Job 19:23-29 - Homiletics

Job to Bildad: 2. The inscription on the rock; of Job's faith in a redeemer.

I. THE PREFACE TO THE INSCRIPTION ; OR , THE FERVENT WISH OF A DYING MAN .

1 . The culture of Job ' s times. The origin of writing is lost in the mists of antiquity. The earliest known mode of writing was by means of a sharp-pointed instrument—stylus, or engraving tool, made of iron or steel. The first materials used for writing on were leaves of trees, skins, linen cloths, metal or wax plates, stone columns or rocks. Egyptian papyrus rolls and cuneiform tablets, dating from periods antecedent to the times of Abraham, have been recovered by the labours of modern archaeologists. Numerous inscriptions of the kind alluded to by Job have been found by Oriental travellers in Arabia. On the smoothed surface of a solid rock at Hish Ghorab at Hadramut, in Southern Arabia, an inscription of ten lines exists, dating, according to some, from the times of the Adites, the most ancient inhabitants of Arabia Felix, Ad the tribe-father having flourished cotemporaneously with the building of the Tower of Babel. The cliffs of the wady Mokatta, on the route of the Israelites, and in the vicinity of the Sinaitic mountains, contain many such inscriptions (on ancient stone inscriptions, see the Exposition). The knowledge of the art of writing at that early period confirms the belief, which other traces of primeval man also suggest, that humanity was not then a babe wrapt in swaddling-clothes, but a vigorous and intelligent adult, already far advanced in civilization.

2 . The certainty of Job ' s knowledge. What Job wished engraven on the rock was no mere probable conjecture, happy guess, philosophical speculation, or even secret aspiration, but a firm and certain personal conviction. If it be inquired how Job arrived at this immovable persuasion, it may be answered

3 . The importance of Job ' s words.

"Oh, but they say, the tongues of dying men

Enforce attention, like deep harmony, etc.

('King Richard II .,' act 2. sc. 1.)

4 . The fulfilment of Job ' s prayer. In a sense, and to an extent undreamt of at the time, has the patriarch's desire been granted. His words have been inscribed in the state records of the King of heaven. They have been engraved by the printing-press in a form more imperishable than could have been derived from the sculptors chisel. They have now been published in well-nigh every language under heaven. One of the latest to receive them was the modern Ethiopic or Abyssiaian, which possesses an affinity to the language which Job spoke. They will now be transmitted to the end of time,

II. THE CONTENTS OF THE INSCRIPTION ; OR , THE LOFTY FAITH OF A PROPHETIC SOUL . Up to this point five striking passages appear in the Book of Job. In the first ( Job 9:32-35 ) Job expresses his ardent longing for a Daysman or Mediator who might lay his hand upon both him and God; in the second ( Job 13:15 , Job 13:16 ), his confident expectation of acceptance with God, or the strong inward assurance of his salvation; in the third ( Job 14:13-15 ), his deeply seated hope of a resurrection-life beyond the grave and the Hadeau world; in the fourth ( Job 16:18-21 ), his belief in the existence of a heavenly Witness who recognized his sincerity, and his earnest prayer that God might become man's Advocate against himself (God); the fifth, the present passage, seems to gather all the preceding up into one triumphant shout of faith in a living, personal, divinely human Goel, or Redeemer, who should appear in the end of time to vindicate and save Job, and all who, like him, should have died in the faith, by a bodily resurrection from the grave. Analyzed, Job's proposed inscription should contain a declaration of the following sublime truths.

1 . The existence of a personal Redeemer . The goel, in the Mosaic code, was the next of kin, whose duty it was to redeem a captive or enslaved relative ( Genesis 14:14-16 ); to buy back his sold or otherwise alienated inheritance (Le 25:25, 26); to avenge The death of a murdered kinsman ( Numbers 35:12 ); to marry his childless widow ( Deuteronomy 25:5 ). Obviously, the office of the goel, or vindicator, existed in pre-Mosaic times, and was doubtless derived from primeval tradition. It was in accordance with the natural instincts of humanity, and was probably sanctioned by God, both at the first and under the Mosaic institutions, to strengthen the ties of natural affection among mankind, and also, perhaps chiefly, to suggest the hope and foreshadow the advent of the already promised Kinsman Avenger ( Genesis 3:15 ). Hence Jehovah, the Deliverer of Israel from Egyptian bondage, was styled their Goel ( Psalms 19:14 ; Psalms 78:35 ; Isaiah 41:14 ; Isaiah 43:14 ). Hence the heavenly Witness, to whom Job looked for deliverance from his troubles, vindication of his aspersed character, emancipation from the power of the grave, and protection against his unseen adversary, whether God or Satan, was styled by him his Goel. And so is Christ the believer's Goel, who redeems him from guilt and condemnation ( Romans 3:24 ; Galatians 3:13 ; Galatians 4:5 ; Ephesians 1:7 ; Titus 2:14 ), delivers him from the fear of death ( Hebrews 2:14 , Hebrews 2:15 ; Romans 8:23 ), and shields him from the wrath to come ( 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ). Nay, of Christ, Job's Redeemer was a type in respect of being

2 . The advent of this heavenly Redeemer to the earth.

3. The saint ' s return to an embodied existence on the earth beside his Redeemer. The phrase, "in my flesh [literally, 'from, or out of, my flesh'] shall I see God" (verse 26), may mean no more than that after Job's "skin" or body was destroyed, i.e. after he had passed into the Hadean world, he would enjoy a spiritual vision of God, and it may readily be granted that such a rendering accords with the prevailing tone and current of Job's theology and Job's mind, neither of which was familiar with the idea of a resurrection-life beyond the unseen world of disembodied spirits. But Job at this moment was raised above the ordinary level of his spiritual consciousness. As already ( Job 14:13-15 ) he had had a glimpse, transient but real, of such a life, so here it returns upon him once again with equal suddenness, but greater brightness—a glimpse of the happy land beyond the tomb, when, recalled to a physical existence on the earth, to which already his heavenly Goal had descended, looking out from his flesh he should see God; as if to emphasize which he adds, "Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another" (verse 27)—words which in themselves may not necessarily involve the resurrection of the body, but which, when taken in connection with the other considerations mentioned, tend not a little to confirm that interpretation. What Job only momentarily saw, and withal only dimly understood, has now been completely unveiled and expounded in the gospel, viz. the doctrine of a future resurrection.

4 . The saint ' s beatific vision of God in the person of his Kinsman Redeemer. Job expected to see God in the Hadean world, according to some; on the earth, in the flesh, according to the interpretation just given. Such a vision of God meant for Job exactly what it means for the Christian—salvation, i.e. acceptance before God, protection by God, likeness to God, fellowship with God. In fullest measure such a vision of God will be enjoyed only in the resurrection-life ( John 14:3 ; John 17:24 ; Philippians 3:20 ; Hebrews 9:28 ; 1 John 3:2 ). In measure and degree only second to this will the saint behold God in the intermediate state ( Luke 23:43 ; Philippians 1:23 ). Even now, in a real though spiritual sense, such a vision is enjoyed by believers ( Matthew 5:8 ).

5 . The saint ' s earnest longing for this future vision of his heavenly Friend. Job describes his reins, i.e. his heart, as pining away or languishing for the coming of this glorious apocalypse. Job's friends had directed him to set his hopes on a return to temporal prosperity—to health, wealth, friends; in return, Job informs them that his soul desired nothing so much as God and his salvation. So the pre-Christian saints longed for the first advent of the Saviour, e.g. Abraham ( John 8:56 ), Jacob ( Genesis 49:18 ), David ( Psalms 45:3 , Psalms 45:4 ), Simeon ( Luke 2:25 ), Anna ( Luke 2:38 ). So Christian believers anticipate his second coming ( Romans 8:23 ; Revelation 22:17 ).

III. THE APPENDIX TO THE INSCRIPTION ; OR , THE EARNEST REMONSTRANCE OF A PERSECUTED SAINT . On two grounds Job dissuades his friends from attempting further to prove him guilty.

1 . The wickedness of their conduct. Job's language (verse 28) points to the studied and systematic character of their attacks upon his integrity. "But ye say, How shall we persecute him, seeing that the root of the matter [ i.e. the ground or occasion of such persecution] is in me?" Thinking they could discern in Job's guilt ample justification for such invective and condemnation as they hurled against him, they wickedly exercised their ingenuity in devising means to punish him, or at least to make him feel their displeasure. Another rendering, "How shall we find o, round of persecution in him?" presents their behaviour in a light extremely odious, recalling the sleepless malignity of Daniel's accusers (Daniel Daniel 6:4 , Daniel 6:5 ). To take "the root of the matter" as signifying the fundamental principles of piety is to make their conduct absolutely diabolic, and on a par with that of the scribes and Pharisees towards the Saviour ( Matthew 12:14 ; Matthew 22:15 ; Luke 11:54 ; John 8:6 ).

2 . The danger of their conduct. It would inevitably involve them in retribution. "Be ye afraid of the sword" (verse 29), the sword being a symbol of such judicial recompense, an overwhelming retribution, the absence of the article pointing to what is "boundless, endless, terrific'" (Delitzsch), a certain retribution, such crimes as have incurred the vengeance of the sword, literally, the expiations of the sword, ever being, or carrying along with them, wrath, i.e. the glow of the Divine anger, a prophetic retribution, foreshadowing a still more awful punishment in the future world, "that ye may know there is a judgment."

Learn:

1 . The duty of thankfulness to God for the blessings of civilization, especially for the invention of printing.

2 . The illuminating power of sorrow, especially to a child of God.

3 . The immortality that belongs to great ideas, especially to such as come through inspiration.

4 . The sustaining influence of a good hope, especially the hope of a Redeemer.

5 . The value of Christ's advents to the world, especially of his second advent in glory.

6 . The greater light enjoyed by the gospel Church, especially since the resurrection of the Saviour.