Job 17:3

Lay down now,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" (r), thy

Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? Lay down - namely, a pledge or security - i:e., be my surety; do thou attest my innocence, since my friends only mock me (Job 17:2).

He turneth his speech either to Eliphaz, who spoke last; or rather to God, as is evident from the matter and scope of the words, and from the next verse. These words contain either, 1. A humble desire to God that he would appoint him a surety, who should undertake for his friends; that they should refer the cause in difference between them to God or to some other person, who should determine the matter in God’ s name, and according to God’ s will; or that God would be his Surety, or appoint him a surety who should maintain his righteous cause against his opposers; for so this phrase is oft used, as ,122 Isa 38:14. And some expound this, as they did , of Christ Jesus, who was called our Surety, ; appoint, I pray thee, my Surety (i.e. Christ, who is now) with thee, to plead my cause. Or rather, 2. An appeal from God unto God, or a kind of challenge or desire of debating his cause with God; which, though it savoureth of too much boldness and irreverence to God, yet seeing Job expresseth the same desire almost in the same manner, ,34, and is sharply reproved by God for contending with him, , I know no inconvenience of ascribing the same thing to him here. So the sense is, Because I am not able to deal with thee immediately, considering the dread of thy majesty, my only desire is, that thou wouldst deal with me upon fair and equal terms, as if thou wert a man like myself, and appoint some man who shall in thy name and stead determine the time and place for the trial of my cause with thee. And this suits well enough with the two following verses, because his friends were without understanding, , and partial, ; therefore he desires to cease discoursing with them, and to debate his cause with God, who was just and impartial, and also would be favourable to him. Strike hands with me, i.e. agree and promise, or be surety to me; whereof that was the usual gesture, ,2 17:18 22:26.

Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me?Ver. 3. Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee] This Job speaketh not to Eliphaz (as R. Moses, Beza, and some others would have it), but to God himself, as Job 16:7, whom be desireth to lay down or appoint, as Exodus 1:11, and put in Christ as a surety to plead for him; see Hebrews 7:22; and so Brentius expoundeth it: There is one only surety, saith he, one only intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ, who if he appear not in the eyes of our faith, we have none else that can undertake for us to God; neither is there any creature which can stand in the judgment of God, though he would never so fain be surety for us: thus he. And accordingly our late learned annotators, reading the words thus: Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee; who is he then that will strike upon my hand? that is, Appoint Christ, who is with thee in heaven, and hath undertaken to be my surety; appoint him, I say, to plead my cause and to stand up for me, and then no man will dare to contend with me. And so it is suitable to the notes on The Vulgate Latin (not altogether from the purpose, saith Brentius) translates the whole verse thus, Put me near thyself, and then let whoso will contend with me.

(3) Lay down now . . .—i.e., Give now a pledge; be surety for me with Thyself. He has declared that he has a witness in the heavens, but he desires some present token of the vindication to come of which he is confident, and so he asks God to give him such a pledge. This is virtually the same prayer that we find Hezekiah using (Isaiah 38:14): “O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me,” that is, “Be surety for me.” (See also Psalms 119:122 : “Be surety for thy servant for good.”) There is that in man which demands exact and rigorous fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment. Job felt that his only hope of this fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment lay with God Himself: that same God who had put this sense of obligation within him; therefore he says, Be surety for me with Thyself.” He longed for the daysman who should lay his hand upon both him and God; he now longs for that surety with God that God alone can give. The surety must be Divine if his witness is in the heavens; it must be the witness of God to God himself. In this wonderful way does the language of Job fit in with all that we have since and elsewhere learnt of the persons in the Godhead. Who is he that will strike hands with me?—This was the method of becoming surety; but he knows that there is no one among his friends who will do this, or that could do it if he would. (Comp. Psalms 49:7.)

Verse 3. Lay down now] Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God, let him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am condemned.

3–9. New appeal to God that He would undertake for Job or give him a pledge that he would cause his innocence to be acknowledged by God, Job 17:3; with the grounds for this prayer as before, Job 17:4-9.

Lay down now - This is evidently an address to God - a repetition of the wish which he had so often expressed, that he might be permitted to bring his cause directly before him; see Job 13:3.

Second strophe — That God alone will, or can, guarantee the righteous adjudication of Job’s cause, is evident from the blind and unprincipled conduct of his representative friends; and that God