Beloved, I have the joy of sharing with you today the above theme from Job 30:1 onwards. Indeed, whatis a contrast between this chapter and the previous one! Filled with honors, enjoying a flattering popularity, Job found himself overnight, the object of contempt and mockery. The world is hypocritical and treacherous. Believers who thought they could trust him for a moment sooner or later made this painful discovery. The human heart finds pleasure in the misfortune of others. Did he not rejoice maliciously at Jesus’ abasement? (v. 9 and Ps 69.9-13). Job’s earthly blessings had thus been withered. Those of the Christian, on the other hand, are “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ep 1:3-14). Neither Satan, nor the world, nor death itself, can ever take them away from him… Job, who felt that his piety entitles him to prosperity, now goes so far as to complain about God. Are we sure it never happens to us? And for even less apparent reason! “I call you for help, but you do not answer me” (v. 20). These are the words of Psalm 22:1-3. But what a contrast between the bitterness of Job, who lends God feelings of animosity and cruelty (v. 21), and the perfect submission of the Lord Jesus who at no time abandons his trust in his God.
To the poor, to widows, to orphans, to perishables, Job then refers. Beyond the circle of his own servants, there were needy people whom he had been accused of neglecting and even oppressing. He has already done ample defense under this head. If he raised his hand against the orphan, having good reason to assume that the judges would be on his side, then his shoulder may fall off the shoulder blade and his arm from the collarbone. God’s calamity was a terror for Job, and recognizing the glorious authority that enforces the law of brotherly help, he could not have lived in proud joy and selfish contempt. Then he repudiates the idolatry of wealth and the sin of worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. Rich as he was, he can say that he never thought too much about his wealth, nor did he secretly boast about what he had amassed. His fields produced abundantly, but he never said to his soul: You have many goods in store for many years, take your ease, eat, drink and be joyful. He was only a steward, holding everything to God’s will. Not as if the abundance of goods could give him true value, but with constant gratitude to his Divine Friend, he used the world not to abuse it.
And for his religion: faithful to those spiritual ideas which have elevated him far above superstition and idolatry, even when the rising sun seemed to claim homage as an appropriate emblem of the invisible Creator, or when the full moon shining in a clear sky seemed a most goddess of purity and peace, He had never, as others were wont to do, put his hand to her lips. He had seen the worship of Baal and Ishtar, and it might have come to him, as to whole nations, impulses of wonder, delight, religious reverence. But he can say without fear that he never gave in to the temptation to worship anything in heaven or earth. It would have been to deny the Lord Supreme. “Thus from the earliest times until that of Muhammad, monotheism was in conflict with the form of idolatry which naturally appealed to the inhabitants of Arabia. Job confesses attraction, denies sin. He speaks as if the laws of his people were strongly against the worship of the sun, whatever can be done elsewhere.
He then declares that he never rejoiced in a fallen enemy or that he did not seek anyone’s life with a curse. He is very clearly distinguished from those who, in the ordinary Eastern manner, lavished curses without much provocation, and from those who kept them as mortal enemies. This resentful spirit was so far from him that his friends and enemies were welcome for his hospitality and help. Job 31:31 means that his servants could boast that they could not find a single stranger who did not sit at his table. Their business was to furnish it every day with guests. Nor will Job allow that, in the manner of men, he skillfully covered up transgressions. “If, guilty of something vile, I hid it, as men often do, because I was afraid of losing the caste, afraid that the big families would despise me. Such a thought or fear never presented itself to him. So he couldn’t live a double life. Everything had been above the edge, in the clear light of day, governed by one law. In this regard it is that he comes with princely appeal to the King.
Words are to be defended only on the grounds that theeternal to whom a challenge is addressed here is God misunderstood, God wrongly accused of making unfounded accusations against His servant and punishing him as a criminal. The Almighty did not. The vicious reasoning of friends, the erroneous belief of age make him appear as if he had done it. Men say to Job: You are suffering because God has found evil in you. He makes you according to your iniquity. They maintain that, for no other reason, calamities could have befallen him. Thus God is made to appear as man’s adversary; and Job is forced to prove that he has been unjustly condemned. “Here is my signature,” he said: I declare my innocence; I put my mark; I stand by my claim: I can’t do anything else. May the Almighty prove my fault to me.
God, you say, has a book in which his accusations against me are written. I wish I had this book! I would tie it on my shoulder as a badge of honour; Yes, I would wear it as a crown. I would show Elohim everything I have done, every step I have taken in life day and night. I wouldn’t escape anything. In the assurance of my integrity, I would go to the king; As a prince, I would stand in his presence. There, face to face with the One I know to be right and just, I would justify myself as His servant, faithful in His house. Is it audacity, impiety? The author of the book does not mean that it is understood as such. There is not the slightest hint that he abandons his hero. Every statement made is true. Yet there is an ignorance of God, and this ignorance puts Job at fault so far. He does not know God’s action while he knows his own. He must reason from the misunderstanding of himself and see that he may not understand Elohim. When he begins to see this, he will believe that his sufferings have a complete justification in the purpose of the Most High.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped for your better understanding.
Job evokes his present condition:
- Derision
John 30:1 And now!… I am the laughing stock of younger than me, Of those whose fathers I disdained to put among the dogs of my flock. Psalm 42:11 My bones break when my persecutors insult me, Saying to me incessantly, Where is your God? Luke 16:14 The Pharisees, who were stingy, also listened to all this, and they mocked him. Luke 23:35 The people stood there and watched. The magistrates mocked Jesus, saying, He saved others; may he save himself, if he is Christ, God’s chosen one!
- Sins of youth, disrespect for the elderly
2 Kings 2:23 He went up from there to Bethel; and as he was walking uphill, little boys came out of the city, and laughed at him. They said to him: Come up, bald! Come up, bald! John 30:1 And now!… I am the laughing stock of younger than me, Of those whose fathers I disdained to put among the dogs of my flock. Lm 5.12 Chiefs were hanged by their hands; The person of the old men was not respected.
- Spiritual enemies
Psalm 71:10 For my enemies speak of me, And those who watch my life consult among themselves, Ez 13:18 You will say, Thus saith the Lord the Lord: Woe to those who make pads for all armpits, And who make veils for the heads of people of every size, That they may surprise souls! Do you think you will surprise the souls of my people, And keep your own souls? Eph 6:12 For we are not to fight against flesh and blood, but against the dominions, against the authorities, against the princes of this world of darkness, against the wicked spirits in the heavenly places. 1 Pet 5.8 Be sober, watch. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, looking for whom he will devour.
- Tears of disappointment and grief
John 30:31 If the people in my tent did not say, Where is he who has not been satisfied with his meat? Psalm 39:13 Listen to my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cries! Do not be insensitive to my tears! For I am a stranger to you, an inhabitant, like all my fathers. Psalm 80:6 You feed them a bread of tears. You water them with tears to the fullest. Mk 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe! come to the aid of my unbelief!
From all of the above, we note that ignorance of Job represents ignorance of the old world. Despite the tenor of his prologue, the writer is without a theory of human affliction applicable to every case, or even to Job’s experience. He can only say and repeat, God is supremely wise and just, and for the glory of his wisdom and justice, he orders everything that happens to men. The problem is not resolved until we see Christ, the Captain of our salvation, perfected by suffering, and know that our earthly affliction “which is for the moment, produces for us more and more an eternal weight of glory.” Yet, as a kind of afterthought, completing the balance sheet of his life, the detail is natural. If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together, If I ate the fruits without money, Or have caused the owners to lose their lives: Let the thistles grow instead of wheat And the hull instead of barley. Job’s words are finished.” A farmer of the right species would be greatly ashamed if crop failures or wet furrows screamed at him, or if he could otherwise be accused of mistreating the land. The touch is realistic and powerful. Yet it is clear at the end that Job’s character is idealized. Can much be received as material for true history; But on the whole life is too beautiful, pure, holy for even an extraordinary man. The image is clearly typical. And so it is for the best of reasons. A real life would not have put the problem fully in sight. The writer’s aim is to awaken thought by throwing the contradictions of human experience so vividly onto a prepared canvas that all can see. Why do the righteous suffer? What does the Almighty mean? The urgent questions of race are made as insistent as art and passion, ideal truth and sincerity can make them. Job lying in the filth of misery, yet proclaiming his innocence as a prince before the eternal King, demands from humanity the justification of providence, the sense of the world plan. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in truth to pray with me:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my personal Lord and Savior. I acknowledge that you died at the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and my faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom by walking according to your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to be baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all worship, power and glory, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” Job’s Last Line (continued): What’s next?” (Jb 31)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.