Hallmark, landmark, trademark, watermark, postmark—all are used to identify for a purpose.
As I perused this last section of Job’s final appeal, I couldn’t help but think, “What a fine neighbor to have!” No wicked man could even think like this, let alone act like it. For centuries it was held that friends should be treated with respect, but enemies with disdain. Blessings would be called down on compatriots, but curses on foes. As the Lord Jesus put it, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Mt 5:43-44). This was considered dangerous! When it came to potentially hostile combatants, the word was, “Do unto others before they do it to you.” But listen to Job. He wouldn’t dare rejoice “at the destruction of him who hated me,” let alone ask “for a curse on his soul” (Job 31:29-30). In a day with no motels, in Job’s town no one “had to lodge in the street.” His door was always open “to the traveler” (vv 31-32). I feel like using all the big words I know to describe the man: magnanimity (vv 29-30), generosity (v 31), hospitality (v 32), and transparency (vv 33-34). Unlike Adam, Job wouldn’t hide from God. “Here is my mark,” he says (v 35). What does that mean? This was his signature on the bottom line. He longed for a visit from God! In the future, such a mark is placed on those “who sigh and cry over all the abominations” (Ezek 9:4; Rev 14:1), and only these will be spared from judgment. Thank God, judgment is past for the believer, but we can still “bear…the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Gal 6:17), if willing to identify with Him, and longing to meet with Him. “Like a prince,” by grace we now can “approach Him” (v 37) at any time!