Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. This morning, there are only four things that I want to emphasize this morning from this simple verse. And that is the four key characteristics of a righteous man as observed in Job:
1) Job was "blameless" (Heb "tam"). Tam is from the more complete (and later) tamam which means "complete," "beauty," perfection." Here with regards to a person it has the idea of "one who evidences much integrity," or one who is "morally innocent." Job was this kind of man. He was a man who was blameless before God. The writer of this book (which was most probably the earliest book of the Bible that we have) shows the man Job as a complete man. He was beautiful in his integrity before God. He was morally innocent. He had no charges that could be brought against him for his lack of moral character. He was blameless.
2) Job was also "upright" (Heb "yashar"). Yashar means "straight," or something that is "level." Regarding morality it refers to something that is "right," "pleasing," or something that is "agreeable." Job had this kind of character before God. He did that which was pleasing to God. He agreed with God in the way he lived his life and conducted Himself before the Almighty (El-Shaddai).
3) Job also "feared God" (Heb "virey elohim"). The point here is that Job - being a righteous man - was one who was revering God. The verb yarey in Hebrew means to "be afraid" or "fear something." It can have the idea of respecting or reverencing something or someone. But oftentimes it semantically means "to be afraid" (Gen 3:10; Deut 1:29). Part of Job's motivation to honor God, to be upright and blameless before the Almighty was because Job recognized who God really is. He understood the holiness, the sovereignty, the power and the authority that God Almighty alone possesses. Job had the right perspective and the right response to God's character.
4) Job finally "turned away from evil" (Heb "vesar merah"). The idea here is that he turned (perfect tense) from evil or wickedness. He didn't just reject evil or refuse to take part in wickedness, the verb is clearly the idea of turning aside and proceeding in the opposite direction. This was Job's character. He was one who feared God and honored God so much that anything that was not pleasing to God was hateful and unattractive to Job. Thus, he turned aside from it.
Looking at these four key characteristics of a Righteous man - as seen in the man, Job - I am convicted and also saddened because of the lack of men characterized by these four points in today's generation. May the Lord raise up for us Godly men who are characterized by blamelessness, integrity, the fear of God, and the rejection of evil for His ultimate glory!
