Job 31:15

If I despised the right of my bondman or of my bondmaid, in their contending with me, what then shall I do when God arises? And when He visits, what shall I answer Him?

In the essentials, how little is the difference! Alike they come into the world, and alike they stand when the world passes away. "Rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all." The poor man is entitled to remember this, and the rich man ought not to forget it.

Had Job despised the cause of any of his servants, whether male or female? If this were true, he asks, what should he do when God raised the question with him? For God made these servants just as He had made Job. Job had considered this fact long before, we are sure, so that he was not guilty of oppressing the creatures of God.

The Hebrew word rekem means "embroidery." The verb from it appears in a striking passage in that wonderful psalm, the 139th. That psalm traces God's thought and care of man from his beginnings in the womb: "My substance was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skilfully wrought (that is, embroidered) in the depths of the earth." And indeed, the intricate interweaving of nerves, veins and arteries can be compared to nothing more justly than to a marvellous embroidery. This is true of every person. Can God be lacking in consideration and tenderness for a being on whom He has bestowed such wonderful care?

He begins with his household. Its well-ordered character grew out of the inherent purity of its master. He asserts his fairness in all his dealings with his servants, recognising their common nature and standing before God, who "shows no partiality." Then he moves out to the needy poor: the fatherless and the widow had shared his food, and he had warmed them with his clothing. In brief, he was as a father to the orphan and as a son to the widow. Surely we have here an illustration of religion that is "pure and undefiled" (James 1:27).

Masters are then urged, and reminded that their Master is in heaven, and that "there is no partiality with Him." He notes threatening and oppression. The cry of the poor and needy comes up in His ears, and He will repay it in the coming day. This verse should read, I believe, "their Master and yours is in the heavens." That adds an important point: both master and servant are responsible to the one Lord, and will stand together at the same judgment seat.

To all of this we can only say, True and excellent — but why should he speak of it? Why not let his fear of God keep him from these things, rather than boast of them?