Book of Job: Overview and Background: The Book of Job is believed to be one of the oldest books in the Bible. Job lived roughly in the same time period as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This would put the time of the writing of this book at around 2,100 B.C. or 4,000 years ago. The author is believed to be Moses or perhaps even Solomon because of the writing style used by both men. The Book of Job should almost be required as the first book of the Bible to read after the gospels because it accurately describes the nature of God. The greatest challenge for the new believer and the Christian today is to have a good understanding of the sovereignty of God in the details, events and circumstances of their lives. Without a good and solid understanding of God’s grace, sovereignty and omnipotence, a Christian begins to interpret the events of life according to an incomplete knowledge of the nature of God. This can represent faulty logic, unclear thinking, mis-interpretation of the events of life and ultimately, bad theology. The story of this man who dearly loved God in the first two chapters alone, give us a wonderful picture of God’s love for Job. God knows what He is doing in our lives, even in the darkest days that we face. Psalm 30:5 “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” The hardest but the best thing we can do in times of uncertainty is to trust in the One who created us and who has a great plan for those who trust in Him. Isaiah 40:28-31” Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” This is God’s promise to those who wait on Him and who trust in His love, grace and mercy

 

Key Verses for the Book of Job: Job 1:20-22 “Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he 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.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” Job 2:10 “But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

 
Job’s story and life begins with the following facts found in the first two chapters:

1) God loved Job: Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

2) Satan hated Job and wanted to see him sin against God. Job 1:9-11 “So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

3) God allows Satan to attack Job Job 1:12 “And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

4) In spite of Job losing everything he loved, he refused to curse God Job 1:20-21 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he 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.” 22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

5) God is proud of Job and brags to Satan about Job’s strength Job 2:3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

6) God allows Satan to attack Job again Job 2:6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”

7) Satan uses Job’s wife to attack him Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

8) Job resists the attack by Satan and refuses to curse God Job 2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

 
Chapter 3 Overview: As the bad news about the great loss of Job travels his three friends come to comfort him. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Job’s three friends spend the first week just listening, mourning and comforting Job. Not one word was spoken by them for they saw that Job’s sorrow was very great. Job, overcome by grief now begins to speak, complain and curse the day that he was born. Job’s anxiety and fear show how deeply he is bothered by the discouraging events that have happened in his life. His words begin a long and drawn out process from chapters four through thirty-seven of self justification and then attacks from his three friends on why God must be punishing Job. As we move into chapter four we will see that sometimes it is better to just observe, support and to pray for anyone we know who is experiencing suffering. Our judgments toward those in suffering, on why God is allowing the event to happen, can sometimes only show our ignorance of the ways and reasons of God.

 
Job Deplores His Birth: Job 3:1-10 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job spoke, and said: 3 “May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ 4 May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. 5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it. 6 As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. 7 Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! 8 May those curse it who curse the day,Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. 9 May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, and not see the dawning of the day; 10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

Job 3:11-19 “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest 14 With kings and counselors of the earth,Who built ruins for themselves, 15 Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver; 16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together;They do not hear the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there,and the servant is free from his master.

Job 3:20-26 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,and life to the bitter of soul, 21 Who long for death, but it does not come,and search for it more than hidden treasures; 22 Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings pour out like water. 25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. 26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”

Personal Application: Job Stands Strong Through Suffering ! Job is greatly blessed and loved by God. The accuser of all believers, since the Garden of Eden, Satan, is jealous of Job and taunts God to allow him to attack Job. One of the greatest tests of history unfolds as the universe watches the outcome. God purposes are God’s purposes, not always known or seen to us, but they are God’s purposes none-the-less. Today, over 4,000 years later we now understand that God was allowing disaster in Job’s life perhaps as a powerful lesson and example for Christians today. God’s love is unchanging, unfathomable, higher then the heavens for His children. God’s ways are beyond our finite mind and understanding of events in our lives. Of this one we can be sure; God loves us deeply, enough to send His Son to die on a cross for our sins, that we might be reconciled back to God and forgiven for any sin we have ever committed. That is the depth of God’s love for you. John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” God’s love, demonstrated for you !