Day 1. Job 1:1-10:22

Day 1. Job 1:1-10:22

My daily reading for today is Job 1:1-10:22, but I really feel that it may be helpful to give some of my perspectives on the unity and the theme of the book which I have got from previous readings.

The book of Job is a book of rich wisdom which describes the suffering and perseverance of the man Job through difficult circumstances. In describing these things it speaks questions which we have all likely to have had at some point, such as 'why do people suffer?' and 'is suffering a judgement from God for sin?'. The book should be read respectfully, and with an honest desire to understand it as it is often criticized by people for different reasons, and may be hard sometimes even for Christians to read. However, I do believe that any Christian confused about the different interpretations that they may have heard, does not need to worry about these things, as God speaks to us through His Word as we read and seek to understand it through prayer and apply it to our lives. A reading through this book in search of a greater understanding of God and how one might better serve Him is an entirely appropriate attitude to have, as God has chosen especially to reveal Himself through His Word as we seek Him and often hides true wisdom from the so-called 'wise', in order to show that true wisdom is found only in God Himself, and that true wisdom really is just the same as to have humility before Him.

This book is difficult to summarize quickly, as I believe it has applications as far as Natural Law, Science, Revelation, Providence, personal conscience, relationships between people, History, Sin, self control, Psychology, Redemption and Forgiveness and the supernatural world(e.g. Satan, demons, angels and God). I include these things, because I hope that some students reading this may be prompted to look more closely at the book when they see how applicable it is to the rest of their lives, studies and research.

Another factor that makes the book of Job difficult to analyze, is that as well as having many applications, the message is not really ever directly stated, Another factor that makes it difficult to analyze in addition to the depth of its theology and multitude of its applications, is that it is presented not as a set of propositional statements about God or life or wisdom, but primarily in the form of a back and forth dialogue between Job, four other men (who try to counsel Job when his children, servants and property are destroyed) and God. Like many other works of literature, the meaning is presented by taking the book as a whole, and the speeches of any one character are not sufficient for understanding the book as many of the things that the false counselors said were actually true, despite the use of that wisdom being misplaced and inaccurate.

Despite the complications, I believe that the biggest theme of the book is really quite clear. Near the end of the book God speaks to Job, and God commends Job for his endurance(as well as rebuking, but this I think is less serious), and rebukes Jobs friends, whose counsel did more harm than good; I think that through this episode, it is clear that the books primary message is about the goodness of Gods character, His wisdom and His righteousness, and about a man who exerted perseverance in believing this, and became an example of faith for all of us to follow(He was regarded this way in the book of James in the New Testament in James 5:11).

I do believe however, that the emphasis on the goodness of Job can be exaggerated. Although we are to be encouraged by the perseverance of other believers (Hebrews 11:1-12:2) the book presents Job as very much subordinate to God, and the encouragement we get to persevere comes not just through hearing of the perseverance of another, as it is possible that stories of great perseverance and heroism can discourage us if their example seems beyond our own capabilities. I believe that the primary encouragement we get, is not just from looking at Jobs perseverance, but by looking at the same thing Job himself looked at, that is, that despite our experience of the world around us, the character of our Lord is good. It is knowing, understanding and believing in the goodness of God, that gives us hope to persevere through trial. For Job however, the goodness, beauty, love, and grace of God were much less clear than they are today to us, because although Job was a worshiper of God, Job had not heard about Jesus who provided us with the clearest display of the love of God. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus provides us with this more full expression, as he is called the 'radiance of the glory of God', this is the same God whom Job worshipped. This is described in the book of Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1-3: 'Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.3He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, '. The gospel writer John also tells us that Jesus provides us with more full revelation of God 'For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. '(John 1:17).

The structure of the book is basically as follows:

Chapters 1-2 of the book show Satan coming to God to request permission to harm Job in because he seems to wish to see Jobs misery, and to see Job curse or despise God.

Chapters 3-31 present the speeches between Job and three counsellors/friends. This can be further divided into three sections, consisting of three cycles of the speeches of Jobs counsellors, and their responses.

Chapters 32-37 present the speeches of a fourth contemporary of Job whose name is Elihu

Chapters 38-42 describe God finally speaking to Job and His friends, Jobs responses, and the Jobs physical restoration.

The reading today included

• introductory prologue(1:1-2:10)
• speeches from the first two of Jobs friends(4:1-5:27, 8:1-22)
• Jobs responses to each of those friends(6:1-7:21,9:1-10:22)

I will leave a concluding thought for those reading through Job:

I find it very interesting that although Jobs friends spoke things about God which would perhaps commonly be said in Church today, and in fact may even be true in some sense, in the mouths of people who were unwise, this so called wisdom, turned into lies about God, and a further discomfort to Job. It is also interesting to see that the friend who seemed to be the primary spokesperson Eliphaz(he always speaks before his two friends, and his speeches are longer), recognized this when he spoke of how God turns around the so-called wisdom of  the self-confident(as opposed to having humility and confidence in God) person back upon himself. 

'He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.' (Job 5:13). 

This fact is indeed true, we know this because even Paul quotes this in support of showing how the wisdom of God is with those who are humble and weak before God, rather than those who 'thinks that he is wise in this age'.

Paul says

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

(1 Corinthians 3:18-19)

Despite, however, the fact that this saying of Eliphaz appears correct, he himself was an example of the 'wily' or 'fool' who becomes a victim of his own so-called wisdom. Although he knew of this principle, he himself was unable to avoid it due to his lack of humble trust in God.

(NB I updated a correction of this where I had 'Elihu' in places where I should have had 'Eliphaz')