Matthew Henry Commentary Job 19:8-22

"He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; And my hope hath he plucked up like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, And he counteth me unto him as [one of] his adversaries. His troops come on together, And cast up their way against me, And encamp round about my tent. He hath put my brethren far from me, And mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, And my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, [Though] I entreat him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, And my supplication to the children of mine own mother. Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me. All my familiar friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?" — Job 19:8-22 (ASV)

How sorrowful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God? Seared consciences will feel it in the afterlife, but do not fear it now; enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it in the afterlife. It is a very common mistake to think that God treats those whom He afflicts as His enemies.

Every creature is to us what God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relatives and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! But if God is our Friend, He will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has within itself.

Job appeals to the compassion of his friends and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God to be deprived at once of outward comfort and inward consolation; yet if this, and more, befalls a believer, it does not weaken the proof that he is a child of God and an heir of glory.