Wednesday
Evening Bible Study
May 7, 2003
Introduction
The shallowness of modern life.
We try hard to live a comfortable life.
The questions we find ourselves asking can be things like,
“Where shall I go to lunch today?”
“Will the Lakers win the championship again?”
“Where should we go on vacation this year?”
“What shall I wear today?”
I think that sometimes our comfortable American lives are getting a bit too
close to what Jesus described to the church
of Laodicea:
(Rev 3:15-19 KJV) I know thy works, that thou art neither cold
nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. {17} Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked: {18} I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that
thou mayest see. {19} As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent.
Jesus advises the Laodiceans to buy “gold” that is “refined in the fire”. There is real value that comes in our lives
when we go through times of refining.
There are things in life that can only be gained by going through
difficult times.
In contrast to the questions of today, the book of Job is a book that we
often find uncomfortable.
It asks the harder questions in life.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“If God loves me, why is there pain in my life?”
“Is there a purpose for my life?”
What’s even more difficult, the book asks a lot of questions, but doesn’t
give all the answers.
Many of the answers will be found in the New Testament.
I wonder if some of the questions simply aren’t going to be answered on
this side of heaven. I wonder if part of
the problem comes in our lives because we expect to find the answers when
sometimes we don’t know.
I think that these harder questions of life aren’t usually asked until we
go through a difficult time.
Background:
We believe that the book of Job is the earliest book written in the
Bible. It would seem to have been written
around the year 2000 BC, the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It is a book of poetry. Many poets
through the centuries have acclaimed this one of the greatest epic poems ever
written.
Job 1
:1-5 Job introduced
:1 There was a man in the land of
Uz, whose name was Job; and that
man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Uz – ‘Uwts – “wooded”
We’re not really sure where this place wuz.
Some have suggested that there was a yellow brick road leading to Uz, becuz,
becuz, becuz, becuz, becuzzzzz … and a wizard lived there, the wizard of Uz. J
Seriously, some think this might be an area southeast of the Dead
Sea, in the area of Edom.
(Lam 4:21
KJV) Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
that dwellest in the land of Uz;
the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt
make thyself naked.
This area was also identified with Uz by Ptolemy, a Greek general under
Alexander the Great, in the third century B.C. (Ryrie)
Job – ‘Iyowb – “hated”. His name could also mean, “the one who turns
back to God” or “the assailed or persecuted one”
Some have suggested that this might be the same individual mentioned in:
(Gen 36:33 KJV) And Bela
died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead.
Reasons: It’s the correct time frame
of Job. Jobab was one of the rulers of Edom,
and one of Job’s friends has a name that could be related to a descendant of
Esau (Edom) –
Eliphaz the Temanite:
(Gen 36:10-11 KJV) These are the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of
Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau. {11} And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
perfect – tam – perfect, complete; one who lacks
nothing in physical strength, beauty, etc; an ordinary, quiet sort of person;
complete, morally innocent, having integrity
This doesn’t mean that Job was without sin, the Bible tells us that all of
us have sinned (Rom. 3:23),
Why do bad things happen to good
people?
One possible response is that there are no “good” people. A better question might be, “Why does
anything good happen to us at all?”
We seem to think that God owes us something, when in fact,
He owes us judgment.
Instead, He’s given us grace.
This means that he was overall a man of great integrity. You can’t point to Job and say that his
difficult times came as a judgment for his sin (though his friends will try
this).
upright – yashar –
straight, upright, correct, right
feared – yare’ – fearing, reverent, afraid
“The remarkable thing about fearing God,” said Oswald Chambers, “is that
when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you
fear everything else.”[1]
eschewed – cuwr – to turn
aside, depart; to depart, depart from way, avoid; to be removed
:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
This is a great blessing for Job.
(Psa 127:3-5 KJV) Lo,
children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
{4} As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
{5} Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be
ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
:3 five hundred she asses…this man
was the greatest of all the men of the east.
she asses – female donkeys produce a type of milk that is considered
a delicacy in the MidEast.
Job was an incredible guy, one of the greatest men alive at that time.
:4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day
his day – It could be that this means that they rotated the parties
every day. It might mean that they
celebrated on each child’s birthday with birthday parties.
:5 rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings
This was before the time of Moses and the Law. Job is functioning as a priest for his
family.
Lesson
Family responsibility
Moms and Dads, I think we ought to take this example of Job’s seriously.
:6-12 Satan’s first challenge
:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
sons of God – a term used for angels
Satan – satan – adversary,
one who withstands.
As you’ll see, Satan is a very real person.
He is not just “evil influence”.
He has a will. He challenges God. He roams the earth.
before the LORD – Satan and his demons have access to heaven.
Some folks have the mistaken idea that Satan can’t come before God.
He has a purpose in heaven, he acts as heaven’s “prosecutor” before God:
(Rev 12:10
KJV) …the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night.
When he accuses us before God, Jesus is our defense attorney.
(1 John 2:1 KJV) My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
There will be a day when Satan is kicked out of heaven, but that won’t
occur until half-way through the Tribulation period.
(Rev 12:7-9 KJV) And there
was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the
dragon fought and his angels, {8} And prevailed not; neither was their place
found any more in heaven. {9} And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God, and escheweth evil?
considered – suwm – to
put, place, set, appoint, make; to put, set, lay, put or lay upon, lay
(violent) hands on; to set, direct, direct toward; to extend (compassion)
(fig); to set, ordain, establish, found, appoint, constitute, make, determine,
fix; to set, station, put, set in place, plant, fix; to make, make for, transform
into, constitute, fashion, work, bring to pass, appoint, give
(NLT) "Have you noticed my servant Job?
It sounds as if God is kind of proud of Job. It kind of makes you wonder if you want God
being proud of you (just kidding).
Lesson
Good enough for trouble
We tend to think like Job’s friends and think that if we’re going through
difficulty that it’s because we’ve done something to deserve it.
But what if God is thinking about you like He thought about Job?
What if God is thinking that He’s kind of proud of you and knows that
you’ll stand up to anything that’s thrown at you?
:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him
hedge – suwk – to hedge or
fence up or about
Satan is complaining that God has protected Job from difficult times and
this is why Job fears the Lord.
“He only serves you because You’re nice to him”.
Lesson
Why do you serve the Lord?
Are you a “fair-weather” Christian?
Jesus said,
(Mat 13:20-21 NLT) The rocky
soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy. {21} But
like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. At first they
get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted
because they believe the word.
Satan is suggesting that Job only serves the Lord because he gets blessed
for doing it. Is that the case with us?
Warren Wiersbe writes,
The fundamental reason for Job’s
suffering was to silence the blasphemous accusations of Satan and prove that a
man would honor God even though he had lost everything. [2]
:12 Behold, all that he hath is in thy power
power – yad – hand;
strength, power (fig.)
Lesson
Satan’s limits – God’s sovereignty
God is giving permission for Satan to touch Job.
Yet God also sets limits on what Satan is allowed to do.
Though you might be going through a tough time, you are not at the mercy of
your enemy. He can only go as far as God
permits Him. God knows what your limits
are.
(1 Cor 10:13 KJV)
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it.
:13-19 Job’s first losses
:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them
Sabeans – Sh@ba’ – “seven”
or “an oath”; Nomadic bedouins living in the area of Uz and to the south.
Job’s servants in the field were attacked.
:16 The fire of God is fallen from heaven
fire of God – lightening
The “acts of God” – it seems that God gets blamed for some things that
perhaps He didn’t do. The context would
seem to indicate that Satan was behind this attack of lightening.
:17 The Chaldeans made out three bands
Chaldeans – Kasdiy –
“clod-breakers”; the inhabitants of Chaldea, living on
the lower Euphrates and Tigris.
People from Iraq.
three bands – could these have been the deadly “rock” band, “marching”
band, and the deadliest of all, the “polka” band?
:19 and it fell upon the young men
I would imagine this was the worst.
:20-22 Job’s response
:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down
upon the ground, and worshipped,
mantle – m@‘iyl – robe; a
garment worn over a tunic by men of rank
shaved his head – a form of mourning.
fell down – naphal – to
fall, lie, be cast down, fail; to fall prostrate, prostrate oneself before; to
lie, lie prostrate
worshipped – shachah – to
bow down; (Hithpael) to bow down, prostrate oneself; before superior in homage;
before God in worship
:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I
return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the LORD.
gave – nathan – to give,
put, set
taken away – laqach – to
take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize
blessed – barak – to
bless, kneel (Pual form)
Lesson
Understanding God’s grace
To come to the point where we see that all that we have has been given to
us by God.
As toddlers, one of the first words we learn is “MINE”. We have to unlearn it.
Hold things lightly in your hands.
God gave me all I have, He can take it away as well.
Lesson
Worship and Submission silences
Satan
Job isn’t aware of this at the time, but he is responding in a manner
contrary to how Satan want him to respond.
His submission to God, his responding in worship of God, is silencing the
challenge of Satan in heaven.
:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
sinned – chata’ – to sin,
miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
charged – nathan – to
give, put, set; to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote,
consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give
over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention,
utter, stretch out, extend; to put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint,
assign, designate; to make, constitute
foolishly – tiphlah – that
which is empty, folly, silly, foolish
Job 2
:1-6 Satan’s second challenge
:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job
I would imagine the Lord must have been pretty happy at Job’s response.
:4 Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Satan is charging Job with being callous.
He’s saying that Job is willing to give up the skins of his animals,
servants, and children to save his own skin.
:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he
will curse thee to thy face.
curse – barak – to bless,
kneel; (TWOT) to praise, salute, curse (Piel form)
Satan is saying that Job only loves God because he still has his health.
People will sometimes handle a difficult time by saying, “Well, at least I
still have my health!”
What if you didn’t have your health?
Lesson
Finding fault
Warren Wiersbe pointed out that it’s interesting to note that whereas God
did not find any fault in Job, Satan thought he had found a fault.
God is for us.
Satan is against us. He’s the one
who accuses us.
(Rom 8:31-34 KJV) What shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? {32} He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? {33} Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. {34} Who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his
life.
God again gives Satan permission to touch Job, but he is not allowed to
kill Job.
:7-8 Job’s health goes
:7 smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Job’s condition
His entire body was affected (vs. 7)
He had intense itching (vs. 8)
His flesh attracted worms and became crusty and hard
(Job 7:5 KJV) My flesh is
clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
He had bad breath
(Job 19:17
KJV) My breath is strange to my wife,
though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
He lost weight
(Job 19:20
KJV) My bone cleaveth to my skin and to
my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
He had fever and chills
(Job 21:6 KJV) Even when I
remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
He experienced aching bones
(Job 30:17 KJV) My bones are
pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
He had diarrhea
(Job 30:27 KJV) My bowels
boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
His scabs puss and turned darker in color
(Job 30:30 KJV) My skin is
black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
:8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal
potsherd – broken piece of pottery
:9-10 Job’s wife
:9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
curse God, and die.
curse – barak – to bless,
kneel; (TWOT) to praise, salute, curse (Piel form)
Note that Job’s wife asks Job to
do the very thing that Satan wanted Job to do, “curse God”.
Satan has taken Job’s wealth, Job’s children, and now Job’s health. He didn’t take Job’s wife. Perhaps he didn’t think he needed to.
Lesson
Hurting those closest to us
It seems that a common thing in many relationships is that the closer we
get to a person, sometimes the more unkind we become.
We can be very polite for complete strangers, but when our wife needs us to
hold the door open for her, we don’t.
Be careful with how you respond to those closest to you.
:10 Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
foolish women – nabal
– foolish, senseless, fool
:10 What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Lesson
Submission to God
Sometimes we get this idea that God is our great big genie in the sky. We get to thinking that He exists solely for
our pleasure.
Submission is a difficult word. It’s
difficult when we talk about our responsibility to submit to others. Wives have difficulty submitting to their
husbands. Employees have difficulty
submitting to their boss.
In America,
we have this historical, cultural background of rebellion. “We’re not going to take that unfair
taxation!” “I’m not going to put up with
this any more …”
I think that learning to submit to others, even when it’s not pleasant, is
a part of learning the ultimate in submission, learning to submit to God.
We want to know that there is a purpose for our difficult time. But we may not always know what that purpose
is. We have to learn to trust Him.
Illustration
“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the
future to His providence.”
St.
Augustine [3]
:11-13 Job’s friends
:11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon
him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad
the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment
together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.
friends – rea‘– friend,
companion, fellow, another person
Eliphaz – ‘Eliyphaz – “my
God is (fine) gold”
Temanite – Teymaniy –
“southward”. Teman was a city in Edom.
Bildad – Bildad –
“confusing (by mingling) love”. He was
the smallest man in the Bible, even smaller than Knee-high-miah J, he was “shoe-height”.
Shuhite – Shuchiy – see
Shua “wealth”; an ethnic appellative applied only to Bildad, the friend of
Job. One of Abraham’s descendants
through his wife Keturah was named Shuah, so Bildad is probably a descendant of
him.
Zophar – Tsowphar –
“sparrow”
Naamathite – Na‘amathiy –
“pleasantness”; an inhabitant of Naamah (site unknown); describes Zophar the
friend of Job
mourn – nuwd – to shake,
waver, wander, move to and fro, flutter, show grief, have compassion on
comfort – nacham – to be
sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted
:12 And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not
Job was in such bad physical shape that they could hardly even recognize
him.
:13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights,
and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
Lesson
Comfort
These are the things Job’s friends did well. These are the things we ought to learn to do
for each other.
They came to him.
One of the best ways to find out who your friends truly
are – go through a terrible hardship
We will have plenty of tough things to say about these
three friends, but at least they showed up.
They sat with him.
They didn’t speak (at first).
Be careful about opening your mouth and trying to solve
all your friends’ problems. Sometimes
the best thing we can do is just sit and listen.
Job 3 Job’s complaint
We enter into a new section in the book of Job covering chapters 3-37 about
the conversations that Job has with his friends.
What’s difficult about these chapters is that we have to keep some things
in perspective.
Sometimes Job and his friends have things wrong.
Job is speaking as a man who is hurt, confused, and trying to figure out
why his life has fallen apart.
Job’s friends are convinced they have the answers to Job’s questions, but
as we’ll find out, and God Himself will confirm it, they don’t.
God will say to Job,
(Job 38:1-2 KJV) Then the
LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, {2} Who is this that
darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
God is telling Job that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Including,
(Job 38:17 KJV) Have the
gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow
of death?
Be careful about building doctrine upon the book of Job. Neither Job’s words or those of his friends
(who will be rebuked also) are meant for building on.
Note: This begins the poetry section of Job. The poetry section will conclude in 42:6.
:1-10 Cursing the day he was born
:1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
He didn’t curse God. He cursed the
day he was born.
Though at times Job reacts with hostility, he always turns back to God.
Much of what he says later is exaggerated, untrue, and virtually blasphemous,
but he never renounces God.
:8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their
mourning.
raise up – ‘uwr – to rouse oneself, awake, awaken,
incite; (Polel) to stir up, rouse, incite
mourning – livyathan – leviathan, sea monster,
dragon
Perhaps he’s talking about sailors who are good at cursing, good enough to
raise up a sea monster from the ocean.
(NLT) Let those who are experts at cursing—those who are ready to
rouse the sea monster—curse that day.
:11-19 Wish to have died at birth
:11 Why died I not from the womb?
Job wishes he had been stillborn.
:12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
prevent – qadam – to meet,
come or be in front, confront, go before
(NLT) Why did my mother let me live? Why did she nurse me at her
breasts?
:13 I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
Soul Sleep
Some people have taken this verse to build their idea of “soul sleep”. They feel that when a person dies, they go to
sleep and are asleep in the grave, to be wakened at the resurrection. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe this.
The Bible does use the word “sleep” to talk about the death of the
believer, but this is simply because a dead person looks as if they are asleep.
The Bible teaches that when we as believers die, our spirit goes
immediately to be with the Lord.
(Phil 1:23 NLT)
I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I
long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me,
(2 Cor 5:6-8 NLT) So we are
always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies
we are not at home with the Lord. {7} That is why we live by believing and not
by seeing. {8} Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from
these bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
Or, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”.
Now when we are present with the Lord, we might be taking a nap from time
to time, but we are not asleep in the grave.
:18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the
oppressor.
(Job 3:18
NLT) Even prisoners are at ease in
death, with no guards to curse them.
:19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Lesson
Equality of Death
Everyone is the same in death.
It will happen to everyone
:20-26
:23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged
in?
(Job 3:23
NLT) Why is life given to those with no
future, those destined by God to live in distress?
Lesson
Reason for living
It sounds as if Job is suicidal.
We could certainly understand why.
But it’s one thing to be in such despair that you talk this way, and it’s
another to take it a step further.
Notice that Job does not commit suicide.
There’s a purpose for all of this.
Do we know what it is? We can
read the last couple chapters of Job and see what God does with all this, but
Job at this point doesn’t know how the story is going to end.
Keep going. See things through.
:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like
the waters.
(Job 3:24
NLT) I cannot eat for sighing; my groans
pour out like water.
:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I
was afraid of is come unto me.
Lesson
Fear doesn’t make it happen /
Dreaming doesn’t make it happen
I think there can be a sense in which we can cause things to happen because
of our own fear. Sometimes our own
anxiety causes such trouble in our lives that things start to fall apart, due
to our anxiety.
But some have taken this to mean that if we start having a fear of
something, our “fear” might make that thing come to pass.
The “word of faith” folks will teach this from this verse. They will say that if you confess something
negatively, it will come to pass.
God does not work that way.
God does not sit in heaven looking at all your fears and then deciding to
make them come to pass.
The things that happened to Job happened because God was proud of Job, not
because God was listening to Job’s fears.
:26 I was not in safety …
Lesson
Jesus understands
There’s only one other person who might have ever suffered more than Job.
(Heb 4:15-16 KJV) For we
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
{16} Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Jesus understands. He knows what
you’re going through.
You can go to His throne of grace and find help in time of need.
[1]Wiersbe, W.
W. (1996, c1991). Be patient. An Old Testament study. (Job 1:1). Wheaton,
Ill.: Victor Books.
[2]Wiersbe, W.
W. (1996, c1991). Be patient. An Old Testament study. (Job 1:6). Wheaton,
Ill.: Victor Books.
[3]Wiersbe, W.
W. (1996, c1991). Be patient. An Old Testament study. Wheaton,
Ill.: Victor Books.