Job confesses that God is beyond limits as He is the One who created boundaries. God’s divine justice cannot be thwarted by anything or anyone within Creation. Then Job answers the two direct questions God asked of him, in recognition that he is the one accountable here. He confessed that his mouth outran his human understanding. Then he notes that, while previously his only knowledge of God was the oral traditions of revelation, now he has met God face to face, insofar as such a thing could be. The one thing Job had sought had arrived, and it was nothing as he had expected. At the meeting with God, the only thing in his mind was the overwhelming sense of mortality and his immeasurable need to repent.
The answer to Job’s suffering is a simple matter of perspective. Fallen man is quite fortunate when he does not suffer, because no degree of moral righteousness is sufficient to cover his fallen nature.
The epilogue returns us to the same prose as the prologue. God instructed the trio to repent and present their offerings before Job as God’s chosen representative, His priest for the occasion. The offerings were substantial according to the customs of their social rank. God scolded them as lying against Himself when they lied about Job’s moral purity. Job wanted answers and was ready to learn; these men refused any answer that was not small enough to fit inside their human reasoning. We are thus left doubting they learned much from this encounter, and the symbolism reminds us that there will ever be people who will need the ministry of a precious few who do have clear spiritual insight.
When Job performed his ritual duties for them, the Lord then restored Job’s fortunes. He moved the hearts of others to enrich Job and he ended up with twice what he had before this all started. It was not because Job was such a worthy fellow, but because the message of God and His glory would be hindered otherwise. That’s the whole reason for anything, be it pleasant or unpleasant in our lives pursuing moral purity. God’s divine justice is its own reward.
