“RESPOND WITH FAITH.’ JOB 1: 1-22, 2: 7-10.
JOB 1: 1-3, 1: 8, 9-12, 20-22; 2: 7-10.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOB 1.
The Life Question in this lesson is, “How should we respond when suffering and loss overwhelm us.” Dick and Sue Rader, whom some of you know, were faced with this question and responded by writing a beautiful book titled ‘A Road Beyond the Suffering.”
Because of a debilitating physical ailment that struck in 1977 and refused to respond to treatment, Sue was unable to continue as a missionary in Zambia where she and Dick had served since 1968.
They were able to continue their missionary career temporarily by transferring to Johannesburg, South Africa in early 1978, but in order to do so, they were forced to leave most of their worldly goods in Zambia due to the war for the independence of Zimbabwe, which was waging at that time, prevented overland shipment of their belongings.
After 14 months of intense testing and experimentation with drugs, Sue’s doctor encouraged them to return to the United States. Again they disposed of all their furniture.
Their return to their native land did not bring about the magical cure many had hoped for. After three years of disappointments, in April 1982 they submitted their letter of resignation to the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. On April 29, 1982 in a manner unexplainable other than by the grace of God, Sue was completely relieved of the pain that had increasingly tormented her day and night for almost 5 years.
For the next 10 years, they were able to live a normal life and rebuild the structure of their home. The five sons grew to manhood, and Dick became established as Professor, then Dean, and finally Vice President at O.B.U.
In the early 90’s, Sue began to experience occasional backaches. Finally, in March of 1995 the examination led to a diagnosis of extreme osteoporosis such is found only in a woman more than 80 years of age. Se became dependent upon a wheelchair. As physical problems continued to plague her, God led Sue and Dick to the Book of Job as to another who struggled with difficult questions.
They decided, as they read the Book of Job, to write down the thoughts they wanted to share with each other about Job’s experiences, and put them in letter form. These letters became the book, “A Road Beyond the Suffering.”
PLEASE READ JOB 1: 1-3.
The background Bible passage for this lesson is Job 1: 1-2: 13. This prologue is crucial to understanding the book. It is the only part of the book written in prose; except for the epilogue in 42:7-16. The rest of the book is in poetic style.
The prologue reveals some things to the reader. In the prologue we are shown two scenes in heaven in which God and Satan talk. Neither Job and his wife, nor friends, knew about this part of the action.
The foundation of the book of Job is no doubt historical. Job, an Arab Sheik of great wealth and eminent virtue, lived in the time of the early patriarchs, in the land of Uz near Edom, east of Palestine. Edom was south of the Dead Sea in a semi-desert region called the Negev.
We can affirm that Job was a real person, not just a part of a fictional story. He is mentioned twice in Ezekiel in 14: 14, 20 along with Noah and Daniel. In the N.T. James said in James 5: 11 “You have heard of Job’s endurance.”
Although we don’t know the answer to some background questions abut Job, we know that he was a real person who had the experiences described in the book. For centuries the Book of Job has challenged people, especially as they seek to endure suffering and adversity. At sometime in most people’s lives, life caves in on them, and they are able in some measure to identify with Job.
Job 1: 1-3 tell of three areas of Job’s life. These are mentioned in a sequence that reflects a biblical standard for priorities: his relationship with God, his family, and his possessions.
Job passed through unusual afflictions that severely tested his faith in God’s righteous administration. His story was handed down by tradition from generation to generation, until, centuries after his lifetime, some highly gifted and divinely guided poet “threw the tradition into the splendid dramatic form in which we now possess it.”
The author of the book is entirely unknown. Even the age in which he wrote cannot be closely determined. But many modern scholars are inclined to ascribe it to the 7th or 8th century.
The subject of the book is stated very concisely by Rev. Cary in the title of his recent Rhythmical version of Job, as “The Man who Feared God for Naught.”
Professor Genung in “The Epic of the Inner Life,” sums up the book as follows: “There is a service of God which is not work for reward; it is a heart-felt loyalty, a hunger after God’s presence, which survives loss and chastisement; which in spite of contradictory seeming cleaves to what is Godlike as the needle seeks the pole; and which reaches out of the darkness and hardness of this life to the light and love beyond.”
Two pairs of words describe Job’s faith and character. Perfect and upright go together. In our language perfect means totally without fault or sin. The Hebrew word tam refers to someone who walks in close fellowship with God; and delights in obeying God’s law. It can be translated as “blameless” or “of perfect integrity.”
Further, Job feared God and turned away from or shunned evil. This tells us that he consistently resisted temptation. He was not a hypocrite, nor did he have any area of life in which he made allowance for a little evil doing.
The fear of the Lord marks people of reverence, awe, faith, and obedience. These words focus on Job’s reverent trust in God and the kind of life he lived because of that relationship. Job was not totally without any fault or sin, but he was a totally dedicated person. This fact is established at the beginning of the book. Later his friends accused him of sin serious enough for God to punish him severely. The Book of Job shows us that great adversity is not always the result of serious sin. Job was a truly good and godly man.
Job had seven sons and three daughters. His second priority was his family. An ancient reader, for whom a large family with many sons was a great blessing, would have regarded this as a sign that Job was beloved by God and to be considered highly fortunate. Theirs was a tight knit family
Each of the brothers took turns serving as host for his brothers and sisters. Since doing this daily would have been a lot of banqueting, they probably did this on special days during the year.
Job offered sacrifices for his children in case one of them had cursed God in his or her heart. This shows Job’s love for his children and his reverence for God.
Some people knew of Job’s faith in God and love for his family. Others only knew of his great wealth. Vs. 3 lists the kinds and numbers of livestock he owned and his many servants. Very great household seems to mean “a very large number of servants.” Many of the people were shepherds, but few had seven thousand sheep. Since Job lived near deserts, he had three thousand camels for transport across areas with little or no water.
Job owned five hundred yoke of oxen. Since a yoke is two oxen, he owned one thousand oxen. Job also had five hundred she donkeys.
As a result, this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. He was the richest person in the east. People who knew Job well were aware that he was a godly man who loved his family. But vs. 3 implies that many people saw Job only as the richest man in the region. They probably felt the same way people today feel about the richest people in our land. They probably were envious of him and wished they had Job’s wealth, thinking, if I had his money, I would have it made.
Wealth and piety are not necessarily incompatible. Piety may be obtained by all, wealth only by a few. Piety is useful to all; wealth is injurious to some. They that have piety can do without wealth. They that have wealth cannot do without piety.
The danger here is that people could see that Job as a good man and also see that he was a rich man and link the two as cause and effect. In other words, people could come to believe that Job’s righteousness was the reason he was rich, and so conclude that if you are good, God will give you riches. Ironically, this viewpoint is very similar to Satan’s perspective, which claimed that Job was good only because God protected him for all harm.
PLEASE READ JOB 1: 8.
In vs. 6 the scene shifts from Job and his children on earth to angels, Satan, and God in heaven. The “sons of God” seem to have been “angels”. The sons of God at times met together about God’s throne. Some refer to this as a council, but God was not looking for advice or information. Whatever we call this group one day “Satan came also among them.”
Was he there as a member of this group, or was he an intruder? Some Bible students claim that Satan was a member of the group with a special assignment to uncover sin. Others believe Satan was an intruder. They base this on two factors. First, the words “also” and “among” imply he was an outsider.
Second, he offered rude and cynical answers to God’s questions. The first question was, “Where have you come from?” Satan’s answer was vague and evasive. “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”
Then God asked a more important question. “Hast thou considered my servant Job?” Satan’s primary function in the Bible is actually not that of tempter but of accuser. Amazingly, however, Satan had nothing with which to accuse Job. He could not and did not point to a single flaw in Job’s character. Rather, he claimed that God was doing so much to protect Job that Job never had occasion to sin.
God called Job ‘my servant,’ which was a compliment to Job. Moses was called God’s servant in Ex. 14:31, as was Caleb in Num. 14:24, David in 2 Sam. 7: 5, 8, Isaiah in Isa. 20:3, Zerubbabel in Hag. 2: 23, the prophets in 2 Kings 9:7, and the Suffering Servant in Isa. 52:13. Job is called God’s servant four times in the epilogue.
Without waiting for an answer, God added to the description of Job. He said, “There is none like him on the earth.” This is high praise indeed. God held forth Job as a model person, which proved to challenge Satan, who could not let Job continue to be such a person.
The Lord ended his statement about Job by naming the four qualities of Job listed in vs. 1—“a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.” This was God’s personal affirmation of Job. This is what God saw in the heart of Job.
We have in God’s Word clear revelation of the kind of people whom He calls servants. We should evaluate ourselves in that light rather than seeing everything from outward appearances.
A curious student asked a wise professor what he thought about God. The professor replied that he was more interested in what God thought about him. Can God say of us the things He said about Job?
PLEASE READ JOB 1: 9-12.
Satan further argued that Job never suffered the kind of hardship that might tempt him to do evil: “Haven’t You placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns?” Satan asked.
No one knew how Job would respond to trouble because God had shielded him from it. Second, God had blessed Job and increased his wealth and success. Satan’s argument is clever. “Job’s godliness is artificial. It has never been proved by testing. And God is no better. He has made it easy for Job to be good. He has secured Job’s devotion by bribery, and shielded him from harm.”
Satan’s charge was that Job was so religious because God had given him great riches. While there is certain insidiousness about this charge it is a worthy question. There were people in the N.T. who followed Jesus because of the benefits he gave them, not because they wished to be His disciples. And today there are those who attach themselves to the church for the advantages that come their way. It is a question all believers might ask themselves.
In vs. 11 Satan proposed a way to test Job in order to prove whether Job’s godliness was real. Satan challenged God, “Stretch out Your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to Your face.” Strike everything he owns means that God should not only cause Job to undergo some misfortune and reversals but that He should utterly ruin him. Job would be left penniless and bereft of his children. In this case, Satan claimed, Job would give up on piety as a waste of time.
God then agreed to test Job: “Very well,” the Lord told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, you must not lay a hand on Job himself.” So Satan went out from the Lord’s presence. Up until this point, Satan had said nothing about Job’s physical health, and God declared that area out of bounds. However, all of Job’s possessions, including his 10 children, could be taken away.
Vs. 12 brings to the surface the dilemma of a good God allowing a good person to experience terrible adversities. This is probably the most difficult theological question. Why does the righteous suffer? The Book of Job struggles with this question. The book never gives a point-by-point answer to our question of why God put Job through such adversities, but it sheds light on the meaning of suffering.
At this early point in the book, we can see totally different reasons why God allowed Job’s troubles and why Satan inflicted them. Satan’s goal was to tempt Job to curse God and expose the hypocrisy of seemingly religious people. God’s purpose was to test Job, not to tempt him.
Christians should be prepared to face adversity, for it is a part of life for all people. We are imperfect people in a sinful world. The kinds and amounts of troubles vary, but for most people sooner or later life will cave in on them. We should take note of the fact that Satan was unable to do anything to Job apart from God’s permission. While the Bible portrays Satan as evil, it never indicates that he is free of God’s power or that he is in any way an equal counterpart to God.
Reading through Job 1-2, of course, we learn that the loss of all of Job’s possessions did not make him curse God. Satan came back for another round in Job 2, however, and demanded that Job’s physical health also be taken away. There, Satan contended, when Job was racked with pain, he would turn from God once and for all.
PLEASE READ JOB 1: 20-22.
Job of course was totally unaware of what had been said by God and by Satan. Readers, therefore, have information that Job, his wife, and his friends lack. All Job knew was that on one day life fell in on him. At the beginning of the day he was rich with 10 children; at the close of the day he was a pauper who had lost all his children.
Vs. 13-019 tell about the day when life fell in on Job. A stream of sole survivors reported one disaster after another. Each disaster had a natural explanation and each left only one survivor.
The first disaster, in vs. 13-15, was the theft of the donkeys ands oxen when raiders stole them and a lone survivor reported this to Job.
Then a second survivor in vs. 16 reported that lightning killed Job’s sheep and the other servants. In vs. 17 a third survivor reported that enemies stole Job’s camels and killed his servants. A fourth survivor in vs. 18-19 reported that a strong wind had destroyed the house where his children were and killed them all. Satan had done his work swiftly and thoroughly. Can you imagine how you would have felt in Job’s place? Notice what Job said and did. He got up, tore his robe and shaved his head showing his grief. This however, did not paralyze him, for he ended up falling to the ground worshiping.
Vs. 21 records Job’s amazing prayer. He said that he came into the world naked and would leave it the same way. This is one way of saying that all his possessions were not really his. They had come from God. This was a prayer of trust and humble acceptance. Job also said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.”
Job did not know of the scene in heaven, but he believed that God did these things. Job sees only the hand of God in these events. It never occurs to him to curse the desert brigands, to curse the frontier guards, to curse his own stupid servants, now lying dead for their watchfulness.
All secondary causes vanish. It was the Lord who gave: it was the Lord who removed: and in the Lord alone must the explanation of these strange happening be sought. But at this point Job was not asking for explanations: he was worshiping: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job’s exclamation is the noblest expression to be found anywhere of a man’s joyful acceptance of the will of God as his only good.
PLEASE READ JOB 2: 7-10.
Satan had claimed that Job would curse God to His face, but instead, Job blessed God. “Through out all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.” When Satan came into God’s present the next time, God pointed this out to him.
God began with the same words He had asked in 1: 6-8. Then He pointed out that Job had passed the test: “He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him, to destroy him without just cause.”
But Satan was not ready to concede defeat in his efforts to discredit Job. He said in vs. 4-5 that if Job lost his health, he would curse God to His face. Once again God, in vs. 6, allowed Satan to afflict Job. Satan could take Job’s health but not his life.
Satan quickly struck Job. He smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Bible students have speculated about what disease Job had. Whatever he had was painful, disfiguring, and continuous. Job scraped his sores with a piece of pottery as he sat down among the ashes.
Watson says, “Job was stricken with Elephantiasis, one of the most terrible forms of leprosy, a tedious malady attended with intolerable irritation and loathsome ulcers. The disfigured face and the blackened body, soon reveal the nature of the infection.”
Job’s suffering was financial, emotional, physical and spiritual. Everyone was against him including, it seemed, even God, whom he had served. Could any suffering be more undeserved?
Job, in his terrible affliction, is perplexed and driven almost to despair with the question: “How can God be just and still lay these heavy sorrows upon me, who am not conscious of any great sin?” His friends reply: God always rewards righteousness and punishes wickedness. Suffering proves sin. You must be guilty of some concealed iniquity.
Job is not at first disposed to dissent from the general principles that his friends maintained, but he still defends his own integrity and just complains of the unsympathizing hardness of the friends.
The Book of Job teaches that to ask why, as Job did in Ch. 3 is not wrong. But to demand that God answer why as Job did in Ch. 13, 19 and 31 is wrong. To insist that God explain one’s adversities is inappropriate for it places man above God and challenges God’s sovereignty. According to Job 42:16-17 Job lived 140 years following his terrible ordeal.
Vs. 9 is the only mention of Job’s wife in the book. She asked, “Do you still retain your integrity?” She also said, “Curse God, and die.” We are not told what kind of person she was. For her comments, Job placed her among the foolish. Her question could be a taunt…if so, she has already lost faith, and wants Job to join her. At best her suggestion expresses a sincere desire to see Job out of his misery, and the sooner the better. Her words must have had a jarring effect on Job, whatever her motive. These words support the outcome that Satan wanted---for Job to curse God.
Job’s response at this point was still trust in the sovereignty and love of God. He responded, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job did not have any explanation for why these afflictions fell on him so quickly and completely, but he was willing to trust even when he did not understand.
This is probably the main lesson of the Book of Job---trusting the goodness of God even when we experience troubles we can’t understand. God allowed the testing of Job for His own good purposes, which are not completely spelled out in the Book of Job. God apparently is interested in revealing to us what we need to know rather than satisfying our desire to know why He does or why He allows certain thing to happen. God’s ways are often mysterious to us, but He Himself is good, loving, just, and wise. “God is good; all the time.”
NEXT WEEK’S LIFE QUESTION IS, “HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO VARIOUS EXPLANATIONS FOR SUFFERING AND LOSS?” A.V. DAUGHERTY <altav@swbell.net>