Let’s recall that the early chapters state Job did not sin against God in his words. That doesn’t mean he was without error in the sense of how his words affected others. We recognize that the elder trio provoked him beyond measure and he should have sent them packing, but instead he endured their taunts and bad doctrine. He made the mistake of letting them get to him, encumbering his witness with their folly. So his words here don’t defame God, but he goes too far in defending his honor instead of allowing God to handle it.
These are not Hebrew people; they are under the Covenant of Noah. There are indications for a good bit of oral lore attached to this that was left out of Scripture as largely impertinent. We see Job’s understanding of it, which does reflect somewhat the same underlying concept of divine justice more intricately laid out in Moses. A primary concern of all the Law Covenants was social stability.
The first few verses (1-12) refer to the social stability that arises from marital fidelity. Straying from the marriage covenant is inherently destabilizing in a tribal society. Job protests he can’t remember so much as coveting another woman, virgin or married. He reaffirms the curse attached to infidelity, that his own marriage would come apart. He’s not wishing evil on his wife, but describing how much of a loss it would be to him. Not simply losing her exclusive companionship, but it entails a scandalous situation so severe that we hardly comprehend it in our modern times. He would be the laughingstock of everyone; it would follow him wherever he went in this world. Not just making him a nobody, it would render him a has-been of the worst sort.
The second paragraph (13-23) covers the wider social obligation of charity. In that time and place, a social outcast was lucky to survive. Consider the curse on Cain. So treating others with kindness and seeking to offer at least a little of what made life possible was almost an obligation to prevent being ostracized. Job indicates he went well beyond the mere minimum expectations; he was the model of compassion to which others aspired. Again, he reaffirms the justice of the curse associated with selfish meanness to others.
The third section (24-34) has to do with various forms of idolatry. There was no sin in respecting the religious devotions of pagans, but this refers to the basest sort of religious treason. There are provocative acts that reduce God to little more than a powerful man, who couldn’t read Job’s heart, but would have to rely on human tattling or direct observation to catch Job being disloyal. The last part of this section reveals various expressions of blasphemy by not trusting in the vast provision of God. While it echoes the previous section regarding compassion and charity, in this instance it points to a different cause for such sin.
In the final verses of this chapter, Job affirms his eagerness to face the judgment of God, but can’t seem to get a fair hearing. There is a note of humility, completely willing to confess publicly his sins. He is fully confident that God would receive him. Then, one last time Job embraces the penalty for moral failure. He repeats one of the curses he would face for moral injustice as a symbol of his desire for divine justice on all the earth. We are told Job speaks no more.
