The Vanquished Job
It was too painful for me; Until I went into the Sanctuary of God, then my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins; so brutish am I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee.”
—Psalm Ixxili. 16-22, m.
“The Lord. ... said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee... Wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be justified?” — Chap. xl. 6, 7, 8.
aoe voice out of the whirlwind addresses Job once more. He is bidden again to ‘“‘ gird up his loins’? and prepare to answer the questions put to him. Let him declare his attitude to God. Was he determined to condemn his Creator to justify himself? Would he even ‘“‘ disannul His judgments” (vy. 8), rendering void all His patient dealing with him in the crucible, by refusing to take the place of repentance at His feet?
Was he going to declare in the face of all God’s working in creation, that he had been dealt with more hardly than the very beasts of the field?:
The Omniscient Lord saw that Job had not yet ceased from clinging to his integrity. We confessed that he was of small account. He owned that he felt humbled, and contemptibly mean before the majesty of Jehovah, for he could neither control the stars, nor feed the wild creatures, nor give to the horse and the eagle their strength and power of flight.
He confessed that he ought not to have spoken as he had done, and would proceed no further in such folly
The Lord sees that He must deal more personally with Job to bring him to the dust. He had reminded him of His power in creation, and Job had only been silenced before the greatness of his God; now he must be reminded that none of the power he had had over others had been his own, and learn in deeper measure his own helplessness.
“Hast Tuovu an arm like God? and canst thou thunder with a voice like
Him? Deck thyself now with excellency and dignity, and array thyself with honour and majesty... look upon every one that is proud... and bring
him low; and tread down the wicked... in the dust!”” — Chap. xl. 9-13.
If thou canst do these things Job, then will I admit that thou art able to save thyself (v. 14), speaks Jehovah to the silenced man at His feet.
Job had said that in the days of old he had sat as chief in the midst of the people, clothed with righteousness and diademed with justice. He had spoken of his power to pluck the prey of the wicked from their teeth, and of the way in which others had been silenced by his words.
Jehovah’s question presses close home, for Job knew that all this authority and power had been stripped from him. He is painfully aware that he can no more re-clothe himself with it, than array himself in the majesty of God. That of himself he was unable to humble his fellow men had been proved in his failure to convince his friends, and that he could not save himself was manifested in the complete uselessness of his self-vindication.
Job has no answer to give to the last question of Jehovah, any more than to the others, but the homethrust has reached him, and touched him in the vital point of his despair.
The Lord is touching the quick now, and slowly bringing His servant down to the place of emptiness and blessing.
Jehovah’s picture lesson
“Behold now Behemoth.’’ — Chap. xl. 15.
Once more the Lord points to His wonders in creation, and describes to Job two huge creatures called ‘‘ Behemoth”* and “Leviathan”’.
Jehovah calls Behemoth the “‘ chief of the ways of God” (v. 19). His strength, his force (v. 16); his sinews (v. 17) 3 his bones like tubes of brass; his limbs like bars of iron (v. 18) are all minutely described. ‘‘ He only that made him”? (v. 19) can approach unto him, the Lord says, and this may be the point for the teaching of Job.
None but the Creator can deal with the creature, and only God can humble the proud, and bring low the haughtiness of man. Only in Jehovah the Lord was there salvation for Job in his need,
One other lesson for Job there might be in the calm confidence of the huge ‘‘ Behemoth’. The creature could * A.V. margin — The elephant. R.V. margin — The hippopotamus.
watch a river overflow, or be violent, without trembling, and he remained confident though “Jordan swell even to his mouth”, for he knew that he would not sink. The very instinct of his life told him that the swelling waters would but carry him whithersoever he would go.
Did Job not understand that in the deep waters of trial he had been passing through — when the waves and billows had appeared to swallow him up — did he not know that he could not sink? The Spirit of God had breathed life into him, and the waters could not overflow him, but would bear him ever nearer to his God.
Jehovah’s second object lesson “Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a fish-hook?”’ — Chap. xli. 1.
Jehovah’s second picture lesson is another huge creature called “‘ Leviathan”’.*
Still more minutely does the Lord describe this powerful creature, and the impossibility of his being tamed by man.
No human being could put a rope through his nostril (v. 1). None could play with him, or tame him to be their servant (v. 4, 5). The merchants could not make use of him for merchandise (v. 6). None dare lay his hand upon him (v. 8), or venture to stir him up (v. 10). Men are cast down at the sight of him (v. 9). His limbs, his mighty strength, his terrible teeth, his scales, his eyes, his mouth, his nostrils, his breath like kindled coals, make him so terrible that the strongest men fear him (v. 25). No weapon avails to touch him, for he “‘ counteth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood (v. 27). As he rushes through the deep sea, it boils and appears to be hoary in the path that shines after him. ‘“‘ Upon earth there is not his like” in absolute fearlessness; he is “‘ king over all the sons of pride” (v. 34)!
‘““Who then is he that can stand before Me?” questions Jehovah of his waiting servant. If men are cast down at the sight of the creature, will they not fear before his Creator?
Jehovah’s final claim: ““Who hath first given unto Me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine.”’ — Chap. xli. 11.
This is the conclusion of the whole matter, and the climax of the Lord’s dealing with Job.
* A.V. margin — The whale. R.V. margin — The crocodile.
Job had said that Jehovah had taken away his right, but the Lord declares that Job has no “rights!” As sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, Jehovah is under no obligation to any creature. None can demand aught of Him as a right. On the contrary, they must acknowledge His claim! “MINE” is written by Him upon all things — animate and inanimate — under the whole heaven.
Job — ‘ Behold now Behemoth, which I made with thee”’. Behemoth is Mine, and thou art Mine. I have the sovereign right of doing what I will with Mine own
AND Jos Is VANQUISHED!
Job’s submission
“Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought of Thine can be hindered.’”’ — Chap. xlii. 1, 2, A.V., m.
In Job’s first answer to the Lord he owned that he felt contemptibly mean, as he remembered his words of reproach against Him Whose heart was now revealed to him as tenderly sympathetic even with the dumb creation, much more with His creature man, upon whom He had set His love, and sought to ‘“‘visit” — or have communion with — every moment.
Job bows before the claim of his Creator, and cries ‘‘ J know that Thou canst do everything”. In complete surrender, and with the worship of his whole being, he acknowledges anew the sovereign power of God, and with renewed faith gives Him His right place in his life.
“* No thought of Thine can be hindered,” is the confession of the vanquished Job. He had believed it, and sazd it to the friends in one of his moments of tenacious trust in God, but now he knows it with a “full assurance of understanding” never realized before. He sees that all his cries and writhings in the crucible had not hindered the Lord from revealing Himself to him in the fulness of time; not even his fainting under his sufferings, or his pleadings to Him to “‘leé him alone’’.
The immutable Lord had waited until the furnace had fulfilled His purpose; nor had he interposed in answer to Job’s cries of pain, because He knew that his will would remain true to Him to the very end.
IT know that no purpose of Thine can be restrained,” Job answers the Lord. He looks back upon his past months of suffering, and in the light of Jehovah’s presence sees the purpose of love behind it all.
Not one hard word from his well-intentioned friends; not one pang of pain; not one weary night or sorrowful day could have come to him but by the express permission of his faithful Lord.
Again the Lord appears to speak to Job in the words —
‘© Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? ’ — Chap. xlii. 3.
Had Job learnt his lesson? He had bowed before the Lord, and acknowledged His sovereign power, and claim upon him as his Creator, but did Job confess his ignorance, and own that he had veiled the counsel of God by his words without knowledge?
Fob’s confession of ignorance
‘* T [have] uttered that which I understood not. Things too wonderful
for me, which I knew not.’, — Chap. xlii. 3.
Job replies to the Lord that he unreservedly acknowledges that he has uttered words he did not really understand. He owns that he had talked of things ‘‘ too wonderful ’’* for his finite mind to grasp.
He had said to Zophar, ‘‘ I am not inferior to you, what ye know, the same do I know also”. But he sees now that he was not willing to be thought ignorant by his friends, much less was he willing to be taught by them what they considered they knew of God.
Job remembers how he had actually been tempted to show his would-be teachers that he knew as much as they !y It was all bitterly true — he sees that he could take the dust before the Lord, and worship Him when blow after blow fell upon him, but he could not take the low place before the friends, and allow them to treat him as an ignorant presumptuous man;
. 2 2, much less as a hypocrite and a secret transgressor against the
Lord.
In his heart Job had honestly desired to be humble, and to show no pride of position to his servants,{ or his friends, but it was one thing to be humble in that way, and another to be willing to be considered ignorant of the things of God by those whose knowledge of Him was less than his own.
Now Job understands Elihu’s words about the Lord
* Compare Ps, cxxxix. 5, 6. t+ Job xxvii. 11. t Job. xxxi. 15.
withdrawing His children from their work, to ‘‘ hide pride”? from them, and to save them from greater sorrow in the world to come.
In shame Job looks up to the Lord — Will He let him once more speak (v. 4)?
Job’s verdict on his past
“I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye
seeth Thee.” — Chap. «lii. 5.
The Lord appears to answer Job with the very words He had spoken to him at the beginning of the interview. Jehovah is demanding of Job the confession of his attitude to Him — let him therefore ‘“‘ declare unto Him”? what he has to say (v. 4).
Very wonderful are the glimpses into the heart of God given us in His dealings with Job. So precious to the Lord are His servants who walk with Him in integrity of heart, that He yearns for their complete understanding and accord with Him, in all His dealings with themselves, and with His people.
“Ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem ... and ye shall know that I have not done in vain all that I have done in it,”’ was the Lord’s word to His servant Ezekiel, when telling him of all the sore judgments He would send upon Israel.
In like manner the Lord desires that Job should acknowledge that He has dealt rightly with him; so He reveals His heart to him, and then waits until Job passes judgment upon himself, and his past.
“Declare thou unto Me,” said Jehovah, and Job looks up — I thought I knew Thee, Lord, for Thou were with me in the days of old. Thy Spirit was upon me. I called upon Thee, and Thou didst answer, and bless me on every side, but now that mine eye seeth Thee 1 know that my past knowledge of Thee was, as it were, a “‘ hearing of the ear’. My inner ears were opened to Thy instruction, but the eyes of my heart have never beholden Thee until now.
We may pause here to consider the significance of this revelation of God to Job.
We have seen that the book of Job is thought to be the oldest book extant — older than the records of Genesis, and the books of Moses. Surely the Divine Spirit must have had a very special purpose in its preservation,
May it not be that it contains the account of the first and primary — revelation of God to His fallen creatures, to be followed in successive years by a gradual unveiling of Himself, so to speak, from the centre outwards, drawing nearer and nearer to man until in the fulness of time He was manifested in His Son, Christ Jesus, through Whom His banished ones might return to their Creator, and in re-creation become sons of God.
To Job the Lord is revealed as the great First Cause, the central spring or pivot, so to say, of all creation. The One Who directs and moves all things from His Throne.
Elijah, trained by God Himself in the mountains of Gilead, was given the same knowledge of Jehovah, so that he was able in unshaken faith to ask that there should be no rain on the land of Israel for three years. He knew the God upon the Throne of the universe — the One Who declared to Job that He had
treasures of snow and hail reserved for the day of battle.
To the redeemed to-day the same God is revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. Paul wrote of Christ that He was the image of the invisible God, declaring that, ‘‘ in Him were all things created... and in Him all things hold together’’* thus making Him equal with God — Creator as well as Redeemer.
It is the joy of the Son to reveal the Father to His redeemed. In union with Him, and, as they walk with Him, beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, they are led by the Lord the Spirit from glory to glory, ever nearer and nearer to Him Who sitteth upon the Throne, until they too know God as He was revealed to Job, and from the inner Sanctuary of His presence look out upon the universe, seeing how His voice moves the waters; breaks the cedars; hews out flames of fire; shakes the wilderness, and strips the forest bare,y whilst in the Sanctuary of His immediate presence the Seraphim cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His Glory”’.t
The story of Job teaches us that this innermost knowledge of God is only given when the soul has been stripped of all that may — even unknowingly — dim its inner vision, and keep it pre-occupied even with its blessings instead of with God; or with the work rather than the will of God.
The gifts of God, and present knowledge about the Lord, may even keep us from the deepest knowledge of God Himself.
In Job, too, we may’see the difference between the possession
*) Coli. 16967.”m. t+ Psalm xxix. Isaiah vi. 3.
of gifts — which tend to build us up in ourselves, and make us think we know more than others — and the stripping of all we thought we possessed, that having nothing we may truly possess all things in Him Who is the Source, and Possessor of all.
“I had heard of Thee, but now mine eyes seeth Thee,” cries Job, as he looks back upon the past he had thought was the “ripeness of his days!”’
“I have uttered that which I understood not, things too wonderful Sor me,” is his verdict upon the knowledge he had thought so great!
Job knows himself and his measure at last. He is becoming the little child that Elihu had described, content to lie upon its Father’s heart, to know all that the Father wishes it to know, and no more; content to be what the Father wishes it to be, whilst it rejoices with true gladness in the gifts and graces vouchsafed to others in the Father’s house.
Job’s self-loathing Now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes.’’ — Chap. xlii.-5, 6.
“I abhor myself”? and ‘“‘ loathe my words’’ (margin), cries Job. The light of God has given to him the same knowledge of himself as was given in later years to Isaiah the prophet, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and cried, ‘‘ J am a man of unclean lips’’.
Job had said to Eliphaz that the speeches of one who was desperate were only for the wind, they should not be taken seriously; but now Job sees that superfluity of speech must be renounced if he is to walk in fellowship with God. The *‘ precious”? must be taken from the “vile”?; that which is true [gold] must be separated from the dross’’* if he is to be once more a messenger of God.
It is significant that the apostle James places “stumbling not in word’? as the supreme mark of a man fully under the control of God. The same man (James says) is able to bridle the whole body.
The references to Job by the apostle James show that he had studied his history, and may have had him in mind as he pressed home his message of ‘‘ patience”? to the tried ones of his day, beseeching them to ‘“‘ count it joy”? when in manifold trials, for the “proof of their faith’? would work
* Jer. xv. 19, Swedish translation, patience, and patience must needs have its perfect work if they were to be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. James well knew that the patience of Christ could only be wrought into the character by the fire of trial.
“¢ T loathe my words,” cries Job, as he sees that he should have suffered in silence, and have left his vindication to his God. Does he recognize now that the very expression of his sorrows had magnified them in his own eyes? Does he realize now how the multitude of words wasted his strength, and made him so much the less able to endure, that he had fainted under the hand of God?.
In any case he loathes himself, and his words, as having come from himself, for the tongue had “set on fire” the wheel of birth — the life of nature.* Set on fire, James says, by the powers of darkness; even as the Lord said, “‘ Let your speech be yea, yea; nay, nay; and whatsoever is more than these 1s of the evil one”’.+ bs
As the searchlight of God is thrown upon his past, Job remembers those words of gloomy despair, and longing for death; of sarcastic contempt for Zophar; of bitter reasoning to Bildad; of petulant crying and pleading with God to leave him alone — what if He had taken him at his word ? — and then the words describing the way that God had used him to others — how could he thus have spoken of himself?
Job thinks of the way he was offended with Jehovah, and how he had reproached Him with cruelty after walking with. Him so loyally in the past. He remembers his miserable collapse upon the ash-heap, and his pitiful attempt to clear his own character to the misjudging friends.
“I abhor myself,’ and “‘ loathe my words”, is the only language of Job’s heart in the light of all that God has revealed. He can say no more about his past integrity. He will not ask again for the restoration of past blessings, for now he sees that he did not know himself, nor understand his need.
* James iii. 6, m. + Matt, v. 37.
Job, Chapter xl. 7-17.