Job 27:5 Commentary and Bible Study

‘Job shows that he had not blasphemed God, but that he only meant that the afflictions which he experienced did not come because of his sin, but for some extraordinary purpose of God which was hidden from men, and he protests that he remains steadfast in the same mind’ (Calvin – in modern English).He confirms that his integrity is bound up with the dispute between them. For Job to say that the three friends are right would be an act of deceit for he knows it is not true, nevertheless it is tempting for him to do so, since they offer this as a way of escape. If he were to agree to this then the hostility between them would be ended and he would have an ally in his trial and their assurance to him is that the trial would then be over; they are certain that God would remove this heavy burden if only Job accepted their verdict. Actually they are wrong and they understand far less than he does about his experience. But Job is not willing to go this way; the truth matters to him more than his own comfort, more than the friendship of these men, more than his own life. He would rather die in his present miserable state than abandon his position: that he is a man who has known the Lord and has kept his commandments from the heart. In fact there is no better preparation for death. If a man does not come to death with a good conscience, then he is not prepared to meet it, but with a conscience which is washed in the blood of Christ and has the promise of God’s justification, he can face all.Why does Job say this? Is he simply being defensive, self-righteous, and stubborn, refusing to admit that he might be wrong? No, it is not for his own sake that he speaks like this, but for the truth’s sake. There is such a thing as true conversion, as a genuine work of God in the heart, as walking uprightly before the Lord; Job knows that God has done something real for him and he is not prepared to deny this. It is not a mark of humility to accept the worst about ourselves when what we are accused of is untrue. The righteous are often falsely accused but, as with Job, they have a duty to defend themselves for the truth’s sake. There is nothing more precious and more worthy to be defended than God’s work in our hearts. But in spite of this, Job would later come to understand that this trial was not an injustice and that God meant it for his good, that he was wrong to accuse God of injustice and to speak harshly as he did.