But [Job’s 29th ] chapter is invaluable not only for its insight into Job’s bitter grief, but for the ideal of Hebrew morality it sets forth. It is a classic description of an old Hebrew community living in a small country town in the spacious days of the Israelite monarchy. The atmosphere it creates may be compared with that created in the novels of Jane Austen with their background in the rural England of the early 19th century. Job was the community’s “squire” or leading citizen, and the light of God’s friendship shone over his home. As a result Job was prosperous and happy, his family was around him, and he wanted for nothing. He was respected by everyone, young men moved out of his way to let him pass, old men stood when he entered the square by the gate where business was done. The poor and needy blessed him as he saw to their needs, he protected the orphan and caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy, he searched out those who needed help, and he controlled and punished the selfish and the criminal. And basking in God’s favour and in his own righteousness, he looked forward to a ripe old age and to dying, like Moses, his vigour unabated, avoiding the onset of disease and senility, and leaving behind him an unsullied name to be his memorial. The society of which Job speaks was one where righteousness mattered and justice was appreciated, and which was therefore integrated and whole. In Hebrew thinking, righteousness meant behaving appropriately, and justice meant giving every man his due. And what was appropriate and what was one’s due depended on one’s station in life. One recognized this, accepted life’s appropriate rewards without resentment and discharged its appropriate duties without complaint. One was not jealous or envious of those whom God had called to a higher station, nor did one act superior to, or take advantage of, those whom he had called to a lower. It was this appropriateness, this harmony, that the Wisdom movement had tried in the Book of Proverbs to discern and commend, an appropriateness and harmony which was in tune with the way things were done in heaven. Where such appropriateness and harmony were present in a community, God would be bound to shower [God’s] blessings upon it; and where they were not present, where the commonality of men refused to acknowledge their place, and the rich and powerful indulged in exploitation of the poor for their own selfish ends, it was only to be expected that society’s fabric should collapse and chaos reign. --J. C. L. Gibson, Job. Daily Study Bible Series
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 04:38:34 +0000
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