• Job 1:8 NKJV 

Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Jōb, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?"

Most of us probably remember the narrative of Jobs’ story with His wife and the three so called friends.

• But verse one starts out with, “and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.”

There is a lot going on here; before God and Satan discuss Job, we learn the kind of person he was. Job was “Blameless” and “upright”. He “feared” or was in Awe of God, not only that but “shunned evil.”

Before we get to what God and that other guys conversation was about Job, we will look at Job’s character! char·ac·ter, /ˈkær ɪk tər/   Spelled[kar-ik-ter] noun 1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing. 2. one such feature or trait; characteristic. 3. moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character. 4. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity: It takes character to face up to a bully. (Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011.)

Job is first described by God as “none like him on the earth” . Note here that God concluded His statement with “on the earth” thus His statement presumes that Job had been his mother’s son, raised in the steed of his father. Thus job was just a man. Ordinary in every way, yet had became a man of “Character” that made him standout among the other men of “Uz.” Matthew Henry in his commentary states this about the place called Uz, “The country he lived in was the land of Uz, in the eastern part of Arabia, which lay towards Chaldea, near Euphrates, probably not far from Ur of the Chaldees, whence Abraham was called.”     Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete)¹

• Job was 1^st described as BLAMELESS.        [Character OF SAINTS Attentive to Christs voice John 10:3 John 10:4 Blameless and harmless Philippians 2:15 Bold Proverbs 28:1 Contrite

Concordances - Nave's Topical Bible – Character] ²     We see here that Nave’s refers to “blameless” as a CHARACTER trait and the “Character of Saints.” Then looking into Strong’s concordance we find this definition;  perfect, complete 1. one who lacks nothing in physical strength, beauty, etc 2. sound, wholesome an ordinary, quiet sort of person 3. complete, morally innocent, having integrity one who is morally and ethically pure. ( Strong's Number:   08535, Word= Tam, sounds like “tawm”) ³ 

BLAMELESS: Job was “perfect” like Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. Job had not failed God, had not disobeyed or partook in the idolatry in the land.

UPRIGHT: Job was “just” in Strong’s concordance. It list’s;  a. correct, b. straightforward, just, upright, fitting, proper, c. uprightness, righteous. In Matt. 5:37 Jesus said our communications should be, Yes, yes and No, no. And James said; let your yes mean Yes and you’re No mean NO! When you say what you mean and mean what you say we become “straightforward”, “just” and RIGHTEOUS! Jobs character was all of this, Righteous and “UPRIGHT.”

FEARED:  Strong's Number:   03373, yaw-ray' definition: reverent. Job lived in Respect of God in the face of temptation of Idolatry to pre-Islamic Arabian Idol called Jinn or Jinni “giving or rewarding” Pronounced in English as “genie” granting gifts. Job was in Awe of a God that ministered to his soul & heart and convicted his mind & soul of sin.

SHUNNED EVIL: Strong's Number:   05493, definition: turn aside, turn away, avoid, depart, reject. The King James Ver. Uses the word “Eschewed” yet I think Shunned fitly gives us the essence that Job even shunned even the appearance of evil. (see 1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV)

With this back ground we can make some assumptions about Jobs life and character. It is important that we should understand the statement in verse one “none like him on the earth” is important to us because, Job is a man, a human or mortal just like us. He was surrounded by every temptation of the day Just like us, He had to choose daily to be honest in his dealing with his neighbors and local merchants JUST LIKE US. Job lived in a land steeped in legend, superstition and IDOLATRY! A land full of thieves, nomadic cut throats and regional potentates each and every one following their own rules, serving their gods {as they understand it} and probably making fun of any one that held their selves to a moral standard in a society that promoted little morality.

Job must have lived in the Patriarcle times in history during or shortly after the Time of Abram (Abraham)  see:(http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=11&article=2516)  Pre Moses time of receiving the Ten Commandments in the wilderness. So we may have here, God leading two different men in the same direction at the same time. Job living the Word of God in the land Uz and leading Moses from Egypt into the wilderness where he received the Commandments from the “Finger of God.”

Virtues !               When we get to verse eight all of these characteristics are going to be put to the test. I was once talking religion with a friend about what is in the Bible. The very first thing that came up was, that  god of the Bible was cruel ! job was the first example that came up, “How can someone trust in a god that would do something like that to a good person?”

Actualy that is a very fair question. Yet I was taken off guard a bit, I had always just believed everyone saw the story of Job as I did. Satin more or less was boasting before God {see: Job 1:6-12} I will paraphrase here, so Satin shows up with the Angels and God said “where did you come from?” Satin said “Running around your earth tempting your fallen humans, their’er so easy!” God says “How about Job, he has seen all of your pranks and hasn’t yielded.” And satin like a childish adult says “that’s not my fault,” “You won’t let me touch’em just tempt them.” The fact that so many others just fell so easy for satins temptation, it couldn’t be that Job was truly morally and ethically bold (Blameless) on his own free will. Most everyone satin tempted gave up “righteousness” for a few fleshly pleasures with hardly a second thought, so for Job to remain “just” and “honest” (Upright) on his own strength. Not to mention that Job believed (feared) more in a Holy Creator than in flying carpets or Genie’s granting three wish’s. Like satin who would really think a little white lie or saying a car that used a little oil didn’t use any oil? You know, like claiming deductions on taxes you really didn’t have. I mean who really give the change back when the clerk gives you too much. Yet job rejected temptation avoided even the appearance of (shunned) evil.

My friend protested that God left Job alone to be afflicted unmercifully. I asked could it be that God knew Job and his heart so that God knew Jobs character so well that God in His infinite wisdom know Job like all men would struggle, but in the end God knew Job was a virtuous man BLAMELESS and UPRIGHT, a man that FEARED or was in Awe of God and SHUNNED EVIL.

I cannot say that I persuaded my friend to my point of view, yet we did agree that my point was a viable interpretation of Job’s life.

One of the things I like in the beginning and throughout Job’s story is the virtue of character. Back in the days of Job, as even in our days some folks are convinced someone with many worldly goods, surely cheated, lied or stolen from another to have gained such wealth. Another trait of today as back then some people judge others by what is in their own hearts, thus the faithful are accused of many lusts, vices and short comings.

I am excited and encouraged by the story of Job; One, mankind can be everything that we expect of an upright and virtuous person, we can resist temptation, we do have the ability to live forthright lives. And secondly God’s Faith in us! Though you and I may face many and great challenges in our lives God believes in us, it is because of jobs trials and victories that God believe we can handle and come through any and every trial of life without falling into sin and overcoming every pitfall without compromising our principals.

Remember we have a Savior that is our advocate before the Throne of our God and Jesus went one step further, in Acts chapter one we are entrusted with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) you and I have at our disposal even more of Gods’ presence than His servant Job!

Yours in faith,

Chaplain Lewis

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² Nave's Topical is in the public domain and may be freely used and distributed.

³ The Hebrew lexicon is Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the "Theological Word Book of the Old Testament." These files are considered public domain.