Ep. 129. Job Part 2 | Job's Words
EPISODE 129
JOBS WORDS: JOB PART 2
Job eventually dove into self-pity. "If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe he was listening to my voice." And "I say, He destroys both the blameless and the wicked." Of course, you and I know that is not the case. Abraham asked God in Genesis 18 about that very thing. Job says, "There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both." But of course, you and I know we have such an arbiter in Jesus. "Behold, I cry out, 'Violence!' but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice." Job believes God is unjust, showing how little he knows the God of heaven. It is why he will later say, "I repent in dust and ashes" and "I had heard about you with the ear, but now I have seen you with my eyes."
We are confronted with the question: "What does it mean that Job is 'righteous' or 'blameless' at the outset of the book?" Obviously, there is no one who is righteous according to the Law, and the Law is more than 1000 years from being implemented. We know from Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4 that righteousness before God is a matter of faith, but we also see that Job had key misunderstandings about God. God says of Job, "he is a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil," but there is no doubt that the way Job knew and served God after the book of Job would be dynamically different from who he had been before. We would do good to remember that the Pharisees were called "righteous" by Jesus, but that was sarcasm. Paul says that according to the Law, he was "blameless." There is something noble about Job. He was culturally upright and blameless. He feared God. But none of those things necessarily mean that he really knew God. To whatever degree Job knew God in Chapter 1, we are confident he knew God more richly in Chapter 42. Maybe this is similar to Paul praying for the church in Ephesus that the eyes of their hearts would be opened to know and understand the deep love of God.
ADDITIONAL READING: Psalm 18; 1 Timothy 2:5; Isaiah 40:7-8; 1 Peter 1:24; James 1:11; James 4: 14; Genesis 18:23
