Injustice Everyone

INTRO

In the middle of all the chaos in Job’s life, he held on to hope in his Promised Redeemer (Job 19:25–26). Today’s chapter is a continuation of Job’s response to Eliphaz, but more broadly it was a speech directed to all three of his friends. Wiersbe points out that a good summary statement on the content of this chapter from Job’s perspective could be, “God perplexes me.”¹

TEACHING

Job 24:1–11: Wiersbe observes these verses contain Job’s complaint about injustices in Israel that seem to have gone unpunished. At the forefront of his complaint, Job wondered why God didn’t have specific days in which to hold court and hear people’s complaints and give judgments.²

In verses 2–8, Job lists three types of sins committed in rural areas³ that God seems to leave unpunished:

1. The wicked displaced boundary markers (v. 2). This was the same thing as stealing land in ancient Israel. Nelson’s Commentary points out the seriousness of this crime in Israel. Those found guilty of moving boundary stones were considered to be under a divine curse:⁴

• “You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess” (Deuteronomy 19:14).
• “The one who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker is cursed” (Deuteronomy 27:17).
• “Don’t move an ancient boundary marker that your fathers set up” (Proverbs 22:28).

MacArthur notes that land markers would be moved by corrupt landowners to “increase their holdings, particularly where the land was owned by bereaved widows.”⁵

The wicked mistreated the weak (v. 3–8). The wicked ran off donkeys owned by the fatherless and took animals belonging to others. Without the means to provide for themselves, they were forced to forage for food and went without clothing. MacArthur pointed out that taking a person’s outer garment as a pledge was a common practice in the Old Testament. However, the Law “forbade keeping the garment at night since its owner could get cold and sick.”⁶

“When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security. You must stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you. If he is a poor man, you must not sleep in the garment he has given as security. Be sure to return it to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 24:10–13).

The wicked cause chaos in the land (v. 9–11). The wicked seized children as collateral on loans, caused the poor to go without clothing, and didn’t pay workers their wages.

Job 24:12–17: Job moves on to observe crimes in cities that God left unpunished.⁷ Job listed murder, theft, and adultery as sins specific to his complaint.

Job 24:18–25: Wiersbe observed that after listing unpunished sins in the country, then in the city, Job now pronounced a curse on the wicked.⁸ Job’s language in this section was similar to his friends’. Job may have attempted to sound like his friends in order to further refute their viewpoint. In the midst of his suffering, Job was able to see the suffering of others. Wiersbe points out, “Too often, personal suffering can make us selfish and even blind us to the needs of others, but Job was concerned that God help others who were hurting.”⁹ Job’s friends treated the suffering of others as an abstract concept while Job sought to view them from a personal perspective. Job wanted to be part of the solution despite the greatness of his own suffering.

CLOSING

Hampton Keachley IV notes three actions the Good Samaritan took, in response to the suffering man he found on the roadside. They are helpful for us as we consider serving those who are suffering:

He had compassion. The Samaritan took the initiative to move toward the man who was suffering.

He cared. The Samaritan took time to reach out.

It cost him. The Samaritan used his own money to care for the man. He sacrificed to show his care for someone else.¹⁰

If we functioned like the Good Samaritan, we might get the point of Job’s complaint and be able to be part of the solution in other people’s suffering.