Teaching Notes

TH1079: JOB

As we move into the book of Job this evening, we are also moving into another division of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Pentateuch or the books of the Law covered Genesis through Deuteronomy. Next came the Historical books, from Joshua through Esther, which we have just completed. Then comes the Poetical books; Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Followed by the Major prophets, Isaiah through Daniel. And finally the Minor prophets, Hosea through Malachi. And with these 39 books, through its long period of composition, we see reveled the same redemptive theme which was given to Eve and closed with the final announcement by Malachi of the coming of Christ.

Now understand that these books of poetry are not like our English poetry. They don't rhyme. Hebrew Poetry comes in two forms - contrasting thoughts and parallel thoughts. An example of contrasting thoughts is seen in Psalm 31:17, which says "For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, But the LORD upholds the righteous." In this you see the contrasting thoughts of the wicked verses the righteous. An example of parallel thoughts is seen in Psalm 100:5, which says "For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations." In this you see one thought building upon another thought, His goodness, mercy and truth.

And this book, the book of Job has been called a masterpiece that is unequaled in all literature. Thomas Carlye said of this book "There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit."

The meaning of Job's name seems to be "persecuted" which really fits what transpires in this book, for the endurance of Job through all this persecution is amazing for any of us to handle. You see, when you look at the things that Job endures, you see his faith lived out in his life. He practiced what he believed.

Many people, as they read this book, miss the God-centered message because they are trying to answer the man-centered problems. Why do the righteous suffer is never really answered in this book. As God shows Job, knowing the answers to life's problems is not as important as knowing and understanding the awesomeness of God and how wise He is. When we take that and apply that to our life, we can trust God in whatever happens to us.

Man, with our finite minds, keep trying to understand the ways of an infinite God, and it can't be done, we only come to the wrong conclusions. God said in Isaiah 55:8-9 "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.'" Can you imagine if we knew all that God knows, what kind of God would He be? One writer rightly put it this way when he said "If God was small enough to figure out, then He would not be big enough to worship!" God is telling us to know Him so that we may trust Him!

Keeping all that in mind, lets dig into this fascinating book of Job, beginning in chapter 1, verse 1.

JOB 1

VERSE 1a-b

1. We are not entirely sure where the land of Uz was located, but the Bible does give us a very interesting possibility. In Lamentations 4:21 we read "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, You who dwell in the land of Uz!..." This seems to imply that the area of Uz was established before the Edomites came to dwell there. This area is located southeast of the Dead Sea.

2. Another point I would like to make is this, the book of Job is thought to be the oldest book of the Bible, written around the time of Abraham, around 2000 BC. The book of Genesis, which takes us back to the creation of the heavens and earth, was not written until around 1500 BC by Moses. Thus, the first 11 chapters of Genesis pre-date the story of Job, but they were not written down in a book form till the time of Moses. That would make Job a contemporary with Abraham, around that period of time, around 300 years or so after the flood.

3. The reasons for placing Job around this period of time, the time of Abraham, are as follows:

A. Long life: Job lived another 140 years after the events of this book according to Job 42:16, and would have made him around 200 years old at his death. After the flood we see man's life-span decreases. Terah, Abraham's father was 205. Abraham was 175. Isaac 180. Jacob 147. So Job fits in very nicely around the time of Abraham.

B. No Law: There is no mention of the Ten Commandments or any of the Mosaic Laws, which would therefore pre-date the time of Moses. Yes we see Divine Laws that God gave to man before Moses, for in Genesis 26:5 we read "because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

C. Sacrifices: Before the Mosaic Law the patriarchal head of each family would offer sacrifices, just as Job did in verse 5. In Genesis 22:13 we read "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son."

D. Wealth: Their wealth was listed in terms of livestock and not money, as was the practice during the time of Abraham. (Genesis 12:16).

VERSE 1c-d

1. God is giving us some insight into the character of Job so that as we read this story, we won't misinterpret what was going to happen to him. He was blameless, a morally upright person, not perfect, but a good man who loved God. He feared God or had a correct perspective of God, that He was holy and righteous. Thus, when Job transgressed what God had said, he brought the appropriate sacrifices to deal with his sin. And because he had a correct perspective of who God is, he "shunned evil" or in the Hebrew it literally says he "turned away from evil." You see, that is the only way to deal with it, for if you entertain evil, you will get burned!

VERSES 2-3

1. Job was a very wealthy man who was blessed with 10 children. And again, it was not the size of his bank account that made him wealthy, but the number of animals he had, for they were worth more than money. The sheep were used for clothing and food. The camels were used for transportation, they were the work horses of the desert. The oxen were used for food, plowing, and milk. And the donkeys for transportation, probably for short distances while the camels were used for cross country.

VERSE 4

1. It seems that his children liked to party, maybe all their wealth went to their heads. Some say that these were just special parties, but I tend to lean towards the idea that they were just parties that they enjoyed throwing for each other, with the wine flowing at these parties and clouding some of their actions. I think verse 5 bear this out as you look at the actions of Job for his children.

VERSE 5

1. Job was a man who feared God, had a correct perspective of who God is, while his children, during some of their parties, may have taken the name of the Lord a little to lightly. You see, when it says that they may have "cursed God in their hearts" it literally means "Blessed, but in an evil sense." By their actions they were dishonoring God. So Job intercedes for his children, getting up early and offering 10 sacrifices, one for each child. Imagine all that was involved and yet we find it difficult to get up and pray for our children!

2. Do we take the name of God to lightly today? I think so! God is a holy God and that is how He is to be honored. He is not some equal with us that we are just taking along with us for the ride. He is the creator of heaven and earth and we are part of His creation. Have a proper perspective of who God is, for if you do, you will turn from evil just as Job did. As Psalm 29:2 says "Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."

3. Now that God has given us some insight into the man Job, the scene is going to shift from an earthly perspective to a heavenly perspective.

VERSE 6

1. This phrase, "sons of God" or BENE ELOHIM in Hebrew, has and still causes great controversy on what is meant by it. To me, it is very easy when you let the Bible speak for itself. In Job chapter 38 God is asking Job if he was around when the foundations of the earth were laid, for he tells Job "When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:7. Angels were created before God created the heavens and the earth, and thus, they were the ones that shouted for joy when the earth was created. So the "sons of God" speak of angels and not of man.

2. Why do I make such a big deal about this? Well it is not this verse that people tend to have trouble with, but what is said in Genesis chapter 6. There we read of angels, sons of God, co-habitating with women and producing the Nephilim or the fallen ones. Many have such a hard time with this that they say that these were the ungodly men marrying godly women and producing this strange offspring. Now as strange as some kids may seem, that is not what the Scriptures say. Satan was trying to destroy the human race by infecting it, thus the Messiah could not be born, but it says of Noah that he was perfect or not infected by this plot by Satan. So he and his family were the only ones saved through the flood. Jude 6 tells us "And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day." These are the fallen angels, those who sided with Satan, and the ones that tried to co-habitate with women, he placed in chains for the day of judgment. The rest of the fallen angels, we call demons, and they are not locked up, but free to do the work of Satan.

VERSE 7

1. Satan is not the king of Hell, in fact he is called the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2:2. And the ruler of this world in John 14:30. Hell is a place for punishment and is not a kingdom as many believe. And the thing that blows many away is that Satan still has access to the throne of God, the presence of God. That will continue until the 3 1/2 year period of the tribulation period, where, according to Revelation chapter 12, a war breaks out in heaven and Satan is cast to the earth by Michael, never to have access to heaven again. And it is at this point that all Hell breaks lose on earth for Satan knows that his time is short.

2. Understand this, Satan is not God, he is not equal with God. Satan, called Lucifer when he was created by God, is not omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient as God is. And even when he is cast into the lake of fire, he is not king, but is tormented like everyone else for eternity. Thus, Satan uses his demonic forces to be his hands, his eyes, his feet, and his ears, to carry out his work.

3. Notice the restlessness of Satan, going to and fro over the earth, why? To see who he can destroy, what lives he can ruin. As I Peter 5:8 says "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

VERSE 8

1. This is interesting, for God points out to Satan this man Job and his goodness. The word "considered" is a military term that is used of a general who is studying a city before he attacks it so that he can develop a strategy to destroy it. So God is asking Satan if he has found any weakness in this man Job by which you may gain control or cause him to stumble. And the implication by God is that Satan could find nothing to cause Job to stumble.

2. The enemy will study your life, looking for any weakness so that he can wipe you out. And he will be patient and wait for an opportune time to strike. In knowing that, many Christians are looking for demons under every rock and behind every door, afraid to go into any room without first casting out the demons. What a waste of time. We are children of God, and thus our eyes should be focused upon God and not the enemy. He will strengthen us and help us to walk so that we will not stumble. Don't make it easy for the enemy to win, be aware of what you are doing!

VERSES 9-11

1. Satan is saying that the only reason Job loves God is because God is blessing him. You see, Satan has studied Job, and he thinks he knows why Job is doing what he is doing, because of the material blessings that God has given to him. Once removed, so will Job's worship of God be removed. Satan rightly recognizes the weakness in our human nature of loving material possessions, and thus, if those were removed, then Satan feels he can win. Not only is he coming against Job, but all of us who are children of God. He is saying that the only reason we serve God is because He pays well. The second indictment he makes is against God. He is saying that God is buying our love by giving us many blessings in our life. He was coming not only against the church, but against the character of God!

VERSE 12

1. Satan could do nothing unless God allowed it, thus, that hedge of protection that was around Job is really God's will for his life. God is in control, and that is something we must never forget, no matter how difficult the situation is. If you forget that, your perspective of God and Satan are going to become distorted.

2. Why does God allow this? We don't always know the exact reason, but He does have an ultimate purpose and will use these difficult times in our life to help us to grow closer to God and He will be teaching us lessons of faith, but if you are not listening, you won't learn!

VERSES 13-16

1. All of a sudden, in one day, all these tragedies begin to fall upon Job's household. I find verse 16 very interesting because the servant says that "the fire of God fell from heaven..." Yes God allowed it, but Satan was behind it. The world likes to blame God for what Satan is doing. A great example of this is seen with insurance companies, they call some of these tragedies "Acts of God" when in reality, they should be called "Acts of Satan."

VERSES 17-19

1. In one day, in a rapid fire chain of events, Job lost all his wealth, all his material possessions, and now all of his children. Can you imagine how you would feel if this happened to you? Serving God all your life and then all this comes upon you, it just doesn't seem fair. But Job's actions are far different than what most people would do, and it just shows you his maturity in his relationship with God.

VERSE 20

1. After hearing all this, Job begins to mourn, and who wouldn't? But then he begins to worship God. When things are going well it is easy to worship God, but what would happen if you lost everything, could you still worship Him? Job did! Psalm 95:6-7 says "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand..." Notice that there is no terms to worship God because He is God, that is the only reason we need to worship Him, or should need.

VERSE 21

1. When you have the right perspective of things, it is easy to worship God. Job realized that all his material possessions, his wealth, and even his children, were on loan to him from God, for they are His. So when they are taken away, even though he is broken over it, he realizes he can't take them with him. Job did not understand why this happened but he knew his God and thus, as we will see, did not bring a foolish charge against God for what transpired.

2. For those who feel it is their right to have all these things, when they are taken away, they are going to be angry and bitter towards God. They are not ours to keep, but we are God's stewards, watching over that which He has entrusted to us.

VERSE 22

1. Job followed adversity with adoration, woe with worship. He did not give in to bitterness or blame God for what transpired in his life. Some today charge God foolishly, calling Him unrighteous, and thus, calling God a sinner. WRONG! Some Christian counselors tell their patients that you have to get rid of that anger by punching pillows or something along those lines. Others say that if you are mad at God, tell Him your mad at Him, He's big enough to take it! Wrong again. If that is the way we respond when things are difficult in our life, we are calling God unrighteous, but He is not. Just because you don't understand what is going on, never forget that God is righteous, or you will lose the proper perspective of God and the situation you are in. If you think about, we deserve Hell and He has given us heaven through His Son, Jesus Christ.

2. When bad things happen many try to hurt God by rebelling against Him. They do all kinds of evil, all kinds of sin, thinking they are hurting God, but they are only hurting themselves. Get the right perspective of God as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:1-5. We read "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!' And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.'"

3. Job passes the first test. He lost everything and yet he is still worshipping God, and thus, Satan was wrong. It was not the material blessings that caused Job to worship God. But don't think that he is going to give up, for he is not, as we shall see.

JOB 2

VERSE 1

1. For many, they have a hard time understanding why God allows this to continue on. Well, believe it or not, Satan is serving the purposes of God at this time. You see, we are not robots programmed to love God. He has given us a free will to serve Him or not to serve Him. If we don't want to, then we must have an alternate choice, and that is Satan. If you don't serve God then you are serving Satan, there is no area of neutrality, no matter how you may feel or think regarding this issue.

2. So once again we see another board meeting in heaven, as the angelic hosts come before the Lord, and Satan also comes.

VERSES 2-3

1. Understand that Job does not have the insight we do to what is going on, all he sees is the tragedy that has come upon his life.

2. In verse 3 it speaks of God being "incited" into allowing Job to be afflicted by Satan. It is a word that means "to seduce, entice, persuade, provoke" and when you apply that to God it seems confusing, to believe that God was seduced into allowing Satan to attack Job. Understand this, and it is so important. We are trying to understand an infinite God with our finite minds and limited vocabulary, and that makes it very confusing. When Paul was caught up to the third heaven and saw and heard words that he could not even speak, for he could not put into human terms the heavenly beauty. It would not give you a clear picture. (II Corinthians 12:4). God is in control and He is not pushed into situations by Satan. Another difficult passage to understand is found in Romans 9:13 which says "As it is written, 'Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.'" When you try to apply our definition of love and hate to God, you will come up short. Thus, you have to look at the character of God before you take a verse and come up with a conclusion. (James 1:13-17).

VERSES 4-5

1. Satan is looking for that Achilles' heel, that weakness in Job so that he can get Job to turn from God. Thus, his second philosophy on human nature deals with self preservation, that drive to live, for if he can confuse Job in this area, he will get him to stumble. When his health is gone, he will surrender to me, is the thinking on Satan's part.

2. As tough as things are going to get for Job, and as tough as things may be for you right now, understand what Paul said in I Corinthians 10:13. He said "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." We give up far to easy many times, for God is right there with us.

VERSES 6-8

1. What a pathetic picture we see here of a man who had everything and is now reduced to nothing, and even his health has failed him now. We are not exactly sure what disease this is but it seems to resemble Pemphigus. With this you see clusters of blisters that appear in and around the throat and mouth and spread over the entire body. When these blisters burst, they leave round patches of raw, tender skin. Not only does the skin itch and burn but it gives off an offensive odor. It is difficult to eat so they tend to lose their appetite and lose weight. They experience weakness, chills, sweating, fever and-so-on. All this Job experienced. He scraped his skin with broken pottery to ease the itching. He covered his body with animal waste to help soothe his sores. He had to live outside the city, alone. The man who had everything now seems to have nothing!

VERSE 9

1. I think this verse gives you an indication to why Satan did not kill Job's wife, she was more help to him alive than dead!

VERSE 10

1. I don't know about you, but this would be tough for anyone to handle, and yet Job did not bring any foolish accusations against God. Job told his wife that we are not only to accept good from God but also whatever comes our way. He was not just giving up, he was placing his life in the hands of a sovereign God. As Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:18 "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

VERSE 11

1. These guys were true friends and they come to Job to try and comfort him during this difficult time. The problem is they fail miserably, in fact Job calls them miserable comforters. You see, they couldn't understand why this all happened to Job and they came to the conclusion that it must be because of some sin in his life. Friends yes, but misguided in their thoughts. They did take the time to comfort Job when everyone else stayed away.

VERSES 12-13

1. This man Job must have looked a mess and at first his friends did not even recognize him. the man who had it all was now reduced to this. And for 7 days they could not say anything, they just sat with him and mourned with him. These were friends and they were doing well until they opened their mouths to try to reason why this was happening. As the saying goes, "It is better to be a fool and keep quiet than to open your mouth and prove it to everyone!"

2. These first 2 chapters now set the stage for the rest of the book of Job as he tries to understand why all this has happened to him and his friends will interject their feelings why this is happening to Job.