In Job, chapter sixteen, verse nine, Job’s terrible suffering made him feel that God was unmerciful rather than merciful. His conviction that he had lived justly and purely, as in verse seventeen, caused him to question God’s justice, as in chapter nineteen, verse six. Yet, Job held firmly to his belief that God was indeed just. Therefore, if only he could enter into direct contact with God, as in chapter thirteen, verses thirteen through twenty-seven, and chapter twenty-three, verses one to seven, or find someone to plead his case, God as his witness would testify to his innocence.
Terrible as the language is that Job has used against God, he seems here almost to exceed it, for he calls Him his adversary. It is hardly possible not to understand the expression of God, for though he immediately speaks of his friends right after he openly mentions God.
The enemy tempted Job to believe that God treated him severely as though He hated him. However, shunned by God, Job does not believe; otherwise, he would have ceased to call upon him and pour out his heart before him. Mine enemy (or rather, adversary) sharpeneth his eyes upon me like makes me a whetstone on which he sharpens his angry glance. That is, look upon me with a fierce and sparkling eye, as enraged persons are wont to look on those who have provoked them. Satan was the greatest enemy against Job and, by divine permission, had brought all his sufferings upon him and perhaps now frequently terrified him with deception.
Here is a representation of Job’s grievances. Do we have to bless God that we are not making such complaints? Even good men, when in trouble, have much ado not to entertain negative thoughts of God. Eliphaz had represented Job as unhumbled under his affliction: No, says Job, I know better things; the dust is now the fittest place for me. In this, he reminds us of Christ, who was a man of sorrows and pronounced those blessed that mourn, for they shall be comforted.