I. The first point to notice is the use of the present tense by Job in speaking of his Redeemer: "I know that my Redeemer liveth."There is thus in the prophecy a distinct testimony to the pre-existence of Christ. In speaking of a Redeemer as already alive and yet as not to appear until ages had rolled away, Job displayed faith in the most mysterious truth of all, that the Being who was to stand in human form upon the earth existed in some other form, whether that of angel or of God.
II. The word here rendered "redeemer" frequently occurs in the writings of Moses, and is sometimes translated "kinsman."
The restriction of the office of the goelto the nearest of kin was itself a kind of prophecy that our Redeemer would be our Brother. In the circumstances of each case which called for his interference we have a most accurate picture of the person and office of Christ.
III. In the last clause of the text Job refers to the resurrection of the body. His closely connecting the facts of his having a Redeemer and his own resurrection sufficiently shows that he viewed in the one the cause or Author of the other. He may be said to have gathered into the resurrection the whole work or achievement of redemption, as though in announcing the deliverance of his body from the grave he announced all that was to be effected by the Goel, the Kinsman, of the alienated race.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 2747.
References: Job 19:25; Job 19:26. Old Testament Outlines,p. 95.Job 19:25-27. F. W. Robertson, Sermons,1st series, p. 167; Expositor,3rd series, vol. iv., p. 430; J. G. Murphy, Book of Daniel,p. 25; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. ix., No. 504; A. W. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxx., p. 188; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons,p. 387. Job 19:26. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 10.