Job 42:1–9

We have now the second and closing answer of Job to Jehovah. The three friends have not a word to say. They are as silent before His solemn intervention and appeal as they were when the sufferer silenced them, and when they could not speak with Elihu. Here is the moral solution of the book. It comes before the formal sentence on the great controversy in verses 7 and 8, and before the open mark of divine blessing that follows in verses 10-17.

This portion forms the connecting link between the present part and the last main division of the book. As showing the effect upon Job of Jehovah's words, it belongs to the fourth division; as introductory to the conclusion of the whole book it belongs to the brief fifth division.

Again Job responds to the piercing, humbling words of Jehovah. Again he repeats his confession in a complete way. He acknowledges that God is all-powerful. Nothing can block His purposes, and those purposes display His power, wisdom and goodness as fully as His works do. There is a complete surrender and reversal of all that he had previously said against God.

The friends are silent; Job does not believe in his heart only but makes confession with his mouth. He murmurs no more. He resents no more. He questions no more. He openly owns, as something realised in his soul, that Jehovah is able for all things, and that no purpose is withheld from Him… Not a word now about his friends, or about their lack of understanding, honesty and love, however true that was. He judges himself before God. He takes the words God had applied to him — the withering proof of his presumption — and makes them the lowly words of a man who felt his need of learning from God.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear" — Job had been correctly instructed in a general way, but he had only learned about God. "But now my eye sees you." He had been brought face to face with God — not with his eyes, though the awful glory was in the sky — but he had a perception of God in his soul, through his enlightened reason and chiefly through conscience. God had drawn near, personally near. Job was conscious of the indescribable holiness, as well as the power, that belong to Him. Previously he had been in the presence of man, and could more than hold his own with the best of them. In God's presence no creature can boast, and Job was at last in that glorious, holy Presence.

Here, then, was the turning point. Job now calls all his earlier statements about God and His ways "words without knowledge." What a confession! What a moment in a man's history, when he discovers that he has been all wrong! What a thorough breakdown! What profound humiliation!… To get right thoughts about God is to begin to get right about everything. If I am wrong about God, I am wrong about myself, wrong about my fellow men, wrong about everything.

God blessed Job abundantly, turning his captivity and giving him twice as much as he had before. He did this when Job had prayed for his friends — and not until then… Yet God held that tide of blessing back until Job was deeply changed in spirit and character. Job, therefore, was not a loser but a gainer by God's dealings, even in material things.

The friends are silent; Job does not believe in his heart only but makes confession with his mouth. He murmurs no more, he resents no more, he questions no more. He now admits openly, as something he knows in his soul, that the Lord is able for all things, and that no purpose is withheld from Him. Evil in men or Satan, ruin everywhere in this fallen world, had touched Him in no way at all.

He now realises that ignorance of God had driven his earlier words. God "can do everything." This reminds us of Peter's words to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, you know everything" (John 21:17). Peter needed the same lesson Job needed. He too had shown too much confidence in the flesh when he insisted that he would not deny the Lord Jesus, even if all the others did.

He acknowledges God's omnipotence, and that He cannot be thwarted in His purposes, which exhibit His power, wisdom and goodness as fully as do His works. There is a complete surrender and reversal of all that he had previously said against God.

His counsel will stand, and He will do all His pleasure… God will show His supremacy. He will secure, for His own glory and pleasure, all that He has purposed for the blessing of this poor world.

In God's presence, as it were under God's eye, Job learned by experience that He was Almighty. He learned that God searches every thought of the heart.

"Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" Why, it was himself; he owns it. Then comes his great confession: "I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear." I knew it as a report outside myself. But now I have made it my own. I have applied it to my own soul, my own circumstances, my own state — "but now my eye sees You. Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." That was the great moral victory God had won.

If man could fathom the government of God, he would no longer be man, but God… If God is to be God, then His ways, the workings of His government, the mysteries of His providence, His purposes, His counsels and His judgments must lie far beyond the reach of the greatest human or angelic mind. No angel, no man and no devil can comprehend God… When the soul takes this place, all unbelieving questions come to an end. Until then there is little use in discussion.

Whatever may happen in this world, we can confidently rest in the knowledge that God can "do everything, and that no thought can be withheld from You."

Here we have his full answer, his complete bowing down before Jehovah. He acknowledges first Jehovah's supreme power. He is all-powerful and can do all things. Then he quotes Jehovah's own words (38:2; 40:2). "You have asked me, Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" It is strange that some interpreters misuse these words, as if the Lord were rebuking Elihu again. No — as we have shown before, He rebukes Job for the wild and reckless charges he had made against the Lord. And now Job acknowledges that Jehovah's rebuke is right.

Quoting Jehovah's own words, he asks himself, Who is he who darkens counsel? — who dares to throw a shadow upon the Almighty! There are mysteries in His ways, as there are in all creation and providence. But no one gains anything by rebelling against these mysteries of God's counsel. He did not even know the simplest truths of nature in their hidden meaning. Yet he had spoken of things beyond the reach of a limited mind, and so he had spoken folly. How different he had been from the devout psalmist: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it" (Ps. 139:6). He had intruded into the things of God, and had dared to speak evil of divine omnipotence and goodness!

He now realises that his earlier words came out of ignorance of God, who "can do everything." This reminds us of Peter's words to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, you know everything" (John 21:17). Peter had to learn the same lesson as Job. He too had trusted himself too much, insisting that he would never deny the Lord Jesus, even if everyone else did. Job fully admits to the Lord that he had spoken without knowing what he was saying — things too wonderful for him. He had tried to handle matters far beyond his understanding, and he found himself humiliated.

He complains no more, he resents no more, he questions no more. He openly owns, as something real in his soul, that Jehovah is able to do all things, and that no purpose is withheld from Him. Evil in men or Satan, and ruin everywhere in this fallen world, had touched Him in no way. His own difficulties and arguments were only the unsubmissive heart of a man who darkened counsel without knowledge, as Jehovah Himself had said at the start. Now it was Job who declared his own ignorance. He did not understand — things too wonderful for him that he did not know. Not a word now about his friends, or their lack of intelligence, honesty and charity, however true that was. He judges himself before God. He takes the words God had used against him — the crushing proof of his presumption — and makes them his own. They become the humble words of a man who felt his need to learn from God, and who wanted that learning worked in him.

Job had opened his mouth "in vain," or "in vanity." His words were many, but they carried no knowledge. The excellence of Job's outward life had betrayed him into an inward spirit of vanity. That vanity was the root of his failure to truly know himself. Job himself confesses this in Job 42:3.

Here we have his full answer, his complete prostration before Jehovah. He acknowledges first Jehovah's supreme power. He is omnipotent and can do all things. Then he quotes Jehovah's own words (38:2; 40:2). You asked me, "Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" … And now Job acknowledges that Jehovah's rebuke is right. It is all true, he says, I uttered things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, beyond my grasp. Hear me now, Jehovah, I will speak. Once more he quotes Jehovah's word. You have said (40:2), "I ask of you, answer Me." Here then is MY answer, he replies.

Job is still applying Jehovah's words to himself. He asks, "Who is this?" and says, "Hear, and I will speak." It is as though he would bow low to these questions by repeating them, and so give his answer to his divine Questioner. And what an answer it is! It is the only answer human pride can give to God: "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear." Job had received right instruction in a general way, but he had only learned about God. "But now my eye sees You."

Look back at the beginning of Job 23. There Job had spoken with self-confidence about his wish to meet God. He felt sure he could set out his case before Him, fill his mouth with arguments, and know the words in which God would answer him. Now the moment came for that wish to come true. Jehovah tells him to brace himself like a man and to be ready to answer the voice of God. The questioning would now come from God.

He winds up what he thought would be his final speech with a challenge to the Almighty Himself. "Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me," he cries. "I would declare to Him the number of my steps. AS A PRINCE I WOULD GO NEAR TO HIM." … The Almighty took up his challenge. He had heard all his proud words and now He answers him and demands that Job open his mouth again. "Gird up your loins like a man; for I will question you, and you answer Me" (chap. 38:3).

You can ask any question in two ways. You can ask in humility, with a sincere desire to learn. Or you can ask in presumptuous rebellion against the answer, whatever it may be. In the first case the questioner truly takes the place of a learner, and that is the right thing for him to do. In the second case he assumes there is no satisfactory answer, or that the answer is certainly being kept from him.

God laid Job low on every point. He overwhelmed him in every way with a sense of his own ignorance and presumption. Job had talked about the far more wonderful ways of a God who deals with a man's heart, a man's soul, a man's circumstances now. The Lord does not put that last part into words. It was God showing His majesty, power, wisdom and goodness in outward things. If that were true of God, how much more in spiritual things?

These moments in the presence of God had produced a result which all the talk of the three friends, and even of Elihu, had not achieved. This man stood out among men, and even God Himself had given him a testimonial. Yet he had discovered his own utter sinfulness in the deepest springs of his being. A discovery we all in our turn have to make!

Previously he had known of Him by "the hearing of the ear"; that is, by tradition. But now, said he, "my eye sees you"; that is, he grasped God in a new and living way. He did not "see" in a literal sense, as 1 Timothy 6:16 assures us, yet the eye is only the organ of sight and it is the mind that sees. Again and again we say, "I see," when something that made no appeal to our eyes has sunk into our minds.

He perceived God in his soul, by his enlightened reason and above all by conscience. God had drawn near, personally near, and Job was conscious of that indescribable holiness, as well as power, that belong to Him. Previously he had been in the presence of man, and could more than hold his own with the best of them. In God's presence no creature can boast... All the "filthy rags" of an imagined personal righteousness dropped from him.

Though Job had heard something about the Lord, it was not enough to meet Job's actual need. Now he came face to face with the greatness and glory of the Lord. The result was, "I abhor myself." He did not abhor only what he had done. He abhorred himself. That self was the root of whatever he may have done, and God was dealing with the root: the pride of Job's very character.

There was a time when things were very different for Job. He was prosperous, flourishing, and very pleased with what he had done. Then he stated, "when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me it gave witness to me." Now he says, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." When the eye was filled with Job there was one story to tell. When Jehovah filled the vision, and Job appeared only in the light of His presence, the story was quite another.

The light that shows us what we are is the light of God. So our knowledge of Him always runs ahead of our knowledge of ourselves: "My eye sees you: therefore I abhor myself." Peter learned what a sinful man he was in the presence of the Saviour. This is what holds us up as we come to know ourselves.

This is the effect of having seen God, and of finding himself in His presence. God's work was finished — the work of His perfect goodness. That goodness would not leave Job until it had made him know himself, and had brought him into God's own presence. The discipline reached its object, and Job now has more blessings around him than before.

We do not underrate the importance of Bible study... There are things that can only be learned in God's Bible-study School... But to graduate in the knowledge of God that comes by experience, we must enter His school of discipline — a school whose course lasts a lifetime.

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." It was nothing external now; no mere distant rumour. "Now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself." Do you think that searching into the structure or habits of behemoth and leviathan would have led to anything of the sort? Certainly not. He was dealing with God Himself, who used them for that very purpose, and so turned Job from everything else to Himself.

Before this, Job had been in the presence of men, and he could more than hold his own with the best of them. In God's presence no creature can boast, and Job was at last in that glorious, holy Presence. All the "filthy rags" of an imagined personal righteousness dropped from him, and he stood in all the naked horror of pride and rebellion against God. "Therefore I abhor" — what? The whole past, every unjust suspicion, every hot accusation, every despairing, restless lament? Yes, more, the author and source of these — "I abhor myself." Who can doubt that Job's repentance goes beyond judging his words? He judged himself. The very absence of the pronoun stresses the thought: "I abhor." I stand out before everyone, described by one word — "abhor."

Now it is not a question of condemnation but of sin. When the sinner has judged himself, the fear of condemnation has passed away... So Job takes God's side against himself. He laid himself before God, and abhorred himself; and then he repents in dust and ashes; for it is only in the presence of God that we learn repentance. True repentance, at its fullest, is this: our sin is so fully brought out that we take God's side of the question. We judge ourselves, and we justify Him. Then it is that He justifies us, and makes us accepted in the Beloved.

It is one thing to say "We are all vile." It is quite another to feel, deep down in the heart, that "I am vile." We can only learn that, and keep living in it, in the immediate presence of God. The two things must always go together: "My eye sees You" — "Therefore I abhor myself." As the light of what God is shines in on what I am, I abhor myself... It is of little use to claim very low thoughts of self while we are quick to resent any injury done to us — any imagined insult, slight, or put-down.

The puzzle of the book of Job is solved. God allowed the afflictions to come on His servant Job. It was not only to show His power. It was for Job's good, to draw him into the place of nearness and blessing. And that place is the dust, "in dust and in ashes."

These are the words for which we may say the Lord had long been listening. He had not heard them in the days of the patriarch's prosperity, though his piety was unquestioned... God's purpose was to draw out just this confession. And why? To humiliate him? No, but to give him the true glory — to let him, out of the dust, see the glory of the Lord, and never again to have a cloud upon his soul.

The plan or structure is very distinct. There is a prologue in Job 1, 2 with a corresponding conclusion or epilogue in the last chapter (Job 42:7-17). The question is raised in heaven between God and Satan, the man on earth most concerned being wholly ignorant of it until grace prevailed and the word revealed all.

He singles out the oldest of them. Of the three, this man had spoken with the least bitterness — but he was still guilty, for as the wisest he ought to have known best.

But God does not accept honour at the expense of truth. It is His glory that all His attributes blend in one harmonious light. Can He then accept a defence of His character and ways that is built on a false charge? Such a charge stamps wickedness and hypocrisy on a man of whom He Himself had said, "There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil." Can He let so monstrous a theory of suffering pass — the theory these men worked out, that suffering is always the unerring finger pointing to wickedness? That it is all in wrath? What then becomes of His testing of His own? What becomes of the sanctifying effect of chastening?

No doubt they had spoken of God. But what they said about Him was cloudy, distorted, and false… They completely failed to bring God before the soul of their friend. So they also failed to produce the self-judgment he needed.

But God felt seriously about men who claimed to speak properly, while underneath that calm surface they failed to apply the truth of God to the case… Abstract truth is altogether useless for the saints of God. Things that are true, but misunderstood and misapplied, may do more harm than many a thing that is false. Misapplied truth gives the apparent authority of God to an error, and that error carries all the more weight because it comes as the truth… So if someone uses the truth of God wrongly — if he applies it to crush a man who is an object of intense interest to God at the time — how foreign and offensive to His mind!

Where then was the thing that was right? There is this much we can easily see. He certainly said what was right when he humbled himself completely before God… Job justified God at his own expense. He no longer claimed his own righteousness. He claimed his own nothingness and vileness in dust and ashes before God, whom he acknowledges without reserve to be perfectly right.

Here is a beautiful lesson. Job has confessed and Jehovah has forgiven. He forgets all Job's sinful words; He remembers them no more. But in infinite grace He takes the few sentences scattered through Job's speeches where he honoured the Lord and showed his trust in Him. With these He is well pleased… And so He acknowledges Job as His servant.

He observed that none of these three men said a word. They did not profit by it like Job. If they had truly profited by it, they would have joined Job and said, "O Lord, forgive our folly. We have sinned not only against You, but against our dear friend Job." But no. They held their tongues, as so many people do when they are very wrong.

What a great favour God gave His servant! He enabled him to intercede for those who had so greatly abused him, and He accepted his intercession on their behalf… And how good for us to see how God connects Job's intercession with his return to prosperity. We read, "And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends" (Job 42:10).

God felt gravely about men who claimed to speak properly but completely failed to apply the truth of God to the case… Things that are true, yet misunderstood and misapplied, may do more harm than many a thing that is false. Misapplied truth gives the apparent authority of God to an error, and that error carries all the more weight because it comes as the truth… If someone uses the truth of God wrongly — if he applies it to crush a person God is deeply concerned about at that time — how foreign and offensive to His mind!

Why did God speak to Eliphaz? He noticed that none of these three men said a word. They did not profit by it as Job did. If they had, they would have joined Job and said, "O Lord, forgive our folly; we have sinned not only against You, but against our dear friend Job." But no, they held their tongues, as so many people do when they are very wrong.

Job's mistakes are obvious enough. Where then was the thing that was right? … He said the right thing when he humbled himself completely before God… Job said what was right in his last words, when he answered the Lord's appeal to him. There God brought him into His own presence… Job justified God at his own expense. He no longer asserted his own righteousness. He owned his own nothingness and vileness in dust and ashes before God, whom he admits without reserve to be perfectly right.

All of them, Job included, had erred in the interpretation of God's dealings, if that were all; and on that account, first Elihu becomes interpreter for Him, and then God Himself speaks. But Job had spoken rightly of God; and his friends had not.

They had sinned, so they needed a sacrifice. Otherwise the Lord must have dealt with them according to their folly. Only the burnt offering He prescribed here could spare them from such dealing… He commanded them to bring seven bulls and seven rams, and the whole formed only one burnt offering. One sacrifice was enough in God's eyes; it was not to be repeated.

At this time it does not appear that there were sin offerings. This is a strong sign of the very early date of the book, or rather of the events recorded in it. It must have been before the law. Under the law of Moses a sin offering would of course have been offered. But before the law set out its careful and detailed rules for what sin required, people regularly brought the burnt offering.

They were to act in a way that did two things. First, it bore witness to sacrifice as the only ground on which sinful men may deal with God. Second, it humbled them, because they had to ask for the prayers of the very man they had been accusing and slandering. They were to be the humble applicants, and Job was to act as a priest of God!

If the sin is not a sin to death, and the brother has not repented of it, it may still lead to his being cut off, taken away with a stroke. Then prayer is to be made, and his life will be spared… So, in Job 42:8, Job's intercession turns aside the effect of God's displeasure.

He did not only turn their punishment away when Job prayed. He turned Job's own captivity when his heart went out on their behalf… His heart was active in grace. He had seen grace, and now he showed grace — and this for the very people who had wounded him most. No one in the world had wounded Job as his three friends had.

It was all perfectly clear now; so clear, that he could act for those who were wrong. "Otherwise I will deal with you according to your folly, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." Now they were humbled. So the men who had been sitting in judgment on Job took the place of offenders against God, and they looked to Job to plead with the Lord for them.

They had sinned, so they needed a sacrifice, otherwise the Lord would have had to deal with them according to their folly. So nothing could free them from that dealing except the burnt offering God prescribed here. A sacrifice can therefore deal with the question of sin once it has been committed. Job's friends proved this. God commanded them to bring seven bulls and seven rams — seven of each kind, a perfect number. The whole made only one burnt offering, for one sacrifice was enough in God's eyes; it was not to be repeated. Nothing was to be lacking that would assure them their sin was settled, perfectly and for ever. God in His grace provided this.

At this time there do not seem to have been sin offerings. That is no small hint of how early the book is, or rather how early the events it records are. All this must have happened before the law. Under the law given in Leviticus they would of course have offered a sin offering. But before the law gave that careful and detailed instruction for cases of sin, people regularly offered the burnt offering.

It must have been an extraordinary scene. Verse 10 shows that the change in Job's body and in his fortunes came only after he prayed for his friends. Here were the three friends, well-off gentlemen of the east, with their sacrifices. And here was Job, a wasted figure covered with boils. Yet this poor physical wreck is in touch with God, and able to hold up his hands in gracious and priestly intercession.

Job's prayer was effective since he was now right with God, and not only right with his friends. We have the plain statement, "The LORD accepted Job." The man who condemned and disowned himself stands accepted before God. This has always been God's way… But we have to move on to the New Testament to find the basis on which the acceptance rests. The character of the acceptance that is ours today is found in the words, "blessed us in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). In Job's day this had not yet come to light.

What a sweet scene this is, as Job prays for his humbled friends. How it again reminds us of Him who always lives to make intercession for His people. God has accepted Him in His great sacrificial work on the cross, and we are accepted in Him.

Let us not miss how all this applies to ourselves. Disputes arise among brothers and sisters in Christ. If they happen away from the presence of God, debate can be fierce and division can follow. But let them feel the presence of God, let them judge and hate self, and a completely different spirit takes over and they reach a right solution.