Elder Goh Kee Tai

The righteous Job

Job, who lived around the time of Abraham, was an upright man with holy, filial reverential fear for God. He was virtuous, trustworthy, faithful and just. He lived by this spiritual truth which God had revealed to him: ‘the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding’ (Job 28:28). This is indeed divine practical wisdom which underpinned Job’s faith and determined his walk with God.

Job lived a God-centred life with a clear conscience towards God and men. He hid God’s word in his heart, meditated upon it and obeyed it: ‘Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips: I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food’ (Job 23:12). He was always on guard not to sin against God and took great care to lead a holy and righteous life, pleasing and glorifying to Him. God’s way of life was the way he walked: ‘My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined’ (Job 23:11). Under divine guidance and direction, he departed from the world of sin and darkness (Job 29:3). He shunned all appearances of evil, in thoughts, words and deeds so as not to incur God’s displeasure. His heart was right with God as he submitted to His will. From the moral perspective, he was blameless and reflected the image of God. His piety, steadfast moral and spiritual qualities and obedience to God’s word was independent of divine blessings on wealth and health.

He had a true delight in fellowship and communion with his Creator. His prayer life was pure and he knew that unconfessed sins in his life would destroy that intimate personal relationship (Job 16:17).

Job experienced great joy and comfort in his family life (Job 29:5). The Almighty watched, guarded and preserved his God-centred family and provided him with divine guidance to rule over his children (Job 29:4). He devoted quality time and brought them up in the fear and in the knowledge of the Lord and ensured that he and his family were saved. By performing his role as the priest in his family, he prayed to God to sanctify them. He was particularly careful that none of his grown-up children (seven sons and three daughters) sinned against God. He continually brought burnt offerings for each of them in case they unwittingly sinned against Him (Job 1:5). He did not just routinely observe this religious rite, but he and his family worshipped the Lord in spirit and in truth.

In the community, he was highly respected and honoured as a righteous judge (Job 29:14).

His chastity
Job solemnly pledged to himself to live a life of inner purity and resolved not to dishonour God by sinning against Him. Since his early youth, he carefully avoided all temptations and opportunities for sin: ‘I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?’ (Job 31:1). He took all necessary precautions by vigilantly guarding his eyes and abstaining from taking a look at a maid (young unmarried woman) which might entice and stir up his heart with lustful passion, unclean thoughts and desires (Mt 5:28).

He would also not covet or be enticed by his neighbour’s wife by waiting for an opportunity to befriend, solicit or defile her when her husband was away. His heart had not been ‘deceived by a woman’, and he had not ‘laid wait at my neighbour’s door’ (Job 31:9).

His honesty
Job led a sincere, honest and upright life. He had never coveted the wealth of others nor took illicit means to deprive them of their possessions. He had never enriched himself by deceit, fraud, lies or dishonest means (Job 31:5). Neither had he ever enlarged his estate by oppression, extortion, or violence (Job 31:38,39). God knew his integrity (Job 31:6). He walked in the way of the Lord in truth, righteousness and justice. There was no blot of injustice in his life (Job 31:7).

His kindness to his servants
Job treated his servants well. He had never taken advantage and misused his position as the master to oppress them. He listened to their complaints attentively and took appropriate measures to address all their problems brought to his attention. He settled any dispute among them amicably and fairly (Job 31:13). He had never used forced labour nor withheld the wages of his workers (Job 31:39).

His charity to the needy
Since his youth, Job had always been helpful and compassionate to the needy (Job 31:16-20). He was particularly concerned with the welfare of the orphans, widows and the handicapped. He showed pity, compassion, tender affection and readily attended to their needs. He delivered them from oppression, ruin and destruction: ‘I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy..... I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor’ (Job 29:12,13,15,16). He never disappointed the desire for help from the widows. He had never fed the hungry orphans and the poor with the crumbs that fell from his table but ensured that they had a share of his food. For those who were without covering against cold, he clothed them with warm materials made from the fleece of his sheep. He wept and grieved for those in trouble, sympathised with those in poverty and misery and did all he could to help them (Job 30:25).

His good work among the needy was well known (Mt 25:35, 36). He had encouraged the afflicted, the despondent and the distressed, described as those who were ‘falling’, with ‘weak hands’ and ‘feeble knees’, with his godly counsels, and greatly strengthened and comforted them (Job 4: 3,4).

His abhorrence for covetousness
Although the Lord had richly blessed him with great abundance (Job 29:6) and he was the greatest of all men in the east (Job 1:3), yet Job had never transferred his heart from the Giver to his possessions (Job 31:24, 25). He understood that true happiness, by having a right relationship with his Creator, could not be found in worldly treasures as it has no eternal value and could not supply the want of the soul. Spiritual things are infinitely more valuable and superior and excellent. He had no trust in the perishable things of this world as he had brought nothing into the world and was certain that he would bring nothing out of it: ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither’ (Job 1:21). He put his complete confidence and trust in the Lord only. His unshaken hope was the unsearcheable riches of his living Redeemer (Job 19:25), ‘an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast’ (Heb 6:19).

His hatred for idolatry
Job had never been enticed by the brightness and beauty of the sun, moon and stars, unlike the heathens who worshipped these heavenly bodies (Job 31:26, 27). He only worshipped with the eye of faith the One true living God who rules supreme from His heavenly throne beyond the stars.

His forgiving spirit for his enemies
Job had a forgiving spirit and harboured no hatred against his enemies (Mt 5:44). He had never permitted his mouth to sin by cursing any person or rejoicing openly or secretly at the destruction of his enemies or when calamities fell upon them. He had never considered taking revenge even when strongly urged to do so by those around him (Job 31:29-31).

His generous hospitality
Job had always been kind to strangers and travellers. He demonstrated his generous hospitality by inviting and lodging them in his home (Job 31:32).

His hatred for hypocrisy
Job had never attempted to cover his transgressions like Adam in the Garden of Eden (Job 31:33). He had never acted like a hypocrite by hiding his iniquities in his heart so that outwardly he would appear to be righteous. He would confess and repent of his sins immediately and be reconciled to the Almighty.

A just magistrate
As a magistrate, he was upright and just (Job 29:14). He was highly respected and honoured by both the common people as well as the nobles (Job 29:7-11, 21-25). He had no respect of persons and demonstrated wisdom, righteousness, integrity, courage and sincerity. He had never abused his position and power to oppress or falsely condemn the marginalised groups in society (Job 31:21). He defended the poor and repressed the wicked oppressors by ensuring that the possessions unjustly seized from their victims were returned (Job 29:12, 17). He had never been deterred by the fear of man; his sentence had always been just (Job 31:34). He knew when and how to speak or to keep silence.

His principles governing purity and integrity
Job was highly sensitive to the watchful eyes and ears of the almighty, all-knowing and all-seeing God: ‘But he knoweth the way that I take’ (Job 23:10a), the way of truth, pleasing and acceptable to the Lord most high. He strived to please His Creator by controlling his heart and mind in his thoughts, words and deeds. Job was fully cognizant that God searched his heart and kept a record of all that transpired in his life (Job 16:19): ‘Doth not he see my ways, and count my steps?’ (Job 31:4).He had never feared men or their reproaches, but the terror of the wrath and judgment of God with certain and swift destruction of body and soul and total alienation from Him for all eternity (Job 31:2, 3, 23).

Job realised that adultery and worship of heavenly bodies were heinous crimes (Job 31:11, 28). If he were guilty of adultery, he would let God have his wife be subjected to the deepest humiliation and indignation (Job 31:10) and all his wealth be consumed by fire (Job 31:12). If he had acquired his riches by dishonest means, Job was prepared to forfeit all he had to others (Job 31:8). If he had obtained his land unjustly, he would let all of it be barren and overrun with noxious weeds (Job 31:40).

Job had no excuse before God if he had ever been unjust to his servants, as God was both their Judge and Maker: ‘Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashioned us in the womb?’ (Job 31:15). If he had ever been uncharitable and oppressed the needy, he would let his arm fall from his shoulder blade and be broken (Job 31:22).

Conclusion
God described Job as ‘a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and eschewed evil’, and ‘there is none like him in the earth’ (Job 1:8). This does not mean that he was sinless. Job acknowledged that he had sinned and no mortal being can be just and pure before God (Job 7:20; 9:2, 3). He was careful not to sin by his senses and abstained from all appearances of evil. By divine grace, he shut and turned his eyes from beholding any object in this world that could be enticing or alluring to him: the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh (1 Jn 2:16). He was particularly careful of the pride of life, because of his possessions, power and reputation in society. He kept himself unblemished by not loving the things of this world as he looked beyond this world to an eternal life with his living Redeemer (Job 19:25).

Job was also a man of like passion as we are. This was revealed when God permitted Satan to afflict him. His initial response to a series of extraordinary calamities was submission to the sovereign will of the Almighty and he ‘sinned not, nor charged God foolishly’ (Job 1:21, 22).He severely reprimanded his wife who was used by Satan to ask him to ‘curse God, and die’ (Job 2:9).

However, with incessant accusations of his three friends who were also used by Satan to condemn him as a hypocrite with serious crimes, he succumbed to the weakness of his flesh in the depth of despondency, perplexities, and agitation, and sinned by uttering rash and irreverent words against the all-wise, holy, just and immutable God (Job 13:24; 16:9; 19:11, 22; 30:21). By insisting that he was innocent and accusing God for afflicting him beyond what he deserved, he cast aspersions on the righteousness and justice of God (Job 33:12;34:5;35:2). Nevertheless, Job had never renounced the Almighty, but continued to put his confidence and trust in Him (Job 13:15; 19:25; 23:10, 14). By God’s all-sufficient grace, Job eventually humbled himself, repented of his pride of self-righteousness and was finally delivered by patient endurance, hope and an unwavering faith in his living Redeemer (Job 42:3,6,10). He was spiritually strengthened in the disciplinary and remedial character of his sore trials. Amen.