The
Sunday called Septuagesima, or the
third
Sunday before Lent.
The
Collect.
O
|
LORD, we beseech thee favourably to
hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our
offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and
the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
1 Moreover
Job continued his parable, and said, 2 As God liveth, who hath taken away
my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; 3 All the while my
breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; 4 My lips shall
not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. 5 God forbid that I
should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. 6 My
righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach
me so long as I live. 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that
riseth up against me as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the
hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? 9 Will
God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? 10 Will he delight himself
in the Almighty? will he always call upon God? 11 I will teach you by the
hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. 12 Behold,
all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain? 13 This
is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which
they shall receive of the Almighty. 14 If his children be multiplied, it
is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. 15 Those
that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep. 16 Though
he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; 17 He may
prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the
silver. 18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper
maketh. 19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he
openeth his eyes, and he is not. 20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a
tempest stealeth him away in the night. 21 The east wind carrieth him
away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. 22 For
God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. 23 Men
shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place. Job 27:1-23 (KJV)
We observe in Job's continuing monologue a growing understanding and firm
belief in God. Persecution and hardship often have the result of strengthening,
not weakening, our faith. The hardship of severe military training only results
in a stronger soldier on the field of battle. The individual Christian, and the
Church, flourishes most vibrantly under the cruel hand of persecution. The
bamboo tree of Asia is a strong and vibrant plant, but persistent in its growth
and migration from one plant to hundreds over an entire field. The peculiar
nature of the bamboo is that, when cut down, it springs up more full of life
and in greater quantity than ever before. When our most cherished beliefs are
challenged by faithless men, those beliefs become more enduring through the
exercise of our faculties in defending them. So with Job. His developing
understanding (theology) of God has grown stronger and stronger with each
senseless assault by his friends. We note a deepening root of faith in Job as
the debate rages. In that respect, Job is like the desert palm tree. It is the
tallest of trees, yet we only see the smaller part for its great root plunges
twice its height into the depth of the desert soil seeking out moisture even in
a dry and lifeless landscape. Job is in a desert of despair with his
afflictions – including three friends that only scold and do not comfort or
encourage. So Job sinks his roots deeper into the nature of God and finds water
for life.
This chapter may be broken down into at least three subsections:
1. Verses
1-6 Job attempts to maintain and defend his Godly integrity.
2. Verses
7- 10 Job invokes a precatory woe upon his three unprofitable friends.
3. Verses
11-23 Job returns to the argument of Divine treatment of the wicked in which he
retracts earlier comments with respect to their prosperity, impunity, and
similar treatment at death.
In
"continuing his parable," here is meant `his argument.' Job opens his
argument here with a strong adjuration by making his appeal through the Living
God! 1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 2 As
God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who
hath vexed my soul. Our judgment is always based either on our OWN
sense of value, or upon the Word of God. It is not taken away arbitrarily. God
has not deprived Job of judgment, it is simply that fact that Job's judgment is
clouded by present circumstances. I am again disappointed in Job for blaming
God on his being vexed. We all know, who have read the evidence, that God is
not the prime instrument in vexing Job – it is Satan! Job is bitter as a man
offended by his own dear friend. He sounds like the woman, Naomi, who preferred
to be called Mara (bitter) instead of her real name "….for the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." (Ruth 1:20) We know in
that story of Ruth, as well, that God had not in any sense been the cause of
Naomi's bitterness. She had left Bethlehem (the House of Bread and Praise) on
her own away from the will of God and lived in the cursed land of Moab – simply
for the sake of material profit.
3 All
the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my
nostrils; 4 My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter
deceit. Well now, what will Job ever do once his breath is NOT in
him? But Job considers that the breath of life is somehow directly related to
the Spirit of God who breathed the breath of life into his nostrils…and it is
so. 5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I
will not remove mine integrity from me. My father once said,
"If I were guilty of only 5% of the transgressions your mother has accused
me of, I would be the happiest man on earth." He was jokingly comparing his
plight with the values of the world. If we are accused too often of a crime,
why not go ahead and commit the crime since we are considered guilty anyway?
This is the world's wisdom, but Job will have none of it! He refuses to justify
the accusations of his friends. Until he closes his eyes in that final Rest,
Job will not surrender his honor and integrity. 6 My
righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me
so long as I live. Only a heart that is ruled by Christ will reproach
a man.
7 Let
mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the
unrighteous. Those who accuse the innocent unjustly and
persistently do so invariably out of a wicked motivation. 8 For
what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God
taketh away his soul? In the NT, the term hypocrite is taken from
the Greek for stage-actor, or dissembler, hupokrinoma. We may ACT
as tough as Genghis Khan while in the cushioned palace, but in the day of
battle what shall we BE like? Through play-acting, we may impress
in society and in business, but when we appear naked before God, what shall we
have to offer? 9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon
him? No, despite the harpings of Joel Osteen, God will not hear
such a cry or prayer. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not
hear me: (Psalms 66:18) Truly, if we set high value on delighting in
the Lord, He will, indeed, hear us when we pray. But even in calling for help
from other men, do we not stand a far better chance of receiving that help if
we are well-acquainted with the friend being asked? 10 Will he
delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
We come now to the concluding portion of the Chapter in which Job returns to
the prospects that confront the wicked both in this life, and at its ending. If
you refer back to Job 24:2-24, you will see that Job has grown in wisdom and
knowledge and retracts the views he expressed in that earlier passage. How does
this happen since Job has not learned this from his oppressors. May I suggest
that Job has been, not only laboring with his friends, but with God during the
course of these debates. The Holy Ghost has lifted his understanding to
appreciate truths heretofore unknown to Job. 11 I will teach you by
the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.
Whether to friend or foe, Job will speak the truth that comes only from the
Hand of God. Should any Christian EVER conceal the truth from another which
comes from God? Certainly, we should not. We should share with the enlightened
and unenlightened alike. How else can the unenlightened become enlightened? 12 Behold,
all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain? Job
advances an absurdity here that has baffled more than Job. I, too, am baffled
by those who know the truth, yet deny its power in the manner in which they
live their lives. To hold the truth in unrighteousness is worse than never
holding that truth at all. 13 This is the portion of a wicked man with
God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring
shall not be satisfied with bread. This is a clear statement of
reality. Though the children are not judged for the sins of the fathers,
certainly the fathers may influence their children, through sin, to become just
as wicked as the parent. Those who learn greed and envy from their parents are
more apt to practice the same, and they shall never be satisfied with the
necessities of life (bread) but will desire all that their neighbor possesses.15 Those
that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
Just as the Rich Man who had no mercy for the beggar, Lazarus, the children of the
wicked who follow their fathers shall have their final estate in a tract of
land six feet deep, six feet long, and three feet wide. This is their reward.
(read Tolsoy's short story, How much Land does a Man Need?) In remote
regions of India, the rite of Sati is still practiced in which
the wife of a dead man is burned alive at his funeral – willing or not. Though
outlawed for more than fifty years, there are still occurrences of this
dreadfully wicked practice. I am quite sure that the wife does not weep for the
man at his death, but for herself.
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare
raiment as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just
shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. Despite
all the hoarding of riches by the wicked, they shall not keep it. They go into
the grave and are remembered only in the manner expressed by the great English
poet, Sir Walter Scott, who wrote in My Native Land:
Boundless his wealth as
wish can claim;
Despite those titles,
power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred
all in self,
Living, shall forfeit
fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall
go down
To the vile dust, from
whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and
unsung.
18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that
the keeper maketh. The transition is quite normal from the raiment
of verse 16 to the moth's house here. When the raiment of the moth is shaken,
it falls apart. The keeper of the vineyard (still true in the Middle- and Far
East) builds his both from boughs of the trees. It falls apart with the desert
winds. 19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be
gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not. This is an
awful truth confirmed throughout Scripture, but, again, most beautifully in the
story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. There was
a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which
was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried (Luke
16:19-22) The grave, if that were the end, would be far more preferable than
the destination in which the Rich Man later finds himself. The same is true of
all wicked. 20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest
stealeth him away in the night. It is true that the wickedly rich
never find solace to their souls in either sleep or rest. They are haunted by
the memories of others from whom they have stolen wealth
21 The
east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out
of his place. I remember the high desert winds of
Iran which arose so suddenly that shelter was seldom available. It raised the
dust clouds thousands of feet into the sky. If unprotected, the sand blast
would skin a man alive. 22 For God shall cast upon him, and
not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. God will hammer such
a man with thunderbolts out of heaven, and there will be no hope of escape. 23 Men
shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.
The Iranian common people despise dogs. They resent their even approaching
nearby. That clap their hands and hiss at the wayward dog. I often wondered why
this inordinate hate for the poor animals, but the illustration fits perfectly.
Honest men will despise the swindler and defrauder of the people. Such a wicked
person can find no place to rest – just as the dogs of Iran find no comfort
among the people there. Should we not prefer a Godly life to the rigors and
depravity of a hated nomad?
In the Name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN
