Job 42:1-17 - Homiletics

The conclusion of the drama.

I. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE THIRD CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND JOB . ( Job 42:1-6 .) This controversy, it will be remembered, arose out of the intensity of Job's sufferings and the perplexity of Job's spirit, which caused him on the one hand to form too favourable an opinion of his own, and on the other hand too unfavourable an opinion of God's, righteousness; to misinterpret the facts of providence almost as egregiously as, though in an opposite direction from, the friends; to misapprehend the fundamental principle of the Divine administration, which, if it was not strictly retributive justice, as the friends alleged, was still less a heartless indifference to human happiness, as Job occasionally seemed to insinuate, but, as Elihu maintained, a principle of grace; to misconstrue the purpose at which God aimed in his affliction, and, as a consequence, to recklessly charge God with partiality, injustice, and enmity. Accordingly this, the last controversy to emerge, was the first which required to be disposed of; and this is done by Job's unconditional surrender to Jehovah.

1. A clear recognition of the Divine supremacy , "I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from thee." The conception of Jehovah's omnipotence and omniscience, of his infinite capability of elaborating plans and carrying them forward into execution, though not wholly unfamiliar to the mind of the patriarch, now stands out before his quickened imagination with a luminosity which was previously wanting. The contemplation of a wisdom that could fashion and a power that could govern such strange and wondrous monsters as behemoth (the hippopotamus, or Nile-horse) and leviathan (the crocodile or alligator), had enabled him to see that in the higher sphere of man also similarly elaborated thoughts, counsels, plans, might be formed by the Supreme, and even projected into actual realization. That Job's affliction was one such exquisitely fashioned thought of God had at last dawned upon the troubled soul of the patriarch.

2 . A humble acknowledgment of sin . "Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?" So Jehovah at the opening of the theophany had charged the patriarch with doing ( Job 38:2 ); and to this at length the patriarch, with sorrow in his heart, assents. It is a sure sign that a man has entered on the path of penitence when he owns himself prepared not alone to admit his fault, but also to accept the rebukes of God (Le 26:41). So David did when God reproved him for his great transgression in the matter of Uriah. And here Job with perfect frankness concedes that God's language concerning him, however severe, was not undeserved; that in speaking as he did about God and his transcendently glorious administration of mundane affairs he had simply been babbling in ignorance, talking about sublimities immeasurably beyond his conception. "Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not."

3 . An earnest desire for Divine illumination. A second time taking up the words of God ( Job 38:3 ), Job, as it seems to us, applies them to himself. Formerly he had deemed himself qualified to answer God, so confident did he feel as to the fulness of his knowledge and the clearness of his convictions. On this assumption God had challenged him to stand forth and submit to examination. Now, however, Job has been brought to see what every one must be brought to see before he can be either wise or good, viz. his native ignorance, his mental and moral darkness, his comparative blindness, especially as regards the things of God. Hence, with the true spirit of a penitent, he exclaims, "Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me." So did Asaph confess his ignorance and supplicate instruction ( Psalms 73:22 ). So David ( Psalms 25:4 ), and either he or a later Hebrew poet ( Psalms 119:12 , Psalms 119:18 , Psalms 119:19 , Psalms 119:27 , Psalms 119:33 ). God instructs not the wise in their own conceits; or, if he does, the first lesson he imparts is to show them their folly. Hence the words of St. Paul ( 1 Corinthians 3:18 ).

4 . A penitential expression of self-abasement . The insight Job had gained from the Divine teaching had completely revolutionized his soul. From being proud and self-confident, he had become humble and subdued. Prostrate in the dust of contrition, he was full of spiritual self-loathing. "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job felt ashamed of his behaviour in condemning God; he was not less ashamed of his own moral weakness and imperfection. Thus practically he confessed that, in the controversy he had waged with God, the right lay with God, the wrong with him.

II. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SECOND CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JOB AND THE THREE FRIENDS . (Verses 7-9.) This controversy, as formerly explained ( Job 2:11 , homiletics), turned upon the relation existing between sin and suffering; the friends maintaining that suffering, in the Divine administration, was so invariably connected with sin by the principle of a strictly retributive justice, that it was always possible to estimate the amount of an individual's guilt by the depth of his calamity; while Job, on the other hand, not only rejected the application of such a principle to himself, but contended that many facts existed which were wholly irreconcilable with such a principle. On this controversy also Jehovah pronounces an authoritative verdict, to the effect that truth lay upon the side of Job rather than upon that of the friends, to whom accordingly he now, in turn, directs his address.

1 . The imputation made. Eliphaz and his friends had not spoken concerning him that which was right, as Job had. They had erred in two ways—in presenting an erroneous view of the Divine dealings with mankind in general, and in maintaining it at the expense both of God and of Job. In order to make good their theory, they had alleged, in defiance of all evidence to the contrary, that Job was a wicked man, and that God was incensed against him with righteous indignation—both of which assertions were incorrect. Neither was God punishing Job, nor was Job a wicked man, but one whom all through the tremendous ordeal God recognized as his servant. And if Eliphaz and his friends had transgressed against God in misrepresenting the Divine character and ways, they had offended scarcely less by misjudging the character and ways of Job. If Job himself was not entirely free from blame in the views he was sometimes driven in anguish to express, it midst still be remembered that he was nearer the truth than they were, and that occasionally he was able to recognize the Divine justice and love in his tribulation.

2 . The direction given. "Therefore take unto you now seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering." Interesting as showing the antiquity of sacrificial worship beyond the bounds of the Holy Land, this statement is also valuable. as pointing out the close correspondence as to fundamental ideas and prevailing forms between the worship observed in heathen countries and that subsequently practised in Israel. Here, as afterwards in the Mosaic cultus, the burnt offering is the appointed medium of pardon and acceptance, proclaiming to Job and his contemporaries, as later to Abraham's descendants, that without shedding of blood there is no remission, that reconciliation is impossible except upon the ground of an atoning sacrifice. Here, as afterwards, bullocks and rams are the animals selected for the sacrificial ritual, perhaps also for a like purpose, to typify the holy Lamb of God who should in the end of the ages become the world's Propitiation, while at the same time they suggested forcibly their own insufficiency ( Hebrews 9:11-14 ; Hebrews 10:1-5 )to cleanse the conscience from sin. Here also, as afterwards, the offering is directed to be presented through an officiating priest (in this case Job), to signify that no man can come to God except through the intervention of a Mediator. Thus the rudiments of the gospel may be said to have existed in that early age—the work of Christ being clearly symbolized, his great propitiation by the sacrificial victims, his heavenly intercession by the prayer of Job.

3 . The encouragement offered. "My servant Job shall pray for you: for him [literally, 'his face or person'] will I accept." Having graciously constituted Job a Mediator between himself and the friends, Jehovah guarantees that if they will avail themselves of his services, he will be accepted, and of course they also in him. Here, again, it is impossible not to descry another shadow of the gospel. God, having constituted Christ a High Priest for ever, distinctly engages to accept all who through him supplicate his favour. Hence Christ says, "I am the Way: … no man cometh unto the Father, but by me;" and the writer to the Hebrews declares that "he is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God through him."

4 . The warning appended. "Lest I deal with you after your folly." That is to say, unless they fit d for refuge to this hope set before them, they could not escape the punishment their folly merited. If they complied with the Divine instruction, they were safe; if they declined, they would suffer. So likewise has the gospel its warbling. If sinful men flee to Christ, the one Mediator between God and man, they will certainly be delivered; if they do not, they shall just as certainly be destroyed.

5 . The obedience rendered. "So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them." And in so doing they expressed their penitence—they tacitly acknowledged their offence; their faith—they acted precisely as the Lord had commanded; their humility—they sought the friendly offices of one whom they had regarded as an outcast; their submission—they acquiesced in the Divine verdict, though it had gone against them. In all this they show to sinful men a pattern of how the guilty should draw near to God.

III. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST OR FUNDAMENTAL CONTROVERSY BETWEEN JEHOVAH AND SATAN . (Verses 9-17.) It has been repeatedly explained ( Job 1:9 , homiletics) that controversy is here also ended by the action of God, who, by delivering his servant from the furnace of affliction and reinstating him in even more than his former prosperity, virtually pronounces judgment against the devil. Job has not been a fair-weather professor of religion, but an earnest and sincere follower of Heaven, clinging to his piety amidst the severest reverses, and not only serving God for nought, but adhering to him even when it seemed that God had cast him off. It was, therefore, useless to continue the experiment a moment longer. Accordingly it is stated, "The Lord also accepted Job." Four things are mentioned as giving unmistakable evidence el Jehovah's acceptance of his servant.

1 . The cessation of his trial. "And the Lord"—that marks the Author of Job's deliverance—"turned the captivity of Job;" that describes its joy, it was like the coming home from exile; "when he prayed for his friends;" that specifies its time, when Job was interceding with Heaven in behalf of others.

2 . The return of his prosperity. "Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before;" "fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses;" but only the same number of children as before—"seven sons and three daughters," perhaps because the former seven and three were not lost, but only gone before. They who lose all for God on earth will not be losers in the end. Job received twice as much as he had before. Christ's followers are promised "an hundredfold more in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting."

3 . The sympathy of his friends. "Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before." During the time of his desolation they had deserted him, as he pathetically complained ( Job 19:13-19 ), thinking him an object of Divine displeasure. Now they return with the first symptoms of returning prosperity. "And they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him." A little of this would have cheered him when in the depths; but, alas! then it was awanting. Let it not, however, be asserted that their display of sympathy was purely superficial, that in fact they were a company of hypocrites, since they at least offered a small token of their honesty in every one presenting him with gifts. "Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold."

4 . The happiness of his old age. Surrounded by a family of fair daughters and noble sons, as in the beginning of his days, and possessed of a constantly augmenting estate, the devout patriarch glided peacefully along the stream of life, till at length he reached the grave an old man and full of days, having lived after the cessation of his afflictions a hundred and forty years, and seen his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.

Learn:

1 . That only that piety is sincere which exalts God and abases self.

2 . That no man can truly know himself until he has first known God.

3 . That true repentance ever springs from a believing apprehension of God.

4 . That God is deeply displeased with those who misrepresent either himself or his ways.

5 . That a good man may commit many faults without forfeiting the Divine favour.

6 . That the Law of Moses was not the first or the only shadow of the good things to come.

7 . That from the first the sinful world possessed a way of salvation.

8 . That the essential element in justifying faith is for all men the same, viz. obedience to the revealed will of God.

9 . That God's people are commonly most blessed themselves when trying to promote the good of others.

10. That God will yet turn the captivity of all his suffering people, causing their night of sorrow to be followed by a morning of joy.

11. That God will not forsake his people who adhere to him.

12. That a peaceful old age in the bosom of a pious family is one of the choicest blessings a saint can enjoy on this side of heaven.

13. That notwithstanding God can give a saint on earth unspeakable felicity, it is better that the saint should ultimately die and go to heaven.