This week we are continuing our study in the book of Job, and will do so through the next few weeks, and then return to the book of Genesis. Many scholars believe that the book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible and occurs somewhere during the period of, or just before, the patriarch Abraham. We will focus on the dialogue between Job and his friends after his great affliction had begun, and we will dissect what they were saying with the gift of hindsight.

Defending our faith and developing a Biblical worldview based on our understanding of God’s Word takes time and practice, and must be part of a lifetime commitment we make to the LORD. It should form our purpose and identity in everyday life as we grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, modeling Him to our family, friends and neighbors. As Christians, it is more important than ever to know what we believe, and why we believe it, and then apply that to who we are on a consistent basis, and this can only be done if we know Jesus and what His Word teaches.

All class sessions include a time for prayer and reflection, a presentation, and a Bible study section. You will find the presentation overview and Bible study questions below, with basic answers for your review and, or to use as a leader’s guide.

Watch this week’s presentation:

 

Presentation

Foundations Bible Study: The Book of Job Chapters 4-14

Review and Reflection

At your table groups, do the following:

1. Prayer cards: Take a minute and write your name on the index card provided, and add any special prayer request you might have – Place your card in the prayer box, and pick one up at the end of class.
2. Review: Reflect on the hermeneutics of Job: Author-Audience-Dating- Purpose – Context for Chapters 1-3 
3. Focus Verse: Job 19:25

From Genesis through Revelation, the Bible is all about Jesus!

“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” 

Job 19:25 (ESV)

Bible Study

Step #3: Chapter Reading for Context – What does it say?

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Discuss (summarize) the chapters

Step #4: Interpretation Questions – What does it mean?

1. Who were the three people that came to talk to Job after Satan had afflicted him? List a few of the good things they did to help Job, and some of the bad things they said or did that actually hurt Job in the first round of conversations.
2. How did Job respond to each of his friends’ comments or accusations?
3. Also, for each section we study look for the two foundational interpretation points: 1) How do we see God’s character and His teachings; and 2) How does it point towards Jesus?
4.  Step five – Application: How do I use what I have learned so far?

Step #4: Interpretation Questions – What does it mean?

1. Who were the three people that came to talk to Job after Satan had afflicted him? List a few of the good things they did to help Job, and some of the bad things they said or did that actually hurt Job in the first round of conversations.
2. How did Job respond to each of his friends’ comments or accusations?

Eliphaz Speaks:  Main points –

Ch. 4

• Eliphaz starts by complimenting Job for helping others
• He then says that if someone is innocent, they would not be afflicted like those who are not upright
• He then says he had a vision and was asked: “Can mortal man be in the right before God; can a man be pure before his Maker?” He implies from his vision that the clay (man) whose foundation is in the dust dies without wisdom because man is lesser even than the angels who are also judged by God (implying that Job is a fool)

Ch. 5

• He asks: Is there any creature on earth or in heaven that Job can appeal to? Implying that no one will listen because he is guilty
• He tells Job that he needs to accept his circumstances as God’s reproof in order to be delivered
• Eliphaz also says that one is blessed if God reproves him so he should not despise the discipline he is receiving from God, therefore, if Job accepts his discipline God will spare him and he will live to a ripe old age

Job Responds:  Main points –

Ch. 6

• Job says that his suffering is great (and the terrors of God are against him)
• Job wants God to crush (kill) him, and he doesn’t understand why God hasn’t done so
• Job says “he has not denied the words of God” meaning he hasn’t held any sin back
• Job says he is pouring out his complaint before God and his friends assume wrongly that his words reveal the need for them to rebuke him
• Job directly asserts his innocence to his friends, and wants vindication

Ch. 7

• Job continues to lament his situation, describing the horrors of his suffering and pain
• In verse 7:12 he turns his complaint towards God, and begs him to leave him alone, pardon him and/or put an end to his life

Continue reading for step three Context

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Discuss (summarize) the chapters

Bildad speaks:  Main points –

Ch. 8

• Bildad rebukes Job and says God would not pervert justice, so Job is guilty, and so were his kids
• Job should confess and plead for mercy, then God would help him
• He says history has shown God to be consistent, and therefore if Job was blameless God would not have rejected him

Job Responds:  Main points –

Ch. 9

• Job says, “how can a man be just before God?” – In part, he is agreeing with the core of Bildad’s statement
• Job gives a lot of legal terms, but there is no one to arbitrate or represent his case before God (thus the need for a savior = Jesus!)
• Job continues to lament before God the suffering he is experiencing in his life, appealing to the notion that he is unfairly being afflicted
• Job says “I am blameless”, unknowingly echoing God’s description of him in the beginning (1:8; 2:3)

Ch. 10

• Job directly turns his plea toward God and asks why He condemns him and why He contends against him
• Job affirms God’s creation of him from clay (dirt) and that God has, up to now, preserved his spirit and taken care of him
• Yet Job is at a loss to understand God’s purpose and lays out his lament in detail, asking why God had not just let him die where he might find some rest

Continue reading for step three Context

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Discuss (summarize) the chapters

Zophar speaks:  Main points –

Ch. 11

• Zophar accuses Job of foolish babbling and talk, and that he has no right to try to silence them (the friends); he should repent
• Zophar accuses Job of being guilty and that God “exacts of you less than your guilt deserves” (exact opposite of what Job had said), and that God should punish him even more because of it
• Zophar proports to know God’s purposes and thus speaks for Him, telling Job he should prepare his heart and put his iniquity far away (repent), then he could be vindicated, otherwise he will suffer the final fate of the wicked

Job Responds:  Main points –

Ch. 12

• Here Job gives one of his longest responses of the dialogues, showing his growing frustration with their claims against him, and their claims to wisdom
• Job sarcastically states that his friends’ wisdom will die with them, as though they alone were wise, yet he also says “I am not inferior to you”, showing they are equal as mortal men before God
• He compares himself to those of folly in that he is now a “laughingstock” whereas he used to be well respected, but they are at peace even though their folly is known: Righteous vs. wicked (this, we know from hindsight is only temporary)
• Job speaks of God’s hand being in control of all things, from beasts to humans, to the functions of the world, to rulers and nations as they rise and then fall

Ch. 13

• Job continues and repeats “what you know I know”, and directs his desire to argue his case towards God
• Job calls his friends liars and worthless physicians (misdiagnosed him), and wants them to keep silent since they presume to speak for God, but they could not possibly be able to (they misrepresented Him)
• In v. 15-16 Job says his hope is in God, and he wants to see God face to face – his plea to present his case continues…

Ch. 14

• Job continues with his lament, citing how short life really is, from birth to death, and he wants God to look away from afflicting him since he knows God is in control of all things
• Job talks about death being the end of man (he does not seem to understand eternal life), yet he questions in v. 14: If a man dies, shall he live again?
• Job does see a tree that is cut down can sprout again, and says therefore is there a chance at renewal? (a pointer towards Jesus and the potential of a savior Gn. 3:15), yet he seems to suggest God is eroding his hope away through suffering and eventual death

Notes from LAB: Eliphaz appeals to a night vision; Bildad appeals to tradition (of the fathers before); Zophar focuses on repentance from pride and presumption to know how God works – all of them will be rebuked by God in the end.

Good Points

Friends:

• All three did right by Job when they first came and sat silently with him
• Eliphaz starts by complimenting Job for helping others, and then it ends there
• Bildad says history shows God to be consistent (God is true to His Word)
• Zophar 0

Job:

• Job is right in pointing out all that he has suffered, and asks for understanding from his friends, and turns to God to lament and ask why
• Job affirms God’s creation of him from the dirt, and it is God that preserves him, yet he is honest about not understanding why this has happened to him
• Job affirms that God is in control of all things
• Job states that he is not inferior in wisdom and knowledge to his friend
• Job continues to state that his hope is in God

Bad Points

Friends:

• Eliphaz says that if someone is innocent, they would not be afflicted, therefore Job is guilty; he also tells Job to accept his punishment in order to be delivered – we know that is not true, and because of the “Fall” all are guilty and worthy of punishment, but for God’s mercy and grace through the sacrifice of His son, all would be punished and perish forever. Eliphaz also references a vision that is not explicitly from God (who’s it from?)
• Bildad says Job is guilty, and so were his kids, and if he would confess God would help him
• Zophar says that God should punish Job even more, because God exacts less of you than your guilt actually is; he also presumes to know God’s purposes and tells Job to prepare his heart to be vindicated, otherwise he will suffer the final fate of the wicked

Job:

• Job continually claims that he is innocent, but we know that no human is without sin, even if he is considered to be upright and righteous among men
• Job wants God to kill him – he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of life after death
• Job says there is no one to represent his case before God (ultimately, he does have that person in Jesus)

3.  For each section we study, look for the two foundational interpretation points: a) How do we see God’s character and His teachings; and b) How does it point towards Jesus?

• God is silent throughout this dialogue between Job and his friends
• The teacher is always silent during the test – In hindsight we see God’s sovereign hand in all this just like a teacher who is working with and through His child and student

       b) How does it point towards Jesus?

• We see a need for the hope in a Savior; the fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 promise
• We see a veiled picture of Jesus as the ultimate Redeemer and the one who can present a case before the Father in Job’s defense
• There is a picture of Jesus in Job, in that his friends and all those he knows and love, have forsaken him

4.  Step five – Application: How do I use what I have learned so far?

• Answers can vary, but might include…

-learning to sit in silence and mourn with others without talking can bring comfort

-trying to explain pain and suffering from our human experiences and limited knowledge can bring more pain and suffering upon that person

-be careful not to speak for God

-we have the gift of hindsight with God’s Word being available for us to reference today, they did not

HOMEWORK: The Book of Job – Chapters 15-31

• Read, for step three context, Job chapters 15-31
• Go deeper for step four, Interpretation, by answering the study questions for these chapters…
  1. Go through the conversations, as in the previous chapters, and list the main points Job’s friends make
  2. Do the same for Job’s responses
  3. Include good and bad points they all make
  4. For each section we study look for the two foundational interpretation points: 1) How do we see God’s character and His teachings; and 2) How does it point towards Jesus?
  5. Step five – Application: How do I use what I have learned so far?

Please continue to join us each week for Foundations Bible Study and the book of Job!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

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Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15