Noah Was Perfect and Protected; Job Was Perfect, Yet Persecuted -- Why?

"These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." (Genesis 6:9)

"1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." (Job 1:1)

I have placed these two verses next to each other for a reason.

We have two clear figures, men of God, who are revered in the Old Testament and even mentioned in the New.

Noah was spared the great suffering of the world, and God used him to build an ark, save mankind and the animal kingdom.

Job, on the other hand, suffered greatly. God allowed Satan to trouble Job. He lost everything, everyone, until the very end.

What's going on? Why was Noah protected and Job persecuted?

They were both "perfect", or "tamim" in God's eyes, were they not?

"Noah was perfect ..." This does not speak to moral perfection, but physical perfection, in that he was fully human, not adulterated with the genetics of the "sons of God" aka "Bene Elohim" (Genesis 6:1-4)

That same word "perfect" describes Job. He was fully human, too. God could interact with them as His creation.

But then differences clearly emerge.

Noah was "just", righteous.

He had found grace in God's eyes:

"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6:8)

In contrast, what do we read about Job?

"He was upright."

In the original Hebrew, "upright" translates the word "yashar", which speaks of good conduct on the outside. In fact, Job even feared God and avoided evil.

And yet ...

Job did not find favor in God's eyes. He was not righteous.

Job had not found grace. Noah did. Noah depended on God, believed in Him, i.e. "walked with God."

Noah was righteous. He believed in God.

Job was merely upright. He trusted in his own efforts, and spent much of his efforts covering for his children:

"5And 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)

Good works do not save us. Good behavior does not protect us.

Only God's grace protects us, His goodness secures us.

God does not want us depending on our efforts, but resting in His word.

That was God's plan from the beginning:

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."(Genesis 2:15)

God provided everything. He wanted to bless man, and allow man to just receive His goodness:

"The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men." (Psalm 115:16)

God wants us to believe on Him and receive from Him, not achieve on our own, grieving His heart. In fact, we cannot live apart from Him, for God Himself brought us to life with His own breath!

Noah walked with God, believed on Him, depended on Him.

Because Noah believed, He was righteous!

And because Noah believed, God formed a covenant with him, a covenant of peace and protection.

"But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee." (Genesis 6:18)

and also

"And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;" (Genesis 9:9)

God did not establish a covenant with Job,, and He could not because Job did not believe in Him. He was afraid of God, sure, but Job did not trust in Him, did not see Him as a good God from whom he could draw all things. 

In fact, Job did not start walking by faith until the very end, after he had suffered greatly, reduced to the end of himself, where he could do nothing more but ... believe and receive:

"1Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

3Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

4Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (John 42:1-6)

And let's not forget that when Job "repented", or rather rested, felt sorry for his wrong beliefs, but more importantly he "rested", he stopped striving, and started believing in Him!

And with that, God turned Job's captivity!

"10And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before." (Job 42:10)

So, what does it all come down to? Why was Noah perfect and spared, while Job was perfect yet persecuted?

Noah believed in the LORD, that He is good, and he received God's grace (cf. Genesis 15:6)

And with that, Noah was righteous!

And righteousness opens up manifold blessings to us!

"Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked." (Proverbs 10:6)

and

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54:14)

Note that in Isaiah 54:10, God speaks of "my covenant of peace", which will not be removed from us--a covenant just like the one which God made with Noah, with Abraham (Genesis 15, 17). This covenant is enacted because of righteousness!

And this righteousness is not our righteousness, but His!

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17)

No tyranny, no terror can afflict us because we are established in His righteousness

In fact, today, we can rest in God's favor, in God's grace, because we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Beloved, you do not have to fear or wonder why Noah was protected and Job was persecuted. Today, when you believe in Christ Jesus, you receive His righteousness--and keep receiving it! (Romans 5:17), which in turn causes you to reign in Life and be freed from sin, destruction, and death!

You need not fear enduring the troubles of Job, but can rest in the gracious protection and favor of Noah--because of His righteousness!

God's Heavenly Hosts Are On Your Side

"And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim." (Genesis 32:1-2)

Jacob came across God's Heavenly Hosts early on, as he was fleeing from his corrupt uncle Laban, as he worried about what would happen to him when his brother Esau found him.

For a long time, I had often wondered what had caused Esau to receive Jacob in such a favored and favorable fashion.

First of all, Jacob was terrified beyond belief, and he was desperately trying to buy his brother's favor:

"3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight." (Genesis 32: 3-5)

Yet consider once again that the angels of God met Jacob, and he recognized them as "God's host".

They were God's army!

So, what was it that turned Esau's heart?

"4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept." (Genesis 33:4)

I believe indeed it was God's favor on Jacob, and Jacob acknowledged as much:

"11Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it." (Genesis 33:11)

I also submit that because Jacob was defended by God's host of angels, Esau recognized it was not a wise idea to confront and destroy his brother, his family, and his possessions.

Every day that we head out into the world, we need to recognize that God's heavenly hosts is on our side!

His host is greater than any host that the world can bring against us:

"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Psalm 27:3)

and

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." (Psalm 91:7)

If anyone has wronged us, God not only hears us, but James recognizes that God - the Lord of Hosts! - has heard us and will avenge us!

"Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth." (James 5:4)

God is on your side, and He has His heavenly hosts with you!

God Tested Abraham, To Show How Faithful He Was!

1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." (Genesis 22:1-2)

This translation right away sets up the problems for many English-speaking Christians and their understanding of this beautiful account in God's Word.

First, we see a beautiful type of God's love for us, in that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ for us (John 3:16).

While Abraham was ready to slay His Son--and God ultimately told him not to--God did not spare His own Son:

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

The first mention of "love" in the Bible appears in this verse, too.

This is about God's love for us.

Now, that word "tempt" in the King James Version is inaccurate. It should be "test", the same way that smith would test gold to demonstrate that it's pure. This test was to demonstrate to the world that Abraham was fully faithful, the father of faith, and that he would be the father of us all who live by faith:

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all," (Romans 4:16)

For two decades, God delivered on His promises to Abraham, even when our father of faith failed time and again. What mattered to God was that Abraham continued to trust God's promises, as did Sarah, even when we find in the Old Testament that their faith wavered initially.

The point is that Abraham continued to see the LORD as one who would provide for him in every situation. When God promised to make Abraham rich, He did. When God promised to make Abraham victorious, he was able to defeat kings and their armies with a small band of 318 people. When Abraham needed water, God provided a number of wells, and his enemies sought him to make an alliance.

When Abraham sinned, God continued to favor him anyway, showing that it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).

When God promised a son to him through is lawful wife, God came through.

Abraham had seen enough of God's goodness, that when God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, the son of promise, the son through whom all the nation's of the world would be blessed, Abraham did not hesitate one bit.

He trusted God completely. Consider what Isaac asked, and how his father responded:

"7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." (Genesis 22:7-8)

What did Abraham believe at this point?

The writer of Hebrews explains so beautifully:

"17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Abraham believed the Lord (Genesis 15:6), and the fullness of his faith was revealed that day. Abraham knew that the LORD God would:

1. Provide a lamb in place of his son.

2. Resurrect his son if Abraham had to sacrifice him.

Abraham had seen God worked unspeakable miracles in his life, and in so many ways.

Abraham was dead as far as child-bearing is concerned. His wife Sarah was barren. There was no way in terms of the world's view that she could ever have children.

Yet she had given birth to a son, and in her old age.

Sarah would even laugh with her family:

"6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age." (Genesis 21: 6-7)

Abraham not only believed that God would bring His Son back to life, but Abraham new that God would follow through on the greater promise, that through his Son Isaac all the world would be blessed.

He would have many descendants, like the stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore. And that through Him, The Serpent-Slayer (Genesis 3:15), the Savior of all Mankind would come!

"15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." (Genesis 22:15-18)

Today, we are all children of Abraham!

"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)

God did not tempt Abraham to sin. God did not test Abraham to see if he would measure up or pass this test.

God tried Abraham to prove to the world that he was indeed faith, and the Father of faith for us all!