Job 29:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Job now moves to a different subject. In chapter 29 he remembers the former days before his troubles came and mourns the loss of the privileges and reputation that he possessed at that time, in chapter 30 he compares that former state with his current miserable state, and in chapter 31 he finally protests his innocence again, returning to the question of why he should have to suffer without cause. Again he pauses to give opportunity to the three friends to reply, but they have nothing else to add; they realise that they have failed to convince Job so far, and can think of nothing new which will have any effect. Therefore after another pause he again continues. Chapter 29 is the great autobiographical chapter in which Job looks wistfully back and says, ‘Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me.’ And then, as he pines for the past to return, we begin to see some of the things which a loving heavenly Father determines to put right in his child. It certainly seems as though Job wants to be admired again; he yearns to be a man of reputation. He tells us (verses 8-12), ‘The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.’ He tends to exaggerate things in his own mind. This is dangerous, but we tend to do this when we are depressed. It only increases our pain. Job rehearses his past advantages. He has been going over this in his mind, and he has every detail at the ready.Although even now there is a strong measure of faith and belief in what he says, as we read down the chapter we are left in no doubt that all these things really did mean far too much to Job, as they do so often to us also. After his suffering, Job would never again live for prestige and reputation in the eyes of men. Nor would he be puffed up with pride or by power, or spoiled by creature comforts. For the future he would learn to:{(1) Remember the low state from which God had delivered him;(2) Glory always and only in his Redeemer;(3) Avoid exposure to the allurements of the world;(4) Deal with flattery, applause and congratulations by quietly remembering his shortcomings and weaknesses, as an antidote to pride;(5) Concentrate his mind on the objectives of his position not the status of his position.}