"He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord."
(Prov. 17: 15)
Job was falsely accused. So too was Christ. Both were condemned though righteous. Their accusers and condemners were therefore "an abomination to the Lord." Each condemned the innocent and the righteous, and indirectly justified the wicked.
First in the story of Job we find that "the Satan" was his chief accuser. In the Bible Satan is called "the accuser of the brethren." (Rev. 12: 10) "Satan" also denotes an adversary (which all accusers are). The apostle Peter speaks of "your adversary the Devil" (I Peter 5: 8). Peter also wrote:
"Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ." (I Peter 3: 16)
In the previous chapter (post) we saw how both Job and Christ were hated and ridiculed, mocked and persecuted. In this chapter we will focus on how both were innocent and righteous men who were falsely accused. Though Satan was the chief accuser against Job he was not the only one. All four of the men who accused Job were false accusers and were no doubt influenced by Satan. To those men Job was an evildoer, a sinner of the worst kind. So too was Christ accused, as we will see. He too was accused and tempted directly by Satan.
Job Falsely Accused
"Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?" (7: 20)
Though the word "accuse" is not used in the book of Job, yet the idea is there, as we see in the above words. Like any innocent person would do in the face of a false accusation, Job asks what are the charges against him. He asks his accusers to plainly state their charges and present the evidence to support them. So too did our Lord ask his accusers to do the same.
"And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?" (John 18: 22-23) On another occasion he asks his accusers: “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?" (John 8: 46)
In both cases there was no evidence of guilt in either Job or Christ. The blasphemy against Job and Christ was wholly unjustified. In both cases we may say to their accusers - "You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you." (James 5: 6) To his accusers Job said: "I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent." (9: 28)
Many commentators believe that Job is addressing God in these words. He is the "you" who will not hold Job innocent. In my view it is another example of how the majority view of commentators is not always right. Job believes that God will hold him innocent, will judge him as righteous, and will demonstrate that his sufferings were not the direct result of sin. It makes more sense to see the above words as addressed to those of his three friends who spoke previously to this time (Job chapters 4-8). Eliphaz and Bildad have rendered their judicial decisions about Job's case and they have accused Job of deserving his calamities, and that he was not innocent. The pronoun "you" is second person singular, but this does not necessarily mean the "you" is God. It could be that it is addressed to either Eliphaz or Bildad who both had just spoken. It also could be a reference to them as a single group.
So too, many in Christ's time likewise had no intention of ever seeing Christ as an innocent sinless man. They thought he was a sinner because he ate and received sinners. They also thought he spoke blasphemy.
To Job it was said - “There is no end to your iniquities.” (Job 22: 5). What a false accusation! So different too from the description God gives of his servant Job! Eliphaz also says:
“You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.” (Job 22: 7-8)
This was a false accusation. Job would later respond to it, and to other false accusations, in Job chapter 31. There he says:
"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone." (16-22)
Job did not fail to give water to the thirsty or bread to the hungry. He never failed to help widows and orphans! He denies the unjust accusation. Job's religion was pure religion, and which, as James said, consisted in such.
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1: 27)
Job did remember the poor as did the apostles and all true believers. (Gal. 2: 10)
Bildad says to Job - "If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous." (8: 6)
On this accusation the Pulpit commentary says:
"If thou wert pure and upright. Job had asserted this, not in so many words, but substantially (Job 6:29, 30). We have God's testimony that it was true (Job 1:8; Job 2:3); not, of course, in the sense that he was absolutely free from sin, but in that qualified sense in which "just," and "righteous," and "pure," and "holy" can be properly used of men. Bildad implies, without boldly asserting it, that he does not believe Job to deserve the epithets, either absolutely or in a qualified sense. If he were so, Surely now he (i.e. God) would awake for thee."
Does God always come to the rescue of the innocent to save them from harm and false accusation? No, he does not. Does he always deliver the righteous from suffering unjustly and prosper him in this world? No, he does not. As I have pointed out in the series on Elihu's speeches, Elihu and the three senior friends of Job all taught what we call today the "prosperity gospel," teaching that if one is living in the will of God he will be blessed with wealth and health.
Now let us notice how these same type of false accusations were made against Christ Jesus.
"There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and he is mad; why listen to him?” (John 10:19–20)
Jesus the perfectly righteous was accused of being a "demonic" person, full of evil. He was accused of being crazy or insane. Mark also records that "the chief priests accused him of many things" (Mark 15: 3).
"Now the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree. Then some rose up and bore false witness against Him, saying, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.’ ” But not even then did their testimony agree." (Mark 14: 55-57)
"Many bore false witness against him." The false accusations made against Job foreshadowed those made against Christ.
"Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” (Luke 23: 1-2)
Just as Job was falsely accused and persecuted, so was Christ. So too have his followers been falsely accused and persecuted.
The Suffering Servant
Both Christ and Job may be called "suffering servants of Yahweh." Christ preeminently so, for he is the antitype and Job is the type. The sufferings of Job prefigured the sufferings of Christ. Job was a type of Christ in that he was a righteous innocent sufferer.
Job underwent a humiliation and exaltation that finds it’s antitype in the suffering and glorious exaltation of the Redeemer. Just as God meant good for Job through his sufferings (Job 42:12), so He meant good for Christ through His sufferings. Jesus is the righteous sufferer who shows forth the righteousness of God.
"Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” (Job 1: 8; 2: 3; 42: 7, 8)
Christ is greater than Job and of him it may be said in the highest sense "there is none like him on the earth." Of the righteousness, holiness, sinlessness, and moral purity of Christ, there is much testimony in scripture. Confessed Job:
“Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, And my calamity laid with it on the scales! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea— Therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me." (Job 6: 2-4)
These words may well be applied to Christ. Oh that we would weigh fully the grief and sorrows of Christ, the suffering servant of the prophet Isaiah. Says Isaiah of the Messiah:
"By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities." (Isa. 53: 11)
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles." (Isa. 42: 1)
Christ is "the Righteous One," and "the Holy One," and "the Just One" (Acts 3: 14; 7: 52; 22: 14).
In the new testament there is constant reference to "the sufferings (or afflictions) of Christ" (II Cor. 1: 5; Col. 1: 24; I Peter 1: 11; 5: 1) In the case of Job and of the other suffering prophets there also was "suffering affliction." The time of his sufferings is called the time of "the captivity of Job." (42: 10) In like manner we may speak of "the captivity of Messiah." Turning the captivity of someone in the OT denoted a restoration of lost fortunes. Christ, after his suffering and death, was restored to the right hand of God and to all the joys and heaven.
The sufferings of Job were in several respects. He had losses. He who was rich became poor even though righteous. So too Christ. Wrote the apostle Paul:
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." (II Cor. 8: 9)
On the other hand, Christ is superior to Job. Job's losses and sufferings were not a result of his choice, but Christ's were by his choice.
God treated Job as an enemy for a higher purpose. God the Father forsook Christ and treated him as an enemy in a moment of time when he was seen by God as bearing the sins of the people. So Christ prayed "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt. 27: 46) And so it is also written: "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief" (Isa. 53: 10).
Notice also these words of the prophet:
"I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty?" (Isa. 50: 6-9)
Job said: “God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.” (Job 16:11). This would be a fitting summary of what happened when the Savior was crucified, yet it was spoken by Job. Job also said: “They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek.” (Job 16:10) Again, this is another statement by Job that is very applicable to the Savior and to the above words of Isaiah.
We are told that “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends” (Job 42:10), friends who had symbolically crucified him with words. Jesus also prayed for the soldiers who, by military order, had literally crucified him: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
In the next posting we will consider the patience of Job and Christ and finish this short series.
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