Job
12
We have reached the end of this great work of literature, philosophy and theology – the book of Job. During his speeches thirty six times Job asked God to speak with him. God has spoken and Job knows he’s beaten. He withdraws his accusations that God is unjust and unfair. He realizes that whatever God does is right and man must accept it by faith. He confesses his pride, humbles himself and repents. Listen to the opening of chapter 42 “Then Job replied to the Lord: ‘I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know’” (verses 1-3).
A very different Job, humble and contrite admits, “My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (verses 5-6). Job has met God personally and seen himself in the light of His Maker. He realizes he is not Mr Mighty High, but ‘dust and ashes’. He was called ‘my servant Job’ in chapter 1 verse 8. Now four times in two verses (7-8) God refers to Job as His servant. Job endured suffering; he did not curse God and thereby silenced the devil. He’s learnt to trust God in torrid circumstances and has emerged an intercessor who prayed for his friends – something they never offered to do for him!
Job’s comforters do not emerge from this drama smelling of roses. God is angry with them for misrepresenting Him. They are humbled by having to go to God’s servant Job and ask him to pray for them!
Vernon McGee who taught that the book Job is a great book from which to teach repentance wrote this, “The minute you and I become self-righteous, you can be sure of one thing – we will be brought into the ring with God and He is going to bruise us --- to bring us to a realization of our sin and a spirit of humility”. A by-product of suffering is that our lives are laid bare, utterly exposed. There is a loss of dignity and privacy in suffering: all our defences are down and we are vulnerable because what is in man raises its head. That’s why Job is a good book to teach repentance.
There are important lessons to be learned from Job’s hard-hearted friends. Pious platitudes are of no help to anyone and knowledge without wisdom can actually make matters worse. How much of our sermonizing actually misses the point? Eliphaz was so inflexible and sarcastic in answering the words of Job’s lips that he failed utterly to respond to the pain in Job’s heart. A child once defined sympathy as ‘your pain in my heart.’ Eliphaz knew nothing of this identification.
Verse 10 declares, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” The story certainly has a happy ending. His friends and relatives brought money for a ‘restoration fund’ which Job may have used for purchasing breeders. His brothers and sisters and friends ‘comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought upon him’ (verse 11).
The Bible says, ‘The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first’ (verse 12). All his livestock doubled, so he ends up with 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 donkeys. Ten of his children are in heaven and now he has ten more – 7 sons and 3 daughters.
The girls’ names are listed – Jemimah means ‘the day’ and Matthew Henry comments she was called such because of the shining forth of his prosperity after a dark night of affliction. His second daughter, Keziah, is the name for a very fragrant smelling spice far removed from when Job was smelly and unsightly, an ugly figure on the village garbage dump. The third girl was called Keren-Happuch meaning ‘Plenty Restored’. Job made his daughters co-heirs with their brethren. There’s nothing new under the sun, not even equal opportunities. ‘Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters’ (verse 15).
The drama ends with these words, “After this, Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And he died, old and full of years” (verse 16-17). That’s how God’s servant, a man of towering faith and heroic endurance, came to his grave like a shock of corn in his season.
According to Jewish tradition Job’s trial lasted for seven years. It wasn’t over in a month. Some suggest it occurred just as he was reaching retirement age and suddenly it’s all gone wrong. Whenever it happened it floored Job completely, made him a social outcast and, worst of all, caused him to feel he’d lost touch with God. The spiritual isolation was devastating – to be crushed in spirit. He could identify with Isaiah’s remark, “Truly You are a God who hides Himself” (Isaiah chapter 45 verse 15). The silence of heaven deepened his distress and all his dignity was blown away.
Perhaps, like Job, you find yourself in a no win situation, questioning where’s God in all this? What’s He playing at? Hear this. Cast yourself on the mercy of God. His mercies endure forever. You remember the good days before the crash and you say ‘It’s all different now’. Wrong! It’s not all different. It’s a different season, but God’s not changed. God’s not dead. God’s not different. His love for you is as fervent and passionate as ever. Remember the penultimate verse in Job is: ‘After this, Job lived -------- ‘(verse 16).