No one, Job least of all, doubts that God is stronger than man. But the issue is not power, but truth. If God is only power and nothing more, then He is no longer God, but a tyrant on a cosmic scale. Job cannot believe in such a thing. And he asks God a direct question: what am I guilty of before You? Job is sure that if the trial were honest, he would win it, because he is a righteous man.

Job does not doubt his righteousness. For him, righteousness is still limited by traditional religious boundaries, and within those boundaries he really has nothing with which to reproach himself. For that reason he is ready to go to court even with God, if such a thing were possible, because the truth is on his side. This is precisely what Job demands from God: if not a trial, then at least an explanation. Up to now God has only silently struck him blow after blow, explaining nothing and bringing no charges. But that is how a tyrant may act; a just king does not punish his subjects without guilt and without trial.

So Job demands from God exactly a trial, not punishment without judgment. He says to God: if You are truly a just Judge, then let us examine my case. I am not running away from You like the wicked. I am ready to stand before You. Incidentally, Job says the same thing in his own defense to his friends: if I were a sinner, would I seek God's judgment? Job is truly confident in his righteousness. And he wants God to confirm that righteousness.

It is not so important to him how long he lives on earth. What matters to him is that his righteousness not be lost before God. And if he is not righteous after all, but a sinner, and his friends are right, then let God confirm that too. Human words alone are not enough for Job. Then let God Himself show Job where he is wrong and how he has sinned. Then everything will fall into place, and Job will know what to do next. He wants only one thing: clarity and certainty. And not human clarity, but God's.

Answering his friends, Job tells them directly that they have said nothing to him that he did not already know (vv. 1-2). But he also says that he would like to address not them, but God (v. 3). Indeed, it is completely clear that no one but God could answer the questions Job has asked. Job calls his friends liars who would do better to keep silent; that is where their wisdom would be shown (vv. 4-5). He has clearly understood that all his friends' speeches were prompted not so much by a desire to help as by fear of the questions he had raised. Such deceit, of course, cannot be needed by God, and it would be no surprise if Job's friends were punished by God for insincerity where it has no place and must have no place (vv. 6-13). As for himself, Job says that he is at least no hypocrite, for a double-minded person would hardly dare to demand a meeting with God in the way Job demands it (vv. 14-16). He repeats again what he has already said: he is ready to answer before God, but he demands judgment, not lawless reprisal. He asks God a question as if to an equal, and demands an answer (vv. 18-22).

At first glance, such a position looks at least impious, but Job clearly understands that the only way to obtain any answer from God is to put the question bluntly. Calling God to judgment, Job is, as it were, saying to Him: if You have any concern at all for man, if the righteousness of the righteous person is worth anything in Your eyes, then You must not silently watch what is happening. If I am sinful, Job says, then show me my sins so that I too can see them; otherwise, why do You hide from me and consider me Your enemy (vv. 23-24)? You pursue me, though I am nothing before You, Job says to God, but that is not an answer to my question (vv. 25-28).

Job's words seem daring, but in essence he only wants to cry out until God hears him, to reach the God who, as Job has always been sure, would never leave a righteous person to the mercy of fate. If God is not like that, then there is no one and nothing to hope in; but Job does not believe this. He wants to try every means and use every opportunity to reach the living God, who would answer him instead of simply driving him through the world as the wind drives dry leaves. Job is not frightened by death; he is frightened by a God who has no concern for people. And he is ready even for death, if only he can be convinced that God is not like that.