Job's Turban

Was Job right in claiming extreme righteousness?
 
In Job 29:14, the Old Testament character of Job said he wore righteousness as his clothing and justice as his robe and turban. And in Job 29 and 31, he reported 24 ways in which he acted righteously.  Job said he:

• Hadn’t walked in falsehood or had been deceitful.
• Hadn’t concealed sin in his heart.
• Wasn’t enticed by a woman.
• Hadn’t trusted in gold.
• Hadn’t rejoiced over his great wealth.
• Hadn’t worshipped the sun or moon.
• Hadn’t rejoiced over his enemy’s misfortune.
• Hadn’t cursed his enemy.
• Hadn’t denied justice to his servants.
• Hadn’t failed to pay for the yield of his land.
• Hadn’t broken the spirit of its tenants.
• Took up the case of the stranger.
• Hadn’t denied the desires of the poor.
• Hadn’t let the eyes of the widow grow weary.
• Shared bread with the fatherless.
• Reared the fatherless from his youth.
• Rescued those who had none to assist them.
• From his birth, guided the widow and made her heart sing. 
• Helped anyone he saw perishing for lack of clothing or needing clothes
• Shared his food with his household.
• Opened his door to travelers.
• Was eyes to the blind.
• Was feet to the lame.
• Was father to the needy.

 
Was Job right? Read The Joy of Job to find out but, in the meantime, consider these four points:
 
1. Compare Job’s words with that of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, as told by Jesus in Luke 18:9-14:
 
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
 
2. Contrast Job’s representations of benevolence with his own statements about the starving boys living among the rocks, whose fathers he “would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.” (Job 30:1) Rather than considering how to assuage their hunger, Job looked at them from a cold, mercenary point of view:  “Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?” (Job 30:2)
 
3. Compare Job’s words with the Biblical standard for humility, which is truth. “If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves,” states Galatians 6:3. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” says 1 John 1:8. “Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure. I am clean and without sin’?” states Proverbs 20:9.

​4. The very people he claimed to have helped abandoned him. Other than the four friends who came from afar, not one came to his rescue or aid during his time of suffering.
 
Read ​The Joy of Job, An Investigator’s Perspective on the Most Righteous Man on Earth to find out why interpreting Job correctly matters.

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Job said he reared the fatherless from his youth. (Job 31:17-18)

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Job said he guided the widows from his birth. ​(Job 31:17-18)

Eliphaz told Job in no uncertain terms: "You stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, though you were a powerful man, owning land — an honored man, living on it. And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless." (Job 22:6-9)

Job said he wouldn't put the fathers of the starving boys with his sheep dogs. (Job 30:1)