Week 2 – Lessons From Job
Day 3 – The Accusation Answered: Job 24:3-11
Eliphaz’s accusation did not go unanswered. In chapter twenty-three, Job describes his true position before God: his rest in the knowledge that God knows the way he takes, his confidence that he has kept the way of the Lord. Then he goes on to describe further the acts of the wicked. It is they who do the things of which Eliphaz has accused him.
“They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising quickly for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children…They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of shelter. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepress, and suffer thirst…” Job 24:3-11
This is Job’s description of the wicked. It would seem that Job and his friends are going back and forth trying to stick one another into this lot with their constant inference that the other party has behaved in this manner toward these people. But we know from the context of this story that all of these men seem to have been respectable citizens. How is it then that they could accuse one another of such wickedness? Is it possible that this particular sin is one that is more often than not carried on privately? Is it possible for us to fall into patterns of oppressing and abusing the fatherless, widows, etc., without even realizing we are doing it?
I’m going to leave this as a somewhat open-ended blog with two questions for discussion (that’s what the comment section is for 😉 )
1. What could we be doing today that would fit the description of the wicked above?
2. What actions would be the opposite of those listed here, and how can we apply this to our lives today?
Up Next: Day 4: Job’s First Defense
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