Job 29:1-25 - Homiletics

Job's second parable: 1. Regretful memories of bygone days.

I. DAYS OF RELIGIOUS HAPPINESS . In tender elegiActs strains Job resumes his monologue of sorrow, casting a pathetic glance upon "the times of yore," already faded in the far past and gone beyond recall; not the days of his youth (Authorized Version), hut the autumn season of his mature manhood, when, like a field that the Lord had blessed ( Genesis 27:27 ), groaning beneath the exuberance of its harvest fruits, he was loaded with an abundance of good things ( Psalms 103:1-5 ). Heaven's blessings were so many and so varied, so ripe and so ready, that it seemed to him like a very time of vintage for his soul. But, alas! these bright days of golden sunshine were departed, carrying with them all the treasures of felicity they had brought; and of these that which by its loss now struck the keenest pang of anguish into his melancholy soul was the blessed fellowship, the familiar, confiding, unreserved intercourse which he then enjoyed with Eloah, who, in the threefold capacity of Guardian, Guide, and Friend, was an habitual Visitor at his tent.

1 . As a Guardian. Then Eloah preserved, or protected, him, as Satan, in the cloning of the fundamental controversy of the poem, complained ( Job 1:10 ), and as Eliphaz ( Job 5:11-21 ; Job 22:25 ), followed by Zophar ( Job 11:18 ), assured him God would again do, if he returned in penitential submission to Eloah's ways. This Divine guardianship must not be limited to the setting up of a fence around the patriarch's estate, but extended to that of which it was a symbol, the casting of a shield around the patriarch's soul. In the happy days of old Job nestled beneath the shadow of the Almighty's wings ( Ruth 2:12 ; Psalms 91:1 ), body, soul, and spirit, feeling himself secure against calamity of every sort, inward or outward, spiritual or material. What God was to Job he likewise proved himself to be to David and other Old Testament saints, and to-day offers himself to be to all Christ's believing followers—a Defender against the charges of the Law, of conscience, or of Satan ( Psalms 32:1-5 ; Psalms 65:3 ; Psalms 85:2 , Psalms 85:3 ; Isaiah 44:22 ; Romans 8:1 , Romans 8:31 , Romans 8:33 ); a Protector against the ills and temptations of life ( Psalms 46:1 ; Psalms 48:3 ; Psalms 121:3 ; Proverbs 3:6 , Proverbs 3:23 , Proverbs 3:24 ; Isaiah 54:14 17; Zechariah 9:8 ; 2 Thessalonians 3:3 ; 1 Peter 3:13 ).

2 . As a Guide. Job also recollects that, in the bright days whose departure he laments, Eloah's candle (or lamp) shone above his head, enabling him to walk with perfect safety even in nights of thickest darkness. The allusion probably is to the custom of suspending lamps in rooms or tents over the head (Carey); and the meaning is that, while rejoicing in Heaven's favour and fellowship, Job's feet never stumbled in the path of duty. If perplexities arose around or before him, through Divine grace he was always able to resolve them, threading his way through the deepest intricacies, and moving straight on in an even path. This was no doubt owing partly to the circumstance that his consciousness of inward peace and sincerity permitted him to make the best possible use of his natural faculties, and partly to the fact that he enjoyed the special illumination of Heaven. If piety does not confer new powers, it enables old ones to be turned to the best advantage Then the singleness of aim which a good man possesses largely facilitates the discovery of light in times of darkness. And, finally, saints have special promises guaranteeing providential guidance when placed in situations of perplexity m' peril ( Psalms 25:8 , Psalms 25:9 ; Psalms 32:1-11 ; Psalms 37:23 ; exit. 4).

3 . As a Friend. More particularly Job mentions that, in the times of blessedness referred to, "the secret," or favour (Cox), or blessed fellowship (Delitzsch), or counsel (Fry) of Eloah was upon his tent. Whether Job was honored like Abraham to receive theophanies ( Genesis 18:1 , Genesis 18:2 ), so that he might actually speak of God being a Visitor at his tent (Carey), the language (literally, "in the seat or cushion of God being at my tent") obviously points to an intercourse of the most friendly and familiar kind between him and God—such a dwelling together as Eliphaz affirmed should take place ( Job 22:21 ) if Job and God were to be at peace. The friendship here depicted as having existed between Job and Eloah was realized in the case of Abraham and Jehovah ( 2 Chronicles 20:7 ; Isaiah 41:8 ; James 2:23 ), and is in a certain sense still realized in the experience of Christians and the Saviour ( John 15:15 ). As one result of this friendly intercourse between Eloah and Job, Job became acquainted with Eloah's counsel or secret purpose, as Abraham was informed of Jehovah's determination concerning Sodom ( Genesis 18:17 ), as the prophets generally were afterwards instructed about the mind of God ( Amos 3:7 ), as "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" ( Psalms 25:14 ; Proverbs 3:32 ), and as on believers is conferred an unction from the Holy One, enabling them to know all things ( 1 John 2:20 , 1 John 2:27 ; 1 John 5:20 ), but more particularly the mind of Christ ( John 16:13-15 ; 1 Corinthians 2:16 ).

II. DAYS OF DOMESTIC FELICITY . It is a special mark of piety in Job that, enumerating his lost blessings, he begins with what the worldly or wicked man would have plied last, viz. the Divine friendship. As to David ( Psalms 63:3 ) and to Asaph ( Psalms 73:25 ), so to Job the favour and fellowship of God constituted the principal ingredient in his full cup of blessing. But next to fellowship with a God of mercy and salvation, no earthly happiness can be compared to a home illumined by the sunshine of genuine religion, and gladdened by the cheery voices of loving and obedient children. Job cannot recall the time when the Almighty was still with him (verse 5) without remembering that then also his children (his young men, his boys) were about him—a numerous, happy, loving, united, and, it may be hoped, a pious family ( Job 1:1-5 ; vide homiletics). It is contrary to religion for a good man, or any man, to prize his wife and children above his Saviour and his God ( Matthew 10:37 ); it is contrary to nature to behold them taken from his side by the hand of death without weeping ( Genesis 23:2 ; John 11:1-57 :81, 83, 35); it is contrary to neither nature nor religion to cherish them with loudest affection, and to mourn for their death with sincere lamentation.

III. DAYS OF MATERIAL PROSPERITY . Guarded by Divine care and guided by Divine light, like Jacob in Padan-aram ( Genesis 31:5 , Genesis 31:7 , Genesis 31:11 , Genesis 31:12 , Genesis 31:42 ), Job attained to extensive wealth, the poetic imagery employed (verse 6) to depict it meaning, when converted into unadorned prose, that his flocks became so abundant, and their yield of milk so rich and plentiful, that he might almost be said to wash his steps in butter, which among the Arabs was mostly a liquid preparation, and that everywhere throughout his domain the crags were clothed with olive trees so prolific that the very rocks appeared to pour forth oil It was another mark of Job's fervent piety and well-balanced judgment that he preferred his children to his flocks and trees, giving these latter only the third place in his esteem, and that he ascribed his material prosperity, no less than his domestic felicity, to the circumstance that then the Almighty was with him. So did Jacob when serving with Laban ( Genesis 31:5 ), and Joseph when ruling for Pharaoh ( Genesis 45:8 ), recognize God as the Author of their temporal advancement. So does Scripture habitually trace to God every blessing which the saint enjoys ( Psalms 75:6 , Psalms 75:7 ; James 1:17 ).

IV. DAYS OF CIVIC HONOUR . A saint of eminent piety, the father of a numerous family, and the proprietor of vast possessions, Job had likewise been the chief magistrate, or supreme dispenser of law and justice, in his clan. Passing beyond the bounds of his own private domain, and entering the adjacent city, when he took his seat among the elders in the broad way, i.e. in the open space usually reserved in Oriental cities, either in front of the gate ( 2 Chronicles 32:6 ; Nehemiah 8:1 , Nehemiah 8:8 , Nehemiah 8:16 ), or in the vaulted recesses beneath the archway ( Genesis 19:1 ; 1 Kings 22:10 ), for the transaction of business ( Ruth 4:1 ), the dispensing of justice ( Proverbs 31:23 ), or the conducting of other negotiations, he was saluted with marked tokens of respect. The younger men, conscious of his greatness, retired into the background; the old men amongst the councillors received him standing; the voice of the greatest magnate amongst them was silent until he had uttered his opinion. A remarkable testimony to the high esteem in which Job was held for his personal qualities and commanding abilities.

V. DAYS OF PUBLIC PHILANTHROPY . What Eliphaz once admitted ( Job 4:3 , Job 4:4 ), Job is now constrained to avow, that his whole by-past career had been one of unwearied benevolence. In his magisterial capacity he had:

1 . Espoused the cause of the poor and needy. In conspicuous contradiction to Eliphaz, who had charged him ( Job 22:5-9 ) with intolerable oppression and cruelty, with robbing the poor, and inhumanly suffering the naked and hungry to perish, he had taken, it might be said, the whole family of the unfortunate under his protection. When a poor man oppressed by his neighbour had cried out for help, when an orphan had poured into his ear a tale or pitiful distress, when a miserable outcast half-dead through cold and nakedness, or through hunger and thirst, had found the way to his door, when a broken-hearted widow had appealed to him for assistance, he had had an ear for every cry, a heart for every sorrow, and a hand for every need. Job's sympathies had inclined him to feel for the defenceless and the poor. And in this Job had shown himself to be a good man ( Psalms 40:1 ), and an eminent type of Christ ( Psalms 72:4 ; Matthew 8:16 , Matthew 8:17 ). Nay, Job had considered no care or trouble too much to expend on behalf of his clients. He had both taken pains to understand their complaint, and had not been satisfied till he had rectified their grievance. And with such skill, energy, and perseverance had he conducted their causes, that he commonly carried them forward to success, delivering the poor and fatherless who cried to him (verse 12), causing the widow's heart to sing for joy (verse 13), breaking the jaws of the wicked and plucking the spoil out of his teeth (verse 17). And in all that Job had said or done in his magisterial capacity he had:

2 . Acted with the most scrupulous regard to justice. He had not met chicanery and oppression by resorting to the same dishonest weapons. If he had stood forth for justice to the poor, he had not attempted to withhold it from the rich. So unchallengeably just had been his decisions, and so unimpeachable the principles of equity by which these were guided, that he felt himself entitled to say he had literally clothed himself in righteousness, and assumed integrity as a robe and turban; in this, again, typifying strikingly the Lord Jesus Christ ( Psalms 72:2 ; Psalms 96:13 ). And so successful had Job been in his determination to combine "mercy and truth, righteousness and peace ," in his magisterial capacity, that he had:

3 . Gained the good opinion and respect of all. Unlike Aristides, whom his fellow-countrymen ostracized because they could not longer bear to hear him called the "just" the fellow-citizens of Job had saluted him on every side with words and looks of commendation and esteem (verse 11).

VI. DAYS OF UNANTICIPATED EVIL . Pious, rich, honoured, useful, trusted, revered, Job was unconscious of a single gloomy foreboding. All round him, above him, before him, the prospect was clear and exhilarating. Not a speck of cloud lay upon the bright horizon that encompassed him. Job had no thought but that he should live a long, prosperous, and honoured life, multiplying his days like the sand, or like the phoenix, the fabulous bird of Egyptian mythology, or, perhaps, like the. palm tree, and at last dying calmly in his nest, i.e. like Abraham ( Genesis 25:8 ), m the bosom of his family. Two things contributed to foster such a pleasing anticipation in the mind of Job.

1 . The apparent stability of his outward or material prosperity. Comparing himself to a tree planted by the rivers of waters—a frequent biblical emblem of a good man ( Psalms 1:3 ; Psalms 92:12 ; Jeremiah 17:8 )—he had hoped that, since his roots were open to the waters, whence they could always draw a plentiful supply of moisture, and since his branches were nightly laden with dew (verse 19), nothing ever would or even could occur to interrupt the outward course of his temporal greatness. The sources of his wealth appeared so permanent and inexhaustible that he never imagined they could either be diminished or dried up. His honours were so fresh upon him (cf. 'Henry VIII .,' act 3. sc. 2) that he dreamt not of their decline. And his manly vigour, his capability of warding off danger, represented by the bow which he carried in his hand, was so full and so easily renewed that he feared not an overthrow to his unexampled fortune, or an eclipse to the shining splendour of his honourable name.

2 . The unlimited extent of his authority and influence. The autobiographical fragment introduced in verses 21-25 is not designed as a continuation or resumption of the theme treated of above (verses 7, 8), but is intended to explain how dark forebodings never crossed the mind of Job when reposing in the brilliant sunshine of his earthly glory. The profound veneration in which his countrymen held him, causing them with patient silence and eager expectation to wait for his counsel (verses 21, 23); the awful respect in which they held his words, regarding them as final on every subject they handled (verse 22); the effect which his decisions never failed to produce upon those who heard them, his speech distilling upon them with reviving and enlivening influences, and being welcome to their hearts as the early and the latter rains (verse 23); the influence he wielded over them by his kindly manners, his very smile being regarded as an act of gracious condescension which they could hardly believe was meant for them, but which, nevertheless, they were loth to lose, and which seemed to have a talismanic power in dispelling their sadness (verse 24); and the unquestioning, nay, joyous, submission with which they hailed his instructions, his position among them being at once that of a monarch and a friend (verse 25);—all these considerations rendered it difficult for Job to think that ever for him an evil day should dawn.

Learn:

1 . The propriety and profit of recalling and reviewing the past.

2 . In enumerating blessings, much depends upon assigning to each its exact place in the order of importance.

3 . To a good man the things of God ever stand in the front rank.

4 . Having flint obtained Heaven's favour, a man may legitimately aspire to acquire the riches of the world and the good opinions of his fellow-men.

5 . An upright and useful life seldom fails to meet its recompense, even upon earth.

6 . He whom God has enriched with wealth, ability, and influence should devote them to the service of the poor and needy.

7 . The blessings of those whom a good man relieves are greater riches than accumulated gold and silver.

8 . The retrospect of a well-spent life is a great consolation in the season of adversity.

9 . It is dangerous to look for permanence in anything on earth.

10. It is well when great men can combine love with authority, and sympathy with power.