The Longing: A Nostalgia for Paradise: Job: The Wisdom of the Cross [Job 29]

Brian Larkin

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Job’s Final Defense {Job 29-31} The Longing: A Nostalgia for Paradise: Job: The Wisdom of the Cross [Job 29]

{Pray} Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand.

One commentator said, “IT IS A MARK OF GRACE when a desperate longing for a lost happiness turns out to contain within itself the seeds of a future destiny.”

This is what we will see in Job. We will hear him expressing a yearning that he feels now to be hopeless, and yet it points to a coming joy. He will speak with what is, on the face of it, a desperate, even bitter nostalgia for a treasured past. And yet this memory will turn out to be a “nostalgia for paradise,” a paradise that will yet be his.

What Job longs for is something he has already partially experienced. This kind of longing, lit up by an experience in this world and yet pointing beyond. In the twentieth century C. S. Lewis expressed it like this:

“Most people would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us... are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy.… There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality.”

A Speech of Longing

Job begins, “Oh, that …” (v. 2) with the sense, “Oh, how I wish or long for …” What Job is about to say is not a mere description of his past; it expresses a deep longing.

We have heard and felt Job’s longings before, in chapter 19 (“Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead …,” 19:23, 24)

...and in chapter 23 (“Oh, that I knew where I might find him …,” 23:3)....

We shall hear and feel them again near the end of this speech (“Oh, that I had one to hear me!… Oh, that I had the indictment …,” 31:35). Indeed, this whole speech is bracketed by heartfelt yearning. This is important. Mere description can be dispassionate, but longings reveal the heart. So as we trace the lines of Job’s desires, we prepare ourselves to see how this sweet and painful nostalgia points forward to a greater fulfillment to come.

The Structure of Job 29

The two main facets of Job’s nostalgia relate to his fellowship with God (vv. 1–6) and his dignity and stature in his society (vv. 7–25). But it will be helpful to subdivide the latter into his dignity (vv. 7–10), the reason for his dignity (vv. 11–17), his hopes (vv. 18–20), and then in conclusion his dignity again, repeated for climactic emphasis (vv. 21–25). I have chosen headings that deliberately point forward to the fulfillment of Job’s longings.

Job Longs for the Friendship of the Son (vv. 2–6)

Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

when his lamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

as I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my children were all around me,

when my steps were washed with butter,

and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! (vv. 2–6)

What Job longs for first and foremost is very revealing of his heart. When he begins “Oh, that I were as in the months of old” (v. 2a) and then starts the parallel with “as in the days …” (v. 2b), we naturally want to complete the poetic parallelism by saying something like “as in the days when all was well with my life, my family, and my business.”

Of course Job would love to be back in those good old days. But when Job completes the parallelism of verse 2 he says, “as in the days when God watched over me.” It was the loving watchfulness of God over his life that meant everything to him, not because of the blessings that were consequent upon that watchfulness, but because of the fellowship with God that lay at its heart.

Fellowship with God is often, and beautifully, expressed with this language of God watching with a smiling face. The priests would later bless Israel by saying, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24–26). And yet for Job, God’s watching has become a hostile, unforgiving intrusion: “If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me …” (Job 10:14); “You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths …” (Job 13:27). Above all else, Job longs for restored fellowship with God.

This fellowship had meant that although Job “walked through darkness” (29:3), in a world of sin and sadness, he could see where he was going and could be confident of life as he walked by the “lamp” and “light” of God’s presence (v. 3). He looks back to those days as his “prime” (v. 4a), which means days of ripe maturity, the days when “God’s intimate friendship” (NIV) was at the heart of his life, his family, and his farm.

The word translated “friendship” is a warm and strong word; in 19:19 the ESV translates it “intimate friends.” It has the sense of one in whom one confides and has confidence (as in Psalm 25:14; Proverbs 3:32). Like Abraham whom God called “my friend” (Isaiah 41:8), Job had been one who confided in God and in whom God confided his will. This had meant so much to Job and made the pain of having God as his enemy all the more distressing (13:24–26; 16:9–14; 19:6–12), for he had known what it was to have “the Almighty … with me” (29:5a), God both with him and for him in every way.

When Job had walked with God (like Enoch in his day, Genesis 5:24), it was no surprise that he experienced blessing. This is described in terms first of his “children” (or “boys/youths”) being all around him (v. 5b), perhaps an allusion not only to his own children but to the groups of servant boys killed in the successive disasters as well (1:15, 16, 17, 19).

The imagery of verse 6a needs translation into a contemporary idiom, not least because having steps “washed with butter” or “bathed in cream” conjures up for us absurd visions of slipping and sliding. The word “butter” is literally the “curds” from the milk of the herd (as in Deuteronomy 32:14). It speaks of plentiful food and drink, so much that it overflowed all around Job.

The “oil” of verse 6b is olive oil, used for cooking, fuel for lamps, and the anointing of skin. To have “streams of oil” is again an idiom expressing plentiful abundance of all that is needful for life (v. 6). This oil is poured out for Job from “the rock” (v. 6), an unpromising source, but one that God delights to use, as he would later when he “supplied Jacob “with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock” (Deuteronomy 32:13). In that same song Moses speaks of God himself as “the Rock” (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15). Paul will later teach that this provision was a foreshadowing of the gracious provision of God for his people through Christ (“the Rock was Christ,” 1 Corinthians 10:4).

So Job headlines his longing with the desire for the God in whose fellowship he used to delight. In this primary longing he foreshadows the one who walked with God as the Son with the Father, dwelling in the bosom of the Father from all eternity (John 1:18) and for whom being forsaken by the Father was the ultimate and unbearable pain (Mark 15:34).

What comes next may also be a surprise, for when Job turns to expand on the nature of the blessing he experienced through fellowship with God, it turns out that this blessing is not at all the blessing that a hedonist might describe. It is not, in our terms, his exotic vacations, his swimming pool, his designer clothes, or his fast car that fill his thoughts.

The blessing he now describes is a long way from the blessings promised in the prosperity gospel or even the self-centered subjective blessings promised in the therapeutic gospel.

It is a blessing that consists in being a blessing to others. Those who walk in fellowship with the God of grace will themselves become embodiments of that grace to a needy world. It is very striking that “[f]ive verses are devoted to describing [Job’s] life at home, as opposed to twenty about his social service!” which is what follows.

Job Longs for the Dignity of the Savior (vv. 7–17)

This next section begins with a vivid description of Job’s former dignity (vv. 7–10):

When I went out to the gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

the princes refrained from talking

and laid their hand on their mouth;

the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. (vv. 7–10)

Picture the scene: “the gate of the city” with its associated “square” is the open space by the city gate where merchants buy and sell, where business is transacted, where the elders make judicial decisions, where government is transacted (v. 7). It is the place that matters, where people of substance and significance attend.

At the periphery there are people gathered, chatting, chilling; at the heart there are all the important people of the region, “the aged” (elders, senior people), “the princes” (people of influence), “the nobles,” all the people who really count. Picture a blend of the Supreme Court, the White House, both houses of Congress, and the most significant news media and websites in society, all merged into one melee of power and influence.

And then, in the midst of this busy hubbub, see one man enter (v. 7). He walks in and takes his seat (the phrase “I prepared my seat” [v. 7] means here “I took my seat”). The moment he is spotted, a hush descends on the assembly. The youths pull back (v. 8a); this man does not have to elbow or shoulder his way through the throng, asking politely, “Excuse me, do you mind if I squeeze through?” A respectful path opens. The senior people stand up in his honor (v. 8b). And everybody—everybody!—stops talking (vv. 9, 10).

The princes put a hushing finger to their mouths. Even the tongues of the really really important people, the people who are usually so full of themselves and cannot stop talking, stick to the roof of their mouths (a strong idiom, used, for example, in Ezekiel 3:26 or Psalm 137:6 of the absolute inability to speak). They are struck dumb at the presence of this great man. We are left in no doubt that this Job is—or was—a very great man in his region. Job is not imagining these things or exaggerating his former greatness. We have already been told that he was indeed “the greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3).

But why was he so honored? Verses 11–17 tell us.

When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

because I delivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,

and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and a turban.

I was eyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

I broke the fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth. (vv. 11–17)

Whenever people heard Job’s words or the report of Job’s actions and decisions, whenever they saw what Job did, they “approved” and called him a “blessed” man (v. 11) “because …” (v. 12a)—well, not because of his wealth or his prosperity! They called him “blessed” because of the blessing he brought to the society he governed.

Verses 12, 13 give four descriptions of men and women who cannot help themselves—the “poor” (v. 12a), the “fatherless” (v. 12b), “him who was about to perish” (that is, the destitute, the one about to perish from lack of food or shelter, v. 13a), and “the widow” (v. 13b). These are four ways of describing essentially the same helpless people. Job rescued them (v. 12), and as a result they blessed him and sang for joy (v. 13).

Verses 15, 16 mirror verses 12, 13. “The blind” cannot see, so Job does their seeing for them (v. 15a). “The lame” cannot walk, so Job acts as “feet” for them (v. 15b). “The needy” have no father to protect them and provide for them, so Job is “a father” to them (v. 16a). The stranger, the immigrant, the visitor from elsewhere is vulnerable to exploitation in court and to xenophobia in society, but Job takes great pains to research the rights and wrongs of their case and make sure justice is done (v. 16b).

At the heart of Job’s dignity lies the truth at the core of verses 12–16—his justice. The significance of verse 14 is shown by its being framed by verses 12 and 13 before and the balancing verses 15 and 16 after. When Job takes his seat in the city gate, he puts on ceremonial dress. The “robe” is a mantle worn on formal dress occasions, and the “turban” signifies the status of a ruler (v. 14). This outward dress indicates that Job is a judge or ruler.

The point of verse 14 is that, in Job’s case, the outward dress of a judge matches his inward character and his judicial actions, which are precisely those of “righteousness” and “justice.” The reason Job is called “blessed” (v. 11a) is that he is the righteous judge who brings the blessing of justice to his society.

It is a terrible thing when wicked men rage around in a society like wild beasts with sharp fangs, with predatory behavior exhibited by their unchecked abuse of power. What a blessing to have Job as the ruler and judge, for he “broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth” (v. 17). Such a leader will be the savior of his society. No wonder they treated him with dignity! So, derivative from his fellowship with God like a son, Job longs for the dignity of being the leader-savior of his people.

In all this Job is not being proud or self-righteous. It was Matthew Henry who said that if a great man be also a good man, his goodness will be much more his satisfaction than his greatness. It is so with Job; the thing he remembers with most gratitude is the virtue with which God had endued him.

Job’s memory in his region foreshadows the day when another man will walk in another region, will silence the voices of his critics (Matthew 22:46), and will bring “justice to victory” (Matthew 12:20) by being eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, by restoring a dead son to his widowed mother (Luke 7:11–17), by bringing blessing to Gentile outsiders (as in Mark 7:24–30), and by being in his own self the King proclaiming the kingdom of God.

Job Longs for the Eternity of the Savior (vv. 18–20)

The third facet of Job’s longing relates not so much to memory of past greatness as to the expectations that accompanied that greatness. In verses 18–20 we learn what Job used to think.

Then I thought, “I shall die in my nest,

and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

my roots spread out to the waters,

with the dew all night on my branches,

my glory fresh with me,

and my bow ever new in my hand.” (vv. 18–20)

First, Job expected to die in his “nest” (v. 18a). This means with his family around him. The image is used in Deuteronomy 32:11 of the place where the eagle has its young and in Isaiah 16:2 of the place where the chicks are. Job had expected to die surrounded by his stable family; he did not expect his children to predecease him, as they have done.

Second, he expected a long life, to “multiply my days” as the number of grains of “sand” on the seashore (v. 18b).

Third (v. 19) he expects both his “roots” and his “branches”—that is, his whole being, both in its sources and in its fruit—to be well-watered and full of life both day and night, as the righteous will be promised later in Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:7, 8.

Fourth (v. 20), he expects his “glory” (literally “liver,” in the sense of his inner being, as in Psalm 16:9) to remain “fresh” and his “bow” (an image speaking of masculine strength and power) to be effective to the end. He does not anticipate a decline into powerlessness or impotency of any kind.

These expectations of Job arise from a conviction that the world is a well-ordered place, that God’s justice will prevail, that goodness will be accompanied by greatness, and that greatness will not be transient. Job expresses these expectations in terms of a long life rather than eternity, for such are the only expectations that could readily be understood in that day; but they point to a right and natural longing that the rule of such a good man will last forever.

Later in the history of Israel the memories and longings of Job will be echoed very closely in the prayer for the perfect king that we find in Psalm 72, where the people pray for the king to have “justice” and “righteousness” as the “royal son” who walks in fellowship with the covenant Father (Psalm 72:1, 2). This prayer includes, quite naturally, the desire that this king will rule forever (Psalm 72:5, 7, 15, 17).

Job Longs for the Sovereignty of the Savior (vv. 21–25)

Finally Job comes back to the memory of his former dignity. It is this that will provide the sharpest contrast in chapter 30 with his present plight.

Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word dropped upon them.

They waited for me as for the rain,

and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and the light of my face they did not cast down.

I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners. (vv. 21–25)

Verse 21 picks up where we left off in the dramatic scene in the city gate (vv. 9, 10). The nobles and others fall silent; they wait expectantly to hear what Job will say. When he has spoken, no one will try to top what he says, to add to it, to correct it, to think they need to supplement or change it (v. 22). Job’s words were life-giving words (v. 23), gracious words, anticipating the one who would say, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Just as the spring rains ensured the crops would mature to life-giving harvest, so Job’s wise counsel and just judgments brought life to his society. His smile and “the light” of favor in his face brought wonderful blessing to them (v. 24). The expression “the light of my face” is usually used of God and his favor (e.g., Numbers 6:25; Psalm 4:6). Job is not using it arrogantly but soberly; his face was the image of God’s face, for he was the image and likeness of God to his people.

Verse 25 sums up Job’s great status. It was Job who made good decisions for the community as their leader and military commander and one who brought comfort to those in grief.

Taking Stock of Job 29

I said at the start that it is a mark of grace when a desperate longing for a lost happiness turns out to contain within itself the seeds of a future destiny. Job has painted for us in primary colors his yearning for the good old days, when he knew friendship with God like a son and dignity among people like a savior. But in what sense may we read these outpourings of Job’s heart as containing the seeds of a future destiny? Would we not be wiser to say that those days were gone forever? No, for several reasons.

First, and most immediately, because Job himself experiences this fellowship and honor again at the end of the book, when God affirms him as his honored servant and restores his greatness (Job 42).

Second, because the longings of Job’s heart chime and resonate with other typological longings and expectations in the history of Israel. In particular, the promises of the covenant to the kings in David’s line, the expectations of the king, and the prayers for the king all follow the same contours as Job’s memory. The king too will walk in fellowship with God as God’s son, and the king, like Job, will rule in justice and bring blessing to the people of God; the king also and ultimately will reign forever. Had Job longed and yearned only for material or psychological blessing (as promised in the prosperity gospel and the therapeutic gospel), we would be wise to see his longings as a hopeless wistfulness; but because he yearns supremely for friendship with God and then for justice in leadership, we may see in his longings the shadow of the same longings in the prophecies and covenants of Israel’s kings.

Third, because all such longings are rooted in creation. The delight of walking in fellowship with God and the dignity of ruling God’s world are precisely what was given in creation to Adam. To remember experiencing an echo of that human delight and dignity is to remember experiencing something that approximated on a local scale to what Adam had been promised on a global scale.

Fourth, because all these longings find their “Yes” in Jesus the Messiah (2 Corinthians 1:20), who incarnated such a life of fellowship with the Father and blessing to people in his earthly ministry and who experiences just such a leadership in his resurrected and exalted standing at God’s right hand. Christ is the second Adam, who will do for the renewed creation what Adam was to do for the now fallen creation, keeping and guarding it from evil (Genesis 2:15).

And finally, because the Bible teaches that all who are in Christ by grace through faith may expect to be raised to rule and govern the new creation in Christ: “Do you not know that the saints will judge [rule] the world?” (1 Corinthians 6:2). What Job had experienced in a local sense, Adam had been given before the fall and Christ will fulfill in a cosmic sense.

And what Christ fulfills in a cosmic sense, all who are in Christ will experience and enter into, in Christ. It is precisely because Job’s longings are in tune with creation order and redemption promise that his longings contain within themselves the seed of future hope. We too should long, as Job did, for the joy of intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father in Jesus and for the final joy of governing the cleansed and renewed creation in Christ. Such longings, experienced at best in part in this age, are the yearnings of Spirit-filled hearts. They will not be disappointed.

chapter 30 will provide a cruel contrast to the delightful memories of chapter 29.

But chapter 29 it’s about a longing for the joy of intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father in Jesus and for the final joy of governing the cleansed and renewed creation in Christ which is promised to those who are in Christ.

Let us long for that fellowship.

{{{To sum up these five reasons:

1. Job is, at the simplest level, Job and will experience these things again at the end of the story.

2. Job is a king-like man, foreshadowing King David and his covenant heirs.

3. Job is a great human being following in the pattern of Adam.

4. Job is therefore a type of Jesus Christ himself, the Son of David and the Second Adam.

5. Job, as a believer, anticipates the man or woman in Christ today.

But we have jumped ahead of ourselves, for Job is still in the depths, and chapter 30 will provide a cruel contrast to the delightful memories of chapter 29.

So to sum up chapter 29 it’s about a longing for the joy of intimate fellowship with our heavenly Father in Jesus and for the final joy of governing the cleansed and renewed creation in Christ which is promised to those who are in Christ. }}}

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