Job 42:1-6

D. MAN IN GOD'S IMAGE VS. GOD IN MAN'S IMAGE (Job 42:1-6)

TEXT 42:1-6

42 Then Job answered Jehovah and said,

2 I know that thou canst do all things,

And that no purpose of thine can be restrained.

3 Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge?

Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not,

Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak;

I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear;

But now mine eye seeth thee:

6 Wherefore I abhor myself,

And repent in dust and ashes.

COMMENT 42:1-6

Job 42:1Job responds to Yahweh in complete submission. The following verses can connect also with Job 40:4 ff.

Job 42:2No purpose of Yahweh can be withheld from HimGenesis 17:11. God's will and power are co-terminus. Job's complaint had never been against God's power, only His will. Job had lodged his confrontation with God concerning His indifference to moral matters, not His inability to execute justice. His wisdom and omnipotence have been acknowledged from the very beginning. Now Job affirms in faith not only God's wisdom and power but also His goodness and graciousness. He cares for all His creation. His brief excursion throughout the system and societies of nature has provided perspective from which preview His purpose. Now he has a personal knowledge by acquaintance of his vindicator. God's purpose is not a segment but a circle. In order to understand God's ways with man, we must not absolutize any single degree of the cosmic circle, because ignorance of the meaning of the whole will ensue. There are no value free decisions, the assertions of many social and behavioral scientists to the contrary. All decisions entail value presuppositions. Now Job knows this fact of reality.

Job 42:3This verse is almost identical with Job 38:2. Job here repeats the complaint previously lodged against him for the express purpose of admitting its validity. God's rebuke is here acknowledged to have been justified. Only those in ignorance (Heb. verb -lmdarkness) of God's complete purpose would speak out against Him.

Job 42:4Again this verse repeats, with only slight modifications, Job 33:31; Job 38:3; and Job 40:7. The marvel of memory is here set before us as Job reminisces on what Yahweh has said to himJob 13:22.

Job 42:5Here is the heart of Job's restoration. In times past, Job knew God only by hearsay, literally report of earPsalms 18:45 and Job 28:22. Job is now convinced of that which he formally doubted, i.e., of God's providential care. He had asked for assurance that God was on his sideJob 19:23-27, and Yahweh has once and for all spoken by The Shattering of Silence. Job's demand has been met.

Job 42:6Repentance removes himself from the center of the world. Job is truly a crucified self. After all the only alternatives are either a divided self or a crucified self. Job accepts God's evaluation of himself. We are OK only when God says we are OK! Even in Job 9:21 Job does not loath (Heb. verb m'S) himself, but his condition.[405] Job's habitat has been ashes for some timeJob 2:8; Isaiah 58:5; Jeremiah 6:26; Jonah 3:6; and Micah 1:10. Like the Phoenix, Job arises up out of the bitter ashes of suffering and stands whole again. But this time Yahweh is his organizing center, and neither his family nor prosperity nor their cultural advantages. To the Christian believer, Job's redeemer, the Christ, is the orderer of all existenceColossians 1:17 and Ephesians 1:10. He is truly Christ the Center.

[405] See the examination of L. J. Kuyper, Vetus Testamentum, 1959, pp. 91-94.