Job

Yes, I finally finished Job. I know it took awhile, but give me a break. It's a hard book and I'm leaving the country in less than a week. With that said, Job was very good. Good in a way that I did not expect. I will recap what happened in the book and then say what I think about it a little bit. And then probably in another post I will tell you why I am so confused right now. But first Job.

I'm sure most of you have heard the narrative part of this story. It's very popular and people like to use it all the time to make them feel okay about their suffering. The story starts out by telling about Job, a man in the land of Uz. The first descriptions of Job are that he is upright and blameless, he feared God and turned away from evil. That's a pretty lofty description. Next the writer talks about Job's wealth. This isn't going to be word for word so don't expect it to be. Next comes the famous scene with the Lord and Satan (or the Adversary). Now I'm not going to sit here and act like I know if this is really Satan or not. All I know is that one of the most well-versed Hebrew scholars in the country told my class that the Hebrew was actually "the satân" and that simply means the adversary. So there ya go.

Nevertheless, they basically make a bet about why Job fears God. God says it is because he is righteous; satan says it is just because of God's blessings. So God allows satan to take all his things from him and eventually plague him with sickness. Then there is this whole scene of Job talking to his three friends (and one young man who comes in at the end) about whether or not Job actually sinned to receive this pain.

Those are all good things and everyone talks about them, but what hit me was the theology in question. There are two main questions on the table that they all go back in forth with. The first is the obvious one that everyone remembers from Job: does God cause evil to happen to the righteous? The answer is obviously yes. In chapter 1, verse 21 Job says, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Immediately after that in verse 22 the writer says, "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." There is your answer right there. Job said that God caused this pain. The Holy Spirit-inspired author of the text immediately says that Job doesn't sin by saying this and also does not charge God with wrong. Which means that it is not wrong of God to cause pain. Something else that becomes obvious through this is God's control over circumstances. In here it is obvious that Satan or the satân or whoever, causes these things to happen. Job says that God caused them. Obviously something is off. But no. The writer says that Job is right in saying this. Therefore, satan causing it is the same thing as God causing it. This situation is very similar to the census of David in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. Whether he is Satan or just a servant of God who causes havoc, God has control over him.

The second question is the much more interesting one to me, because obviously it is the question that God is concerned with. He doesn't answer the other question. In God's whole loud yelling and challenging in chapters 38-41, He never gives Job and his friends the answer to their question. The question he answers arises in chapter 28. "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? (Job 28:12)" The writer answers the question just a few verses later by saying this, "And He (God) said to the man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding. (Job 28:28)'" This is the answer to the question of where is wisdom found. In God's speech He doesn't tell Job whether or not he sinned. He asks him if he has any wisdom or understanding. He shows him the things of God and says, "I will question you, and you make it known to me. (Job 38:2)" It's interesting that God's answer to where wisdom and understanding are found are the exact descriptions He gives for Job in chapter one.

That is what jumped off the pages to me in this book though. That God was more concerned with them thinking that they were wise then the question that they were debating. If you read the dialogue, you will notice the arrogance with which all of them talk. Especially Elihu, the young man that comes in at the end. There is so much pride in everything that they say. It was actually really convicting. Honestly, I totally felt like I sound like Elihu so much. That I would come in and rebuke the old men and say that wisdom is given by the Spirit, not in age. It was extremely convicting. I will talk about this more in my next post but it just kind of adds to the confusion.

The last thing I want to say is very important. In chapter 42, the Lord rebukes Job's friends. This is what he says to them, "you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (Job 42:8)" This is very important because a lot of what they say sounds right. The book I was reading said there is just enough truth in it to be dangerous. That is so true. Most of it sounds good, but it is not to be taken as theology. The dialogue is inspired and I believe it is true, but the content of the dialogue is not. God clearly states that so be careful when reading it. I know this is probably not the best description of Job that you have ever heard, but that's because I am a 20 year old college student, not a scholar. As much as was possible I tried to rely only on God's grace for the understanding of the story. The Fee and Stewart book was just to understand what was going on. I haven't watched the videos yet JR, but I plan to. I hope this was somehow encouraging, but mostly I hope it challenged you. Don't just read Job 1-2 and chapter 42. It's not the whole book. The middle matters. That's all. I love you all.

All for His glory,

Mitchell

P.S. Besides the content of the book I have to say this. That was some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read in my life. It really was something else. Try reading it out loud. You get the flow of the poetry a lot more.