Job

• Introduction
• • Literary structure - a series of poetic speeches (3:1-42:9) introduced and concluded by narrative material (1:1-2:13, 42:10-17) - although narrative material, 42:7-9 seem to fit better with the poetic section
  • Composition
  • • Some biblical scholars believe the poetic section was written first and the narrative prologue and epilogue came later - in this scenario the narrative sections introduce the story and bring it to a satisfactory resolution
    • Other biblical scholars believe the narrative was written first - the poetic speeches were then added to explore some of the deeper theological questions
  • Date
  • • Most scholars agree that the composition of the book extended over a long period although no one can be sure how far back the book dates or how long it took to reach its final form
    • One proposal
    • • Narrative portion was an ancient folktale which circulated orally among wise men in the 2^nd millennium B.C.E. - it was perhaps written down in Hebrew during the time of David and Solomon or a century later
      • During the exile in Babylon in the 6^th century B.C.E., a poet added the speeches between Job and his three friends and God's two speeches - a nation in exile would have asked deep theological questions just as those raised in the dialogues
      • Finally another poet added Elihu's speeches perhaps to summarize the speeches of the friends and to make a smoother transition to God's speeches
• The Book
• • Prologue (1:1-2:13)
  • • Job is introduced as a "blameless and upright man, one who feared God and turned away from evil" - he is not perfect but he daily seeks to be in a right relationship with God - he is the best his world has to offer
    • The trials
    • • First trial
      • • The Satan or adversary presents himself before God (apparently this was not considered unusual) after a tour of the earth
        • God points out Job, His faithful servant, to the Satan
        • The Satan then asks a key question - "Does Job serve God for nothing?" (i.e., "Of course Job serves you. You have given him everything. Why shouldn't he serve you?"
        • God agrees to let the Satan remove everything from Job but his health and life
        • The Satan takes away all of Job's wealth and children
        • Job mourns but does not renounce his faith in God
      • Second trial
      • • The Satan again appears before God and God again points out Job, His faithful servant
        • The Satan suggests a second trial in which Job's health is destroyed
        • God agrees to allow the Satan to destroy Job's health but not take his life
        • Still Job does not renounce his faith
        • Response of those close to Job
        • • His wife's response may or may not be sympathetic - does she want Job to give up fighting for his life so that the suffering of someone she loves can be ended or does she want him to renounce his faith in this evil God?
          • Three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) arrive - they are so overwhelmed by Job's appearance and suffering they simply sit with him in silent sympathy for seven days and nights
  • Dialogue between Job and his three friends (3:1-31:40)
  • • When Job curses the day he was born and questions the justice of God, his three friends rush to God's defense
    • Comments made by the friends
    • • People who are innocent do not suffer, only the guilty suffer (4:7-11)
      • • All of the friends agree that Job is guilty of some great sin for which he is now being punished (22:5-9)
        • Bildad even has the gall to say that God killed Job's children because they were more wicked than Job (8:4)
        • Zophar states that Job is punished less than he deserves (11:6)
      • Eliphaz suggests God loves Job and is trying to make him a better person through the discipline of suffering (5:17-27) - Job should feel especially blessed
      • God does not trust the members of His holy court, why would he trust Job? (15:14-16)
      • The friends cling to the theology that the wicked will be punished and the righteous blessed (20:1-29)
      • Humans are of no use to God (22:2-3)
      • Job should live by faith - if he continues to have faith, he will be restored (5:19-27, 8:20-22, 11:13-20) - their logic sounds much like that in the Satan's question
    • Comments made by Job
    • • Job maintains his innocence (31:1-40)
      • • Job knows he is not perfect but he does not know what he has done to deserve such punishment (6:24)
        • If there is a connection between punishment and guilt, Job cannot find it in his own experience
      • Since Job believes he is innocent, God clearly destroys both the innocent and the guilty (10:1-17)
      • • A conspiracy seems to exist between God and the forces of evil
        • Job gives examples of God torturing the righteous (12:7-25) and blessing the wicked (21:1-34)
        • God, Job's friend, has now become his enemy (13:13-16, 16:6-17)
      • Job seeks an audience with God
      • • Job would like an opportunity to meet with God and present his case (13:2)
        • • Perhaps then God would realize Job's innocence
          • Job wishes for an umpire who could argue his case compellingly before God (9:33-35, 16:19-21, 19:23-29)
        • Yet Job realizes that even an audience with God would not take care of the situation - although Job is innocent, he could not argue his case in the presence of the power and majesty of God (9:1-35)
      • The friends do nothing but lie about God and defend Him (13:4-12) - they make God a slave to their theological system
      • Job refuses to give up his faith or his questions - he believes in God (13:15-16, 27:1-6) - he does not understand God but he has faith in Him
  • Elihu's speeches (32:1-37:24)
  • • A young man (32:6) who suddenly appears in the story - when his speeches are completed, he disappears - thus his speeches may have been a later addition to the book
    • Comments made by Elihu
    • • God speaks through dreams and pain (33:14-33) - Job should listen
      • God cannot do wrong so Job must be wrong in his life and in his theology (34:10-37)
      • One cannot hurt or help God, one can only hurt or help fellow humans (35:5-8) - God is above all
      • God does restore the righteous and judge the wicked but in his own good time (36:5-33)
      • God is all-powerful (37:1-24) - who can question Him?
  • God's speeches (38:1-42:9)
  • • Content of God's two speeches
    • • First (38:2-40:2)
      • • Praises the mysteries of creation - how it began and how it keeps going
        • Emphasizes Job's lack of knowledge - God knows much more than Job ever can know
      • Second (40:6-41:34)
      • • Indirectly acknowledges Job's complaint and details the difficulty of ruling the powerful forces in the world
        • Uses the mythical beasts Behemoth (a huge land beast) and Leviathan (a huge sea beast) to illustrate the powers at work in the world
        • The existence of questions and powers that are not understood do not imply that God is absent
    • Job's responses (40:3-5, 42:1-6)
    • • Job acknowledges God's power which he never doubted in the first place
      • Job has no real answer from God's speeches but is content with God's presence (42:5)
      • Does Job "repent in dust and ashes" or "repent of dust and ashes?" - both are possible - the former implies Job admits he was wrong, while the latter implies Job has acted like a real human made in the image of God as God had demanded (38:3)
    • God criticizes the three friends (42:7-9)
    • • God tells the friends they have not spoken the truth about Him as has Job - Job's questions and speculations concerning God were more honest than the friends' defense of God which ignored Job's questions and the realities of life
      • God instructs the friends to offer a sacrifice and instructs Job to pray for his friends - perhaps God is seeking to bring reconciliation between Job and the friends
  • Epilogue (42:10-17)
  • • God gives Job twice what he possessed before - is God seeking to pay Job back double as a criminal was required? (Exod. 22:7)
    • His relatives and friends return to him offering comfort and gifts - earlier they had abandoned him (19:13-19)
    • He had ten children and to his daughters he gave an inheritance
    • He lived an additional 140 years, dying after having lived a full life
• Some Theological Points
• • Resolution of questions
  • • Themes of the book
    • • Major theme - the search for disinterested righteousness - does anyone, in fact, serve God for nothing?
      • Secondary theme - why do righteous people suffer?
    • Neither theme/question is answered
    • • The reader knows why Job suffered but Job does not - any answer we have to the question is tentative at best and does not fit every situation
      • Job continued to serve God even when everything but his life had been taken away, but then God gave him everything back plus more - would Job have continued to serve God for nothing or would he finally have given up? Will a person serve God for nothing?
    • Israel was content to struggle with such unanswerable questions and we must be too - living in mystery does not mean we must refrain from thinking and speculating
  • Bless/curse
  • • In chapters 1 and 2 the word translated "curse" is in reality the word for "bless" - that puts a new slant on the Satan's comment that Job after losing so much would "bless God to His face" as well as Job's wife's comment for Job to "bless God and die"
    • Why use this word "bless" when "curse" seems to be intended?
    • • The author could not imagine anyone cursing God and thus used "bless" to smooth out the theological difficulty
      • The Satan and Job's wife speak sarcastically
      • Blessing and cursing depend on one's perspective - the cursing of one may be evil for him or her but a blessing to another - the entire book seeks perspective
  • Ministering to those who are suffering
  • • The friends and Elihu were unable and/or unwilling to enter into Job's suffering and be present with him
    • Job had deep needs which he powerfully expressed
    • • "I want to die" (6:8-9)
      • "Leave me alone, God, and let me have some peace" (7:19)
      • "I need a friend" (6:15-17)
      • "Look at me" (6:28)
      • "Why was I born?" (3:3-19, 10:18-19)
      • "I am broken" (17:1)
      • "Why doesn't what I was taught work?" (21:17-34)
    • Job struggles alone when his friends should have been present for and with him
  • God and His purposes cannot be condensed into a all-encompassing, infallible theological system - God cannot be boxed in - for God to be truly God, His people will have to recognize their limited understanding of Him and His ways - His people will have to leave a place for mystery in God while still seeking to penetrate that mystery
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Much of the material in these notes has been discovered and discussed through conversations with Doug Brown (Ph.D., Southern Seminary, and currently Director of Development for the Dayspring Family Health Center) as we have met bi-weekly to discuss the Book of Job. I appreciate his insights and friendship.

Artwork from Bible Picture Library of Photo Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97

"Satan Smites Job with Boils" by William Blake