Reading 5: The First Speech of Bildad Job 8:1-22

 8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

Natural conversations do not normally take such regimented form, so it appears that Job has been written in a deliberate and likely accepted way of the time. And yet, this does not read like a philosophy discourse. There is an emotional component behind the words that are spoken, and emotional points of view that can be distinguished between the speakers.

² ‘How long will you say these things,
   and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

Eliphaz approached Job with something akin to respect, whereas Bildad seems to be deliberately provocative. The ‘great wind’ reference reminds me of Chicago, ‘The Windy City’. Some claim that it is due to the weather conditions off Lake Michigan. It is more likely a reference to the styles of political speeches in Chicago’s earlier history.

³ Does God pervert justice?
   Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

Again, right to the center of the matter. It is not simply questioning if God can be in error. Using the term ‘pervert’ is deliberately provocative.

⁴ If your children sinned against him,
   he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

Remember two pieces from the beginning of Job. The second is that all the children died together by natural disaster. But the first is that Job would sacrifice on their behalf ‘in case’ they’d done something against God. Bildad seems to indicate that they had, therefore they were killed as punishment.

⁵ If you will seek God
   and make supplication to the Almighty,

Again, the presupposition is that disaster is punishment, therefore the reply is repentance, confession.

⁶ if you are pure and upright,
   surely then he will rouse himself for you
   and restore to you your rightful place.

The blessings of God are implied to being on the proper behavior of those who have faith in God. Right behavior offers right reward.

⁷ Though your beginning was small,
   your latter days will be very great.

The notion seems to be one of incremental forgiveness. What we read at the end of Job defies this as there is a complete and rapid turn around of fortunes from the Lord.

⁸ ‘For inquire now of bygone generations,
   and consider what their ancestors have found;

In other words, this is the way things have always been done.

⁹ for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
   for our days on earth are but a shadow.

What can be learned in the very brief time that we have on earth?

¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you
   and utter words out of their understanding?

What we know of God comes from what we have already been taught by those who have lived before us.

¹¹ ‘Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
   Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
¹² While yet in flower and not cut down,
   they wither before any other plant.
¹³ Such are the paths of all who forget God;
   the hope of the godless shall perish.

It says in Psalms, “the grass withers, the flower fades, but God is forever.” The implication is that Job’s fortunes have faded, therefore he is as one who forgets God.

¹⁴ Their confidence is gossamer,
   a spider’s house their trust.
¹⁵ If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
   if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.

The modern cliché might be something like ‘those who live in glass houses should not throw stones’.

¹⁶ The wicked thrive before the sun,
   and their shoots spread over the garden.
¹⁷ Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
   they live among the rocks.
¹⁸ If they are destroyed from their place,
   then it will deny them, saying, “I have never seen you.”

I am reminded of Jesus’ parable of the seeds of faith that are sown. Birds get some, weeds get some, some hit good soil. Some fall among the rocks where they spring up quickly but the sun quickly beats them down for they have no roots. Bildad’s reference to the evil among the rocks is they too quickly wither.

¹⁹ See, these are their happy ways,
   and out of the earth still others will spring.

Is Bildad being ironic? The evil have their ‘happy ways’, where they wither while others, apparently more faithful, will spring from the earth. Or it could be that the evil are simply ignorant of their own destruction by the Lord, thus happy to the end.

²⁰ ‘See, God will not reject a blameless person,
   nor take the hand of evildoers.

In other words, God would not be doing this to you Job if you were blameless and not an evildoer.

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
   and your lips with shouts of joy.

Thus, if Job repents, confesses his evil, he can still be made right with and blessed by God.

²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
   and the tent of the wicked will be no more.’

So, it is not simply that Job will be restored, but does it seem the enemies who destroyed his stuff will be shamed as the wicked are no more?

 

Eliphaz and Bildad share the same basic message, the presupposition that tragedy is punishment and God only punishes the guilty. Therefore, Job’s tragedy is punishment and the way out is by confessing to the Lord. But Bildad seems a lot more pointed, maybe sarcastic in his response to Job. Neither understands Job’s recalcitrance, that there might be another reason for the tragedies that have befallen. Again, they are more interested in trying to fix his behavior.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Reading Four: Job 6:1-7:21 Job Responds to Eliphaz

             What Job is responding to is his friend implying that Job has missed the point of his suffering. That what has happened is punishment, because that is the presupposition of how things work. That if he wants to recover, Job has some repentance to get on with.

6Then Job answered: ²“O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

So Eliphaz is implying Job is wrong in what he is saying, Job replies with, essentially, “Okey, lets consider all that has happened to me, lets put it out there.”

 ³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.

The question of balancing one’s life, makes me think of ancient Egypt, where the soul of the dead was measured against a feather (I do not understand the theological mechanics) but the point is there seems to be a balance between good and evil in the religious consideration. If Job were found to be a sinner, then his words would be rash-words cursing the day of his birth instead of seeking out what sin he committed.

 ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Job does not appear to be buying into what Eliphaz is saying, that this is punishment for something Job has yet not admitted. But he is admitting that these tragedies have befallen him from God.

 ⁵Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its fodder? ⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows? ⁷My appetite refuses to touch them; they are like food that is loathsome to me.

In the metaphors he uses here, Job appears to, after considering the explanation Eliphaz has proposed, reject that this is a result of his sinning. That there is nothing in the heart to repent.

⁸“O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; ⁹that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

And Job continues with a variation of his initial outcry, that the Lord would crush him, cut him off even now and end the suffering.

 ¹⁰This would be my consolation; I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Because in ending him, in crushing him, Job would die with his faith intact, that he has not done something against the Lord to deserve what has happened.

 ¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me.

But for Job, there is no word from God, there is no explanation, he is in lamentation because he has no strength to go on, but lives on anyway.

¹⁴“Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty.

It looks like Job speaks back against his friends. Eliphaz has not offered kindness to Job but supposes that he can diagnose Job’s spiritual troubles and fix the problem.

 ¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away, ¹⁶that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow. ¹⁷In time of heat they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

As snow disappears to liquid, then evaporates as the heat comes, so is the kindness of his friends. That is what I see in this metaphor.

 ¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish. ¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. ²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confounded. ²¹Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid.

He seems to be comparing his friends to caravans, hoping to come to him to make a profit (as traders seek to do) but instead, they have found his tragedy and they are confounded, afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? ²³Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’? Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?

Job is not asking for intercession from his friends, not with God or anyone else.

 ²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong.

Eliphaz implies that Job has sinned, Job asks for them to show him how and where.

 ²⁵How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, what does it reprove? ²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words, as if the speech of the desperate were wind?

But Job has not done wrong, so the words of Eliphaz are empty.

 ²⁷You would even cast lots over the orphan, and bargain over your friend. ²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me; for I will not lie to your face. ²⁹Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done. Turn now, my vindication is at stake. ³⁰Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?

Job is imploring his friends not to jump to conclusions, but to believe that this tragedy is without the trigger of Job having done something wrong to deserve it.

7“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? ²Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, ³so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. ⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

Without something to repent, without understanding what has gone wrong, without something to fix, Job just sees his life going on without break and without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. ⁸The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. ⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; ¹⁰they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more. ¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

There is no end to the suffering in sight, Job feels he will just fade away in pain to nothingness. In the meantime, he is not going to keep his tongue in check, he is going to express his anguish and bitterness.

 ¹²Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? ¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ ¹⁴then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, ¹⁵so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. ¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

I see Job demanding why his friends are even there. To guard him? To scare him? They are certainly not helping. He just wants to die.

¹⁷What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, ¹⁸visit them every morning, test them every moment? ¹⁹Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

I see Job feeling like he is some kind of sinful specimen that his friends have come to watch, not letting him alone.

 ²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? ²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

As he concludes, I see Job’s perceptions moving from the friends who are not helpful to perceptions about God ‘Why am I a burden to you? Why do you not pardon me?’ He is crying out for relief.

         

This is the first of nine calls are responses between Job and his friends. In my experience with interpreters of Job, they all tend to be lumped together into the same pattern. The friends presuppose that Job has sinned and must repent. Job knows he has not and does not get what is happening. We shall see how that develops.

 

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Reading 3: Job Chapters 4 and 5 Eliphaz offers and Explanation and Corrective for Job's Tragic Circumstances

 Reading 3: Job 4:1-5:27  The First Speech of Eliphaz.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

This begins a round of three responses from each of Job’s three friends. Job replies to each in turn.

      ² ‘If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?
   But who can keep from speaking?

There is practically an apology built into this opening from Eliphaz. ‘Will you be offended, because that is what I am about to do.’

³ See, you have instructed many;
   you have strengthened the weak hands.
⁴ Your words have supported those who were stumbling,
   and you have made firm the feeble knees.

Eliphaz starts from Job’s strength, a man beloved of God, a man of blessing and riches, a man of power in the community. His was the voice that supported the community.

⁵ But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
   it touches you, and you are dismayed.

It is from that strength to this collapse that Eliphaz speaks, almost to say “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

⁶ Is not your fear of God your confidence,
   and the integrity of your ways your hope?

This draws back to the Divine Council, God calls Satan’s attention to the faith of Job, and Satan is seeking to undermine it. Eliphaz is questioning his foundation of faith.

⁷ ‘Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
   Or where were the upright cut off?

The thesis of the reaction of the friends is here proposed. Those who have done nothing wrong, have they ever been affected by tragedy?

⁸ As I have seen, those who plough iniquity
   and sow trouble reap the same.
⁹ By the breath of God they perish,
   and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

Tragic circumstances fall upon those who have sinned. It is by God’s ‘breath’ that they are punished, through God’s anger. The implication for Job is clear. God’s anger, his tragic circumstances, the cause and effect must be some sin he has committed.

¹⁰ The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
   and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹ The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
   and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

Here Eliphaz continues to develop the theme of God’s punishment, using the metaphor of the lion, powerful ‘king of beasts’, now reduced under the power of God alone.

¹² ‘Now a word came stealing to me,
   my ear received the whisper of it.
¹³ Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
   when deep sleep falls on mortals,
¹⁴ dread came upon me, and trembling,
   which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face;
   the hair of my flesh bristled.
¹⁶ It stood still,
   but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
   there was silence, then I heard a voice:
¹⁷ “Can mortals be righteous before God?
   Can human beings be pure before their Maker?

What Eliphaz has implied, that tragedy is God’s punishment for sin, he is now making explicit, with a long introduction, step by step, considering the relationship of mortals to our God.

¹⁸ Even in his servants he puts no trust,
   and his angels he charges with error;

He continues to speak of the Lord, charging even his angels with error-a reference to the Divine Council where God points out to Satan that Satan is mistaken about Job’s faith?

¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,
   whose foundation is in the dust,
   who are crushed like a moth.
²⁰ Between morning and evening they are destroyed;
   they perish for ever without any regarding it.
²¹ Their tent-cord is plucked up within them,
   and they die devoid of wisdom.”

Eliphaz moves from the heavenly beings, the divine servants of God, back to humanity. How much more do we sinful beings cause our separation from our God? Put it all together, and Eliphaz is seeking to bring Job to realize that these tragic events are punishment for something that is Job’s own fault, because that ‘is the way of things’.

5‘Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Who will answer Job in his call to curse the day of his birth? The implication seems to be that they will not because Job is not innocent in this, but because tragedy is equated to punishment, he must be punished for something he did.

² Surely vexation kills the fool,
   and jealousy slays the simple.
³ I have seen fools taking root,
   but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.

Eliphaz seems to be poking at Job for daring to speak the words he did in his grief, that there is an implied arrogance that Job does not recognize his sin.

⁴ Their children are far from safety,
   they are crushed in the gate,
   and there is no one to deliver them.

Pointing out how Job’s children are part of the punishment.

⁵ The hungry eat their harvest,
   and they take it even out of the thorns;
   and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

To me, Eliphaz seems to be pointing out the loss of Job’s riches.

⁶ For misery does not come from the earth,
   nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
⁷ but human beings are born to trouble
   just as sparks fly upward.

God’s hand is seen as the cause of misery and trouble-that they are punishment, to which humans are born into. In theological terms, applying the notion of ‘original sin’ from Adam and Eve now upon all humanity.

⁸ ‘As for me, I would seek God,
   and to God I would commit my cause.
⁹ He does great things and unsearchable,
   marvelous things without number.
¹⁰ He gives rain on the earth
   and sends waters on the fields;

Eliphaz, if he were in Job’s position, could appeal to God, invoking the unsearchable power of God, the blessings he brings to the earth, the master of all.

¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly,
   and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

God is the one who delivers those who mourn-like Job.

¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
   so that their hands achieve no success.
¹³ He takes the wise in their own craftiness;
   and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime,
   and grope at noonday as in the night.

God is not going to be fooled, there is no tricking God. I see the implication that Job, in not confessing, is trying to get away with tricking God in the mind of his friend.

¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
   from the hand of the mighty.
¹⁶ So the poor have hope,
   and injustice shuts its mouth.

The mercy of the Lord is emphasized here. Job has but to confess and that mercy shall be his from the divine.

¹⁷ ‘How happy is the one whom God reproves;
   therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up;
   he strikes, but his hands heal.
¹⁹ He will deliver you from six troubles;
   in seven no harm shall touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
   and in war from the power of the sword.
²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
   and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
   and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.
²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
   and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.
²⁴ You shall know that your tent is safe,
   you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
²⁵ You shall know that your descendants will be many,
   and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
   as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing-floor in its season.
²⁷ See, we have searched this out; it is true.
   Hear, and know it for yourself.’

Eliphaz concludes with a litany of the blessings of the Lord. If Job repents, God is merciful, and here are examples to illustrate what that mercy and protection will look like.

 Eliphaz has an explanation for the tragic occurrences that have befallen Job. Bad things happen by God’s hand to the sinful. It is not a permanent arrangement however, repentance will restore God’s mercy and God’s blessings. While Job is spending his time cursing the day of his birth, the implication is that what has happened is, in fact, Job’s own fault for sins as yet unconfessed.

Job Reading 2 with commentary

Job, Reading 2: Job 2:11-3:26

Job 2, con’t.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.

Dad jokes do invade the interpretation. Here is one of the shortest men in the bible, Bildad the Shoe-Height…  These three friends appear to come from the region of Edom or from Arabia. The origins of their homes is not clear, as they are not clearly defined elsewhere in the Old Testament.

The introduction of these three is going to set up the conflict of discussion as to the meaning of when disaster befalls people, represented through the person of Job.

They met together to go and console and comfort him.

Such is their declared purpose, but they have their own ideas of what that will be.

 ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads.

They are expressing grief in a profound form when they come to Job.

 ¹³They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

I have heard this verse interpreted as the friends being insensitive to Job, just sitting there for seven days. But I have also known the experience of simply being in someone’s presence during their grief, allowing them time simply to have support, until they are ready to speak. I tend to lean in that direction when interpreting this verse.

3After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

This introduction is to clarify Job’s cursing of the day of his birth over and against what Satan was pushing, that Job curses the name of God.

 ²Job said: ³“Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’

So he finally speaks. It is not to explain, but it is out of his profound grief.

 ⁴Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. ⁵Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. ⁶That night—let thick darkness seize it!

I find myself thinking of Jesus as the light of the world, over and against the darkness of sin and death.

 let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.  ⁷Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. 

In cursing the day of his birth, Job is protesting the gift that he was to his parents. He is by indirect means cursing that God brought him into the world at all.

⁸Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.

The imagery of the Sea and of Leviathan, a monster of the deep, will come again in Job.

 ⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning— ¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.

This is the reason for his cursing the day of his birth. Had he not been born, he would not have seen the trouble that has come upon him.

¹¹“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? ¹²Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? ¹³Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, ¹⁵or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.

In this extended paragraph (verses 11-18), Job compares himself here first to the rich who have died and avoided trouble.

 ¹⁶Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? ¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 

Now he compares himself to the impoverished, those who find freedom in death.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.

In his conclusion, he draws them together, that death comes for rich and poor alike, something of Ecclesiastes echoes here. The slaves are free from their masters, as he would be free from this tragedy.

²⁰“Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, ²¹who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; ²²who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave?

Notice that in the search for death, in the rejoicing that Job hopes he will find there, but Job makes no mention of a self-destructive movement to ‘help’ himself along into the grave.

 ²³Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?

Notice the twist in the language. Satan spoke of God fencing Job in as protection to the material blessings that were granted to Job. Now Job expresses entrapment by that same God.

 ²⁴For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. ²⁵Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. ²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.”

It is as though he is looking for the source of the trouble. In the very beginning of Job, he is described as one who turns away from evil. That is developed when Job is described as sacrificing on behalf of his children in case one of them would curse God. His avoidance of evil is an active one, ‘but trouble comes’.

Understanding Chapter and Verse: The Bible Has Guidelines, Not Inspired, But To Guide

THE QUICK: Bible references are written in a specific pattern:

BOOK NAME CHAPTER: VERSE, i.e. Job 2:10.

Job 2:10 is then the Book of Job, the second chapter, and the tenth verse.

Job 1:1-2:10 is then the Book of Job, with a passage beginning with the first verse of chapter one and ending with the tenth verse of chapter two.

           In the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”, Elizabeth Swann, daughter of the governor, is kidnapped by-you guessed it-pirates. After initially hiding herself, she goes almost willingly, feeling that she is prepared to deal with them. She knows the ‘pirate code’, which she feels to be the inspired code of conduct for pirates. Thus the term ‘parley’ is supposed to grant an immediate protected status, something akin to being in ‘sanctuary’ within a religious compound.

          As she comes to find out, aside from not being a pirate and therefore not bound by the code, they are not so much the inspired word of pirate behavior as simply guidelines.

          I use this as an example because we in the Christian faith also have our inspired text. It is not inspired by pirates, but it is inspired by God. There have been books written that seek to unpack what that means, but that is another blog.

          I am asking people to read the book of Job, one section of the Book as inspired by God. For people unfamiliar with it, there are guidelines built into the text, a numbering system. For those of you familiar with chapter and verse, walk with me. I am so used to the system, I do not even see it anymore. But it is significant.

          Job is divided into 42 chapters. Each runs about a page or two, although there is one less than half a page long. Each chapter is then subdivided into verses. If you follow the reading guide from our previous post, you will see that most of the readings begin and end with chapter openings and closings. But not all.

          Because the Word is inspired by God, devout Christians devised these guidelines, these chapters and verses, so that any specific portion of the Bible could be accessed quickly and consistently. However, those numbers are NOT inspired. They were put in place after the fact.

          To pick an example, Paul writes a couple of letters to Timothy that are included in the New Testament. He did not pick up his quill and write, “Chapter One, VERSE ONE, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, VERSE TWO…To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy, and peace…” No, he wrote "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy, and peace…"  What he wrote is considered among the inspired works of God, with the system of chapter and verse imposed later for ease of study. 

    And, in fact, he did not write in English, but in the everyday Greek language of the Roman Empire which, unlike English, has no punctuation. But that is another blog post.

          In general, the rules of the guidelines seem to be that each verse is one idea and a chapter a section within the flow of the entire book. But that is by no means absolute.

          The importance of understanding this comes in the danger of chapter and verse as our guide to the Bible. These are artificial impositions on the text for the convenience of study. Just because someone decided a chapter stops at a certain point does NOT mean that the idea or the discussion topic concludes at that point. It may, and often does. Because the text of the Bible is inspired, it is important to understand these guidelines are not inspired.

The first Reading in Job with Initial Commentary

    Each reading in Job will take a similar form. It will go verse by verse, or section by section, with comments in italics between. The intent is to point out salient points, clarify some of the more obscure pieces and references, and give a running commentary on what is happening in the text.

    This is ALL DONE TO INVITE YOUR QUESTIONS, either for me or for your own opportunity to take a deeper look at God's Word.

 The First Reading: Job 1:1-2:10

1There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.

Uz is mentioned a couple of other times in the Old Testament, but never given a precise location, except in parallel to Edom. It may have a deliberately mythic property, being ‘out there’ somewhere.

That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 

This is echoed in God’s assessment of Job in the coming Divine Council.

²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants;

All of these are measures of great and diverse material blessings, both in family and in livestock. The sheep are herd animals, providing wool, meat, and so forth. The camels, yoke of oxen, and donkeys, in such numbers, as beasts of burden. The implication of such numbers is that they are hired out, that Job has ‘corporate’ interests in providing donkeys and camels in transportation and yokes of oxen for plowing.

 so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

Not just great, but the greatest. And Uz is in ‘the east’, presumably in reference to the Promised Land.

⁴His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 

This sets us up for two things. The first is that the children lived off the riches of their father. The second is the coming disaster that will befall them.

⁵And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.

This builds on the description of Job that he was one who turned away from evil. It also foreshadows what Satan hopes to accomplish against Job in the coming verses.

⁶One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

So this is a unique location in the Bible, this ‘Divine Council’. The heavenly beings, or the angels as some versions speak of them, are gathered as is Satan. His role is as ‘the Accuser’, not so much the classic ‘devil’ of Christianity.

 ⁷The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 

There is not a reason ascribed to this wandering, not even an implication that he is the devil, tempting people away from God.

⁸The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”

This is formulaic, echoing the words that open the book. God pointing him out sets the stage for what is to come.

 ⁹Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Satan sets the stage for a presupposition connecting material wealth and faith. God has blessed Job’s work, multiplied his possessions, all with a fence around him to protect him. Bad things do not happen to Job, so of course he fears God.

 ¹¹But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 

Thus the challenge is issued. Job’s faith is tied to his blessings. Cut that tie and Job will do what he always fears his children will, curse God.

¹²The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

God accepts the challenge, but only against his blessings. Job will taste poverty but he will maintain his health. Note how God has put all that Job has into the hands of Satan.

¹³One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, ¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, ¹⁵and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 

The Sabeans are mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. They seem to come from Arabia.

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

The servant presumes that God is responsible for the natural disaster even though Satan has been set up as the agent for what is happening.

 ¹⁷While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 

The Chaldeans come from the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Both they and the Sabeans are more distant nations to the borders of Israel.

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, ¹⁹and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

The status of the children is reiterated at the beginning to set them up as the ultimate tragedy aimed at Job. Note how the events alternate between man-made assaults and ‘natural’ disasters.

²⁰Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. ²¹He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” ²²In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong-doing.

Tearing his robe and shaving his head, these are signs of mourning in the Bible, that is what Job has undertaken in the light of these disasters. And yet he remains faithful to the Lord, worshiping and blessing the name of the Lord. It may be a very embittered blessing that he offers, but he stands in the Lord, defying Satan’s expectations.

2One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ²The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

This opening to the Divine Council parallels the opening to the first council.

 ³The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.” 

Again, God uses the same formula to describe Job. But there is a distinct sense of God saying “I told you so” when he speaks of Satan’s failure to turn Job against the Lord.

⁴Then Satan answered the Lord, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. ⁵But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” ⁶The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”

If not the riches, then his health. ‘All that people have they will give to save their lives’. Threaten Job’s life and a curse will be forthcoming. God permits him to threaten, but not to take his life.

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. ⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” 

It is his wife, the other party affected by all that Satan has done to their material possessions and their family, who questions Job’s integrity. Notice how anybody else who might be affected by this divine wager is outside of consideration. The feelings of the wife are not counted in this discussion at all. When restoration comes, Job’s children and his servants are not considered as human beings but just as tokens to count score as everything is given back to Job.

¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

At first glance, this might seem a summary dismissal of his wife as a woman, and therefore foolish. But it is deeper than that. In the book of Proverbs, the foolish woman and the wise woman are contrasted one with another, one leading to and the other from God. She seems to be just another piece of the story that points back to Job. All the things that Satan has done are to draw this curse from Job. It fits the narrative that a human voice would tell him to do so as well. Curse God and die. End it now.

But Job’s words speak to the heart of the book, Shall we receive the good and not receive the bad? Both are from God.

And Job does not sin with his lips. But I cannot help but wonder what thoughts and feelings were running through Job’s mind and heart. Sin would come from the expression of those thoughts and feelings as a curse against God.

Contrast this to what Jesus says in the latter portions of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. It is not just about what the person does, but what they feel. The one who hates their brother is a murderer. The one who looks at another woman with lust in the heart is an adulterer. That is different from Job, where the sin would come from the lips, from the expression of the curse out loud, instead of from within.

Job Notes: 25 Day Reading Cycle of Book of Job

 First Presbyterian Church of Perth Amboy           October 2022

1)     Job 1:1-2:10            Setting the Stage

a.    Job is introduced as a man of devotion and blessed material reward. In the Divine Council, he becomes the subject of discussion between God and Satan. From that discussion, Satan reduces Job to infirmed poverty.

2)     Job 2:11-3:26          Job’s Lament

a.    Three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come to comfort and condole with Job. Job cries out in his anguish, seeking “Why?”

3)     Job 4:1-5:27            The first Speech of Eliphaz

4)     Job 6:1-7:21            Job’s Response

5)     Job 8:1-22               The first Speech of Bildad

6)     Job 9:1-10:22          Job’s Response

7)     Job 11:1-20             The first Speech of Zophar

8)     Job 12:1-14:22        Job’s Response

9)     Job 15:1-35             The second speech of Eliphaz

10)        Job 16:1-17:16     Job’s Response

11)        Job 18:1-21          The second speech of Bildad

12)        Job 19:1-29          Job’s Response

13)        Job 20:1-29          The second speech of Zophar

14)        Job 21:1-34          Job’s Response

15)        Job 22:1-20          The third speech of Eliphaz

16)        Job 23:1-24:25     Job’s Response

17)        Job 25:1-6            The third speech of Bildad

18)        Job 26:1-28:26     Job’s Response

19)        Job 29:1-31:40     Job’s Summary and “Closing Argument”

20)        Job 32:1-33:33     Elihu Steps In

a.    Not mentioned before, Elihu seems to be a young man who was just ‘observing’ but feels the need to speak.

21)        Job 34:1-35:16     Elihu con’t: Defending God

22)        Job 36:1-37:24     Elihu con’t: Request Job Consider God

23)        Job 38:1-40:2       God Speaks

a.    God speaks powerfully with a brief response from Job

24)        Job 40:3-42:6       God Speaks a second time

a.    Job responds with repentance

25)        Job 42:7-16          Conclusion and Epilogue

a.    Job intercedes for his friends and his life of material blessing is restored by God.

Rev. Peter Hofstra