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Reflections on the Old Testament: Job and Psalms

“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.”—Psalm 18:20-24, NKJV

In the above verses, the psalmist seems to be boasting of his own righteousness, and “the cleanness of his hands,” saying, essentially, that God delivered him because of his purity.

But before we denounce this as pride, let’s take a look at Psalm 16:2, where David says: “O my soul, you have said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You.’” This verse provides an extremely direct answer to the puzzlement over Ps. 18:20-24. If we combine all these verses, we are able to see the whole truth:

David recognizes God as his Lord, and the source of all goodness. As a man who follows God, he recognizes that his own goodness is entirely dependent upon God. Therefore, when he “boasts” of his righteousness, he is, in truth, praising God for the goodness He has placed in him, which has saved him from destruction.

 

“But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. You have shriveled me up, and it is a witness against me; my leanness rises up against me and bears witness to my face. He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; my adversary sharpens His gaze upon me. They gape at me with their mouth, they strike me reproachfully on the cheek, they gather together against me. God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over to the hands of the wicked.”—Job 16:7-11, NKJV

“Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”—Psalm 22:12-18, NKJV

Being alienated from God by sin is the plight of man without Christ. Christ cut Himself off from God when He became sin for us on the cross. The Messiah’s outcry, therefore, in Psalm 22:12-18 matches that of Job in Job 16:7-11. In this respect many other verses in the book of Job can also be correlated to Christ’s suffering, if we but look for them. The climactic point of such a comparison is that Christ’s suffering ends in victory over mankind’s doom, i.e., since Christ already suffered spiritual death, and overcame it, our own spiritual death, which would otherwise be unavoidable, is now nullified through our belief in Christ.

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