"I Know That My Redeemer Liveth"

Last Updated on May 24, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 168

Context: Job, of the land of Uz, a righteous and prosperous man with sons and daughters, has been tested by Satan with God's permission. Although his wealth and his children have been destroyed, the good man still refuses to curse God. Lamenting his condition, he receives his friends Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite and listens to their comments on God's justice and wisdom and the ways of wicked men. Rejecting their suggestion that he is not innocent, he notes his agony and bitterly reproves his friends as "miserable comforters." In desperation and with earthly hope gone, he wishes that his story be set down for understanding by future generations. Then, in a moment of faith, he recognizes his "Redeemer," either God Himself or a mediator who will present the case of the sufferer before the Almighty, and says that eventually all will be well: