Biblical Characters: Of Jesus and Job
Christ’s cry from the olive press in Gethsemane has a strikingly similar resonance to Job’s anguished complaint from the ash heap of Uz. The resemblances have led some commentators to identify Job as a “type” of Christ, a biblical figure that formally anticipates the coming of our Savior. While other commentators have balked at claiming Job as a formal type of Christ, there is no denying the remarkable similarities between these two suffering servants of God.
As you search the Scriptures for reflections of Christ, you would do well to heed God’s question in Job 1:8, “have you considered My servant Job?” Consider the following four points of similarity, in turn.
In the first place, Job was a uniquely godly man. God testified of Job, “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8). Though dwelling outside the Promised Land and covenant community of Israel, Job nonetheless stood before God—and in His perfect estimation—as a righteous man.
Job was scrupulous in his religious observances (Job 1:5, 42:8-10). He lived with a conscious awareness of God’s friendship (Job 29:4), which men experience only by way of God’s gracious covenantal condescension (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). Job was no mere “Everyman,” but was a moral exemplar par excellence.
As exemplary as Job was, however, his righteousness was not perfect. His was a relative blamelessness. He was upright, but by his own admission he was not without sin, and he sought for God’s pardoning mercy (e.g., Job 7:20f). At most, Job’s righteousness can simply direct our attention to the only perfectly righteous man ever to have lived, Christ Jesus Himself.
As you search the Scriptures for reflections of Christ, you would do well to heed God’s question in Job 1:8, “have you considered My servant Job?” Consider the following four points of similarity, in turn.
In the first place, Job was a uniquely godly man. God testified of Job, “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8). Though dwelling outside the Promised Land and covenant community of Israel, Job nonetheless stood before God—and in His perfect estimation—as a righteous man.
Job was scrupulous in his religious observances (Job 1:5, 42:8-10). He lived with a conscious awareness of God’s friendship (Job 29:4), which men experience only by way of God’s gracious covenantal condescension (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). Job was no mere “Everyman,” but was a moral exemplar par excellence.
As exemplary as Job was, however, his righteousness was not perfect. His was a relative blamelessness. He was upright, but by his own admission he was not without sin, and he sought for God’s pardoning mercy (e.g., Job 7:20f). At most, Job’s righteousness can simply direct our attention to the only perfectly righteous man ever to have lived, Christ Jesus Himself.
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