Day 5

Job 23-31

Job Replies: Where Is God?

23 Then Job answered and said:

2    “Today also my complaint is bitter;

my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

3    Oh, that I knew where I might find him,

that I might come even to his seat!

4    I would lay my case before him

and fill my mouth with arguments.

5    I would know what he would answer me

and understand what he would say to me.

6    Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?

No; he would pay attention to me.

7    There an upright man could argue with him,

and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8    “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,

and backward, but I do not perceive him;

9    on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;

he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

10    But he knows the way that I take;

when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

11    My foot has held fast to his steps;

I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

12    I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

13    But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?

What he desires, that he does.

14    For he will complete what he appoints for me,

and many such things are in his mind.

15    Therefore I am terrified at his presence;

when I consider, I am in dread of him.

16    God has made my heart faint;

the Almighty has terrified me;

17    yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,

nor because thick darkness covers my face.

24 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his days?

2    Some move landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3    They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4    They thrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5    Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6    They gather their fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7    They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8    They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9    (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10    They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they carry the sheaves;

11    among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12    From out of the city the dying groan,

and the soul of the wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with wrong.

13    “There are those who rebel against the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14    The murderer rises before it is light,

that he may kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15    The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16    In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17    For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18    “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19    Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does Sheol those who have sinned.

20    The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

       they are no longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

21    “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22    Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23    He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his eyes are upon their ways.

24    They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like the heads of grain.

25    If it is not so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

Bildad Speaks: Man Cannot Be Righteous

25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2    “Dominion and fear are with God;

he makes peace in his high heaven.

3    Is there any number to his armies?

Upon whom does his light not arise?

4    How then can man be in the right before God?

How can he who is born of woman be pure?

5    Behold, even the moon is not bright,

and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

6    how much less man, who is a maggot,

and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable

26 Then Job answered and said:

2    “How you have helped him who has no power!

How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

3    How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,

and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

4    With whose help have you uttered words,

and whose breath has come out from you?

5    The dead tremble

under the waters and their inhabitants.

6    Sheol is naked before God,

and Abaddon has no covering.

7    He stretches out the north over the void

and hangs the earth on nothing.

8    He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,

and the cloud is not split open under them.

9    He covers the face of the full moon

and spreads over it his cloud.

10    He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11    The pillars of heaven tremble

and are astounded at his rebuke.

12    By his power he stilled the sea;

by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

13    By his wind the heavens were made fair;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

14    Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,

and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Job Continues: I Will Maintain My Integrity

27 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2    “As God lives, who has taken away my right,

and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

3    as long as my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4    my lips will not speak falsehood,

and my tongue will not utter deceit.

5    Far be it from me to say that you are right;

till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6    I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;

my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

7    “Let my enemy be as the wicked,

and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

8    For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,

when God takes away his life?

9    Will God hear his cry

when distress comes upon him?

10    Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call upon God at all times?

11    I will teach you concerning the hand of God;

what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12    Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;

why then have you become altogether vain?

13    “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

14    If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,

and his descendants have not enough bread.

15    Those who survive him the pestilence buries,

and his widows do not weep.

16    Though he heap up silver like dust,

and pile up clothing like clay,

17    he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,

and the innocent will divide the silver.

18    He builds his house like a moth’s,

like a booth that a watchman makes.

19    He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;

he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

20    Terrors overtake him like a flood;

in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

21    The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;

it sweeps him out of his place.

22    It hurls at him without pity;

he flees from its power in headlong flight.

23    It claps its hands at him

and hisses at him from its place.

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,

and a place for gold that they refine.

2    Iron is taken out of the earth,

and copper is smelted from the ore.

3    Man puts an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

4    He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;

they are forgotten by travelers;

they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

5    As for the earth, out of it comes bread,

but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6    Its stones are the place of sapphires,

and it has dust of gold.

7    “That path no bird of prey knows,

and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8    The proud beasts have not trodden it;

the lion has not passed over it.

9    “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock

and overturns mountains by the roots.

10    He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eye sees every precious thing.

11    He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,

and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12    “But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13    Man does not know its worth,

and it is not found in the land of the living.

14    The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15    It cannot be bought for gold,

and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16    It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,

in precious onyx or sapphire.

17    Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18    No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;

the price of wisdom is above ppearls.

19    The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20    “From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

21    It is hidden from the eyes of all living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

22    Abaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23    “God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

24    For he looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25    When he gave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

26    when he made a decree for the rain

and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

27    then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

28    And he said to man,

       ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job’s Summary Defense

29 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2    “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

3    when his lamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

4    as I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

5    when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my children were all around me,

6    when my steps were washed with butter,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

7    When I went out to the gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

8    the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

9    the princes refrained from talking

and laid their hand on their mouth;

10    the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

11    When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

12    because I delivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13    The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

14    I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

15    I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16    I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

17    I broke the fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

18    Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,

and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

19    my roots spread out to the waters,

with the dew all night on my branches,

20    my glory fresh with me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.’

21    “Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

22    After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word dropped upon them.

23    They waited for me as for the rain,

and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

24    I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and the light of my face they did not cast down.

25    I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.

30 “But now they laugh at me,

men who are younger than I,

       whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

2    What could I gain from the strength of their hands,

men whose vigor is gone?

3    Through want and hard hunger

they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

4    they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,

and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

5    They are driven out from human company;

they shout after them as after a thief.

6    In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,

in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7    Among the bushes they bray;

under the nettles they huddle together.

8    A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

9    “And now I have become their song;

I am a byword to them.

10    They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

11    Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12    On my right hand the rabble rise;

they push away my feet;

they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13    They break up my path;

they promote my calamity;

they need no one to help them.

14    As through a wide breach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

15    Terrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16    “And now my soul is poured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17    The night racks my bones,

and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

18    With great force my garment is disfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19    God has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like dust and ashes.

20    I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

21    You have turned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you persecute me.

22    You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23    For I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for all living.

24    “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?

25    Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26    But when I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I waited for light, darkness came.

27    My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction come to meet me.

28    I go about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29    I am a brother of jackals

and a companion of ostriches.

30    My skin turns black and falls from me,

and my bones burn with heat.

31    My lyre is turned to mourning,

and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Job’s Final Appeal

31 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;

how then could I gaze at a virgin?

2    What would be my portion from God above

and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

3    Is not calamity for the unrighteous,

and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

4    Does not he see my ways

and number all my steps?

5    “If I have walked with falsehood

and my foot has hastened to deceit;

6    (Let me be weighed in a just balance,

and let God know my integrity!)

7    if my step has turned aside from the way

and my heart has gone after my eyes,

and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

8    then let me sow, and another eat,

and let what grows for me be rooted out.

9    “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,

and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,

10    then let my wife grind for another,

and let others bow down on her.

11    For that would be a heinous crime;

that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

12    for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,

and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13    “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,

when they brought a complaint against me,

14    what then shall I do when God rises up?

When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15    Did not he who made me in the womb make him?

And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16    “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,

or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17    or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18    (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,

and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),

19    if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,

or the needy without covering,

20    if his body has not blessed me,

and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

21    if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,

because I saw my help in the gate,

22    then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,

and let my arm be broken from its socket.

23    For I was in terror of calamity from God,

and I could not have faced his majesty.

24    “If I have made gold my trust

or called fine gold my confidence,

25    if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant

or because my hand had found much,

26    if I have looked at the sun when it shone,

or the moon moving in splendor,

27    and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my mouth has kissed my hand,

28    this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have been false to God above.

29    “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,

or exulted when evil overtook him

30    (I have not let my mouth sin

by asking for his life with a curse),

31    if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’

32    (the sojourner has not lodged in the street;

I have opened my doors to the traveler),

33    if I have concealed my transgressions as others do

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

34    because I stood in great fear of the multitude,

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—

35    Oh, that I had one to hear me!

(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)

Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

36    Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;

I would bind it on me as a crown;

37    I would give him an account of all my steps;

like a prince I would approach him.

38    “If my land has cried out against me

and its furrows have wept together,

39    if I have eaten its yield without payment

and made its owners breathe their last,

40    let thorns grow instead of wheat,

and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended. [1]

Thoughts:

            I really don’t think we could overestimate Jobs faith, he really does understand who God is 23:6-7 says “Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.” The horrible calamity that has overcome Job has not caused him to lose faith. Here he readily admits that God has no need to contend with him, they are not at the same level and Job knows it. However, Job knows God, he knows God would listen, he knows God would acquit him. Job knows that God does not work through karma, nor by favors of good works or some kind of prosperity gospel as his friends seem to believe. Job knows he himself is a sinner, but that “his redeemer lives” as we discussed in yesterdays reading, so he trusts in the goodness and righteousness of the Lord even when things are going so poorly fo himself without explanation.

       In 28:28 we get a glimpse into Jobs thinking 28 “And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”[2] In Called to be Gods People the authors address this thought well “Through the Gospel God granted Job “the fear of the Lord,” faith and trust in God. That faith leads God’s people to turn from evil. This is what sustained Job throughout his trials.”[3] Sometimes my children don’t “like” me very much and sometimes they have to endure whatever I am having them do because somewhere deep down inside they know that I will always love them and that I care for them, and if that doesn’t work they know I am bigger then them and one way or another they will submit. We always look at fear as something bad but fear of something can often keep us safe. If my children “understood” that “turning away from evil”  would help to keep our relationship right, then I would be a successful father. How much more so for God and us?  Job trusts in this righteousness, he considers it dependable because he has the wisdom and understanding of who God is, whether one likes it or not is irrelevant. Additionally, as discussed earlier he knows God can handle his anger and would still acquit him because his redeemer lives.