Job The Man and His Character: October 2024
Table of Contents
Job
Job’s character is described by four adjectives. He was perfect, complete and rounded out in character; humanly speaking, there was nothing uneven or lacking in him. Many men have excellent traits, but are deficient in other elements which go to make up a complete man. They are, for instance, truthful, but lacking in kindness; amiable, but inclined to be weak. Job was a well-balanced man. Next, he was upright. This describes his relationship to others. Righteousness marked his ways, as he himself knew all too well. Then, he feared God; this is the “beginning of knowledge” and must be taken at its full value. Job was not, as some have thought, an unregenerate man; there was life in his soul. He was a child of God, not a sinner away from Him. Unless this is seen, much of the exercises through which he passed will lose meaning. Lastly, he “eschewed evil”; his outward walk corresponded with the state of his heart. All this was morally excellent; it was not the false pretense of the hypocrite, but the genuine character of one of whom God says, “There is none like him in the earth.”
S. Ridout (adapted)
God for Us
The Christian, having the redemption of his sins and the earnest and comfort of the Spirit, goes on to learn that God is for him. We do not know what to pray for as we ought. We have spiritual desires of good and the sense of evil around us, though our intelligence is not clear enough, but He (the Spirit) makes intercession in us according to God. We do not know what is the best thing to ask for—some things cannot be remedied till the Lord comes—but, while we do not know what to ask for, we do know that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). On this we can reckon with unfailing assurance.
Job is a wonderful book in this way. There we are given to see how these divine dealings are carried on. The throne of God is set up, the sons of God come in before Him, and Satan goes in too. Then come God’s thoughts about His servant, “for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chron. 16:9). But we must wait God’s time, and then we see “the end of the Lord,” for God was looking on all the while. Notice that the whole discussion about Job began with God. He says to Satan, “Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man?” (Job 1:8). God had considered him. Satan says, Well, You have made a hedge about him, so why should he not fear You? Then God lets Satan loose at him. He lets him take all that he has: His servants are killed, his children too afterwards, his fortune gone. Then Job says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Then Satan says, Skin for skin, a man will give anything he has for his life! Then God says, You can have his body, but not his life. So Satan smites him with sore boils, so that he becomes both wretched and the derision of his neighbors. His wife wants him to curse God and die, but in all this Job sins not; he has received good at the hands of the Lord and shall not he receive evil? So I get this fact: All that Satan did against Job entirely failed, save that it entirely cleared him from Satan’s accusation and the charge of hypocrisy. All that Satan could do he did, but could do no more than he was allowed to do.
But now we see how God was watching over Job. Job was full of himself. He was doing blessedly, but he was thinking of it too. Supposing God had stopped short here, what would have been the effect of it? Why Job would have said: Well, I was gracious in prosperity, and now I have been patient in adversity, and he would have been worse than ever. God had justified him from Satan’s accusations, and his suffering had only prepared the way for closer dealings of God.
J. N. Darby
Righteous and Good
In Romans 5:7 we read, “Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” This verse might seem to be a bit puzzling at first, and we might wonder what the difference is between being righteous and being good. Do the two words not have a similar meaning?
When we approach the Word of God, we must often deduce the meaning of words from the way Scripture uses them and by the context in which they are used. This does not mean that we can interpret Scripture any way we wish, or place a strange construction on the words used by the Spirit of God. But “the things of the Spirit of God” are “spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14), and we must discern the meaning of God’s Word in this way.
In Romans 5:7, the word “righteous” has the thought of being totally upright, honest, and exact in one’s dealings with others, and this perhaps includes one’s outlook towards God as well. It does not mean that the individual necessarily has a relationship with God: He may be trusting in his own righteousness to assure him of God’s favor. Yet still, as to human standards, he may be righteous. However, this type of individual tends to hold others to the same standard as he himself operates under. Let others fail in some aspect of righteousness, be it ever so small, and he is quick to point it out, and perhaps to condemn them for it. People may respect and admire such an individual, but often do not feel any warmth or love towards him. They may actually feel a bit uncomfortable in his presence, thinking that perhaps they will say or do something that will bring down a rebuke.
On the other hand, the word “good” in this verse goes beyond merely being righteous. It includes righteousness, but the individual is not “righteous over much” (Eccl. 7:16) and does not pick at others for small slips in righteousness, courtesy or good manners. He is upright himself and is not casual towards sin, but also treats others with grace and love, perhaps passing over certain things, in the spirit that “charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). This kind of individual will not only be respected, but also loved. As Romans 5:7 tells us, men would be more willing to sacrifice themselves for one who was good than for one who was righteous.
Both Righteous and Good
Where does all this leave us with a man like Job? Was he merely righteous, or was he good as well? I would suggest that the book of Job shows us that he embodied both characteristics in what he was before men and also before God.
First of all, it is evident that Job was a righteous man, although ultimately his three friends accused him of being unrighteous and a hypocrite. Job himself maintains his righteousness to his three friends, and he could say to them, “Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things?” (Job 6:28-30). While Job said those words himself, we have no reason to suggest that he was lying or even exaggerating about himself.
More than this, and much more important, we have the Lord’s testimony as to Job’s character, for the Lord could say to Satan, “Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” (Job 1:8). It is noteworthy that Satan, who is today “the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:10), does not attempt to refute God’s statement about Job. There is no question that Job was a righteous man.
However, I suggest that we have evidence that he was also a good man. A righteous man, and especially one who is rich, is often disliked, if only because of the natural man’s innate hatred of superiority. Yet Job had friends, three of whom came and visited him, sat with him, and talked long with him. They were truly his friends, and the Spirit of God calls them his friends throughout the book of Job.
More than this, Job himself bears witness to his goodness to the poor and to the way he used his wealth to help others. His friends accused him of oppressing the poor, but Job could say, “I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him ... and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy” (Job 29:12-13). Again, we have no reason to conclude that this was untrue, or even an exaggeration. He could also say, “The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller” (Job 31:32). This was certainly going above and beyond how many would act, for to admit a stranger into the house is indeed being a “good” man.
The Lord Was Not Pleased
I believe that in Job’s character we can see both righteousness and goodness, as the Word of God uses those terms in Romans 5:7. Yet there was still something major in his life with which the Lord was not pleased. God’s ways with us are often beyond our understanding, and Job, good man though he was, had a lesson to learn that only the Lord could teach him.
I would make only one final comment. One may be both righteous and good, yet still be disliked by many. In order to get the perfect perspective on anything, we must bring Christ in, and when we consider our blessed Master and Lord, we find that He displayed perfect righteousness and perfect goodness in His life. Yet He could say, “The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil” (John 7:7). This world likes perfect righteousness and goodness, but it does not like to be reminded of its lost condition and its need of a Savior. Such was the heart of man, displayed when God sent His beloved Son into this world.
W. J. Prost
Satan and Job
There are a few times in the Word of God when we are allowed to see beyond the visible world into that which is unseen by human eyes. The first two chapters of the book of Job show us two of these occasions. In these chapters we see Satan being allowed access to God’s presence, when he is seeking to do his evil work in this world.
We might wonder how this can be, that Satan, with all his evil strategies, would be allowed to converse directly with God and to attempt further evil. But Satan is still an angel, although a fallen one, and has a certain amount of power that God has not yet taken away from him. Scripture calls him “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), showing us the sphere in which he carries on his malicious activities. He clearly moves above this earth, although his activities are with those on this earth. He is unseen by human eyes, but his effects on those in this world are certainly seen.
The Spheres of Heaven
Perhaps we ask the question, Where is the region of his activities? The Word of God refers to the “third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2), and from this we can deduce that three heavens exist. The third heaven is clearly the dwelling place of God, into which the Apostle Paul was caught up. Certainly nothing sinful can enter that place; it is a place of uncreated glory. But in Genesis 1:1 (JND) we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This refers to the first two heavens. I would suggest that the first heaven is the atmosphere above the earth, for we are told that when God created birds, He said, “Let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens” (Gen. 1:20 JND). This leaves a second heaven, to which man does not have access, but we might call it the sphere of spiritual activity. It is the place where the Lord met with a number of evil spirits in the time of Ahab, king of Israel (detailed for us in 1 Kings 22:19-23). It is the same place where Satan met with the Lord in Job 1-2. It is also the place where Satan constantly accuses believers to God today and where the Lord Jesus does His work for us as our Intercessor (Rom. 8:34).
To complete the picture, we know that in a coming day, probably in the middle of the tribulation week, Satan and his angels will be cast out of heaven and denied access to God’s presence from that point on — see Revelation 12:7-12. Satan then knows that he has only a short time until he is bound in the bottomless pit for 1000 years, and for this reason he comes down to the earth “with great wrath.”
The Designs of Satan
In the case of Job, Satan had evil designs in mind for him, thinking that if he could only afflict Job severely enough, he would react in the wrong way and curse God. On the other hand, the Lord had a lesson to teach Job, and for this reason He allowed Satan to initiate serious trials in Job’s life. As we know, first of all his property and his children were taken from him by violent means, and then later his health was taken away in a most miserable way. But in both cases Job “passed the test,” so to speak, and Satan was defeated. He had no more to say, and we do not hear of him again in the book of Job. But then the Lord took over and allowed Job to face the withering accusations of his three friends. It was this that provoked Job even more than all the evil Satan had inflicted upon him, and he lost his patience with them. Then the Lord brings in Elihu, a younger man, who had the mind of the Lord and who was able to bring truth before Job and eventual blessing out of all Job’s sufferings.
The Purposes of the Lord
What do we learn from all this? Doubtless Satan carries on this kind of evil today, but like Job, we are not directly aware of it. No doubt he accuses us constantly to the Lord, and the Lord may allow him to cause trouble in our lives too. It is instructive to notice that this went on in King David’s life. We read that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah” (2 Sam. 24:1). However, in 1 Chronicles 21:1, we find out what went on behind the scenes, for we read that “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” Satan was the instigator of this numbering of the people, and the Word of God uses the word “provoked” to describe Satan’s effect on David. Satan had no care for the people of God, and wanted (if possible) to destroy them. He knew that numbering the people would displease the Lord and bring down His government upon them. But the Lord was over all this, and Satan could not provoke David without the Lord’s allowing him to do it. The Lord’s purposes of love and goodness were in it all, for both David and the people of Israel had evidently become lifted up in pride. But God’s purposes are always blessing and never destruction. Yes, it is true that Israel suffered under the government of God for their sin, and it is recorded that “the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men” (1 Chron. 21:14). However, as a result of all this, the future site for Solomon’s temple was purchased by David and secured at that time for this purpose. At that time, David wanted it only as a place to build an altar unto the Lord, but the Lord knew that this was the place where His temple would be built. Truly we can say, with the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33, “How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” With all of us, surely the Lord “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). Satan may have sinister designs against us, but the Lord will ultimately use it all for His purposes and for our blessing.
W. J. Prost
Noah-Daniel-Job
“Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it [the land], they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God” (Ezek. 14:14).
It was a dark day in Israel’s history when this word of the Lord came to the prophet Ezekiel. The word from the Lord said, “I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none” (Ezek. 22:30). The ten tribes (Ephraim, or kingdom of Israel) had already gone into captivity to Assyria — removed out of Jehovah’s land, which He had given them. Assuredly they “gave not God the glory” (Acts 12:23), but “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things” (Rom. 1:23).
Judah had not profited by the lesson to be learned from Jehovah’s dealings with their brethren of Ephraim; no man laid it to heart. God had reserved one tribe: “Unto his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a light alway before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen Me to put My name there” (1 Kings 11:36). There was no response to this sovereignty of mercy shown to them, and one can only weep with the weeping prophet Jeremiah, as we read the inspired record of the sins of Judah’s kings, false prophets, priests and people. “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). At last God removed them also, as Stephen said, “I will carry you away beyond Babylon” (Acts 7:43).
The Loving Heart of God
What a grief of mind all this was to the Lord God of Israel may be learned from Deuteronomy 5:29: “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!” These words truly reveal the loving heart of our God concerning His earthly people; they are words, too, which were recorded before they were in possession of the promised land, words by one who declares “the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46:10). God truly felt His people’s departure of heart from Himself. This is still true today, as of old! Let us therefore “grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).
With such a dark background and at such a time, it evidently afforded the Lord some pleasure to think of His righteous servants: Noah, Daniel and Job. Amazing grace! What an encouragement to us also in our feeble place of service today, in the sphere where He has been pleased to place each one of us. We do well to heed the words of 1 Peter 1:17, “Ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work.” And now, as “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4), let us draw some spiritual profit, warning and encouragement from the history of God’s three worthies: Noah, Daniel and Job.
Noah
He was a courageous character, indeed, to face an ungodly, hostile world with God’s long-suffering testimony. What was the secret of his strength? “Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9); also, “according to all that God commanded him, so did he” (Gen. 6:22). “Warned of God” and “moved with fear,” he “prepared an ark” by means of which he accomplished two things: (1) “He condemned the world” (Heb. 11:7), and (2) “eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:20). It is sad to think that the only result of his preaching was to “condemn the world,” but this was not his fault. “What if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid” (Rom. 3:3-4). But the ark he prepared was the means of “the saving of his house” (Heb. 11:7). Noah was a family man, and he was possessed of those qualifications necessary for a bishop in the church of God in Paul’s day, as he wrote to Timothy: “A bishop [overseer] then must be blameless ... one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity” (1 Tim. 3:2-4). Noah’s family, at least, believed his testimony, backed up by his godly life, and as a result found themselves safely in the ark with him when the judgment fell.
Daniel
In Daniel we find a pleasing personage who had “another spirit with him,” like Caleb (Num. 14:24). He sets before us a good beginning, a faithful, consistent walk throughout, and a good finish. Paul’s word in Philippians 1:20 comes at once to mind: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.” The last verse of the book of Daniel is a wonderful reward for a life of faithfulness to God: “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Dan. 12:13). We may be sure his lot will be a good one! The feature of his exemplary life which we desire to lay stress upon in this article is that Daniel continued—lion’s den and all, he continued. The secret of his success, you ask? “He kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God” (Dan. 6:10). We do well to follow his example and heed the exhortation of Romans 12:12: “Continuing instant in prayer.” There is a further salutary lesson for us in 1 John 2:24: “If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”
Job
Here we have at least a grand finish. “The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12). His case is summed up in Proverbs 25:4: “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.” The Lord knew how to do this in Job’s case (and ours too)! How beautiful is that word in James 5:11: “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” We too are exhorted to be “patient in tribulation” (Rom. 12:12). And again, “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray” (James 5:13). “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb. 12:11). No two of us have the same history, but of chastening “all are partakers” (Heb. 12:8). We too, like Job, are sustained in it and find out at the end of it that our God is the same as at the beginning, and our souls are the better for His hand upon us. We can say, “What hath God wrought!” (Num. 23:23). “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). Truly, “all His saints are in Thy hand” (Deut. 33:3).
Conclusion
As we read the Scriptures and review the histories of His servants of the past, we can only magnify the grace of God, apart from which neither they nor we could perform any service in His name. Paul says, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). The Holy Scriptures abound with encouragement for us to persevere in the path of faith. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). Now, “he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (1 John 2:6). And how Christ walked we find in Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” And He has left “us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain” (1 Cor. 9:24). “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). And what a prospect lies before us: “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12). “His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face” (Rev. 22:3-4).
T. Mather Christian Treasury, Vol. 1
The Patience of Job
As we have seen elsewhere in this issue of The Christian, Job lived a long time ago, probably more than 3,000 years ago. Yet in the book of James, which was written at least 1,500 years after Job lived, James refers to “the patience of Job” (James 5:11). The book of James was written to the 12 tribes of Israel and takes into account that while some of them were clearly saved, yet others were not. It seems that all those addressed had at least professed faith in Christ, but some had done no more than that; they were mere professors, without new life in Christ.
Apparently the nation of Israel did not always like to hear about Job, as he was evidently a Gentile and not part of Israel. Although they did recognize the book of Job as being part of the inspired writings of the Old Testament, yet they did not like to think of a Gentile as being so good in God’s sight that God Himself could say of him, “There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man” (Job 1:8).
The Series of Trials
As we look a little at Job’s history, his patience is indeed admirable. We can scarcely conceive of a series of trials in our life that would even remotely resemble what Job endured. First of all, the Lord allowed all his property—all his wealth—to be taken away in one day. His oxen and donkeys were stolen by the Sabeans, lightning destroyed his sheep, and the Chaldeans took away all his camels. More than this, all of his ten children were killed in one day, probably from what would today be called a tornado. Yet in all this Job did not lose his patience or his trust in God. At the end of all this, he continued to justify and worship God, and he said, “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
But worse was to come, for the Lord then allowed Satan to take away his health and to smite Job “with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown” (Job 2:7). At this point even his wife turned against God, but once again Job accepted it all from the Lord, and “in all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10).
The Testing of the Three Friends
But something else did cause Job to lose his patience. It was how his three friends treated him, essentially calling him a hypocrite, and telling him that all this calamity was God’s judgment on him for wrongdoing. They were wrong, of course, but their accusations broke Job, and he lost his patience with them. More than this, he even became impatient with God and ventured to find fault with God’s ways with him. He stoutly maintained his uprightness, so that Elihu eventually had to rebuke him by saying, “Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?” (Job 35:2). As the result of Elihu’s words and later the words of God Himself, Job was able to see clearly. But the man whose patience was his strong point finally lost his patience. All his integrity, uprightness, abhorring of evil, and fear of God were the result of God’s grace, yet Job took credit for it himself. As a result, under enough pressure from his three friends, he failed in that very thing. In a similar way, although for different reasons, Abraham failed in his faith and Moses failed in his meekness, because they were occupied with themselves instead of trusting and honoring the Lord. What the Lord has given us in His sovereign grace can be lived out practically only with that same grace.
The Patience of the Lord Jesus
Now let us turn to another whose patience was tried in a far worse way than Job’s. We are, of course, referring to our Lord Jesus Christ. In the world of his day, Job was a wealthy man, honored and respected before all his trials came upon him, but the Son of God, who came into this world as a man, was rejected right from the very beginning. He was born into the poorest of circumstances, and all through the years of His life on earth He was the poorest of men. He was constantly insulted, despised, and given no honor or respect, except from a few. He often depended on the charity of others, particularly women, for His everyday needs.
Oh yes, many would come to Him for healing, for food, and to listen to “the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luke 4:22). But they would not recognize Him for who He was. The Jewish leaders accused Him of being “born of fornication,” and on the same occasion called Him a Samaritan, as well as saying that He was possessed of a demon (John 8:41,48).
Later, when He faced the cross, those who had benefited from His power to heal and to feed them were persuaded to demand that He be crucified. His own followers forsook Him, one denied Him with oaths and curses, and another betrayed Him. Finally, He bore the judgment of God for sin all alone, never uttering a word of resistance or impatience. Was there ever One like Him, to exhibit patience that never failed? No amount of rejection, false accusation, or suffering caused anything to come out of Him except the divine perfection that was there. Here was One in whom was no sin, who did no sin, and who knew no sin. Every trial to which He was subjected only showed the absolute excellency of His Person.
We may admire the character of Job as a man and what God’s grace had worked in him, as to his patience in all of his trials and sufferings. Yet even a man like this, when put alongside our Lord Jesus Christ, proves to be a failure. Job’s patience is mentioned in the book of James as an example for us, and the prophets are mentioned too, without giving their names, as those who suffered in patience. But the One whose patience was like no other man should always be before us, causing our hearts to bow down before Him in wonder, praise and worship.
W. J. Prost
Job's Last Speech
“How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?” (Job 25:4). This is no comfort, no help, for Job.
Job now gives his last speech — his greatest effort to justify himself. Yes, this was the needs be of all his trial and sorrow. His words are very touching. “Oh that I were as in the months past, as I was in the days of my youth” (see Job 29:2-25). It is not, Oh that it were with me, but, Oh that I was. How like the mistaken longings of the soul that is being driven from self to Christ. There is a peculiar delusive pleasure in being satisfied with oneself. Very often after conversion the thought is how much better I am now than I once was — how I do now walk in the ways of God. Some few are even so far deceived as to think the old nature is entirely changed and that there is not a root of sin left in them. But, alas, when the time of temptation comes, all this is leveled to the dust. Now, just read Job 29-31 and you will say, if any man could have justified himself by good works, Job was the man. There is not a man in all your town that can say as much as Job said, and say it truly. As to his kindness to the poor, he was the very opposite of the lying charges brought against him. Thus he lets memory recount every good act of his life, but all fails to give rest to his troubled spirit. I, I, I, I did this, I did not do that. But it is all of no use. “Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended” (Job 31:40). Not so Job: You will speak again, and though your words may be few, they will be full of meaning. Now, if Job could not be just before God, how can you? Let memory glance back along the track of life. What sins before God? Are your words ended? Are you dead beaten? Do you say, I cannot tell what to make of it? Then let the Lord speak to you.
C. Stanley (adapted)
When and Where Did Job Live?
It is clear that here we have got a book of patriarchal time. All the circumstances point to that time and no other. And, further, it is as well to state even now, before we go on, that the book appears to have been written in the time of Moses, and probably by Moses. But some people are a little perplexed by the fact that it comes after the book of Esther in the Bible. That has nothing whatever to do with the date of it. The historical books are given from Genesis to Esther — that is the end; then we begin the poetic books — Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Therefore, we must necessarily go back here, because poetry was certainly not written after history, but concurrently with it. We can easily understand that the book of Job carries us back to the very same time that the first book of the history goes back to. Everything concurs to show that.
For instance, Job offered burnt offerings; it was lest his sons should have sinned. But it was not a sin offering, which would have been the natural thing if it had been after the law; it was before the law, and the offerings that were habitually offered by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, under all circumstances, were burnt offerings. So here we find a very simple mark in the very first chapter. And, again, we find that there is a very peculiar idolatry at this time. The book of Job was written after the flood of Noah; there was no idolatry before the flood. Of course, some theologians think there must have been idolatry, but that is no reason at all — it is merely their imagination. The fact is, the earliest idolatry was the worshipping of the sun, moon and stars, and in the course of this book we shall see that this is the only idolatry that Job refers to. It was what was common at that time, and they were getting afterward into much more degraded forms of it.
There Was Idolatry in Job’s Time
Therefore, it would seem that the writer of the book was a good while after Job, but that Job lived in a time when there was idolatry. Yet this thing is what alone he notices; it is in his defense of himself —that he was not guilty — which is one of the thoughts that governed the minds of his three friends. I suppose they were the orthodox people of that day, but like the orthodox people of many a day, it was a poor, human, contracted notion of God. Orthodoxy is merely the popular opinion of religion, as a general rule, and although there are elements of truth, and orthodoxy is certainly much better than heterodoxy, still it is not faith. It is not spiritual judgment, which is a deep acquaintance with God’s mind.
Only we must remember there was very little written at the time that this book was written, perhaps no more than the book of Genesis. I judge thus because there is no reference to the law. If it had been written after the law was given on Sinai, we might expect to find some allusion to that, but there is none.
Job’s Length of Life
There is another thing that contributes also to help us to the date, and that is the age of Job. He was 140 at least. There are some people who seem to think that he lived 140 years after all his troubles, but there is no ground for that. It is merely the manner of speech in the last chapter, and I presume it really means that this was his entire age, the period of his life — not the time after these disasters purposely fell upon him — for reasons that I am going to explain in a moment. Now, if that age be the age of Job, it shows we need not imagine more than what God’s Word declares, and he would therefore be rather a younger man when he died than Jacob. Jacob lived fewer years than Isaac or Abraham. So that would appear to point to the time of the patriarchal age, and all the circumstances fall in with that.
But there is another thing very remarkable and separate in the book. It is entirely outside Israel. There was certainly the nucleus of Israel then; Abraham, Isaac and probably Jacob had been living, and it is clear that this pious Gentile, Job, had profited a good deal from the knowledge of what God had revealed in His dealings, not only with those patriarchs, but the traditions of those who had lived before. I say “traditions,” because Scripture was not yet written. If there was any book of Scripture written at this time, it could only, in my opinion, have been, possibly, the book of Genesis. That was but very little. However, the book of Genesis is one of the most instructive books in all the Bible, and it is remarkable for being a kind of seed plot. All the seeds that later germinated into the various lines of truth throughout Scripture—there you have them all in their beginning.
W. Kelly
The Divine Inspiration of Story of Job
Here in the midst of the sacred writings of Israel stands a book, which no Jew of his own notion would ever have written or could even have conceived. It authoritatively reveals the deepest interest of the true God in a man outside the fathers or the sons of the chosen race, a son of the east in the land of Uz, “perfect and upright, one that feared God and abstained from evil.” Jewish pride would like to see in Job no more than a fictitious personage. Yet if even an inspired romance were really possible, the difficulty would remain, for the case presented is as overwhelming to Jewish narrowness as it must cheer any soul on earth that knew it. The curtain is drawn (ch. 1) for the occasion from the unseen world, that the believing reader may know that God initiates the unparalleled trial about to open for the good of Job and challenges the ever active adversary. “Hast thou considered My servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth.” Satan imputes a selfish motive for Job’s piety, and all belonging to him is left for the evil one to blast. This he at once willingly executes by natural means: a lesson of great value, for nowhere else in the Old Testament is this taught so clearly. Satan fails. In the midst of family joy and his own piety, messenger follows messenger, of Sabean and Chaldean raids, of lightning and tempest, which swept from Job all his oxen, sheep, camels and children, but Job blessed God’s name as to all, and he sinned not.
W. Kelly
Job's Faith and Knowledge
It is interesting and encouraging to see how the yearnings of the saints of God of Old Testament times are answered by the truth of the New Testament. Who told Job, for instance, that, raised up from the corruption of death, he would see God? Yet this was the faith that had struck its roots deeply into his soul and made him cry out with hope in his distress, “As for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and the Last, He shall stand upon the earth [shall stand up above the dust]; and if after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27 JND). His great hope was that he would be delivered from all his woes when he should see the Last (see Isa. 48:12), who is also the First, triumph in His power over all the corruption that death had brought in. He knew that he would see that triumph, and so he will, for this is assured to “all who are Christ’s” (1 Cor. 15).
J. T. Mawson
The Afterward Time
The AFTERWARD TIME is a wonderful time,
A time of rejoicing and gain;
A time for enjoying the fruit of the trial,
The fruit, which shall ever remain.
Look on, precious one, to the AFTERWARD TIME,
Forgetting the things that are past,
For God is preparing a blessing for you;
The trial will not always last.
Beloved, “the Lord doth not willingly grieve,”
Nor afflict any one of His own,
For ’tis “whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth,” sore;
Still His pity and mercy are shown.
When God in His wisdom the chastening sends,
He has but one purpose in view,
And that is to shower more than ever before
His manifold mercies on you.
There is, precious one, a bright AFTERWARD TIME;
His compassions each morning are new;
In wisdom and mercy and infinite love,
He is laying up blessings for you.
The Lord looks ahead to this AFTERWARD TIME,
The time of rich blessing and gain;
When it proves “for our profit’’ the trial was sent;
May it never be suffered in vain!
May we look on, too, in the midst of the trial,
To the glorious AFTERWARD TIME,
When God in His grace, double blessings bestows,
With joy and rejoicing sublime.
L. Beckwith
“Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (James 5:11).
“The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12).
The Time of the Patriarchs
The book of Job gives us God’s dealings with him as an individual, and it does not refer to God’s promises to Abraham or His dealings with the nation of Israel as a result of these promises. It may have been the first book of the Bible to have been written by Moses, before He led the people out of Egypt. In the controversies of Job and his friends there is no mention of Israel or the law. They do not seem to know anything other than that God dealt with individuals in His governmental ways.
It is difficult to determine at what period of time Job lived, but certain things in the language of the book would seem to indicate he lived in the times of the patriarchs, after the flood. There is no mention of idolatry before the flood, but the earliest form of it is referred to by Job (ch. 31:26-28), that is, the worship of heavenly bodies which he condemns as a denial of the God who is above.
Another similarity we notice is that in Genesis the patriarchs acted as priests over their households and in Job we read of his offering burnt offerings for his children. We do not have sin offerings mentioned until after the law was given.
Job and his friends, when speaking of God, often use the patriarchal title, “the Almighty”; in fact, this title appears more often in this book than in any other book of Scripture.
There have been those who have denied this book a place in the Scriptures. It is said the Jews did not like it because they could not think of a man outside Israel whom God would regard so highly. But Job is referred to elsewhere in the Word of God. Ezekiel speaks of Job as an intercessor along with Noah and Daniel (Ezek. 14:14, 20). James refers to the patience of Job (ch. 5:11), and Paul quotes from the book (1 Cor. 3:19), using the same expression, “It is written,” as he does in quoting from the other Scriptures.
Messages of the Love of God, 1960
The Land of Uz
All that is known of the history of Job is found in the book bearing his name. He lived in the land of Uz, which was probably named after Uz, or Huz (the Hebrew is the same), the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Another link with that family is also found in that Elihu was the son of Barachel the Buzite, for Buz was the brother of Huz (Gen. 22:21). The land of Uz is supposed to be in the southeast of Palestine toward the Arabian Desert. Job is called “the greatest of all the men of the east.”
G. Morrish
Job lived in the land of Uz, which may have derived its name from Uz, grandson of Shem, the son of Noah. It says that Job in his day was the greatest of all the men of the East, which would be east of the land of Canaan.
In Lamentations 4:21, Edom is spoken of as being in the land of Uz, or southeast of Canaan, and we see how this country would have been subject to the attacks of the Sabeans and Chaldeans.
Messages of the Love of God, 1960