Bible Commentary - Job 29

In this chapter, Job talks about how he was honored and the good things he did for the needy before catastrophe struck him.

This chapter is straightforward in a lot of ways.  Job is simply reminiscing, as so many people do, about how good his life used to be before tragedy overtook him and drowned him in the sorrows that have since filled his life.

This is no longer an argument with his friends.  Job is simply remembering, in a deeply emotional way, what he has lost, and he is experiencing once again the pain of that loss.  In some ways it reminds me of chapter 3, because that was the last time Job was not arguing against one of his friends.  Even though the content of chapter 3 is quite different from this chapter, the sentiment is similar; in both chapters Job is lamenting his loss in one way or another.

The purpose of this chapter, then, is to exemplify Job’s loss by describing the good things that previously filled his life.  Job’s bright and cheerful past is described using three central themes.

The first is that Job perceived God’s favor and light shining down in his life.  This is described in verses 2-6.  Job was a “friend” of God and experienced God’s friendship through blessing, protection and prosperity.  Verse 6 describes it in peculiar terms, with his steps “bathed in butter” and “streams of oil” pouring out of rocks.  This is a vivid description of prosperity, with abundant food and wealth surrounding his every step.

The second theme is that Job was highly respected by all people, both young and old, nobles and princes.  There are two sections covering this idea: verses 7-11 and verses 21-25.  The city gate is where the town elders would sit to judge controversies.  Basically if any two people had a conflict or disagreement, they would go to the city gate, meet the elders there and explain each respective side.  Then the elders would judge who was in the right and issue a decision.  It was basically like a primitive legal system to handle civil disputes.  We’ve seen this appear in the biblical text a couple times, but one obvious example is when Abraham went to buy the field of Ephron in Genesis 23.  We see both Gen 23:10 and 23:18 specifically point out that Abraham negotiated and signed the deal “before all who went in at the city gate”.  That is, when Abraham wanted to buy a property he did so at the city gate, so that all the elders could serve as witnesses and confirm the deal.  Another place where we see men sitting outside a city gate to judge issues is Mordecai in Esther 2:21, Esther 3:2, et al.  From this we can similarly discern that Mordecai was a respected leader of the community.

With this context, we can see in verse 7 that Job was taking his seat beside the city gate, as an elder who was expected to judge disputes and seal contracts, etc.  Not only was Job a respected elder, we see old men standing to honor him (v. 8) and princes and nobles silencing themselves in order to hear his words.  When people heard Job’s words, they “called me blessed” because they acknowledged Job’s wisdom in judgment.  Verses 21-25 continue on a similar theme, with Job sitting as the foremost judge, like “a king among the troops”.

The third theme is that Job was a righteous man who used his position to strengthen the poor and helpless and to strike down the wicked.  This is very similar to the social justice concepts of chapter 22, when Eliphaz accused Job of oppressing the widows and orphans, amongst various other groups (Job 22:5-9).  In this chapter, Job claims the opposite, specifically mentioning both orphans and widows as the subjects of his charity (v. 12-13).  This chapter defines righteousness (v. 14) as the protection of vulnerable groups in society (v. 12-17).  This is the same framework as how Job’s friends described righteousness and wickedness, and it shows that they have similar ideas about what is right and wrong.  However, Job continues to insist that he has done what is right and he does not admit to his guilt like his three friends are asking for.

From this, we can see that Job and his friends are at an impasse.  Job’s friends cannot believe that a righteous man would ever suffer, while Job refuses to admit his guilt.  From what we saw in Job 1:8, Job truthfully is a righteous man, so he doesn’t have any real guilt to admit, but this is a situation that Job’s friends cannot theologically accept.

In the next chapter, Job continues the thought by describing his present life contrasted against his past.