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CHAPTER 1

Welcome to a Well-Run World

JOB 1:1–5

IN WHAT SORT OF A WORLD would you like to live? In any society some people come out on top, and others are nearer the bottom; some are great men and women, and others are not. When we give this some thought, we probably say that we would like to live in a society where the great persons are also good persons. In England we have an idiom; when we want to describe a gathering of important people we say, "the great and the good were there," leaving the connection between greatness and goodness unstated and open.

Much misery is caused when evil people govern and rule. And much joy results when good persons become great and govern with justice and righteousness. That is the sort of world we want, or at least the sort of world we ought to want.

That is the world with which the book of Job begins.

There Was a Man ...

The story begins with the words, "There was a man ..." (or, in the Hebrew word order, "A man there was ...," v. 1). This is the story of a human being.

It is easy not to concentrate when someone is introduced to us. I find that when others kindly tell me their name and something about themselves, all too often what they have said has gone in one ear and out the other. But in the book of Job we need to pay careful attention to the introductions, and supremely to the first one.

This is the first of the three prose introductions that structure the book of Job (see "Structure of the Book of Job" earlier). Although other people are introduced later, the human focus of the book is on the one man Job. It is Job who is introduced first. The scenes that follow focus on what happens to Job. The long speech cycles with his friends are all addressed to Job or spoken by Job. Elihu addresses much of his four speeches to Job. Even the Lord addresses his speeches to Job, and Job replies. It really is "the book of Job." Job is, as it were, either on the stage or the subject of discussion at every point in the book. So we need to pay careful attention to how Job is introduced to us.

The writer tells us five things about Job.

His Place

First, he lived "in the land of Uz" (v. 1). We do not know exactly where Uz was. Probably it was in the land of Edom, just to the east of the promised land. Lamentations 4:21 says, "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz." But "[t]he importance of the name Uz lies not in where such a place is, but in where it is not"; namely, it is not in Israel.

We do not know whether or not Job was a Hebrew (the term Jew was not used until much later in Old Testament history). But we do know that he lived outside the promised land, and his story does not tie in to any known events in Israel's history. The story does not begin "in the xth year of so-and-so king of Israel or Judah" or at any identifiable time in Israel's history. In fact, as we shall see in verse 5, Job seems to be a kind of patriarch who offers sacrifices on behalf of his family in a way that would have been strictly forbidden after the institution of the priesthood. He seems to have been a contemporary (speaking very loosely) of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. He lived independent of the giving of the promises to Abraham, before the captivity in and exodus from Egypt, before the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, before the conquest of the promised land, and outside that land. All this makes his story all the more wonderful. Here was a man who knew almost nothing of God, and yet, as we shall see, he knew God and trusted and worshipped him as God.

His Name

"... whose name was Job" (v. 1).

Although various theories have been propounded about the possible meaning of Job's name, there is no convincing evidence that the name had any particular significance. Most likely he is called Job because Job was his name! We are not given his genealogy. His family connections are not significant. He is just a man called Job.

His Godliness

"... and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil" (v. 1). After the more or less incidental historical facts of his place and his name, the first really significant thing the writer tells us is about Job's character. This is of lasting importance, and we need to burn this into our consciousness as we read the book.

We are told four things about Job: his integrity, his treatment of others, his religion, and his morality. These four things tell us, not what Job was from time to time or occasionally, but his "constant nature."

First, he was "blameless." This is a better translation than "perfect" (e.g., KJV, RSV). It does not mean "sinless," for Job himself admits "the iniquities of my youth" (13:26) and "my sin" (14:16). Fundamentally the word "blameless" speaks of genuineness and authenticity. In Joshua 24:14 Joshua exhorts the people of Israel to serve God "in sincerity" (the same Hebrew word) — that is to say, genuinely, not just pretending to serve him while their hearts were somewhere else. In Judges 9:16 Jotham challenges the people of Shechem, "Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity [same word] when you made Abimelech king ..." By which he means, "if you meant what you said and were not trying to deceive or double-cross anyone ..." God said to Abraham, "Walk before me, and be blameless" (Genesis 17:1). And Psalm 119:1 proclaims a blessing on those "whose way is blameless."

The same idea is conveyed by the old expression used by some of the rabbis: "his 'within' was like his 'without.'" Or as we might put it, "what you see is what you get." When you see Job at work, when you hear his words, when you watch his deeds, you see an accurate reflection of what is actually going on in his heart. The word means "personal integrity, not sinless perfection." It is the opposite of hypocrisy, pretending to be one thing on the outside but being something else on the inside. Centuries later Timothy had to deal in Ephesus with the very opposite, men who had "the appearance of godliness, but [denied] its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). Job had the appearance of godliness because there was real godliness in his heart.

This character trait of blamelessness or integrity is pivotal in the book of Job. In 8:20 Bildad will say, "God will not reject a blameless man," and in 9:20–22 Job will repeatedly claim that he is "blameless." He does the same in 12:4.8 As the drama develops, we shall be sorely tempted to think that Job is hiding something, that he is not as squeaky clean as he appears, that he is not blameless. We need to remember that he is blameless. The writer has headlined this wonderful characteristic of him.

Second, "that man was ... upright" (v. 1). This shifts the focus slightly from Job's own integrity to the way he treats other people. In his human relationships Job is "upright," straightforward, a man you can do business with because he will not double-cross you, a man who deals straight. We shall see this upright behavior beautifully described in 31:13–23.

Third, his character was marked by integrity and his relationships by right dealing, and his religion was shaped by a humble piety. "That man was ... one who feared God" (v. 1). We do not know how much he knew about the God he feared. But he had a reverence, a piety, a bowing down before the God who made the world, so that he honored God as God and gave thanks to him (cf. Romans 1:21).

Later in Israel's history the fear of the Lord was "that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father's law." For Job, not knowing that law in its fullness, the fear of God consisted of a devout, pious reverence for God and a desire to please him in all he knew of him. Job was, in the very best sense of the word, a genuinely religious man.

As the book develops we shall see that Job believed that God was both sovereign and just, that he had the power to make sure the world ran the way he chose to make it run, and that the way he would choose to make it run would be fair and marked by justice. At least that is what Job thought to begin with. The second of these convictions (God's justice) is about to be sorely tested.

Finally, Job's religion issues in godly morality. "... and that man was ... one who ... turned away from evil" (v. 1). As he walked life's path, he resolutely stayed on the straight and upright path and turned away from the crooked byways of sin. To turn away from sin is to repent. Job's character was marked by daily repentance, a habitual turning away from evil in his thoughts, words, and deeds.

Job is thus presented to us, not as a perfect man — only one perfect man has ever walked this earth — but as a genuine believer. In Ezekiel, Job is bracketed with Noah and Daniel as a man of conspicuous righteousness. God says, "Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in [a land], they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness" (Ezekiel 14:14; see also Ezekiel 14:20). What sort of righteousness did these men have? "By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Hebrews 11:7). Noah was righteous by faith. So was Job. Indeed, no sinner has ever been righteous with God in any other way.

So Job is a real believer, genuine in his integrity, upright in his relationships, pious in his worship, and penitent in his behavior. His life was marked by what we would call repentance and faith, which are still the marks of the believer today, as they have always been.

So the next question is, what will happen to a man like this? The answer appears to be simple and wonderful: he will be a very very great man.

His Greatness

"[And] there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east" (vv. 2, 3).

We begin with his family. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord," and the man whose "quiver" is full of them is "blessed" (Psalm 127:3–5). Job's quiver is certainly full — seven sons and three daughters. These are good numbers. Seven symbolizes completeness. Sons were special blessings in those pastoral cultures. When praising Ruth to the skies, the friends of her mother-in-law Naomi described her as being "more to you than seven sons" (Ruth 4:15). When Hannah celebrates the gospel reversals of God, she says, "The barren has borne seven" (1 Samuel 2:5). What more could a man want than seven sons! Well, I guess some daughters as well. And three is a good number. And seven plus three equals ten, which is also a good number. They are all good numbers and speak of an ideal family.

Consider also his possessions. Job was a farmer. He was not strictly a nomad, for we see later that he was a local dignitary and was prominent in "the gate of the city" where local business was done (see Job 29:7). He seems to have grown crops as well as having herds and flocks. He and his family lived in houses rather than tents (as we see, for example, in 1:18, 19, where the oldest brother's house is destroyed). Job had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels for desert transport, 500 yoke (i.e., pairs) of oxen for plowing the land, and 500 female donkeys, used to carry the produce of the fields and also for milk production and breeding. In addition, he had a large staff, huge numbers on his payroll. To identify with this, we may need to transpose this pastoral description of great wealth into our own contexts, whether urban or rural. It is a picture of great wealth and power. He is described as "the greatest of all the people of the east"(v. 3). "The people of the east" is an expression used of the Arameans (to whom Jacob fled in Genesis 29:1; cf. Genesis 25:20), of Israel's eastern neighbors, as opposed to the Philistines in the west (Isaiah 11:14), or of those associated with the Midianites in the days of the Judges (Judges 6:3). It is a general term referring to various peoples who lived east of the promised land. Among these peoples in his day Job was the greatest.

Job was, on a regional or local scale, what Adam was meant to be on a global scale — a great, rich, and powerful ruler. It is worth reflecting on this. This is, in a way, the prosperity gospel, and it seems to be what we ought to expect in a well-run world. Surely the world would be a better place if godly people got to the top and ungodly people were squashed down at the bottom, where they could do no harm. How terrible it is when ungodly people rise to the top. How miserable are so many countries because they are ruled by the wicked.

So Job's greatness is the natural and right consequence of his godliness. It is what we ought to expect. Or is it? There is just one more thing to note in Job's introduction.

His Anxiety

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually. (1:4, 5)

The expression "on his day" probably means an annual feast day for each son, perhaps his birthday (v. 4). This is not a picture of incessant partying, but of regular natural family get-togethers. Their three sisters are presumably unmarried, for there is no mention of their husbands. So we are to think of Job as a man in the prime of life, perhaps in contemporary terms a man in his early forties, with three unmarried daughters perhaps between eighteen and their early twenties. We do not know if the seven sons are married or not. Whatever the details, it is a picture of family harmony and innocent festivity.

And yet, for all the harmony and happiness on the surface, there is a deep anxiety and care in Job's heart. When each birthday party comes to an end, Job summons all his children (or possibly just all his sons) for a religious ceremony of sacrifice. Each time Job "would rise early in the morning" (v. 5). This suggests an eagerness, a zeal, a sense of urgency. He is conscientious about this because he has a sensitive conscience. Before anything else intervenes to distract them, Job summons them for this ceremony. It is important. He impresses on his children the urgency of being present for this.

They gather, and Job the patriarch, the family head, offers a burnt offering for each of them. Later in the history of Israel a burnt offering would be the most expensive form of sacrifice, in which the whole sacrificial animal is consumed. It pictures the hot anger of God burning up the animal in the place of the worshipper, whose sins would have made them liable to be burned up in the presence of God. We can imagine Job doing this for them one at a time: "This one is for you," and he lights the fire, and the animal is consumed. And the son or daughter watches the holocaust and thinks, "That is what would have happened to me if there had not been a sacrifice." And then the next one: "This one is for you." And so on until all the children were covered by sacrifice.

What was so serious that it necessitated such an expensive and urgent sacrifice? Why did Job insist on doing this party by party? Because he said to himself, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts" (v. 5). Although the children presumably showed outward piety (they did not curse God with their mouths; their parties were not wild drunken orgies or anything like that), Job is anxious lest in their hearts they did not honor God, lest deep inside lurked the godless wish that there were no God. Job has integrity (or blamelessness); he is not so sure about his children.

Job knows that what matters is not the appearance of godliness but a godly heart. He knows that to curse God in the heart, to wish God dead (as it were), is a terribly serious offense, an offense that carries the eternal death penalty if it is not atoned for. But Job believes in the atoning power of sacrifice, and so he offers burnt offerings. As Proverbs says, "In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge" (Proverbs 14:26). And the narrator concludes, "Thus Job did continually" (v. 5). Year after year the godly Job covers any secret sin in his children's hearts with sacrifice.

Conclusion

The story does not begin with this introduction. No event in the drama of Job has yet happened. Verses 1–3 are descriptions of Job and his character. And verses 4, 5 describe what Job habitually did. The whole introduction sets the scene before our story actually starts.

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Excerpted from "Job"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Christopher Ash.
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