What was the Sin committed by Job?

Bible Study on the Book of Job

If you have landed on this page it is probably because you have asked yourself this very question, and have not yet found a plausible answer. Well, in this study you will be revealed just that!

Let's pick up where we left off by analyzing Job's defense. In chapter 23, Job continues his defense by claiming to have always been faithful to God:

Job 23:10-12 - "He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

At this point, he plainly states that God is just treating him unfairly, as he continues to not understand the reasons behind all the calamities that God has allowed to fall on him:

Job 19:6 - "Know then that God has wronged me, and has surrounded me with His net."

So, what is Job's sin?

After analyzing all the Scriptures carefully and examining Job's heart, we can now have a better idea of what his thoughts were and what tormented him. This is what cost him dearly, very dearly in the end.

Let's look at this step by step.

Step 1

Job was a righteous man, he loved God, and applied his righteousness to his day to day life; this is indisputable.

Job 29:11-17 - "When the ear heard, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw, then it approved me; because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth."

Step 2

Job followed the Law of God and all His Precepts - even though they were not written in a book, but were written in his heart, he knew what sin was and was aware of Adam's sin! In fact in all chapter 31, Job, for his defense, lists all the sins that he has not committed and if we read this passage carefully, we can clearly notice that these are the sins listed in the 10 Commandments! Some examples:

Job 31:5-6 - "If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity."

Job 31:9-11 - "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her. For that would be wickedness; yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment."

Moreover...

Job 31:26-28 - "If I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand; this also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God who is above." (= worship of idols and self-idolatry)

Job 31:33 - "If I have covered my sins as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my heart."

Step 3

The wicked mighty men ("sons of the elohim") of that area plot and conspire against Job to curse him, precisely because he was a righteous and just man who followed the Law of God and had a voice in their community.

Step 4

Job hated the wicked and injustice, and by his actions, he sought to make things right. He devoted himself to fight injustice... in a pagan world... fully convinced that this meant doing the right thing. It bothered him to see suffering all around him, to see that powerful men prospered while continuing to mistreat the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the weakest in society.

Job 29:12-17 - "Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs of the wicked, and plucked the victim from his teeth."

Step 5

Job's sin, and what caused the curse of the mighty to stick, was that, in essence, he felt more righteous than God. He blamed God, in his heart and with his actions, for abandoning the righteous and the needy, for not wanting to straighten things out in the world, and for allowing evil to prosper, for leaving the wicked in their position of authority to thrive and continue to oppress the weak.

Additionally, he attempted to take God's place every time he took the law into his own hands: when he tried making things right himself by saving the vulnerable and doing the work that "should have been done by God". This led him to increasingly fill up his heart with pride and anger.

Job was tormented by anger against the world in which he lived and in which the wicked mighty men ruled by subverting the guiding principles of God's Kingdom and by oppressing the poor. He wondered why God allowed evildoers to thrive instead of allowing the righteous to triumph over them.

He was also tormented by resentment against God Himself, he wondered why God didn't want to change things, and felt that He abandoned the world. It seemed right to him to take justice into his own hands and do good on earth, because God just didn't do it.

And all this can be understood even more clearly starting from chapter 32 going forwards, when a fourth man, the youngest of them all, a certain Elihu, son of Barachel, the Buzite, who was present all along, filled with the Spirit of God, asks to speak. He finally explains to Job what his sin was and why the curse had fallen on him.

Elihu was essentially a prophet of God, the messenger who approaches the righteous to help him correct himself when he has committed a sin, so that he can repent, reconcile with God and restore his life. This was the role of Elihu.

And this is the recurrent theme of the whole Bible: the children of Israel sin, God sends them a prophet to help them understand where they have sinned, if they submit to the words of Truth of the prophet and repent, God restores their life.

From Ch. 38 onwards, the subject apparently changes, it is no longer Elihu who speaks with Job but it is God who speaks with him. In reality, it is still Elihu who converses with Job and continues his speech. In biblical allegorical language, this emphasizes the fact that God was speaking through the mouth of His prophet.

Job 33:3,7 - "Elihu says: 'My words come from my upright heart; my lips utter pure knowledge. Surely no fear of me will terrify you, nor will my hand be heavy on you'."

Job 33:8-12 - "Surely you (Job) have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words, saying: 'I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. Yet He finds fault with me, He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths'. Look, in this you are not righteous. I will answer you, for God is greater than man."

Job 33:14 - "God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it."

Job 33:16-18 - "Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deed, and keep man from pride, He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword."

Job 33:23-30 - "If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His uprightness then He is gracious to him, and says: 'Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom'; his flesh shall be young like a child's, he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, he shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness. Then he looks at men and says: 'I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and I was not punished as I deserved'. God will redeem his soul from going down to the pit and his life shall see the light. Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life."

Job 34:5-6 - "For Job has said: 'I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice; Should I lie concerning my right? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression'."

Job 34:9-12 - "For Job has said: 'It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God'. Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity. For He repays man according to his work, and makes man to find a reward according to his way. Surely God will never do wrong, nor will the Almighty pervert justice."

Job 34:17-19 - "Should One who hates justice govern (referring to God)? Will you condemn Him, the Just and Mighty One? Is it fitting to say to a king: 'You are worthless' and to nobles: 'You are wicked'. Yet He is not partial to princes, nor does He regard the rich more than the poor; for they are all the work of His hands."

Job 34:24-28 - "He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry, and sets others in their place. Therefore He knows their works; He overthrows them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others, because they turned back from Him, and would not consider any of His ways, so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him; for He hears the cry of the afflicted."

Job 34:33 - "Should He repay it according to your terms, just because you disavow it?"

Job 35:2 - "Do you think this is right when you say: 'My righteousness is more than God's'?"

Job 36:6-14 - "He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not take His eyes off the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions, that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath; they do not cry for help when He binds them. They die in youth and their life ends among those men who practice prostitution in religious rituals in pagan shrines."

Job 36:16-18 - "Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, into a broad place where there is no restraint; and what is set on your table would be full of richness. But if you are full of judgment on the wicked, judgment and justice take hold of you. Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow..."

Job 40:8 - "Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? "

Elihu finally reveals the sin hidden deep in Job's heart and everything that he says to Job can be paraphrased and summed up as follows:

"I, Elihu, speak through the Spirit of God and through the wisdom and discernment that He gives me and I tell you the Truth for the sole purpose of shedding light on your situation and help you in a tangible way, so you can recover yourself. Do not be afraid of me because I'm not here to point my finger at you and judge you."

"You, Job, are a righteous man, a man of integrity before God, but you have sinned."

"Your sin is the following: you believe you are more righteous than God, you believe you possess the ability to take justice into your hands and make things right in God's place, and you accuse Him in your heart of abandoning the righteous and the weak by letting the mighty and wicked prosper. This means that deep down in your heart you believe that God does not act according to righteousness."

"You are deceiving yourself, and you must repent. You must also repent of the resentment towards God that you harbor in your heart every time you look around and see evil and injustice and hence believe that God does not behave as you think He should.

"You cannot change the world, you cannot change the wicked, destroy and annihilate them, you cannot make things right by your own power and in God's place. God will destroy evil, the wicked and mighty of the earth, in due time, and only God can destroy them."

"You alone cannot change the world and bring justice to earth. You must leave this in the hands of God and understand that He is Righteous and All-Powerful. Look around... who made the world, the stars, the animals and man? Do you believe you can be like Him, be able to subdue and defeat the mighty of this world and make things right by your own power? God has not abandoned the earth, but has appointed a time to deal with them, and, by the way, He does hear the cry of the afflicted."

"But I am that messenger who has come to bring you the Truth, a warning from God, His Living Word, and if you will hear and receive my message, and repent, God will restore your life."

Job 40:9-14 - "Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will also praise you because your own right hand can save you."

Let's continue our analysis in the next article where we'll see why a good man like Job can't defeat the wicked.

This is PART 5 of a study on the Book of Job.

We encourage you to follow our breadcrumbs in the recommended order and read the next article Why Can't a Good Man like Job defeat the Wicked? to fully comprehend this story.

If you would like to fully comprehend the Book of Job and read our study in sequence, start from the beginning.