Job 27:1-23 - Hold Fast to Your Integrity!

Job 27:1-23

Job Maintains His Integrity

1 Moreover Job continued his discourse, and said:

2 ”As God lives, who has taken away my justice,
And the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 As long as my breath is in me,
And the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak wickedness,
Nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me
That I should say you are right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.

7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
And he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.

8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
Though he may gain much,
If God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry
When trouble comes upon him?
10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty?
Will he always call on God?

11 “I will teach you about the hand of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Surely all of you have seen it;
Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?

13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
And the heritage of oppressors, received from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

15 Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And their widows shall not weep,
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust,
And piles up clothing like clay—
17 He may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth,
Like a booth which a watchman makes.

19 The rich man will lie down,
But not be gathered up;
He opens his eyes,
And he is no more.

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;
It sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls against him and does not spare;
He flees desperately from its power.
23 Men shall clap their hands at him,
And shall hiss him out of his place.

Job’s discourse on holding to his integrity is the answer to his counselors who insist on assigning blame of sin for suffering and who do not consider that something else is going on to bring this assault by the adversary on his body and soul.  Job began by swearing to Almighty God that even though justice seemed to be taken away and bitterness overwhelmed him, still he would not speak evil or wicked things as long as the breath of God (Genesis 2:7, Job 33:4) who gave him life was in him.  Job refused to give into the lie that his friends wove into a reason for his suffering, that it was because of his unrighteous sin.  He held to his righteous living according to God’s word and his integrity in keeping it as best he could, and refused to say they were right with their accusations when God showed him otherwise.  This is helpful for we who are in Christ and His righteousness now, seeing the attacks of the enemy (1 Peter 5:8) to sow doubt in our minds of our own integrity and the certainty of our union in Christ that makes us righteous (Isaiah 53:11, Romans 5:17, 1 Corinthians 1:30) in God’s eyes in our position.  We can then not allow our own hearts to reproach, to condemn us (Romans 8:1, 1 John 1:9, 3:21), when we sin and seek forgiveness from Him.  Our enemies are wicked and unrighteous, and their aim is to bring us alongside them in denying the position we have in God’s Son by grace that never fails.  Like Job, we must humbly hold to our integrity of faith in His righteousness as we seek to live in holiness ourselves in response.  Job wisely pointed out that hypocrites do not trust in God or call out to him, and they have no hope when they lose their lives and face Him.  This is why Job tried to then teach them about the hand of sovereign God to,answer their utter nonsense of their bad counsel to him while not seeing the work of God (Romans 8:28) in all circumstances, good and bad.  He pointed out the end of the truly unrighteous who do not fear or follow God, who lose everything in the end and have no lasting legacy in the eyes of man or God.  Just as Job trusted God in his adverse circumstances brought on him unknowingly by the adversary, so we are able to see beyond these things to the spiritual battle against we who have the hope of the gospel (Revelation 12:17) and hold to our righteousness in Christ and our integrity by willing obedience and constant repentance to be holy as He is in our lives.  Hold fast as Hebrews 10:23 reminds you! 

Job 26:1-14 - Understanding the Mere Edges of His Ways

Job 26:1-14

Job: Man’s Frailty and God’s Majesty

1 But Job answered and said:

2 “How have you helped him who is without power?
How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
3 How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?
And how have you declared sound advice to many?
4 To whom have you uttered words?
And whose spirit came from you?

5 “The dead tremble,
Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
6 Sheol is naked before Him,
And Destruction has no covering.

7 He stretches out the north over empty space;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He binds up the water in His thick clouds,
Yet the clouds are not broken under it.
9 He covers the face of His throne,
And spreads His cloud over it.

10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,
At the boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
And are astonished at His rebuke.

12 He stirs up the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

14 Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

Job waxed on in awe and wonder at the majesty of God in contrast to the frailty of mere men like himself and his counselors.  Only the Almighty has power to help the helpless (Romans 5:6, 2 Corinthians 13:4) and give right counsel to the unwise with sound divine advice and wisdom to guide us.  We know this to be true in Christ who alone has power to save and keep us as He gives His words to mere men to help by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:3-4, 10, 12-13) as we understand in Him and not our own wisdom.  As Job observed, the dead tremble before God as they face the judgment to come and the destruction of all they had trusted in while still living.  In His awesome majesty, God has created and maintains the entire universe, from the world we live in to the farthest stars.  He has hung the earth in orbit around the sun and makes the clouds to constantly drop their water and reclaim it over and over as He put all of nature in motion by the word of His power and wisdom, and covers the throne of His glory from us with those clouds.  He shows that the earth is round by the circumference of the horizon seen around the open seas as a way to delineate the night from day (Genesis 1:3-5) and hold up the sky by the design of the world enveloped with air and held down by gravity and the earth’s rotation.  God also stirs up storms in those seas and sovereignly stops them in His time just as easily.  He has hung the stars in the heavens which we are only beginning to see the marvelous nebulae and other celestial wonders of His hand there.  In summary of these few selected wonders, Job wisely tells us all that we see only the mere edges of His infinite and omnipotent ways in creation and we hear only a whisper of the explanations for our limited understanding.  Even the thundering of His power we cannot grasp as we sit under it in awe and wonder at the majestic name and works of the Almighty Creator of heaven, earth, nature, and us.  These edges of His ways should fill us with humility and awestruck wonder at the parts He chooses to reveal to us that we might worship Him as we ought and trust Him as we must. These mere edges are not the entirety of all God has for us as we shall see when we see Him face to face at last.  

Job 25:1-6 - The Answer to How Man Can Be Righteous

Job 25:1-6

Bildad: How Can Man Be Righteous?

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 “Dominion and fear belong to Him;
He makes peace in His high places.

3 Is there any number to His armies?
Upon whom does His light not rise?

4 How then can man be righteous before God?
Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman?

5 If even the moon does not shine,
And the stars are not pure in His sight,

6 How much less man, who is a maggot,
And a son of man, who is a worm?”

The age old question is how can a sinful person be righteous when the evidence of inherent inherited corruption is clearly evident in the selfishness, immorality, injustice, stealing and murderous actions that reject God and His creation.  This counselor née friend to Job asked this question that those seeking God have done from the day Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden for disobedience to the word of God and kept them from reentering into eternal life in that fallen state of the corrupt body and soul which they passed down (Romans  5:12) to us all as their children in our physical and spiritual DNA.  Bildad asked legitimate questions that only God could answer, and He did in His Son!  We now have been given the answer in God’s Son whose self sacrifice exchanged His life for ours (Romans 5:17, 19) to impute His righteousness in us (Romans 4:11, 23-24) because we are found in the righteousness of Christ alone by trust in His work which is faith for our deliverance from sin’s penalty and judgment we all stand under apart from Him.  Apart from salvation from the wrath of God on our sin of rebellion and disobedience, we also see the same things that Bildad expressed here to Job.  Only God can make peace in high places, that is in heaven before His sovereign throne.  Only the Almighty can rule with the power of an unlimited army and shine light to illuminate the soul with hope.  Only the LORD can make we who are born impure into holy people before His eyes who are seen as dirty bugs wallowing in immorality and idolatry of the body and soul.  This is pointing to the gospel to come in the time appointed by God for us to find the answer to the age old question of how anyone can be righteous in God’s sight; it is through faith in His work of righteousness to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:4, 9-10) and count us as having done the same because we cease our vain attempts at perfection and find ourselves in the perfect one and stand in His righteousness alone.  Christ is the answer to the question of how anyone man or woman can be righteous and holy. 

Job 24:1-25 - Security: His Eyes are on Our Ways

Job 24:1-25

Job Complains of Violence on the Earth

1 ”Since times are not hidden from the Almighty,
Why do those who know Him see not His days?

2 ”Some remove landmarks;
They seize flocks violently and feed on them;
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
They take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They push the needy off the road;
All the poor of the land are forced to hide.

5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field
And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

7 They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

9 ”Some snatch the fatherless from the breast,
And take a pledge from the poor.
10 They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing;
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls,
And tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

12 The dying groan in the city,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not charge them with wrong.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light;
They do not know its ways
Nor abide in its paths.

14 The murderer rises with the light;
He kills the poor and needy;
And in the night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
Saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
And he disguises his face.

16 In the dark they break into houses
Which they marked for themselves in the daytime;
They do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
If someone recognizes them,
They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

18 “They should be swift on the face of the waters,
Their portion should be cursed in the earth,
So that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards.
19 As drought and heat consume the snow waters,
So the grave consumes those who have sinned.

20 The womb should forget him,
The worm should feed sweetly on him;
He should be remembered no more,
And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
21 For he preys on the barren who do not bear,
And does no good for the widow.

22 “But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely on it;
Yet His eyes are on their ways.

24 They are exalted for a little while,
Then they are gone.
They are brought low;
They are taken out of the way like all others;
They dry out like the heads of grain.

25 “Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech worth nothing?”

Job realized that sin corrupted the whole world (Romans 8:21) with death and destruction as a result.  God gives a measure of earthly security until men are held accountable and judged accordingly according to their ways; we who are now in Christ have a similar accountability, but not to eternal destruction, for we are given eternal security in Christ and His righteousness, yet He still tests our hearts (2 Chronicles 16:9, Job 34:21) to refine us through suffering and trials as His eyes are on our ways as we rest in that security.  Job reflected on how man seems not to see that nothing is hidden from the Almighty God; they steal, kill, bully, and ravage the land for the fleeting personal gain of sin (Hebrews 11:24-25, Philippians 3:7-8, 9, 1 John 2:17) instead of counting the obedience to God’s word as of primary importance.  We see the ills of the present world spelled out in the examples given here observed in the time of Job — the selfishness, immorality, injustice, stealing and murderous actions that reject God and ignore the consequences of sin.  Though people are given the common grace of overall security, we often forget that His eyes are on our ways.  Only the righteousness of union within Christ offers us any lasting hope and peace with (Romans 5:1) God.  Job realized this as he spoke of how the grave consumes the sinner as God draws the mighty in this world away by His infinite power so that none is certain of life for another day unless he considers that the Lord sees his ways and hold us all to account, either for condemnation or for grace that washes the consequences of our sin away on the cross (Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14) by the lifeblood given for our lives in His sacrifice as our Passover Lamb.  People may seem to have it all (Psalm 73:2-3, 17-19, 27) until it is taken from them to their seeming surprise as they are brought low to humble them and take them out of the way.  Job ends this speech by asking anyone to prove him a liar in these truths he spoke to them as if it all was meaningless or false.  He knew that God reigns in heaven over the just and the unjust, and also holds all to account (Romans 14:12, 1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15, 1 Peter 4:5, Acts 10:42-43, 2 Timothy 4:1, Revelation 20:12, 15) one way or another in the end.  Remember that the Lord gives us certain security, but His eyes are still always on our ways.  May we then be pleasing children that face Him without shame when we meet Him face to face at last. 

Job 23:1-17 - Trust and Follow the Unseen God

Job 23:1-17

Job Proclaims God’s Righteous Judgments

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
My hand is listless because of my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him,
That I might come to His seat!

4 I would present my case before Him,
And fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which He would answer me,
And understand what He would say to me.

6 Would He contend with me in His great power?
No! But He would take note of me.
7 There the upright could reason with Him,
And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

8 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him;
When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

10 But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot has held fast to His steps;
I have kept His way and not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.

13 “But He is unique, and who can make Him change?
And whatever His soul desires, that He does.
14 For He performs what is appointed for me,
And many such things are with Him.

15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence;
When I consider this, I am afraid of Him.
16 For God made my heart weak,
And the Almighty terrifies me;
17 Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness,
And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.

Job answered Eliphaz who accused him of suffering for sinning against God because he attributed all suffering as a punishment instead of a higher purpose to glorify God through a response of faith through endurance that holds to God’s word no matter what comes.  Job admitted that he was suffering terribly and was finding it impossible to see God through it all, yet he wanted to present his case before the Almighty if he was permitted to approach that throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) and hear then response of God to understand what he had done wrong.  Job anticipated finding justice before God for deliverance and not a simple answer of power in condemnation.  He looked everywhere as God seemed distant and unapproachable as described by being unable to see clearly how He really works in the lives of men like himself.  Even so, by faith Job held to the heartfelt belief that God both knew the way his life took and that when he was tested by Him that he would one out with value to God and His glory as described by pure and precious gold.  He kept the way he walked therefore to God’s path laid our in the map of His word and refused to turn (Isaiah 30:21) aside as he kept his ear of faith to the words he heard and knew to be true and right.  He treasured the words of God’s mouth more than the food he daily needed to survive, his daily bread (Jeremiah 15:16, Luke 11:3) which we also find essential every morning from His scriptures as words for life (2 Peter 1:3) and godliness.  Job realized the character of God as unchangeable, all powerful, and in complete sovereign control of the universe.  He knew that His will was immutable and certain in providence that was predetermined, no matter the suffering Job had to endure.  Knowing the character and power of God, Job trembled in His presence (Psalm 2:11, Philippians 2:12, Acts 9:31) with godly fear in looking into the darkness of the world and his own suffering beyond his understanding.  He did not have the same measure as we do now in Christ who have the peace of the Holy Spirit in us to comfort in our suffering and give understanding and grace to endure what we face.  May we be ever thankful for this grace and peace as we face uncertainty in adverse circumstances and knowing we are both being tempted and attacked by the adversary and tested by the Lord for our response of trust according to His word and promises.  We also trust and follow the unseen God as His character and purposes are revealed to us in the inner man by His word and Spirit. 

Job 22:1-30 - Attributing Evil to The Good

Job 22:1-30

Eliphaz Accuses Job of Wickedness

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Can a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

4 “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end?

6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given the weary water to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But the mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
And the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

10 Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden fear troubles you,
11 Or darkness so that you cannot see;
And an abundance of water covers you.

12 “Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 And you say, What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks above the circle of heaven.’

15 Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have trod,
16 Who were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to them?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

19 “The righteous see it and are glad,
And the innocent laugh at them:
20 ‘Surely our adversaries are cut down,
And the fire consumes their remnant.’

21 “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace;
Thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive, please, instruction from His mouth,
And lay up His words in your heart.

23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
You will remove iniquity far from your tents.
24 Then you will lay your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.

25 Yes, the Almighty will be your gold
And your precious silver;
26 For then you will have your delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.

28 You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you;
So light will shine on your ways.

29 When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’
Then He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver one who is not innocent;
Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.”

Eliphaz once more judges Job with bad counsel, yet some of the things he speaks still hold basic biblical truths, just ones that are misapplied since he does not see what is going on behind the scenes in heaven.  We cannot therefore dismiss all he says here or in other parts of this book simply because he does not understand it all; this is still God’s word with truths we need to live by in the correct context.  Some things are just wrong, however.  For instance, when Eliphaz begins by saying that a man cannot be profitable to God and that a man’s righteousness is not pleasing to God, he is incorrect in that our holiness in following His word does please God, but yet it alone does not appease Him.  It is true in the next verses that God corrects those with godly fear of judgment for a man’s sin such as the ones named in Job 22: 6-9 that are failures to keep the six commandments of how we are to treat one another on love as Jesus (Luke 10:27) summed up for us.  God is in the heavens above, out of our sight and above all creation and the creatures which He made in it.  God does know all and judges rightly as Eliphaz states truly here.  What is not right is how he applies these truths to judge the secrets of Job’s heart (Psalm 44:21, 1 Corinthians 4:5) as only the Almighty is able to do.  It is also a basic truth from verses 15-18 that some keep on the former ways of doing evil instead of turning from it to follow God’s word and even reject Him who gives them all things richly to enjoy.  The way Job’s counsel tells it to him appears to be an attempt to condemn Job as one of those people, since in his mind Job is obviously suffering for doing such evil according to these words of Eliphaz.  He continues with a diatribe on how the truly righteous and innocent man is glad to see evil punished as the adversaries are cut down by God.  There is no mercy or grace in this bad counsel, a warning for us not to repeat this error.  Then in (Job 22:21-22) the next verses he speaks a biblical universal truth, that we find peace with God as we get to know Him intimately and are teachable when we hear and read His words to us and lay them firmly in our (Psalm 119:9-11) hearts to have as guidance to our lives.  Repentance turns from sin to Him and is rewarded with good for our souls as we evict evil from the tents (houses) of our thoughts and works of our hands.  The Almighty is to be our treasure and not the material (Matthew 16:26, Philippians 3:7, Hebrews 11:26) mammon in our storehouses.  We are to find delight in Him as we lift up our faces in prayer and find His light shining on us for clarity in life and living.  He does save the humble man and even delivers those who are not innocent, a foreshadowing of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ who does not save us because we are innocent of sin, for nobody is righteous (Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:21-22, 23, 26) in His sight (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6) apart from faith in the only Righteous One who justifies the ungodly.  Union with Christ in His righteousness makes us innocent in His sight and purifies our hands to deliver us as Eliphaz prophetically stated here as he attempted to use this truth in a misguided attempt to discredit and accuse Job and call him to repent for what he assumed was the underlying cause of such suffering.  Not all suffering is a direct result of our sin.  God uses suffering to refine our faith to trust in His righteousness and calling us righteous (Job 1:1, 8) in His estimation as He reckons righteousness to us in Himself.  May we therefore not judge another before the time of His return by attributing evil to good. 

Job 21:1-34 - Bad Counsel with Empty Words

Job 21:1-34

Job’s Discourse on the Wicked

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “Listen carefully to my speech,
And let this be your consolation.
3 Bear with me that I may speak,
And after I have spoken, keep mocking.

4 “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be astonished;
Put your hand over your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?

8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves without miscarriage.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
13 They spend their days in wealth,
And in a moment go down to the grave.

14 Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand;
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God distributes in His anger?
18 They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm carries away.

19 They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
20 Let his eyes see his destruction,
And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care about his household after him,
When the number of his months is cut in half?

22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge,
Since He judges those on high?
23 One dies in his full strength,
Being wholly at ease and secure;
24 His pails are full of milk,
And the marrow of his bones is moist.
25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul,
Never having eaten with pleasure.
26 They lie down alike in the dust,
And worms cover them.

27 “Look, I know your thoughts,
And the schemes with which you would wrong me.

28 For you say,
‘Where is the house of the prince?
And where is the tent,
The dwelling place of the wicked?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the road?
And do you not know their signs?
30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom;
They shall be brought out on the day of wrath.

31 Who condemns his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave,
And a vigil kept over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him;
Everyone shall follow him,
As countless have gone before him.

34 How then can you comfort me with empty words,
Since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Job answered his bad counselors with a long speech about the wicked and their end.  He first asked them to hold their tongues until he had his say, saying that after he was finished they could go on mocking him if they wished.  He began by decrying the wicked who seem to love long lives and amass great worldly power as he pointed his friends to look on him who once had all those things and now appeared in an astonishing state of suffering and illness before them.  He told them about how the wicked seemed to have it all; many children, houses, prosperity — all without the discipline of God on them as it appeared was on Hob in stark contrast.  The wicked seemed to have it all (Psalm 73:3-5, 9, 12, 17-19, 27) until they suddenly died after telling God to leave them alone because they had no desire to know about Him or His ways from his word.  The wicked refuse to serve God or pray to Him, not understanding that their fleeting prosperity is solely in God’s hands and not their own as they imagine in their ignorance of pride.  These are like straw before the wind of the threshing floor (Psalm 1:4, Jeremiah 23:28-29, Matthew 3:12) whose lives are likened to the worthless chaff which is suddenly blown away by God for their rejection of Him.  These would rather allow their own children to suffer for their sins than face God while still living.  Job used these examples to illustrate how God is the only judge on high and we cannot teach Him or demand what others must face in judgment; only He can do that.  Job made it crystal clear that he knew what his companions were up to in their schemes to discredit him and blame his sins for his suffering as if they were his judge and jury.  He reminded them that God has reserved the wicked for judgment in His wrath on the day of reckoning, and all will die and then face Him (Hebrews 9:27-28) in the end to be held accountable to the Almighty.  He ended his diatribe with, “How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?”  Job reminded them that false accusations are held to account and no amount of bad counsel in many words can change that.  May we therefore be humble in our judgment of what we think we see and allow God to guide us to truly counsel according to the words of our Lord instead of our own preconceived notions since we cannot know the motives of the heart nor the heavenly purposes behind another’s suffering.  

Job 20:1-29 - Judgment of Hearts Belongs to the Lord

Job 20:1-29

Zophar’s Sermon on the Wicked Man

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 “Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.
3 I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

4 “Do you not know this of old,
Since man was placed on earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

6 Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
7 Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,
Nor will his place behold him anymore.

10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
But it will lie down with him in the dust.

12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
And he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his mouth,
14 Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom within him.

15 He swallows down riches
And vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
The viper’s tongue will slay him.

17 He will not see the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

20 “Because he knows no quietness in his heart,
He will not save anything he desires.
21 Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.
22 In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of misery will come against him.

23 When he is about to fill his stomach,
God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,
And will rain it on him while he is eating.
24 He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.
25 It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.
Terrors come upon him;
26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house will depart,
And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

29 This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God.”

Zophar did not appreciate Job exposing him and his friends in their unwise counsel based on assumptions and resulting judgments against their supposed friend.  He told Job that he heard the rebuke and just had to answer back as if he understood more than he was told in the rebuttal.  He began by saying that the man is evil and only has a short time on the earth to triumph before his hypocrisy catches up to him, an almost direct assault on Job for speaking in his own defense.  Zophar basically told Job that Job’s high and mighty attitude of knowing what was right more than he did was like dying in his own dung and he will die and nobody would even remember him of his life and wisdom.  He accused Job of being an evil person who hides lies like venom under his words that even upsets his own stomach so that his riches will come back up and be lost for defending himself as he had been doing.  He further attacked Job by saying he would not have his riches restored or get any enjoyment anymore from anything he did still possess, as one who oppressed the poor and taken someone else’s house for his own, something Job never did in his life always lived (Job 1:1, 8, 10) aboveboard in sincerity and integrity of truth to help others.  This friend took advantage of the suffering of Job to make it the reason for unsettling thoughts as proving he must be guilty without having the understanding of the real source of the circumstances coming from the adversary.  He told Job he would suffer even more loss and God’s wrath of judgment as destruction comes like an arrow or a fire or even darkness thrust on him by the Almighty to show Job his sins and loss as a result according to his misguided understanding of the situation and supposed consequences.  Zophar summed up his verbal assault by saying that these things Job suffered were the portion given by God as earned by a wicked man, Job.  He must have done something wrong and evil to suffer such a in his friend’s skewed estimation.  We are told that we do not know the hearts of one another, and are to leave such judgment until all hearts and thoughts are revealed (1 Corinthians 4:3-4, 5, Hebrews 4:12) in the end; may we learn from this to do this and not as the counselors of Job who was deemed righteous by the Lord.  Judgment of hearts belongs to the Lord, not us. 

Job 18:1-21 - The Accuser of God’s Children

Job 18:1-21

Bildad: The Wicked Are Punished

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 “How long till you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as beasts,
And regarded as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger,
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?
Or shall the rock be removed from its place?

5 “The light of the wicked indeed goes out,
And the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
And his lamp beside him is put out.
7 The steps of his strength are shortened,
And his own counsel casts him down.

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
And he walks into a snare.
9 The net takes him by the heel,
And a snare lays hold of him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
And a trap for him in the road.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side,
And drive him to his feet.

12 His strength is starved,
And destruction is ready at his side.
13 It devours patches of his skin;
The firstborn of death devours his limbs.
14 He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent,
And they parade him before the king of terrors.

15 They dwell in his tent who are none of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.
16 His roots are dried out below,
And his branch withers above.

17 The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name among the renowned.
18 He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased out of the world.

19 He has neither son nor posterity among his people,
Nor any remaining in his dwellings.
20 Those in the west are astonished at his day,
As those in the east are frightened.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

Job’s third friend Bildad steeped in to accuse Job by telling him how the wicked are punished and ever taken away from them, a direct message that was veiled indirectly in judgment as I he knew the situation and Job’s heart and mind as only the Almighty is able to do.  He began by telling his friend to get some understanding before speaking to him and his fellow visiting friends whom he accused Job of calling stupid for all their unwanted counsel.  Bildad continued to describe the wicked as ones whose light will go out, in other words die, and his light will go out in his house as his strength fades with his own counsel of defense against these three.  He accused Job of setting his own trap by his defense to trap and ensnare himself along his life’s path and bring such terror of suffering and death.  He reiterated that Job lost his strength and faces certain consequences of destruction, just as his outward skin condition (Job 2:7-8) and loss of all property and possessions seemed to prove to Bildad.  This antagonist then told Job that others would take his house that he lost and burn it down in judgment while comparing him to a withering plant whose roots (in God and His declarations of Job’s righteousness in His eyes) and branches then dry up and die.  He told Job that nobody would remember him in his former glory among others (Job 1:1, 3) in the community and those memories would be chased away due to his present circumstances of loss and suffering that must be brought about by Job’s sin in the eyes of his advisors turned adversaries.  He would have no posterity since his children were all killed (Job 1:18, 19) and all would observe, being afraid and astonished at his demise.  Surely only the wicked man such as Job would suffer these things of loss because he really cannot know God.  Such is the judgment of the adversary whose followers imitate as adversaries in other’s adversity to slander and insult the children of God.  The accuser of God’s children will be himself judged and sentenced in the end (Zechariah 3:1, Revelation 12:10) for the true evil he has done and so we, like Job, hold to our integrity and standing declared by the Lord in our union with Christ and His righteousness until that day.  Our hope and endurance in the face of persecution, suffering, and loss it the great and everlasting gain (Philippians 3:7-8, 9, 10) we have in Christ our Lord of all.  We trust Him and what He declares about us over anyone else.  Amen!