Job Questions God's Justice

11/22/2011 7:22:09 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  Job questions God’s justice

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Job 27:1-23

            Message of the verses:  Today’s SD will look at the third main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary and there are three sub-points under this third main point which we will take one at a time.

            Job takes and oath (Job 27:1-6):  “1 ¶  Then Job continued his discourse and said, 2  "As God lives, who has taken away my right, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, 3  For as long as life is in me, And the breath of God is in my nostrils, 4  My lips certainly will not speak unjustly, Nor will my tongue mutter deceit. 5  "Far be it from me that I should declare you right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. 6  "I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days.”  (NASB)

            “1 ¶  Having waited for Zophar, Job now resumed his defense: 2  "God-Alive! He’s denied me justice! God Almighty! He’s ruined my life! 3  But for as long as I draw breath, and for as long as God breathes life into me, 4  I refuse to say one word that isn’t true. I refuse to confess to any charge that’s false. 5  There is no way I’ll ever agree to your accusations. I’ll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. 6  I’m holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip—and, believe me, I’ll never regret it.”  (Message)

            Before we begin with this first sub-section we must remember what Bildad had said in Job 24:4-6, “4  The poor are pushed off the path;  the needy must hide together for safety. 5  Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,  the poor must spend all their time looking for food,  searching even in the desert for food for their children. 6  They harvest a field they do not own,  and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.’”  (NLT)  Bildad is saying that since God is holy no man can stand righteous in His sight.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The corollary (consequence) to this proposition is that God is obligated to punish people for their sins; otherwise, He would not be a righteous God.  If Job is suffering, it must be that Job is sinning.”

            Job has spoken of his integrity before but now he gives an oath “As God lives.”  Where Job lived and the time that he lived in and giving an oath meant that he was saying that if it were not true then God could kill him that is how sure he was that he was speaking the truth.

            Job still felt that God was not treating him fairly, and that the heavens were silent and that there was no one to be his empire, so Job would declare his innocence and maintain his integrity.  He was not going to lie just to please his friends, and he was not going to “bribe” God into restoring his fortunes. “I’m holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip—and, believe me, I’ll never regret it.”  (Job 27:6 Message)

            Job utters a curse (Job 27:7-10):  “7 ¶  "Let my enemy be exposed as wicked! Let my adversary be proven guilty! 8  What hope do people without God have when life is cut short? when God puts an end to life? 9  Do you think God will listen to their cry for help when disaster hits? 10  What interest have they ever shown in the Almighty? Have they ever been known to pray before?”  (Message)

            “7 ¶  "May my enemy be as the wicked And my opponent as the unjust. 8  "For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, When God requires his life? 9  "Will God hear his cry When distress comes upon him? 10  "Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times?”  (NASB)

            “#7-10 Job looked upon the condition of a hypocrite and a wicked man, to be most miserable. If they gained through life by their profession, and kept up their presumptuous hope till death, what would that avail when God required their souls? The more comfort we find in our religion, the more closely we shall cleave to it. Those who have no delight in God, are easily drawn away by the pleasures, and easily overcome by the crosses of this life.”  This is Matthew Henry’s commentary on Job 27:7-10. 

            Dr. Wiersbe in his commentary says that Job felt compelled to call down the wrath of God on those who said they were guilty.  “He goes on to compare what Job said here with the “imprecatory psalms” (Psalms 58, 69, 137, etc.) in that they are a prayer for God’s judgment on his enemies.”

            The question is who are Job’s enemies?  The answer is that anyone who was agreeing with those three “friends” that are with Job, and they all deserved punishment from God.  It is possible that while all these conversations that were going on that there may have been a crowd that were there listening to it and probably most of them would side with Job’s friends and this may have been the reason for Job’s comments here.

            I want to mention two things here before going on to the next sub-point.  First we have to remember that Job lived before the Mosaic Law was given, and long before the Sermon on the Mount was given.  Second we have to remember that two times in the court of heaven that God declared Job as “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.”

            Job teaches a lesson (Job 27:11-23):  “11 ¶  "I will instruct you in the power of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal. 12  "Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act foolishly? 13 "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty. 14  "Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread. 15  "His survivors will be buried because of the plague, And their widows will not be able to weep. 16  "Though he piles up silver like dust And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay, 17  He may prepare it, but the just will wear it And the innocent will divide the silver. 18  "He has built his house like the spider’s web, Or as a hut which the watchman has made. 19  "He lies down rich, but never again; He opens his eyes, and it is no longer. 20  "Terrors overtake him like a flood; A tempest steals him away in the night. 21  "The east wind carries him away, and he is gone, For it whirls him away from his place. 22  "For it will hurl at him without sparing; He will surely try to flee from its power. 23  "Men will clap their hands at him And will hiss him from his place.”  (NASB)

            “11 ¶  "I’ve given you a clear account of God in action, suppressed nothing regarding God Almighty. 12  The evidence is right before you. You can all see it for yourselves, so why do you keep talking nonsense? 13  "I’ll quote your own words back to you: "’This is how God treats the wicked, this is what evil people can expect from God Almighty: 14  Their children—all of them—will die violent deaths; they’ll never have enough bread to put on the table. 15  They’ll be wiped out by the plague, and none of the widows will shed a tear when they’re gone. 16  Even if they make a lot of money and are resplendent in the latest fashions, 17  It’s the good who will end up wearing the clothes and the decent who will divide up the money. 18  They build elaborate houses that won’t survive a single winter. 19  They go to bed wealthy and wake up poor. 20  Terrors pour in on them like flash floods—a tornado snatches them away in the middle of the night, 21  A cyclone sweeps them up—gone! Not a trace of them left, not even a footprint. 22  Catastrophes relentlessly pursue them; they run this way and that, but there’s no place to hide— 23  Pummeled by the weather, blown to kingdom come by the storm.’”  (Message)

            I wish to begin this section with a quote from John MacArthur’s study Bible on verse eleven:  “I will instruct you in the power of God.  Job had pinpointed the issue between him and his friends.  They disagreed on the outworking of God’s retribution.  They agreed that God was powerful, wise, and sovereign.  But because Job knew there was no cherished sin in his life that would bring upon him such intense suffering, Job was forced to conclude that the simplistic notion—that all suffering comes from sin and all righteousness is rewarded—was wrong.  At the outset, Job himself probably believed as the comforters still did, but he had seen that his friends’ limitation of God’s action was drastically in need of revision; in fact, it was nonsense.  Job’s comments here introduced his exposition on wisdom which follows in Job 28.”

            Job seems to be saying here that when God vindicates him the following will be what happens to his enemies, and then he goes on to speak about what would happen to them in verses 12-23.

            One of the reasons that I have included the “Message” in my SD’s is because it makes it easier to understand some of these difficult passages.  The “Message” is not a true translation of the Bible; it is like the “Living Bible.”  When you read verses 12-23 you will see what Job believes will happen to his enemies or for that matter for all wicked people. 

            In many of the speeches that Job’s friends gave to him you will see that they were saying that many of the things Job is describing here would happen to him, and now Job turns the tables on them.  They may want to begin to watch what they are saying, for the things that they are saying may just happen to them. 

            One last quote from Dr. Wiersbe on verse twenty-three:  “Scholars do not agree on the interpretation of Job 27:23.  The NASB reads, ‘Men will clap their hands ant him and will his him from his place,’ and most translations agree with that; but the word men is not in the original text.  It simply reads, ‘He claps his hands against him.’  Who is ‘he?’  Elmer B. Smick in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary suggests that it might be God, and that verse 23 should be connected with verse 13 where ‘God’ is the subject of the sentence (vol. 4, p. 972).  He translates verse 23, ‘He claps his hands against them and hisses at them from his dwelling (heaven).’   Whether God or men, there is rejoicing at the destruction of the wicked.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to be content that the Lord will judge the wicked in His time and in His way.  As I look around the world and see much wickedness I know in my heart that because of the justice of God that someday God will judge these wicked people, and I must admit that from time to time that I wish that He would hurry up and do it but then I also realize that God has a plan and nothing will get in the way of His plan.

            Most of all I am elated that the punishment that I deserve was taken out on the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.  I marvel at this: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  This is 2Cor. 5:21 and to me it is one of the greatest verses in all of Scripture, and it also is one of the most unbelievable verses too because it just does not make sense that God would do that, but praise the Lord He has and I will be eternal grateful for the results of this verse.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Ps. 139:23-24.

2.      Romans 12:1-2.

3.      Eph. 6:10-18.

4.      Phil. 4:11b.

5.      Luke 33:40b & 46b.

6.      Proverbs 3:5-6.

7.      1Cor. 10:13.  11/22/2011 8:58:21 AM