Job Defines Righteousness Economically

"I have never cheated widows or others in need..." -- Job 31:16-34 

Righteousness is a word we know pretty well. We have heard it applied to issues of morality, theology, and legal standing. We have likely heard righteousness applied to questions of correct belief, living in God's forgiveness, and enjoying God's favor. We hear of righteousness in Paul's writings related to questions of faith. In the Bible, however, righteousness has far broader meanings that relate to how we treat others than might be apparent after listening in on the majority of our Bible studies, worship services, and even seminary classes.

One major theme in the Bible in regard to righteousness has to do with economic issues. For a society with a history of colonialism tied to Christianity, this is not a theme that has often been picked up. When the church has a cozy relationship with legal structures, economic structures, and the interests of the wealthy, it is not a simple thing to dig into the depths of what the Bible has to say to issues of economics. At times, we are simply afraid of what we will find when we embark on that journey of discovery.

We can take a look at Job as a case in point. We are used to looking at Job as an example of righteousness. We are used to hearing about how he did not dishonor God, how he answered his friends righteously, how God was proud of Job, and how he always offered sacrifices above and beyond what was called for. What we seem to overlook is Job's own definitions of what made him righteous. That is what we find here in Job 31:16-34. No, this is not the full complement of how Job understood righteousness, but it is the heart of his understanding. It also falls in line with the positions taken by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others.

As Job waxes eloquent in regard to what has made him stand out as righteous, he spends several verses of his words on the treatment of the most economically desperate. He refers to widows, orphans, immigrants, poor, and enemies. In each situation, he speaks of how he exemplified righteousness in dealing with the needy around him.

Taking a look at the laws of Moses, these are specifically the categories of people who find themselves in the most privileged standing before Yahweh. It was that band of slaves in Egypt whom Yahweh redeemed, specifically because of the plight of their oppression. It is the poor whom Israel was challenged to feed, clothe, and share of the bounty of Yahweh's land. It was to widows and orphans left destitute and unprotected by the death of a working man they were to open their hands in generosity.

In point of fact, Deuteronomy tells us that poverty was not to exist in Israel because Yahweh was a God of bounty and the people were to be generous with one another. It is this generosity of which Job speaks when he discusses his own righteousness. He knows that the care he has taken in meeting the needs of others around him is part of simply living in justice. Generosity in meeting the needs of others is required in the very definitions of righteousness.

Job speaks of doing good to those who would normally find themselves oppressed and the target of others who would take advantage over their distress. In contrast, Job speaks of feeding, clothing, and not cheating those who were within his power. His righteousness did not consist in services at a temple or tabernacle. Rather, it was wrapped up in how he treated those around him in the application of his economic resources.

This economic activity for Job is spiritual activity. It is righteousness. It is part of what Deuteronomy will call loving one's neighbor. It is what Jesus will mean by caring for the very physical and material needs of the crowds who surrounded him in their own desperation. Job understood that his relationship to God was not subsumed simply in things like prayer, sacrifice, fasting, and other rites of religious observance. It was also, if not primarily, tied up in how he looked upon others as children of Yahweh, part of the creation called into existence by the One Job served.

First John will talk about loving God whom we cannot see and loving the neighbors whom we can see. That was inseparable from Job's understanding of what makes for righteousness.

It means setting aside the artificial distinctions we make between ourselves, our definitions of family, our definitions of friends, our definitions of acquaintances, our definitions of strangers and those for whom God cares. If God truly cares, God also enables us to be vehicles of blessing. If God provides, that provision is enough for more than simply our own personal comfort. Not only is the intent of Yahweh's provision to cover all, it is also to flow through us to accomplish that same purpose.

Job understood this as inseparable from any understanding of righteousness. He grasped that food was to be shared. He recognized that his resources could clothe others in need. He extended his understanding of hospitality toward strangers and even those he would prefer to consider enemies. Righteousness meant bringing all of these people under one same category as people for whom God cares and for whom Job was charged to care.

This is righteousness. As James writes, it is taking care of widows and orphans. It includes welcoming strangers to the table. It is honoring Yahweh as God of provision for one and all, rather than serving at the altar of greed and self-centeredness. Too much of the world is consumed by selfishness. Righteousness, however, calls for laying aside the faithlessness of greed and anxiety in order to lay claim to the righteousness of trusting God's sufficient provision. That provision enables generosity, a generosity the world around us cannot understand, much less use to define its own righteousness.

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© Copyright 2017 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/christopher-harbin/

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