was not what Job expected for himself, there could be no avenger of blood. Job has already expressed his desire to have a thirdsman between him and God (Job 9:32-35), which thirdsman can scarcely be other than a Divine Personage. In Job 16:19 be has declared his conviction that" his Witness is in heaven." In ver. 21 of the same chapter he longs to have an advocate to plead his cause with God. In Job 17:3 he calls upon God to be Surety for him. Therefore, as Dr. Stanley Leathes points out, "he has already recognized God as his Judge his Umpire his Advocate his Witness and his Surety in some cases by formal confession of the fact, in others by earnest longing after, and aspiration for, some one to act in that capacity." After all this, it is not taking a very long step in advance to see and acknowledge in God his Goel, or "Redeemer." And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; rather, and that at the last he shall stand up over my dust. אַחַדון is not "one who comes after me;" but, if a noun, "the last one" as רִאשׁון is "the first one "(Isaiah 44:6); if intended adverbially, "at the last" - i.e, at the end of all things. "At the latter day" is not an improper translation.

Parallel Commentaries ...


But I
וַאֲנִ֣י (wa·’ă·nî)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

know
יָ֭דַעְתִּי (yā·ḏa‘·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3045: To know

that my Redeemer
גֹּ֣אֲלִי (gō·’ă·lî)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1350: To redeem, act as kinsman

lives,
חָ֑י (ḥāy)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

and that at the last
וְ֝אַחֲר֗וֹן (wə·’a·ḥă·rō·wn)
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 314: Hinder, late, last, western

He will stand
יָקֽוּם׃ (yā·qūm)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand

upon
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the earth.
עָפָ֥ר (‘ā·p̄ār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6083: Dust, clay, earth, mud


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OT Poetry: Job 19:25 But as for me I know that (Jb)