Job 42:9

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.