Making Sense of Job
Over the last year, we encouraged each other to read through the Bible. The whole thing. Even the boring parts. You might have got bogged down in Leviticus, or Numbers, or the genealogies of 1st Chronicles. You might have been confused by the amount of sex and violence. Some of the Psalms and prophetic books may have started to run together sometimes. But you pressed on. Scraping your eyes over every word.
I congratulate you. I’m proud of you. It gives me great hope for the future of our church.
This year I want to help put some of the major sections of Scripture into context. This year we’re going to focus on the juiciest, most Gospel-saturated parts. Try to make sense out of the Bible as a whole by seeing how some of the pieces fit together.
There are some books that, if you don’t have a handle on them, the rest of the Bible isn’t really going to make a lot of sense. I understand that this is a very subjective concept, and what I think is at the top of the list, someone else might push further down. That’s fine. I figure we can’t really go wrong no matter what, as long as we stick to the Bible and keep the focus on Jesus.
So here’s what we’re going to do: For six weeks or so we’ll cover a book a week. Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Genesis, Exodus, and the story of David and the kings. Then we’ll spend several weeks in Psalms because it’s a theological treasure chest for helping us understand Jesus and the Gospel.
Always keep this in mind—so you don’t get stuck in all the details or lost in endless speculations—the Bible is the written revelation of God to mankind. Jesus is the final, complete and ultimate revelation of God to the world. We’re Christians first and foremost. We believe in Him. Our hope and trust and salvation is in Him alone. Our faith is in Him. We don’t worship the Bible—we worship Jesus. Because He told us that the Scriptures are all about Him, that He is the fulfillment of them, that they all point to Him—that’s the reason we read the Bible. To understand who Jesus is, what He’s done for us, and how we should order our lives because of Him.
So anytime you open the Bible, don’t put it down before you can answer this question: what does that have to do with Jesus?
First up is the Book of Job. I don’t think there’s a better place to start.
The world is a confusing place, full of pain and trouble and personal conflict. That’s certainly Job’s world. What do bad things happen to good people? It doesn’t seem fair. So much of the Bible talks about how the righteous will be rewarded and protected and how God loves us. But then there’s Job—right there in our face.
Job’s probably the oldest book in the Bible. It was most likely written long before any of the rest of it. It takes place after the fall but before Moses and the Ten Commandments. Job was probably alive about the same time as Abraham but Job isn’t a Jew. There is no nation of Israel yet at the time of Job.
Job is a picture of life on planet earth. Life in the world that God created. It’s a picture of how He created the world to function.
And it’s really strange and wonderful. It doesn’t neatly answer the question of why God thinks it’s a good idea to have pain and suffering in the world, but it does give us some clues for what He might be thinking. Maybe so that we can gain wisdom and maybe to test the integrity of our faith. The book certainly shows us that the LORD is our Redeemer, our Savior—that He is God and in control, no matter what tragedies happen to us in this life. And of course that God accomplishes His righteous purposes through suffering.
But was he an actual historical person? Or is the story like a parable? A myth?
“…even if these three men-Noah, Daniel and Job-were in it, they could only save themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Ezekiel 14:14
“You have head of Job’s perserverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:11
Well, Ezekiel the prophet certainly thought he was a real person. He mentions Job along with Noah and Daniel as a righteous man. And James, the brother of Jesus, talks about Job’s steadfast faith.
So, yeah. As fantastic as the story seems to be, this is not to be understood as fiction.
Job is described in chapter one as a man with integrity who was blameless, feared God, and stayed away from evil. He was respected and happy. He was the richest man in the entire area. He was married with seven sons and three daughters.
At the time, he was the best man in the world.
We know this because the next thing that happens takes place in heaven. God is having a meeting with all the members of the heavenly court, and Satan shows up. Satan means “The Accuser,” it’s apparently his job to patrol the earth and tattle on people. No one likes a tattletale. You might want to keep in mind that you’re helping the devil with his work when you tell on people—Karen.
God asks him, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He’s the finest man in all the earth.” That’s how we know Job is the best man in the world at the time—God said so.
Satan is like, “Meh. He’s only faithful to you because you’ve made life so easy for him.” “But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”
So God tells him to give it a shot. “Take everything away from him, but don’t harm him physically.”
One day four messengers showed up at Job’s house one right after the other: the first one said that some raiders came over the hills and took all his oxen and donkeys then killed all the farmhands. The second one ran up, interrupting the first, and said all of his sheep and shepherds were burned up by fire from heaven. A third messenger came running up while the second one was still talking and said three bands of Chadean raiders stole the camels and killed his servants. The last messenger brought the darkest news—he said when his sons and daughters were having a party, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness, hit the house on all sides, it collapsed and all his children were dead.
It was a bad day to be the best man in the world.
What was Job’s reaction to all this? He worshiped God.
“And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21
Would that be your reaction? I don’t know if it would be mine.
Meanwhile, back in heaven, Satan is not impressed. God says, “Job’s still rocking it. Still blameless. Still faithful and he kept his integrity even though he lost everything.”
Satan says, “Skin for skin. Take away his health. Take his comfort. Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh—and he’ll curse you to your face.” And God says, “Okay, he’s in your hands, but don’t kill him.”
So the Devil strikes him with boils from his head to his feet. Job uses pieces of broken pottery to scrape himself. You know how that goes, scratching an itch only makes it worse.
Then the devil does the oldest trick in the book. Literally. He uses Job’s own wife to tempt him, just like Adam and Eve. His wife comes up to him and says, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Why don’t you just curse God and die already?” Kill yourself and get it over with.
Thanks honey. Super helpful.
But Job looks at her and says, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
Faithfulness is for better and for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health.
Job keeps his faith. He doesn’t sin.
But He’s a mess. He’s lost everything. He’s miserable, depressed, and sick—He feels abandoned by God. He wishes he’d never been born. It’s pretty dark.
Some of his friends show up to comfort him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—I call them ET, BS, and Little Z. They’re not helpful. The next thirty-some chapters are them arguing with him and trying to get him to admit that all this bad stuff is happening because of some terrible secret sin. And it’s all so frustrating to us as the reader because we know better. They don’t know about God and the Devil having that strange conversation in heaven, Job doesn’t know about it either, but we do—and it makes their arguments so tiresome.
They push and push and push: “Job you’re a sinner, just admit it. Stop being so proud. How dare you accuse God of doing this to you if you’re innocent. That’s just not the way the world works. Everyone knows that you reap what you sow.”
Job’s like, “You guys are the worst friends. Just the worst.”
Here’s the thing—everything ET, BS, and Little Z say is pretty much true. It’s the message of Proverbs, it’s the message of a bunch of the Psalms—it’s all the stuff everyone knows. Basic wisdom concepts. And it’s all true except for one thing…
They’re wrong. They’re wrong about Job. He’s the best man in the world and he’s being tested to see if he’ll keep his faith in God.
We’ve all been there. We’re going through a hard time, and some well-meaning friend starts throwing platitudes at us. Bible verses. Hallmark cards. Something their grandma told them. We know they mean well but their words feel more like an attack than comfort. Sometimes wisdom says to just shut our mouth.
When I was reading through Job the other day, I was really floored by chapter 28. Right in the middle of Job arguing back and forth with his buddies, all of sudden there’s this poem about wisdom. It’s not Job or any of his friends talking. It’s the narrator, whoever wrote the book.
Job is a book about a righteous man who enters the darkest time of his life. It would be hard to imagine things getting much darker. Chapter 28 says this...
Job 28:1-11 “People know where to mine silver
and how to refine gold.
They know where to dig iron from the earth
and how to smelt copper from rock.
They know how to shine light in the darkness
and explore the farthest regions of the earth
as they search in the dark for ore.
...
and bring to light the hidden treasures.
We search for treasure in the darkest parts of the earth.
Verse 28:
“But do people know where to find wisdom?
Where can they find understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all humanity.
...
“God alone understands the way to wisdom;
he knows where it can be found,
...
And this is what he says to all humanity:
‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom;
to forsake evil is real understanding.’ ”
Job 28:20–28
I think that’s the hidden treasure of the Book of Job. Wisdom is found by trusting the Lord in dark places.
Once upon a time, there was a good man named Job. He was happy and nothing ever happened. The end.
That’s not a good story. That guy wouldn’t have learned anything. Not about his faith, or himself, or about God. He wouldn’t have found any of the treasures of wisdom that God had for him.
Over and over, the thing Job cries out for, the thing he longs for, begs for—is he wants God to come to him. He wants to ask God why all these terrible things have happened to him.
A fourth friend showed up too, a young man named Elihu. He had been listening to the old men argue this whole time and he had heard enough. He was mad at Job for refusing to admit he had sinned, and he was mad at the three friends because they hadn’t been able to answer Job’s arguments. Mostly Elihu was mad because he thought they were all making God look bad. He wanted to defend God’s honor.
Most people think Elihu comes off better than Job’s other friends, but he doesn’t get it either. He claims to have had a vision and they should shut up and listen to his wisdom—but once again, as the reader, we know he’s wrong about why all this is happening.
And then in chapter 38, Job finally gets what he’s been longing for. God shows up and answers him.
You know how it’s easy to misunderstand the emotional tone of a text message or an email? I think I’ve misread the way God answered Job all the times I’ve read it.
I’ve always kind of read God’s response in a “how dare you!” tone. Not quite Greta Thunberg but almost. “Who do you think you are to question my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you’re gonna answer them, buddy!”
I mean, that is what He says. But I don’t think it was like that.
I think God answered him gently. Like a loving Father. Playfully. I think there was a lot of joy in His answer.
He starts off by talking about the creation of the heavens and earth. “Where were you again when I laid the foundations of the world?” Making the dimensions, stretching out the surveying lines? While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
There’s a reference to that heavenly court from the first chapter.
He uses playful imagery when He talks about keeping the sea in its boundaries, clothing the sky with clouds and darkness.
It’s like He’s reading a children’s book to a sad child. He talks about the morning, and light, and how the earth took shape like it was made out of colorful play dough.
God is whimsical and playfully sarcastic with him, “Where does light come from, and where does darkness go? But of course, you know all this! You were born before it was all created, and you’re so very experienced.”
He talks about the storehouses where snow is kept. He talks about stars and constellations and Pleiades and Orion and the Bear.
The point God makes through all these examples is that God is God and Job is not. God is in control. He created the world, set it in motion, but even more than that—He sustains it.
He hunts food for the lions. He actively provides for the ravens.
There’s a whole world out there that Job knows nothing about. The secret lives of goats and donkeys—God pays attention to all of them. It’s all important to Him. Even though no one knows anything about it.
He even made creatures as ridiculous as an ostrich—a giant bird that’s so dumb it lays its eggs out in the open and is a terrible mother. But can somehow outrun a horse. This seems to be amusing to God—I think He wants it to be amusing to Job as well.
After God talks about the heavens and the earth and a bunch of animals, He says, “Do you still want to argue with me? Still want to criticize? What else do you have to say?”
And Job, like a pouting child, puts his hand over his mouth. “Nope. I’ve said too much already.”
But that’s not the response God is looking for, so God continues. He hasn’t gotten the response from Job that He’s looking for. He moves from the physical world and natural animals to the spiritual world and supernatural creatures.
He talks about His thunderous voice and glory—asks Job to unleash his personal splendor. Come on, Job—dazzle me with your majesty!
Then He talks about a couple of His favorite pets. Supernatural creatures He seems to take great delight in keeping on a leash. The Behemoth and the Leviathan.
A lot of Bible scholars try to make sense of this passage by saying God’s probably talking about a hippo or a rhino or a crocodile or something. People don’t like mystery and the supernatural.
Come on. The book started off with God and angels and Satan having a conversation in heaven—and you’re gonna choke on the mention of a dragon? God describes a fire-breathing creature with scales like iron that lives at the bottom of the sea—it’s not a crocodile. There are mysteries in this world. Deal with it.
Also, the devil is called a dragon and a serpent throughout the Bible. Is it too much of a stretch to imagine that Satan, who brought all this trouble on Job in the first chapter, is also the fire-breathing pet dragon at the end of the book?
This time he gives the response God was looking for.
Then Job replied to the LORD:
“I know that you can do anything,
and no one can stop you.
You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’
It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,
things far too wonderful for me.
You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!
I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.’
I had only heard about you before,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
I take back everything I said,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:1–6
That last line could also be translated as “... I repent of dust and ashes.” Which is what I think he said. In other words, “I’m going to stop feeling sorry for myself and get on with my life. I repent of sitting here in dust and ashes wishing I had never been born.”
God restores Job. His friends apologize. He gets his wealth back and then some. He and his wife have seven more sons and three more daughters, and even though they could never replace the ones they lost—it’s a happily ever after ending. It’s grace.
I think this is a picture of life on earth. A good place to start. God is God and we are not. He uses the darkness and troubles of this world to teach us wisdom, to help us grow in our faith, to teach us to be faithful. God is in control of everything and we need to learn how to fear and trust Him no matter what comes. With wisdom and humility.
But what about Jesus? I told you earlier, don’t close the Bible until you see how it points to Him.
Well, Jesus was innocent. He was the best man in the world—of all time. When the devil tempted Him, He did not stumble. He was mocked and misunderstood and argued with by HIs friends and His people.
In Job 19, from the pit of agony, Job said this:
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed,
yet in my body I will see God!
I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!
Job 19:25–27
That’s Jesus. He’s the Redeemer who stood on the earth.
The Book of Job is the story of God redeeming the world through suffering. Jesus died at the hands of wicked men but that was not the end. He was restored. He rose from the dead to eternal life and glory. No matter what trouble we face in this life—even if it’s of Biblical proportions—if we are in Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, then by grace through faith, we will also be raised from the dead, even after our body has decayed, yet in our body we will see God and He will welcome us to Himself as a loving and patient Father. I am overwhelmed at the thought! AMEN