Job 1
The great man Job had seven sons who were grown up and had homes of their own; they liked to make feasts, “each one on his day”, perhaps that meant on a special day, as a birthday, or each in his turn. Each time they sent for their sisters to feast with them.
These young people may not have had a book to tell about the Lord and His wishes, but they knew of His power, as every person may, by the wonders of the sun, moon, and stars, by storms, and by all that we call nature. But more than that, their father would have told them how sin came, for he spoke of Adam (chapter 31:33); he would have told them that God received Abel’s offering, and that Cain refused God’s mercy; and surely he told them of the great ship, built by Noah, of the flood, and that only Noah and his family, because they believed God, were saved.
Job looked for a Redeemer to come, and must have spoken of-Him, yet his son’s seem to have been planning only for their own pleasure and not to honor God, for their father feared they would sin at their feasts and turn against God in their hearts. So early on the mornings of the days they were to feast, he always offered sacrifices for them, as men, who believed God, did at that time One day Job’s eldest son was having a feast at his house for his brothers and sisters, when a great wind came and blew down the house, and all were killed; only one servant escaped to tell their father of this dreadful sorrow. We are not told if the sons did speak against God that day, but if they had not spoken for His honor, they lost their chance to do so, they were not left to grow old; the storm came suddenly as such storms do. Even such a good father as Job could not save his children. God has said,
“If I send pestilence into that land, and pain out My fury upon it ... . to cut off from it man and beast. Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter.” Ezekiel 14:19, 2019Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: 20Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. (Ezekiel 14:19‑20).
No fathers now, can save their boys or girls from danger, or their souls from God’s judgment; they can only tell them, and pray for them. Every boy must believe the Lord for himself, every girl must believe for herself; God’s words to each one are,
There are sons and daughters now, who may know God’s ways better than Job’s family, who put off speaking for Him until they are old or death comes. It is so much happier to
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” Eccles, 12:1.
There is something else for us to notice in the feasts of Job’s sons: there were poor children in the land of Uz, there were widows, orphans, lame and blind people, whom Job helped (chapt. 29:12-16), and his sons and daughters could have helped also; instead, they were feasting and honoring themselves. Do you not suppose there are now poor children, widows, lame or blind people in every land whom those who love the Lord can help, not to give them feasts, but to supply some needs, comfort, and tell them of Jesus; instead of “each on his day” making a feast and honoring one another? (See Luke 14:12, 1312Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. 13But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: (Luke 14:12‑13)).
ML 04/14/1940