James 5: 11

THE END OF THE LORD

Ye have heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful.

The book of Job is among those less studied in the Old Testament; as James says, believers have heard the story, and seen its end, without many having looked into its moral lessons very closely. These lessons affirm the inspiration of the book, and its place in the Scriptures; besides which it is referred to, not only by James, but also by Ezekiel (chapter 14) and by Paul (1 Cor 3: 19)—recognised in the Old and New Testament alike.

God’s objective

We can readily answer what the purpose of the book and its story is: James speaks of “the end of the Lord”—that is, the object God had in His mind in His ways with Job. Job and his friends have a lot to say about God’s mighty power—God does so Himself, yet there is much more to learn: God’s power is exercised in perfect righteousness—as are all His ways with us. But James does not speak either of power of righteousness; he shows how God’s nature came out in grace. This perfectly suited Job’s need and condition, so that he might discover the heart and feelings of the God he piously feared (what God was “full of”); and for that, his own heart and feelings are laid bare. We may find His ways hard to understand, but God always has a reason; and not just to show that He is supreme. God’s prime object was that Job should know Him, and then himself—after all, it is the latter that depends on the former, and not the other way round; and chapter 42: 5, 6 shows that Job comes to the two things in that order.

These notes explore how God went about His work. They also draw upon the gospel preached today—which lights up things this book only touches lightly. So there are digressions from the book itself—some lengthy.

God’s names

It is well when we study any book of the Bible to identify early on how God Himself is spoken of; and the answer in Job is given some importance by God’s sentence on Job’s three friends: “ye have not spoken of me rightly, like my servant Job”, chap 42: 8. This comment appears, as far as Job is concerned, to refer—shall we say principally—to what he says in chapter 42; since it is very clear that some of his earlier remarks were quite wrong—even if he did avoid the trap Satan wanted him to fall into.

A footnote in Genesis 1 explains that God is referred to in various ways in the Old Testament. Some of these are general, but two in particular—the Almighty and Jehovah—view Him especially as anticipating coming into a relationship with His people; the former with Abraham; the latter with Israel. Exodus 6: 3 explains this and presents one as a progression from the other. The writer here makes frequent use of the name Jehovah at both ends of the book; while Job (being presumably earlier and thus less advanced) does so just once (chap 12: 9), and he and the other speakers switch mainly between plain references to God and the title Almighty. These are not the only names Job uses, as we shall see—there is in fact a richness in the variety of titles which speaks of his knowledge of God—so far, and is in contrast to the limited range of his friends.

We will come in due course to the way in which the three friends speak (wrongly) about God, and mis-represent Him; but how in the first place do they refer to Him? We will also see a contrast with them in what Elihu says. Eliphaz speaks first; and has more to say than the other two put together (chapters 4, 5, 15 and 22). Perhaps he knew a little more about God than his friends: he says of the Almighty in chapter 5—

“But as for me I will seek unto God, and unto God commit my cause;

“Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number; Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields …” (chap 5: 8 and 9)

Paul actually borrows one of his remarks, in speaking of the foolishness of the wise: “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness”, see Job 5: 13 and 1 Cor 3: 19.

Bildad speaks next (chapters 8 and 18), and last (chapter 25): he refers only to the Almighty in his first intervention (v 3 and 13), and does not mention God at all in the second—until the very last word. Finally, he throws out what seemed to him the big question—

“And how should a man be just with God?”

—suggesting, as we shall see, that he saw a moral relationship with God as impossible.

Zophar comes third (chapters 11 and 20), referring to the Almighty in his first remarks (v 11); and at the very end of his second contribution—he also refers to God impersonally, as ‘He’. A closer look at their use of the name Almighty does not find any suggestion that these two knew God for themselves—even to the extent Eliphaz describes; perhaps they are addressing rather the way Job professed to know Him. It is notable that their arguments draw them away from God to focus on what they see as the general misfortune of the wicked. We will come back to this in looking at the detail of the three responses; when we look at the case Job makes that they are trying to answer.

Living in the knowledge of God

God wants to be known, and He wants those who know Him to live—more than that, He desires that this knowledge should form a living relationship with Himself, and for those who know Him to share a relationship with others into which He brings us. Job had lived to himself, and his prosperity convinced him that he could. He feared God, and was observant in his prayers, but he had enough property to be his own object. We shall see that a little cloud of uncertainty had always hung over Job and his property: deep down, he seemed to sense that the life he had developed could all be lost one day—and he knew of nothing he thought could take its place; the only alternative was death.

We live by the breath of God (Gen: 2: 7), and, as Elihu says, would expire without it, chap 34: 15. As Job says of God (chap 12: 10)—

“In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man.”

But God is not just concerned with our existence: the impartation of His breath made man “a living soul”, living in and by the knowledge of God as made known to him. All this has been forfeited by sin—“thou shalt certainly die”, Gen 2: 17. Adam and Eve, tempted to live to themselves, first hid from the presence of God, and were then driven out of His presence, with the way to the tree of life barred lest they live for ever in their sin.

What is God’s answer—since clearly if we are morally dead we cannot find one for ourselves? We learn from this book that God must act, establishing His servant Job on the foundation of His own grace—this, so far as God’s dealings in those days allowed, answers to His gift of eternal life, see Rom 5: 17-21.

Eternal life is bound up in the knowledge of God—according as He is revealed, as the Lord Jesus says (John 17: 3)—

“And this is the eternal life, that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”

And John adds to this to show that what is meant is inward—

“And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know him that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life”                        1 John 5: 20

This is known to faith, and depends on the reception of the Holy Spirit—

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”, Rom 8: 2.

Job had to learn that, if he was to live free in the presence of a God made known to him; God must redeem and justify him; he could not—and did not need to—rely on his own righteousness; all would be grace.

A contrast

So we must see a big contrast between Job’s perspective and ours. When looking back at Old Testament histories, we see that God’s servants were expecting something in the future that is now accomplished; and that what God has revealed and realised in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus far exceeds what those servants expected. Their faith—in whatever degree—is remarkable, in comparison to our own: we embrace what God has done: they trusted the God they knew for what He was going to do centuries beyond their lifetimes. Like Adam—like us all by nature, they were made for earth; and it was rare to find any—such as Abraham—who looked beyond what was earthly. Abraham’s faith also embraced the resurrection of the dead—and the power of God to make it a present reality (Heb 11: 19); whereas for most, the promise and portion was an earthly one—and prosperity here a mark of God’s favour.

We now know that God never relied for the realisation of His purpose on Adam or any of his sinful descendants: Christ Jesus is not just an answer to our fallen state, but the Man that God always had in His mind—His purpose was “in Christ Jesus before the ages of time” (2 Tim 1: 9), to be given to us in Him. Job might have been a fine example of Adam’s race, but he cannot be compared to the Man of God’s purpose.

The epistle to the Romans presents in a new way the righteousness and the power of God; both seen in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from among the dead. That power is towards those who believe; God is not against us—as Job was tempted to think and his friends tried to show. Men need no longer look to their works, or seek improvement and reform by which they might be justified. The righteousness now preached is “of God by faith of Jesus Christ”. Believers are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood”, Rom 3: 22-25. Paul tells us that God justifies him that is of the faith of Jesus—the believer therefore need not now to try to justify himself. The blood reminds us that Jesus had to die for us—we are not justified by the perfection of His life but by “faith in his blood”; but He was “raised for our justification” (Rom 4: 25): how could we be reconciled to God or counted just in His sight, if the One on whose work He relies was still in death?

So, what is this redemption? We shall see that Job speaks of “my Redeemer” (chap 29: 25), and Elihu talks about finding a ransom (chap 33: 24). The ransom (see also 1 Tim 2: 6) is an element in redemption—but the “redemption which is in Christ Jesus” is more; it is not enough for God that all our liabilities are gone, with every other claim over us except His discharged; this is what the ransom ‘buys’. We are not simply to be re-instated in what sin and sins had forfeited—it is gone for ever under God’s unsparing judgment at the cross; but “in Christ Jesus” puts us before God on ground to which we had no prior claim—it is, as often said, ‘another Man in another place’. We must remember that Job and his guests knew nothing of this—he was more than satisfied to recover at the end of it all that he had lost; and counted this as a great favour from God. Indeed, while he knew what sins are—and spent a lot of energy discussing which if any he had committed; it is only when God’s end was reached that he understands his underlying sinful state—it would never satisfy God whatever Job did to keep himself and defend his reputation. He did not know that Christ would die to sin once for all (Rom 6: 10) and that he would be reconciled to God through the death of His Son—through God’s free grace. Without this truth, he strove—as he thought he must—to defend himself, and argue for his own righteousness, and the chance to plead it before God.

These considerations point to other instructive contrasts, which help us to see Job in a true perspective. First and foremost, the Lord Jesus alone is God’s ideal. As for everyone else, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, Rom 3: 23. The “man Christ Jesus” embodies every thought God’s purpose had for man—God’s glory shines in Him; but the glory of what man is for God shines too, and how different it was from anything Job displayed. Paul speaks of “the mind that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2: 5)—of One who knew absolutely what His title was to honour and glory, who had a claim to whatever material thing He might command; but He “emptied Himself”, and took the form—not in the landed classes or aristocracy like Job, but of a bondman: the Son of man had come not to be served but to serve (Matt 20: 28); He was a ‘houseless, homeless stranger’. What would a man like Job have made of such a One; of such a different mind and motive? Jesus was here in a world where His whole course ran against the stream: everyone else striving to get on and get up—by fair means or foul, but “he that descended” on the other track, low enough to come up to the man on the Jericho road, and serve whosoever, whatever their need might be, without expecting—or always even receiving—any thanks or reward. His motives?—love and obedience to His Father, John 14: 31. He gave Himself over to Him who judges righteously (1 Pet 2: 23); and bore our sins in His body on the tree—us, who were “alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works”, Col 1: 21. Isaiah 53 says that He was afflicted and not esteemed; Peter tells us He was assessed to be worthless for men’s building—and none of this to form or refine anything in Him; but to bring out the spotless character of His wonderful Manhood.

Job is sometimes put alongside Abraham; some think they were contemporary, although probably not known to each other. They may have been equally rich materially, standing out from their neighbours, but Abraham had had a life of exercise with God yielding nearness and friendship with God that Job—to whom things had come more easily—knew nothing of. Abraham was called in mid-life to leave his country, and “obeyed to go out”. He received promises God made as to the future that depended on an heir he seemed to have no hope of; not for him the large and happy family Job had. The “obedience of faith” became the foundation in his soul, and when at length a son was given when Abraham and Sarah could be spoken of as “deadened”, he embraced the reality of resurrection—a faith which God then revealed in the trial over offering Isaac as a burnt-offering.

Perhaps the contrast between the Job and Abraham can be seen in the way God calls one “my servant”, but the other “my friend” (Isa 41: 8); both describe a relationship which God valued, but the latter is much more intimate and reciprocal.

There may be a closer comparison with Jacob, who spent his first century accumulating assets by his own art and contrivance—and was blessed with an even bigger family than Job’s first one; but who was afraid to be too near to God and preferred to lean on his own resourcefulness. And then came twenty years of discipline, following the betrayal and loss of the son he loved above all. We are not given any account of the harrowing, refining exercises through which God then passed him; only we see their result—he emerges into the light of Joseph’s glory quite changed, leaving all his “stuff” for the place Joseph reserved for him; and, at the end, celebrating the God who had come every step of his way, and blessed him at the end. Job’s travails are short by contrast: his life-lesson from God made much more concentrated than in any other case the Scripture reports from God’s school.

How the story begins

So Job’s story is set in times very different from those in which the Christian gospel is preached and believed; but it still has plenty to teach us. Since it is in our Bible for this purpose (Rom 15: 4), we will not look at what the book does not tell us—when exactly did Job live; who wrote the book; how did it get into the Bible? We will simply accept that what is recounted really happened so that a man like us should learn what we all must—about God, and about himself.

We are told that Job was greater than all the children of the east—with what would then have been vast flocks and herds, and a considerable family and household. More than all, he was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God and abstained from evil”. God valued Job—if He speaks of someone as “my servant”, He is pleased to be identified with that person, recognising their moral virtues.

The family do not seem to be quite of the same calibre—the sons at any rate had created some space between themselves and their father, with their own houses, where they entertained each other and their sisters, all as it were out of Job’s sight. And Job had an inkling that all was not well at these parties because he made intercession for them individually, seeking to propitiate God with a burnt-offering for any bad language He might hear from any one of them—a sin he would not on any account commit himself. Perhaps this assessment of his family made him complacent about himself: we do not read of any such offerings on his own account—for any other sin of his own, however inadvertent.

And now we have a remarkable account of God as it were holding court to require the angels to give account of what they have been doing. Those who do His will are “sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation” (Heb 1: 14); others who have left this first estate are held in the “deepest pit” in chains in gloomy darkness (2 Pet 2: 4; Jude 6), but Satan is very much at large. He had noticed Job—he could hardly miss him, but seems to have kept his distance, believing that such a man must have God’s special protection. Yet he is quick to tempt God, suggesting that, with a little licence, he could induce Job to curse God to His face—to be more brazenly sinful than Satan dared himself. We can be sure that God did not think “my servant Job” would sin in such a way; but He took the opportunity to embark on a course of learning for Job by which he would be brought to see God as he never had before. He admits later that he had relied on what he had heard about God, and on His gifts, but God longs for us to have more than this: Job comes to see Him, and thus to learn how very much more wonderful He is than he had thought—and not the least deserving, of course, of the complaints Job had made against Him. And he comes to this when all the gifts he had previously enjoyed are for the time being removed.

Job must in the process of all this learn about his own nature and will, and so he takes a potsherd and starts to scrape away at the exterior! The sores in his mind and heart soon begin to trouble him and poison what he says. As we will see, Satan is not allowed to meddle further—not openly, at any rate, God preferring to use his friends, with whom he also had a controversy to settle.

God does not tell Satan all that He was thinking in referring him to Job—He had in mind to draw Job into the enjoyment of His grace, and in the process overthrow Satan’s design altogether. But He allows a succession of disasters to strike Job: his cattle are stolen or destroyed by fire; more damage is done by a great wind, and his children and household are all apparently lost. Job is not moved away from his fear of God: he worships, acknowledging that God’s giving came with a right to take away—which might mean that he would die with absolutely nothing. Satan then returns to the attack, smiting Job all over with a “grievous botch”. But still he professes to be equally willing to accept good and evil from God: he does not contemplate at all that Satan’s hand could be in all this.

It is common for writers to say that this book is about unexplained adversity; and that it shows that things may not happen for a reason. This is quite untrue; and is never the terms in which Job saw what had happened to him. He is entirely clear that there is a reason; but he cannot work out what it is.

Satan’s work

Satan is allowed to act—not of course to show how much he can do. We see rather the restraint under which God holds him, although it is clear what he would do if he could—Satan’s aim was to induce Job to curse God, and so to bring a curse upon himself. Satan’s object is to destroy—the end of what he does is death. Satan makes a simple proposition—imagining that Job has the sort of sinful motive he would understand. He argues that, since Job may only be religious because he thinks it is rewarding, the rewards have only to be removed and he will turn round against God.

Satan’s challenge is also to God: that He owed some kind of debt to Job’s uprightness, which his favour had repaid. Satan knows nothing of God’s grace; and this charge must be met. Satan cannot succeed, either with Job or against God. God will justify Himself in giving Job double in the end.

The successive blows Satan rains on Job were allowed; but a limit is reached when Satan (as it must be) moves Job’s wife to urge him to curse God, something Satan himself had not dared to do openly; but it would serve his end, as he well knew—she adds “and die”. God had not allowed this use of Job’s wife, and we hear no more of Satan thereafter—as if God moves at once to nullify his malign influence. And he disappears having entirely failed in his object—at no point up to then or afterwards does Job curse God as Satan had wished: through all the sorrowful discipline, God’s work in Job proves Satan wrong—as God had known it would. If the history is taken as a battle between God and Satan, God is immediately victorious, and free to get on with His own work in His servant—and the disclosure of His nature to him. Job and his companions make no reference to Satan, as if not knowing anything of what we are told about him. They do not blame him for anything that has happened, speaking of it either as from God, or the working of fate.

Job’s friends

Job’s three friends hear of what has happened and they come “to condole with him and comfort him”. They are overwhelmed by what they can see at a distance, before they even get near enough to see how Job himself is affected; and when they finally arrive they sit silent for a week: they can do nothing, and say nothing, helpful or otherwise! How often it happens that well-meaning people are drawn into circumstances for which they are not equal—with opinions that are not aligned with God’s judgment and objective! Here, however, they come upon the scene of God’s own working—without being able to see either Him or it. Job was as it were under the divine searchlight—what was in his heart was about to be revealed; these three find themselves in that light too: unexpectedly, what is in their hearts is to be revealed just as starkly, and God has to say to it. They had not intended this when they embarked on this involvement, but that is God’s way with those who interfere in His ways with others.

The three men do not pursue Satan’s line of argument, which had already been overthrown; and theirs’ is much harder for Job to bear. We shall see that they judge what they cannot see by what appears, and argue backwards from consequence to cause—Job’s calamities prove there is some wickedness in him, which however they just cannot put their finger on. The more he protests, the surer they are of their diagnosis. Job gets frustrated because he knows their view of him is wrong (he has not done any of the things he thinks they have in mind), but given that they are relying on his self-evident calamity for their evidence, he cannot prove them wrong; God could and Job cannot understand why He does not. The friends’ arguments do not reveal God or what He is actually doing, or bring Job any nearer either to Him or it.

Their arguments rightly provoked Elihu—they were condemnatory but not convicting; and God dismisses the basis on which the friends had spoken of Him. There may therefore be little to learn from looking closely at their speeches. They serve only as a prelude to God’s own intervention—firstly through Elihu and then directly. But it may help to follow the work in Job to look at what they say in general terms, and especially to look closer for evidence of any knowledge of God.

Job’s opening remarks

God did not approve of the arguments which Job deploys: He says that he darkened counsel with words without knowledge (chap 38: 2); so, although there are glimpses of light, they are hardly to be used for sound teaching—whatever lessons might be drawn from them. And God’s criticism is directed at Job first, and then the friends—to whom he comes in chapter 42; so there is unlikely to be sound teaching in what they say either, unless it leads us to search the Scriptures for what is good and true.

After waiting a week in vain for some comfort, Job begins, with three opening propositions—two expressed as questions—

Job carefully avoids cursing God—and what use was it to curse the day of his birth? It was long gone, and for history to see it differently would not help Job now.

Job is so overwhelmed by his loss that he thinks it would have been better never to have embarked on the path that has now reached this pass. He does not reach out to God because, if He has brought or allowed these troubles, He must be against Job, in which case his position is hopeless. Others have faced this: Jeremiah is another example in Scripture (Jer 20: 14-18)—more nobly perhaps than Job, he crumbles under the weight of the ministry he had been given, and the affliction which came with his rejection.

Luther, for example, translating the epistle to the Romans, was baffled that the righteousness of God should be glad tidings, since it seemed to him to demand an unachievable standard that brought only misery and despair. And then he saw—as he said—that God supplied what God required. This is grace—which Job would not find until he turned away from seeking merit of his own. Grace is God’s free gift—not of course that it has been without cost to God who spared not His own Son; rather that the source and motive of it is only in Himself, pouring out where God owes nothing. He has no debt which His favour is obliged to repay; nor has anyone suggested or required that He should act in this way. Job certainly did not yet—he did not think it was necessary or possible for God to do so.

Paul sees things quite differently—because he has embraced God’s grace, so that Christ was his gain. Philippians 3 gives us his reckoning: he has entirely changed his values—what had been gains and losses are now the opposite. And, although shut away in prison, he is satisfied and thinking of others. Who could put themselves alongside him? Yet what force it gives to his preaching. How differently we might see it if having preached to others, he had lost the joy he had proclaimed! He was severely tried—he knew that Satan was using others to preach falsely to “arouse tribulation for my bonds”, Phil 1: 17. What an encouragement it is to us to see that Satan failed—Paul rejoiced that the gospel was nevertheless going out.

It is sad to see how Job seems to recoil from the light: he sensed that it had something to expose, although he does not expose himself as completely at first as he does later on—in chapters 28 and 29, when his friends’ arguments are spent. It is a mark of God’s “tender compassion” that He lets Job come to this gradually. And God will also always take pains to ensure that intellect and other forms of human argument do not advance His work—for which His own word gaining entrance is required. At the end of this first speech, Job peels back just one layer to reveal what might otherwise be unknown: he had not felt as secure as he might have seemed in all his wealth and prosperity: he had in fact been afraid he might suffer such a total calamity—although he shows no sign of having prepared for one, he was depending upon things he knew deep down might one day give way.

Job mentions God only twice in this first speech—both times as the Almighty, that is how he had known Him. In verse 4, He enjoins God not to care—which is impossible; and in verse 23, he complains that God had hedged him in. Satan made the same complaint (chap 1: 10)—as if he could not get at Job, whereas Job senses that God has taken him in hand for some purpose and he cannot escape. He makes clear that He sees God working in what has happened, and that this is as yet unwelcome to him.

Eliphaz the Temanite

These notes take each friend in turn, looking for some personal features in each one. It would appear that Eliphaz assumes the lead role in response, to which God holds him in chapter 42. He speaks first and, as we have noted, he has the most to say. Teman later had a reputation for having had wisdom, Jer 49: 7, Obad 8. Perhaps he assumed some precedence for this reason. The others join in his general line, but are at pains to put their own beliefs (or lack of them) into what they say. Eliphaz is ready to seek God, and to trust him, and he wonders at His works. But does he know Him—is there anything in his mind beyond an unformed desire to seek after a God as yet almost unknown? He sounds like a mystic—interested in general ideas about God, but without real knowledge of Him, or the moral effect it would have had in him. Eliphaz makes just two other references to God—and in the second of these he mentions the Almighty. In chapter 4: 17, he asks—

“Shall mortal man be more just than God?

Shall a man be purer than his Maker?”

In chapter 5: 17, he suggests that a man under God’s chastening should be happy. There is little light here about God—or understanding of what He was doing with Job. Eliphaz opens his argument on these three lines—

“For man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards”

He throws in a ‘ghost story’ (chap 4: 12-16), suggesting that he was superstitious—or, as Job alleges (chap 7: 14), just trying to scare him. This is a curious digression: Eliphaz sets great store by what he had seen (chaps 4: 8; 5: 3) and then falls back on a figment of his imagination. He thus undermines his reliance on the knowledge he has from his own experience. Experience must be with God; of itself it is no substitute for learning from God Himself. I might easily be misled by things I have experienced but not understood from God; I could have been quite astray or confused. And in any case, my experience is not necessarily a guide to yours! God is great enough to have His own way with each soul—so that, in display, star will differ from star in glory. But our experience is something we set great store by—it is a prized personal acquisition which we can easily value above its true worth. And experience mixed with superstition—or any product of the natural mind or imagination—is not likely to have much moral effect.

Paul says that “love is not quickly provoked” (1 Cor 13: 5), but Eliphaz is! When his turn comes round again, he calls Job “windy”, and reasoning with “unprofitable talk” and useless arguments. He claims that Job thinks he has some ‘inside track’ into God the Almighty’s secret counsel, and therefore knows what he is talking about better than his friends, who—he says—are older than Job’s father; whereas Eliphaz thinks from what he says that Job has turned against God.

Eliphaz takes one more chance to speak in chapter 22, in which he is even wider of the mark about God: he asks, “Can a man be profitable to God?”, and answers that a wise man will be profitable to himself, that the Almighty gains nothing from a righteous man! And then he falls into speculating about the wrong things he imagines Job might have done—mainly exploiting other people; all of which is quite untrue, as Eliphaz had himself admitted in his opening words in chapter 4. As for what else he says about God, he compares Job to wicked men who ask God to depart from them (v 17), and urges a course of recovery at the end of which he will have better valuation of God. It is little use urging recovery after making it so obvious that his diagnosis of Job’s plight is a work of fiction.

Job’s answer to Eliphaz

Grouping these three interventions of Eliphaz together allows it to be seen if there is any coherent structure in what he says, and if so to identify where he himself stands in relation to God. There is not much to find on either count—Eliphaz began by talking about seeking God and wondering about his works but gives little evidence of arriving at anything. His inability to stick to the point—to hold to any kind of message—shows his kind of mind: he did not have a word from God; and his speeches are therefore counter-productive. They serve God to the limited extent of drawing things out of Job, but they do not take His work forward.

So, let us see what pattern—if any—there is in Job’s lengthy responses in chapters 6 and 7; 16 and 17; and 23 and 24; and look especially at what he has to say about God. His first outpouring had only God and the Almighty, but in his first response to Eliphaz, he includes the Almighty (mainly), but also the Holy One, and “thou Observer of Men”—no plain use of the title “God” until his second speech (chap 16: 11), where we also find “my Witness”. In his third speech, we have God and the Almighty, but more common use of ‘He’ in place of direct references to God—suggestive of Job’s growing despair about his restoration.

As will be seen throughout, Job does not properly engage with the arguments of his friends, making only passing references to what they say. The arid arguments Eliphaz uses are like the caravans from his country hoping for water and coming to a dried up stream, chap 6: 19. Job does not buy the case Eliphaz makes that trouble is inevitable in our mortal condition, because he is aware that there is a purpose in what he is facing. But he does include a stinging criticism early on (chapter 6: 14, 15): their deceit instead of kindness was liable to make a man forsake the Almighty. He says that he had not asked for their help but would be glad of their teaching if they could show where he had erred, vv 22-24. He adds that their words would have more effect if they were right! The pain he feels under God’s hand—which he describes at some length in chapter 7—is, he says, beyond measurement: it has led him to ask God to crush and cut him off—this would be a means of bringing the chastening to an end, and if done soon enough, Job imagines he would have the satisfaction of not having denied “the Holy One”. He cannot see otherwise how he will have the strength to survive.

What is man?

At this point (chap 7: 17), Job turns from his companions and the rest of his remarks are to God, starting with a question which recurs in Psalms 8 and 144: “What is man?”, chap 7: 17. We learn from Hebrews 2 that the psalmist had Christ before him, and wonders at God’s great purpose that the One who stooped lower than the angels to die will be crowned with glory and honour. But Job has something quite different in his mind: can he really be significant enough for God to trouble Himself with? And yet, God watches his every movement, and tries him with some object in mind: God has set His heart upon him—but Job feels rather an object of an assault; and would like God to give him a break—long enough, if possible, for Job to disappear. He is in the sad state of finding that a God he had piously reverenced is now bearing down on him in discipline: he is far from seeing that God is for him, but at any rate he will not give Satan any credit for his predicament. So, he is on the right track in acknowledging God’s hand, although he has no light yet about the reason or the outcome.

Eliphaz picks up Job’s question (chap 15: 14-16), dismissing the possibility of man being pure or righteous in God’s sight—God does not even trust “his holy ones”; nothing is pure.

As soon as Eliphaz has finished at the end of chapter 15, Job dismisses him altogether—

“I have heard many such things; grievous comforters are ye all.”

—adding that he could easily talk in the same way as they have if their places were reversed, but he would not—he would aim for solace and encouragement. He certainly has his companions in his sights: speaking of them as if they were just another layer on his anguish and suffering—God, indeed had delivered him over to the iniquitous man.

Arbitration

Job says he had been at rest, but had been “shattered” by God’s intervention, which was shaking him to pieces, with breach upon breach. But at least God was reliable—unlike his companions: “my Witness” would vouch for him. And here Job brings in again the idea of arbitration (chap 16: 21) which was first mentioned in reply to Bildad (chap 9: 33), speaking of someone to act—

“… for a man with God, as a son of man for his friend.”

A couple of interesting suggestions lie here: Job adds to his original suggestion that he is not thinking of a third party as mediator—as would be normal in the world’s affairs, but a friend of the one aggrieved. He hopes to get relief by having his case and God’s put alongside each other, with his friend deciding the outcome, so that he might expect the matter to be settled on terms he could accept! Here is a contrast with what God proposes in the glad tidings. Paul explains in Galatians 3: 20 that the mediator must be on God’s side, but then shows in 1 Timothy 2 how it is “the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”. What might Job have given to know all this! What a glorious truth it is that there is a Man that God has always had in His mind and purpose, in whom all that God is, and all that man should be for God, has been entrusted with perfect security! But He came not only as the expression of all this, but “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1: 15); and “gave himself a ransom for all”. Like Abraham offering Isaac, God gave the very One upon whom all His purpose and promise depended—He gave that One, to die for sinners; so that God’s redemption might be within the reach of all, and realised by any who believe: He “delivered him up for us all”, Rom 8: 32. There is no bargain struck between God and the sinner, such as Job envisaged—no intervention from our side to compel God to make terms with us: it is all “the free gift of grace”, embodied in that glorious Man, the Saviour of sinners.

Job’s main point here is that, unless he can make terms with God, he is finished: other upright men may go on their way, but he has only death and Sheol in prospect.

Job holds on to his idea of intercession in chapter 23, and after Eliphaz finally finishes, he drops the idea of using a friend, and longs instead to be able to find and appear before God to make his case for himself. He is confident that God would listen and agree with him, and Job would get relief because God would be pleased to have had a righteous man before Him.

Gold

There are a number of different references in the book to gold—Eliphaz makes almost the first (chap 22: 24), suggesting that Job should put the finest gold (of Ophir) in the dust, which insinuates that Job has been too occupied with money. Job gets round to denying this in chapter 31: 24, and Elihu agrees that God does not esteem such material wealth, chap 36: 19. Meantime, Job has this to say to Eliphaz about God (chap 23: 10)—

“But he knoweth the way that I take; he trieth me, I shall come forth as gold.”

It is a glimmer of recognition that God was sitting as a refiner, and that there must be dross to remove, although Job is more concerned to highlight the uprightness that might emerge from the process. But he is still puzzled to know why God works in this way with his servant, when there are so many others guilty of all the sorts of criminal abuse of their fellow men and women that he describes in chapter 24. How is it that such get any rest at all (v 23), if only for a time? Psalm 73 tackles the same question, in order to show that the answer is found in the sanctuaries of God—Job would have to leave the ground he had set himself upon if he were to learn how God was working.

It is often thought that gold speaks of divine righteousness, and this may be; but it is more—it suggests the divine nature, which is love, 1 John 4: 8. As such, it is to come into expression in His children—who ought to take after Him—

“Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love”, Eph 5: 1, 2.

The process of refinement shows that this comes about in God’s children through His discipline (Heb 12: 7-10)—

“… who is the son that the father chastens not? If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons … shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed chastened for a few days, as seemed good to them; but he for profit, in order to the partaking of his holiness”.

Elihu has the same idea later (chap 37: 22) –

“From the north cometh gold; with God is terrible majesty”.

God’s discipline of Job was not a matter of winning and losing: God was not wanting a victory over Job, but in him.

Bildad the Shuhite

Bildad has the second turn to speak and is the briefest of the three, with one main point in his first intervention in chapter 8. He invokes the Almighty as one that is perfect and does not pervert judgment and justice. He argues from this that, as God will not cast off a perfect man (v 20), it is therefore obvious from Job’s misfortune that he is profane and has forgotten God, v 13. He claims the authority of traditional teaching for this analysis, in contrast to any experience of his own, vv 8-10. He tries to make out the logic in this teaching by starting with a self-evidently true statement about God, but his ignorance of God is betrayed. If he had had any experience with God of his own, he might have known something better both of God’s nature and his ways. Job needed to be shown that chastening is a witness to God’s love—His very nature, Heb 12: 6. Bildad’s apparent ignorance of this—from want of true experience with God—disqualifies him from his task with Job.

Bildad takes a second turn in chapter 18, blinded by then by his affront at not being taken seriously—he charges that Job is hardly intelligent enough to talk to, that Job in turn thinks he and his friends are stupid, vv 2, 3. Now Bildad does not bring God into his argument at all until, right at the end, he charges Job with having forgotten Him. If that charge had been just, Bildad might have said more about God to remind Job who and what He truly is, rather than just indignantly insisting that people who talk to him like Job had would come to a bad end. But he lacks the knowledge to draw on.

So Bildad becomes driven by self-consideration, to which the opposite is meekness. Meekness is not the same as lowliness—the Lord Jesus speaks (Matt 11: 29) of being marked by both as if they could be distinguished. Lowliness is seen in the absence of self-promotion; meekness is the absence also of self-consideration. The meek think for God and others, without wondering about any personal advantage or worrying about being discounted or disregarded. Paul says that meekness is needed to set right those who are opposed (2 Tim 2: 25); Peter says it is of great price (1 Pet 3: 4)—on account of its rarity. Psalm 27: 4 tells us that God will guide the meek in judgment and teach him His way—Bildad’s indignant outburst proves the truth of this by stark contrast.

Bildad makes one last try in the six verses of chapter 25. He might be thought to be picking up Job’s earlier question to him in chapter 9: 2 by asking—

“… how can man be just with God?”

But notice that he changes the question, substituting “can” for “should”. Job is looking for an answer to his searching; but Bildad’s re-phrasing dismisses this as impossible and unnecessary. He sees a fundamental impurity in man—and even in the whole creation, which takes away any distinctiveness man might have, reducing him to a worm. He is not now looking for or expecting any moral relationship with God, although in his first intervention he contemplated a perfect man who might enjoy one.

Job’s answer to Bildad

Job answer to Bildad’s first speech is in chapters 9 and 10, and to the second in chapter 19. Notice how the whole of chapter 10 is addressed to God, rather than Bildad. We will treat chapter 25 as his reply to Bildad’s final submission, although it evolves into what is called his parable, which reduces all three of the friends to silence.

Job’s opening gambit is to agree with Bildad—as already noted, he had said things self-evidently true; but that left the question how to apply them to Job. He wants to be “just with God”, and he asks the Almighty not to condemn him (chap 10: 2) because Job is sure God knows that Job is not wicked, v 7. He is persuaded that God is not punishing him for wickedness (vv 14, 15), in which case, His harshness is not understood. Job speaks in chapter 9 of God’s greatness as making their controversy unequal; to the point where he does not think God would hearken even if He appeared to answer his supplication, v 16. He sees God’s mighty power against him, when we know that it is for and towards us—and it was so for Job. God had taken on to do what Satan and Job’s friends could not: to give Job to see that a God who could do anything and not be hindered in any thought of His would be His righteousness. Paul had valued his own righteousness, but came to count it loss: “not having my righteousness … but that which is by the faith of Christ” (Phil 3: 15): why settle for less, when the very best is there for the believing?

When Bildad finishes the second time, Job complains that it was the tenth unhelpful address—he exaggerates: the three friends had made six speeches so far. He accuses them of trying to overthrow him—unnecessarily, since God had done that already. He bewails the estrangement his condition has brought from those who had been around him, his brethren, his acquaintances, his kinsmen, sojourners in his house—even the maids; he claims that his servant will not come when called. His breath is odious to his wife. And he argues that it is thoroughly unfair for the three friends to pile their opprobrium on top of what God had done. He begs them to change their attitude—

“Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, ye my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.”

—and finishes by warning them that their turn may come if they carry on.

In the middle of all this, Job introduces two more names for God, “my Redeemer”, and “the Last”, and he gives some detail (chap 19: 25-27) of what he understands them to mean. It is a bright light in Job’s darkness that his Redeemer liveth, and that even if he dies, he will still see Him for himself. The other name is one that God Himself uses through Isaiah, with the same link to the Redeemer (chap 44: 6); and we know it as one that the Lord Jesus has claimed for Himself in resurrection, Rev 1: 17; 2: 8 and 22: 13. Redemption of the soul has been accomplished for faith; redemption of the body (Rom 8: 23) is yet to come, and will be transforming. Job did not know that there will be more than simply the settlement of all his issues; but a place before God on entirely new ground—where he will rest in the righteousness and grace of God in Christ, having left behind all that he was at such pains to preserve and justify.

Job makes two points in reply to Bildad’s last intervention: the first is personal, that Bildad had never helped anybody! He then charges Bildad with having tried to take God’s place—

“… whose spirit came from thee?”

He has in mind that man’s spirit comes from God, which leads him to marvel at the compass of God’s creation, before attributing its adornment to God’s Spirit—a remarkable reference for the Old Testament, from which we learn of the Spirit’s part in the creation—not only hovering over the waste, but participating in the emergence of order. All this disposes of Bildad’s contention that nothing in creation was pure in God’s sight—which argued that man was irretrievably flawed and should not dream of unattainable perfection. Job speaks of the “border” of God’s ways—men are too far away to see the detail, or the One who is working; only they get some impression from the scale of what they see—it testifies to His eternal power and divinity (Rom 1: 20), although as we know—and Job could recognise—the physical creation is not the witness God has chosen to His nature, His love.

Zophar the Naamathite

We come then to the third friend to speak: Zophar’s case is given in chapters 11 and 20. Although he refers to God several times in his first remarks—looking for the Almighty to speak (v 5), but against Job (v 6)—he has even less regard for God than the others. If God exists, He would want to show Job that he is much worse than he thinks. At the same time, there is a familiar faithless question—

“Canst thou by searching find out God?”

He accepts that the Almighty might be seen in what He does, and it is of course true that creature man depends for his knowledge of God on divine revelation. But Zophar is a rationalist: if the answer to his question is that we cannot, if God is great beyond the measure of our creature minds, then God is too great to know—which is exactly what revelation overcomes; God coming—as it is said—‘within our range’. Zophar admits that some relationship with God would be possible if Job were to judge himself, from which he would recover his peace and security.

Zophar’s second speech is coarse. He mentions God directly only twice—referring (vv 15, 29) to what His end would be for the wicked. He uses this line diagnostically—since Job had afflictions such as those anyone would associate with the wicked. His argument, which is highly coloured for effect, is that Job’s misfortune bears all the signs that Job is wicked and has been living on borrowed time—although Zophar does not seem able to put his finger on the nature of any sin, except to imply that Job had got rich through extortion, for which he has no evidence.

 

Job’s answer to Zophar

Job takes three chapters (12 to 14) to answer what Zophar says in his first turn, and he covers a lot of ground. So, does what he says about God chart any kind of course through his argument?—not very clearly. He aims to contrast the three friends on the one hand and God on the other. He observes that the animals can see God working more clearly than He is made out by the friends, and speaks of how God deals with all sorts of people in all sorts of ways—mainly disciplinary. Job says that he is free to call upon God, who will answer (chap 12: 4); indeed, that God would be happy to reason with him, chap 13: 3. But he touches on the complaint he wants to pursue: that some who provoke God are secure (chap 12: 6), whereas he thinks they ought to have trouble like him. And finally, in this address, Job warns his accusers that if they want to take up God’s cause with Job, they might find He has one with them, chap 13: 8-10. He would like to get the three men to stop talking, v 13. Once, again, some of what he says is not to them but to God, from chapter 13: 23-28.

There are interesting points in chapter 14, which touch on Job’s understanding of mortal life and resurrection. He echoes an earlier comment from one of the others that man is born for trouble and is cut down like a flower; there is no way to make an unclean man clean, and he will end up dead. But here there is a difference with a tree (v 7): there is hope for it if it is cut down for at the scent of water it will bud and branch like a young plant. This is in fact a universal feature of the plant kingdom, in which God has been pleased to set a testimony to resurrection life which Job has noticed. Much might now be said about the biochemical process by which a seed germinates, but the Lord says simply that a seed falling into the ground dies (John 12: 24); indeed, it must if there is to be fruit. And since, according to Genesis 1, the function of a plant is to produce seed, then that must be on the principle—and in the power—of resurrection. Job does not know about this—to him, death seems final, but he gets as far in this chapter as to ask about it—

“If a man die, shall he live again?”

It would make all the difference: Job would wait out his life of toil if he had that prospect—if “my change shall come”, v 14.

Job repeats a simple line from his first response to deal with Zophar’s second speech: his diagnostic test does not work because there are plenty of wicked people who seem to be getting on fine—even some who speak openly against God, boasting that they do not pray or serve Him; and on the other hand, there are upright ones who are afflicted.

Job’s parable

Zophar does not get a third strike—Job responds to Bildad’s brief intervention and then ploughs on from chapter 27 to chapter 31. He has—or takes—the floor to himself; he is not just reacting to what others have said, but scraping with his potsherd and bringing more and more to light of what he was inside, and its vexing sores of felt unfairness and indignation.

Job’s friends had turned him inward, where deliverance will never be found. We are delivered by looking away from ourselves, even if there are lessons about ourselves that we must learn. So, Job moves clear of any need to answer his friends’ arguments—which had not in fact constrained what he said very much; and he begins by digging the trench from which he intends to defend himself, as if expecting some final assault on his position -

“As God liveth, who hath taken away my right, and the Almighty, who hath embittered my soul,

“All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

“My lips shall not speak unrighteousness, nor my tongue utter deceit!      

“Be it far from me that I should justify you; till I die I will not remove my blamelessness from me.      

“My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart reproacheth me not one of my days.”      

He has begun by infringing the third commandment—“thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God”. It is a common offence: taking high ground and daring others to question us—as if like the Israelites against the Philistines, we think we can carry the ark into the battle. The last thing Job says he would want to do is to agree that his friends’ criticism is in the least right; and that will be his position—he says—to his dying day. And he ends by claiming he is quite calm about succeeding. Little did he know who he was striving with, and the impossible odds he faced taking such ground! If there was one thing he did not want to do was to change; and this God would make him do utterly.

And then he mistakes who he is wrestling with—in two ways. He imagines it is someone whom God will not support, who will eventually go the way of the wicked; whereas it is indeed with God Himself that he is having to do. And God was not his “enemy”: as James says, He is full of tender compassion and pitiful; judgment is His strange work, Isa 28: 21. He truly did have Job’s present and eternal blessing in His heart.

Chapter 28 is an inviting exploration of what was to Job the mystery of God’s wisdom. He starts with a most interesting exposition of geology, covering not only precious metals, but precious stones, and even vulcanology; with graphic details about the hardship and danger of mining. Job speaks of something hidden—safe from predatory eyes, but capable of discovery with sufficient skill and exercise. Where is all this leading?—in verse 12, he makes the contrast with wisdom, which he says is entirely hidden—so that even its value is little known. Paul speaks of “that hidden wisdom … which none of the princes of this age knew”, 1 Cor 2: 7, 8. Job ranges over many things then of high value, none of which compares to wisdom, and concludes—

“… it is hidden from the eyes of all living.”

But not from God—

“God understandeth the way thereof, he knoweth its place”.

And here is a shaft of light in Job’s soul: God has shown how it can be found—

“And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”.

Of course, Job thought he had got this far, and according to chapter 1 he had; so it was a puzzle that he had not yet found the key. The fear of the Lord should bring us into the presence of God; and departure from evil requires a recognition that it is in me as well as all around.

The book so far has given us a general sense that Job valued his own righteousness, but in chapters 29 and 31 he gives a lot more detail about what he thought its foundation was. Elihu was bursting to speak, and must have found it especially difficult to sit through this last speech, but God held him back until Job’s case was all in the open—there were no more secrets when the case for God comes to be given. And as chapter 29 opens, Job’s fear of God fails him, and he infringes the third commandment again—implying that God’s being with him was in the past, but had then been the key to his status in society. He had risen to some eminence even as a young man, he says, so that he recalled having been held by all in awed respect. He says that this was on account of his philanthropy, and his readiness to stand up for the afflicted—he claimed righteousness for all this, judging apparently by the way in which others regarded him; they hung on his very words, vv 22, 23. And he admits it had made him complacent—serene, as he puts it (v 24), leaving him to think he would have a very long and comfortable life, v 18.

But chapter 30 tells how everything has changed for the worse—as far as the regard of others is concerned; and this brings out a contempt he had been careful not to show before. The potsherd has scraped away another layer, and more of the inflamed sores are touched. However charitable Job had been, there were some he considered unemployable, feral vagrants living by their wits; and—horror of horrors—even the younger ones among such people were sneering; after all they had less than others to be grateful for. There was only one thing that hurt Job so much, and that was the dislocation of his body, which he blames on God’s cruelty: he had expected good—as a reward, but now believed (v 23) that God intended him to die like this; and if so, why did He delay?

In the middle of this there is another short address to God (chap 30: 20-24); but, he says, “no prayer availeth”.

Finally, in chapter 31, Job chooses for his peroration a list of things he had not done, some of which would have been reckoned as crimes (v 28); this list might also be meant to show that the three friends would never find the wickedness they suspected—

He had not—

He is answering the friends’ insistence that he must be doing something sinful: they will not find what they want, wherever they look. Job says he had been governed by having to answer to God and a terror of the consequences, v 23. This is the list he was willing to sign for (v 35): if God would put it in “an even balance”, he was certain to come out blameless, v 6. If not, or if he had exploited his land wrongly (vv 38, 39), he expected to get thistles and tares—as if that would be just dues for sins!

And on that note Job ends. His friends “ceased to answer because he was righteous in his own eyes”.

Who could make such a list, and be sure it was complete, without any risk of omitting the one thing which would deceive and betray us? The Lord shows this when one asked what good thing he should do: the Lord gave him a list of those commandments which, it happened, he had kept—not them all at first, or he would have been found out; but when the man says, “All these things have I kept, what lack I yet?”, the Lord gives him one more simple test which lays bare his heart—showing it to be very like Job’s. Our righteousness cannot be established from lists like this, nor does God put such things in the balances: “Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed” (1 Sam 2: 3)—rather than what we have not done. And, besides, as Paul tells the Galatians: “that by law no one is justified with God is evident, because The just shall live on the principle of faith”, Gal 3: 11. And for faith to have effect, there must first come repentance, Acts 20: 21.

It might be asked what all this debate so far has achieved, and why such detail is given in the Scriptures of something so apparently unproductive? God’s way is perfect: He would judge Job—and indeed his friends—by what was said (Matt 12: 37): Zophar was right to say that Job would not prevail if such balances were used, Job 11: 2. God was charged with unrighteousness—by Satan and Job, and He chose to have all the evidence the accusers had exposed for judgment.

Elihu the Buzite

And now a fifth person emerges, who had been present during the debate so far, although he had not spoken, Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite of the family of Ram. (Perhaps this description connects him to Abraham’s brother Nahor, and hence also to Rebecca—we do not need to know.) What he has to say needs to be considered a little differently, as it will become evident that it was a word from God—indeed, God Himself takes over the speaking.

As with those who have spoken so far, the first thing to look for is the names by which Elihu speaks of God. He does so simply several times, as he does of the Almighty. He refers twice to “my Maker”, and once to the “All Just”. These names bring together God’s power in creation, and His perfect righteousness—Elihu’s two themes. Elihu also refers to the Spirit of God (chap 33: 4)—not working in creation, as Job had said, but in himself. It is fair to say that Elihu speaks of a relationship with God very different from Job’s three friends.

Elihu had two reasons to be angry—

In other words, he can see that they are debating at cross-purposes: the friends are sure Job is sinning but cannot say how; Job thinks God has some other purpose but cannot see what it is, and so finds God unfair.

Elihu traces what he has to his spirit—the breath of the Almighty, 32: 8, which he follows as we have seen by speaking of the Spirit of God. References to the Spirit of God known in the Old Testament are remarkable: He had not come as He did at Pentecost, nor was He indwelling. Human beings are spirit, soul and body: these are not separate parts, but different ways of considering our identity. Our bodies are needed for our activities on earth; our spirits maintain a relationship with God: they are his gift, and—when our bodies are no longer required—return to him at death; so they do not themselves die. Elihu shows that God is able to use the spirit for communication. And if something comes from God, it will have moral weight, firstly in the recipient and then in power to others to whom they speak—a quality entirely lacking in the speeches of the three friends, and hard to find in most of what Job has said.

Elihu spends little time at first on the three who had come to console Job, dismissing their greatness and age as not of themselves giving understanding. (He has more to say to them later—in chapter 34.) He had waited while they tried to find a word of wisdom, and it was now proved that none had confuted Job. Elihu observes this with some astonishment, v 15. He hints that the friends had wrongly resorted to ‘answering back’, because Job’s sarcasm had provoked them (v 14), and resolves to take a different approach. Their failure had been of God, so that it might be shown that “God will make him yield and not man”, v 13. What a mighty prospect this is: the Almighty God Himself was working, and would succeed in His own way and time. It had however been hard for Elihu to keep quiet—God had constrained him; and saying now what he knew would be a relief to the pressure building inside him.

Elihu’s introduction

Chapters 32 and 33 show a much better structure in Elihu’s contribution—he had not like the others been searching for what to say (chap 32: 11), but had had the benefit of waiting in communion for a word from God. So, there are three clear parts to his introduction—

Elihu says that he was young, and timid, and deferential to age. He knew not how to flatter; he would speak out of uprightness of heart, expressing what the Spirit of God had wrought in him. He was a potter’s vessel like Job, of whom Job need not be in the least afraid. And he was willing to stop at any point if Job wanted to answer. In short, he is like the Samaritan in Luke 10, “coming up” to the stricken wayfarer on the Jericho road.

He succeeds in boiling down Job’s words—that had filled twenty chapters—into three short verses (chap 33: 9-11): it might well have shocked Job somewhat to hear such a summary of things he would have to own he had said—

“I am clean without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity
in me;

“Lo, he findeth occasions of hostility against me, he counteth me for his
enemy;

“He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths”.

And notice how Elihu puts first what Job had said about himself—since this was the basis of Job’s defence; whereas the crux of the matter was to find the knowledge of God—and for Job to learn himself in that light. Job’s claim had gone beyond any account of what he may have done and said: there was no iniquity within—as we would say, no sinful state to judge. God was not against him; He could not be—nor had He made Job an enemy; on the contrary, He was trying to reach him for friendship and blessing. It was in fact a mercy on God’s part if limits were placed on where Job might take himself in such a state as he showed, but he did not see it that way, chafing against the discipline which he thought unnecessary and unfair.

When God comes to speak, it will be clear that His issue with Job was pride; it is of interest to see therefore that it is Elihu who mentions it first. He speaks of God working at night— He does not sleep (Ps 121: 4)—and using a dream (nothing like Eliphaz’s ghost story!) as a mean of getting His word past the barriers we may erect in our own minds—

Then he openeth men's ears, and sealeth their instruction,      

That he may withdraw man from his work, and hide pride from man.

Job had unwittingly made the same point—there was a way the proud beasts had not trodden (chap 28: 8): pride will never uncover God’s wisdom. Elihu’s summary of Job’s arguments would have been enough to prove his pride, but Elihu graciously puts it a different way. If God were to “hide pride”, that might be to prevent or limit a man from expressing it in sinful actions. Job had perhaps gone quite far enough, but divine restraint was still at work.

Elihu has used Job’s words to get straight to the point his friends were missing, but they were unlikely to find fault with a failing they were so guilty of themselves. (The same would be true of Satan, see Ezek 28: 17.)

Elihu’s preaching

Elihu knows that Job will not easily let go of himself, so he does not leave his indictment on the table to press on with the task of convicting Job. It is of the essence that the gospel raises questions, but never at all without also providing the answers to those questions. The soul might not at first be ready or amenable to those answers, but they must be there, both for assurance, and to be available immediately there is any turning of heart. There is never a need for despair in the gospel preaching—it is preached to find and save lost souls, not to make them feel hopeless and wondering where to turn.

What a relief then it is to come at last to Elihu’s gospel message! Elihu describes a man’s extremity—on the edge of the pit, but as some of us have heard in the preaching, ‘man’s extremity is God’s opportunity’: he can be saved from his fall into eternal loss. This is the message God would give to the preacher—it is expressed as a command—

“Deliver his soul from going down into the pit: I have found a ransom.”

It is presented as a free offer of grace—Job has nothing to pay; but in fact the price required is beyond anyone’s ability to pay: Psalm 49: 8—

“For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever.”

No one can by any means redeem his brother, or give a ransom for him; and there is no redemption without a ransom. The sinner is encumbered with liability, and in bondage to sin and the world; an enlightened soul might also be in bondage to the law. This bondage brings with it the penalty of death—death is not just the end of mortal life, and its tribulations, as Job spoke of it: it is a morally inevitable penalty for our sin-filled record and sinful state. And God’s justice must be satisfied without any qualification. Something must be “given up for ever”. But, as Elihu preaches, it has been “found” by God; it is not required of those with “nothing to pay”, Luke 7: 42. The ransom, we now know, is “the man Christ Jesus”, that perfect One, God’s ideal and the repository of every thought God ever had for man, and for His own glory. There was once such a Man on earth in flesh and blood of whom God could say, “in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 3: 17. But that perfect life in that condition was given up; the vessel God had prepared for it lay in the stillness of death. It was that One, Christ Jesus, who “came into the world to save sinners”. And to pay the ransom by dying for them.

What does “for all” mean? The benefit cannot be counted on by believers and unbelievers alike—how could it be the portion of someone who has rejected it? But could He be anything less than “for all”? What would it tell us about God if He had accepted a ransom that was not enough for His righteousness to be “towards all”? Could we imagine that the great work of Christ was not sufficient for cases in some class or other? Paul says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first”. There is no measure by which the glorious work of Christ can be limited. The blessing of it will only be lost to those who refuse or disregard it.

Elihu is also helped with his next point—he puts the blessing in prospect for those who accept the gospel before he tells Job what he must do to achieve it. He makes his necessary repentance attractive with the promise of fresh new life and light. The gospel message is not simply a call to admit sins: the Lord says, “repent and believe in the glad tidings” (Mark 1: 15)—and Elihu makes the one the means of achieving the other. He adds to the news that God has found the ransom, that Job can be entirely renewed—as Naaman also experienced; God will be found in his favour, and He will render righteousness. There will be celebration! Job will find his singing voice with which to own—as he surely must—that he has sinned; but that God has not requited him. Not only will he escape the pit, but he will be enlightened with the light of the living. It is in that light that God Himself may be seen and known. God is persistent with this offer of blessing and grace—He will try over and over again to win its acceptance.

Elihu pauses here—as he had offered before, to give Job a chance to speak, but Job lets the offer pass.

Elihu speaks to convict Job

In chapter 34, Elihu elaborates his indictment, striving to win that conviction that would set Job on the road to blessing by using in a little more detail what Job himself has said—

“I am righteous, and God hath taken away my judgment”;

“Should I lie against my right?”

“My wound is incurable without transgression”;

“It profiteth not a man if he delight himself in God”.

Elihu says that this talk places Job in the company of wicked men. In contrast to the speculative statements and questions of the friends, he proceeds to make a series of statements about God’s moral nature—which Job’s self-righteousness had set aside—

“Far be wickedness from God, and wrong from the Almighty” (v 10);

“For surely God acteth not wickedly, and the Almighty perverteth not judgment” (v 12);

“Wilt thou condemn the All-just?” (v 17)

It is with this God we have to do. He is the Creator of all; it is in His trust and at His disposal; and His eyes are upon the ways of man. This is solemn on the one hand: “man’s work will he render unto him”; men are considered and soon brought to judgment. On the other hand, God does not only think of Himself—if He did, and gathered unto Him his breath, all flesh would expire; but He can also give a quietness which none can disturb. It was against such a God that Job had rebelled, v 37.

Chapter 35 is short, addressing Elihu’s charge that, in asking what profit he had had from not sinning, Job had said that his righteousness was more than God’s. He asks Job to look up to heaven, and think about how all this affects not just his fellow men but God; they might not know to call on God, and God might not be seen, but He is not to be discounted. Job had taken a liberty because he had not seen God, and because God had not shown His anger; and he had been arrogant and vain.

Job clung to his own righteousness, but if God is treating a righteous man unfairly, He must be unrighteous Himself. But then the whole universe which God power controls would be affected, not just Job—the moral consequences of Job’s assertions are inconceivable.

Elihu and the weather

But Elihu is only half-way through what he has to say. Job had not let any of the others say so much unanswered—there is a power now in what he is hearing which compels him at least to listen. The next two chapters, 36 and 37, are one piece, very clearly structured, and remarkably paving the way for God’s own intervention, which also serves to prove the rightness and aptness of Elihu’s word.

Elihu begins with a resolve to ascribe righteousness to his Creator. Before turning to how he does this, a comparison might be drawn with Paul’s use of the same point in Romans 1. He opens his preaching with reference to God’s righteousness, and then turns to His witness in the creation (v 20)—

“… for from the world's creation the invisible things of him are perceived, being apprehended by the mind through the things that are made, both his eternal power and divinity,—so as to render them inexcusable”.

But, as Elihu also says in different terms, “knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful”. Paul calls this “impiety”—piety can therefore be taken to have these two parts: as another has said, ‘a spirit of reverent thankfulness’.

Reference might also be made to Paul’s previous remark (v 18) about men holding the truth in unrighteousness. This is nowhere more clearly seen than in the body of scientific teaching about the creation—calculated to explain away any idea of the Creator, with theories about the emergence of life which learned people know are not possible; if so, promoting these theories is unrighteous, as well as impious.

Elihu mentions the Creator in verse 3, but before turning to His works he has something to say about God’s moral nature. He despises nobody, and does not withdraw His eye from the righteous—even if they are afflicted, while not sparing the wicked. He uses discipline to try people, to see if they will listen to what He has to say to them. Verses 11 and 12 offer a very clear fork in the road—

“If they hearken and serve him, they shall accomplish their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.      

“But if they hearken not, they shall pass away by the sword, and expire without knowledge.”

God had been ready to bless Job on these lines—

“Even so would he have allured thee out of the jaws of distress into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and the supply of thy table would be full of fatness.”

But he had taken the other track (v 17)—Elihu calls this a choice (v 21), and Job risked losing the favour of the ransom of which Elihu had spoken, v 18.

Having established the moral issue so clearly, Elihu exalts God, and prepares to illustrate His unique teaching methods, v 20. Everyone can see God’s creation, but they cannot encompass its operations in their mind—they “comprehend him not”, v 26. Elihu shows that what people miss—especially scientists—is that God is pro-active: He “upholds all things by the word of his power”, Heb 1: 3. God has not simply set the universe up to run itself without any further intervention—He is acting in it all the time. One sign of this is the degree of apparent unpredictability, and nowhere is this more clearly seen than with the weather. So it is to the weather that Elihu turns.

We might regard verses 27 and 28 as insightful for a man of his times: Elihu understands the cycle by which water vapourises, is drawn into clouds, where it distils, and falls back as rain. But, there is much even modern people do not know: verse 29 asks a question which could not be answered even now—

“But can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the crashing of his pavilion?”

Any trained weather forecaster will admit that the massive computers they now use still do not yield certainty about what the weather is going to do next—will it rain, or not, how much will fall; when will the wind turn; will there be thunder and lightning? And to put his point beyond argument, Elihu observes that nobody can predict exactly where any lightning strike will be, v 32. Why?—because each strike is at God’s command: it is a mark of His pro-active and detailed intervention in a system that men would like to think works by itself. In chapter 37: 15, Elihu talks about “how” God makes the lightning: scientists would answer this question without reference to God—inevitably, however well the science may be explained, this crucial input is not accounted for.

Verse 33 makes a striking contrast between men and cattle. Men like to think they know; and look to rely on forecasts they are able to make—they are cluttering their perception with a lack of understanding. Cattle, on the other hand, do not have our thinking ability; but this is one of several scriptures which show that they are aware of their Creator—God will give Job another example shortly. And this intuition, shall we call it, gives the cattle an awareness of what God is doing with the weather. It is well-known that animals’ behaviour anticipates the weather—and other things like earthquakes and fires, although people are generally too much in favour of their own methods to use this as a guide. Of course, animals do not have the moral relationship with God in which mankind stands; to be more ignorant of His works therefore is a measure of his estrangement.

Elihu’s purpose is to assert the glory and supremacy of God, and he goes on in chapter 37 to this end. Having got on to the subject of lightning, he speaks next of thunder. Thunder represents a form of divine speaking that no man can ignore: he can neither silence it or shut it out. Another has spoken in this connection of the two apostles, James and John—whom the Lord calls ‘sons of thunder’; because their contrasting testimonies would be inescapable. James was ready to lay down his life rather than surrender the truth of the gospel—nobody can dismiss such a witness as insignificant. John, on the other hand, was preserved in the power of life—perhaps the greatest witness any believer can give: its spring and force may be mysterious, but their effect is undeniable.

Elihu goes on to talk about snow, the whirlwind, ice; then he refers to “the balancing of the clouds”, and to variations in temperature from changes in the wind. In all these things, he speaks of God as active: ice, for example, is formed by His breath, chap 37: 10. And God always acts for a reason—a moral reason; so that the weather changes to fulfil His command, verse 13 giving three different motives God may have—

“Whether he cause it to come as a rod, or for his land, or in mercy.”

(Notice here that Elihu acknowledges God’s claim of ownership to the earth.)

What then, Elihu asks, shall we say to these things, v 19? God is acting unseen, although everyone is affected by what He does—we have simply to accept this, while recognising three important things: that nothing God does is arbitrary, or without a moral reason—or without care for the consequences—

“The Almighty, we cannot find him out: excellent in power, and in judgment, and in abundance of justice, he doth not afflict.”

And this is the right foundation for the fear of God, a God who acts without respect of persons.

God intervenes

As we turn to chapter 38, we may find out why Elihu had been led to talk about the weather as he does: God answers out of the whirlwind. Elihu had said (chap 37: 10)—

“From the chamber of the south cometh the whirlwind”.

In other words, such a display of God’s power had its source in His favour.

As Elihu has shown, we naturally relate to God’s creation through what we can see, and men think what can be seen is all there is (Heb 11: 3); discounting God because He chooses to remain unseen—although known to faith. But God is not hiding; and now He makes His presence powerfully felt. In doing so, He demonstrates the absolute truth of what Elihu has been saying—He is there, He is watching, He is acting—even in the weather. As another has said—

God’s ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this, and let Him work, and not think much of man’s busy movements: They will accomplish God’s. The rest of them all perish and disappear. We have only peacefully to do His will.

J N Darby, Synopsis on Revelation 1

But he is not held behind the scenes; He can as it were step out as He pleases, and as He does here; using a weather phenomenon that is in His hand as Elihu had described.

 

The Creator’s account of His own work

The creation has been touched upon throughout this discussion, although as we have seen Elihu makes the most effective use of its power to teach. But now the Creator takes up the same subject, giving a first-hand account of His mighty work of power. We are more familiar with Genesis 1, an account that Moses had from God, given to provide an introduction to a moral history of man. It reads as in the past in our Bibles—as indeed it is; but Mr G V Wigram has shown that a closer adherence to what he understood to be the Hebrew grammar makes it more immediate, because after the first verse an equivalent of the present tense is used. So, for example, we have—

“And God said, Let there be light. And there was light.”

He suggests this might rather be rendered—

And God says, Let light be; and light is.

Even so, there is nothing like the story in the Creator’s own words!

God is not speaking here in the thunder—that is a means of addressing man at large, since everyone hears it; the voice out of the whirlwind is very personal and direct: God’s first to Adam may have been “Where?”, but this time it is “Who?” and—

“… I will demand of thee, and inform thou me.”

God begins on ground that Job had already explored in chapter 9, where he had described a God who did great things past finding out. He says there—

“Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not, and he passeth along and I perceive him not.”

And perhaps Job thought this was a fair description of the wind, but he cannot say that now: God is speaking out of the whirlwind, and demanding answers from Job. Notice, for example, how God picks up (chap 38: 30) Job’s reference in chap 9: 9 to specific constellations among the stars—He had been listening to Job; no detail had escaped Him!

God begins with how things began—what Hebrews 11: 3 calls the “origin”. We are told there that it cannot be learned from observing appearances; that is by science: but it is known by those who were there. It had all been carefully designed and founded, and there were celebrating witnesses—not Job, of course, but the sons of God, angels as we might say. God then elaborates on the principle of control that He had employed: the sea is “shut up”, the earth is “swaddled”, a boundary was fixed with doors and bars, and—above all—the whole was subjected to His restraining word. We see this in what are called natural disasters—the physical earth is not, so to say, an entirely safe place: floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions speak of an inherent instability and immense forces: the God who made it like this is able to control and regulate it all—men who might see themselves at the mercy of the elements may therefore trust Him. To bring the whole thing home, God adds that this is how He treats pride—His first hint of the charge He is preparing to put to Job.

This is one of three places where we read of the sea being contained as God describes. In Proverbs 8: 27, wisdom says—

“… when the fountains of the deep became strong; When he established the clouds above: when he imposed on the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment”.

And in Jeremiah 5: 22, God says—

“Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have set the sand a bound for the sea by a perpetual decree, and it shall not pass it? and its waves toss themselves, but they do not prevail; and they roar, yet can they not pass over it?”

Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians 2: 6 to “that which restrains”. In the next verse, he refers to “he who restrains”, the Holy Spirit, and this follows from His presence here in God’s people; but “that which restrains” may be a more general idea, such as in these three Old Testament verses. Jeremiah is of special interest. Whereas the other two passages relate the restraint to God’s word, the sand may refer to God’s people—individually, they are very small over against the powers in the present evil world about them, but their presence here is nevertheless used by God to hold the tides in check. In his opening remarks, Elihu had reminded Job that he objected to restraint, whereas God speaks of it as fundamental to His great designs.

Heaven subject to ordinances

But if God restrains, He also controls—He certainly has not entrusted this to men; they would not know where to begin—

“Hast thou since thy days commanded the morning?”

“Hast thou entered as far as the springs of the sea? and hast thou walked in the recesses of the deep?”      

“Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee?”

“Hath thine understanding compassed the breadths of the earth?”

“Where is the way to where light dwelleth?”

And God is not just asking about the science of all this but introduces moral considerations—for example shaking out the wicked, v 13. He is very explicit about Job’s limitations, asking if he really is old enough to have been in at the beginning, v 21. He adds to what Elihu has said about the weather by speaking of snow and hail in store, of thunder and rain (even where there is no man, He uses rain to satisfy the ground), snow, ice and frost. He even portrays these elements as having a father and mother, showing that we are to understand God’s involvement in things upon which we depend but cannot control. Imagine the lightning saying to any man, “Here we are”, v 35! And God speaks of the rain in bottles—it is all carefully measured and controlled.

The reference to constellations still called by the same names is striking—the Great Bear belongs in the northern sky, as Orion does in the south; the Pleiades are associated with the east. Wherever they are, they are not just spun out into the void, where chaos would be bound to ensue; but they are subject to ordinances: they are bound where they are, and could be loosed.

The animal kingdom

In verse 39, God turns from the weather and the sky to talk about His animal kingdom. We immediately see the same principle of measure—there is an appetite to satisfy. And while lion cubs may look to their mother for this, God also reminds us—as we have seen—that His creatures are aware of Him. The raven’s chicks “cry unto God”; in acknowledgement of an instinctive dependence upon Him. How feeling and tender God is—as the Lord says, not a sparrow falls without Him (Matt 10: 29); nor is one forgotten before Him, Luke 12: 6. Elijah was once fed by naturally scavenging ravens—God said He had “commanded” them to do this (1 Kings 17: 4); it was not a chance or just eccentric behaviour on their part. God is giving instances in His creation of order and subjection—the only creature quite out of such order is the one who should know God best, the sinner, and Job is a prime example.

God then refers to several hoofed animals: the wild goat, the wild ass and onager (recognised as separate species), and the buffalo. He emphasises how wild and untameable they are—but He knows them intimately, citing as an example the goat’s gestation period, which apparently Job would not know—but specific to each species. His care is not confined to mankind, but men may learn the nature and kindness of it from the lives of other creatures.

Then come the ostrich, the horse, the hawk and the eagle. How remarkable that there is a bird deprived not only of the power of flight, but of wisdom, and that by God’s design—but God has done this distinctly, separating the ostrich from other birds. The horse is described as a powerful beast, able for the battle; but scorned by the ostrich—everything fitting together, each with its own strengths. The hawk and the eagle are cited with a power of flight that Job cannot explain, or control; but all is known to the Creator.

At this God pauses to see where Job is—

“And Jehovah answered Job and said, Shall he that will contend with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.      

“And Job answered Jehovah and said, Behold, I am nought: what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.      

“Once have I spoken, and I will not answer; yea twice, but I will proceed no further.”

This is progress. Job had to be impressed with these examples of God’s supremacy, but is it also true that the goodness of God was leading him to repentance, Rom 2: 4? It is not just that God has presented Himself as a caring Creator; but He has shown remarkable forbearance to Job and his failings. Elihu was angry—and rightly; but there is no word of God being so. There are reproofs, and His appraisal of Job’s underlying condition is not hard to see, but God has chosen to focus attention on other creatures while He wins Job’s ear. His object is to bring Job into His presence—not at all to drive him away; once there he will see God and himself in a true light, and the work will be done.

 

The monsters

Three phases remain to what God has to say—he first takes stock with Job from chapter 40: 6 to 14; and then we have a detailed consideration of two monsters, behemoth and leviathan. And as He proceeds, God introduces what was the moral issue in His sight—pride. Elihu had touched the point without charging Job, and leaves God to make it perfectly clear, in His own way and time. God would later have the same issue with Nebuchadnezzar, and the same successful result from dealing with him. We read (Dan 4: 37)—

“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of the heavens, all whose works are truth, and his paths judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

So, to this end, God asks Job a series of initial questions with the object, it may be said, of establishing who is to be judge, and of whom. Here is the first—

“Wilt thou also annul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous?”

This was indeed what Job had done, although he would not have dared to put it so boldly; but he was so anxious to prove that he was blameless that he had to make everyone else wrong, and that included God. But God’s arm is not shortened—He can stretch it out wherever He has business to accomplish; and the thunder of His voice is (as we have seen) impossible to ignore. Verse 10 reminds Job of God’s glory—it was impossible for him to be anything comparable.

And now God comes to the crux—pride—

“Cast abroad the ragings of thine anger, and look on every one that is proud, and abase him:      

“Look on every one that is proud, bring him low, and tread down the wicked in their place.”

Peter says, “God sets himself against the proud, but to the humble he gives grace”, 1 Pet 5: 5. Chapter 40: 14 makes the same promise to Job.

God has planted the seed, and He moves on quickly to the two monsters. We do not need to be sure what we would call them: God gives enough of a description for His purposes: they are moral opposites—one is well-spoken of; the other is to be feared and avoided. Behemoth is “the chief of God’s ways (chap 40: 19), but no reference to any pride; leviathan is “king over all the proud beasts”; a position Satan even might have taken. It is commonplace to make the lion the ‘king of beasts’—a fierce predatory carnivore; but not in God’s assessment: the chief of God’s ways is an aquatic and apparently gentle herbivore; but not to be trifled with—even by a lion. The description is brief: God has made the point that the true nature and strength of a creature may not be apparent. It has taken a long time to get to the aggressive core within Job’s amiable exterior.

Finally, we have a whole chapter on leviathan—evidently a dangerous and intractable creature; impossible to try and catch, but why would someone want to take one alive?—they do not make good pets (see verse 5)! Anyone thinking of overpowering it, they should think again and desist, v 8. God now takes a sharp turn in His description, so as to raise a question about Himself—

“None is so bold as to stir him up; and who is he that will stand before me?

“Who hath first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.”

How could it be that a man is afraid to stir up one of God’s creatures, but bold enough to challenge God Himself and His rights? Once again, God moves swiftly on; another seed is sown and time will allow it to germinate. He has a lot more He wants Job to hear about leviathan. Here is the Creator, speaking with evident intent about the detail of His own design—a product of His mighty word, by which even monsters were made, Gen 1: 21. So He speaks of power and beauty, He comments on the outward appearance, and moves on to the monster’s inwards—its breath first, and then its heart; and then its attitude—its esteem for man’s weapons, its laugh even at the javelin.

And at last God stands back to view His own work—

“Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.      

“He beholdeth all high things; he is king over all the proud beasts”.

Job possesses nothing like leviathan’s armour; God’s shaft finds its mark!

Job’s repentance

Job has much less to say in answer to God than he had to his friends, and to much better effect: let us have the four sentences in full—

“I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine.      

“Who is he that obscureth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

“Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and inform me.      

“I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee:
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

This sums up the four things that Job can now see in the presence of God—

1. God can do anything unhindered—He is sovereign;
2. He plays back to God word-for-word the question He had asked Job (chap 38: 2), and admits that God was completely right;
3. He puts himself in God’s hands, and at His mercy;
4. He repents; not just of what he may have done, but in a true admission of his moral state.

Job says—

“I know that thou canst do everything, and that thou canst be hindered in no thought of thine.”

He does not simply own that God is almighty, but He is also sovereign. And we must remember too that every thought of God is right—His perfect righteousness governs everything He does. This is true of His oversight of the universe; it is equally true of what He presents to us in the gospel.

“Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, and kind in all his works”, Ps 145: 17

We can therefore trust Him, and His work and word, with absolute confidence. What shall we say then? As Paul puts it (Rom 9:14)—

“Is there unrighteousness with God? Far be the thought.”

All this Job sees in the presence of God; into which God had brought him by drawing near to him: in His grace, the motion had been from God’s side. There is an echo of the Queen of Sheba, who had been moved by a report to find twice as much as it was possible to hear: Job can see much more of God than He had conceived; and in that light he sees himself more clearly than ever before.

The presence of God is a place like no other. We often hear that He is too holy to allow sin in His presence; but there is really nothing which hinders the sinner drawing near. The proof of that for us is that the Lord Jesus came so near to us; He was the “friend of … sinners”, Luke 7: 34. People who had despaired of finding any remedy found He had brought a perfect one right where they were. And this had a remarkable effect: take Peter, for example, when his boat is filled to overflowing—as a sinful man, he urges Jesus to withdraw, and yet at the same time he falls at His feet. Never once was anybody repelled; nor will they be now—and nor was Job.

God’s nature is learned in His presence—both light and love. What we call His attributes are seen, and not just His holiness and perfect righteousness, but also His grace and long-suffering. In short, Job found that God was nothing like he had imagined—God was for him. And at the same time supreme: not of course doing anything contrary to what He is morally (He cannot lie, for example), but not beholden to or constrained by any other mind or authority, and free to pour out all that He is, with a remedy for the guilty that will satisfy Him for ever. Paul speaks of the “abundance of grace, and of the free gift of righteousness”, Rom 5: 17. God takes it upon Himself to supply what is needed—cost Him what it may; and it flows according to “the measure of the gift of the Christ” (Eph 4: 7), which when put alongside our need will always overabound. How could He not be satisfied with a righteousness He Himself provides?

And now he could see, Job feels deeply that it was against such a God he had spoken—and he sees as never before what that says about himself; unworthy and unjustifiably self-righteous—proud, in a word, as God had shown. Job had spoken of being “dust and ashes” before (chap 30: 19), referring to his mortal condition; it is very different to see his moral state, as he now does. God remembers that we are dust (Ps 103: 14): not ‘but dust’ as is often misquoted; because there is the gold of His own work to come out of the fire.

All this was the work of God’s grace. It is the foundation of every relationship God has had with men; and this is seen in the way He spoke to Job, even though His discipline had been severe. God takes people up to be true to Himself and to the promises He has made, and He can only do that in grace—the relationship will always depend on what God Himself supplies, and His meeting of His people’s needs of whatever kind. The Israelites in Egypt put their faith in God’s word that He would accept the blood, and they were delivered, but it will be noticed that they were not called upon first to repent. God delivered them in the freedom of His grace. Like Job, they came into a relationship with God without really having judged what they were, and the consequence was that they offered to keep the law—in the same way as Job offered his own blamelessness. That is a common thing for Christian believers. They take account of the gospel as presenting something free and good; they put their faith in what is offered, and they find themselves in a relationship with God, which they seek to accomplish on the principle of law, or some good in themselves (where it “does not dwell” (Rom 7: 18))—and fail.

So when the Lord Jesus opened His mouth to preach the gospel, His first word is, “Repent”, Matt 4: 17. Repentance and conversion are not the same thing—both are needed, and one leads to the other, Acts 3: 19. Conversion is the subjection of my will to God’s. Repentance is not just a change of mind, or mere regret; it is an answer in the renewed mind in communion to the outshining of grace—hence Job must see God, and know what His presence is; it will not be enough to hear about Him. It has been spoken of as—

… the judgment of the new man in divine light and grace on all that he who repents has been or done in flesh.

JND Collected Writings vol 10 p131.

It is arrived at through the knowledge of God, and it therefore grows.

Questions are sometimes asked about God repenting. He certainly does not need to repent as we do (see Num 23: 19; 1 Sam 15: 29); nevertheless He has—more than once: Gen 6: 6; Exod 32: 14; Judg 2: 18; 1 Sam 15: 35; 1 Chron 21: 15; Amos 7 (more than once) and Jonah 3: 10. How remarkable! What we learn from all this is that, when God is said to repent, it means that He goes back to His original thought—His grace falls back on the Man of His purpose, to whom He has entrusted everything, including the work of salvation and redemption. Of course, we see no change of mind about Job on God’s part—His whole work with Him carries Him and Job to His purposed end.

God has no more to say to Job—no formal verdict is pronounced; but Job is accepted. Many strive long to convince themselves that they are accepted; it is deliverance to see that it is Christ that has been accepted, and we in Him through faith in His Person and work. This is God’s sovereign right—founded, in Job’s case on a burnt-offering: speaking to God of what Christ is to Him.

God’s controversy with the friends

God is not said to have shown any anger to Job, but he does to his friends, taking Eliphaz to task on their account for not having spoken rightly of Him like “my servant Job”—God says this twice, and threatens to deal with them according to their folly. It has not been hard to make out how erroneous their speaking of God had been, as we have seen; but how is Job apparently excused here, when God had just taken issue with him for speaking without knowledge? The difference may lie in what they believed. Job was a believer, however mistaken he was in many of his ideas; he had a record of serving God with integrity. The friends did not, they are not said to be God’s servants. They had spoken—at length—without any indication that they had waited on God for a word, in contrast to Elihu. Not only did they lack a knowledge of God; they sometimes seem to doubt it is possible. They are more or less agnostic. Eliphaz had professed to be seeking God, but did the other two even do that? God to them was a product of their own reasoning—advanced for their own ends.

Once again, God presents the remedy before the consequences of their failure: there was ample provision in the burnt-offering, and Job was now qualified to be a priest to bring it acceptably. And God knows that Job stands ready to pray for them—all the bitterness has gone in Job’s renunciation of himself in the presence of God; having been shown such grace, why would he not display it to people he had after all counted as his friends? It is of interest to see Job assuming the role of mediator—after what he had said on the subject. How gracious God was to the three that He proposed their friend as mediator. Of course, there was no question of the issue being settled on their terms: Job could be relied on to act for God.

It might be wondered why God proposes a burnt-offering and not a sin-offering. No figure can answer fully to the One of whom 1 Timothy 2 speaks—“the man Christ Jesus”; but perhaps Job and the burnt-offering together give a more adequate illustration, with the perfection God required found in the burnt-offering—the first of all the offerings, representing what Christ and His life laid down meant to God.

It is as well that the friends obeyed—it is the first step to blessing; and God was as good as His word to them.

Job’s second blessing and his end

Job’s captivity is turned. If this refers to the period of affliction described in the book, it may have been very short, although intensely severe. Job suggests that months had passed from the onset of his troubles (chap 7: 3), although he uses several illustrations to describe how time was now passing very quickly - a weaver’s shuttle, skiffs of reed blowing, or an eagle swooping. The blessing into which Job emerges is much more prolonged and extended. We learn for the first time of other relatives and acquaintances who may have shrunk from involvement in his sorrows: quite a gathering and fellowship in it! And they go over his troubles, not to belittle them or to agree that they had been harsh or unnecessary: Job would surely intend that they should all get some benefit from his lessons. Unlike the first three friends (as far as we know), everyone came with something to contribute—something of value, including what would speak of affection and fellowship.

God, who can be hindered in no thought of His, then—over time—makes good all the loss Job had necessarily suffered for the discipline to have its effect. Who can question if God deals a double measure—His grace over-abounding beyond any mere re-instatement. And most precious of all, Job has a new family around him—no spaces are left at his table: there is a son or daughter of true worth to fill each one; followed in time by their children and grandchildren.

There is natural speculation about how old Job may have been. He speaks of having been young; he had and lost a large grown-up family. Eliphaz, however, claims to be as old as Job’s father. But it could well be that the one hundred and forty years added to his life are also double what he had had so far.

James speaks of “the endurance of Job”, using a word that does not refer to suffering the provocation of unreasonable people, but to bearing up under great trials. These may be prolonged over time, but the same endurance is needed if they are intense, even if short-lived. Job had spoken of coming forth like gold—this product of God’s work in him is what shines after all the self-righteousness he had used to burnish his standing with God and men had fallen away.

Conclusion

The outline of the story in this book is straightforward, and most who know their Bibles have the gist of it. In some ways, it is not easy to find coherence in the discussion which takes up most of the account—which is partly because the speakers lack a ready knowledge of God. There is a definite change when Elihu finally gets his turn, and he paves the way for God in a striking manner.

The crucial point to take away is that God Himself became known—through the fog of ignorance and misrepresentation, which He disperses with divine light and grace. This is what James asks us to take away—not how bad Job had been, but that God is full of tender compassion and pity. It is in that light—and that light alone—that Job, or any one else, for that matter, has come to any true knowledge of themselves: the Psalmist says—

“For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light”.       Ps 36: 9

David also says (Ps 138: 6) of God that—

“… he looketh upon the lowly, and the proud he knoweth afar off.”

God did not want Job—or any of us—“afar off”: He has gone to immense cost to reconcile us to Himself, Rom 5: 10; 2 Cor 5: 18-21; Col 1: 21. Look what He has done to set us free from anything in ourselves that offends Him. God has made the sinless One “to be sin for us”; it is through the death of His Son that we may be near, where God may be truly known.

“But all things having their true character exposed by the light are made manifest; for that which makes everything manifest is light”, Eph 5: 13. God has come into the light for this very reason: that He first might be truly known. This was “the end of the Lord” with Job.

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