Job was not bragging, just stating facts

 

Job 29

 

One must remember Job’s not blowing smoke, he may not even be bragging, as Sargent Friday said on a detective show on TV, just the facts, and Job is reporting the facts.  As I read this I understood God’s words to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job?  No one else on earth is   like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” 

 Let’s look at a part of Job’s final claim of innocence; “And Job again took up his discourse, and said: “Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime,  when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!  When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.  When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.”  If you have ever been in the presence of a man like Job, you observe what He goes on to state about the men of the town getting up when he comes to the city gates.  Job is telling us that both young and old, city leaders and all highly valued Job’s approval.  Job was not only a wise man, but a very powerful man and they treated him like a king. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice