Not This, But That

It’s funny because, when something positive happens, we love to take credit; we will often go to great lengths so that people will blame us for the good stuff.

But when something bad happens, watch out! Our fingers start pointing in a flash.

Past several weeks, we’ve been searching Job for answers to two of life’s most prominent, difficult questions:

We’ve discovered that sometimes, the only answer we may get for “why?” is that Satan is out to get us, but

The fact that Job never gets a more satisfying answer - in fact, Job doesn’t even get that answer - indicates that the question of why bad things happen is not nearly so important to God as how we’ll respond when they do.

To answer that question, we’ve started working through the dialogue between Job and his friends, recorded starting in ch 3.

There is in Job’s words a great deal of insight into what goes through the mind of someone who is hurting. Far more than we could ever get into in a host of sermons!

There is an incredible amount of pain, exacerbated by the false accusations, insensitivity, and cliché platitudes of his so-called friends.

So Job is going to spend a significant part of his response to each of them fending off their accusations and lamenting their faulty support.

He’s going to spend a great deal of time insisting that he was, indeed, innocent and his suffering was entirely unwarranted. I.e., it wasn’t his fault!

In Job’s case, we know that this is true: remember, Job feared God and turned away from evil. There was no one greater among all the people of the east.

But if it wasn’t Job’s fault, then whose was it?

Conflicted: Knew he was innocent, so when Eliphaz responded to his first lament, basically blaming Job’s hidden sin for his downfall, he had to defend himself.

Job also knew God was supreme. And if he was innocent and God supreme, then it must be God’s fault.

Is 64:6: all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment

Rom 3:23: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

the Biblical concept of “with”

Hebrews 4:15-16: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

He’s on our side.

He’s present through it all.

And He’s eagerly waiting for us to come so that He can shower us with exactly what we need.

the counselor hauled off barefoot, defeated and destitute

judges gone mad, unable to tell right from wrong

prisoners released, kings imprisoned

priests and established leaders cast down

more

fickle: changing often; marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability;  given to erratic changeableness (Merriam-Webster)

How many times have we thought God fickle!

Ryrie

• (6:14-30) “Job expresses how deeply he has been hurt by his friends’ unkindness, though he is unmoved by their arguments.”

• (6:15-17) “Job likens hs friends to a brook that is dry (like their ‘consolation’) in the sumer when water (comfort) is most needed.”

• (6:29) Job bids his friends to “change your course; seek some other exlpanation for my troubles rather than the unfair presupposition that I am guilty.”

• (7:1-6) “Job likens his existence to the weary grind and toils of military service, a hireling, and a slave.”

• (7:7-8) “Job despairs of ever seeing good (happiness) again and looks forwar only to death.”

• (7:12) “Job complains about the restraint being placed on him as if he were upsetting the stability of the universe.”

• (7:20-21) “Job confesses that he is a sinner but asks why God does not fogive him and do so quickly before he dies.”

• (9:1-10:22) “In his reply to Bildad, Job points out that tradition is not our best source of knowledge; God has revealed much about Himself even in nature (9:4-12). Although we should listen to the wisdom of our elders, we must remember that they are finite mortals who have grasped only a part of reality.”

• (9:2) “This question puzzles most people and is one of the great questions of life. The answer is that we are made just (righteous) before God only by the substitutionary death of His Son for our sins.”

• (9:3-12) Job is fully cognizant of his own inadequacy before God.

• (9:17) Job thought his affliction was without cause “because he did not know what had gone on in heaven between God and Satan.”

• (9:22-24) “Job accuses God of being unfair.”

• (9:32-33) “Jobs words about God’s transcendence (being aloof and detached from his creation) reflect a feeling of helplessness. This led him to cry out for an arbitrator (daysman) or umpire, someone who understands both God and man and can bring them together in harmony. God has provided one in His Son, the God-Man, Jesus Christ.”

• (10:1-7) “Job thinks of every possible reason why God might be afflicting him and concludes that God must know that he is a man of integrity.”

• (10:20-22) “Job begs that God would leave him alone just for a little while before he dies.”

• (12:1-14:22) Job “severely criticizes [his friends] (12:1-13:12), declares his own righteousness (13:13-19), and then appeals to God (13:20-14:22).”

• (12:5) Ryrie suggests this meaning for what he calls a “difficult verse”: “It is easy for you, living in your comfortable world, to mock me.”

• (12:7-9) “Job turns the tables on Zophar (who had mentioned the donkey, or ass, 11:12) and tells him that beasts are smarter than he is, since they know that calamities can come from the hand of the Lord.”

• (12:23-25) “God is sovereign over the destinies of nations and can cause their leaders to lose their reason.”

• (13:3) “Job wanted to argue his case before God, not before his worthless friends.”

• (13:4-12) “Job severely castigates the motives of his friends. Prov 17:28 expresses the same sarcasm as here in Job 13:5. Job also reminds them that they too face a heart-searching God.”

• (13:15) Ryrie suggests this translation: “‘He will slay me; I wait for Him (to strike);’ i.e., ‘I have no hope.’ Or it may mean, ‘Though He slay me, I will not delay.’ In any case, the general sense is clear: the fear of death would not deter Job from saying ‘Not guilty’ to God.”

• (13:20-22) “Job wanted God to stop punishing him and to start speaking with him.”

• (14:22) “Here ends the first round of debate between Job and his three friends. They have all concluded that Job is suffering because of his sins. Job has rejected their assumption, seeing death as his only way out. But the ire of his friends has been aroused and they are eager to say more.”

Reflecting God

• (6:2-3) “Job appeals for a sympathetic understanding of the harsh words he spoke in ch 3.”

• (6:4) “Job shares Eliphaz’s ‘orthodox’ theology and believes that God is aiming his arrows of judgment at him - though he does not know why.”

• (6:5-6) “Job claims the right to bray and bellow, since he has been wounded by God and offered tasteless food (words) by his friends.”

• (6:8-9) Basically, Job summarizes what he said in ch 3.

• (6:10) “In the afterlife, Job would have the joy of knowing that he had remained true to God.”

• (6:11-13) “With no human resources left, Job considers his condition hopeless.”

• (6:15) The endearing term “brothers” only highlights the harshness of Job’s friends’ responses to him.

• (6:22-23) “Job has not asked them for anything except what will cost them nothing: their friendship and counsel.”

• (6:24-30) “Job indicates his willingness to be corrected if his friends can show him the error of his ways. ‘Have I been dishonest? Have I sinned unknowingly? Show me!’ Such an attitude indicates his sincerity in searching for an answer to his troubles. He pleads with them to stop their heartless cruelty (v 27), take back their false accusations (v 29), and acknowledge the honesty of his speaking (v 30).”

• (7:1-21) “Having replied to Eliphaz, Job now addresses his complaint toward God.”

• (7:1) “the Hebrew for [‘hard service’ (NIV)/‘forced labor’ (HCSB)] sometimes implies military service. It is also used in reference to the Babylonian exile in Isa 40:2.”

• (7:7) “As a chronic sufferer [Job] has lost all sense of purpose in life. He does not anticipate healing and sees death as his only escape.”

• (7:9) “Such statements [as ‘he who goes down to the grave does not return’] are based on common observation and are not meant to dogmatize about what happens after death. Mesopotamian descriptions of the netherworld refer to it similarly as the ‘land of no return.’”

• (7:11) “Job is determined to cry out against the apparent injustice of God who, it seems, will not leave him alone.”

• (7:12) “The boisterous sea monster was a symbol of chaos, and Job objects to being treated like him.”

• (7:13-14) Job “thinks that even the nightmares that disturb his much-needed sleep are from God.”

• (7:17) Ps 144:3 and Ps 8:4-8 answer the question here - What is man that you make so much of him…? - with the notion that “mortals are created in God’s image to have dominion over the world. Job’s words are a parody on this theme - as if God’s only interest in people is to scrutinize them unmercifully and take quick offense at their slightest fault.”

• (7:19) Job wonders if God will look away for him, literally, “long enough for me to swallow my saliva.”

• (7:20) Job’s remarks here amount to this: “I have not been perfect, but what terrible sin have I committed that deserves this kind of suffering.”

• (7:20) “The Hebrew for [‘watcher’] is used in a favorable sense in Isa 27:3, but here Job complains that God is too critical.”

• (7:20) “Ancient Hebrew scribes report that a change in the text had been made from ‘you’ to ‘myself’ because the reading ‘you’ involved too presumptuous a questioning of God’s justice.”

• (9:2-3) “Job agrees with Bildad that God is just in how he treats the righteous and the evildoers, but he despairs of ever being able to prove his righteousness to God. In his despair he voices awful complaints against God. yet he does not abandon God; he does not curse him, as Satan said he would.”

• (9:2-3) “Ch 42 implies that Job persevered, but chs 9-10 show that he did so with impatience. Cf. Jas 5:11, which speaks of Job’s perseverance, not (as traditionally) his patience.”

• (9:3) “Job’s speech is filled with the imagery of the courtroom: ‘answer him’ (vv 3, 15, 22), ‘argue with him’ (v 14), ‘innocent...plead...Judge’ (v 15), ‘summon(ed)’ (vv 16, 19), ‘pronounce me guilty’ (v 20), ‘judges’ (v 24), ‘court’ (v 32), ‘charges...against me’ (10:2), ‘witnesses’ (10:17).”

• (9:3) “Job argues his innocence, but he feels that because God is so great that there is no use in contending with him (v 14). Job’s innocence does him no good (v 15).”

• (9:5-10) “A beautiful hymn about God’s greatness. But Job is not blessed by it, for he does not see that God’s power is controlled by goodness and justice.”

• (9:8) The implication of the phrase “stretches out the heavens” is either that God “creates the heavens” or “causes the dawn to spread.”

• (9:8) “Canaanite texts describe the goddess Asherah as walking on the sea (or sea-god) to subdue it. Similarly, [Job says] God ‘treads on teh waves’ to control the boisterous sea.”

• (9:9) “Despite their limited knowledge of astronomy, the ancient Israelites were awed by the fact that God had created the constellations.”

• (9:10) Eliphaz said the same thing in 5:9.

• (9:12) “Job argues that God has an unchallengeable, sovereign freedom that works to accomplish everything he pleases.”

• (9:13) Rahab here is “not the prostitute Rahab of Jos 2 but a mythical sea monster, elsewhere used as symbolic of Egypt.”

• (9:17) We are reminded here, again, that Job does not realize that God has allowed Satan to crush him. It is Satan doing the crushing.

• (9:21) Job’s “words of despairing resignation” would return in 42:6 in his repentance.

• (9:22-24) “God has become Job’s great enigma. Job describes a phantom God - one who does not exist, except in Job’s mind. The God of the Bible is not morally indifferent.”

• (9:24) “Our statues of Lady Justice are blindfolded, implying that she will judge impartially. But Job’s accusation against God is that he has blindfolded the judges so that they see neither crimes nor innocence.”

• (9:28) “Job wants to stand before God as an innocent man, but he is afraid God will find something for which to condemn him.”

• (9:29) Job concludes that he has been prematurely judged guilty based on the suffering he is enduring.

• (9:33) “God is so immense that Job feels he needs someone who can help him, someone who can mediate his dispute with God. By being both human and divine, Christ has become that mediator for which Job so earnestly pleaded.”

• (10:3) “Job imagines that God is angry with him, an innocent man, and that he takes delight in the wicked. Such words are a reminder that the sickroom is not the place to argue theology; in times of severe suffering, people may say things that require a response of love and understanding. Job himself will eventually repent, and God will forgive.”

• (10:8-17) “Job continues to question God as if he were his adversary in court. He wants to know how God, who so wonderfully formed him in the womb, could all the while have planned to punish him - even though he may be innocent.”

• (10:8-11) Notice the poetic description of God’s oversight and involvement in conception and gestation.

• (10:15-16) “Job says that whether he is guilty or innocent, the all-powerful God will not treat him justly.”

• (12:1-14:22) Again, Job speaks first to his friends and then addresses God.

• (12:2) “For the first time, Job reacts with sarcasm to the harshness of his counselors.”

• (12:7-12) “Job appeals to all creation to prove that God does what he pleases - that he does not use a person’s piety as the sole basis for granting freedom from affliction.”

• (12:9) This is the only occurrence of God’s convenantal name, Yahweh, in Job’s and his friend’s speeches.

• (12:11) Once again, Job compares his friends’ words to tasteless food.”

• (12:13-25) “The theme of this section is stated in v 13: God is sovereign in the created world, and especially in history. The rest of the poem dwells on the negative aspects of God’s power and wisdom - e.g., the destructive forces of nature (vv 14-15), how judges become fools (v 17), ahow priests become humiliated (v 19), how trusted advisers are silenced and elders deprived of good sense (v 20). Contrast the claim of Eliphaz that God always uses his power in ways that make sense (5:10-16).”

• (13:1-12) “Job feels that his counselors have become completely untrustworthy. He calls them quacks and accuses them of showing partiality to God (since God is stronger than Job) by telling lies about Job. Someday God will examine and punish them for their deception.”

• (13:3) “Job knows that his case is really with God, not with the three friends. The advice from the friends is worthless.”

• (13:20) Job’s two requests: God withdraw his hand of punishment and terror, and God start communicating with him again.

• (13:23) “Job’s words are based on the counselors’ point that suffering always implies sinfulness. He does not yet understand that God has a higher purpose in his suffering.”

• (13:26) “Since Job feels that he is not presently guilty of a sinfu life, God must still be holding the sins of his youth against him.”

• (13:27) “The Babylonian Code of Hammurapi (18th century BC) attests to the practice of putting marks on slaves. Job feels that he is being harassed by a God who has taken him captive and is tormenting him.”

• (13:28-14:1) “The introduction to ch 14 laments the human condition - ‘of few days and full of trouble’ - the cause of which is found in Ge 3:1-24. Here Job moves beyond his own troubles to consider the limitations of all humanity.”

• (14:2-6) These verses represent a symmetrical poem, with vs 4 its reflection line.

• (14:7-12) “Even a tree has hope of reviving after it has been cut down, but not mortals, whose short life is compared to that of a flower - here today, gone tomorrow.”

• (14:13-17) “Job’s spirit now appears to rise above the despair engendered by his rotting body. Although resurrection in the fullest sense is not taught here, Job is saying that if God so desires he is able to hide Job in the grave, then raise him back to life at a time when the divine anger is past.”

• (14:18-22) “Job’s pessimism arises not from skepticism about the possibility of resurrection from the dead but rather from God’s apparent unwillingness to do something immediately for a person like him, whose life has become a nightmare of pain and mourning.”

Archaeological

• (9:13) “In this passage, as well as in others, the moti of the slaying of the dragon appears. In Isaiah 51:9 the Lord’s victory is declared to be complete because he has cut Rahab, the monster, to ribbons. This poetic symbolism has much in common with the Ras Shamra literature and has been the prototype of legends like ‘Saint George and the Dragon.’ The Rahab Yashah (‘Rahab the Do-Nothing’) of Isaiah 30:7 portrays the impotency of the monster of Egypt (symbolized by the crocodile) in the day of invasion.”

• (9:33) “In eastern lands it was customary for a judge to place his hands upon the heads o the two parties in a dispute as a demonstration of his authority and desire to render an unbiased verdict. Job’s statement implies that no human being is worthy of acting as the judge of God.”

ESV Study Bible

• (6:1-7:21) “In his first response, Job longs that his life would be cut off (6:9) so that he could rest from his suffering, knowing that he had not denied God (6:10). Job found his life unbearable on account of the empty comfort offered by his friends (6:14–30) and what he describes as the continued watchfulness of God (7:11–21).”

• (6:1-7:21) “The speech as a whole shows a remarkable progression. Job moves from first-person soliloquy in 6:2–13 (continuing his introspective mode from ch. 3), shifting to second-person (plural) address to speak directly to the friends (for the first time) so as to question the nature of their “comfort” (6:14–30). Then Job relapses into first-person reflection on the futility of his life (7:1–6), before a transitional movement (7:7–10) now in second person singular (to Eliphaz himself). Finally, the pivotal 7:11 introduces Job’s first direct address to God (7:12–21).”

• • 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