Daily Bible Study Tips: Job

Job 1:1-22, Prologue.
Job 2:1-13, Prologue.
Job 3:1-19, Job speaks.
Job 4:1-11; 5:8-17, Eliphaz speaks.
Job 6:1-14; 7:11-21, Job answers.
Job 8:1-22, Bildad speaks.
Job 9:1-18; 10:18-22, Job answers.
Job 11:1-20, Zophar speaks.
Job 12:1-10; 13:1-16, Job speaks.
Job 15:1-16, Eliphaz speaks again.
Job 16:1-10, Job answers.
Job 18:1-11, Bildad speaks again.
Job 19:1-12, 23-29, Job answers.
Job 20:1-10, Zophar speaks again.
Job 21:1-13, Job answers.
Job 22:1-11; 23:1-7, Eliphaz speaks a third time; Job answers.
Job 25:1-6, Bildad speaks a third time.
Job 26:1-4; 27:1-12, Job answers.
Job 27:13-23, Zophar (probably) speaks a third time.
Job 31:1-15, 35-40, Job speaks once more in his own defense.
Job 32:1-14; 35:1-16, Elihu speaks.
Job 38:1-21, God speaks.
Job 38:22-41; 40:1-5, God speaks; Job answers.
Job 40:6-41:34; 42:1-6, God speaks; Job answers.
Job 42:7-17, Epilogue.
Supplement.

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Job 1:1-22 (7/26/10)

Prologue.  Have you ever watched a national political convention on television?  Yawn.  There are long, boring speeches.  Occasionally the camera turns to show someone in the audience, who in the old days would be talking to his neighbor but now is texting someone who isn't even at the convention.  Job is like that, except without the exciting bits, which is why it is among the least-read books of the Bible.  We are going to read somewhere between a third and a half of the book of Job over the next few weeks.  

Deuteronomic theology (i.e., the theological statements of the early parts of the Bible) says that if you are a good person who worships God, you will be rewarded with a good life on this earth.  If you are a bad person, you will be punished with a bad life on this earth.  Eventually, the Jews looked around and noticed that sometimes bad people had health, wealth, and grandchildren, while good people were sick, poor, and without descendants.  Well, what in the world was going on?  That's not the way things are supposed to be!  A few thousand years later, we still don't think that's the way things are supposed to be, and we still wonder what's going on.  The book of Job wrestles with this thorny question.  

Job was written fairly late as Biblical books go.  It is written in the form of a play with a cast of eight main characters:  God, Satan, Job, Mrs. Job, and four friends - Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu.  After the prologue, Job and his four friends take turns giving lo-ong, bo-oring speeches.  First we will read the prologue in full, because it sets up the problem and contains most of the action.  Then we will read a little bit from each speech.   

For the next month, be sure to remember vs. 1:8:  And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"  We know that Job is the best there is, because God himself says so.  Keep this in mind when Job's friends start talking.   

Job 2:1-13 (7/27/10)

Prologue.  In Job's first round of troubles, he was not personally injured.  In the second round, he gets terrible sores all over his body, but he still remains faithful to God.  His wife recommends that he put himself out of his misery, by cursing God.  (This would be roughly akin to going up against the fastest gun in the West, and having your death pronounced "suicide.")  He refuses.  

Now three of Job's friends come on the scene.  At first, they have it right:  they don't say anything.  This is very often the most effective thing you can do to comfort someone who is grieving.

Job 3:1-19 (7/28/10)

Job speaks. Job and his friends sit in silence for a while, but eventually Job speaks.  He says, "I'd be better off dead.  In fact, I'd be better off if I'd never been born.  So would a lot of other people."



Job 4:1-11; 5:8-17 (7/29/10)

Eliphaz speaks. The book of Job wrestles with the questions of why bad things happen to good people.  We have God's word for it, in the prologue, that Job is a good and blameless person whose faithfulness is being tested.  Job's friends don't know that, however.  They hold to the standard Deuteronomic position, which is good person = blessed person; bad person = cursed person.  They think that Job's suffering proves that he has committed a sin.  

After Job's "better off dead" speech, his friend Eliphaz speaks.  He says, "Job, you know that blameless people don't suffer.  God is rebuking you because there is something you need to correct.  You need to take this opportunity to get right with God."


Job 6:1-14; 7:11-21  (7/30/10) 

Job answers.    Job disagrees with Eliphaz, and he points out that he's not completely himself because he is so sick and grieved.  He says that whatever is going on, he needs support from his friends (which is a thought that we should all take to heart).  Job moves from cursing the day he was born to saying outright that he wishes God would let him die.  He also says that he is justified in his bitterness because God is unjustly causing his pain; in fact, he wonders whether God is harassing him just for something to do.


Job 8:1-22 (8/2/10)

Bildad speaks.    Who is the shortest person in the Bible?  Peter, who slept on his watch.  The second shortest is Bildad the Shuhite.   HAHAhahaha.   We now return to our regularly scheduled study tip.  

Job's friends stick to the orthodox teaching of the times:  blessed person = good person, cursed person = bad person.  Remember that Job has been accusing God of injustice.  Bildad says, "Does God pervert justice?  Do birds have lips?  No, Job, if you are suffering, somebody has sinned.  If it wasn't you, maybe it was your kids.  Confess and get right with God, and he'll reward you."
 

Job 9:1-18; 10:18-22 (8/3/10)

Job answers.   Job says to Bildad, "Right, right, right - I've heard all that before.  But the whole thing is very unfair, because God is the prosecutor, jury, and judge.  I know I'm innocent, but I don't have a chance, because he won't listen."  Then he starts complaining to God again.  

Vss. 21-22 are important.  At the time the book of Job was written, the Jews' concept was that the afterlife, called Sheol, was a shadowy place.  You were neither rewarded nor punished.  You neither enjoyed yourself nor suffered.  You got your rewards or punishments in the here and now, and Job's complaint is that he should be getting rewards for his innocence, not punishment.
Job 11:1-20 (8/4/10)

Zophar speaks.   The book of Job is 42 chapters long, and more than 39 chapters are devoted to monologues.  Job and his friends just sit there and talk at each other, without, as near as I can tell, a whole lot of listening.  Certainly no one changes his theological position in Chs. 3 - 37.  You've probably figured out by now that if I had written the book of Job, it would be a lot shorter - not as good, but shorter.  

Zophar says, "Jo-ob!  The reason God is prosecutor, jury, and judge is that he knows what's going on!  If you are suffering, it's because God knows you are a sinner.  Sign a confession, and he'll give you a pardon."    



Job 12:1-10; 13:1-16 (8/5/10)

Job answers.   I think Job's reputation for patience is inflated.  If you had a sick friend who complained all the time and called the doctor's office several times a day for a new diagnosis, I doubt you would say that friend is "patient."  Don't get me wrong - in Job's position, I would be complaining even more than Job; however, I am not legendary for my patience.

Job says, "Yeah, yeah, you guys think you are so smart.  Just shut up a minute, okay, because God doesn't need you to defend his actions, and I want to talk to God directly.  My willingness to do that should demonstrate my innocence."  

Job 15:1-16 (8/6/10)

Eliphaz speaks again.   The book of Job, in the form we have it, is a play that wrestles with the question of why bad things happen to good people.  The play consists mostly of a series of speeches by Job and his friends.  Job is suffering, and he's pretty unhappy about the whole thing.  His friends, representing orthodox Deuteronomic theology, say that his suffering demonstrates that he is a sinner, because good people don't suffer.  Job says that he is not a sinner, and he shouldn't be suffering.  He demands answers from God, so far with no results.  Remember that we have God's word for it, right at the beginning of the play, that Job is as perfect as a person can be, so when Job says he's not a sinner, that's no brag, that's just fact.  But he's suffering anyway.  

Eliphaz says, "Oh, right.  You say you want to talk to God, but you've got no respect for God at all.  You are saying such dumb things that it's obvious that you are a sinner, like everybody else."   

Job 16:1-10 (8/9/10)

Job answers.  I said a few days ago that Job is mostly made up of long, boring speeches.  To be fair, my Greek study buddy says her Sunday School class is in the middle of Job and thinks it's fabulous.  In this email study, we're reading about a third of each speech, or maybe half.  If you think this part is exciting, I encourage you to get out your paper Bible and read the whole book.  

Job says, "You are not helping!"  Then he thinks it over and adds, "I guess in your place I'd be saying the same thing, but it's not helping."  

Job 18:1-11 (8/10/10)

Bildad speaks again.  Bildad accuses Job of not listening, which is pretty funny, since as near as I can tell, none of them have been listening to each other from the beginning of the speeches.  

Then Bildad says something really important:  "You are only hurting yourself with your anger."  Anger at  injustice is okay - in fact it may be the only human force capable of rooting out injustice - but it's a two-edged sword.  Be sure you don't cut yourself.  Instead of pursuing this potentially useful point, however, Bildad goes back immediately to the same old song:  Bad things happen to bad people.  



Job 19:1-12, 23-29 (10/11/10)

Job answers.    Job 19:25-26 are the best-known verses in the book, because Handel used them as part of the text in The Messiah:  "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."  I've given you below three translations of these verses from Job.  We've been doing this email study for three and a half years now, so we are not surprised to learn that there are differences of opinion about the best translation of some words and sentences in the Bible.  (I assure you again that I've never seen an ambiguity that was important to salvation.)  

Good News says "someone in heaven who will come at last to my defense," where the KJV and JPS translate literally that "my Redeemer" lives and will stand or be witness at the end of the earth.  Your "redeemer" was your closest male relative (see Ruth), who was responsible for, say, buying you out of slavery, avenging your death, purchasing back your property, or raising up an heir for you.  Scholars are divided about whether Job is making a statement of faith, which is what it looks like and I think how most of us ordinary people take it.  Some scholars don't see how a such a tremendous statement of faith could be reconciled with vss. 5-12 and all the other complaining Job has done about God.  Job has never said that he doesn't believe in God, however, only that he thinks God owes him an explanation.  

Good News and KJV say "in my flesh I will see God," but JPS says "without my flesh I will see God."  The Hebrew could be either "in my flesh" or "without my flesh," depending on a number of technicalities; as near as I can tell, the Jewish and Christian scholarly consensus seems to favor "in," especially since Job emphasizes in the next verse that he'll see God with his very own eyes.  I certainly saw "in" and "from" in a lot of rabbinical discussions of these verses, and "without" only a couple times.  Both Jews who accept resurrection and Christians commonly use this verse as a proof-text for resurrection.   

Finally, what on earth does "My reins are consumed within me" mean?  Reins are kidneys - as in "renal failure."  (We sure learn interesting things in this study, don't we?)  Lots of cultures associate emotions with specific organs.  In English, for example, we love with our hearts and get angry with our spleens.  Job is in the grip of some powerful emotion.  KJV and JPS don't specify the emotion; Good News says his courage is failing.  

Job 20:1-10 (8/12/10)

Zophar speaks again.  Zophar says, "Bad things happen to bad people.  It's always been like that. Q.E.D."  

Job 21:1-13 (8/13/10)

Job answers.  Job says, "Zophar, Bildad!  Look around!  Look at me - a good person - suffering!  Look at Frank Costello - that crime boss - who died in his sleep at the age of 82!  It just isn't true that good things only happen to good people, and bad things only happen to bad people.  What I want to know is, why?"



Job 22:1-11; 23:1-7 (8/16/10)

Eliphaz speaks a third time; Job answers. Every once in a while, one of Job's friends makes a good point.  In vss. 1-3, Eliphaz says to Job, "If you think you are so great, tell me how that helps God.  He doesn't need your help."  

Eliphaz's comment is four square with John Wesley's Articles of Religion No. XI.  John Wesley says in Article X that good works are "pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith."  Wesley goes on to agree with Eliphaz, however, when he says that it is not possible to do more than you should:

Voluntary works - - besides, over and above God’s commandments - - which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When you have done all that is commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants.*

Of course, at that point Eliphaz goes on to reiterate that Job is a sinner, as shown by his suffering.  He goes so far as to enumerate specific sins that we know for sure that Job has not committed, because God said back in 1:8 that Job always turns away from evil.  
* The reference is to Luke 17:7-10.

Job 25:1-6 (8/17/10)

Bildad speaks a third time.  Apparently Bildad is starting to wind down, because his last speech is only six brief verses.   He says, "God is awesome, but people are worthless."  At least he doesn't accuse Job of being more worthless than everybody else.  

Job 26:1-4; 27:1-12 (8/18/10)

Job answers.    People who don't like sarcasm shouldn't read the Bible.  Job says three things:
1.  "You guys are so smart - not! "
2.  "You want me to admit I'm guilty, but that would be a lie, and I won't do it."  (And remember, we know this is true.)
3.  "After everything you've seen, how on earth can you continue to maintain that bad people always suffer and good people never do?"  

Job 27:13-23 (8/19/10)

Zophar (probably) speaks a third time.    By now you have figured out that we are seeing a pattern in the speeches: So who do you suppose is next?  Right, Zophar, but the text doesn't say that Job has quit speaking and Zophar has started speaking.  We can say, however, that this bit today sure sounds a lot like Zophar, whose turn it is, and not a bit like Job.  Probably somewhere along the line, "Zophar said" got lost from the text. Or possibly the writer just assumed that we'd recognize Zophar's voice by now.  



Job 31:1-15, 35-40 (8/20/10)

Job speaks once more in his own defense. My attitude toward justice and mercy is perfectly balanced:  I want justice for you, and mercy for me.   

Job, knowing himself to be innocent, wants justice for himself.  He says, "I haven't done anything wrong, so God should not do wrong to me.  Let God look at me, and if he finds that I have done something wrong, then fine - I'm willing to take the consequences."  Having thus completed his argument, the defense rests.  

I especially like Job's comment in vss. 13-15.  He says, in essence, that since he, as a person, is fair to his servants, he thinks that God, as God, must surely be fair to his servants.  This foreshadows Jesus' question, "If you, who are evil, give good things to your children, how much more will God, who is good, give good things to those who ask him?"  

Job 32:1-14; 35:1-16 (8/23/10)

Elihu speaks. It turns out after all this time that a fourth person, Elihu, has been listening to all that has been said by Job and his three friends.  Elihu finally gets fed up with everything that everybody has been saying.  He insists that they are all wrong.  His speech goes on for several chapters, but as near as I can tell, the main points are these:

Job 38:1-21 (8/24/10)

God speaks. My grandson, age 3 1/2, has been going through a "why?" stage.  For about two weeks, every time I said anything to him, he responded, "Why?"  About half the time I said, "Because I'm Grandma, and I say so."  Sometimes, in an (unsuccessful) effort to get him to say, "Because you're Grandma, and you say so," I would ask him, "Why do you think?"  Occasionally I gave him an explanation, which he ignored.  

Toward the end of the two weeks, he wanted me to read to him, and he brought out that great American novel, Big Pig, which has a series of drawings of incredibly obese animals.  He sat on my lap, and I read the title, very impressively:  "Big ... Pig."  He turned the page, and I read, still very impressively, "Fat ... Bat."  

And he said, "Why?"  

I have to admit, I was floored.  I had no response.  I could think of nothing to say.  My grandson's question showed three things: I realized that this is exactly where God has been for the past 35 chapters of Job.  God was floored!  He saw that Job didn't understand the situation he was in or the question he was asking, and he wouldn't be capable of understanding the answer.  After thinking it over for these 35 chapters, God begins to answer Job.  He starts by saying, "You don't understand anything, and you wouldn't be able to understand it if I explained it to you."



Job 38:22-41; 40:1-5 (8/25/10)

God speaks; Job answers. If fellow-reader Jack N. had written Job, it would be even shorter than if I had written it.  He is fond of saying that the message of Job is this: 

"I'm God, and you're not!  DEAL WITH IT ! "  

After God says this the first time, he asks Job for a response.  Job winces and answers in a small voice, "Oh. Right. Sorry. Sorry."  

Job 40:6-41:34; 42:1-6 (8/26/10)

God speaks; Job answers. I love this part of the book of Job.  In its own way, it is a creation story.  

God is a fair-minded person, so he says to Job, "OK, if you think I'm wrong and you could do a better job, let's see it.  But remember, what you do has to be as god-like as what I have already done."  God spends a couple verses talking about what he has done in history, and then goes on to describe two of his most wonderful creatures, Behemoth and Leviathan.  Both of these names have come directly over to English from the Hebrew, and most translations just say "Behemoth" and "Leviathan."   

In English a behemoth is something enormous, or a huge animal like a hippopotamus.  In Hebrew, behemoth is a Hebrew plural of majesty of a loan-word from Egyptian that means "hippopotamus."  Hippos get up to 17 ft long and 9900 lbs.  God's description of Behemoth matches the meaning.  Leviathan in English is, again, something enormous, although typically enormous and wet, like a ship, or a sea monster.  In Hebrew, leviathan means "serpent" (see e.g., Isaiah 21:7), i.e., crocodile.  Scholars think that probably what is meant here is the Nile crocodile specifically, which can get as big as 21 feet and 2400 pounds, and the crocodile goes along nicely with the hippopotamus.  Personally, I think the description sounds like a dragon, although except for the flaming breath, a crocodile is as near a dragon as makes no difference.  (Upon checking, I am gratified to see that the Greek Old Testament has draconta.)  

Job says, "I'll just forfeit the match, and I'm even embarrassed that I showed up."



Job 42:7-17 (8/27/10)

Epilogue. Is it just me, or is the ending of the book of Job a little weird?  For about 35 chapters, Job says, "Look around.  What we've been taught - that the good are always rewarded and the bad are always punished in this life--is simply not true.  Why is that?"  His friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar argue unconvincingly that it is true, but Job, Elihu, and God all agree that they are full of beans.   

Then God says to Job, "You have no standing to even raise the question 'Why?', let alone the wisdom to understand the answer."  

Then, in the last half of the last chapter, God rewards Job for being a good guy!  Does this seem to you to undermine the message of the entire rest of the book?  Some scholars suspect that the epilogue and prologue were written by an author or authors other than the one who wrote the speeches.  I think the writer of the epilogue was trying to soften the primary message of Job:  "I'm God, and you're not.  Deal with it." (8/27/10)  

Supplement: Since I quoted fellow-reader Jack N. a couple times during our study of Job, I'm going to give him the next-to-the-last word:  

Regina,

  Here's my take on the ending of Job: Job deserves a reward because 


There is a biblical tradition of "wrestlers" with God (e.g., Jacob/"Israel," the wrestler or striver, David in many of his Psalms, the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, Jeremiah...more, I'm sure) and Job fits right in; it seems God likes the wrestlers more than the lip service "lukewarm" conventional followers.   

Your initial question was probably rhetorical, but I responded anyway!
Jack  

And in response, here's my last word on Job:   

Well, my question really wasn't rhetorical.  After actually reading (the better part of) the whole book, the last half of the last chapter does seem weird to me.  

I agree with Jack:  Job deserved a reward.  But the whole point of the argument has been that people don't necessarily get what they deserve.




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