JOB, the man from UZ

[Full Quiver]

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

What made Job perfect & upright?

He certainly as a man that descended from fallen Adam and suffered in this flesh as you and I. What made him perfect? He lived before the Mosaic and Levitical laws. He lived before the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is sure & true so what made Job perfect & upright?

[dolfan]

The Hebrew "tam" (translated "perfect" in the KJV, others) is also translated "blameless" in the NAS and other translations. It means "complete", "guiltless", "peaceful", "integrity"/"coupled together".

I can't say with certain authority which modern English word best conveys the meaning of "tam" here.

Obviously, if you believe in the authority of the Bible, you have to put this "perfect" against the backdrop of verses like Romans 3:23 ("all have sinned....") and you have to conclude that "perfect"/"tam" has to mean something other than flawless or sinless. Then, what does it mean?

One possibility, and it is one that I'm personally comfortable with, is that not only was Job a man who followed after good as God revealed good to him, but he was a man at peace and with integrity. Job is elsewhere described as a generous man, a meek man, and a wealthy man. Not exactly the addition you find when you arrive at the answer of "peaceful". I think Job was one of those guys you meet that is so blessed of God and of such a good personal nature (God's gift to him, too, certainly) that he was -- inwardly and outwardly -- a man who was unconflicted, who had integrity and did not suffer from personal wavering on how to deal with the world around him. He was kind and loving.

The reason this makes the most sense to me is because it is that which Satan seeks and received permission to attack. "He'll curse you if you quit blessing him, " went the enemy's argument to God about Job. It doesn't -- in my own little mind anyway -- make sense to say that Job was flawless or sinless. The Hebrew word makes really good, logical and everyday understandably good sense in this other connotation of the word "perfect".

[Full Quiver]

So was it his faith in God or his relationship with God that actually made him righteous? As you pointed out all have sinned and thus none of us are righteous in and of ourselves neither can we be. We as Christians put on Christ's righteousness. What did Job put on?

[dolfan]

FQ, what do you mean when you say "righteous"? I'm not trying to nitpick or be glib. Your quoted passage didn't call him righteous, and I didn't use that word, but your question is framed as if we have been dealing with the righteousness of Job. You didn't introduce that word into the discussion until now. You'd asked why could he be considered "perfect and upright". I took an honest stab at it with looking at a Hebrew word and looking at Job's personal circumstance as that's revealed in the account in the book of Job. We didn't talk about "righteousness", really.

"Righteous" is a word used throughout Job but most often in the sense of vindication and being justified in a position or attitude or action. The term "upright" (or, its Hebrew word) is used to convey "righteous" as a secondary meaning and is translated in the OT as "righteous" less than a dozen times out of over 100 uses in the whole OT. The term means "upright", or straight. In other words, like the book of Job reveals, Job was honest, he was fair and he was a man about the truth.

I don't think we can take "righteous" in its context of God's righteousness and apply it to Job here in either way you mention. You seem to be driving at a question that because Job preceded Christ, where did the righteousness of Job come from. I think you're asking a question that has no answer, IF that is your question. If there is an answer to that particular question, it has to come from somewhere other than these verses that speak of Job's uprightness.

[Paully_44]

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

What made Job perfect & upright?

He certainly as a man that descended from fallen Adam and suffered in this flesh as you and I. What made him perfect? He lived before the Mosaic and Levitical laws. He lived before the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is sure & true so what made Job perfect & upright?

I prefer the Message version Job 1:1-3

Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion.

I would say it was his relationship with God.

Thats one of the problems I have with the KJV, translating. I dont believe he was perfect.

[Full Quiver]

Sorry Dolfan for the confusion.

I suppose I pieced perfect & upright with righteous as a theme.