Principal W. F. Lofthouse stated on page 483 that he had four lage questions for when you are studying Job 1st question would be? " (1) Is the book a compilation; and, if so, how did the compiler treat his materal? (2) Were the materials used independent of each other, and what was their relation to the general current of Hebrew thought? (3) What is the date of the book in its present form, and of its materials, so far as they had a separate existence? (4) What was the purpose of the author of of the compiler and of the separate authors?" [ 1 ]
REASONS FOR JOB'S SUFFERINGS
Verses 1:9-11 2:4,5 That Satan might be silenced
Verses 42:5 The Job might see God
Verses 40:4 42:6 The Job might see himself
Verses 42:7 That Job's friends might learn not to judge
Verses 42:10 That Job might learn to pray for, rather than to lash out against his critics
Verses 42:10 Demonstrate that all God's plans for his own everntually have happy endings
Job 01
Job is the first of the five books of “poetry” and first of the “Wisdom” books which include Psalms and Ecclesiastes and in the New Testament, James. They deal with a broad range of human experience, and include short sayings, essays and drama. Ezek. 14:14,20 and Jas. 5:11 refer to Job as an actual man. He probably wrote the book. He lived to great age, and geographical references would indicate he lived in the days of Abraham and Isaac. Also there is no mention of the Law, Tabernacle or Temple. Sabeans and Chaldeans were nomadic in Abraham’s day, not later.
v 1. Uz was the first born son of Abraham’s brother Nahor, and was brother to Rebecah’s father, Bethuel, Gen. 21, so land of Uz was probably along the Euphrates. Elihu in 32:2 can’t be related to Ram of Ruth 4:19, but to Ram, same as Aram, Gen. 22:21, all descendants of Nahor. (Esau’s grandson, Uz, Gen. 36:28, was in the area southeast of the Dead Sea, and Job mentions Sheba and Tema, grandsons of Abraham, but such names were common in both areas. Shuhite, 2:11, appropriately means wealth, not Judah’s wife; Naamath, a pleasant place.) Job was acquainted with both desert, desert storms and fertile areas, frequent to either area, but him being one of the great men of the east, would apply to the area of the Euphrates, which is always considered the east. His great age would also place him more likely before Abraham’s grandsons. More important, Job was morally upright, revered God, and shunned evil.
v 2,3. Job’s family size was normal and wealth was measured in livestock, both common in that time period and area. He had both tremendous wealth and wisdom.
v 4,5. These may have been birthday celebrations. As priest of the family, Job regularly made sacrifice for each one in case they had sinned, even in their hearts.
v 6-8. The unfallen angels reported their activities before God, and we don’t understand this, but Satan had and still has access to heaven as accuser, Rev. 12:10. Walking on earth in those days indicated ownership, and Satan works as prince of the power of the air. (On transfer of property the shoe was removed and given to new owner to indicate former could no longer walk on it in ownership, Ruth 4:7,8.) But when Satan walks on the earth, he is seeking whom he may devour, 1 Pet. 5:8. God speaks highly of Job. Few other men deserved suffering less but had to experience it more.
v 9-12. Satan retorted that the only reason Job feared God was because of the protection and blessings he received. If the Lord took away his possessions, he would curse God to His face. God gave Satan permission to take Job’s possessions, but not to harm him. Job and his wife were one flesh, Gen. 2:24, so she was also excluded.
v 13-19. Satan waited for the proper time and unleashed destruction alternately between man and natural forces in rapid succession. First attack was Sabeans, v 15, who took the oxen and asses. Next was fire from God, perhaps a form of lightning, which burned up the sheep, v 16. Next, three bands of Chaldeans (north of Euphrates) surrounded the camels and took them, v 17. Finally tornado like winds destroyed the house killing all Job’s sons and daughters, v 18, 19. Only four messengers saved.
v 20-22. Tearing garments was a customary sign of deep grief, and shaving the head indicated his glory was gone, Pr. 20:29. Job recognized we bring nothing into this world and can take nothing out. His godly character stands out when he bows to the ground in worship, “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job 2
v 1-3. This is a similar scenario to 1:6-9, but the Lord upholds Job as proof to Satan that Job was not worshiping God just for the blessings and possessions he was getting. Indeed, Job had been made to suffer without cause.
v 4,5. Satan implies that Job was willing to trade off his children and possessions in order to have his own personal safety, but if his health was affected he would curse God to His face.
v 6. The Lord gave Satan great latitude to do anything but take Job’s life.
v 7. Satan would not just make him sick, he would make him suffer. Anyone who has had one boil can sympathize, but to cover the body with them is unthinkable. The Bible Knowledge Commentary says that this disease is like a condition called Pemphius Foliaceus. These inflamed ulcerous sores, 2:7, caused itching, v 8; degenerative changes in facial skin, v 7,12; loss of appetite, 3:24; depression,3:24,25; loss of strength,6;11; worms in the boils, 7:5; running sores, 7:5; difficulty breathing, 9:18; dark under eyes, 16:16; foul breath, 19:17; weight loss, 19;20 and 33:21; continual pain, 30:17; restlessness, 30:27; blackened, peeling skin and fever 30:30.
v 8. Missionaries report patients with this disease have soothed their sores with ashes. So formerly wealthy, respected Job is outside the city with the beggars, sitting on the city ash heap and scraping his sores with a piece of broken pottery and ashes.
v 9,10. We don’t know how long Job had to endure this before his wife, instead of giving comfort, advised him to curse God and as a result he would die. This is just what Satan declared twice he would do (1:11; 2:5). The Hebrew word for curse is many times used for bless, because of another meaning, kneel. Pagans, unhappy with their gods, knelt before them and cursed them. Obviously, the meaning here is actually to curse, and no doubt Satan had spared Job’s wife to be a stumbling block for Job. Satan’s influence on her is similar to that of Satan on Peter, when Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me Satan”, Mt. 16:23. Job gently rebuked her lack of spiritual discernment and reminded her that both trouble and good times come from God. Quite unlike those who in time of trouble say “Where is God?” or “If there is a God, why did this happen?” None of his sufferings caused him to speak against the Lord, and if a moment of doubt arose in his heart, he did as in Prov. 30:32, “lay thine hand upon thy mouth”.
v 11-13. (Esau’s grandson, Uz, Gen. 36:28, was in the area southeast of the Dead Sea, and Job mentions Sheba and Tema, grandsons of Abraham, but such names were common in both areas. Shuhite, 2:11, appropriately means wealth, not Judah’s wife; Naamath means a pleasant place.) This and other comments from 1:1 explain more about Job’s friends and location. Their motivation to get together and visit him was good, though it later deteriorated into well meant intentions turned sour. Seeing his condition, they showed the same grief he did, so much so that they waited a week before speaking to him. It was the custom to allow the grieving person to speak first.
Job 03
Chapter 3 is Job’s first dialogue with his counselors.
v 1-3. After another week of sitting in agony, Job curses the fact he was born, but he does not curse God.
v 4-6. Five times in these verses, Job longs for thick darkness, amounting to the reversal of creation, then his agony would not be.
v 7-10. He wishes that the night of his conception had never taken place, and that his mother’s womb been closed so that he would never have existed to have sorrow. Egyptians could draw out a crocodile with a hook in it’s lower jaw, but this type dinasaur they could not.
v 11-15. Since conception did take place, he wishes he had been miscarried or stillborn. That quiet rest would have been better than his present condition. It was a position that could be shared by notable people.
v 16-19. Again he longs to have been born dead and be free from all the troubles of life. He would have the same rest as dead small and great, prisoners and servants.
v 20-26. Since he was conceived and born, now he wishes that he could die as an adult. Others also in trouble long for death as they would hidden treasure, but they live on. He had taken concern, v 25, for his children, his servants and himself, yet the trouble came. He asks why, but does not yet speak of this as an injustice.
Job 3-31 Condensed Comments
3:1,3 Cursed day of birth
3:6 Cursed night of conception
3:11 Wished dead at birth or v 16, stillborn
4:7 Eliphaz: Innocent don’t suffer
4:12-15 Claims superior knowledge from fearful vision
5:9, 16 Both statements true, but that doesn’t prove Job was being chastened.
6:2,3,9 Job’s grief and despair
6:14 Job desires pity, not condemnation
7:14 Job rejects dreams that cause fear, as Eliphaz, 4:12-21 Also 33:7.
8:2 Bildad calls Job’s words wind
8:6 It is human reasoning that all good people prosper 8:20-22 God won’t cast us away permanently
9:2 Answer to Job’s humble question, only through Christ
10:15 Both the righteous and sinners suffer, and Job is confused to despair 18,19
11:6 Zophar cruel and judgmental, Job is punished less than he deserved
Job’s rebuttal, he has as much wisdom as they do
13:15 Job’s faithful testimony “Though He slay me yet will I trust Him.”
13:26 Don’t dwell on the past if sins have been confessed and forgiven
14:7,10 Job compares man to futility as a tree, but v 14 looks for resurrection
15:20 Eliphaz’ untrue assumption that wicked continually suffer
16:2,4,5 Job wouldn’t treat these miserable comforters that way.
16:19 They can accuse, but God knows his record
17:10 All three friends did not show wisdom by their accusations
18:3,4 Bildad was upset by that and laid more accusations
19:25-27 Great statement of our Redeemer and our future
20:3 Zophar didn’t like the rebuke and argues, then a huge list of accusations
21:7 Job’s question is a common one yet, followed with wicked prospering
22:5-8 Eliphaz makes bold, vicious, false accusations
23:10-12 Job’s confidence and his great testimony of praiseing God’s word
24:24 After a whole chapter of wicked getting by, it is only in this life
25:4 Out of argument, Bildad just repeats that man can’t be pure before God
26:7,8 Job understands creation and continuation of God’s control
27:3-6 Job’s great pledge to be faithful to God as long as he has breath
28: 25-28 He knows of atmospheric pressure etc. but fear of the Lord is wisdom
29:5 Chapter of reminiscing on when God was obviously with him.
30:1 Now held in derision, humiliation throughout this chapter.
31:1 Everyone should make a similar covenant
31:2-40 Eighteen “if” behaviors that should result in judgment. Job stops talking.
3:1,3,6
4:7 , 12-15 5:9, 16
6:2,3,9
7:14 as Eliphaz,
4:12-21 Also 33:7.
8:2,6
9:2
10:15
11:6
12:3 and 13:2
13:15
13:26
14:7,10
15:20
16:19
17:10
18:3,4
19:25-27
20:3
21:7
22:5- 8
23:10-12
24:24
25:4
26:7,8
27:3-6
28: 25-28
30:1
31:1
31:2-40
Chapters 4 and 5 contain the first accusations of Eliphaz. This is the beginning of three rounds of comments from the friends followed by Job’s answers to each one. Their reasoning is that all suffering is punishable by sin; Job is suffering; Therefore, Job is a sinner. In the first round they hint at Job’s sin and urge him to repent. In the second round they strongly insinuate as much. In the third round they openly accuse.
Chapter 04
v 1,2. Eliphaz is probably the oldest of the three and speaks first, and in fact he can’t restrain from speaking. He feels Job is impatient with God, and implies he will be impatient with him.
v 3-6. He commends Job for being an instructor and helper to others, but implies that when trouble comes to him personally, he can’t take it.
v 7-11. This is an unfounded claim that innocent do not suffer, and he tries to back up his claim by his past observations, which were insufficient. Lions cause trouble and are punished, so Job has caused trouble and is being punished.
v 12-21. In case his observations should be in question, Eliphaz tells of a vision he had in the night. Surely no one would doubt a vision, especially his dramatization of the fear he felt. Nevertheless, it is suspect, being a secret thing and not indicated as the word of the Lord. If God was critical of His angels, the implication is that He would be even more critical of sinning Job. He doesn’t consider his own sins.
Chapter 05
v 1-7. Eliphaz now implies that Job is a fool with no one to whom he can turn, and a cruel suggestion that God has taken away his children because of his foolishness. He speaks with truth that certainly man’s troubles come from within himself, but this does not mean that Job’s troubles are his fault.
v 8-16. It is true that God’s ways are unsearchable, Rom. 11:33, and it is good advice to seek God. However he is still going on the assumption that Job deliberately sinned against God, and for that needs to repent.
v 17-27. Verse 17 is very true and we need to happily accept God’s correction. It is wrong for him to declare that Job would have unlimited deliverance, v 19, if he would just repent, turn to God and receive the named blessings in the following verses. Then he has the audacity to claim he has searched it out and knows he is right so Job ought to just do what he says.
Chapter 06
v 1-3. Job replies that his complaints, if weighed against his suffering, the suffering would outweigh his complaints.
v 4-7. Job acknowledges that his suffering comes from God, but as the animals don’t cry for food when they are full, he wouldn’t complain if the suffering were not so bad. He would not eat food without flavor and wouldn’t complain without cause.
v 8--10. Again, in despair, Job wishes he could die and be released as from prison, but he affirms he is innocent of denying or defying God.
v 11-13. In 4:2, Eliphaz thinks Job is impatient, but Job’s reaction is that he has no hope and does not have the strength of stone or bronze.
v 14-17. When someone is in distress, his friends should be kind and helpful so he wouldn’t turn from God, or even if he did. His friends have been like a brook that runs full from winter snow, but in summer when it is needed, it dries up.
v 18-23. Caravans from Tema (midway between Damascus and Mecca) and Sheba (in southern Arabia since Gen. 10:7 or 28) became lost and sought water in these dried up brooks. Job’s friends were just as dried up to him. He had never asked them for help, but now when he needs encouragement, they fear God won’t let them.
v 24-27. Job pleads with them to tell him where he has gone wrong, even if it hurts, but there words were of no help, and they treated his as wind. They appeared to be treating him as unfairly as taking advantage of an orphan or a friend.
v 28-30. Paraphrase: “Look me in the face and see if I am lying concerning innocence, but I can see you are making false accusations.”
Chapter 07
v 1-5. Job says mortal man is like a soldier doing his time, a hired man in hard labor, a slave working in heat of day, or a hired man waiting to be paid. But his pain goes on for months, and his nights are unbearable as he lays in filth, wormy cracked sores which scab over and break open again.
v 6-10. Job speaks of the brevity of his life, and though he had wished to die, 3:17, when he does, he will not see his home or past earthly happiness again.
v 11,15. In his anguish, Job knowingly speaks without constraint, protesting that God is guarding him as if he were a sea monster. He cannot escape even in sleep, for God is terrifying him through his dreams, 4:12-21; 33;7 (another result of his disease). Again he feels death would be better than the way he is living.
v 16-19. Job feels his days are futile now anyway, so why is God giving him so much attention. God is trying him every moment, and it would be a relief just to be let alone, even long enough to swallow his saliva. David used about the same words, Ps. 144:3, “What is man that thou take account of him?” to show God’s constant care.
v 20,21. Job asks God how he has sinned that he cannot get forgiveness instead of tantalizing. He wants pardon now, because he may die in the night and in the morning it will be too late on this earth. (This doesn’t discount his belief in resurrection)
Job 08
v 1,2. Bildad bluntly barges into the discussion, and picking up on Job’s own word in 6:26, accuses Job’s words of being like a mighty wind.
v 3,4. Job’s friends can only think of suffering as retribution, and since Job’s children died, they died for their sins. But Job had offered sacrifices for their sins.
v 5-7. Bildad used typical human reasoning. Job needs to turn to God, because if he was pure and upright, God would prosper him. (Jer. 12:1 asks why wicked prosper.)
v 8-10. Eliphaz had referred to his own observations, but Bildad suggests greater authority by searching out what the forefathers would say. He assumes they would say that people suffer because of their sin.
v 11-19. Bildad claims truthfully that plants wither without water, so are those who forget God, just as if they trusted in a spider web. However, he was wrong in accusing Job of forgetting God and relying on material things.
v 20-22. Bildad says God doesn’t reject the blameless or strengthen the wicked, so if Job wasn’t wicked, God wouldn’t treat him that way. (At least God will not permanently cast away a believer.) Since this was not because Job had sinned, those words only frustrated Job the more. Ironically, it is these so called friends of Job who will be shamed later.
Job 09 and 10
Job 09
v 1-13. Job admits Bildad was right that the wicked perish, but why then was he suffering? How can a mortal man dispute with God? (He found he couldn’t, 40:3-5.) Job mentions the power of God to move mountains, v 5; cause earthquakes, v 6; blot out the sun and stars, v 7; stretch out the heavens and control the waves, v 8; create the constellations, v 9; perform miracles, v 10; and move invisibly, v 11. I have been taught that v 12, 13 indicate inability to contend with God, and how the “proud helpers” to be nations he uses as judges. But it was not until later that “proud helper”, or Rahab, became a nick name for Egypt, Ps. 87:4. Job 9:13 now seems better translated, God will not withdraw his anger; the helpers of Rahab do stoop under him. In this he stated God was even superior to the mythological sea monster, Rahab and it’s helpers.
v 14-20. In light of God’s greatness, Job would not dare dispute with Him, and in fact could probably not even get a hearing from Him as judge. Job feared if he were to witness before God, he would condemn himself by his own words.
v 21-24. Job declares his innocence, but what does it matter, he will have to suffer anyway. For the first time, he accuses God of being unfair.
v 25-35. Job laments that his days are fleeting away as a fast runner, ship or bird. If he tried to forget his troubles, God would still call him guilty and discard him, so why even try to please Him. God is divine, not man, and Job, longed for an arbitrator who could understand him and bring them together. We have that in Christ.
Chapter 10
v 1-7. Since Job had no mediator, he is willing to risk his unpleasant life to be his own defense attorney before God. He determines that he will ask God not to condemn him but to list the charges against him. He would ask if God got pleasure out of hurting him; Does God have eyes like a man to investigate him? Are God’s days so short He has to keep seeking after Job’s sins even though God knows he is innocent?
v 8-12. Since God had created and molded him, why is He turning around to destroy him? God had formed him as a fetus described in v 10, 11, and given him life and breath, v 12, so why should He turn against Job?
v 13--17. In a less challenging attitude but frustrated, Job realizes that even when he was created, all this was in God’s plan. God would not hold him guiltless from sin, but even when he was innocent, God was stalking him like a lion and attacking him. Both the righteous and wicked suffer. a
v 18-22. This all leaves Job wishing he had never been born, but since he was, why doesn’t God just let him alone and let him die? Now he is so discouraged he is not even asking for a moment of reprieve as he did in 9:25. Now he will just settle for the darkness of death, so dark that even the light is still darkness. At this point he was too discouraged to think of the resurrection.
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In the early 90's I started studing the bible by taking colleger courses, because I believe the Lord wanted me to become a pastor in a Nazarne Church. My goal has changed with all my studies. I have read and compared numerous translations and commentaries in my many years of studying the bible. Some of these authorities disagree with each other. I come across information on studies and classes that I have taken 15 to 20 years before and I have no documentation of where it came from. Plus I have given away or returned many books for college classes that I have taken. So if I have failed to give someone the credit that is due them I ask for their forgiveness. The following is a list of translations and commentaries that I still have and use.
ANSWERS to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions by Pat RobertsonOUR ETERNAL HOME by Richard W. Dehaan,
PROPHECY STUDY BIBLE by Tim Lahaye
READER'S DIGEST JESUS AND HIS TIMES by the Readers Digest Association Inc,
REFLECTING GOD STUDY BIBLE By Zondervan Corporation;
SAINT JOSEPH EDITION OF THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE by Catholic Book Publishing Co.
SEVEN KEYS TO FAMILY POWER by Billy Joe Daugherty,
SIX HOURS ONE FRIDAY by Max Lacado,
THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE by the Zondervan Corporation;
THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD by Jocyce Meyer,
THE BIBLE PROMISE BOOK by Babbour Publishing Inc,
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER by Charles Mortimer Guilbert
THE BOOK OF HOPE by Tyndale House Publishiers, Inc,
THE BORN AGAIN CATHOLIC by Albert H. Boudreau,
THE CASE FOR CHRIST by Lee Strobel,
THE CATHOLIC ANSWER BOOK by Peter MJ Stravinsiasi
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BIBLE KNOWLEDGE by Mark D. Taylor;
THE DAY CHRIST DIED by Jim Bishop,
THE GREAT BIBLE QUESTION AND ANWERS BOOK by Playmore Inc
THE HOME BIBLE STUDY COURSE by Dr. Harold L. Wilmington;
THE KING JAMES BIBLE ARCHAIE WORDS DEFIND by David W. Daniel
THE KING JAMES BIBLE COMPANION by David W. Daniels;
THE KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE by Thomas Nelson Publishers,
THE LAYMAN’S BIBLE DICTIONARY by George W. Knight and Rayburn W. Ray;
THE LAYMAN’S PARALLEL NEW TESTAMENT by Zondervan Bible Publisher
THE LAYMAN'S LIST by Calance Stucup
THE MESSAGE BIBLE by Eugone H. Peterson,
THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE by World Catholic Press;
THE NEW AMERICAN BIBLE Saint Joseph Edition;
THE NEW STRONG’S EXHAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE by James Strong LL. D S.T.D.;
THE RISKS AND REWARDS OF INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE by Cardinal Francis Arinze
THE TRINITY by Rose Publish
THE VERY FIRST ESTER by Paul L. Maier,
THE WAY CATHOLIC LIVING BIBLE by Tyndale House Publishers;
UNCHRISTIAN by David Kennan and Gabe Lyon
UNDERSTANDING GOD’S LOVE by Ronald Greib
VINE’S EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT WORDS By W. E. Vine;
WHAT’S SO SECRET ABOUT THE RAPTURRE? By Christian Record Services, INC
WHEN GOD WINKS AT YOU by Tomas Nelson
WILLMINGTON’S GUIDE TO THE BIBLE by Dr. H.L. Willmington,
WOMAN OF FAITH STUDY BIBLE by Zschech/Heillsong
YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVER by New Leaf Press
YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS by Anthony Wilhen
08/19/2011