Teaching Notes

TH1083: JOB

As we move into Job chapter 15 we see round 2 of this verbal lashing towards Job begin. Once again Eliphaz will lead the way. The gloves are off and Eliphaz, along with Bildad and Zophar are going to lambaste Job, continuing to accuse him of hiding some secret sin which has brought all this calamity upon his life. These guys were suppose to be Job's friends but it now seems that an all out brawl is breaking out between them, not with physical violence, but with their words! A real tongue lashing is taking place.

JOB 15

VERSES 1-2

1. Eliphaz is coming against Job's words of wisdom, saying that his words are empty, his words are nothing more than a lot of hot air.

VERSES 3-6

1. Because Job was defending his innocence before his friends, Eliphaz came to the wrong conclusion, that he must then be guilty. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you say to people, their mind is made-up. Thus, the best thing to do is give it over to the Lord and let Him defend you and handle the situation.

VERSES 7-8

1. Eliphaz now attacks Job's credentials, asking Job if he was the oldest and wisest man around? If his counsel came from God? You see, they saw Job in rebellion against God, thus, his words were empty, and came from a heart that was trying to hide something, a heart that was far away from God.

VERSES 9-10

1. Eliphaz is coming against Job's words that he spoke regarding his friends, those that came to comfort him from Job 13:4-5. He said to them "But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom!" Eliphaz is telling Job that he is not the only one who is smart, that they were not inferior to him, as Job has claimed.

2. Remember that the flood took place some 250 to 300 years prior to this time in Job, which means some of the people who were directly related to Noah's sons were still around. Thus, the lessons they learned from the aged is that sin equals punishment, just as God has poured out His wrath and wiped out all those who sinned with a flood. The tradition and wisdom of the ancients is what they held on to, but in this case, they were wrong.

VERSE 11

1. He is telling Job that the Word of God should be enough for him, the only problem with that counsel is that they were not speaking for God, their words were empty and condemning, and thus came from Satan.

VERSES 12-13

1. They saw Job as a man who made himself very righteous, but was really entertaining sin, winking at it.

VERSES 14-16

1. This is true, man can not be righteous before a holy God on his own merits. And Eliphaz also speaks of those angels that rebelled against God, for 1/3 of His angels followed after Satan, and Eliphaz is saying that man is even worse. Now I don't think Eliphaz was speaking of himself in that group, for he was not suffering and thus he must be righteous, but when you look at what Job was going through - he was pointing his finger right at him and making Job guilty before God.

VERSE 17

1. Here is where a lot of Christians get themselves into trouble. They start making doctrine by their own experiences, which may be contrary to the Word of God. We can see it with the health, wealth and prosperity Gospel. We can see it with the holy laughter. All these people begin to laugh uncontrollably during a service, and then they go to the Word to try and prove that their experience is legitimate. And what ends up happening is that they will pull a text out of context to justify their experience. For instance, with holy laughter, they will say that "the joy of the Lord is our strength." Nehemiah 8:10. That says nothing about laughter, but a joy that is found in your heart that is based upon the Word of God. Happiness, on the other hand, is a state of mind that is based upon outward circumstances.

For the health, wealth and prosperity doctrines they use for an example, Mark 10:29-30, which says "So Jesus answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundred-fold now in this time; houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands'" And they stop there, but the verse goes on to say "'... with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.'"

Be careful not to make God's Word say what you want it to say, but what God wants it to say. Listen to what David has to say in Psalm 119:161-163 regarding the Word of God. We read "Princes persecute me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your word. I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure. I hate and abhor lying, But I love Your law."

VERSES 18-20

1. Eliphaz falls back on the words of the wise, and then blasts this poor man Job. You see, Job was in pain, and Eliphaz is saying that only the wicked are in that condition.

VERSE 21

1. Just as Job was wealthy and prosperous, all of it will and has been taken away from Job, just as happens to the wicked.

VERSES 22-26

1. Just as the wicked rebel and try to fight against God and are punished, are put down, Job also has met the same fate.

VERSE 27

1. The wealthy usually looked very healthy, many times plump, for they were able to enjoy much more food than the common person. Thus, Job may have been a bit on the heavy side before this trial began, but now he is only skin and bones.

VERSES 28-35

1. The life of the wicked is miserable. He lives in houses that should be condemned. He is poor. He will not prosper. His own words will be his ruin. Job was a friend to Eliphaz and he, like the rest of his friends are not giving job words of comfort. Job is going to tell them what he thinks of their words in chapter 16.

JOB 16

VERSES 1-4

1. Job blasts them for their insensitivity to his condition, he lets them have it and calls them "miserable comforters." Their words were basically useless for they were not based in truth. And Job wants them to realize what they were doing. "Imagine if you were in the same condition, would you want me to respond in the same manner?" Job was saying to them. To shake your head at someone was like saying that their words were empty and Job tells them "How would you like it if you cried out in pain, speaking of your innocence, and all I did was shake my head in disbelief?" You see, not much comfort, not much encouragement in their words.

VERSE 5

1. As miserable of a condition Job was in and as broken hearted as he was at the way his friends were treating him, Job tells them that if they were in a similar situation he would comfort them instead of condemn them. He would try to encourage them instead of discourage them. Paul, writing in I Thessalonians 5:14-15 said "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, .comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. " See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all."

VERSES 6-8

1. Job is not finding any comfort in his own words or in the words of his friends. He sees himself being eaten alive, wasting away to nothing, and still his friends are coming against him, and God continues to play havoc on his life.

VERSE 9

1. Job continues to see God as his enemy, why? Because Job is walking by sight, by the experiences he is going through, and not by faith. Faith rests in the promises of God, and the character of God, but that can be easily swayed by life's experiences, as is the case with Job. But we, like Job, must rest in the declaration that Job made in Job 13:15 "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."

VERSES 10-11

1. Job is saying that God has given him to his wicked friends, and they are continually coming against him.

VERSES 12-14

1. As a lion or tiger goes after its prey, and it tries to grab it by the neck to choke the life out of it, to kill it, Job sees God doing this with his own life. In fact, Job sees his life as nothing more than God's target practice producing these horrible circumstances.

VERSES 15-19

1. Job doesn't understand why this is happening to him and he feels that he does not deserve all of this because he is innocent.

VERSES 20-22

1. Again Job sees his life coming to an end and wants to sit down and talk with God face-to-face. Maybe then all this would come to an end?

JOB 17

VERSES 1-2

1. Not to try and negate all that Job is going through, but Job, like all of us, do the same thing. As things get tough we take our eyes off the Lord and focus upon the situation, and we quickly become disheartened and find ourselves in despair. Job was dwelling on what his friends were doing to him, instead of resting in the Lord.

VERSE 3

1. Job's many friends have departed, they have forsaken him.

VERSES 4-6

1. Job was not only wealthy, but others looked to him for help, for comfort. Remember Eliphaz's words in Job 4:3-4 regarding the actions of Job. He said "Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees." But now these same people look at him in disgust and they begin to spit upon him. Why? Because they too came to the wrong conclusion. They saw Job as a righteous man but now, by the things that have come upon his life, they believe he is not as righteous as he made himself out to be and must have some sin that he is hiding. Thus, they turned their backs on him.

VERSES 7-9

1. Job doesn't care what they say, he knows he is innocent and he is not going to change his story just to please them and give in to their false claims. Again, this will enrage Job's friends.

VERSE 10

1. This is a little sarcastic I think. Job is telling them, his friends, to come back and stick the knife in a little deeper.

VERSES 11-13

1. Again Job is seeing his life coming quickly to an end, he wants to die!

VERSES 14-16

1. Job's family is death and he awaits for them to come and take him away. A very sad state to be in. It seems that Job is at the lowest point in his life. And guess what? Now it is time for Bildad to come and give his words, his condemnation towards Job.

JOB 18

VERSES 1-2

1. They see Job as long winded, a bag of hot air, and if he was truly innocent, his words would be few. But by using all these words, he is showing that he is guilty. Also, he is calling Job to stop his speech, admit his sin, and get right with God.

VERSE 3

1. Bildad is upset that Job is using such harsh language, harsh speech to him. Interesting isn't it. Bildad is blasting Job and sees nothing wrong with it and yet he is upset when it is done to him.

VERSES 4-13

1. Bildad is telling Job that God is not just indiscriminately doing these things to him but that Job himself has brought all this devastation upon his own life. He is tearing apart his own soul because of his secret sin. You see, Bildad is picking up on what Job said regarding his fear of God. Remember Job's words in Job 16:12-14. We read "I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior." Bildad is telling Job that he has brought this all upon himself, and that God is not his enemy.

VERSES 14-21

1. Do you see the conclusion that Bildad has come to? He is saying that because of Job's refusal to repent before God, to confess his secret sin, his actions prove he doesn't even know God, this is all an act and now that curtain is crashing down upon him.

2. Bildad, as well as Job's other friends were very sincere in what they were doing, the only problem was that they were sincerely wrong! May we learn to stop and bring things before God, asking for His wisdom before we speak out of our own foolish hearts and cause more harm to others than good. As James 1:19-20 says "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." And as Proverbs 16:3 says "Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established."

JOB 19

VERSES 1-3

1. When we were kids we would say at times "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me!" That is not true. Words of hate, words of wrath that come from the heart of man and are not of God, can hurt people, they can destroy people. That is where Job is at. He is broken, tormented by their words. Words can be very destructive in peoples lives, be careful of what you say, may the words of Jesus come from your lips and not the words of man.

VERSES 4-6

1. Job sees himself as innocent before God no matter what these guys are saying, no matter how much they make themselves righteous before him. Thus, Job's conclusion is that God is wrong, and not him. He can't understand why all this has come upon him.

VERSES 7-9

1. Job is speaking of all that has been taken away from him, he has, in a sense, been laid out naked before all his friends and family. Now in speaking of his crown being removed, it may well be that Job was a king, and when this came upon his life, it was taken away. It can also poetically speak of just his great wealth that was taken away. We are not sure.

VERSES 10-13

1. Again, notice Job's perspective of God, He is the enemy. He has brought this upon Job. Not true. Satan did this, even though God first had to allow it, for Satan can not do anything without God's permission. And remember that when the enemy does something, it is not to build up, but to tear down, destroy. Listen to how Jesus contrasts the enemy with Himself in John 10:10. Jesus said "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

VERSES 14-16

1. Job is about as low as you could get. His friends, his relatives have forgotten him, forsaken him. Even those few remaining servants have refused to listen to him anymore. No one is at his side any longer. How sad that when things got tough, those that were close to Job, left him. Proverbs 17:17 says "A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity." Don't run when others need you, reach out to them, as difficult as that may be at times.

VERSE 17

1. Now his own wife, who wasn't to supportive in the first place when this all started, is keeping her distance from Job because of his offensive breath.

2. This verse speaks of his own children ignoring him, which seems confusing when in Job chapter 1 we are told that all his children were killed. I think the Amplified Bible helps clear this passage up. It says "I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother." It could be that Job was speaking of his own brothers and sisters who were ignoring him.

VERSE 18

1. All the children that used to gather around him, those that loved him, were now speaking against him and were looking down upon him.

VERSES 19-22

1. Job can't understand why those he has loved have turned against him. Why they were persecuting him just a God was doing. He is crying out to them to give him a break. You see, by now a large group of people could have gathered around Job and been listening into the conversations between Job, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. And now this man who was heavy-set, is just skin and bones and he can't understand why the are looking for more harm to come upon his life. He can't understand why they are not satisfied with what they see, a man who is nothing more than skin and bones.

2. It seems that Job can't get any lower than he is. And for Job, like us, when we can't go any further, there is only one thing we can do, one place we can look, and that is upward, towards God. A man who is in the deepest despair is getting ready to give one of the greatest declarations of faith in the entire Bible. And we will see this in a few verses.

VERSES 23-24

1. Don't worry Job, they are!

VERSES 25-29

1. Job is speaking of resurrection, that even after he has died and his body has gone back to the dust of the earth, he will be raised up and in his body, resurrection body, he will see God face-to-face. Now that may seem almost unbelievable that Job would make a statement regarding the resurrection of life that long ago. Let me give you another statement, this time on the second coming of the Messiah, that is even older than Job's remarks. In Jude 14-15 we read "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'" Interesting, only 7 generations from Adam, the creation of the first man, Enoch is speaking of the Lord's second coming. How could he do that with the limited information he had? Because it did not come from man but from God. Man was the instrument that God spoke through. As II Peter 1:20-21 says "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

2. Remember that Job believed in resurrection and not in reincarnation. It is important to know that we are not recycled, not reincarnated till we reach some spiritual level of god-hood. Notice what Acts 1:10-11 says - "And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'" You see, it does not say that the same spirit of Jesus will come back. Many believe that the spirit of Jesus has indwelt many of the learned men. Back in 1986 full page ads across America where announcing that Christ is now here, and his name is Maitreya, for in him dwells the same spirit that indwelt Christ. Wrong! We are told in Acts that it is the "SAME JESUS" not the spirit that indwelt Jesus, that will return. Just as Christ was bodily resurrected from the dead, so too will we be resurrected bodily from the dead.

3. Job also knows that no matter how much evil his friends speak regarding him, he knows he is innocent. And as much as it hurts now, he knows that he will be vindicated of all their lies. And he tells them to watch out because God will take vengeance, His wrath will come upon them for what they have done to him.