Context No. 665 of 4322 · Job
Context · Reflection
Job 29:1-16: in context
1Job again took up his parable, and said, 2“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; 3when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, 4as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was in my tent, 5when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, 6when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, 7when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. 8The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. 9The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 10The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. 11For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it commended me, 12because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, 13the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. 14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. 15I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. 16I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know.
After his friends have run out of arguments, Job begins his last long speech, and he opens it looking backward. He remembers the months of old, when God watched over him, when the friendship of God was in his tent and his children were around him. He remembers walking to the city gate and taking his seat in the square, and how the young men stepped aside and the old men stood, how the princes stopped talking and the nobles went quiet when he came.
But he does not stop at the respect. He says what it rested on. The ear that heard him blessed him and the eye that saw him approved, because he rescued the poor who cried out and the orphan with no one to help, because the blessing of the dying came on him and he made the widow's heart sing. He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, a father to the needy, and he looked into the case of the stranger he did not know. The standing he grieves was not his wealth. It was a life bent toward the people who could not repay him.
Job misses an honor that grew out of what he gave away. If I lost my standing tomorrow, would what I miss be what I gave, or only what I had?
Sources
- Job 29-31: Job's closing defense of his life, which these verses begin
- Job 1:1: the narrator's own verdict on Job, that he was blameless and upright
- Job 31:16-22: Job's oath of innocence, spelling out the care for the poor, the orphan, and the widow he recalls here