Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 38-42.

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Today’s passage begins with God responding to Job’s entreaties. He begins by asking Job questions which indicate that Job, and no other human, can know enough to expect to be able to understand the reasons why God does what He does.  We were not there when God created the world, nor do we have power over the oceans or the spinning of the earth.  There are so many things which we do not know, which we cannot know, that we do not have the ability to judge God’s actions.  When God speaks to him, Job responds by saying that he spoke out of turn and will now be silent, but that was not the response which God desired.  So God goes on to show Job further that he did not know enough to ask the right questions.  After God speaks a second time, Job realized that he was talking about things which were beyond his understanding.  He had not truly known God, Job had been speaking while only knowing about God from hearsay.  When God made Himself known to Job, Job repented and listened.  Yet, even though Job needed to repent of his questioning of God, God said that he had spoken what was right and his friends, excluding Elihu, had not.  Job was not wrong to question God and his friends were wrong to condemn him.

I want to take a moment and think about the description given of Behemoth and Leviathan.  I have read, and heard, that scholars think these represent chaos and the power of nature and of evil that only God can control.  I do think that they do represent that here in the Book of Job, but the initial description of each seems to describe a creature which the writer has seen (or, perhaps, heard described).  The more I read the Book of Job the more I am convinced that Behemoth and Leviathan, as described here, are both actual creatures and mythological monsters.  Perhaps the description comes from bones uncovered or perhaps from witnessing a creature which we are unaware was alive at that time.  To me, the description of Behemoth seems too detailed, and not fantastical enough, to not be based on a real creature.  Leviathan is less so, but still seems to be about a real creature.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 34-37.

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As I read Elihu’s monologue here I was struck by how what he says mirrors conclusions reached from philosophy by some Christian apologists which I have heard speak.  One of those Christian apologists is a man who does not know the Bible as well as would be good, but he starts reasoning from first principles to conclude that God must exist and that all of reality only exists because God sustains it.  Here, Elihu says in chapter 34 verses 14 and 15 that if God should set His heart to it and withdraw from reality all flesh would perish and return to dust.  This is but one example of how we can use reason to learn truths which the Bible reveals.  We do not believe things just because the Bible says so.  We can apply our reason to come to what the Bible says and see that what it says tells us about the world in which we live.

I am going to quote something Elihu says and draw a lesson from it although I am not quite sure what is meant by it in the context.  Elihu in verse 31 and 32 of chapter 34,  “For has anyone said to God,
    ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
teach me what I do not see;
    if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?”  I want to focus on the second part of that.  We should ask God to show us what sins we commit without being aware.  We should seek for God to make us aware of the sins we didn’t realize we were committing so that we can stop doing them.  If you cannot see ways in which you continue to sin, ask God to show you those ways, then ask His Spirit to aid you in discontinuing those sins.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 29-33.

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One of the things about the Book of Job that makes it difficult is that if you have not read it before, or have not read it recently enough to remember the ending, you might forget that Job’s friends, Eliphaz. Bildaz, and Zophar, were in the wrong in what they said.  The first hint of that we get in today’s passage.  In fact, it took me several years of reading through the Book of Job each year to realize that Elihu, who makes his first and only appearance in today’s passage, is the only man in the book who is not called out be God at the end to at least some extent.  Elihu is younger than the other four men, which is why he did not speak up sooner.  Elihu was angry at the other three friends of Job because they had no answer to what Job had to say.  And he was angry at Job because Job justified himself rather than God.  Which shows us one of the key points of the Book of Job.  Even when we suffer we should see and focus on God’s glory and recognize that His actions are just.  We should act as Job did at first; humbly praise and glorify God, accepting and being happy and content with what He has given us.

The fact that Elihu is not rebuked in any way by God when God speaks to Job and his friends makes me look closer at what Elihu says.  Earlier in the book, Job said to his friends, and by inclination to everyone else, that he was not inferior to them in any way. I said when we came across that in our study a few days ago that that was true.  Here Elihu explicitly says that Job need not fear him because he, Elihu was not better than Job.  He stands no closer to and no further from God than Job.  That is the first thing Elihu says to which we should pay careful heed; we are no better and no worse than our fellow man (I know that I said that Job implied this when he said he was not inferior to his friends.  Now I am not so sure I was correct).  The second thing which Elihu challenges Job on is that Job said that God does not answer Job’s questions.  Elihu tells us that the problem is not that God does not speak.  The problem is that we do not listen.  God is speaking and telling us what He wants from us.  We need to learn to listen.  I need to learn to listen.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 16-21.

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My first thought is from the end of the passage.  Job is frustrated by the fact that he is suffering, but to him it appears that the wicked do not suffer in this life.  We see that a lot today.  There are many people who have done wicked things in their day, who used their wealth to cause harm to those who have less power than they.  These wicked people seem to live to a great age when many more righteous people suffer and die younger.  Job looks at things and to his perspective it ends the same for all, wicked and righteous, wealthy and poor, they all end up in the grave.  Job expresses in this last portion of today’s passage that it all seems pointless.

Yet, in his two earlier monologues in today’s passage he expresses some hope.  In the first of Job’s monologues in today’s passage he says that God has given him up to the ungodly.  Then a little further in he says: “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is on high.”   Job goes on from there to say that even though his friends scorn him, his tears pour out to God, who would argue his case before God.* Then in his monologue in chapter 19, Job says that he knows that his Redeemer lives and that he, Job, will see God in the flesh, even though his body will likely be destroyed.  Job warns those who pursue him because they believe that he is wicked that they will face judgement and punishment for any sins for which they do not repent.

*This is really aside from my main point, but I want to point out that chapter 16 verses   19-21 suggests two persons are God: God the judge and Job’s witness who argued Job’s case before God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 11-15.

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Today’s passage begins with Zophar responding by essentially calling Job a blowhard, then proceeding to imply that the righteous will not suffer and that the wicked will always suffer.  Zophar does however get one thing right.  He tells us that we as humans cannot fully comprehend God.  That we cannot completely wrap our finite minds around the thoughts and actions an infinite God.  Job responds by pointing out that Zophar had not really said anything that wasn’t already known by most people.  Job also points out that he was in no way inferior, or less wise, than his friends.  He seems to imply that he is also no better than they.  Job then says something which I read as him warning us against looking down on those who suffer misfortune.  Just because someone is suffering does not mean that they are more deserving of suffering than those who do not suffer.  Zophar had said that a stupid man would get understanding when a donkey gave birth to a man.  In his response to Zophar Job counters by saying that Zophar could learn from the beasts of the field.  Zophar’s comment was an insult while Job’s was not.  Job says that we can learn from the beasts of the field.  They know that all that lives is dependent upon God.  No matter how powerful or wise we are, or think we are, God will be bring us down in suffering if He so chooses.

Job goes on to say that he wishes to speak with God, that he wishes for the opportunity to present his case before God for God to judge him.  Despite knowing that God may choose to take his life, Job still puts his hope in God’s justice and mercy.  I see one final thing in what Job says here.  I’m not sure I would read it the way I do if I did not believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Job suggests that perhaps God will send us to Sheol after death and then call us forth once more to life.  That after we die, God will call for us and we will answer that call.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 1-5.

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When Job received word that all of his great wealth had been lost and that his children had died in a natural disaster he did not curse God, or even complain.  Rather, he mourned his losses and then worshiped God.  He recognized that all that he had had had come from the Lord and so it was God’s right to take it away if He so chose.  Even when God allowed Job to physically suffer Job’s initial response was to accept that as God’s right.  We should strive to face misfortune with the same faith in God which Job displayed through the first two chapters (this is not to say that Job did wrong in the later chapters, just that his example in the first two chapters is clear what he is says later requires more interpretation to understand).

After Job’s friends were with him for a week, Job felt the need to vent.  He spoke, at least in part, to distract himself from his pain, as many of us sometimes do when we have great pain or discomfort.  I feel for Eliphaz at this point, because he felt that he needed to try to relieve some of Job’s discomfort by giving him hope that it would get better.  I have the same problem when I am with people I care about who are suffering.  That wasn’t what Job needed here.  I struggle with this, but Eliphaz, and the other friends, should have stayed silent or just expressed empathy for Job’s suffering.  Actually Eliphaz’ problem was that he did not know when to stop.  I think that what Eliphaz said in the first six verses of chapter four were good things to say in response to Job’s lament.  Here Eliphaz reminds Job of the good he had done in the past and that he should put his confidence in God and maintain his integrity.  But then Eliphaz says some things which suggest that the source of Job’s suffering was sin, which even if it was true was not the right thing to say at this moment,  Then in chapter five verse eight Eliphaz again says something helpful, “I would seek God and to God would I commit my cause.”  That is further advice which we can give to those who are suffering.  If your suffering is God disciplining you, seek Him and He will show you what He wants you to do.  However, if our suffering is for some other reason, if we seek God and commit ourselves to serving Him, He will use us to show others God.  Perhaps our suffering will allow God to draw others to Him.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.