JOB 27 Job’S 4Th & Final Response—Job Maintains His Integrity & the Temporal Status of the Wicked
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JOB 27 Job’s 4th & Final Response—Job Maintains His Integrity & The Temporal Status of the Wicked Introduction : This is the second chapter [of six] in Job’s 4 th and final discourse, which continues through the end of chapter 31 and concludes with “the words of Job are ended”. In this chapter Job maintains his integrity and faithfulness and reiterates the ultimate downfall of the wicked. In the next four chapters Job: • Gives a discourse on wisdom and its true source • Summarizes his defense giving specific examples of his blameless character • Summarizes his current condition and prognosis • Defends his character by giving specific examples of his righteousness In this chapter the self-sufficiency of Job really becomes evident. Later we are told that Job “….. was righteous in his own eyes ” { Job 32:1 }. He gives no hint that he has anything to repent of, including his spiritual pride, but rather Job is steadfastly continuing to justify his cause, which is: I have not sinned and God is unjust is making me suffer like this . In the last chapter, 42, we finally see Job come to the realization that no one, not even “righteous Job”, can legitimately justify himself or herself before God and he says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes ” {Job 42:5-6}. After Job finishes speaking, we will see that another friend named Elihu, who has been “waiting in the wings” so-to-speak [because he is the youngest friend of all { Job 32:4-7}], and he has some very interesting and exciting things to say { Job 32-37 }. vv. 1-4 JOB STEADFAST RESOLVE TO REMAIN FAITHFUL [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 .”] Job continues his discourse 1 [ lit., superior/authoritative argument ] and uses some beautiful language to express his feelings. He declares “as God lives ” that even though Almighty God “has made his soul bitter ”; as long as he’s alive [has the breath of God in him] he will not speak either wickedness or utter deceit . Job is making it very clear that he is undaunted and determined as ever in his efforts to plead his cause before his friends and God. He still believes that Almighty God has taken away his justice or judgment [ lit., “verdict”]. In other words, he thinks he’s gotten a “bum rap”; he’s been “framed” and he’s received perverted justice. But God never, ever perverts justice. Later, Elihu will proclaim; “ Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice ” {Job 34:12 }. 1 The Hebrew word used here is often translated “parable”. Job Chapter 27 1 Klaus G. Schiessel Copyright © June 2016 By mentioning his bitterness, Job thought he had every “right” to be bitter 2—he was just not going to verbalize it! This is somewhat of back-handed confession since Job, at this time, still believed he was being treated unjustly by God. But Job refuses to give up on God. He will not betray his faith or the LORD . Note something subtle here: In using the expression “….. breath of God in my nostrils ”, Job is validating the creation account of man “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living being” { Gen. 2:7 }. v. 5-6 JOB ARROGANTLY MAINTAINS HIS INTEGRITY & RIGHTEOUSNESS [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 .”] Job is basically saying that he will never admit to the charges that his three so–called friends have brought against him. He will never confess that they are right and he is wrong! On the contrary, he says: “ Far be it from me that I should say you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me ”. Job knows he’s innocent of the iniquity and sin his friends have charged him with so he will never plead “guilty as charged” until he dies! Job goes on to say that he will hold fast to his [own] righteousness and he won’t let it go! He goes further and says that his heart will never convict him of any wrong-doing as long as he lives! Now this is inexcusable arrogance and spiritual pride ! Now we see Job’s complete self- sufficiency come to the forefront and take center stage. It is significant that it’s not until after God shows Job His great glory and power , reminds him of His mercy and grace {Job 38-41 } that he eventually repents of this. As Christian believers we need to come into God’s presence from time-to-time, through the study of God’s Word and prayer , to be reminded of this ourselves to make sure we are still “walking by faith”. Here is what J. Vernon McGee says in his notes about this: “Beneath the suffering which Job went through there is a great lesson for him to learn. That is the reason I say that the main lesson of the Book of Job is not why believers suffer. Suffering is not the main issue of the book. Behind it all is the great teaching of repentance, repentance in a child of God”. 3 McGee sums up the book of Job by saying: ”The Book of Job reveals a man who had a personal relationship with God, but who could find nothing wrong with himself, one who was very egotistical about his own righteousness and maintained it in the face of those who were around him. Job felt that before God he was all right. In fact, he wanted to come into the presence of God to defend himself. When Job did that, he found that he needed to repent!” 2 This is a Hebrew word derived from the word used to describe the distillation process of myrrh, which itself is symbolic of death and sorrow. 3 Ref. 5; page 135. Job Chapter 27 2 Klaus G. Schiessel Copyright © June 2016 In the Overview section of the Introduction to the book of Job we mentioned the fact that when men want to talk or write about repentance, they usually always pick a character who has had a sinful beginning such as Manasseh, the most ungodly king of Judah {see 2 Kings 21:1-16; 24:3-4; 2 Chron. 33:1-9}. Miraculously, he repented after doing 50 years of evil { 2 Chron. 33:10-19 }! Although King David was a “ man after God’s own heart ” { 1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22 } he committed the sins of adultery with Bathsheba { 2 Sam. 11:1-5} and the murder of her husband, Uriah, a soldier in his army { 2 Sam. 11:14-17 }. But David eventually repented in dramatic fashion { 2 Sam. 12:1-14; Ps. 51:1-19 }. There was also Saul of Tarsus who was an enemy of both the Gospel and Christians { Acts 8:3; 9:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:9 } until he had an encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ and repented { Acts 9:3-22 } and became perhaps the greatest evangelist the world has known. That is the kind of repentance 4 we usually think of. But it is important to note the fact that God did not allow a man who was an obvious “sinner”, unmistakably in need of repentance, to go through the kind of suffering Job went through. God didn’t pick a man like Manasseh, David or Paul [Saul of Tarsus] in order to teach repentance—although He could have! To teach us about repentance God selected Job who was a man that, from all outward appearances, was right with God, had integrity and loved his family. He may have even been the “best” man who ever lived during the time of the patriarchs. God especially chose this man to teach us that even the most godly person may need a large dose of humility and repentance! He chose someone whom we would least expect needed to repent. Why? To dramatically illustrate that it’s often the one who is walking with God that is in need of repentance! Application : It is crucial for every Christian to keep in mind why the Lord alone is to be worshipped: There is no other name but the name Jesus whereby a person can be saved { Acts 4:12 }; Jesus Christ alone is both Creator of all things { Job 26:7-14 ; Col. 1:15-17 ; Rev. 4:11 } and Savior { Job 19:25 ; Col. 1:18-20; Rev. 5:9-10 }. Just like Job, a Christian can fall into the “apathy trap” and think that just because they’re doing all the “right things”; studying God’s word, praying, going to church, giving, involved in Christian ministry, etc., that they have nothing to repent of. A Christian needs to take “spiritual inventory” from time-to-time” to make sure he/she is still following Christ and not their own ego.