Chapters 29 to 31 are the third and last part of Job’s final speech. In chapter 26 he had answered Bildad, and in chapters 27 and 28 all of his friends. But in these chapters, though he speaks in their presence, he is really engaged more in soliloquy than arguing with them.
Each chapter has a different main idea. In chapter 29 Job longs to return to the prosperity of his earlier life, in chapter 30 he laments present circumstances, and in chapter 31 he again defends his own righteousness.
Chapter 29
The most important thing to Job about his life before God afflicted him was that he knew the presence and favor of God (2–5a). God watched over him. The light of his face shone on him. He had guidance in darkness. God admitted him to his secret counsels. The Almighty was with him to give prosperity, peace and joy. Nothing that he had lost grieved him more than God turning against him.
But he also remembers with longing the days when his children were around him (v. 5b), when he enjoyed the abundant wealth God had given (v. 6), and when he was held in high esteem by his neighbors in the city (vv. 7–17). Then the young men regarded him with such respect and awe that they hid themselves when he took his seat among the elders in the gate of the city. Though he was relatively young, the aged stood to honor him in the same way that others honored them. Princes fell silent and nobles became tongue-tied.
They paid this respect to him because of the wisdom and righteousness of his judgments and because of his care for and defense of the weak and vulnerable among them. He delivered the poor and fatherless, saved the perishing and helped the widows. He was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a father to the poor. If a case came to him that he did not understand, he would search it out until he could render good judgment. He broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth.
Job has described the circumstances of his former life. Now he tells us what his expectations were (vv. 18–20). He thought then that he would die in peace and security at a good old age, that his wealth would be sufficient to make him comfortable for the rest of his life, and that his strength would endure.
In verses 21–25 he returns again to the subject of the respect others showed him, but now especially he focuses on how men listened to his speech. They received his counsel, did not dispute his wisdom, and waited for his words as the dry ground waits for the spring rains. If he mocked at them (some translations say, if he smiled at them) they did not believe it. They were glad when the light of his face shone on them. His words were to them as law and as words of comfort to mourners.
We should not see in these longings a proud heart humiliated by loss, but a godly man longing for the good things that the Lord had given him but now has taken away, and for the power to do the good he had done before.
Chapter 30
In chapter 30 Job describes how things had changed. The young men who used to hide when he entered the square, now stand openly before him and mock. The fathers of these young men were the outcasts of the city, but the young men think that Job has fallen lower even than they. They abhor him, keep their distance as if he had the plague, spit in his face and cast off restraint before him. They treat him with contempt (vv. 12–15), pushing him out of the way, interfering with his business and working for his harm. They are like the breakers of the ocean, rolling over him again and again. They trample his honor and rob him of his prosperity.
Therefore, his soul is poured out (vv. 16–19). His affliction allows him no rest. God, as it were, seizes his robe and twists him up in it so that he is choking. God throws him down in the mud and makes him like dust and ashes.
So far Job has been describing his present life, but in verses 20–23 he addresses God directly. I cry to you, but you do not answer. I stand before you, but you just sit there looking at me. You have become cruel to me and oppose me with your hand. You make me dangle in the wind and spoil my success. You are crushing me down to death.
But why does God do such things to him? Job is no more significant than a heap of ruins (v. 24, compare 13:25 and 14:2–3), and he has done nothing to deserve such treatment. On the contrary, he wept for those in trouble. He expected a reward according to his work, but evil and darkness have come instead (vv. 25–26).
His heart is in turmoil, his days are full of affliction, he has no joy, no one will listen to his cries for help. He is driven from the company of men, his skin grows black and his bones burn with fever. He can only sing songs of lament (vv. 27–31).
Chapter 31
In chapter 31 Job does again what he has done so often before; he defends his own righteousness.
Verses 1–4 introduce the subject. He says first that he has made a covenant with his eyes not to look with lust at a young woman. This is synecdoche—one righteous acting standing for righteousness in all his life. One would expect God to punish wickedness, but instead he punishes righteous Job (vv. 2–3). Does he not see Job’s ways and know every step he takes (v. 4)?
The rest of the chapter repeats with variations a kind of formula: 1) If I have committed this sin, 2) then let judgment fall on me, 3) because such sin would be heinous. The sins he denies having committed are falsehood (vv. 5–6), departing from God’s way in step, heart and hands (v. 7), adultery (v. 9), despising the cause of his servant (13–15), neglecting or oppressing the weak (16–23), putting his confidence in wealth (24–25), idolatry (26–27), vindictiveness against his enemies (29–30), lack of hospitality (31–32), hypocrisy (33–34) and misuse of his land (38–39).
The judgments he calls down on himself are loss of his crops (v. 8) for departing from the way; “let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her” (v.10) for adultery; tearing off of his arm (v. 22) for failure to use it to help the poor; and thistles and weeds instead of good crops (v. 40) for misuse of his land.
The reasons he gives for his repudiation of all these sin are that adultery even in his heart would be wickedness deserving destruction (vv. 11–12); despising the cause of his servant would be denying that God created both him and his servant, and they are fundamentally equal in God’s sight, equally deserving of justice (vv. 14–15); destruction from God terrifies him (v 23); and idolatry would be denying God above (v. 28). Note that after the long series of “if I’s” in verse 29f he does not add a then clause. He leaves the consequences to be filled in by God or his friends. In all this, he is saying that he is willing to accept judgment if he has sinned.
But, he insists, I have not sinned. If God would weigh me in his scales, he would know my integrity (v. 6). Instead of neglecting the poor I reared the fatherless as a father and guided the widow (v. 18). I did not allow my mouth to curse the soul of my enemy (v. 30). I provided for the travelers who passed my door (v. 32).
In verses 35–37 he gets to the heart of the matter. He wants God to hear him. He is convinced that if God would write an account of his life there would be nothing in it that he would be ashamed of. He would carry God’s book on his shoulder and wear it like a crown. He could approach God like a prince, openly and boldly, because there is nothing on his conscience.
These are bold and startling claims. Yet they are true. Job is not blinded with pride like the Pharisee who stood in the temple proclaiming before everyone the good things he had done. He is a man confident in the righteousness of God given him by the blood of atonement. He truly loves God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. He is wise because he fears God and departs from evil (cf. 28:28). He has confessed his sins and his conscience is clear, purified by God himself.
He sets before us an example of righteousness unparalleled in the rest of the Scriptures except in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. As God said, there was “none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). It is an example worthy of imitation.
There Job’s words end. He has no more to say to his friends or to God. He rests his case, persuaded that he has done the best he can do to present it honestly and fully. There is nothing more to say, and he becomes voluntarily silent. It only remains for God to compel his silence, and draw from him the confession, “I am vile. I will lay my hand on my mouth (40:4).” Job justifies himself rather than God (32:2). That is his great error, from the cursing of the day of his birth in chapter 3 to his last words in chapter 31.