Job 16

There’s no “singing lawyer” in the Hebrew text. But the point Job is trying to make is that he can shout out stanzas of lofty Hebrew poetry with the best of them. So, he’s not impressed with Eliphaz or the other visitors who are trying to convince him to admit his sin and plead for mercy from God, for Job’s not getting much of that from them.

Bible scholars debate who that witness is. Some say it is God himself. However, Job thinks God is on the other side. At the end of the story, God certainly is the one who defends Job. But it’s anyone’s guess who Job at this point thinks that witness is. Some guess Job may think his prayers are a witness on his behalf. He may also think that when he dies, the blood of an innocent man will serve as his witness and will vindicate him, clear his name, and restore his reputation.

It might sound as though Job plants to debate God in heaven, but the Hebrew ancestors of today’s Jewish people didn’t seem to have a concept of an afterlife in heaven, or perhaps anywhere. They spoke of going to be with their fathers, but that could sound like a euphemism for “I’m going to die.” They also often spoke of Sheol, a Hebrew word for the place of the dead, where no one ever comes back. Greeks later translated the word as “Hades.”