Job 1 - 3 and Psalm 88
To understand the book of Job, we’ll want to keep these 6 points in mind:
1) Pay attention to the structure of the book. After the narrative in the first two chapters, Job speaks in chapter 3 to curse the day of his birth. Afterwards there is a cycle of conversations:
a) In the first cycle:
Eliphaz responds (Job 4 – 5), and Job answers him (Job 6 – 7);
Bildad responds (Job 8), and Job answers him (Job 9 – 10);
Zophar responds (Job 11), and Job answers him (Job 12 – 14).
b) In the second cycle, everyone speaks again in the same order:
Eliphaz (Job 15) and Job (Job 16 – 17);
Bildad (Job 18) and Job (Job 19);
Zophar (Job 20) and Job (Job 21).
c) In the third cycle, the conversation degenerates:
Eliphaz (Job 22) and Job (Job 23 – 24) speak;
Bildad speaks briefly (Job 25) and Job responds (Job 26 – 27). Zophar says nothing.
d) Job discourses on wisdom (Job 28) and justifies himself (Job 29 – 31).
e) Next, the youth Elihu talks… and talks, and talks… (Job 32 – 37)
f) Finally, Yahweh speaks (Job 38 – 41), then Job, Yahweh and the narrator respond (Job 42).
To prevent the book of Job from seeming like an incomprehensible mess of poetic words, locate your daily readings in their context with the rest of the book.
2) It is extremely important to remember that Job and his friends have no idea, ever, about the conversations between Yahweh and Satan in Job 1 – 2. They do not even find out about these conversations at the end of the book! They have no idea about how his trials are going to end in Job 42. Everyone (except Yahweh) is trying to understand Job’s tragedy and illness without ever having all the information. It is important to recognize this because:
a) It is the motor that drives the whole conversation. If Job and his friends knew about the conversations between Yahweh and Satan and the outcome of Job 42, there would be no story!
b) The same thing happens to us in our tragedies! We don’t know all of Yahweh’s thoughts on why we have to suffer… why He didn’t grant a longed-for healing… why He didn’t stop the death of another… why He didn’t give the blessing requested through prayer and fasting… The arguments of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu reflect our own attempts to understand our trials and tragedies without understanding the whole mind of Yahweh.
c) Notice how Job’s friends insist that he has sinned and that his sufferings are Yahweh’s punishment. They urge him to confess his sins and be restored to God. Instead, Job insists that he has not sinned and seeks a hearing with God to insist on his own righteousness.
3) Even though the theme of suffering is very important in this story, it is not the main theme of the book. The main theme is Job’s righteousness and above all, Yahweh’s justice / righteousness. The first chapters describe Job three times as a man: “Blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). His friends declare that he is not a righteous man because Yahweh has punished him. Job insists on his righteousness and questions Yahweh’s. Yahweh finally answers by defining righteousness / justice. The theme of suffering is important but secondary to the main theme, Yahweh’s righteousness and just dominion.
4) Appreciate the book’s overcharged language. Verse after verse expresses extreme emotions, striking symbols and language stretched to its limits. For example, Job laments the impossibility of justifying himself before God and even accuses Him, “If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me” (Job 9:30-31).
a) It would be enough to say: “If I wash myself and cleanse my hands,” but he chooses the purest and most effective cleaning agents, “with snow… with lye”.
b) Even that does not express enough – Job accuses Yahweh of doing the exact opposite, of plunging him into a pit of mud or tar.
c) And not only does He dirty Job, but He does it to the point where Job’s own clothing comes to consciousness, takes on emotions and despises him.
And there is no pause whatsoever in this overcharged expression of physical pain, emotional wounds and spiritual desperation that Job feels and everyone else reflects.
Today it’s said that if someone writes an email or text message in all capital letters, IT SEEMS LIKE HE IS SHOUTING AT HIS READER! If so, THEN THE ENTIRE BOOK OF JOB SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS! It is a book of powerful emotional expression; read and appreciate it accordingly.
5) None of the speakers is 100% accurate. Listen to Eliphaz, for example:
a) He describes God by saying, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end” (Job 5:13). The apostle Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 3:19; it is 100% true.
b) Shortly thereafter he says, “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17). Once again his statement is 100% true; we find exactly the same idea in Hebrews 12:5-6. But Eliphaz applies it incorrectly; he believes that Job’s suffering is due to God’s punishment. His saying is true, but his application is completely wrong.
c) Later he accuses Job: “Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities” (Job 22:5) and gives a long list of Job’s supposed sins. Completely wrong.
Notice that the same man, even in the same speech, can say what is correct, then say what is correct but apply it incorrectly, or say something completely false, and the narrator does not interrupt to help us discern the accuracy of any statement. And it’s the same with all five men who speak! As readers, we have to evaluate everything according to Yahweh’s words at the end in Job 38 – 42; this discourse is our ruler by which we measure everything else.
6) We know we have read the book of Job well if we finish our readings with a greater fear of Yahweh, in humility and worship like Job. His reaction will be ours too, if we understand along with Job what this book teaches about Yahweh’s righteousness and justice.
More specifically on the first three chapters: The narrative of the first two chapters is not difficult to understand. It is short, informative and concisely portrays Yahweh, Satan and Job. But the reader might be confused by hearing the man who said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21) suddenly become depressed and say, “Let the day perish on which I was born” (Job 3:3). What has happened? Why did he change so drastically?
Read Job 7:1-6 and realize that months of suffering and desperation have passed between Job 2:10 and his friends’ visit in 2:11. His reaction in 2:10 (“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”) has now been impacted by months of unrelenting suffering. Many Christians also face the first news of a personal tragedy or of devastating illness with declarations of great faith among the tears… but what will we be like in three months – or three years – of the same pain without relief? May we read Job’s desperation in chapter 3 with solemnity and fear, and may we realize that even the strongest amongst us could fall to this desperation, too.
1) Pay attention to the structure of the book. After the narrative in the first two chapters, Job speaks in chapter 3 to curse the day of his birth. Afterwards there is a cycle of conversations:
a) In the first cycle:
Eliphaz responds (Job 4 – 5), and Job answers him (Job 6 – 7);
Bildad responds (Job 8), and Job answers him (Job 9 – 10);
Zophar responds (Job 11), and Job answers him (Job 12 – 14).
b) In the second cycle, everyone speaks again in the same order:
Eliphaz (Job 15) and Job (Job 16 – 17);
Bildad (Job 18) and Job (Job 19);
Zophar (Job 20) and Job (Job 21).
c) In the third cycle, the conversation degenerates:
Eliphaz (Job 22) and Job (Job 23 – 24) speak;
Bildad speaks briefly (Job 25) and Job responds (Job 26 – 27). Zophar says nothing.
d) Job discourses on wisdom (Job 28) and justifies himself (Job 29 – 31).
e) Next, the youth Elihu talks… and talks, and talks… (Job 32 – 37)
f) Finally, Yahweh speaks (Job 38 – 41), then Job, Yahweh and the narrator respond (Job 42).
To prevent the book of Job from seeming like an incomprehensible mess of poetic words, locate your daily readings in their context with the rest of the book.
2) It is extremely important to remember that Job and his friends have no idea, ever, about the conversations between Yahweh and Satan in Job 1 – 2. They do not even find out about these conversations at the end of the book! They have no idea about how his trials are going to end in Job 42. Everyone (except Yahweh) is trying to understand Job’s tragedy and illness without ever having all the information. It is important to recognize this because:
a) It is the motor that drives the whole conversation. If Job and his friends knew about the conversations between Yahweh and Satan and the outcome of Job 42, there would be no story!
b) The same thing happens to us in our tragedies! We don’t know all of Yahweh’s thoughts on why we have to suffer… why He didn’t grant a longed-for healing… why He didn’t stop the death of another… why He didn’t give the blessing requested through prayer and fasting… The arguments of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu reflect our own attempts to understand our trials and tragedies without understanding the whole mind of Yahweh.
c) Notice how Job’s friends insist that he has sinned and that his sufferings are Yahweh’s punishment. They urge him to confess his sins and be restored to God. Instead, Job insists that he has not sinned and seeks a hearing with God to insist on his own righteousness.
3) Even though the theme of suffering is very important in this story, it is not the main theme of the book. The main theme is Job’s righteousness and above all, Yahweh’s justice / righteousness. The first chapters describe Job three times as a man: “Blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). His friends declare that he is not a righteous man because Yahweh has punished him. Job insists on his righteousness and questions Yahweh’s. Yahweh finally answers by defining righteousness / justice. The theme of suffering is important but secondary to the main theme, Yahweh’s righteousness and just dominion.
4) Appreciate the book’s overcharged language. Verse after verse expresses extreme emotions, striking symbols and language stretched to its limits. For example, Job laments the impossibility of justifying himself before God and even accuses Him, “If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me” (Job 9:30-31).
a) It would be enough to say: “If I wash myself and cleanse my hands,” but he chooses the purest and most effective cleaning agents, “with snow… with lye”.
b) Even that does not express enough – Job accuses Yahweh of doing the exact opposite, of plunging him into a pit of mud or tar.
c) And not only does He dirty Job, but He does it to the point where Job’s own clothing comes to consciousness, takes on emotions and despises him.
And there is no pause whatsoever in this overcharged expression of physical pain, emotional wounds and spiritual desperation that Job feels and everyone else reflects.
Today it’s said that if someone writes an email or text message in all capital letters, IT SEEMS LIKE HE IS SHOUTING AT HIS READER! If so, THEN THE ENTIRE BOOK OF JOB SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN CAPITAL LETTERS! It is a book of powerful emotional expression; read and appreciate it accordingly.
5) None of the speakers is 100% accurate. Listen to Eliphaz, for example:
a) He describes God by saying, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end” (Job 5:13). The apostle Paul quotes this in 1 Corinthians 3:19; it is 100% true.
b) Shortly thereafter he says, “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17). Once again his statement is 100% true; we find exactly the same idea in Hebrews 12:5-6. But Eliphaz applies it incorrectly; he believes that Job’s suffering is due to God’s punishment. His saying is true, but his application is completely wrong.
c) Later he accuses Job: “Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities” (Job 22:5) and gives a long list of Job’s supposed sins. Completely wrong.
Notice that the same man, even in the same speech, can say what is correct, then say what is correct but apply it incorrectly, or say something completely false, and the narrator does not interrupt to help us discern the accuracy of any statement. And it’s the same with all five men who speak! As readers, we have to evaluate everything according to Yahweh’s words at the end in Job 38 – 42; this discourse is our ruler by which we measure everything else.
6) We know we have read the book of Job well if we finish our readings with a greater fear of Yahweh, in humility and worship like Job. His reaction will be ours too, if we understand along with Job what this book teaches about Yahweh’s righteousness and justice.
More specifically on the first three chapters: The narrative of the first two chapters is not difficult to understand. It is short, informative and concisely portrays Yahweh, Satan and Job. But the reader might be confused by hearing the man who said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21) suddenly become depressed and say, “Let the day perish on which I was born” (Job 3:3). What has happened? Why did he change so drastically?
Read Job 7:1-6 and realize that months of suffering and desperation have passed between Job 2:10 and his friends’ visit in 2:11. His reaction in 2:10 (“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”) has now been impacted by months of unrelenting suffering. Many Christians also face the first news of a personal tragedy or of devastating illness with declarations of great faith among the tears… but what will we be like in three months – or three years – of the same pain without relief? May we read Job’s desperation in chapter 3 with solemnity and fear, and may we realize that even the strongest amongst us could fall to this desperation, too.
