Job’s Speech Comes to an End

“Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockles instead of barley.  The words of Job are ended.”  Job 31:40

Job had a good bit more to say before he ended his speech to his three friends.  He continued his parable by speaking more about the wisdom of God in why He does the things that He does, although there is no real answer to be found since God is omnipotent and doesn’t answer to men.  Job spoke about how God put valuable metals in the earth, but men must spend many hours in labor to retrieve them.  By this, men have learned that things of value don’t come easy.  Since man can figure out how to find valuable metals and minerals in the earth, why can’t they find wisdom and understanding?  Men can’t find these two precious gifts because God is the only One who knows where to find wisdom and understanding, and the way whereby they can be obtained.  How men can get wisdom and understanding is really very simple, but many refuse to accept the only way by which it is offered:  to fear the LORD and to shun evil.

Job longed for the “good old days” when everything was pleasant and joyful, when he was the picture of health and wealth, and “all was right with the world”.  (The only time that last phrase was true was in the garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned.  It’s been a slippery slope ever since then.)  Job gave God the credit for preserving him all of those bygone years.  He didn’t fear the dark for he knew that God was with him.  His relationship with God had been close and personal.  Job’s path had been prosperous, successful, and satisfying.  He was respected by everyone.  He wore righteousness like a robe in all of his dealings with his family and the entire community.  He referred to himself as “eyes to the blind and feet to the lame”.  He kept order in the community and made it safe for all the residents.

Job saw his death as a transition from his good life on earth to a continued good life in eternity, and that death wouldn’t come for him until he was a very old man.  Matthew Henry pointed out that Job was looking at his life as compared to the grains of sand on the seashore rather than the sand in the hourglass which soon runs out.  Folks hung on his every word which was fresh as the spring rain.  His smile encouraged people.  He was a true servant/leader who led by example.  However, the circumstances had changed for him, and all of these wonderful traits that he spoke about himself had seemed to vanish.  Those who had looked up to him now looked down upon him.  He had become a joke to the younger generation.  Those men whom Job had incarcerated for crimes were now those who were most abusive and critical of him.  He had become like them–outcast and shunned.  He even felt that he had become even lower than these vagabonds.

Everywhere Job looked, he could see nothing but terror and fear.  There was no reprieve for him at all.  Everything good in his past had disappeared.  He even accused God of cruelty.  Most suffering is brought on by people’s own sinful behavior.  Job’s case was different.  He was being tested, but he just didn’t know it.  He felt as if God was holding him up to the wind to let it blow him away, an insignificant nobody, a useless piece of humanity.  That’s what folks are without Christ.  God cared enough about every soul, past, present, and future, to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die so that men and women could become part of His family, significant as brothers and sisters of Christ and sons and daughters of the most high God.  Without that personal relationship with Christ through repentance and belief, men and women are blown about by the wind onto clouds that disappear into eternity making them lost forever.

Job’s friends had made some specific charges against him without any evidence; thus, Job began to answer those accusations.  Apparently one of his friends had accused him of some sort of sexual sin which was not recorded in scripture, because Job said that he had made a pact with himself to keep his eyes from looking at other women.  He had one wife and was faithful to her.  He was aware that wandering eyes could lead to sexual sin, thus he decided to keep his eyes and his heart pure.  Could Job expect God to bless him if he was promiscuous, having no regard for the sanctify of the body?  He knew that God sees all and never misses anything.  Why would he want to even consider doing wrong?  He also said that if he had ever cheated anyone in business or in life, then God would see that he would never do that.  He was so secure in his integrity that if he had been guilty of cheating, then let others take all that he possessed.  If he had done all of which his visitors had accused him, then he admitted that he would deserve punishment.  However, he had not done any of those things of which he was charged.

Job had been good to his servants.  He had helped the poor, widows, and orphans.  If he had ignored them, then he said to let his arm fall from his shoulder blade, and his arm be broken from the bone.  His desire was to please God, not bring God’s wrath down upon him.  He did not depend upon his wealth, never was an idolater, and he didn’t gloat over the hardships that his enemies suffered (Proverbs 17:5b).  He clothed and fed strangers.  He never claimed to be sinless.  He said that if he was like Adam who tried to hide his sin from God, then he would not have been the pillar of the community to whom people could go for help or counseling.  He wished that his accusers would write down all the sins that they had said that he had committed. If they would do that, then likely he could confess any that were true or perhaps his friends would have doubts as to what they had been charging him with.  He stated that he had never defrauded anyone of their land, but if he had, then let briars and weeds grow on his land.  With this, Job ended speaking to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

Next time:  Elihu Comes on the Scene