Job

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[MSB, 693-6; SOTI, 503-15]

Discussion: “What happens to babies who die? If God is just and good, why does he let
innocent people suffer? How can the non-believer prosper? Why the casual victims of war
and terrorism? Why is the child dying of cancer?”1

A. Introduction
• Title: “Job” (1:1[54x]; Ezek. 14:14, 20]
• Date
i. The Events: c. 1800-1500 B.C.
1. The Lands
a. Uz (1:1 w/ Gen. 22:21)
b. Buz (32:1 w/ Gen. 22:21)
c. Sheba (1:15 w/ Genesis 25:3)
2. Patriarchal Life (Offering of sacrifices with no priest) (1:5)
3. Wealth is measured in terms of flocks and servants.
4. Job’s Life Span (- 140 years. cf. 42:16; cf. Gen. 25:7; 35:28; 47:28)
ii. Authorship: No one knows who wrote the book, or exactly when it was
written, but the story is set in the days of the patriarchs.2

B. Major Themes
• The Limits to Retribution Theology3 (John 9:2-3).
i. The book does not begin to explain all the reasons for suffering in the
world.
ii. It rejects the retribution theory of the three friends as the only
explanation of the origin of suffering.
iii. Personal sin is not the only reason for suffering in this world.
• The “Righteous” Man Job (1:1, 8; 2:3) who became a Suffering Servant of
Yahweh (1:8; 2:3; 42:7, 8)

1 Theodicy is the attempt to justify God’s way in the world. Cf. Questions above (If God is all powerful…
why…?
2 Job belongs to the days before the priesthood and organized religion or to a region where these things were not

needed. He reminds us very much of Abraham: a man of the east.

3 “Goodness results in prosperity and wickedness leads to suffering. Good things happen to good people and bad

things happen to bad people (The problem arises when good people suffer. The Mesopotamian authors sought
to explain the problem by asserting that the righteous person does not exist. The person who suffers does so
because of crimes he has committed. Ultimately the Mesopotamian solution to the problem of suffering is to
place the blame on the sufferer, who can only accept the fate hurled upon him or her by the unfathomable
gods.” (Arnold & Beyer, 268).
 • The Sovereignty of God

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C. Bibliography
• Exegetical: Hartley, The Book of Job (NICOT)
• English Interpretation: Alden, Job (NAC)
Anderson, Job (TOTC)
• Expositional: Atikinson, The Message of Job (BST)

D. Outline (Arnold & Beyer, 269)

• Prologue: Job’s Suffering (1:1-2:13)
i. The Hero Job (1:1-5)
ii. The First Divine Council Meeting (1:6-12)
iii. The First Disasters (1:13-19)
iv. Job’s Reaction (1:20-22)
v. The Second Divine Council Meeting (2:1-5)
vi. Job’s Illness (2:6-8)
vii. Job’s Reaction (2:9-10)
viii. The Comforters (2:11-13)
• Dialogue (3:1-27:23)
i. Job’s Opening Statement (3:1-26)
ii. First Cycle of Speeches (4:1-14:22)
iii. Second Cycle of Speeches (15:1-21:34)
iv. Third Cycle of Speeches (22:1-27:23)
• Hymns on Wisdom (28:1-28)
i. Only God knows why things are the way they are
• Job’s Oration (29:1-31:40)
i. The Way It was (29:1-25)
ii. The War It Is (30:1-31)
iii. Job’s Claim to Innocence (31:1-40)
• Elihu’s Speeches (32:1-37:24)
i. Introduction (32:1-5)
ii. First Speech (32:6-33:33)
iii. Second Speech (34:1-37)
iv. Third Speech (35:1-16)
v. Fourth Speech (36:1-37:24)
• The Lord’s Speeches (38:1-42:6)
i. First Speech (38:1-39:30)
ii. Second Speech (40:1-42:9)
• Epilogue (42:7-17)

E. Selected Interpretive Problems

• The Source of the Wisdom Discourse in Chapter 28 [MSB, 724-5]
 i. Job (Alden (7); BKC]

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ii. The Author of the Book
1. The Original Position [Hartley; Anderson; Atkinson; EBC]
2. Presently Misplaced
• The Sickness of Job [MSB, 699, 704]
i. Smallpox
ii. Elephantiasis
iii. Pemphigus Feluccas [BKC]
iv. No Exact Diagnosis Possible [Hartley; Alden; Anderson; EBC]
• Elihu [MSB. 728-34]
i. “Elihu is never addressed in any response either by God in the epilogue
or by Job within the dialogue.” (Brevard S. Childs)
1. Elihu speeches make no reference to the context provided by the
prologue.
2. The epilogue does not take any note of Elihu’s presence.
ii. No Positive or Negative Contribution [Alden]
iii. The Spokesman for God
iv. A Further Human Counselor [Anderson; EBC]
v. A Layer of the Foundation for Yahweh’s Words [Hartley; Atkinson;
BKC]
• Job’s Wrong (42:6) [MSB, 739]
i. Previous Hidden Sin
ii. Sin in the Suffering (i.e., Pride in his “innocence”) and a Changed
Attitude [Hatley; Alden; EBC; BKC]
iii. No Sin, But a Changed Attitude [Anderson (?); Atkinson (?)]
iv. No Sin, But God’s Consultation

F. Content and Theology of the Book

Introduction
• Fear of the Lord is what it means to live under Yahweh’s Lordship.
• What does it look like in everyday life to live under God’s lordship?
• “God rules the world”, Says Dempster, “but his rule is different from what the world
expects.”
• Wisdom recognizes that life is complex and defies simplistic answer.
• Monolithic answers that masquerade as wisdom are foolish.
• We are to trust in the Lord even though we don’t have all the answers.
Prologue and Epilogue
• Job’s righteousness which seems to fit Proverbs since he was rich (1:1-5).
• Curtain pulled back on heaven: Satan charges Job with fearing God for his own
welfare.
 • The Lord allows Satan to take all that he has, and yet Job praises to God (1:6-22).

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• Ch. 2 – Second attack from Satan: this time on Job himself, and again job doesn’t sin.
• Even though Job doesn’t understand larger scheme he brings glory to God in his
suffering.
• We learn about the complexity of evil in motivations and actions of Satan over
against God.
• The epilogue indicates job, showing his suffering wasn’t due to his sin (42:7).
• Reaffirms Job’s goodness from the prologue.
• The Lord sovereign over evil, “all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him”
(42:11). Yahweh did not stand helplessly by which Satan worked.
• Job’s restoration doesn’t mean it will always be such in this life, but ultimately it will
be well for the righteous.
Prologue
Main Points.
• Job wishes he would have died at birth. He is not a stone or block of wood. “Have you
eyes of flesh? Do you see as a man see?” (10:4)
• Friends say that he has sinned and if he repents his life will be restored.
• Job wants a meeting with God, but he is afraid of God, and so he wants God to
remove his frightening terror from him.
• Von Rad, “Job asserts in the first place that he is unaware of having committed such a
grievous sin as could explain the severity of his suffering. It is also clear that with this
assertion he is not intending to declare that he is absolutely sinless.”
• Job realizes that the wicked often prosper! Cf. ch.12 and 21
• The more Job defends himself, the more angrier his friends get and the more they
pronounce him to be a sinner.
• Job charges God with injustice and wronging him (19:1ff).
• Job says his friends have a limited knowledge of God’s ways that are beyond us
(ch.26).
• Ch.28: True wisdom is the fear of the lord, and it can’t be discovered by human
beings. There is no nicely packaged answer to suffering.
• Job looks back on the good old days fondly and strongly emphasizes his innocence
(ch. 29:31)
Elihu’s Contribution
• Nothing said about him in the epilogue in contrast to the friends.
• Others think he just repeats what the friends say.
• Other thinks he is fundamentally right.
• I suggest he is partly wrong and partly right.
• He rightly says Job justifies himself rather than God, but recognizes the friends
haven’t answered him.
 • Job has erred in questioning God’s justice.

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• On the other hand, Elihu himself says Job is being disciplined for sin like his friends
(33:14-36;21).
• He is over the top in saying Job is a scoffer and rebellious. But he also recognizes
God’s greatness in doing what we can’t fully understood (ch. 37) anticipation of God’s
speech.
God’s Responses to Job
• Job wanted to meet God and he got his meeting.
• Job’s commendation in the epilogue must be balanced by what is said here.
• The Lord questions Job about the creation of the world, commanding the dawn,
understanding the heights of the earth, the depths of the sea, light, and darkness.
• Does Job control the weather, rain and snow and cold?
• Does Job rule over the heavens? Lead the stars out at night? Provide food for lions and
ravens? Know when mountain goats and deer give birth? Does he know the freedom
of the wild donkey and the strength of the wild ox, or the speed and stupidity of the
ostrich, the majesty and bravery of the horse, or the glory of the soaring eagle?
• God’s point is that there are mysteries in life that Job as a mere creature doesn’t and
can’t understand.
• Fundamental complaint with Job: He condemns God and defends his own rightness
(40:8). Job is telling God how to run the world.
• If he is so strong, he should humble the proud. Behemoth stands for “the wilderness
and ferocity of the animal world” (Garrett).
• Leviathan is no plaything and no match for any human being.
• Leviathan is incomparable 41:33-34
• “Much of this could be taken as a hyperbolic description of the crocodile or whale, but
further description makes even this interpretation unfeasible. Leviathan breathes fire!
Smoke comes out of his nostrils and sparks fly when he sneezes. His breath can
kindle coals (41:18, 21). It is pointless to try to explain this as merely a metaphorical
way of saying the Leviathan is ferocious; every other fierce creature is described in
terms that although sometimes exaggerated are nevertheless recognizable and within
the realm of nature. Leviathan is supernatural, Leviathan is a dragon.”
• Leviathan can stand for a demonic creature is confirmed by other references (Job 3:8;
Isa. 27:1; Ps. 74:13).
• Fyall says about Satan’s role in evil, “Even now – and this part of the mystery of
providence – he cannot act except with God’s permission.”
• Garrett, “God’s answer is this: ‘I am the only one who can manage all the chaotic
forces of life and who can bring about the ultimate triumph of righteousness, and I
know what I am doing. If this has meant some suffering on your part, you must
understand that this does not mean that I am unfair or that you have the right to
challenge any justice. I will do what must be done to defeat Leviathan and all the
powers of chaos and evil. This may sometimes require suffering on the part of the
 righteous, but I will bring all things to a just conclusion. Your role is simply to trust

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in my wisdom and goodness.”
Job recognizes the sovereign power of the Lord (42:2), and acknowledges that he spoke of
matters beyond his comprehension (42:3). Job does not have the capacity to rule the world or
to inform God about how it should be run. Now that Job sees God as he enjoys his presence,
he repents (42:5-6) – “Now my eyes have seen you”! What makes life worth living is not the
absence of suffering but a relationship with the living God.