IN THE critical year of 1942 the developments of the great conflict for world domination drew our attention to the neighborhood of the ancient home of Job, the land of Uz. The inspired record becomes alive with meaning today. It reads: "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job." (Job 1:1) The record concerning Job is no mere bit of dead ancient history to be pushed aside because of urgent conditions that grimly face us at present. Job was involved in an important way in the chief issue confronting all heaven and earth, and which issue shall be settled in this "the day of Jehovah". The issue is UNIVERSAL DOMINATION.
Job's record shows him to be one of those faithful men of old, who are destined to be those "princes in all the earth" in the new
world which Almighty God Jehovah constructs. More than this: the Scriptural and the physical facts prove that Job is due to be resurrected shortly with those faithful men and to appear on earth with them. These appointed "princes" of God will take over what the Nazi-Fascist totalitarian dictators desperately try to grab in the earth. "Christendom's " civilization is threatened with collapse by selfish division within her, and her frightened leaders are like drowning men grasping at a straw and crying out, "What the world needs is more religion!" It is the proper time, therefore, to consider carefully the life history of Job, who was a witness for Jehovah God. His true-life experience was a prophetic drama which exposes the war hotly waged by religion against Jehovah's witnesses from and after Abel, the first martyr slain by a religionist.
From the inside evidence of the book bearing Job's name it appears that the land of Uz was the northern part of what is called Arabia Deserta. Run your eye along the thirtieth parallel of the map, and you will locate the land of Uz northward of that parallel and to the east and southeast of Palestine, and continuing eastward toward the Euphrates river, the famous river of Mesopotamia, now Iraq. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, mentions two men by the name of Uz. The first one was a great-grandson of Noah. God's friend Abraham descend-
ed from a cousin of that Uz. (Genesis 10:22,23) The second Uz was the son of Abraham's brother, Nahor, and so was a nephew of faithful Abraham. (Genesis 22: 20,21) Job descended from this second Uz; hence Job was in the relationship of a great-grandnephew of Abraham. Nahor had another son named Buz, and from him was descended the young man Elihu who came to Job's defense against the religionists. Nahor's third son was named Bethuel, and he became the father of Laban and Rebekah. This Rebekah married Abraham's son Isaac, and from this marriage the twins were born, Jacob and Esau. Rebekah's brother Laban became the father of Leah and Rachel, and both of these daughters were married off to Jacob. Prom that marriage the twelve tribes of Israel were descended. Therefore the Israelites were distant second cousins of Job. Jacob's twin brother, Esau, despised God's covenant with Abraham and married a demon-worshiper. Prom this marriage there descended the Temanites, prominent among whom was Eliphaz the Temanite, who pretended to be the friend of Job. It is important to see these ties of relationship of Job in order the better to understand his faith and hope and why he stuck to the course he had taken.
In the course of time the various descendants of both the men named Uz, as aforementioned, must have gotten together in the
land alongside Babylon's territory. They became related among one another in this new land and they named it after the two forefathers who both had the same name, Uz. The book of Job is actual history, and Job was no mere allegorical character. Jehovah God mentions him in the prophecy by Ezekiel concerning conditions at the end of this world: "Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. " (Ezekiel 14:13,14, also verses 16, 18, 20) God knows all things correctly and he here links up Job with Noah and Daniel, about whose actual existence in human history there is no doubt or question. At James 5:11 it also speaks of Job as a historical person. The apostle James would not refer to some imaginary, fictional, parabolic or allegorical figure as an example for persecuted Christians to consider in order to strengthen themselves unto patient endurance as Jehovah's witnesses. Only an actual life character would carry the proper conviction to Christians that, by God's grace, "it can be done!"
Abraham and his two brothers, Nahor and Haran, dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees with
Terah their father. Then Abraham was called of Jehovah God to go to the Promised Land and was given the promise concerning The Theocracy and the Seed in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. It seems that Nahor and his family did not leave Ur of the Chaldees together with Abraham and Haran and their father Terah. However, Nahor's son Uz would become acquainted with the movements of his uncle Abraham due to that promise concerning the Theocratic Government by the Seed. This information Uz would hand down to his posterity, and in time it came down to his descendant Job. Later on Uz also left Ur of the Chaldees, crossed the Euphrates, and settled in the land thereafter called by his name Uz. There after many years his descendant Job was born. The record indicates that when Job came to a knowledge and understanding of God's promise in Eden concerning the Seed of the woman and also God's later promise concerning the same Seed, Job showed forth the same faith as Abraham did in those promises and took his stand for The Theocracy.
Job's name means "hated; harassed; persecuted", that is, by the enemies and opposers of those Theocratic promises. Hence this hatred would be exercised by Satan and his demons and his visible agents on earth, particularly the religionists. The reason why such hatred and persecution were directed
at Job is stated in the record: "And that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed [avoided] evil." (Job 1:1) Job was not perfect in body and mind, because he was 'conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity' like all the rest of Adam's offspring, and death had passed upon him as upon all men, "for that all have sinned." (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12) But Job could be and was perfect in his devotion to Jehovah and his promised Theocracy. Hence he did not try to run ahead of God and set up a political rule as Nimrod did. Job, chapter thirty, shows that Job occupied a powerful position in the land of Uz, yet he did not make himself king there. Like Abraham his great-granduncle, Job looked forward for God's establishment of the Theocratic Government by His Seed in his due time. Job's later utterances show this. Like Abraham, Job had no desire to return to Ur of the Chaldees and put himself under the domination of Babylon. (Hebrews 11:15,16) He recognized Jehovah and his promised Seed as "the Higher Powers" and did not fear men or the governments of "this present evil world". In eschewing or avoiding evil he avoided the organizations and policies and course of the world and was no friend of it. His record shows he visited the fatherless and widows in their affliction and kept himself unspotted from the world. (James 1: 27,
Syriac Version) For this he was "hated" by the world.
It is written:" By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil." (Proverbs 16:6) To Job's chief critic the Almighty God made this comment about Job: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (Job 1: 8) The statement that "there is none like him in the earth" seems to locate the time of this drama as between two marked events, namely, the death of Abraham's great-grandson Joseph and the birth of Moses sixty-four years later. It was about 1600 years before Christ. At that time the Israelites were in Egypt and had become measurably spotted with religion or demonism down there. Their ensnarement by religion in Egypt, which symbolizes the world, is spoken of at Ezekiel 20: 5-9.
During that period there would be no equal of Job in the earth as to devotion to Jehovah God and his promised Government. Study of the evidence appears to show that Job may have been born about or shortly after the death of his distant cousin Jacob in Egypt, and that the great test of Job's patience came shortly after the death of Jacob's son Joseph. Joseph's death would take from the earth one whose devotion and faithfulness to Jehovah could be compared with Job's, and so Job would be left as the
outstanding servant and witness of Jehovah God in all the earth. At the time of test Job had ten children and may have been about seventy years old. The Bible does not give his age at that time, but it is evident that he was not a young man then, which would make it all the more noteworthy that Job lived 140 years after the test.
Surviving for one hundred and forty years after his test, it appears that Job lived long after Moses' birth and even after Moses led the children of Israel forth from the land of Egypt. It further appears that Moses wrote the book of Job and that Moses learned about Job and his test of integrity after Moses fled from Egypt, having killed the dictatorial Egyptian overseer in defense of his brother Israelite. Then Moses took refuge in the land of Midian with the Midianite prince, Jethro. Later Moses married Jethro's daughter, Zipporah. Her name means "little bird", or, "birdie," and is the feminine form of the name Zophar. The Midianites were located just south of the land of Uz, and Moses during his forty years' exile as a shepherd in the country of Midian was then in an easy position to learn of and concerning Job up across the border. Job was apparently living out his miraculously lengthened life and it appears that he died after Moses went back to Egypt and started the Israelites on their forty-year trek through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Then while passing
by, Moses could check up on the full age of Job and could record it and finish off the closing verses of the book of Job, all for our admonition today.
In recounting the deeds of the faithful men of old, at chapter eleven of Hebrews, the apostle Paul does not list the name of Job. This does not argue that Job did not live. The apostle was in that record specializing mainly on those faithful men who descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Hence, after mentioning Jacob and Joseph, Paul goes on to name Moses the Israelite, although Job's demonstration of faith may have fitted in between Joseph and Moses. Not being an Israelite, Job was not mentioned by name, but he is included in the description of that "cloud of witnesses", who "through faith . . . wrought righteousness, obtained promises, . . . out of weakness were made strong". — Hebrews 11: 33, 34.
The drama of Job being prophetic, whom did he picture? His faithful course shows he pictured all those on earth who exercised faith in Jehovah's promise and took a firm, unwavering position for The Theocracy and favored His universal domination, and who then withstood the assaults of the demons and demonized men and held fast their integrity toward God under the test unto the end. That line of men of integrity began with the martyred Abel and included the prophets and other faithful ones of old, and also Jesus
primarily. It ties in all his body members or members of the "body of Christ", including the remnant thereof yet on earth; and also the Lord's "other sheep" whom he is gathering today and who shall form the "great multitude" that shall fulfill the divine mandate. All these stand the test and faithfully keep their integrity before the world is destroyed and Satan and his demons are bound at Armageddon. In brief, then, Job pictures all those of maintained integrity from Abel down to and including the "great multitude".
CHILDREN
"And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters." (Job 1:2) Job taught his children the promises and commandments of Jehovah God as his great-grand-uncle Abraham did, and as Christ Jesus taught his disciples later, bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. (Genesis 18:19) In this picture of Job as a father of ten, he specially represented the One whom Jehovah God makes "The Everlasting Father" in the new world, namely, Christ Jesus, who gives life to all that maintain their integrity on earth down to the end of Armageddon. These include the following: (1) The members of "his body", the "little flock", his church, for whose life he died. Concerning them he says: "Behold I and the CHILDREN which God hath given me." (Hebrews 2:13; Isaiah 8:18) To them he
said: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." (John 14:9) Jesus was the Father's representative unto the disciples whom God the Father gave to Jesus. (2) The faithful men of old, including Job himself, and whom Christ Jesus raises from the dead unto everlasting life, thus making them his "children". Then he makes them "princes in all the earth" under The Theocracy, as foretold at Psalm 45:16. (3) His "other sheep" who are now being separated from the "goats" and whom he is now gathering into the one fold with the remnant. (John 10:16) To these "other sheep" and to the "princes" Christ Jesus the King becomes "The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace". — Isaiah 9:6,7.
Job's seven sons and three daughters make ten children. All these together would picture the complete number of persons who on earth maintain their integrity toward Jehovah God and his Theocracy, from Abel on down to the end of the battle of Armageddon.
"His substance [(marginal reading) His cattle] also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east." (Job 1:3) Note also concerning Job's distant relative Abraham: "And Abram was very rich, in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and
herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great." — Genesis 13:2,5,6.
Job appears to have been chiefly a herder, like Abel and like Abraham. Doubtless the land of Uz was better adapted to this than to farming. According to some authorities the name "Uz" means "light, sandy soil", describing the north part of Arabia Deserta; to others "Uz" means "consultation". In such dominion over those cattle, which together numbered 11,500 (a multiple of ten), Job here further pictured Christ Jesus. To him as King of The Theocracy is committed the dominion over the creature life of the new earth. His rightful title is "The Son of man", and at Hebrews 2: 6-9 the apostle applies to Christ Jesus the words of Psalm 8: 6-8: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas." Under the "new heavens" of the new world the "princes" and the "great multitude" of survivors shall exercise dominion over the lower creatures as Adam was commanded to do, and they will do it as earthly servants representing the Greater Job, Christ Jesus, the Theocratic King.
Job was accounted the "greatest of all the men of the east", that is, east of the land promised to Abraham and his seed. When Abraham made Isaac his full heir, the patriarch sent away his other sons by other wives to that east country. "And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country." (Genesis 25: 5,6) Job became greater than the Temanites, the descendants of Esau. When Jacob was fleeing from his twin-brother Esau, "then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east." (Genesis 29:1) There Jacob met Laban, the nephew of the Uz from whom Job descended. Leah and Rachel were daughters of this Laban, and these Jacob took to wife and thus married into the relationship of Job. About the time that Jacob died Job was born. Properly, then, Moses would be interested in Job. God used Moses to write the record of earth's creation and of the early genealogies down till he brought the Israelites out of Egypt and to the borders of the Promised Land. Jehovah God would also be pleased to use Moses to write the history of Job separately. Moses did not mention Job in the first five books of the Bible.
While "greatest of all the men of the east", yet Job did not imitate dictator Nim-
rod and exalt himself over others as king. He was like Jesus, who refused to mix in the political game of this world and who refused worldly kingship even at the election of the people (demos). "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone." (John 6:15) Jesus, anointed King by his Father, chose to wait until The Theocracy should be set up.
INTERCESSOR
Job's children rejoiced in God's goodness. "And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters, to eat and to drink with them." (Job 1:4) Job's own words show he was dwelling in the city where he was a faithful witness for Jehovah in word and practice. (Job 29: 7-25) His children's feasting pictures feasting on the promises and the abundant provisions of truth and service connected with Jehovah's wonderful purpose by The Theocracy. The Greater Job is Christ Jesus, Jehovah's Word and Executive Officer. He is the One whom God has used in all periods of time to provide for those who maintain faithfulness and integrity toward God, from Abel forward and including the Lord's "other sheep" gathered before Armageddon. The sons' feasting, "every one his day," accord-
ing to appointment, shows it was "meat in due season". The feasting of the children of the Greater Job is especially great and joyful at this time. The Theocracy has come and Christ Jesus is at the temple, where he has ushered the faithful ones into "the joy of Jehovah" and "the joy of thy Lord". (Nehemiah 8:10, Am. Rev. Ver.; Matthew 25:21) Concerning this the exhortation is given: "O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD." — Psalm 34: 9-11.
"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." (Job 1:5) All this took place before Jehovah God had instructed Moses to set up the sacred tabernacle of worship with its sacrifices and to ordain a priesthood in Israel. Inasmuch as Job was acting out the part that God assigned him in the prophetic drama, it was quite fitting that Job should act as priest for his household and as their intercessor. He must bring about their cleansing and restoration to divine favor
should any of his house have sinned in their course of action, "cursed God in their hearts." That they might partake of the sacrifice, Job sanctified them according to their willingness. Job could not sacrifice himself, but used animals instead, clean animals. Those sacrifices were animals whose blood did not have value enough to take away sins of man. They were merely representative of Job himself, and more particularly typical or pictorial of the Greater Job, "the Lamb of God." Hence Job repeated the sacrificial service regularly, just as the atonement-day sacrifices of Israel at the tabernacle were repeated yearly. — Leviticus, chapter sixteen.
Herein Job was faithful as a father and priest and taught his household the fear of Jehovah God and was a faithful and true witness to them and to all. He worshiped the true and living God and sought the honor of His name. Shortly the Devil tried to make Job say he was wrong in this course of action. He wanted to keep Job from ever resuming this faithful practice, because for Job to admit he had been a willful sinner would make it inconsistent for him to take up this sacrificial service again and to act as intercessor. Just the same way, the Devil and his agents on earth try to twist out of Jehovah's witnesses a confession that they have been wrong in their course of action and have been sinners in doing that which brought persecutions upon them by religionists.
Christ Jesus is Jehovah's great High Priest in behalf of all who maintain their integrity toward God. After John the Baptist, the last of the faithful men of old, had finished his course, Jesus himself died as a sacrifice. He thus provided for the cleansing of those men from sin and for their redemption from death. The same benefits come likewise to all who should thereafter follow His steps. He sanctifies them, setting them to doing the service of God as his approved witnesses. His apostle writes: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." — 1 John 2:1,2.
Jesus' disciples, and particularly Peter, needed Jesus' intercession after they had fled and Peter denied Jesus three times, with cursing. Forewarning them of this, Jesus said: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you [eleven disciples] as wheat [scattering you]: but I have prayed for thee [Simon Peter particularly], that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." (Luke 22:31,32, and 54-62) To all Christ's followers the apostle writes: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." — Hebrews 4:14-16.
HEAVENLY ASSEMBLY
What now took place was without the knowledge of Job. It was later described to him by a special communication from the Lord God after he had overcome in the sore trial of his integrity. Being without the knowledge thereof increased the keenness of the trial for Job. Today the revelation thereof helps those who are similarly tried. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD [before Jehovah (Am. Rev. Ver.)], and Satan came also among them." (Job 1:6) The angelic "sons of God" who had intermarried with the daughters of men before the Flood were not among these "sons of God" here assembling. The inspired statement at 1 Peter 3:19, 20 reveals that since the Flood Satan and his demons were holding those disobedient spirit "sons of God" in prison, away from communication with God's holy organization.
The vision of the assembly gives us a glimpse of the invisible angelic organization of the great Universal Ruler. It shows that
all creatures in his universal organization have a responsibility unto Him as supreme, and must answer and report to Him. From the developments of this assembly before Jehovah, it appears that these angelic "sons of God" were heads over various assigned parts of His universal organization. His only begotten Son, who later became Christ Jesus, was undoubtedly there, especially since He is "The Word of God" or the One who speaks for and expresses the divine will and commandments. Lucifer the son of God was not there; he had lost his sonship by rebelling and becoming God's adversary, Satan. Satan did come into this heavenly assembly. This proves that Satan was still permitted in heaven and would continue to be there until Christ Jesus should cast him out at the time of the birth of the Kingdom, in A.D. 1914. (Revelation 12:1-12) Because of the burning issue, Jehovah God permitted Satan's presence there in heaven in company with God's sons, the holy angels.
It is clear that Satan came, not because he felt any obligation to Jehovah God to report to God, but because he had some controversy with God. Satan wanted to show that this assembly was not unanimous in its conclusions as to the universe as based on all reports. He wanted to show that Jehovah God was not holding all his subjects in line and was not a universal ruler and that God could not keep his rule universal and was not supreme, but
could be defeated in His purposes, and that God's word was proved to be unreliable and untrue. Satan was there to bring Jehovah God into question and reproach before these heavenly "sons of God". Was Jehovah God backward about the controversy? No!
"And Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it." (Job 1: 7, Am. Rev. Ver.) Jehovah properly asked this question of Satan, because He still permitted Satan to remain the invisible overlord with the power of death over man, to which position Lucifer had been appointed in Eden. (Ezekiel 28:14,15) Satan having made bold to come into the assembly, Jehovah knew Satan had something in mind to bring up in support of his challenge to God. Satan's reply shows where and over whom Satan was still permitted to be invisible overlord. Concerning this God warns those who desire to maintain their integrity: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." (1 Peter 5: 8,9) Satan's walking about was in order to sight someone to be devoured, if possible. He was not trying to oversee the earth in order to restore or maintain Jehovah's universal
domination there. He was out to prevent God's domination from holding sway on earth or taking any root there. Any possibility of such Satan would try to destroy, out of his enmity to the promised Theocracy. So he would try to ruin and destroy anyone who looked for that Government. Who shall inhabit the earth? was the question. The holding of the earth in control by the wicked would set in doubt God's domination.
RELIGIOUS ENMITY
"And Jehovah said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and turneth away from evil." (Job 1:8, Am. Rev. Ver.) Evidently at that time Moses down in Egypt had not yet come out and taken his stand in the earth for the Anointed One (Christ), the King of the future Theocracy: "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ [whom Moses typified] greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward." — Hebrews 11:24-26.
In full harmony with the sense of the original Hebrew text Professor Young's translation renders Job 1:8 thus: "And Jehovah
said unto the Adversary, 'Hast thou SET THY HEART AGAINST MY SERVANT Job because there is none like him in the land, . . .?'" The Hebrew expression here corresponds with a like one in Daniel 11:28 concerning the totalitarian "king of the north" in our day: "Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his HEART SHALL BE AGAINST the holy covenant [of The Theocracy]; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land." Job's name means "hated". Satan set his heart against Job and hated him because Job believed God would in due time bring forth the promised Seed and through him exercise domination over all, including this earth. Such a stand by Job was against Satan's challenge made to Jehovah publicly before the angels of heaven at the time of Eden. The hatred of the Devil and his demons is not so much against the human family in general who are Adam's descendants, because these are already under demon rule. The target of the demon hatred is those who adopt the stand for Jehovah's universal domination by His Theocracy and who preserve their integrity, because by so doing these give the lie to Satan's false and religious charge against Jehovah God.
Despite the hatred of Satan and his demons and the religionists on earth, Job had the expressed approval of the great Theocrat. Job was not a descendant of Abraham, and furthermore, his test came before the
covenant of the law was made with the Israelite descendants of Abraham by Jehovah through His mediator Moses. But that Job was in a covenant with Jehovah God is implied in Job's statement, at Job 31:1, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" That Job devoted himself to Jehovah, as Abel, Enoch, and Noah before him had done, is certain. Job had fixed his eyes of faith upon the carrying out of Jehovah's covenant promises both in Eden and to Abraham concerning the Seed of Abraham by God's "woman", which Seed shall constitute The Theocracy. According to the words at James 5:10,11 Job is included among the prophets of Jehovah. Now God was about to use him in a prophetic drama. In it Job would serve as a prophetic character or actor. He would also give utterance to prophetic words beyond even his own understanding then, because God's invisible power or holy spirit would move Job to speak.
Christ Jesus was the only great man ever on earth, and there never has been or will be anyone like him in all the earth. So mean God's words of approval concerning Job. God's words also show the correctness of Job's testimony concerning his integrity, at chapter thirty-one. Job could not have measured up to Jehovah's standard of a 'perfect, upright and God-fearing man' if Job had not been awaiting God's kingdom and keeping himself "unspotted from the world". Job
was no friend of this world. Therefore Satan's world hated Job. Like him the Greater Job said to unbelieving religionists: "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." (John 7:7,5) Considering that Moses had not yet been given the law of the ten commandments and the other statutes of the law covenant with Israel, Job indeed had a high standard of righteousness, and which was plainly from the Lord. It was not so-called "character development", which is self-idolatry or creature worship, but it was unswerving devotion to The Theocracy. Job was a faithful witness for Jehovah and was jealous for God's name, which name he mentioned in worship. (Job 1: 20, 21) Job feared lest his children should curse or renounce that name, and hence he took steps to remove any possible reproach upon that name. The vindication of God's name by his Theocracy is all-important.
"Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath, on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land." (Job 1:9,10, Am. Rev. Ver.) Here the prince of the demons viciously hints that no creature loves and worships Jehovah God for what Jehovah is in himself as the highest standard of righteousness, but that God
bribes his creatures to obligate them to serve him and to hold them subject to his universal domination. According to this Job was serving and fearing God for what selfish advantages there were in it, and not because of pure love of righteousness as contained in and revealed in Jehovah God himself. In this very day the religionists cannot imagine Jehovah's witnesses as doing his "strange work" of witnessing to the "kingdom of heaven" purely out of love of God and devotion to righteousness, and not for some selfish, commercial gain to themselves. How like Satan, who charged God with buying the devotion and worship of those who submitted to his universal domination!
This slander against Jehovah's servant Job set up a controversial question. That question applied not simply to Job, nor did it stop with the man Job, but it must extend and apply to all creatures throughout the universe who had till then remained faithful and true in heaven to Jehovah God. Job was at that time the only one with faultless integrity on earth, and hence the controversial question could at that time be extended to apply only to the faithful creatures in heaven. That would include Jehovah's only begotten Son himself, "The Word of God," God's faithful "Morning Star".
Satan's controversial question struck at a rule of action according to which the divine government throughout the universe must
be judged. That rule of action was this: Do obedient creatures everywhere love God for righteousness' sake or for selfish gain and for as long as such selfish gain keeps coming to them? Does Jehovah's government, and the creation's submitting to such government, rest upon the creature's selfishness or upon the creature's love of absolute righteousness as displayed in Jehovah God? Would the power of such divine government vanish if the satisfying of the creature's selfishness stopped or were withheld? Hence the Devil's controversial question charged that there was a weakness existent in God's universal domination, and that therefore the Devil could overthrow such domination. Satan's question as put struck therefore at the very highest of God's faithful creation, God's own Executive Officer, his only begotten Son, God's first creation.
TEST OF DEVOTION
Satan now proposes to show how he could cause Jehovah's universal domination to collapse. So concerning Job Satan next says: "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." (Job 1:11) Then, so Satan's conclusion to Jehovah God would be, you will be without a single witness and without a single subject of your universal domination on the earth and I will be the god of every creature on earth.
The question, of course, could not be held down to just Job. Every creature then faithful throughout the universe would henceforth and thereafter be under suspicion from the Devil and his demons and could be thus falsely accused before the Creator. That particularly meant the One who was with the Creator from the beginning and who was once his only creation, namely, his firstborn and only begotten Son, his chief and most trusted officer. Is devotion to righteousness of God so weak throughout the universe that it can be broken by selfishness?
Satan argued this way: When the Creator's beloved Son was the only creation and was alone with God, it was easy for him to remain loyal, obedient and faithful to God. Further, since the time of the creation of other spirit creatures, and especially since the rebellion of Satan, it was still easy for that beloved, only begotten Son to remain faithful and obedient, because that Son was shielded by Jehovah God and was favored and blessed up there in heaven. But, so Satan continues to argue, put that Son in an unfavorable and difficult position, just put him in the place where Satan is the invisible overlord, namely, the earth, and there let that Son be exposed and suffer loss, and then that Son and Chief Executive of Jehovah would "bless" God to his face, that is, say farewell to or renounce God to His face. That was the final implication or suggestion
in Satan's controversial question, and the highest and farthest it could reach. It could not be answered by less.
Therefore Satan's argument logically reached up to and took in the Seed of God's "woman", which Seed Jehovah had forewarned Satan that God would raise up to bruise the Serpent's head. Of necessity, then, Satan's argument applied to Abraham's promised Seed, in whom all the families of the earth would bless themselves by faith and obedience. That Seed could perforce not be spared the test of submission to Theocratic rule, which test Satan had proposed. As soon as Satan's rebellion and Adam's fall took place, God knew the end from the beginning and he then purposed that the Seed by his "woman" should be His only begotten Son. Hence Satan's argument indirectly put God under obligation or, rather, it challenged God to bring down from heaven the Chief Official in the divine government and then let him be put under Satan's test. Then and thereby it would be proved if he served God for love of righteousness or for the selfish advantage connected with God's service. In view of this, it was appropriate, as said at Hebrews 2:10, that God should provide the Leader for Christians and "make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings". Even so, at Hebrews 5: 8, it is written concerning Jesus: "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things
which he suffered." So true was God's love and absolute confidence concerning his only begotten Son that God pushed the proof of His side of the controversy to the extreme limit to put to silence for ever all suspicions. The confidence of all creation that lives must be established in God's promised Theocracy. It must be and is the only hope of the world.
TEST APPLIED
"And Jehovah said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah." (Job 1:12, Am. Rev. Ver.) Satan had just said that "all that Job hath" was blessed and increased and hedged about. So first let the test be made on the score of these possessions. God matched Satan's challenge. He agreed that Job be made a poor, property-less, childless man, except that his flesh, his body, be not touched, by Satan's wicked power. Jehovah, in his foreknowledge of all his own works from the beginning, now confidently proceeded to make a prophetic picture. Thereby he would show that in due time he would subject his only begotten Son and Chief Official to the test on earth. Hence Job primarily pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. Only secondarily does Job picture the members of Christ's body and the remnant thereof now on earth and all others who, like Jesus, maintain their integrity toward God
during all the time that Satan is invisible overlord over humankind.
The first test upon Jesus was to become poor, so poor that on earth he was born in a manger and later had no place to lay his head; and he was childless. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." (2 Corinthians 8: 9) Satan sought to be equal with God and did not have the mind of Christ. To the exact opposite of Satan's course it is written: "Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but EMPTIED HIMSELF, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." —Philippians 2:5-8, A.R.V.
Given God's permission to make the test, Satan left the assembly of the angels who were presenting themselves before Jehovah. He went to his own demon organization. Doubtless he would there consult with Gog and his other demon princes as to which way to proceed against Job in order to succeed in turning Job aside from faith in God's Righteous Government that shall rule over all, including our earth. Note the line of action Satan followed.
"And there was a day when his [Job's] sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's home." (Job 1:13) This corresponded with the time that Christ Jesus was with his apostles and other disciples. Then they feasted and drank on God's spiritual provisions through his Son. To those who questioned such spiritual feasting and rejoicing Jesus said: "Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast." (Matthew 9:15) Aside from Jesus, the apostles were the eldest brothers of all Christians who are baptized into the body of Christ. What followed?
"And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them; and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." (Job 1:14,15) Mark the result of the wicked world, the visible and the invisible part thereof, upon Jehovah's faithful witness. Job's oxen and asses represented equipment for getting the Lord's work done. They were also a symbol of perfect man's dominion over the lower animals. Who were those marauding Sabeans, or "Sheba" (Young's)? They were visible powers of Satan's world, and were demon-worshipers
and demon-controlled. They were the descendants of Cush, the father of Nimrod. Therefore Nimrod was a brother of Sheba, the father of the Sabeans. The attacking Sabeans were demonized, else they would not have acted as Satan's instruments against Job to torment Job into cursing and forsaking God. They came from the south, the direction of "the king of the south" named in Daniel, chapter eleven. Manifestly now the hedge had been removed from round about Job's property. The angel of the Lord accordingly removed his encampment from round about that which belonged to Job. The Devil left only one servant to escape from the Sabeans, just to let the news get through to Job as genuine facts, to torment and humiliate Job.
Superhuman, invisible or demon power was next directly applied. "While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." (Job 1:16) What a slick camouflage of the great accuser this was, to make it appear that the righteous God was responsible for all the calamities upon humankind and especially the servants of Jehovah! The Sabeans were only selfish men, but lightning was something above the control of men and was from heaven. Hence God could easily and thoughtlessly
be charged with the responsibility for this! It worked in well with the Devil's scheme for the servant to report it as "the fire of God [elohim]", whereas it was in fact the fire of demon gods. Which view of it would the religionists take later on in their argumentation with Job?
Satan's purpose and policy is "Rule or ruin!" and by his visible earthly powers he causes much ruin and impoverishment. Prom the days of the founding of Babylon by Nimrod the Devil used the Chaldeans. They doubtless came against Job's servants by the route from the north, the direction of "the king of the north". "While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee." (Job 1:17) Prom the north as well as the south Job was permitted to feel the hostile power of the visible part of Satan's world. That earthly part is made up of three elements, the religious, the political, and the commercial. Those Chaldeans from the north carried out the same program of violent aggression as is today carried out by the political part of "the king of the north", aided and guided by the religious part that has its headquarters at Vatican City, Rome.
Job must now do without his animals of transportation. Centuries later, when Christ Jesus went witnessing from place to place, it seems he did not use his dominion over the lower creatures, but walked together with his disciples. This best suited his work then, and also the crowds who followed him on foot. (Mark 1:16; John 7:1; Luke 18:35-43) Once he is reported to have ridden into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass, but that was to present himself to Jerusalem as King and to make a miniature picture of things to come. A few days thereafter he was obliged to walk and bear the weight of the stake up to Calvary, there to be killed by the servants of "the king of the north", the Roman soldiers, and that at the instigation of the mobster religionists who cried out that they had no king but Caesar of Rome. — Matthew 21:1-7; John 19:12-18.
Again there comes upon Job the expression of invisible demon power, this time to touch him at a specially tender place. "While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: and, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped to tell thee." (Job 1:18,19) That storm wind evidently came from the east; but again here was something above
human control and which the misinformed persons could call an "act" or "visitation" "of God". Showing whom these children of Job pictured, the apostle applies the prophecy of Isaiah 8:18 to Jesus in relation to his disciples: "Behold, I, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion." (Hebrews 2:13) Once by a storm wind the Devil and his demons made an attempt upon the life of Jesus and his apostles as he slept in the boat crossing the sea of Galilee. (Matthew 8: 23-27) On the last night with his faithful apostles Jesus feasted with them in the celebration of the passover, and then he set up the memorial of his death as the Vindicator of God's name.
Jesus then warned them that Satan desired to sift them as wheat. In the garden of Gethsemane the demons, under Satan, like a "great wind from the wilderness", sifted Jesus' disciples and scattered them away from him. "But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." (Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50-52) Shortly thereafter Peter denied Jesus with cursings: "And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." (Luke 22: 61) There, in effect, the
disciples, those "children" whom Jehovah had given unto Jesus, died unto him, leaving him as barren as the demons left Job when bereft of his ten children. In all the painful trial yet ahead Jesus was not reunited with his group of faithful apostles; only AFTER his resurrection.
UNBROKEN DEVOTION
"Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped; and he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah." (Job 1: 20,21, Am. Rev. Ver.) Satan had not counted upon such devotion of Job to God. He was dealt a stinging defeat in his plot to turn Job away from Jehovah God by material and human loss. Job's grief at his bereavement and impoverishment was not out of place for him, because his children were not and had not died as wicked rebels against the God of their father. Man's body is made from the dust of the earth by God's power, and thus earth was man's mother in Eden and God was the life-giving Father. Job acknowledged that he had come forth from this great earth-mother with nothing and he knew that when he returned to the bosom of the earth he could take nothing with him. Job therefore exercised Godliness, and worshiped God and
was content amid his loss. "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." (1 Timothy 6: 6-8) What good and perfect gifts we enjoy, it is Jehovah that gives them. — James 1:17.
Christ Jesus always referred to his disciples as "the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; . . . for they are thine. . . . those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. . . . Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." (John 17: 6, 9,11,12,24) "And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me." (Hebrews 2:13) On the other hand, Jehovah God had foretold that Jesus would be bereft of his apostles on the night of his betrayal. Jesus spoke out his faith and belief that the Scriptures would be fulfilled upon his disciples, and he expressed his submission to this because it was a vindication of God's word as being sure, although it meant Jesus' painful bereavement of the "children" given him. "Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered abroad." (Matthew 26: 31) The disciples sentimentally tried to deny this scripture would be fulfilled, in their desire that it not come true. Jesus warned them against boastful self-confidence, and emphasized again God's written Word. As in Job's case, God permitted this human desertion for a test upon Christ Jesus as to his devotion. However, the Devil's forces did the deeds of scattering and violence without any compulsion from God, only by his permission.
Job's faithful words amidst his grief showed he still recognized and held sure and true to the Theocratic rule of divine government. He viewed it that what the great Theocrat did to him or permitted to be done to him was right and just, as well as being within God's right. It is a proper question: 'What hast thou that thou didst not receive from the great Theocrat?' (1 Corinthians 4:7) Hence none should swell with pride when he has it and then forget God. Jehovah God has the right to permit the thing to be taken away by even an enemy, not meaning, though, that the enemy is thereby justified in so doing. Of Christians who maintained their devotion as Job did the apostle wrote: "Ye . . . took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance." (Hebrews 10: 34) The woman Eve in Eden did not recognize this Theocratic
principle. She yielded to the Devil's argument which charged God with misgovernment of Adam and Eve on the grounds that Jehovah God was taking away or trying to hold back from her and Adam certain things to which they had a right. Satan there argued that God feared for his own government if Adam and Eve got ahold of the thing which Jehovah's prohibition restrained them from touching. Satan made Eve believe that the Theocratic rule was oppressive and against the interests of his creatures on earth. (Genesis 3:1-6) Therefore Eve, though deceived, willfully ran ahead and acted without right and authority, and for this she was sentenced to die with her husband.
JEHOVAH'S NAME
"Blessed be the name of Jehovah," said Job, now childless and poor. He refused to curse or bring any reproach upon the name of Jehovah and resisted the pressure of the demons in that direction. The name of Jehovah may and should be only blessed! Job had confidence in the final vindication of God's name. In all the speeches recorded in the book of Job, only Job used the name of Jehovah, namely, four times. (Job 1: 21; 12:9, A.R.V.) The name "Jehovah" is found twenty-eight other times in the narrative or historical part of the book. At the crucial time Job bore witness for Jehovah.
At the assembly in heaven the Devil avoided the use of the name Jehovah in his addresses to God. Like Job, Christ Jesus also in the hour of grievous bereavement blessed Jehovah's name. Of him it is testified: "Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession." (1 Timothy 6:13) Hanging on the tree he did not curse Jehovah, but finally said, as recorded: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23: 46) "It is finished!" — John 19: 30.
Mark Jesus' position toward universal domination of Jehovah God: To the mob that scattered his disciples he said: "But this is your hour, and the power of darkness." (Luke 22: 53) He recognized God's permission thereof, to fulfill God's own scriptures and also to test Jesus' integrity. Jesus soon afterward said to Pontius Pilate: "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." (John 19:11) There Jesus bore witness to Jehovah's universal domination and submitted himself to the Theocratic rule of government. Shortly prior to that Jesus said to Peter in the hearing of the mob: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (Matthew 26:53; John
18:11) Thus speaking, Jesus blessed Jehovah's name and constantly bore witness to Him as the great Theocrat, the Almighty Universal Ruler.
During his trial only unselfish devotion to Jehovah God and complete trust in Him enabled Job to keep his record clean. Hence it is written: "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1: 22) "In all this Job hath not sinned, nor given folly to God." (Young's) Neither did Christ Jesus in greater trial do so. In his bereavement he could maintain: "For I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." "If therefore ye seek me, let these [my disciples] go their way." (John 8:16, 29; 16: 32; 18: 8, 9) Neither Job nor Christ Jesus foolishly charged Jehovah God with misgovernment toward his servants. However, God does see "folly" in the spokesmen or prophets of religion who charge God with misgovernment and who therefore favor the governments of "this present evil world" as against Theocracy. — Jeremiah 23:13.
Job's case was the first recorded of its kind, either before or after the Flood. His
great-granduncle Abraham was severely tested as to his integrity, particularly in the sacrificing of Isaac, but Abraham's test was different in appearance and for a different illustration, although it too tried the devotion to Almighty God and His Theocracy. No wonder Job did not understand. Job did not clearly see the issue involved, nor understand it nor how it came about. Nevertheless he held fast to his integrity. Ignorance before God's due time to give knowledge is no excuse for turning rebel against God and breaking integrity toward him.
The issue, UNIVERSAL DOMINATION, included domination over willing and obedient men on earth where Satan has been invisible overlord. God's domination had seemingly broken down with regard to the earth, but faithful men like Job chose to wait in confidence for the setting up of the promised Government to restore here the Theocratic rule. Nor did suffering, persecution, discomfort and loss due to wickedness of demons and men make faithful men doubt that the earth would finally be restored to the domain of God's Theocratic rule. Hence such faithful men, from Abel down to the present, deserted from the enemy in present control, and they flatly refuse to renounce their allegiance to the Most High God.
Job did not know he was in line to be one of the future "princes in all the earth" un-
der the Theocracy to come. However, regardless of his ignorance of this, the question was here bound up in his case, namely, Who shall qualify to rule as princes on earth under The Theocracy? Still more important, Who shall be the Seed of God's "woman" to bruise Satan's head and maintain Jehovah's universal domination against all challengers in heaven and in earth? Certainly none could qualify whose devotion to righteousness could not bear up under the test of the wicked challenger.
Job might not be one of the natural seed of Abraham, and hence not be in line to be that Seed that brings blessings; yet Satan realized that Job had God's approval. Under such circumstances Job was setting the proper example and also the standard of qualification for both those future "princes" and also that Seed of promise. For this reason Job's conduct in this prophetic drama foreshadowed so correctly in its details the faithful course of Christ Jesus. Hence Satan was bent on preventing Job from having any official position on earth in connection with the promised Theocratic Government. No less did Satan try to prevent Christ Jesus from qualifying as that Seed. Satan used all manner of means to try to corrupt Jesus and force him to break his integrity, but without success.
COMPLETE FULFILLMENT
When Job had become childless, then not only Christ Jesus but also other devoted creatures on earth would thereafter be pictured in the one person of Job. Particularly would the remnant of Christ's body members on earth at this "end of the world" be pictured, together with their faithful earthly companions. Therefore the complete fulfillment of Job's drama did not take place during Jesus' days in the flesh. It must take place during his second presence, in the spirit, at the temple for judgment. It must take place upon His remnant and upon their companions who take their stand alongside of the remnant for the same Theocratic Government as that to which Job looked forward. As disclosed in the following chapters of the book of Job and in the physical facts of our day, the prophetic experiences of Job have been fulfilled upon this remnant and their companions from and after A.D. 1914. The year 1937 is marked as the year when all power of religion over them was broken; also the year 1938, when the Theocratic arrangement was restored in their midst.
After the birth of God's Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus, in 1914, and since all the demons have been cast out of heaven and down to the earth, the Devil has aimed his fiery darts at the integrity of the remnant. The symbolic warning of this reads: "And when the dragon saw that he was cast
unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child [Theocracy]." "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." (Revelation 12:13,17) Jesus forewarned his followers that, at the end of Satan's world, "ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matthew 24:9) The further part of the prophetic drama shows that great trials and tribulations due to demons and their earthly agents are yet ahead of the remnant and their companions. Their faithful course and final triumph were portrayed by Job, and were written for their strengthening and comfort.
The remaining part of the drama of Job shows there will be a faithful class down here at this time of all times, and that these shall overcome, by God's grace and to his glory and vindication. New characters were introduced next into the drama, and play significant parts. By which of these characters was your kind or classification pictured? To learn this will also disclose to you your destiny as staged in the prophetic drama.
