Sermon Tone Analysis

Warning Signs:

I.

A longing for the good old days

II.

A loathing of present circumstances

III.

A result of rash actions

A longing for the past + a loathing of present circumstances = a result of rash actions.

What is Job’s rash action?

His sworn oath of innocence.

A. The seriousness of an oath

Making an oath in Job’s culture was serious business.

However, because of Job’s retribution theology coupled with a longing for the past and a loathing of the present Job does something extremely rash- He devises an oath that forces God to either respond to prove Job’s guilt, or remain silent which would prove Job’s innocence.

Hartley explains:

“The oath requires God either to activate the curses of the oath or to clear the swearer.

Should God remain silent, Job would be declared innocent by not being cursed.

... The swearer usually suppresses the actual curse either with evasive language or abbreviated formulas, no doubt fearful of the very verbalizing of a specific curse.

But Job is so bold that four times he specifies the curse that should befall him if he be guilty (vv.

8, 10, 22, 40).

His reckless bravery reflects his unwavering confidence in his own innocence.”

(Hartley, 407).

“The oath requires God either to activate the curses of the oath or to clear the swearer.

Should God remain silent, Job would be declared innocent by not being cursed.

... The swearer usually suppresses the actual curse either with evasive language or abbreviated formulas, no doubt fearful of the very verbalizing of a specific curse.

But Job is so bold that four times he specifies the curse that should befall him if he be guilty (vv.

8, 10, 22, 40).

His reckless bravery reflects his unwavering confidence in his own innocence.”

(Hartley, 407).

The power of an oath in the ancient world was taken extremely seriously in the ancient world.

Do we still swear oaths today?

In legal contexts, yes we do.

“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help you God?” Do people in our culture really take that oath seriously?

Some do, but some will say anything even under oath to save their skin.

Job’s culture was not this way:

B. The sins Job denies

All through the argument with Job’s three friends, what did the friends insist that Job must have done?

Sinned horribly, otherwise God would not have judged Job in this manner (Retribution theology).

Now Job will list many of those sins that his friends claimed that he must have committed and with the full power of an ancient oath swear his innocence.

Job is innocent of:

Lust (1-4)

2. Falsehood (5-6)

3. Covetousness (7-8)

He has never let his heart follow his eye, i.e., his mind has not been controlled by his lusts.

Any wrongful suggestion that has entered through the eye has been squelched in his heart.

“Offspring”- things which spring up and come forth from the earth.

It is used metaphorically for offspring, but here it is better to understand it to refer to that which Job grows for produce.

#1 Curse:

He pronounces a curse upon himself if he has coveted.

(a) To lose one’s crops when they are ready to harvest is extremely demoralizing.

(b) It would be an appropriate punishment for one who has coveted (desiring what someone else has).

4. Adultery (9-12)

#2 Curse (v.

10)

5. Mistreatment of servants (13-15)

(v.

15) value of life is given by God and is present in the womb.

6. Ignoring the poor and the weak (16-23)

#3 Curse (v.

22)

7. Worship of his wealth or of heavenly bodies (24-28)

V. 27- Mouth has kissed my hand-

He never threw a kiss to them as a sign of affection and devotion, a widespread pagan practice.

Apparently Job is referring to the gesture in which one kissed his hand and threw the kiss to the heavenly bodies.

He has never shown other gods affection even in secret.

8. Desire for vengeance on his enemies (29-30)

9. Failing to be hospitable (31-32)

10.

Covering his sins without confessing them (33-34)

11.

Abuse of the Land (38-40)

#4 Curse (v.

40)

Problem:

a) Summary: “It appears doubtful that Job would add another specific item after affixing his signature . .

., so most modern interpreters place these verses earlier in the declaration of innocence.

Perhaps a scribe discovered that they had been inadvertently omitted from the text and copied them at the end to preserve them.”

(Hartley, 422).

b) Andersen appears very close to a workable solution when he states: “The land is personified as the chief witness of the crimes committed on it.”

(245).

C. The dangerous conclusion Job reaches

Summary:

I am innocent!

I am innocent of lust, falsehood, covetousness, adultery, treating my servants poorly, ignoring the poor and weak, worshiping my wealth or other false gods, vengeance, being inhospitable, covering my sins, and abusing the land.

If anyone, including God Himself, can prove me otherwise then let me be cursed.

Take away my crops and give them to someone else, take away my wife and let her be given to another man, dislocate my arm from its socket and break it at the elbow, and let the land produce weeds instead of wheat.

But this will never happen because I am innocent!

Job 31.35-

Job is not using false bravado here:

His testimony is, to say the least, convicting!

How many of us could utter the same kind of oath that Job did?

But I see two problems with Job’s oath:

Nowhere does Job credit the grace of God

2. Job justifies himself instead of God.

“If it is a question of one of us being righteous,” Job says in essence, “I know I am.

And God does, too.”

The insinuation is every bit as offensive to God as the friends’ insinuations were to Job.

Don’t buy into the lie of retribution theology!

The Christian: You can’t out-give God

The father who lost a child: God, how dare you take my child from me! (shooting in Texas, Horatio Spafford)

The pastor: Why don’t I have a big church?

The single person: Why am I not married?