When It Rains

When It Rains
January 1, 2014 4:30 AM -0600
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Discover three things which are - perhaps surprisingly - okay to feel and be while on the various detours of life.
  1. Intro

    1. Bad things happen, even to relatively good people. There’s nothing new about that. In fact, a quick glance through history and even into the Bible readily shows that bad things have been happening, even to relatively good people virtually since the dawn of time.

      1. Cain and Abel (Gen 4)

        1. Adam and Eve having a great time, growing family.

        2. In a jealous fit of rage, son Cain killed his brother Abel, murdered him in cold blood and left him lying in a field.

        3. Bad things happen.

      2. Abraham and Sarah (Gen 21)

        1. Abraham and Sarah were faithful people, obeying God’s call to leave their homeland for the promise land, believing His promise to provide them with a child.

        2. But they would have to wait the better part of eight decades for that child.

        3. Bad things happen.

      3. Moses (Ex 3)

        1. Israelite rescued from the Nile River by the princess of Egypt, raised as her own.

        2. Had real power to effect good change for Israelites enslaved in that nation.

        3. Came upon an Egyptian beating his Israelite slave, intervened. Killed the Egyptian to protect the Israelite, and the Israelites drove him into exile, where he stayed for the next 40 years.

        4. Bad things happen.

      4. Joshua and the Israelites were defeated the first time they went to Ai (Josh 7)

      5. David was compelled to flee and live in hiding when jealous King Saul tried repeatedly to kill him (1 Sam 19)

      6. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, was crucified.

    2. Detour: When Life Goes Wrong

      1. Two weeks ago, we started a series called “Detour: When Life Goes Wrong” to explore why such terrible things happen and how believers should respond when they do.

      2. We’ve started working through the book of Job, whom you’ll remember lost

        1. his fortune

        2. his servants

        3. his family

          1. all ten of his kids were killed

          2. his wife turned against him

        4. finally, his health until he he could do nothing more than sit on the ground and scrape himself with a shard of broken pottery.

      3. We’ve worked through most of chapters 1 and 2 looking for the answer to the question we all ask when bad things happen: why. We’ve found that

        1. it’s not necessarily because we did something wrong

        2. it’s not because God has lost control.

        3. ultimately, it’s because Satan is out to get us any way he can

      4. But that’s not particularly satisfying. And yet that may just be about as good as it gets.

      5. Because in the end, God is far less concerned with why bad things happen than He is with how we respond when they do. And so that is what the vast majority of this book of Job deals with.

    3. Today, we’re going to start digging into how Job responded to the catastrophe which befell him in search of some keys for how we can and must respond when bad things happen to us. But before we do that, three things you need to know:

      1. Job’s comments are probably not verbatim. The author of Job framed the bulk of chapters 2-41 in verse: he finessed the words of Job, his friends, and God into a poem. So while the idea conveyed is faithful to what Job said, it’s quite possible these weren’t exactly the words that he used. Let’s face it: when we’re hurting, we don’t generally sit down and write poetic masterpieces.

      2. Job’s comments are raw. There are numerous occasions as we work through the book of Job that our hero’s nerves are clearly on display for all to see. We get a front-row seat to the agony and distress Job was experiencing, and there are moments when that results in some confusion and discomfort for us, the reader, as well.

      3. Job’s comments aren’t always “correct.” His lament, his complaint, his pain are not sanitized into neat little platitudes or truisms. In fact, much of what he says, as we will discover today, is confused and even plain wrong in light of the broader context of Scripture. So while there are brilliant nuggets of truth in here, there are also numerous points that we’re going to need to take with a whole can of salt.

    4. But that’s the reality of life in the midst of bad things, isn’t it?

      1. November 1966

      2. Colonel Robert McDade was marching his men from Landing Zone X-Ray and the scene of Hal Moore’s famous fight with the Vietnamese in the book and movie “We Were Soldiers Once” to Landing Zone Albany when they were ambushed in the jungle, splintering the column of soldiers.

      3. Platoons were massacred, entire companies decimated.

      4. And in the midst of it, the biggest problem Robert McDade had was trying to figure out where his men were and what was going on.

      5. Often, in the middle of a crisis, confusion reigns.

      6. And it’s not until after the fact, when the smoke clears and we can finally sit down and really examine what was going on, that real understanding finally dawns.

    5. So, keeping these things in mind, let’s see if we can make some sense of Job’s initial response to the bad things that happened to him.

  2. It’s okay to be speechless (2:11-13).

    1. Job 2:11-13: Now when Job’s three friends —Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite —heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.  When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.  Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

    2. The first thing we need to see about Job’s response to the bad things which had happened to him, which we actually touched on briefly last week, is that it’s okay to be speechless.

    3. For seven days and seven nights, in fact, Job’s friends sat there without saying anything. Why? Because common courtesy dictated that Job should speak first. But Job said nothing.

    4. What could he say? The man had lost everything. He was so destitute, so distraught that his own friends “could barely recognize him.” How could he possibly find words to express his grief and pain?

    5. And so, for seven days and seven nights - and remember, Job has already been sitting here for as long as it took them to hear the news, get their stuff together, and travel to be with their friend - Job simply said nothing.

    6. Have you ever been in such pain? Where it hurts so much that words simply fail you? Some of us have.

      1. Lost job, child, or spouse

      2. Sick, stressed, or just plain broken.

    7. We didn’t know what or even how to pray.

    8. But I have some good news: It’s okay to be speechless. In fact, maybe it’s better than okay. Consider these Scriptures:

      1. 2 Corinthians 12:9: When Paul begged God to take away the thorn in his flesh - that mysterious thing which Paul considered a weakness - God “said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for [my] power is perfected in [your] weakness.’”

      2. Romans 8:26-27: “In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

      3. If you put those two things together, we discover that it is in those moments that we don’t know what or how to pray that the Holy Spirit - the third Person of our triune God - steps in Personally, prays exactly what needs to be prayed in our stead, and so brings all the more glory to Himself through our pain.

    9. Don’t misunderstand: remember, God doesn’t like the fact that we’re going through bad stuff any more than we do. In fact, He may like it even less. But if He gets the glory through our pain, then it’s not a total loss.

    10. It’s okay to be speechless.

  3. It’s okay to be bitter (3:1-19).

    1. Look also at the words Job utters starting in chapter three.

      1. After seven days, seven nights of silence, Job finally opens his mouth to speak.

      2. Remember, Satan had predicted that Job would be cursing God to His face by now.

      3. Job 3:3-4: May the day I was born  perish, and the night when they said, “A boy is conceived.”  If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

      4. He goes on to talk about Leviathan and how that day should be cursed, but in essence, Job wished he had never been born or even, ultimately, conceived. He wished he never even existed. Because if he never existed, he never could have gone through all this stuff.

      5. Job 3:11: Why was I not  stillborn; why didn’t I die as I came from  the womb?

      6. Again, he continues to speak longingly of death, fantasizing about the peace of the grave and portraying it as the great equalizer - wicked, weary, captives, small, great… all are equal in death, Job says.

    2. I.e., Job’s pain was so intense, his grief so very deep that he actually lamented life itself.

    3. When I was in second or third grade, I remember a unit in science about the five senses. We talked about smell, sight, hearing, touch, and taste. As part of the unit, we were invited to taste different things, one of which I will never forget. It was cocoa powder, Hershey’s as I recall. And I remember being excited because I loved drinking cocoa at home. But - and I’ll never forget this - when we placed a bit of this cocoa on our tongues, the taste was horrible. So horrible, in fact, that I remember several of my classmates using paper towels to wipe it from their tongues, desperately trying to rid themselves of the taste. Personally, I distinctly remember fighting not to gag. All while the teacher chuckled at us all. I remember wishing for some time - minutes, at least; perhaps hours - that I had never tried that cocoa because it was unsweetened and the taste was indescribably bitter.

    4. You know, I debated using that word, but the truth is, when we’re really hurting, when things are really, really bad, and we wish that we had never had a chance to experience this - in short, we wish we had never been born - that’s what we feel: bitter. And I want you to know today that, when we’re going through the bad stuff that Satan and his world throw at us, it’s okay to be bitter.

    5. If it wasn’t true, then why would the Bible say things like

      1. Esau’s pagan wives “made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” (Gen 26:35)

      2. The Egyptians “worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter” (Ex 1:13-14)

      3. God “filled me with bitterness, satiated me with wormwood” (Lam 3:15)

      4. The fact that there is an entire book in the Bible called “Lamentations” - which means “the passionate expression of grief or sorrow” (Google) - indicates that it’s okay to be bitter when bad things happen!

    6. It’s okay to be bitter, but hear me now, Christians, because there are two very important conditions that I have to place on that statement.

      1. As much as Job lamented life itself - as much as he wished he had never been born - we still see in his statements here no hint of any intent to hurt himself or anyone else. Job was bitter. He wished he had never been born. But he was not suicidal or anything like that. If you find yourself contemplating suicide or hurting yourself or anyone else when bad things happen, please find someone to talk to and get some help.

      2. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how deep that pain stabs into our guts, no matter how bad it is, bitterness is absolutely not to become our modus operandi. I.e., bitterness is okay for a season, but eventually, finally, we’re to return to a state of joy.

        1. Remember joy is part of the fruit - the natural product - of the Spirit’s work in our lives. The apostle Paul wrote in Gal 5:22: But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.

        2. The Bible is abundantly clear: if we’re in Christ, then the Holy Spirit is in us. And if the Holy Spirit is in us, it will produce joy, which is the very antithesis of bitterness. So bitterness may come for a time, but joy should begin almost immediately to overcome it again.

        3. Oh, but preacher. You and Paul just don’t understand what I’m going through. Well, that may be, but the same apostle Paul who wrote those words, writing this time while under house arrest in Rome awaiting what may well have been his death sentence, also wrote the words of Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice!

        4. It occurs to me that joy isn’t so much founded in the absence of grief and hardship and pain and bad things as much as it is in the certainty that Jesus will bring us through the grief and hardship and pain and bad things.

        5. Maybe that’s why, while “bitter” appears 77x in the Bible, joy and its variants appear no less than 474x.

        6. Indeed, as the psalmist said in Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may spend the night, but there [must be] joy in the morning.” Sooner, not later, we need to let go of the bitterness and move on with life.

        7. Christians are absolutely not to let the bad things of this life turn them into bitter, crotchety old men and women.

        8. If you find that bitterness is lingering, I want you to do two things today:

          1. Pray as David did in Psalm 51:12: “Restore the joy of Your salvation to me, and give me a willing spirit.”

          2. Find someone to talk to. Get the help you need.

    7. Ryrie

      • (11) “Eliphaz was a resident of the city of Teman in Uz (Edom). This town became famous for its wise men (Jer 49:7).”

      • (11) “Bildad lived in the area nearby, inhabited by the descendants of Shuah, one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah (Gen 25:1-2).”

      • (11) “Zophar also lived nearby, in the area of Naamath.”

      • (2:11) “All three men were probably outstanding in their areas and time, since they were friends of ‘the greatest of all the men of the east’ (1:3).”

      • (2:13) “Sometimes a silent presence is preferable to words for one who is hurting.”

      Reflecting God

      • (2:11) Job’s three friends’ “desire to console is to be commended, even though their tactics were often harsh.”

      • (2:13) “Their mere presence was of more comfort to him than their words of advice would prove to be.”

      • (3:3) “Job’s very existence, which has been a joy to him because of God’s favor, is now his intolerable burden. He is as close as he will ever come to cursing God, but he does not do it.”

      • (3:4) “God had said in Ge 1:3, ‘Let there be light.’ Job, using similar language, would negate God’s creative act.”

      • (3:8) “those who curse days” would be a reference to “eastern soothsayers, like Balaam, who pronounced curses on people, objects and days.”

      • (3:8) “Leviathan” was a mythical sea monster. “Using vivid, figurative language, Job wishes that ‘those who curse days’ would arouse the sea monster Leviathan to swallow the day-night of his birth.”

      • (3:11-12, 16, 20-23) “A series of mournful questions that express his confusion and misery.

      • (3:16) “Since in fact his birth had taken place, the next possibility would have been a stillbirth. He would then have lived only in the grave (or Sheol), which he envisions as a place of peace and rest. Such a situation would be much better than his present intolerable condition, in which he can find neither peace nor rest.”

      • (3:21-22) “Death had become desirable for Job.”

      • (23) “God, who had put a hedge of protection around him, has now, he feels, hemmed him in with turmoil.”

      Archaeological

      • (2:11-13) “Stylistic comparison of other ancient wisdom writings with Job reveals similarities, but also highlights Job’s uniqueness. The dialogue form of the book is paralleled to an extent in Egyptian and Babylonian wisdom poetry, and the various individual literary forms employed in Job (psalms of lament and thanksgiving, proverbs, covenant oaths, etc.) are not novelties. Nevertheless, as a masterful blend of a remarkably rich variety of forms within a narrative framework, with exquisite lyric and dramatic qualities, all devoted to didactic purpose, the book of Job creates its own literary species. Of particular significance is the bracketing of the poetic dialogue (to begin at ch 3) with the prose (or better, semipoetic) prologue and epilogue. This A-B-A structure is found elsewhere in the ancient Near East (e.g., in the Code of Hammurabi and in the Eloquent Peasant) and thus supports the book’s integrity.”

      • (2:11) “Eliphaz, the chief of Job’s three friends, came from Teman, traditionally famous for its wise men (Jer 49:7). His speeches showed clearer reasoning than those of the other two friends. In his first speech (Job 4-5) Eliphaz traced back all affliction to sin, through the natural operation of cause and effect, and admonished Job to make peace with God. In his second address (ch 15) Eliphaz expressed irritation at Job’s sarcasm, reiterated his earlier arguments and depicted strongly the fate of the wicked. In his third monologue (ch 22) Eliphaz definitely charged Job with sin and pointed out to him the path or restoration. In 42:7-9 God addressed Eliphaz as the chief of Job’s friends, commanding him to make a sacrifice in expiation for having wrongly accused Job.”

      • (2:13) “To speak before the sufferer did would have been considered bad taste.”


      ESV Study Bible

      • (2:13) “The silence over a period of seven days and seven nights signifies a complete time of mourning in response to the suffering of Job. Ezekiel exhibited a similar response upon meeting the exiles in Babylon (see Ezek. 3:15).”

      • (3:1-42:6) “Between the brief narrative sections of the prologue (1:1–2:13) and epilogue (42:7–17), the large central section of the book consists of dialogue in poetic form (except for the narrative introduction of Elihu in 32:1–5) that focuses on the question of what Job’s suffering reveals both about him and about God’s governing of the world. This section progresses in five main parts: Job’s opening lament (3:1–26), a lengthy section of interchanges between the three friends and Job (4:1–25:6), Job’s closing monologue (26:1–31:40), Elihu’s response (32:1–37:24), and the Lord’s appearance to and interaction with Job (38:1–42:6).”

      • (3:1-26) “After the prose introduction (vv. 1–2), Job curses the day of his birth (vv. 3–10), expanding on this theme with two sequences of “why?” questions: the first expresses longing for rest (vv. 11–19); the second laments his anxious suffering (vv. 20–26). Job’s opening lament plays off the vocabulary of light and darkness in relation to both questions of the section: “Why did I not die at birth?” (v. 11) and “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?” (v. 23).”

      • (3:1-26) “Job is mystified by his current circumstances, and here he wonders whether he would have been better off in the darkness of never being born at all rather than having the light of life result in such suffering and grief.”

      • (3:1-26) “The vocabulary of Job’s lament is the beginning of a theme throughout the dialogue with his friends in which darkness and light will be used to refer to both death and life as well as to what is hidden and what is revealed.”

      • (3:1-2) “Job cursed the day of his birth because it represented the path of his entire life, which had led to his present distress.”

      • (3:3-10) “In skillfully crafted poetry, Job rues the moment of his birth—in distinction from the birth itself: he will continue to see life as a divine gift (see note on 10:8–13), and he does not ever appear to be suicidal. Rather, he wishes that reality had been different, and that he would not have seen the light of day.”

      • (3:3) “Intense suffering negates all the meaning of life, underlining the fact that both suffering and death are horrible effects from the fall (Gen. 3:19). An answer comes only with the meaningful sufferings of Christ (Phil. 3:10) and his resurrection from the dead, which is the beginning of the end to all suffering (Rev. 21:4).”

      • (3:8) “Aspects of ancient myth are sometimes referenced metaphorically in Scripture, often in images of God’s power or authority (cf. 26:12). By referring here to those who set a curse upon a day by calling upon Leviathan (see note on Ps. 74:14), Job calls for their incantations as one more piece of his lament against the day of his birth.”

      • (11-19) “Job’s futile curses progress from the day of his birth to the first moments of life. Just as he wishes the day was darkness and time erased, so too he wishes that life had been death (vv. 11–12, 16), for at least that would have brought peace in the company of the dead (vv. 13–15, 17–19).”

      • (13-19) “Job describes death as rest from the toil of life by picturing its effect on persons both high and low in society, and wishes he had joined all who were already in this state of rest rather than being born.”

      • (13-19) “In vv. 13–15 Job refers to the kings and princes who labored to obtain wealth and build cities but now lay without them in death. In vv. 16–19 Job focuses on the way death removes the constraints of social position, focusing attention particularly on the small and the slave, and those who have been weary or prisoners.”

      • (20-26) “The final sequence of “why” questions reflects Job’s current miserable state, carrying forward the themes of light (vv. 20, 23) and death (vv. 21–22). Musing on those who dig for treasures (v. 21b), Job anticipates the terms in which some of his puzzles will be solved in the poem on “wisdom” (see ch. 28).”

      • (23) “In his accusation, Satan argued that Job was upright only because God had put a “hedge” of blessing around him (1:10). Here in the opening lament of the dialogues, Job refers to his sustained life amid inscrutable circumstances of suffering as rendering him one whom God has hedged in. Satan’s contention is disproved through Job’s continued faithfulness.”

      • (23) “Job’s overall lament of his situation is something which God both reproves (see chs. 38–41) and commends (42:7).”


      HCSB Study Bible

      • (11) “Eliphaz came from Teman, a principle city in Edom (Ezek 25:13; Am 1:12-13). Bildad ("son of Hadad" the storm god) probably came from the tribe of Shuah, descended from Abraham through his second wife Keturah (Gen 25:1-2; 1Ch 1:32). Zophar may have been from northern Arabia.”

      • (12-13) “Job's three friends responded to his gruesome appearance with actions symbolic of deep mourning: weeping (2Sam 18:33), tearing their robes (Job 1:20), sitting on the ground (Lam 2:10; Nah 1:4), and throwing dust on their heads (Jos 7:6; 2Sam 13:19).”

      • (12-13) “A seven-day period was observed in times of mourning for the dead (Gen 50:10; 1Sam 31:13).”

      • (12-13) “With due propriety Job's friends remained silent, waiting for Job to speak first. It is often best in sympathizing with those who are hurting just to be there and to be ready to listen.”

      • (3:3) “The Hebrew word translated boy is usually used of an adult male (4:17), often with an indication of strength (Jer 41:16) or prominence (2Sam 23:1). Job's power and position mattered little to him now.”

      • (3:4-5) “In language reminiscent of Gen 1:2-5, Job wished that his day of birth could become "uncreated."”

      • (3:8-9) “As a great dragon gobbled up the sun in ancient Near Eastern mythology, so Job asked that the sun should never have brought light to his day of birth. Leviathan is known from ancient Ugaritic mythology as a sea monster, which the god Baal defeated. Leviathan appears in the OT symbolically in connection with those forces that oppose God (26:12-14; Ps 74:12-14; 104:26; Isa 27:1).”

      • (3:8-9) “The mythological allusions in Job (Job 5:7; 7:12; 9:13; 18:13; 38:12) do not indicate scriptural endorsement of pagan theology or mythic zoology but serve as literary allusions.”

      • (3:8-9) “The morning stars were Venus and Mercury.”

      • (3:12) “The knees probably refer to those of his mother either in childbirth (Gen 30:3) or in taking up her child for nursing.”

      • (3:13-19) “Asleep is used frequently as a metaphor for death in the Bible, especially of the righteous (Jn 11:11-15; 1Co 15:20). Job's words should not be pressed to depict a common condition for all souls in the afterlife. Although the body may rest in the grave, the righteous have the sure hope of eternal life (Ps 16:9-11; 49:15; 73:25-26; Ac 2:25-28; 1Co 15:50-57; 2Co 5:1-8). The case of the wicked is far different (Ps 1:4-5; 49:14-15; Mt 8:12; 25:41,46).”

      • (3:23-25) “The protective hedge that God had placed around Job (Job 1:10) now hemmed him in to suffering.”


      Henry

      • (3:1-10)“These inward trials show the reason of the change that took place in Job’s conduct, from entire submission to the will of God, to the impatience which appears here, and in other parts of the book.”

      • “The believer, who knows that a few drops of this bitter cup are more dreadful than the sharpest outward afflictions, while he is favoured with a sweet sense of the love and presence of God, will not be surprised to find that Job proved a man of like passions with others; but will rejoice that Satan was disappointed, and could not prove him a hypcrite; for though he cursed the day of his birth, he did not curse his God.”

      • “Job doubtless was afterwards ashamed of these wishes, and we may suppose what must be his judgment of them now he is in everlasting happiness.”

      • (3:11-19) “To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire to die, only that we may be delivered from the troubles of this life, savours of corruption.”

      • “It is our wisdom and duty to make the best of that which is, be it living or dying; and so to live to the Lord, and die to the Lord, as in both to be his, Ro 14:8.”

      • “Observe how Job describes the repose of the grave; There the wicked cease from troubling. When persecutors die, they can no longer persecute. There the weary are at rest: in the grave they rest from all their labours. And a rest from sin, temptation, conflict, sorrows, and labours, remains in the presence and enjoyment of God. There believers rest in Jesus, nay, as far as we trust in the Lord Jesus and obey him, we here find rest to our souls, though in the world we have tribulation.”

      • (3:20-26) “Job was like a man who had lost his way, and had no prospect of escape, or hope of better times. But surely he was in an ill frame for death when so unwilling to live. Let it be our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave it to God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit.”

      • “Grace teaches us in the midst of life’s greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live.”

      • “Job’s way was hid; he knew not wherefore God contended with him. The afflicted and tempted Christian knows something of this heaviness; when he has been looking too much at the things that are seen, some chastisement of his heavenly Father will give him a taste of this disgust of life, and a glance at these dark regions of despair.”


      FaithLife

      • (2:11) “Eliphaz is from Teman, a city in Edom associated with wisdom (Jer 49:7).”

      • (2:11) “Bildad is from Shua, whose location is unknown. Shuah is listed as one of the sons of Abraham and Keturah (Gen 25:2).”

      • (2:11) “Zophar is from Naamath, whose location is unknown. Naamath is listed a female descendant of Cain (Gen 4:22).”

      • (2:11) “Job’s friends come with the good intention of comforting him. However, their words will be of little comfort to Job (16:2; 21:34).”

      • (2:12) To tear one’s clothing is a traditional symbol of mourning.

      • (2:13) Seven days was a typical period of mourning. Note, though, that Job was just getting started.

      • (2:13) “Job’s friends wait until he speaks. Their silence was probably part of the mourning ritual (Ezek 3:15). When they do speak, Job wishes they would remain silent (13:5).”

      • (3:1) “Instead of cursing God as Satan expected (2:5) and his wife advised (2:9), Job curses the day of his birth.”

      • (3:10) “If he hadn’t been born, Job would have avoided all of this misfortune.”

      • (3:16) “not hidden like a miscarriage” “Reflects the author of Ecclesiastes’ lament against oppression (Eccl 4:1–3). Job later expresses that he feels unjustly oppressed by God (10:2–3).”

      • (17-19) “Job considers the possibility of death as a welcome rest from his troubles. He enviously lists several groups who find relief from their struggles in death—“the weary,” “prisoners,” and “the slave”; even the wicked can escape their troubles.”

      • (23) “Job feels like God has surrounded him with suffering and turmoil, leaving him with no escape (19:7–12). This phrasing is an ironic twist of Satan’s words in 1:10, where he accuses God of putting a wall of protection around Job.”

      • (24) “Job’s suffering was a constant burden (Pss 42:3; 102:9).”
  • Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
  • Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
  • Archaeological Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Corporation, 2005.
  • The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
  • The HCSB Study Bible. http://www.mystudybible.com
  • Henry, Matthew. Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc.i.html
  • Faithlife Study Bible. http://bible.faithlife.com
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