This week we will finish our study in the book of Job, and then return to the book of Genesis next week. 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 continue to focus on the dialogue between Job and his friends, dissecting 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 on Job

Presentation

Foundations Bible Study: The Book of Job Chapters 32-42

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 what we have discussed and learned so far about the book of Job.
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?

Read, for step three context, Job chapters 32-42

Go deeper for step four, Interpretation, by answering the study questions for these chapters…

1. Who is this fourth friend, Elihu, and what does he have to say to Job and the others (chapters 32-37)?
2. What are some things we hear from God in these last few chapters; how do we see God’s character and His teachings come through this dialogue for both Job and his friends; and does anything point towards Jesus?
3. Step five – Application: How do I use what I have learned in this book?

Elihu finally Speaks:  Main points –

Ch. 32-37

Who is Elihu (“YHWH is God/he is God”)?

Elihu’s introduction includes…

• a reference to his father, Barachel (“may God bless” or ”God has blessed).

• his heritage, “Buzite”; (The name “Buzite” indicates he was from the land of Buz, a region generally believed to be in northern Arabia; it is also possible that he was a descendent of Buz who was the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother).

• his family, “Ram” (This Ram is often thought to be the same as Aram – see Genesis 22:21.

• he was much younger than all the friends and waited to give his speech.

• he is neither addressed in the prologue nor in a response from Job; nor is he mentioned in the LORD’s rebuke of Job and his friends.

What does he have to say?

• Elihu, in his anger, makes two important rebukes right away:

1. Job justified himself rather than God
2. Job’s friends had found no [good] answer, although they declared Job to be in the wrong

• In 32:8 and 33:4, he says “it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty that makes him understand” and “The Spirit of God has made me”.

• In chapter 32, he gives his background and reason for waiting to speak; ultimately with anger/passion since they had not come up with any wise answers.

• In chapter 33 he focuses on Job and implores him to listen to him; he suggests that God has spoken to him but Job has not recognized it, or ignored it.

• In chapter 34, he turns his speech to all the “wise men” who are listening; “far be it from God that he should do wickedness” and  it is in His power to do anything He wants, therefore who is man that he can charge God for they are all the work of His hand? He implies that Job is arrogant towards God in his assertion of complete innocence.

• In chapter 35, he specifically condemns Job for claiming to have ”his right before God;” he implies that Job is being prideful for thinking that he should be given some kind of special consideration, instead of being prayerful.

• In chapter 36, Elihu says he is speaking on “God’s behalf” and goes into a lengthy speech of praise for God’s creativeness, greatness, majesty, power and mercy on those He chooses to grant it to; he also gives examples of God’s righteous justice and grace, even though man does not understand God’s ways.

• In chapter 37, he continues to proclaim the greatness and majesty of God using examples from nature such as lightening, thunder, snow and rain; he concludes in v. 24 “therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

Ch. 38-41 – God Speaks:  Main points –

What are some things we hear from God in these last few chapters?

In chapter 38, God begins to answer Job “out of the whirlwind”, but not with answers to Job’s questions, but with questions of His own: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, or determined its measurements?”

• shut up the sea with boundaries for it and its waves
• commanded the morning and evening on a regular basis
• the springs of the sea, and recesses of the deep (unknown until modern times)
• the expanse of the earth
• dwelling (beginning) of light
• storehouses of hail and snow; rain and lightening; the wind and its paths
• the beginning of grass sprouting (from nothing)
• 31 chains of Pleiades; cords of Orion; the Bear and its children (not seen until modern times)
• the rules and ordinances of the heavens and the earth (laws of nature)
• Understand wisdom and the mind (unique only to humans)

In chapter 39, God continues to question Job, concerning living things:

• the birthing process
• the growth process
• the maturation process (when the young are ready to leave)
• the feeding needs and processes
• the ability to move and fly and the diversity of needs met within the design of living things, like wings, fur, strength, speed, etc.
• the strength and lack of fear in some animals
• wisdom and emotions are not given to animals, but they are in humans

In chapter 40, the LORD says to Job: “Shall a faultfinder content with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

• Then Job says to the LORD: “I am of small account; what shall I answer you?” He covered his mouth and says he will not speak again.
• The LORD then gives Job a challenge: If Job can do everything God can do, then God would acknowledge that Job’s right hand could save him – but of course he could not.

Chapter 40:15-41: Dinosaur Descriptions

At this point, the LORD uses a few more important examples for Job to explain:

• Behemoth (see 40:15-24 for a description that sounds like it could only be a dinosaur species)
• Leviathan (see 41:1-34 for a description that sounds like a dragon/sea monster)
• Note verses 18-21 on the type of breathing this animal does
• Job’s Confession; The LORD’s Rebuke of Job’s Friends;
  and Job’s Restoration and Redemption

Chapter 42:

• Job answers the LORD and say “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

• Job confessed that he spoke without real knowledge.

• Job “repented in dust and ashes.”

• The LORD then rebuked Job’s three friends saying that they had not spoken of Him what was right, as Job had – therefore, He had them sacrifice burnt offerings to Job who would then pray for them – they did what the LORD said, and God accepted Job’s intercession

• At the end, the LORD restored everything to Job after he prayed for his friends: his fortune, his friends, his family, his health, and long life (140 years) – and he was given seven sons and three daughters, seeing four generations after him.

How do we see God’s character and His teachings come through this dialogue for both Job and his friends?

• God finally speaks to Job, but He does not address Job’s questions directly, instead He questions Job, showing His complete sovereignty, might and power over all of His Creation that Job could not even begin to comprehend

• God shows His hesed love for Job by restoring him and redeeming him completely

• God had a bigger picture in mind for Job because we are still reading about him, and learning from him, today

• We learn that God is trustworthy, faithful, honest and has a plan and purpose for His Creation, small and great, that can never be stopped – We can take comfort in the fact that God never makes mistakes

Does anything point towards Jesus?

• We see a need for the hope in a Savior; promised in Genesis 3:15 and fulfilled ultimately in Jesus
• 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; his suffering makes him unrecognizable
• Job pictures Jesus even in the loss of relationship with the Father as what happened temporarily on the cross
• Job is restored (with even more than he had before) which is the ultimate picture of Heaven with Jesus

What does it mean?

Step five – Application: How do I use what I have learned in this book?

Answers may vary, but could 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
  • There is a lot of what God presented to Job that was unknown then, but has been proven in modern science today
• -Job gives us a picture of how Jesus would suffer, be rejected by his friends, family and even his heavenly Father; yet also the picture of the hope of a Redeemer
• -With patience, we can trust in God’s promise and plan of redemption (because of Jesus) that will ultimately be better than anything possible in this life and this fallen world

What about the dinosaurs?

• The word dinosaur is not found in the Bible because it is an English word that was coined in 1840, used to describe the fossil bones first discovered in 1822.

• “Dinosaur” became the word to describe terms already in use, such as dragon and sea monster.

• The word dinosaur means “terrible lizard.”

“Behemoth” –

“Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; he eats grass like an ox. Behold now, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.  His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron.” Job 40:15-18

Behemoth (Job 40:15-24)

• Eats grass like an ox; an herbivorous

• Dwells near rivers and marshes

• Immense strength in loins and belly

• Tail described like a cedar; tail moves like a cedar [tree]

• Bones like bronze bars of iron

• Impossible for humans to capture

• No modern animal fully fits this description, only a dinosaur does – A Brachiosaurus

“Leviathan” –

“His strong scales are his pride, shut up as with a tight seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. His sneezes flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth. In his neck lodges strength, and dismay leaps before him. The folds of his flesh are joined together, firm on him and immovable.  Job 41:15-23

Leviathan (Job 41)

• Armored scales

• Fearsome presence and untamable

• Breath described as producing fire/light

• Presented as a real sea massive creature

• A creature only God can control

• Conclusion: Leviathan is part of creation not mythology

“Tanninim” is a Hebrew word that is used 27 times in the Old Testament to indicate “Sea Monster.” Comparative linguistics also shows this word translating as dragon, monster and snake that stretches out moving forward like smoke.

• God created all land animals on the 6^th day (Genesis 1:24-25)

• Dinosaur fossils are found with other pre-flood plants and animals

• God said he would destroy all living things that walked the earth except for the two of each “Kind” that were on the Ark (Genesis 6:17-22)

Dragons Around the World

• China – Long (wise, powerful, rain-bringer)
• Babylon – Tiamat (chaos dragon)
• Norse – Jörmungandr (world serpent)
• Greece – Hydra, Python
• Mesoamerica – Feathered Serpent

HOMEWORK:

Review the hermeneutics for Genesis:

• Step one: Author-Audience-dates
• Step two: Purpose for the book
• Step three: Begin reading, for context, Genesis chapters 12-15 and the early part of the life of Abram (later known as Abraham)

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

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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.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15