2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 28

Job compares the search for wisdom to miners searching for gold and precious gems. The poetry here is really quite beautiful. Men will go to great lengths, they'll dig underground, they'll risk death, to search for precious gems. And yet God's wisdom is far more valuable than all the precious gems put together, and even more unsearchable. Indeed, it cannot be found and dug up, but it must be given, and God is happy to give it to those who ask Him free of charge. Consider the Scriptures to be your mine, and the truths of God to be your precious gems. You could have all the wealth in the world but it is meaningless if you do not have the capacity to enjoy it. The Word of God is able to give you the capacity for joy in all things, even if you have nothing.

His wisdom here also parallels Proverbs:

28 So He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to turn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 29 & 30

These chapters make for a better pairing than 28 and 29. In 29, Job longs for the "good old days." Before he had to go through his ordeal, when he still had everything. But now, in 30, he is in "the bad time." He is not the one laughing, but the one being laughed at.

In this life, you will experience a reversal of fortune, many times over. If you are laughing now, you will cry later. And if you are crying now, you will laugh later. The only question is which side your story will ultimately land on.

We've all been where Job is at, when we felt that things couldn't be any worse than they are now. The truth is things can always get worse. For those who hate God, they may be laughing now, but they will cry later. They exhibit the Tragedy. But God loves His saints too much to leave them there, they are destined for the happy ending, they take part in God's divine comedy.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 31

Some of the language used by Job in 31 is intense, especially by modern "polite society" standards. But we should be accursed if we censor the Word of God to suit our own idolatrous sensibilities.

Job willingly invokes God's curses on himself if he is indeed guilty of sin. If he has committed adultery, even in his heart, then let his wife sleep with other men. Job takes God's holiness seriously and so should we. Every saint knows that he is guilty before God and that he has no hope save in Christ alone. Anyone who confesses that is an honest man. Anyone who denies that is a hypocrite and a liar.

33 If I have covered my transgressions like Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom...

Love this line. Remember that Justification = Covering. But it is only true Justification if God is the one who covers. We cannot justify/cover ourselves in His sight. We cannot be self-righteous because we are not the Judge. Every hypocrite is justified in his own eyes and none considers themselves to be the villain in their own story. For Job to say this is very telling, that he does not consider himself to be self-covered, but he is trusting that his covering is from someone else.

35 Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my accuser has written, 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it to myself like a crown.

Job feels that God cannot hear him. And if Job were truly guilty, he would happily wear Satan's indictment like a crown. I'm sure you can see the prophecy in this, for Christ was crowned with death in order to make innocent those who believe in Him. He wore the guilty charge so that you may be cleared in His name.

If we are guilty, then is Satan wrong to accuse us? Yes, because he calls us guilty when God has called us innocent, and he calls us innocent when God has called us guilty. He is not only the drug dealer who sells you the drug for a good time, he is the crooked cop who sells you the drug in order to entrap you. Both licentious and legalistic, always falling short of both God's Law and God's Grace.

 

[Gazza]

Job 31

Some of the language used by Job in 31 is intense, especially by modern "polite society" standards. But we should be accursed if we censor the Word of God to suit our own idolatrous sensibilities.

Job willingly invokes God's curses on himself if he is indeed guilty of sin. If he has committed adultery, even in his heart, then let his wife sleep with other men. Job takes God's holiness seriously and so should we. Every saint knows that he is guilty before God and that he has no hope save in Christ alone. Anyone who confesses that is an honest man. Anyone who denies that is a hypocrite and a liar.


Love this line. Remember that Justification = Covering. But it is only true Justification if God is the one who covers. We cannot justify/cover ourselves in His sight. We cannot be self-righteous because we are not the Judge. Every hypocrite is justified in his own eyes and none considers themselves to be the villain in their own story. For Job to say this is very telling, that he does not consider himself to be self-covered, but he is trusting that his covering is from someone else.


Job feels that God cannot hear him. And if Job were truly guilty, he would happily wear Satan's indictment like a crown. I'm sure you can see the prophecy in this, for Christ was crowned with death in order to make innocent those who believe in Him. He wore the guilty charge so that you may be cleared in His name.

If we are guilty, then is Satan wrong to accuse us? Yes, because he calls us guilty when God has called us innocent, and he calls us innocent when God has called us guilty. He is not only the drug dealer who sells you the drug for a good time, he is the crooked cop who sells you the drug in order to entrap you. Both licentious and legalistic, always falling short of both God's Law and God's Grace.

This was a great chapter, probably the best so far IMO.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 32

1 Then these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned; against Job his anger burned because he was proving himself righteous before God. 3And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4Now Elihu had waited with his words for Job because they were years older than he. 5Then Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, so his anger burned.

Job was righteous in his own eyes. Job has the good case (that he is righteous) but defends it poorly (comes across as self-righteous). He will also be corrected by God at the end of the book. As for you, have the same mindset of the Apostle Paul, who recognized that he was righteous before God, but that this righteousness, this justification, was God-given, not self-merited:

Philippians 3:8 I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God on the basis of faith.

To those who do not know the joy of Christ's imputed righteousness and the peace it brings, this comes across as hypocritical. How can you, so clearly a sinner, maintain that you are righteous? This is why Job's friends become angry with him, because they know nothing of imputed righteousness. They do not know that they are the double hypocrites when they say that Job deserves his suffering because he's a sinner, with the subtext being that they are not suffering because they are not sinners.

Elihu is the only friend who is not punished by God at the end of the book so his argument in the following chapters should be listened to more carefully.

 

[Tippy]

Job 27:
Job's final speech

Again points made the the wicked build houses as 'fragile as a spider web'
But 'terror overwhelms them like a flood'

And that 'everyone jeers at them and mocks them'

Analysis:
I feel like this point has been made several times about houses being destroyed etc...but here it is again. Evil? Your house is gonna get destroyed. You might have a ton of cash and be living like a legit G but it's fragile.

Job 28

People know a lot of things 'BUT DO PEOPLE KNOW WHERE TO FIND WISDOM? Where can they find understanding?'

'The fear of the lord is true wisdom,
to forsake evil is real understanding

Analysis:
Book smarts? They ain't all that compared to the knowledge God has.

Job 29:
Job speaks of his former blessings

Even though Job's 'final' speech was two books ago he continues...

Basically Job is reflecting about the good old days with abundandtly produced cow milk (ah yes)
He even caused widows' hearts to sing for joy (not sure how he verified that) but anyway as he says 'I wore justice like a turban' and to be honest? Being real? Job comes off a bit prideful here.

Job 30: JOB speaks of his anguish

Now he is mocked by gaunt worn out wretches (sounds like how I feel when I seem probably like an uncool loser to gen-z vapers in anime hoodies)

He is mad about beng mocked with vulgar songs.

"They despise me and won't come near me, except to spit in my face' man reminds me of my teaching days.

Some interesting comparisons of a 'companion to owls' and a 'brother to jackals'

Job has gone full emo now with a harp that plays sad music

Analysis:

Not much except to say Job is getting madly publicly shamed here and I feel for him.

Job 31:

Job's final protest:

'I made a convenant with my eyes, not to look with lust at a young woman' - amazing quote and I guess that's where that anti-p technology 'covenant eyes' got the name from.

'Lust is a shaeful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a fire that burns all the way to hell' - agreed!

Job presents himself as basically the Anti-Scrooge who has done nothing but good but been treated horribly

Job 32:

Elihu responds:

Friends are getting a bit bored of the innocence protests. Elihu is now enraged.

He is about to drop a pipe bomb speech and this is for sure gonna be a real 'mic drop' moment as the book ends.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Job 33 & 34

8 “Surely you have spoken in my hearing, And I have heard the sound of your speech: 9 ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no guilt in me. 10 Behold, He finds reasons for opposition against me; He counts me as His enemy. 11 He puts my feet in the stocks; He keeps watch over all my paths.’ 12 Behold, let me answer you; you are not right in this, For God is greater than mortal man. 13 “Why do you contend against Him? For He does not give an answer for all His doings.

Elihu exposes Job's whininess. On one hand, we feel that Job is justified to whine. On the other, we should be sanctified to know that God is always working for our good. He is never our enemy if we are in Him and we should not complain about His Providence. But this faithful spirit must come from within, it cannot be impressed on men from without.

23 “If there is an angel as mediator for him, One out of a thousand, To declare to a man what is right for him, 24 Then let him be gracious to him, and say, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found atonement’; 25 Let his flesh become fresher than in youth, Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor; 26 Then he will entreat God, and He will accept him, And he will see His face with joyful shouts, And He may restore His righteousness to man.

27 He will sing to men and say, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, But He has not done what is due to me. 28 He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit, And my life shall see the light.’ 29 “Behold, God does all these things twice, three times with men, 30 To bring back his soul from the pit, That he may be enlightened with the light of life. 31 Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; Keep silent, and I will speak. 32 Then if you have any speech, respond to me; Speak, for I desire to prove you righteous.

Elihu is pointing to resurrection hope. Redemption is greater than Creation. Job started off good, but then he lost everything. God allowed him to lose everything so that God may Redeem everything for him again. To go from having everything to having nothing is a tragedy. But to go from having nothing to having everything is a comedy. God wants to accomplish the comedy in the life of Job. This is also what God is accomplishing at the grand scale in His Creation. He is turning His Creation into His Redemption. That is why God's Saints suffer, so that they may come to know God as a loving Father when He takes away their suffering.

7 What man is like Job, Who drinks up mocking like water, 8 But he travels in company with the workers of iniquity, And walks with wicked men?

Elihu confronts Job's other friends for their wickedness. They insist that Job is guilty without proving it, they've become his accusers.

14 If He should set His heart on it, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, 15 All flesh would breathe its last together, And man would return to dust.

23 For He does not need to consider a man further, That he should go before God in judgment. 24 He breaks in pieces mighty men without searching anything out, And sets others in their place. 25 Therefore He recognizes their labors, And He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed. 26 He strikes them like the wicked In a public place, 27 Because they turned aside from following Him, And had no insight from any of His ways; 28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him, And that He might hear the cry of the afflicted. 29 So if He keeps quiet, who then can condemn? So if He hides His face, who then can perceive Him? He is above both nation and man altogether, 30 So that godless men would not rule Nor be snares of the people.

Elihu proclaims the sovereignty of God. God will also extol His own sovereignty when He enters the scene. People have a false deistic notion that God created the world, took a step back, and is now doing nothing to stop man's free will from turning the whole thing into a circus. I don't know what they're reading but it's not the Bible. God cares very deeply about what happens in His Creation and He is intimately involved in it, giving displays of both His Wrath and Mercy, in order to bring about the purpose of His Creation, it's Redemption. If God were to cease to involve Himself, we would no longer exist for even one moment.

 

[Tippy]

Job 33:

Elihu presents his case against Job

He's making a point that God responds in ways we don't always understand even in dreams or whispers we may not hear. And he uh...disciplines people with pain on their sick beds? That's not cool.

And apparently sometimes angels come and rescue individuals from what seems to be certain death. I can't say I've seen or heard of too many miraculous recoveries as described here.

Analysis:
Honestly, it's a weak argument because he's saying 'actually God works in ways we never even see' and then follows that by illuminating it with an argument of something that everyone would be able to visibly see as God's work including the guy who seemingly dead rose to full health.

A better example and honestly a more realistic one would be to say that yeah we have to pray and listen to God and to try interpret things but the reality is. We don't see! We don't hear. But yeah, let's continue

Job 34:

Elihu accuses Job of arrogance

Again talk of God striking down wicked which I again counter by saying...do we REALLY see that? Look at the world today. I'm not seeing the wicked being taken out.

'He prevents the godless from ruling' but he does NOT do this.

I think one good point is this 'Must God tailor his justice to your demands' because in my (pathetic) view the strongest argument you can make is that basically we don't understand how God works or indeed 'God works in mysterious ways.'

 

[Tippy]

Job 33 & 34


Elihu exposes Job's whininess. On one hand, we feel that Job is justified to whine. On the other, we should be sanctified to know that God is always working for our good. He is never our enemy if we are in Him and we should not complain about His Providence. But this faithful spirit must come from within, it cannot be impressed on men from without.



Elihu is pointing to resurrection hope. Redemption is greater than Creation. Job started off good, but then he lost everything. God allowed him to lose everything so that God may Redeem everything for him again. To go from having everything to having nothing is a tragedy. But to go from having nothing to having everything is a comedy. God wants to accomplish the comedy in the life of Job. This is also what God is accomplishing at the grand scale in His Creation. He is turning His Creation into His Redemption. That is why God's Saints suffer, so that they may come to know God as a loving Father when He takes away their suffering.


Elihu confronts Job's other friends for their wickedness. They insist that Job is guilty without proving it, they've become his accusers.



Elihu proclaims the sovereignty of God. God will also extol His own sovereignty when He enters the scene. People have a false deistic notion that God created the world, took a step back, and is now doing nothing to stop man's free will from turning the whole thing into a circus. I don't know what they're reading but it's not the Bible. God cares very deeply about what happens in His Creation and He is intimately involved in it, giving displays of both His Wrath and Mercy, in order to bring about the purpose of His Creation, it's Redemption. If God were to cease to involve Himself, we would no longer exist for even one moment.

'People have a false deistic notion that God created the world, took a step back, and is now doing nothing to stop man's free will from turning the whole thing into a circus. '

I think it's more that if you look at what's going on in the world it seems to be that the wicked are winning very clearly right now. I think many more would turn to Christ if the evidence for divine interventions in worldly affairs was just a little bit stronger. I'm not talking thunderbolts in the sky here. I'm actually not sure what would be sufficient.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

I think it's more that if you look at what's going on in the world it seems to be that the wicked are winning very clearly right now. I think many more would turn to Christ if the evidence for divine interventions in worldly affairs was just a little bit stronger. I'm not talking thunderbolts in the sky here. I'm actually not sure what would be sufficient.

Sure, people can see the material, but they cannot see the spiritual without the eyes of faith. I want you to see both, but to see the material as corresponding to the spiritual.

In normie Christianity, God's Wrath has been sterilized out of people's thinking. People just don't want to think about Hell, and they especially don't want to hear that it's what they deserve. In effect, nominal Christians have become soft-Marcionites. The Wrathful God is locked away with the Old Testament. The Graceful God is embraced in the New. But both Old and New Testaments stress that God is both Wrathful and Merciful. His character is both Lawful and Graceful.

When you see the wicked "winning," they are in reality losing. Their rise is their fall. Their promotion of sin is an expression of God's Wrath already. In the words of the Apostle Paul: they are storing up wrath for themselves, God hardens their hearts, He gives them over to a reprobate mind, they receive the due penalty for their error. "That which is highly esteemed by men is detestable in the sight of God." It is not God's purpose to win a popularity contest against the devil in this fallen world. His purpose is to redeem the Elect out of this world, banish the old, and bring in the new.

So when you see what we are seeing today (which is nothing new), you shouldn't think that God is sitting this one out, that He is not in control, or that He will not intervene. He is already giving them over to their sin as an expression of His Wrath. He is in the game, He is in control, and He is intervening. As for you, God is intervening in your life via Grace, so that you will not be abandoned to sin, but that you would be energized to follow your Lord and be confirmed to His image.