Midrash sa Job 23:8: Midrash Tanchuma Buber & Midrash Tehillim

Another interpretation (of Gen. 2:4): THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH WHEN THEY WERE CREATED. This text is related (to Job 25:2): DOMINION AND AWE ARE WITH HIM. Thus Job had said (in 23:3): OH THAT I KNEW WHERE I MIGHT FIND HIM [THAT I MIGHT COME TO HIS ABODE]. R. Abba bar Kahana said: If he is in a temple above, I will come to his abode; and if he is in a temple below, I will come to his abode. Now HIS ABODE (rt.: KWN) is nothing but a temple, as stated (in Ezra 3:3): AND THEY SHALL SET THE ALTAR UPON ITS BASE (rt.: KWN). Ergo he says: This < abode > is a temple. (Job 23:4:) LET ME LAY MY CASE (mishpat) BEFORE HIM. His friends said to him: Do you not know that he is called the God of justice (mishpat)? It is so stated (in Is. 30:18): FOR THE LORD IS A GOD OF JUSTICE (mishpat). (Job 23:4, cont.:) AND FILL MY MOUTH WITH PROTESTS. He said to him: If that man's mouth would close, (according to vs. 5) I WOULD KNOW {WHAT} WORDS HE WOULD ANSWER ME [AND UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WOULD-SAY TO ME]. Oh that he would answer me point for point as to whether I have sinned or not sinned. (Job 23:8:) SEE, I GO EAST, AND HE IS NOT THERE; AND WEST, BUT I DO NOT PERCEIVE HIM. R. Johanan said: You learn from here that the Divine Presence is in the west. I went south and north without finding him (cf. vs. 9). Why? (Job 23:10:) BECAUSE HE KNOWS THE WAY I TAKE. WHEN HE HAS TRIED ME, I SHALL COME FORTH LIKE GOLD. His friends said to him: Job, how long will you pester with words? Are we not telling you that you cannot go out to meet him and speak insolently with him? They said to him: Can you speak insolently with Michael?

"To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Zophar the Naamathite said (Job 11:7), 'Canst thou by searching find out God?' (Job 11:8) It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? (Job 11:9) The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. (Job 11:7) No man can find it out. (Job 23:8) And who can know it? For it is said (Job 23:10), 'God knoweth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.' (Job 28:24) For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven. No man can comprehend the works of the Lord. As David said, 'Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD?' (Psalm 106:2) No man can reach the greatness of God's power. Even Moses, who ascended to the highest heavens and received the Torah directly from God, did not comprehend this. But God is eternal and He searches all things. Therefore, David gives Him the eternal praise and sings, 'O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.' This can be compared to a king who was eating with his wife, and while he was eating with her, he wrote her a bill of divorce and gave it to her. The woman began to say, 'See how wise my lord the king is. He knew that I had set my eyes on another man, and he gave me the bill of divorce.' Similarly, David said, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' (Psalm 139:23-24) For I have heard the reproach of the enemy, and the blasphemy of the wicked: for they bring upon me iniquity, and in wrath they hate me. Therefore, it is said, 'O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.'"