Job Chapter 24 by Matthew M. Murch
Dearly Beloved,
We continue with Job Chapter 24 in which Job continues his response to Eliphaz the Temanite.
1: Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2: Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3: They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4: They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
Doctrine: “Why do they that know him not see his days, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty?” At first glance, this sentence seems a little, so odd I’ve changed the order of the words into one that works a little better in English, and I hope this will help me clarify what we’re reading. In this sentence we are reminded that God sees all times equally clearly, as if they were all “now.” His memories do not fade over the years, and the future is, to Him, an open book. It has been said that if, for one instant, one could enter into a properly programmed computer every minute detail of the processes inside the sun, the location of every atom on and around the Earth, the precise location of the Moon and the exact refractive index of every location on the Moon, and the locations and vectors and energetic outputs of everything in the rest of the Universe, one could then calculate the exact weather for any location on Earth for all of time. God can and does know all this and much more. How can it be surprising, then, to discover that the future is as easily read by Him as the present? Job, recognizing this truth, then wonders how anyone who knew all this about God could possibly fail to maintain an awareness of God’s impact on each of our daily lives. Here is the chain of irrefutable logic: (God created man for His pleasure) + (God knows every detail of everything) + (God remembers everything He ever knew as clearly as if it were in the present) + (God can foresee where every current chain of events will eventually lead) + (God has chosen to set His Great Love on every man, woman, boy, and girl that has ever lived, that now lives, or that ever will live) = (God cannot fail to be actively involved in every aspect of my life). It puzzles Job how anyone with half a brain can fail to know that God is watching my every move with great interest and an active, anticipatory participation; and knowing this, how I could possibly fail to take His preferences into account in every decision I make.
Reproof: Do I, then, disregard God’s regard and go about doing harm to those around me?
Correction: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2. Unlike the wicked people mentioned in these verses from Job, God expects me to defend my neighbor’s landmarks, protect his goods, give and not loan, and prepare places for the needy.
Instruction: For extra credit (bearing in mind that the extra credit is to be “when ye shall have done all those things, say We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”), I have assigned to myself this homework: to be ever vigilant of my thoughts, testing often to see if I have an awareness of God’s presence.
5: Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6: They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
Doctrine: And God knows all this, and mercifully withholds His hand of vengeance to give them space to repent. Once again, I am made mindful of this in respect to how I deal with my own son. One more person has added his voice to those who counsel me to evict him unless he starts paying rent. I find that the answer of my heart matches that which I find in the Word. Does God evict me from His Own Body when I fail to live up to His expectations? Ought we to legalistically “disfellowship” every believer who does not contribute tithes the same way we believe we have been commanded to do? Do I want God to serve notice on me that I must live as a vagabond if I don’t immediately straighten up and fly right? If God does not cast me out of His Body, how can I cast my son out of something as removed from me as an apartment? God keeps reminding me of the parable of the servant in Matthew 18 who was forgiven a great debt, and then grabbed his fellow servant and threw him in jail over a minute debt.
Reproof: Do I fatten myself on the ungodly gain of others? To my thinking, this would include accepting a lucrative job knowing that my paychecks will come from the fruits of another’s wickedness. This means do I take a sales job selling something that does not give value for value? Do I take a management job managing people in a job that detracts rather than contributes?
Correction: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinthians 6:14. Almost all the Christians I have ever heard discuss this agree that this means that a Christian should not marry an unbeliever. Many go as far as to say that a Christian should not take on an unbeliever as a business partner. You also don’t meet very many Christian bartenders. Where, then, should I be drawing this line? I’m not sure I have the whole answer for me, let alone anyone else, but I do know that, more and more, I’m finding myself inclined to be very choosy about the kind of employer for whom I will work. I’ve always avoided the obvious, like bartending or dealing cards in a casino, or doing telemarketing that preys on the foolish who cannot afford what they are selling. But I’ve noticed that my standards keep rising. I find I am less and less willing to accept half the loaf. It isn’t enough that my employer refrain from hurting people, he must also refrain from trying to prevent me from doing well to others. This includes telling me I cannot share God’s hope with someone who is hurting. This includes telling me that I have to avoid telling people about a better deal they could get on a car if they only knew how to ask for it. This includes anything an employer might require that is less than totally honest, fair, and helpful to the customer. I genuinely believe that it is possible to make a profit by giving value for value in a fair and generous manner. I am seeking an employer who gets this.
Instruction: Looked at another way, the import of what Job is saying is very clear: If I seek ungodly gain, the wild animals will take it from me. Look at how the wild animals live, he tells me. They hide out in the unpopulated areas during the day, and then sneak in at night and do the work of God, taking away the profits of the sinful. In other words, he’s still saying what he was saying at the beginning of this chapter: I dare not think that I can hide what I do from God. Even when it looks like I’m getting away with something, a day of reckoning awaits me. If I will not serve Him willingly, after having promised Him my life in exchange for His, He will get his share when I’m not looking.
7: They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8: They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9: They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10: They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11: Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
Doctrine: Where is God in this picture? He is shivering in the cold, yearning for His mother, paying outrageous interest on the loan He had to have to survive, seeing the bread snatched from His hand before He has a chance to eat it, and laboring in want to line the pockets of the rich. God is very much in this picture, if I but know how to look. “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:34-40.
As for the “reproof, correction, and instruction” part, I will not belabor this further at this time lest I weary even God with my much speaking.
12: Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
Doctrine: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:3. I am so glad that God doesn’t think and act like me. Compared to how I was ten years ago, my patience is amazing. It pales into insignificance compared to His. Even when I am tempted to become indignant at how the wicked try His patience, God reminds me how patient He is with me. I cannot hate, I cannot despise, I cannot feel ought but pity for the wicked of this world. They receive God’s mercy and patience, but without the benefit of knowing it. “Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Romans 4:7, quoting Psalm 32:1. Imagine the joy they are missing by not recognizing how mercifully God treats them.
13: They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14: The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15: The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16: In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17: For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
Doctrine: “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” I John 1:5, and “Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.” Isaiah 50:10.
Reproof: Do I ever shun the light of God’s Holy Word? What is it that I fear?
Correction: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19. Given what I have learned, if I avoid God’s Word, it can only be because I am afraid I will discover the depths of my sin. A better response would be for me to beg that He expose it so I might more fully know the riches of His grace. “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:” Romans 5:20.
Instruction: How can I fear those who dwell in darkness when I know how greatly they fear the light? It is so much easier to bring light than it is to bring darkness. A match, a three-ounce flashlight, or my cell phone can bring light to any place of darkness, but to create darkness in a place of light, one must first find and extinguish every light and every chink in the wall that allows light in. Think about this: I am fifty-two years old. In all those years I have experienced exactly ten seconds of true absolute darkness. To do this, I had to hike uphill in the heat for an hour, and then descend deep into a chilly cave. “And fear * not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28.
18: He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19: Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20: The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
Doctrine: Praise God! Even His great patience and mercy has an end! Judgment will come at the right time. Every injustice will be corrected, every tear will be dried, every broken heart will be mended.
Reproof: Do I oppose God by desiring this end for my neighbor?
Correction: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9. Here is a good way to thoroughly confuse my emotions: put that verse together with this one: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20. My only solution is to work for the day when the whole Earth will be filled with His Glory, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Instruction: I wonder what would happen to me if I were suddenly unable to avoid seeing God’s face in everyone I meet. What if every time I saw someone pull food stamps out of a purse I were to look up and see the face of Christ? What if every time I saw a child teased, I saw the face of Christ in that child? Could I endure it? I am beginning to understand why it will be God, Himself, Who will wipe away every tear. He can because He was there shedding them with me.
21: He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22: He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
Doctrine: Again, where is God? In the person of the barren and the widow. I just went back and changed the wording I had originally used in this sentence because I saw something for the first time just now: It is the fact of Jesus’ incarnation and subsequent humiliation that demonstrates His ability to be present in those in need, watching us to see how we will treat Him. Had He not been born, lived, suffered, and died, could I so thoroughly believe that the person asking me for help is really Christ?
Reproof: Do I seek to become powerful enough to attract the mighty to me to do my bidding? I know this sounds a little far-fetched and grandiose, but we have all played this game at one time or another. It is why we gossip, form cliques, and join groups. It’s about power. There is strength in numbers (groups and cliques) and the strong demonstrate their strength by defeating the weak (gossip.) Gossip is always evil, but there are legitimate uses of the strength that comes from bonding with others. We need, however, even within those legitimate uses, to discern within ourselves when we are leading and when we are striving for dominance.
Correction: “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” I Timothy 4:12. Here is where I find the description of a godly leader. I am not to allow others to disregard the gifts God has given me for arbitrary reasons such as age and socioeconomic status, but all my leading needs to flow from a heart of love, a spirit of service, and a life of obedience, faith, and godliness.
Instruction: One of the greatest evils into which I, as a minister of the Gospel, can fall is to become so taken with my own greatness that I fail to notice when those around me become afraid to speak openly with me. This is what results when I yield to the drive to dominate: I become harsh, judgmental, and close-minded. When this occurs, no one in the group can feel any assurance of acceptance by the group, for in such a situation I can, as the leader, force the group to reject anyone who disagrees with me. Again, this may sound grandiose, but I have seen many instances of pastors driving good servants away by downgrading them if they dare to disagree with the party line.
23: Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24: They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
Doctrine: Again we see that there is a limit to God’s patience, and woe to him who oversteps it.
Reproof: Do I allow myself to become complacent, to let down my guard because I think I have achieved some pinnacle of faith that exempts me from doing battle with our adversary?
Correction: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” I Corinthians 10:12
Instruction: I think our culture has tried to teach me to think incorrectly about death. Our culture views death as fairly final, and to be avoided at all costs, unless one belongs to a select few for whom death is kinder than life (the unborn, retarded, aged, and “terminally ill.”) Thus we are encouraged to heedlessly spend huge sums of money trying to prevent the inevitable on the one hand, and then to callously murder the feeble on the other. Job teaches me to view death differently. It is final for the wicked, to be sure, but an inevitability for all. Not something to be sought, but neither a thing to be greatly feared.
25: And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Doctrine: Another side of God: when we are right, He is pleased if we say so. Again, our culture has tried mightily to convince me that I should always end every sentence with “in my opinion.” How in the world did we let them get away with making “open-mindedness” of more value than truth? God wants me to stand up and speak the truth when I know it “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;” Psalm 107:2.
Reproof: Do I allow a fear of others to hinder me from speaking the truth in love?
Correction: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” II Timothy 4:2. I’m taking the liberty to paraphrase this one as follows: “Preach Christ whether it’s considered politically correct to do so or not; call sin “sin,” truth “truth,” and righteousness “righteousness,” be as persuasive as you can be as often as necessary, without giving up or giving in, and fearlessly proclaim Who God really Is. This is what God expects me to do.
Instruction: God is not pleased when I “politely” agree that some sins are okay. It does not make me more acceptable to God, and ultimately to man, to condone open licentiousness as “tolerance.” Why do I say “ultimately to man”? I am determined to learn to think in terms of what my neighbor will say about me to God on the Day of His Wrath. When God asks my neighbor “Why did you reject my Son?” my neighbor is not going to say “I’m glad Matthew was too polite to push his religion on me.” My neighbor is going to say “Because Your kids didn’t seem to think it was very important for me to know Him.”
In His Service
Matthew M. Murch
http://matthewmurch.home.services.spaces.live.com