the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
Job remembers walking into the city gate. The leading men stopped talking — not because he held any office, but out of respect for the man himself. It is a memory of honour at its height, and the commentators ask the harder question behind it: why did God take all this away?
The scene at the gate
The nobles are the men of rank who normally did the talking. One writer sets their silence inside the wider scene at the gate:
William KellyWhen he went from the gate up into the city and took his seat in the open square, young men hid themselves in awe. Grey-headed men rose and stood until he sat down. Leading men and rulers held back from speaking and kept a respectful silence. The nobles and men of note, who usually did the talking, went quiet, their tongue sticking to the roof of their mouth. Such was the reverence that met Job among them — and his influence was all the greater because he held no office.
A true report, told by the wrong man
Every detail of it was true. The problem is not the facts but the mouth they come out of:
Samuel RidoutJob now, in memory, passes out of his gates to take his leading place among his fellows. It is pitiful to hear a truly great man describing his supremacy over others. The young men hid themselves, the elders rose up and remained standing until he took his seat. Had not this sense of his greatness fostered a pride in Job which made his downfall a necessary dealing of God? He was a prince of princes; nobles were struck dumb in his presence! He is describing his place among the councillors of the city; he was their president and chief.
What honour should do to us
Another writer says what honour from others should do to the person who receives it:
Leslie M. GrantAuthorities would not take the lead in speaking, for everyone would wait on Job. Though these things might be true, he ought not to have dared to boast in such honour. The honour men give to us should only humble us to the dust.
Forty mentions of himself
One writer counted how often Job speaks of himself here, then looked at what became of the crowd that admired him:
C. H. MackintoshWe look in vain for any breathings of a broken and contrite spirit here. There are no signs of self-loathing, or even of self-distrust. In this one chapter Job refers to himself more than forty times. He mentions God only five times. It reminds us of Romans 7, where "I" dominates in the same way. But there is this immense difference. In Romans 7 "I" is a poor, weak, good-for-nothing, wretched creature standing before the holy law of God. In Job 29 "I" is a most important and influential figure, admired and almost worshipped by his fellow men. Now Job had to be stripped of all this. The very men who flattered him in the day of his prosperity treated him with contempt in the day of his adversity.
Real goodness, wrongly remembered
Job never chased the honour that came to him. The fault lay further in, in what he did with the memory of it:
William KellyOne of the beautiful features about Job was that he did not pretend to be noble, and he did not seek to be a prince. He was like a king in the nobility of his character — what a king ought to be. He was noble in his ways. All of it would have been admirable if he had not said it or thought it. That is the important point. "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." That does not mean other people do not know about it. The wrong is that our left hand should know what our right hand does — that is, we ought not to think about it.
Job's own mouth stopped
Later the picture turns around. The man before whom nobles could not speak finds he has nothing to say:
A. J. PollockHow was Job's mouth stopped? Through long chapters in his book he argues out his own righteousness. He boasted that he was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the poor. He boasted that he made the widow's heart sing, and that he put on righteousness as a garment and justice as a crown. And it was no idle boast. At last he comes into God's presence and says, "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth." In God's presence his mouth is stopped.
Summary
- Silence given. At the city gate the nobles went quiet and their tongues stuck fast. The respect was for the man, not for any office.
- Silence deserved. The record was true: Job really had been eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, a father to the poor.
- Silence savoured. The trouble was that he replayed it; forty mentions of himself in one chapter against five of God.
- Silence unlearned. The lesson he needed was the hidden right hand — good done and then not thought about again.
- Silence returned. The man before whom nobles could not speak ends with his own hand over his own mouth, in God's presence.