Let's start tomorrow with Chapter 1, which will be Sunday June 8. It should take six weeks for 42 chapters, so we would finish July 19.
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Job 1
On my latest rewatch of The Dark Knight, I couldn't help but notice how similar to Job's Satan the Joker is. He wants to prove that people are degenerate and unsaveable underneath their masks of civility. It is indeed true that people are hypocritical, degenerate sinners who deserve hell. That's all true. But the lie that is couched in the truth is this: that you are beyond saving. No one is beyond God's power to save. The blood of Christ can redeem anybody. We are hypocrites, but Christ can save us from our own hypocrisy. God always gets the last laugh.
This isn't to say that Job was sinless. He is still a sinner in need of a Mediator.
This is evidence that Job takes place before Moses, perhaps around the time of Abraham, since he functions as a priest to Yahweh on behalf of his family. He is before the Levitical priesthood.
'Sons of God' in Old Testament terminology refers to angels. Satan's answer denotes authority. To be able to walk freely where one pleases means that you have the freedom/authority to do so.
Job is structured very much like a theatrical play, even a courtroom drama, but this isn't to deny that it literally happened. Satan, as the antagonist/prosecuting attorney, wants to prove a point: that Job can lose his salvation, that his love for God is conditional. The stage is set. Unfortunately for Satan and fortunately for us, saving faith can't be broken because it's supernatural. God-given. John MacArthur had a good sermon on this.
On my latest rewatch of The Dark Knight, I couldn't help but notice how similar to Job's Satan the Joker is. He wants to prove that people are degenerate and unsaveable underneath their masks of civility. It is indeed true that people are hypocritical, degenerate sinners who deserve hell. That's all true. But the lie that is couched in the truth is this: that you are beyond saving. No one is beyond God's power to save. The blood of Christ can redeem anybody. We are hypocrites, but Christ can save us from our own hypocrisy. God always gets the last laugh.
After losing almost everything, Job worships God. This is upside down to do in an upside down world. The "correct" thing to do would be to curse God and blame Him for all your troubles, which is what so many people do. Always the victim, never the victimizer. But recognize that the Lord is free to give and free to take away. Nothing you have is yours, but you are only a steward of what God has given. So the next time the Lord takes something away from you, give praise to Him that He gave it to you in the first place and that the times belong to Him.
Job 1
The well known start of Job's trials, round one.
God invites Satan to consider Job, who is perfect and upright. Satan says Job is only good because God blesses him. God allows Satan to have power over all that Job has, but not to do anything to him directly. So, Satan kills all Job's kids, and all his flocks are killed or taken by enemies. Job hears about these losses right in a row, one right after the other.
Job responds by falling down and worshipping God, and says the famous lines:
"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return hither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."
There is a lot here. It upsets me to think of God allowing Satan to torment someone (such as me) in order for God to prove some kind of point to Satan. However, I know in general how the book of Job ends. God's ways are higher than mine, and who am I to judge God? I cannot, and should not. I should respond as Job did, and bless the name of the Lord no matter what.
As a separate matter, there is this matter of the sons of God coming before the Lord, and Satan showing up there too. This ties in with a few other places where the council of God appears. This seems very unusual. Who are these sons of God? Why does God even need a council? He is omnipotent. I can't see that he has any need for advisors, which is the usual role that a council plays. Sometimes councils play a joint decision making role, and God certainly has no place for this.
I found an interesting article about this. The article reviews some of the different thinking on this concept of the council of God. The subject is complicated, and I can't quite bring myself to summarize the article. The article ultimately says that God is absolutely in control, and is the only creator. All other beings that get discussed under this topic are created beings who are subject to God. The actual details of these other spiritual beings are a little hard to nail down.
The well known start of Job's trials, round one.
God invites Satan to consider Job, who is perfect and upright. Satan says Job is only good because God blesses him. God allows Satan to have power over all that Job has, but not to do anything to him directly. So, Satan kills all Job's kids, and all his flocks are killed or taken by enemies. Job hears about these losses right in a row, one right after the other.
Job responds by falling down and worshipping God, and says the famous lines:
"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return hither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."
There is a lot here. It upsets me to think of God allowing Satan to torment someone (such as me) in order for God to prove some kind of point to Satan. However, I know in general how the book of Job ends. God's ways are higher than mine, and who am I to judge God? I cannot, and should not. I should respond as Job did, and bless the name of the Lord no matter what.
As a separate matter, there is this matter of the sons of God coming before the Lord, and Satan showing up there too. This ties in with a few other places where the council of God appears. This seems very unusual. Who are these sons of God? Why does God even need a council? He is omnipotent. I can't see that he has any need for advisors, which is the usual role that a council plays. Sometimes councils play a joint decision making role, and God certainly has no place for this.
I found an interesting article about this. The article reviews some of the different thinking on this concept of the council of God. The subject is complicated, and I can't quite bring myself to summarize the article. The article ultimately says that God is absolutely in control, and is the only creator. All other beings that get discussed under this topic are created beings who are subject to God. The actual details of these other spiritual beings are a little hard to nail down.
I really like how the text reads The sons of God and Satan stand before God. It’s not as though they can just rock up before God almighty and have a casual discussion. When you talk to royalty you are invited and you stand in reverence.
Job 2
The idea of a sovereign God is offensive to our modern, self-autonomy worshiping sensibilities. We much prefer the idol who is made in our own image, who can do nothing contrary to our will. This is not the God of the Bible. Know that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He is the potter and we are the clay. He is shaping us to be the people who He wants us to be. At times, this may be like a gentle molding. At others, it may be more like a chiseling and finally a refinement by fire. But trust that God knows what He's doing in sanctifying us. Even when God seems to be the villain, He's still the Hero. Even when Satan seems to be the hero, he's still the villain.
There is a big lie promoted by liberals of every stripe. They say that the devil being a fallen angel and enemy of God is a later Christian innovation and that originally in the Jewish religion Satan merely played the role of God's prosecutor. Here is an example of what I'm talking about: https://ehrmanblog.org/the-prose-story-of-job-for-members/
These people do not understand the difference between a formal distinction and a real distinction. The prince of darkness and the prosecuting attorney are one and the same Satan. The secularists will point out that Jews do not believe in a devil figure. This is not a good argument (many Jews don't believe God is real either), since belief in the devil was ubiquitous in 2nd Temple Judaism demonstrating that the Christian view of Satan is the more ancient understanding.
The funny thing about Job is that the central conflict is resolved and the devil's thesis is already refuted in the first chapter but Satan wants to shift the goal posts to prove his argument still. Men will sell their souls for worldly possessions, but if they have to, they will sell those worldly possessions for their lives. So now Satan wants to harm Job more directly which God gives him permission to do. God is not doing this to learn something about Job, nor is He doing this to reveal something about Job to Satan. This all happened so that you may know about God.
The idea of a sovereign God is offensive to our modern, self-autonomy worshiping sensibilities. We much prefer the idol who is made in our own image, who can do nothing contrary to our will. This is not the God of the Bible. Know that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours. He is the potter and we are the clay. He is shaping us to be the people who He wants us to be. At times, this may be like a gentle molding. At others, it may be more like a chiseling and finally a refinement by fire. But trust that God knows what He's doing in sanctifying us. Even when God seems to be the villain, He's still the Hero. Even when Satan seems to be the hero, he's still the villain.
There is a big lie promoted by liberals of every stripe. They say that the devil being a fallen angel and enemy of God is a later Christian innovation and that originally in the Jewish religion Satan merely played the role of God's prosecutor. Here is an example of what I'm talking about: https://ehrmanblog.org/the-prose-story-of-job-for-members/
These people do not understand the difference between a formal distinction and a real distinction. The prince of darkness and the prosecuting attorney are one and the same Satan. The secularists will point out that Jews do not believe in a devil figure. This is not a good argument (many Jews don't believe God is real either), since belief in the devil was ubiquitous in 2nd Temple Judaism demonstrating that the Christian view of Satan is the more ancient understanding.
Job's wife becomes his own temptress but he does better than Adam and rebukes her. Job recognizes that we must accept both from God, the good and the bad. That's what it means to be in covenantal union with someone, you are with them in the good and the bad. If you are willing to receive good from God then be willing to receive bad from Him as well. The Didache, the Teachings of the Twelve Apostles said it best: The events that befall thee thou shalt accept as good, knowing that nothing happens without God.
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You're quite mistaken here, if Job had no free will then why would Satan bother to tempt Job?
It's because Job could have blasphemed against God that Satan wanted to tempt Job.
God however, knows how we will use our will, so God has full confidence in Job. God sees into the future and already knows the choices we will make.
Thus Orthodox teaching is the only one that makes sense and is fully consistent with the Bible. We have free will, but God knows how we will use our will. So God knows all, and predestination does not mean predetermined.
Your view denies free will, which is a lie (heresy) and contradicts the opening passages in the Book of Job.
To be blameless does not mean to be sin free, but rather, one who keeps their faith and does their best. We are all flawed sinners but as long as we stay aware of that fact, and do what we can within our power to improve ourselves, we remain blameless. Sins beyond that are caulked up to weakness or of an involuntary nature.
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This is why Libertarian Free Will is such a pernicious error. At the end of the day, it's all about "me." Our awareness. Our power. Our ability. Etc. Its all man centered.
Nowhere does the Scripture teach that our blamelessness depends on us. To the contrary, the Scripture and any true church teaches that if we want to be blameless then we depend on God, not ourselves.
Job 3
Job has less commentary than some of the other books because it is more opaque and difficult to break down. Calvin did not write a commentary for it though he did preach many sermons on it. He said that Job has a good case but defends it poorly, and that Job's opponents have an evil case but argue it well. I think that he was totally correct, and the rest of the book will bear that out. For someone who wants to really deep dive into the history of Job and the history surrounding it, I recommend the commentary of John Gill.
I once listened to Bill Burr talk about Job and I couldn't help but notice how offensive the Book of Job seems to be to the natural man. I can think of no other reason for that other than Job so clearly showcases God's sovereignty over His creation, His freedom to govern it as He sees fit, how insignificant man is in the grand scheme of things, and the reliance on God's Providence impressed on us.
Job laments over his condition and curses the day he was born, even wishing he was stillborn. There is much similarity in the poetry here and the poetry you see in Psalms when the Psalmist would also lament. Job is considered to be in a sub-genre known as wisdom literature, belonging with Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. The Hebrews also classed it under the Ketuvim, Writings, which is the third division of the Tanakh, the Old Testament canon, the first two being the Torah, Law, and the Nevi'im, Prophets.
Job has less commentary than some of the other books because it is more opaque and difficult to break down. Calvin did not write a commentary for it though he did preach many sermons on it. He said that Job has a good case but defends it poorly, and that Job's opponents have an evil case but argue it well. I think that he was totally correct, and the rest of the book will bear that out. For someone who wants to really deep dive into the history of Job and the history surrounding it, I recommend the commentary of John Gill.
I once listened to Bill Burr talk about Job and I couldn't help but notice how offensive the Book of Job seems to be to the natural man. I can think of no other reason for that other than Job so clearly showcases God's sovereignty over His creation, His freedom to govern it as He sees fit, how insignificant man is in the grand scheme of things, and the reliance on God's Providence impressed on us.
Chapter 2 is really just the rest of the opening scene. Job suffers physical torment. It's funny because I think almost anyone would choose physical torment over losing all their children. Physical torment is bad, but not like losing all your children! Also, his wife bitches at him, but he is cool as a cucumber.
Chapter 3 gets into the more interesting part, which I am only vaguely familiar with.
Job curses his current circumstances, and wishes he'd never been born. The dead are lucky. Etc.
These are understandable thoughts. I have had thoughts along these lines. There are other characters in the Bible who wished they'd never been born. However, in truth, life is a blessing. Even when thoughts like this come, and life is so, so harsh, there are small blessings. For most people, for most of the time, it is better than this bleakest situation.
Anyway, chapter 3 wraps up with Job mourning his circumstances. His three friends show up, and they spend seven days in silent mourning with Job. As most probably know, these guys end up arguing with Job that he must have done something to deserve his torment, but first they show up and mourn with him.
These seem like true friends, and their ideas about Job deserving his suffering are what people thought then, and generally think now.
I look forward to seeing how the line of thought develops from here.
Chapter 3 gets into the more interesting part, which I am only vaguely familiar with.
Job curses his current circumstances, and wishes he'd never been born. The dead are lucky. Etc.
These are understandable thoughts. I have had thoughts along these lines. There are other characters in the Bible who wished they'd never been born. However, in truth, life is a blessing. Even when thoughts like this come, and life is so, so harsh, there are small blessings. For most people, for most of the time, it is better than this bleakest situation.
Anyway, chapter 3 wraps up with Job mourning his circumstances. His three friends show up, and they spend seven days in silent mourning with Job. As most probably know, these guys end up arguing with Job that he must have done something to deserve his torment, but first they show up and mourn with him.
These seem like true friends, and their ideas about Job deserving his suffering are what people thought then, and generally think now.
I look forward to seeing how the line of thought develops from here.
Job 4
Job 5
Job's friend, Eliphaz, replies to Job. His argument goes through chapters 4 and 5. His thesis is very simple: good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Since bad things are happening to Job, Job must therefore not be a good person. This is pretty much what people generally believe, then and to this day. Maybe there is a sense in which this is true, but people don't apply it in it's Biblical sense, but present only one side of it.
It is indeed true that God's Justice will set all things right. The righteous will be glorified and the wicked will be judged. But it is also true that we live in a fallen world where the righteous are persecuted and the wicked prosper. Things are upside down. This is what Eliphaz does not take into account.
The complexity of all this gets compounded when you take into account Paul's teaching from Romans that all of mankind is fundamentally guilty in Adam and sin and death thus reign. To better narrow down what Job is getting at, it would be helpful to see this as an exploration of not simply why suffering exists, but why God's saints in particular suffer, and suffer greatly.
Many people will rightfully compare Eliphaz's thinking to the Jews that Jesus corrected in Luke 13. The tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people. They felt that it happened because those 18 people were sinners but that the men in Jerusalem were more righteous than they because they were still living. Jesus says no, but that unless you repent, you will likewise perish. I once was talking to a woman about God's sovereignty, providence, etc. She asked me what His purpose for 9/11 was. The answer is still the same: unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
Job 5
Job's friend, Eliphaz, replies to Job. His argument goes through chapters 4 and 5. His thesis is very simple: good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Since bad things are happening to Job, Job must therefore not be a good person. This is pretty much what people generally believe, then and to this day. Maybe there is a sense in which this is true, but people don't apply it in it's Biblical sense, but present only one side of it.
It is indeed true that God's Justice will set all things right. The righteous will be glorified and the wicked will be judged. But it is also true that we live in a fallen world where the righteous are persecuted and the wicked prosper. Things are upside down. This is what Eliphaz does not take into account.
The complexity of all this gets compounded when you take into account Paul's teaching from Romans that all of mankind is fundamentally guilty in Adam and sin and death thus reign. To better narrow down what Job is getting at, it would be helpful to see this as an exploration of not simply why suffering exists, but why God's saints in particular suffer, and suffer greatly.
Many people will rightfully compare Eliphaz's thinking to the Jews that Jesus corrected in Luke 13. The tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people. They felt that it happened because those 18 people were sinners but that the men in Jerusalem were more righteous than they because they were still living. Jesus says no, but that unless you repent, you will likewise perish. I once was talking to a woman about God's sovereignty, providence, etc. She asked me what His purpose for 9/11 was. The answer is still the same: unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
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Job 4
Eliphaz the Temanite is rubbing me the wrong way.
Certainly by the time Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, things were different.
Eliphaz the Temanite is rubbing me the wrong way.
he asks. Things must have been a lot different back in those days for him to even think this.
Certainly by the time Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, things were different.
Eliphaz is arguing that bad things only happen to bad people, and good people reap blessings. This obviously does happen sometimes, but quite often goes the wrong way. The world simply doesn't work this way, and I'm sure Job knows that.
Job 5
This is still Eliphaz the Temanite talking to Job, a continuation of Chapter 4.
Interestingly in Chapter 5, Eliphaz expands a little bit on his theme. He seemed to start out by saying God rewards the righteous and punishes sinners, but in Chapter 5 he seems to make wider points.
Here he is talking about God helping the poor and lowly, while striking down the high and mighty. I suppose you could say the poor and lowly are righteous while the high and mighty are wicked, but that's obviously not always true.
The poor are often in their position due to their own shortcomings, while the high and mighty have earned their status by hard work and talent. Even in ancient times when people tended to be born into their social setting and economic class, there was advancement for the hard working and talented, and failure for the lazy and incapable.
So, besides rewarding the righteous and punishing the sinner, God also helps the lowly, and humbles the mighty. Job was super rich and so he has been humbled.
I think Eliphaz's argument here is stronger, but I think the ultimate point of the book of Job will be that none of this is cut and dried. God does bless the righteous and punish sinners. God does help and comfort the lowly and humble the mighty. But not always, and we can't know when it will be one way or the other.
God's ways are higher than ours, and we are in no position to judge him, or understand his ways beyond a certain level. All we can do is repent, submit to him, obey his commands, and trust in him.
Looking ahead to the middle of the book, we can say with Job:
This is still Eliphaz the Temanite talking to Job, a continuation of Chapter 4.
Interestingly in Chapter 5, Eliphaz expands a little bit on his theme. He seemed to start out by saying God rewards the righteous and punishes sinners, but in Chapter 5 he seems to make wider points.
Here he is talking about God helping the poor and lowly, while striking down the high and mighty. I suppose you could say the poor and lowly are righteous while the high and mighty are wicked, but that's obviously not always true.
The poor are often in their position due to their own shortcomings, while the high and mighty have earned their status by hard work and talent. Even in ancient times when people tended to be born into their social setting and economic class, there was advancement for the hard working and talented, and failure for the lazy and incapable.
So, besides rewarding the righteous and punishing the sinner, God also helps the lowly, and humbles the mighty. Job was super rich and so he has been humbled.
I think Eliphaz's argument here is stronger, but I think the ultimate point of the book of Job will be that none of this is cut and dried. God does bless the righteous and punish sinners. God does help and comfort the lowly and humble the mighty. But not always, and we can't know when it will be one way or the other.
God's ways are higher than ours, and we are in no position to judge him, or understand his ways beyond a certain level. All we can do is repent, submit to him, obey his commands, and trust in him.
Looking ahead to the middle of the book, we can say with Job:
Job 6 and 7
I followed this thread during the earlier books, but I didn't keep up with the reading or post on the chapters. I am surprised how quickly the days go by and how easy it is to fall behind on my readings.
These chapters give Job's reply to Eliphaz. It's a little hard to follow. He is making his points, but he sprinkles his speech heavily with metaphors and references that are distracting and often unfamiliar.
Here he uses a bunch of analogies about asses and oxen and egg whites to make the point that his soul grieves.
At a certain point, he berates Eliphaz for lecturing his friend and giving him a hard time in his grief. He compares him to a brook, and then goes off talking about the deceitfulness of brooks
Then he switches and talks about the troops of Tema and the companies of Sheba.
In Chapter 7, it starts out that he is still talking to Eliphaz and saying he has a right to feel bad and complain. He makes some general points about the nature of life being this way. Our days on this earth are like the days of a hireling.
As this chapter progresses, he is still talking to Eliphaz at the beginning, but gradually he is talking to God. I can't even see a clear shift where he switches from one to the Other, leading to another of the most famous quotes from Job, which is clearly addressed to God:
I followed this thread during the earlier books, but I didn't keep up with the reading or post on the chapters. I am surprised how quickly the days go by and how easy it is to fall behind on my readings.
These chapters give Job's reply to Eliphaz. It's a little hard to follow. He is making his points, but he sprinkles his speech heavily with metaphors and references that are distracting and often unfamiliar.
Here he uses a bunch of analogies about asses and oxen and egg whites to make the point that his soul grieves.
At a certain point, he berates Eliphaz for lecturing his friend and giving him a hard time in his grief. He compares him to a brook, and then goes off talking about the deceitfulness of brooks
Then he switches and talks about the troops of Tema and the companies of Sheba.
In Chapter 7, it starts out that he is still talking to Eliphaz and saying he has a right to feel bad and complain. He makes some general points about the nature of life being this way. Our days on this earth are like the days of a hireling.
As this chapter progresses, he is still talking to Eliphaz at the beginning, but gradually he is talking to God. I can't even see a clear shift where he switches from one to the Other, leading to another of the most famous quotes from Job, which is clearly addressed to God:
Attachments
Secular bible scholars often say that the ancient Israelites did not believe in the afterlife and they'll point to the parts of Job that talks about going into the grave and not returning and sleeping eternally as their supporting evidence. What would be the counter to that claim?
What's interesting is that the secularists are not the first people to claim that. Antinomians and some radical anabaptists did also argue that but for different reasons.
Providentially, my pastor and I just happened to be studying this this morning: http://www.vor.org/rbdisk/html/institutes/2_10.htm#2.10.19
I've noticed that secularists tend to read the text hyper-literalistically, even woodenly, so as to make the text crack against itself.
Job 6 & 7
Job responds to Eliphaz and continues his lamentation.
The poetry in passages like these are not of the same genre as something like Romans. It is not a didactic teaching, but it is meant to make you feel something. So it can be more difficult to comment on it, but there is still content in the poetry worth noting. Poetry like this wasn't primarily designed to be read silently in your own private study, but to be read out loud in a public setting,. That is when you really feel it. Because of this, there is a possibility that Job is just as old or even older than Genesis, it is a very ancient genre.
Job responds to Eliphaz and continues his lamentation.
Here, Job references Sheol. He does believe in an afterlife. Sheol is equivalent to Hades and would've been what people now colloquially refer to as Hell.
What strikes me here is the gaze of God. God as Watcher. He sees everything. He sees through everything. It goes right back to Adam and Eve putting on a false covering, showing their need for God to clothe them with a true covering since He can see through the false justification.
The poetry in passages like these are not of the same genre as something like Romans. It is not a didactic teaching, but it is meant to make you feel something. So it can be more difficult to comment on it, but there is still content in the poetry worth noting. Poetry like this wasn't primarily designed to be read silently in your own private study, but to be read out loud in a public setting,. That is when you really feel it. Because of this, there is a possibility that Job is just as old or even older than Genesis, it is a very ancient genre.
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