Whoever listened to me, spoke well of me
1 Job continued his discourse:
2 Oh, that I were in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his light shone upon my head
and I walked with it through darkness.
4 Oh, that I were in my prime,
when God’s friendship blessed my home,
5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,
6 when milk bathed my footsteps
and olive oil flowed from the rock.
7 When I went to the city gate
and took up my seat in the square
8 the young men stepped aside
and the old men rose to their feet;
9 the chief men dared not speak
but laid their hands on their mouths;
10 the princes were silenced,
their tongues stuck to the palate.
21 They listened to me and waited in silence
for my counsel.
22 Once I spoke they said no more,
but drop by drop my words kept falling on them.
23 They waited for me as people wait for showers;
they drank in my words as spring rain.
24 If I smiled at them, they did not dare believe it;
not a glance of mine was lost.
25 I pointed out the way, as a leader
and took a king’s place among the troops.
Wherever I led them, they went.
11 Whoever heard me, spoke well of me,
and those who saw me commended me,
12 for I rescued the poor who cried for help,
the fatherless and the unassisted.
13 I was blessed by the dying man;
I turned to peace the widow’s pining.
14 I was wearing my honesty like a garment,
my integrity was my robe and turban.
15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame,
16 father to the needy, the stranger’s advocate.
17 I broke the jaws of the wicked,
and from his teeth forced out the prey.
18 I said to myself: “I will die old,
my days as many as the grains of sand.
19 My roots will reach to the water;
at night my branches will be wet with dew.
20 My glory will remain fresh,
the bow ever strong in my grip.”
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Comments Job, Chapter 29
• 29.1 In chapters 29–31 Job presents his defense and he assumes the role of the just one who is envied and slandered. As long as people are lucky they are esteemed, but if they run into misfortune, everyone suddenly looks at them differently. A secret instinct urges people to find a scapegoat in the midst of misfortune in the community. Inordinate respect returns and envy gives way to persecution.
Paradoxically, it is Job’s defense that shows the flaws in his integrity. I was wearing my honesty like a garment (v. 14). Job was delighted to do good. He was a “just” man, aware of being just and he gave thanks to God who made him good.
All this was nothing more than the justice and the merits of the Pharisee. Very respectful of a distant God, Job built up his life, his virtues and his good self-image alone. In the end, his perfection did not exist in God’s eyes because, without saying so, he made himself God’s rival.