The Book of Job

Overview

Turn to Job 1.

Let’s walk thru the layout of the book - I understand Heath may have done that last week, but maybe another perspective will shed some new light for us.

Here’s a brief introduction to the book that I found in one of my Bibles:

English Standard Version Introduction

Considered both a theological and a literary masterpiece, the book of Job is an honest portrayal of God allowing a good man to suffer. The test of Job’s faith, allowed by God in response to a challenge from Satan, revealed God’s loving sovereignty and the supremacy of divine wisdom over human wisdom (personified by Job’s friends). Believing that God is good despite the apparent evidence to the contrary, Job rested in faith alone. In the depths of agony he could still proclaim, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (19:25). In the end God silenced all discussion with the truth that he alone is wise (chs. 38–41). Yet he vindicated Job’s trust in him (ch. 42), proving that genuine faith cannot be destroyed. The unknown author was probably an Israelite writing sometime between 1500 and 500 B.C.

*the book of Job is “a divine manual on human suffering”

how it comes about

who is responsible for our suffering

where God is in the midst of suffering

what our posture should be toward God and others in the midst of suffering

Job Introduction to Job

The story of Job is one of the best known in the entire Bible yet, strangely enough, one of the least understood. No book in the Scripture is so shrouded in mystery as this ancient story. As Winston Churchill once described the Soviet Union, Job is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Tangled and troubling, its pages are veiled with the deep, perplexing issues of life. Profoundly provocative to the human mind, Job is a journey into the inscrutable ways of God. Addressed in this puzzling book are such confounding issues as: Why do the righteous suffer? Where is God when tragedy strikes? If God is all-loving, how can he allow human suffering? Does he not care? Is God worthy of worship in tough times? Or must he buy worshippers with blessings?

These are tough questions. Consequently, Job is a difficult book to grasp.

So what exactly is the book about? What is it intended to communicate? What should we take away from our reading?

The Book of Job as Literature

The Bible is not *just* a how-to manual for life (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)

the Bible is not *just* a storybook full of good moral lessons

the Bible is not a scholarly history book intended to give a detailed chronological account of human history

the Bible isn’t really about human history at all! the whole thing, from beginning to end, is the story of who God is, what God is like, and how God intends his whole creation to work

Job fits into this story by ultimately telling us who God is and how we fit into GOD’S story

*Q: who wrote the book of Job?

could have been Job himself

Maybe Elihu or Moses, though it would have had to have been early, while Moses lived with Jethro

Could be Solomon or even Ezra

bottom line, we don’t know. it’s not made clear. but regardless of the book’s human author, it is part of God’s inspired Word, so we know we can trust it

Uniqueness

There are several unique characteristics about the book:

Job (What Makes This Book Unique?)

Job contains the longest place (four lengthy chapters) in the Bible where God himself speaks (Job 38–41).

• Job contains the longest place in the Bible where Satan speaks Job 1–2).

• Job provides a rare insight into heaven, an otherwise unseen world, revealing a conversation between God and Satan before the angels around the divine throne.

• Job may have been the first inspired book of Scripture written, that is, if Job or a contemporary wrote the book.

• Job uses more Hebrew words not found anywhere else in the Bible, providing a rich diversity of language.

• Job involves a unique literary structure, the mixture of prose and poetry, monologue and dialogue. Thus, it is not classified in any single genre of literature. It is its own unique type of literature.

• The Book of Job specifically wrestles with these heart-wrenching questions: If God is all-loving and merciful, why do the righteous suffer? and Where is God in life’s trials?

The Characters

Job, his family, his possessions

*yes, Job was a real person, as evidenced by the manner he is referenced elsewhere in Scripture (Ezekiel, James, Romans, and 1 Corinthians)

Job most likely lived in the days of Abraham/Isaac/Jacob - the Patriarchal Era, around 2000 B.C.

Job (When Did Job Live?)

Job lived to be about 200 years old, a length that fits the patriarchal period.

Job’s wealth was measured in livestock (Job 1:3; 42:12), a practice that corresponds to that time period

Job’s leadership at home reveals he acted as the priest of his family, an indication that the Aaronic priesthood had not yet been established.

The attacks by the Sabeans and Chaldeans occurred while they were nomads, a practice that would not be true of them in later years when they were more settled and civilized.

The Hebrew term for money coinage is used elsewhere in the Bible only in reference to Jacob, who was a patriarch

The heirs of Job’s estate included his daughters, not only his sons (Job 42:15), a practice not permitted under the Mosaic Law (Num. 27:8). This would indicate that Job lived before the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai in 1445 B.C.

The divine name Shaddai, or God Almighty, a name familiar to the patriarchs (Gen. 17:1; Exod. 6:3), is used thirty-one times in Job. However, this proper name for God is used only seventeen times in the rest of the entire Old Testament. Thus, it was a name used much in the early patriarchal period, suggesting that Job probably belonged to this time.

The book contains no mention of institutions begun under the Mosaic Law (i.e., priesthood, laws, tabernacle, special religious days, etc.).

God - almighty creator of the universe

Satan - Accuser, adversary of God, evil perpetrator of the disasters that befell Job, a powerful enemy, hater of God and his work

Job’s 3 Friends: Eliphaz (God is Gold or God Dispenses Judgement), Bildad (Son of Contention), and Zophar (Rough)

Elihu (He is My God) - he applies the best logic, the wisest counsel, and the most accurate representation of God

Job’s new family, new possessions

Plot Outline

the book of Job puts forth several main themes:

God’s Sovereignty

instead of being a book about Job, it’s primarily a book about God. In the opening chapters, the reader is allowed to see into heaven’s throne room where divine decisions affecting both heaven and earth are made. God controls Satan’s power and man’s circumstances. The book ends with God querying Job about the nature of his own right to rule his creation. This is the primary lesson learned by Job as taught in this book. God is God. He will do as he pleases, when he pleases, with whom he pleases, without consulting his creatures, and he will do so for his own glory and the ultimate good of his people.

Steven J. Lawson, Job, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2005), 7–8.

Satan

we learn more about who he is, what he does, how he thinks, and how he works

Suffering

we may ask why, but God is not obligated to explain his ways to his creatures. In fact, he never explains himself to Job at all (unless Job is the writer of his own book)

Submission

This is a really big take-away for us. Job is an awesome example to all of us in his humble submission to God’s rule over his life. Even as tragedies pile on rapid-fire, his reaction is reverent submission and acknowledgement of God’s divine discretion over his life. “THough he slay me, yet i will hope in him” (13:15)

Book Structure

The Prologue - sets the stage, shows us a day in heaven, and introduces the conflict

The Dialogue - Job laments, his friends give advice, Job defends himself and begins o become bitter

The Monologues - Job defends his innocence, extols God, and compares his past happiness with his present pain. Then Elihu jumps in and puts everything in its proper perspective

The Epilogue - God jumps in, teaching Job about his soverignty and trustworthiness; Job humbles himself and God restores him.

So, Some Questions:

Why do the righteous suffer?

first, what do YOU think?

God reigns sovereignly over man’s suffering, appointing it for his own glory (yes, that’s hard for us to understand! but it gets easier when we remember our true, lowly place before God. when we start to get indignant against God and his work, we only affirm our pride in thinking we know better than God - who does that sound like?)

God uses Satan to inflict the pain of the righteous

God’s blameless character is upheld

God has the right to do whatever he pleases - remember, this life is NOT our end game! it’s just the warmup, so we need to realign our expectation that this life revolves around us and the ultimate “good life” looks like us getting all our wants and comforts and desires and wishes granted!

Will the righteous praise God even in tough times?

This is a deeper, more pressing question

This book refutes the false view that suffering is caused by one’s sins. This was the prevalent view in Job’s time, in Jesus’s time, and in our time. But it wasn’t, and still isn’t, the truth!

So why DO the righteous suffer?

“The righteous suffer because God, according to his infinite wisdom, chooses for them to suffer!”

we believe God is unquestionably good; therefore, even our suffering is good for us. “ALL THINGS work together for good for those who love God.”

at first glance, this appears unjust/unfair… but in the Book of Job, we get a behind-the-scenes look into heaven and we can see the higher purposes of God behind Job’s suffering. Even tho he lost almost everything thru his ordeal, he gained far more than he lost; his faith strengthened and matured; God used his suffering to show how He works behind the scenes for His own glory

Job Why Do the Righteous Suffer?

In the bigger picture the person who undergoes painful suffering must remember that his life is part of a much grander scheme than he could ever imagine. Pitted between the kingdoms of light and darkness stands the righteous person. He is the battlefield for the invisible war between the two unseen worlds. Satan is always pressing to destroy God’s plans by attacking the human race, especially the righteous. At stake in this spiritual warfare is the glory of God. Honor is given to God when the righteous endure suffering patiently. Therefore, believers can face trials and tribulations triumphantly, knowing they are appointed for God’s glory and their good.

What Happened Next?

**YOU TELL ME**

the dialogue and the monologues - conversations

The Problem(s)

You’ve heard it said, “with friends like this, who needs enemies?”

I have a feeling that phrase originated with Job! His 4 friends are a super-interesting mix of helpful and hurtful, encouraging and exasperating, dispensing both wisdom and folly

**REF safety/victory with many counselors; wise counsel; (Prov. 11:14)

**REF fool stays quiet and is thought wise (Prov. 17:28)

**QUOTE better to remain silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt - Abraham Lincoln

these all seem to describe Job’s friends

**STORY:

Job I. Introduction: Mature Heads Bend Low

Two brothers grew up on a farm. One went away to college to make a name for himself. He earned a law degree and became a partner in a prominent law firm in the state capital. The other brother stayed on the family farm, running his father’s business. One day the ambitious brother visited his brother on the farm. He asked, “Why don’t you go out and make a name for yourself? Why don’t you be somebody in this world so you can hold your head up high like me?”

The brother who stayed home said, “See that field of wheat out there?”

The attorney brother answered, “Yes. What about it?”

“Those heads that are most mature and well-filled bend low to the ground,” the farmer brother answered. “Only the empty heads stand up tall.”

It seems we always condemn Job’s friends, but I think we’ve given them a bad rap… I’m not sure they are ENTIRELY wicked, stupid, misled, or malicious

at first, they didn’t say anything; they just sat with Job to be near him, offer moral support, and comfort him

after that, they did the best they could with what they knew

We do the same: in life, love, relationships, parenting, job decisions, other

But careful: we are almost always more like the first 3 friends (and not Elihu) in our flawed judgements

so what must we do? SEEK THE LORD BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER GIVING ADVICE!

Biblical Counseling: every Christian is a counselor!

The Solution(s)

Now turn to Job 42. Let’s look at how God finishes up the discourse.

Job (What Is Job About?)

The book ends with God querying Job about the nature of his own right to rule his creation. This is the primary lesson learned by Job as taught in this book. God is God. He will do as he pleases, when he pleases, with whom he pleases, without consulting his creatures, and he will do so for his own glory and the ultimate good of his people.

Job I. Introduction: Mature Heads Bend Low

God still had not told Job why he was suffering. All Job knew was that God was there with him—and that God alone was sufficient. Job didn’t have to know why. All he needed to know was who. Can you relate to this? Are you going through a trial and struggling to see behind a curtain? God could explain everything to us about his workings behind the scenes of our trials. But we wouldn’t be able to understand it. How can his infinite wisdom fit into our finite brains? All we need to know is that God is in control of our lives and that he loves us very much.

Let’s dig into chapter 42 verse-by-verse

A. Job’s Repentance (42:1–6)

Job repents of his arrogance and acknowledges God’s sovereignty and power,

42:1. Having been shown the divine power and majesty in creation by God himself, Job replied to the LORD. He repented and humbled himself before Almighty God as a broken man who had been brought to the end of himself. He responded to God with a new realization and appreciation of God’s sovereignty.

42:2. Job confessed, “I know that you can do all things.” He saw, at last, that God’s purposes are supreme. God will do as he pleases, when he pleases, how he pleases, with whom he pleases. Furthermore, no plan of his can be thwarted. He came back to the single, most fundamental truth of theology—that God rules over all. Implied in this strong declaration by Job was a new submission to God

42:3. Job confessed his own guilt. Job had spoken wrongly about God and, thus, had covered over divine counsel with his foolish talk. Surely I spoke of things I did not understand. That is, as Job had spoken of God and his purposes, he said things which were beyond his ability to process and comprehend. These things were too wonderful for him to know. Where previously the ways of God were disturbing to him, the knowledge of his sovereign ways was now wonderful to his soul.

42:4. He understood God’s judicial authority as the supreme sovereign to demand answers from him. So Job did listen to God speak. Subdued and silenced, he had sat under the scrutiny of God’s questions and now was ready to answer, not argue.

42:5. With deepening repentance, Job confided, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Through his ordeal Job had been confronted with a deeper realization of God’s wisdom, power, and providential care. What little Job had known about God was now replaced by a deeper understanding of his divine attributes. Job now had a greater understanding of God’s awesome character than before his suffering began. In this sense his trial had been worth the suffering. His eternal, spiritual gain outweighed his temporal, physical loss.

42:6. As a result of this deepening knowledge of God, Job confessed, “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Self-denial and deep sorrow filled Job’s life. He despised himself, hating the self-righteous attitude that had filled his heart. The sovereignty of God exposed the sinfulness of his heart. Job was a sorrowful, subdued, and submissive man, yielded to God with humility.

**can you begin to see why this book is included in the canon of the Scriptures? Job serves as an awesome example for us in our own response to God!

B. Job’s Reconciliation (42:7–9)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God rebukes Job’s three friends in anger, ordering them to give a burnt sacrifice and directing Job to pray for them.

42:7. After the LORD had said these things to Job, God turned his attention to the three friends who also needed correction. Righteous indignation caused God to be angry with them. These remarks were directed to Eliphaz because he probably was the oldest and, thus, the de facto spokesman. Eliphaz had spoken first in each of the three rounds of speeches (Job 4–5; 15; 22).

God was angry because they spoke inaccurately about God. In their effort to champion God’s justice, they had restricted his sovereignty. They taught that all suffering is the direct result of sin. But such theology is not true. God was angry with Job’s three friends because they had misrepresented him. Job alone had spoken the truth about God by insisting that his suffering was not a punishment from God.

42:8. In order to make a covering for the sins committed by Job’s friends, God ordered the friends to take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. This was precisely the number of sacrifices specified in Numbers 23:1 by Balaam, indicating this was probably a standard burnt offering to atone for sin. Job the servant became Job the intercessor, praying on behalf of his friends.

42:9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them. They brought the burnt offerings to Job and sought his prayer on their behalf. They fully obeyed and did as God requested. As a result, the LORD accepted Job’s prayer and restored these three friends to himself and reconciled them to Job.

C. Job’s Restoration (42:10–17)

SUPPORTING IDEA: God restores to Job TWICE the great abundance of health, children, and possessions that he had before his tragedy.

42:10. After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. This was the turning point for Job. After he prayed for his three friends, God restored Job’s fortune and family to him.

42:11. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. Earlier all who saw Job had despised his presence (cp. Job 16:2; 19:13). But now his family gathered around him and fellowshipped with him.

42:12. In an amazing display of divine grace, the LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. As greatly as he had been favored by God before his tragedy (Job 1:2–3), God gave him more than what had been taken from him. In fact, Job gained more than he had lost. These possessions were twice as much as he had previously owned. Such was the infinite goodness of God.

42:13. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. This doubled the number of Job’s children, replacing the children he had lost (Job 1:3). This made a total of twenty children, ten on earth and ten in the presence of God.

42:14. Regarding thei daughters’ names… “Jemimah” means dove or daylight, “Keziah” means cinnamon or sweet smelling, and “Keren-Happuch” means container of antinomy—a beautiful color that was often used by women in cosmetics as eyeshadow. These names represent the joyful new beginning for Job that he experienced in the addition of these children.

42:15. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters. They were strikingly beautiful, both internally and externally. Job was a blessed man, and he granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. This was contrasted with Numbers 27:8 which called for an inheritance to be given to daughters only when there were no sons. But in Job’s case he extended his inheritance to both his sons and daughters. This gesture of kindness expressed the generosity of his heart. —**talk about the significance of this… God is in the business of lifting up the lowly; elevating these women’s status is a picture of… similar to the way God elevated Job again…—

42:16. After his repentance and restoration, Job lived a hundred and forty years.

42:17. And so Job died, old and full of years, enjoying abundant favor with God and man. This long, full life was an expression of God’s goodness toward Job, as he was allowed to live many years with his new family and wealth. Did God ever explain to Job why all this tragedy had occurred? Only if Job himself was the author of this inspired book.

MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Broken and humbled, Job repents of his low view of God, restores his three friends back to God, and is abundantly blessed by God with more than he had before the great tragedies struck.

APPLICATION/WRAP-UP

Job (IV. Life Application)

1. Recognize God’s sovereignty. God chose to place you in the family in which you were born. He gave you the parents he desired. He had you born where it pleased him. He had you born with the gender, physical size, health, and appearance you have. The same is true of the circumstances in our lives. It is his divine right to make and mold us as he chooses. This is the first key in enduring any trial successfully.

2. Realize God’s inscrutability. We must accept divine mysteries in the Christian life. Much that occurs in our lives is beyond our understanding. The apostle Paul came to this conclusion when he wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?” (Rom. 11:33–34 NASB). We need to be cautious of others who offer themselves as interpreters about the why and wherefore of all that is happening. Be wary of those who say, “God let this happen so you might learn such and such lesson.” The fact is, we do not fully know what God is doing through a particular set of circumstances or events.

3. Reflect on God’s superiority. Suffering makes students of all believers. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance.”

4. Refocus on God’s intimacy. Christianity is a personal, abiding relationship with God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3), a communion in which we are to grow closer to him and know him more intimately.

5. Repent of all sin. One mark of a great person is not that he or she never sins. But when the person does sin, he or she is sorrowful and broken over that sin. King David was a man after God’s own heart not because he never sinned. He was a godly man because when he sinned he was deeply broken over it and chose to turn back to God. That was the case with Job. Job sinned against God with prideful rebellion. But once God revealed his sin to him, Job was quick to repent.

What about you? Is your heart quick to repent when God points out your sin? Do you take full ownership of your sin by confessing it? Too many believers sin retail and confess wholesale. God’s people must humble themselves and confess their sin, holding nothing back.

IN CLOSING

We’re not sure how long Job’s suffering lasted. Maybe 8-9 days, maybe up to a couple of years. No matter how long Job actually suffered, it likely felt like an eternity to him. But Job was patient and endured to see God’s blessing after the testing. So, Job models the patience we should all have, and his story becomes an illustration of the reward we wait for: “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

**Life’s great tragedies are designed to be a preparation for future blessings. May God give us the grace to respond to trials and tragedies in worship, acknowledging that “God is good / (All the time) / and all the time / God is good!”

PRAY