The Book of Job – Part 7

In considering further Job’s relig­ious philosophy as it is so starkly re­vealed by his speeches, we note a change in the latter part of the talks. It is not apparent to casual reading, but it is there nevertheless. In the first four talks which includes the melancholy despairing soliloquoy of chapter 3, there is a note of doubt, or of question. Job is searching in his own mind and heart out of his experiences, and from the points of view presented by the friends for an answer to all that has happened to him.

His personal philosophy taught him that fear of God, and complete moral integrity assured abundant blessing in material things; his friends demonstrat­ed in their speeches an identical phil­osophy. Yet Job, who had “held fast to his integrity,” “feared God, and departed from evil,” was cursed. Neither in his own mental wrestling with the prob­lem, nor from analysis of it by the friends does he find the answer; but the questioning and doubts, in part, disappear. The turning point appears to be at chapter 16, at the 4th talk. There appears to be no lessening of the physical torment, but from here on, there is a greater confidence. This change does create a temptation to as­sume from this that Job has made spiritual progress, that his dreadful experiences were bearing fruit, and that he was beginning to see the need for what was happening to him, and from it to emerge with strengthened faith in God. But it is a misleading line of thought.

We will find the reason for Job’s newly found confidence, in his talks, and see if there is any justification for assuming spiritual development . In chapter 16, Job reaches the peak of frenzy in his railing against God.

He likens himself to a man being beaten and torn to pieces, and pierced through by a murderer. In his bitter anguish he utters the cry, “0 earth cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place” (16:18). Let my cry continue to echo, so to speak, until vengeance is accomplished. The background of this was a Hebrew tra­dition derived from the incident of Abel, recorded in Genesis 4. A tradition that believed a victim’s cry remained un­silenced, and his blood uncovered until the crime had been avenged. To digress for a moment — it is revealing to note that Job is not criticized by either God or Elihu for the extravagant state­ments of chapter 16. It is as if God re­garded them with compassionate un­derstanding; appreciating the torment of mind and of body that produced them, and it is for the more rational statements made in later speeches that Job is severely condemned.

To return, however, to chapter 16. It is in verses 20-21, that Job makes the first of two most remarkable state­ments, the second being the more fam­ous one of chapter 19:25-27, “I know that my redeemer liveth,” etc. Quite frankly, experts confess a difficulty in arriving at precisely what was in Job’s mind when he cried out, “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high. My friends scorn me, my eye pours out tears to God, that he would maintain the right of man with God. Like that of a man with his neighbor. For when a few years have come I shall go the way when I shall not return.” (16:19)

In Chapter 9, he had recognized the need, and expressed a wish for an “um­pire” between man and God — some­one with an equality with God to bring the two together. But in that speech it was only a wish; here in chapter 16 he speaks with confidence assurance, as he also does in chapter 19. But who does he speak of ? Quite clearly he holds God responsible for his evil case, and yet at the same time appeals to someone in heaven for vindication. In effect, he appeals from God to God, as if, in his mind, God assumes a dual­ity of behaviour. It is possible, though on this we must not dogmatise, that here is an example of the thinking that led the Jew in exile to be attract­ed to the Persian philosophy of twin gods; gods of good and of evil between whom man was a pawn. This thinking was in contrast to the 40-48th chapters of Isaiah, where the Oneness, and the Supremacy of God in all things in good and evil are emphasized and re-empha­sized. Of one thing we are sure — the figure that Job, as it were, sets up in his mind “the witness,” has no sim­ilarity to the Christ. Here, as in all his speeches Job is concerned with him­self. We see also in this confident as­sertion of vindication, the basis of the change in Job’s approach to his prob­lem. He has reviewed in his own mind the activities of his former life, has listened to the friends, who have con­demned him, yet without evidence. He Is therefore now convinced of his com­plete innocence, and this basis of his eventual justification. It is in this con­text of thought that a new word comes into his speeches: he speaks of his blessings as a “right” both in 16:21, and in 27:2. We note the foundation of Job’s renewed confidence in this 27th chapter, verse 6: “I hold fast my right­eousness, and will not let it go, my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.” In this mood of absolute confidence, we consider the talk in chap­ter 19 and his well-known declaration, “I know that my redeemer *(vindica­tor)” and in doing so, must consider it in the context of the whole chapter. It is obvious from the beginning of the chapter that there is no change of at­titude toward God. Verses 2-4, he be­gins, “How long will you torment me, and break me in pieces with words ? These ten times you have cast re­proaches upon me, and you are not ashamed to wrong me, and even if it were true that I have erred remains with myself.” We must not accept this as a confession of wrong-doing. With the thought that what he has done is his own business and does not concern them, verse 4 is capable of several interpretations, and the one most in harmony with Job’s frame of mind is as follows: “If I have erred (which I have not) my error would dwell with me, and remain in my mem­ory, I would remember it, but I do not.”

In this mood of absolute self-confidence he then makes a statement very close to blasphemy — 19:6: “Know then that God has put me in the wrong, and closed his net about me.” Scherer translates this: “Know ye that it is Eloah who hath perverted my right, and hath compassed me with his net.”

We see that Job considers himself as completely innocent of any possible accusation, a n d deliberately accuses God of perversion of justice. It is there­fore quite out of context to suggest that in verses 25-27, he is expressing faith in the ultimate purpose of God. He is still concerned with himself, and his vindication when he cries out, “I know that my redeemer *(vindicator) liveth and at last will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then without my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold and not an­other.” Even after complete destruc­tion says Job, his name will be cleared and he will be justified.

How far are we justified in going with this statement ? The word trans­lated “redeemer” is in the Hebrew *”Goel” it is primarily the “avenger” of blood, and is so found in 2 Samuel 14:11. This would bring the statement in harmony with the role of the “wit­ness” in chapter 16. So complete is Job’s self-righteousness, and his con­fidence in his “personal integrity” that he has reached the point of believing in a figure in the heavens. For it must be one who can speak on an equality with God, who will vindicate him even after his body is destroyed. The R.S.V. seems to be in harmony with this thought: “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see on my side.”

We can make no useful contribution to the differing translations — A.V. “in my flesh,” and R.S.V. “without my flesh.” The original Hebrew gives equal support to both; it is however unlikely that Job is thinking in terms of a bodyless existence because this is foreign to Hebrew thought. It is possible therefore, that “in my flesh” is the more correct.

We can be sure of this, though it is a painful thought, that there is no justification for taking this whole state­ment out of context and using it as a proof of the resurrection . . . or of a reference to the Divine concept of a “redeemer.” From the true Christian point of view of a “redeemer” being someone to act as a propitiation for our sins and therefore making it pos­sible for man to approach God, Job’s “redeemer” is completely out of har­mony. He was “blameless,” “innocent” from that point of view, did not need a redeemer; but what he wished for was a “vindicator” ; his whole attitude was based on his self-righteousness. As to whether resurrection entered into his thought to any degree it is very doubt­ful. With this single exception, Job appears to believe as the Sadducees­ that rewards and punishments are re­lated to this life, and after his depart­ure “I shall not return.” Of one thing we can be certain, as Job reaches the pinnacle of self-righteousness, so cer­tain is he of his personal purity, that he can look forward to the clearing of his name with complete certainty.

Having reached a mood of self-con­fidence, he now concerns himself with the behaviour of others. In chapter 20, Zophar has continued the reasonings of the friends that the wicked can be sure of Divine cursing, and savagely describes the suffering of a wicked man — by implication Job — and concludes his tirade with the words in verse 2, “This is the wicked man’s por­tion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God” In reply Job asks the question asked by many others over the ages: “Why do the wicked live, reach old age and grow mighty in power?” (chapter 21). He goes on to describe their wealth and prosperity and then implies, (verse 14) that in effect they consider obedience to God as unprofit­able, “they say to God, depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him ? And what pro­fit do we get if we pray to Him ?” Ac­cording to the Septuagint, verse 16 should end with the word “God,” and we would read “the counsel of the wicked is far from God.” We see how ad­mirably this harmonizes with the general context. In effect Job is saying, instead of the wicked suffering, he pros­pers, and his prosperity is within his own power, not relative to obedience to God. And to add to the sense of re­spect and prestige that the wicked en­joy, he describes the pomp and respect that is afforded the burial of a wicked man in the latter part of the chapter.

Job looks at the reverse side of the picture in the next speech (chapter 24). Here he considers the behaviour of the wicked toward the defenseless of society, the poor, the widow, the father­less. “Men remove landmarks, they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. They thrust the poor off the road” (24:2-4). He concludes his review of this problem of the oppressed with this comment in verse 12; “out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.” In all this, the man comes close to blasphemy, in a rational calm mood; now quite sure of his own innocence he considers the issues of evil and suf­fering, and in them accuses God of injustice and indifference.

Job is still a proud, self-righteous man, in spite of all his experiences. This is abundantly confirmed by his final speech, occupying the chapters 29, 30, 31. This long speech is in three parts: the first a review of his former glory and prosperity, the second part the present terrible contrast, and the third part his great oath of innocence. There are some revealing touches in each of the parts: immediately noticeable is the constant repetition of the first per­son pronoun; “When I went out the gate of the city,” “I put on righteous­ness and it clothed me.” He shows an intense interest in all the activities of his community not only in helping the unfortunate, but in visiting of judg­ment upon those he considered wicked. There is an interesting passage in verse 10, that suggests a touch of fear on the part of some of his associates, “The voice of the nobles was hushed and their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouth.” That, as a result of all his good deeds, he expected to receive blessings, is evident from verses 18-20. And finally, there is immense pride in the words of verse 25, “I chose out their way, and sat as chief, and I dwelt like a king among his troops.”

In stark contrast, comes chapter 30. We make one comment on this part of his speech: Verses 1-8 describe the condition of those whom Job charac­terizes as “sons of fools” considering how great an emphasis Job has placed on his “humanity,” his concern for the unfortunate, it seems rather odd that he has been responsible for driving out of the society of men those who come under his judgment and treating them like animals. It is just a suggestion that Job’s handling of those who came under his censure was merciless.

The final speech is called his great oath of innocence, and it is the elab­oration of all that is implied in the first verse of the Book: “perfect, up­right, one who feared God and de­parted from evil.” His was a high moral code. The fact that the book suggests, in quite a number of ways that Job was in the prime of life and a vigorous man, would probably explain his plac­ing of sensual desire as the first ex­ample of his tremendous self-discipline

It is a remarkable catalogue of vir­tues, but there is one element entirely missing not only in this speech, but in the whole of Job’s approach to his problem — it is that of humility. His final cry is one of pure arrogance—verses 35-37, “Oh, that I had one to hear me, (here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me). Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; I would give him an account of all my steps; Like a prince I would approach him.” The term “prince” signifies one who is a lee der and commander of others, has precedence over other people, no ac­ceptable figure throughout the whole Scripture presumes to approach t h e Almighty in the role of a prince, nor challenge Him to justify Himself. This is the final seal on the character of Job. The writer of the book sums up the problem in a pithy sentence in chapter 32:1, “So these three men ceas­ed to answer Job, because he was right­eous in his own eyes.”

We add our own quotation to this from Romans 10:3, “For being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteous­ness.”