Job 28-31
Job 28
1 There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. 2 Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.3 Mortals put an end to the darkness; they search out the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness. 4 Far from human dwellings they cut a shaft, in places untouched by human feet; far from other people they dangle and sway.
5 The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire; 6 lapis lazuli comes from its rocks, and its dust contains nuggets of gold. 7 No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon's eye has seen it. 8 Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there.
9 People assault the flinty rock with their hands and lay bare the roots of the mountains. 10 They tunnel through the rock; their eyes see all its treasures. 11 They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light.
12 But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14 The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.” 15 It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir, with precious onyx or lapis lazuli. 17 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it, nor can it be had for jewels of gold. 18 Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention; the price of wisdom is beyond rubies. 19 The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it; it cannot be bought with pure gold.
20 Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell? 21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. 22 Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”
23 God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 24 for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. 25 When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, 26 when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, 27 then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. 28 And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
Job 29
1 Job continued his discourse: 2 “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3 when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness! 4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house, 5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, 6 when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.
7 “When I went to the gate of the city and took my seat in the public square, 8 the young men saw me and stepped aside and the old men rose to their feet; 9 the chief men refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands; 10 the voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me,12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them. 13 The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow's heart sing.
14 I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger. 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth. 18 “I thought, 'I will die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.
19 My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches. 20 My glory will not fade; the bow will be ever new in my hand.' 21 “People listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for my counsel. 22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more; my words fell gently on their ears. 23 They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.
24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them. 25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief; I dwelt as a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners.
Job 30
1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. 2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. 4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. 5 They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. 6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. 7 They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. 8 A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land. 9 “And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
10 They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. 11 Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. 12 On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. 13 They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me. 'No one can help him,' they say. 14 They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud. 16 “And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. 17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
18 In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ; he binds me like the neck of my garment. 19 He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes. 20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. 21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
23 I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living. 24 “Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. 25 Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? 26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. 28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. 29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. 30 My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. 31 My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing.
Job 31
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman. 2 For what is our lot from God above, our heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?
4 Does he not see my ways and count my every step?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit— 6 let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless—7 if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, 8 then may others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
9 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, 10 then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her. 11 For that would have been wicked, a sin to be judged. 12 It is a fire that burns to Destruction ; it would have uprooted my harvest.
13 “If I have denied justice to any of my servants, whether male or female, when they had a grievance against me,14 what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? 5 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
16 “If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, 17 if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless— 18 but from my youth I reared them as a father would, and from my birth I guided the widow— 19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or the needy without garments,20 and their hearts did not bless me for warming them with the fleece from my sheep, 21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court, 22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.
23 For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things. 24 “If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' 25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained, 26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, 28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
29 “If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him—30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against their life— 31 if those of my household have never said, 'Who has not been filled with Job's meat?'— 32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler— 33 if I have concealed my sin as people do, by hiding my guilt in my heart 34 because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside— 35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.
37 I would give him an account of my every step; I would present it to him as to a ruler.)— 38“if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, 39 if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, 40 then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
Snapshot 26: DAILY AFFIRMATIONS
Yes, an SNL title. I am going longer than normal today because I think it is useful to look at Job's entire response.
Job 28-31
Job 28
Job realizes that he is not getting much wisdom from his judgy friends. He wonders aloud where he can get wisdom. It cannot be bought. We get a famous verse in 18: the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
He compares wisdom to precious metals that must be mined. God is the only one who knows where wisdom dwells. He has told men: “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
So, Job is saying wisdom is obtained through fearing God, and not, say, from knucklehead buddies.
Job 29
Job now turns from his friend and begins reflecting on himself. When he does so, we begin to see a little of what God might be working on in his life. Job, he reflects to himself, you were incredibly awesome and people liked you. People were impressed by you and you were important. And why was I respected? Because I helped lots of people with my wealth.
He goes further: I was the eyes of the blind and feet to the lame. People depended on me. And I was so important to everyone. The very light of my face was precious to them. Well then. It gets almost ridiculous as he goes on about how angelic he was.
Job might have had just a touch of vanity and may have done all of those things with questionable motives. He says because of these deeds, he thought he would die in prosperity (V18). So, his prosperity was because of his good deeds. Look at those verses carefully and see if you see it.
Job was a good person, like I try to be a good person. It is very hard to do good without feeling self-important like Job. People tell you that you are good and honorable and generous and helpful. I think this is the first real clue of what God is working on in Job's heart. Next chapter gives us more insight.
Job 30
Job turns his eyes to how bad life is now. He does a fine job of it. I love the first verse where he says that men who he values less than his sheepdogs are now mocking him. Is this a godly view of others? Job has a problem devaluing others and overvaluing his own worth. Job is upset that he is a by-word to people who are below his notice. He feels let down and under attack by God.
Job 31
Job is absolutely baffled. He argues to God that he is a good man. He makes a list of all the awesome things he has done and all the bad things he avoided. And he also goes back to the legal language I noticed above. But this time, I realized that not all of it sounds like he is arguing a criminal matter where he wants a trial. He was arguing like he essentially had a contract with God. He did his part by doing all this great stuff and he thought he would be given God's blessing because of his acts. Job is slowly coming to realize that this contract does not exist.
I have to pause for V10 where he says that if he was lustful, then his wife should grind another man's grain. Dirty talk! That is what I call playin' the field. Ok, I will stop.
This doctrine still pops up – a sort of prosperity doctrine or seed faith. Give to receive. Give $100 and get $1000. You have earned it through your generosity. Job is getting the idea that God is not on board with his well-laid plans. God is not asking Job for more, He is asking Job to be more.
This is consistent with the New Testament idea that God wants us broken so that we can overflow into the lives around us. God wanted Job broken and only God knew how much that would take. It might have taken so much BECAUSE Job was a good man and would just assume he had to give more to the poor if his roof blew off. God wanted more for Job. He wanted to see growth in this good man. Often in life, suffering does lead to growth.
Job asks why God is silent when he calls out to Him. He fights and argues and defends. And finally, at the very end, Job is silent.
TJ: Was thinking about Job 30:20 “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
I completely understand this cry. There are times when I feel like God is watching my suffering but not helping. It is so hard to understand. In Job's case, God really was allowing this to happen without intervention. The reasons were unknown to Job, but we know some of them. 1. To educate principalities
2. To see growth in Job
3. To help us understand the nature of suffering
4. To undermine the idea of earning blessings
We may never know even one reason for our own suffering. But just because we do not see the reasons does not mean they are not there. Learning to trust God when we do not understand is one of the hardest lessons for me. But there is no other option for mature Christians.