The one who responds before he has all the facts is both foolish and shameful. See Proverbs 18:13.
Exhausted by this long back-and-forth with Job, his three friends have once again sunk into silence. Job is almost finished, too. When we come to the end of chapter 31, we will read, “The words of Job are ended” (Job 31:40). What we have in this final plea is the man once known as “the greatest of all the people of the East” (1:3) who is about to take an inventory of his soul. This takes courage. I recall visiting my grandfather when he was in his 90s. I asked what he had been doing, and he said he was recollecting his life to see if there were things that needed to be set right, if possible. When I asked what he had found, he told me of an incident during the Great Depression that he was unsure about! In a similar way, Job tours the warehouse of his soul. About 20 times in the chapter, he asks himself, “If…” and portrays scenarios where he might have cut corners, acted unwisely, been dishonest in his words, yielded to temptation, treated unfairly those in his employ, was selfish with his goods or uncharitable to those in need, became avaricious or irreligious, enjoyed the fall of an enemy or covered up a wrongdoing. If he was guilty of any of these, what should the consequences be? “What is the allotment of God from above…?” (31:2). The answer: “Is it not destruction for the wicked, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?” (v 3). In other words, the destruction and disaster that has been wrought on him looks exactly like God’s judgment on the wicked! How easily, as with his friends, we can misjudge others by knowing only some of the facts. “A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow” (Prov 25:18). Ouch! We must be SO careful in passing judgment on others.