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The Book of Job

The Book of Job. Sources: Ernest Lucas, Exploring the Old Testament, vol. 3 Ian Provan , Old Testament Foundations lectures, Regent College Daniel Simundson , “Job” in EnterTheBible.org Bruce Waltke , Introduction to Wisdom Literature lectures, Regent College. Gustave Doré

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The Book of Job

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  1. The Book of Job Sources: Ernest Lucas, Exploring the Old Testament, vol. 3Ian Provan, Old Testament Foundations lectures, Regent College Daniel Simundson, “Job” in EnterTheBible.orgBruce Waltke, Introduction to Wisdom Literature lectures, Regent College

  2. GustaveDoré • 1832 – 1883

  3. SUMMARY • Job is presented as such a good man that God boasts about him in a conversation with Satan. • Satan is then given permission to test how faithful Job would be if he had to endure loss, grief, and pain. • Job’s friends come to bring comfort to Job, but fail miserably. • After an extended series of dialogues between Job and four friends, God speaks and Job’s good fortunes return. • Questions about why good people like Job suffer are left unanswered, but Job’s relationship with God is renewed. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  4. By Gerard Seghers (1591-1651)

  5. SO WHAT? • The problem of suffering and God's involvement in the pain of the world is always with us. • Efforts to find the cause of suffering often lead one (as Job and his counselors) to put the blame somewhere--on self, others, God, or Satan. • The book of Job asks us to: • look beyond blame, • accept ambiguity and uncertainty, and • trust God for what we cannot see or control. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  6. WHO WROTE IT? • No one really knows who wrote the book of Job. • No author is identified. • Some scholars believe that there was likely more than one author Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  7. Difficult text • The Hebrew text for the book of Job is very difficult. • There are many words that do not appear any place else in the Bible. • When one reads Job with a study Bible, it is apparent that the translators are often unsure of the exact meaning of the words. The difficulties also become obvious when different translations are compared. • Footnotes often says "the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain." Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  8. WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN? • The first two chapters read like some of the older narratives in Genesis or Samuel. • Job is mentioned as a figure known to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). • There is no clear context for the writing of Job, though a strong case can be made for the period of Israel's exile in Babylon or the years immediately following. • And the Elihu chapters could be still later. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  9. Context • Questions about the meaning of suffering and God's participation in the tragedies of life are common throughout history. • During and after the exile, God's people were forced to consider what went wrong in their unique relationship with God. • Were the ancient promises of God's love and protection no longer valid? • Whose fault was it that king and temple were destroyed and many sent into exile? Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  10. Context • The prophets and the OT history in Samuel and Kings had made a connection between the sins of the people and the terrible consequences. • Sinful behavior does have consequences, but, as shown in the book of Job, not all suffering should be understood as the result of the sufferer's sin. Some people who are innocent also suffer. • During the exile, many began to question the simplistic idea that all suffering is caused by the sin of the sufferer. • The book of Job could well emerge from such a time of questioning during the exile. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  11. HOW DO I READ IT? • Job mentions no historical dates or persons and takes place in a strange land. • The book is a timeless story that addresses theological questions that forever elude simple answers. • Although the questions have profound pastoral implications, the book NOT primarily about pastoral care or counsel. • It is a long and complicated book that wrestles with serious theological issues. Job contains much repetition and some passages that are difficult to understand. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  12. Job: Outline • Prologue Job 1-2 • Dialogues Job 3-31 • Speeches of ElihuJob 32-37 • God Speaks Job 38-41 • See Lucas, pg 118. • Header boxes in RED are basic outline info.

  13. I. Prologue (Job 1-2) • The Prologue: • Introduces the reader to Job • Tells of two conversations between God and Satan in heaven • Recounts the tragedies that come to Job in two stages • Then three friends come to bring Job comfort. • Job responds “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8) Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  14. Permission given to Satan • The presence of Satan raises many questions. • Who is this Satan? • Satan here is a title—Accuser/Adversary—not a name. • This is one of only 3 appearances in the Old Testament of Satan as a heavenly figure. • Why are God and Satan in such a cozy relationship? • Why does God NOT address Satan at the end of the book to taunt him for losing the bet? Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org; Lucas, 117

  15. Satan’s role • God allows Satan to hurt Job to prove a point. • A large question is to try to understand how God relates to hostile cosmic opposition, whether called Satan, evil spirits, the devil, or the ferocious beasts in Job 40-41. • Christians live in hopeful expectation that some day God’s promises will finally destroy all evil. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  16. II. Dialogues (Job 3-31) • Job's Lament (Job 3) • After a week of silence, Job opens his mouth and curses the day of his birth. • He wishes he had never been born, but since it is too late to change that, he wants God to let him die. • The First Cycle of Speeches (Job 4-14) • Job's three friends take turns trying to interpret Job's suffering to him. • After each speaks, Job answers by rejecting their theorizing about him. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  17. II. Dialogues (Job 3-31) • The Second Cycle of Speeches (Job 15-21) • The tension between Job and his three friends grows as they become more condemning of Job, and he becomes more defensive. • The question of whether or not wicked people will ever be punished now enters into their disagreements about God's justice. • The Third Cycle of Speeches (Job 22-27) • There is much repetition and even confusion about who is talking as the dialogues wind down. • There is no speech by the third counselor, Zophar, in this cycle. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  18. II. Dialogues (Job 3-31) • Wisdom Poem (Job 28) • This chapter seems to interrupt the flow of the book. • It is uncertain who the speaker is—Job or one of his friends or the editor of the book. • The main point (to be expressed more fully by God later in the book) is that human wisdom—though wonderful—is limited and only God can truly know wisdom. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  19. II. Dialogues (Job 3-31) • Job's Final Monologue (Job 29-31) • Job began with a lament (chapter 3). • Now he concludes this section of the book in which he: • longs for the "good old days," • defends his innocence, and • continues to wonder why so many terrible things happened to him, since he did not deserve them. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  20. Speaking the truth • Job urges his friends to speak the truth about God and human sin. • He is convinced that they are so desperate to defend God's good name that they are willing to tell lies about Job (13:1-12), thus making what looks like an injustice against Job into an example of God's justice. • Pious words about God that gloss over the reality of earth's turmoil and pain are not helpful to the sufferer. • Suppression of lament is all too common among religious people. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  21. Answers--helpful or hurtful? • Job's friends come with the intention of bringing comfort. • Though their intentions are good, they keep on blundering ahead with their heavy-handed interpretations they have been taught, essentially looking for some sin (possibly unknown). • The main answers they bring are: • Job deserves his suffering, • All humans are sinners so even good people are not immune from suffering, and • God may use suffering to teach us something. • All these are common answers to suffering, even in our day. They may be helpful to some people, but hurtful to others. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  22. 2) Sinful nature • Job is a tough problem for those who think of suffering as retribution for one's sins. • Job is, obviously, a good man, and there are many worse sinners around. • Eliphaz, in particular, solves this problem by declaring his low estimation of all humans (see 4:17-19; 15:14-16). • Since all are sinners, no one can claim to be innocent and immune from suffering as a consequence of sinful behavior. • This idea does not explain why some suffer and others do not. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  23. 3) Educational value of suffering • Perhaps suffering is intended to teach the sufferer, to bring one back to a proper sense of priorities, to provide warning that to continue such behavior may lead to even worse calamities. • This is one common understanding of suffering in both Old and New Testaments. It gives a more positive view than to regard suffering only as punishment. • Both Eliphaz (5:17-27) and Elihu (36:8-12) try to apply this answer to Job. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  24. Small group discussion • “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain Do you agree with the C.S. Lewis quote? Why or why not? Have you every learned anything through suffering or “through the school of hard knocks?” If so, tell the story.

  25. The legitimacy of lament • Job is often remembered as the patient one who endured all kinds of hardships with a stiff upper lip, not complaining about his situation. That may well fit the Job described in chapters 1 and 2. • If one reads the rest of the book, beginning already with his painful lament in chapter 3, it is apparent that Job is no compliant victim who is willing to suffer in silence. • The image of the stoic sufferer is reinforced by an insufficient examination of the whole of Job. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  26. The legitimacy of lament • The neglect of the defiant, complaining Job in our common thinking is typical of the avoidance of the lament tradition, which is common the Bible (i.e., the Psalms and Lamentations). • When in trouble, people complain and cry out to God for help. • We can be gut-wrenchingly honest with God. God can be trusted with our cries, complaints, and even our pettiness. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org; Beth Elness-Hanson

  27. Why? (21 times) • Job 7:20Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? • Job 10:2 I will say to God, “Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.” • Job 13:24Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? • Job 21:7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

  28. Life after death • Like most of the Old Testament, Job does not have a strong belief that there is a life after death. • Job's big problem with God's justice is that good people suffer in this life, wicked people prosper, and there is nothing after we die to make right what was an injustice in this life. • In two places, Job seems temporarily to break through this skepticism. • He sees the rebirth of a tree stump when watered and wonders why humans cannot be so revived (14:7-17). • He hopes that a redeemer will vindicate his good name and that he will see it, even if he has already died (19:23-27). Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  29. III. Speeches of Elihu(Job 32-37) • The dialogues are over and one would expect to move on to the God speeches in chapters 38-41. • But the natural flow is broken by the speeches of a new, younger counselor named Elihu. • Scholars have long wondered about the sudden appearance of Elihu in chapter 32. • Elihuspeaks for 6 chapters with no response from Job. • Those who see Elihu as an original part of the book think that he helps prepare Job for his audience with God. • The majority opinion is that Elihu was added to the book at a later time to make one more attempt to deal with the hard questions about suffering and God's justice. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  30. The Elihu section • Elihuclaims to be young and angry about the way the conversation has gone. • He is going to step up and speak his mind because he cannot any longer sit back and witness the inability of the others to make good responses to some of Job's outrageous statements. • He makes points made earlier by Job and the others. • There is some argument among scholars whether Elihu brings anything new to the discussion or whether he merely represents a later attempt to deal more helpfully with questions of suffering. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  31. IV. God Speaks (Job 38-41) • The book of Job leads up to the climax when God will finally speak. • After all these chapters of human effort to make sense out of Job's suffering, the reader hopes that God will finally clear it all up for Job, his friends, and all the readers of the book. • Is Job guilty or not? • Why do innocent people suffer and the wicked escape untouched by calamity? Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  32. IV. God Speaks (Job 38-41) • God does not answer these questions but rather, in two speeches, assures that: • the created order is God's domain and • humans cannot know and do what only God can do. • So, in the meantime, the best thing to do is to trust God to handle the unknowns. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  33. IV. God Speaks (Job 38-41) • God does not answer these questions but rather, in two speeches, assures that: • the created order is God's domain and • humans cannot know and do what only God can do. • So, in the meantime, the best thing to do is to trust God to handle the unknowns. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  34. Creation • In the God speeches, God speaks proudly about the creation. • Clearly the point being made is that "only God can make a tree." • But there is also something revealing about a God who creates and sustains such a wonderful world. • N.T. Wright states, “Within the larger canonical context, it ought to be clear that reemphasizing the doctrine of creation is indeed the foundation of all biblical answers to questions about who God is and what he’s doing.” Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org N.T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God. (70)

  35. God's speeches • In a second speech, God makes clear that only God has power to control the Behemoth and Leviathan. If humans attempt to fight on their own against these horrible beasts, they will not have a chance. • Over the years, there has been much conversation about the full meaning of these speeches. If this is the climactic moment in the book, then what is the meaning that we should take with us when we are confronted by tragedies that have no apparent meaning? • Is God with us, even if we cannot understand everything? Most believers who have read Job have concluded that the answer is yes. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  36. Job repents • After God’s second speech Job is moved to confess the greatness of God’s power and that he has spoken foolishly of things which he did not understand (42:1-3). • In Job 42:67, the meaning is not clear. The literal “I despise myself and repent upon dust and ashes,” should be taken here in the sense of “I changed my mind.” • Job is NOT doing here what his friends have demanded all along—admitting his sinfulness and repenting of it. Instead, Job is admitting that his previous understanding of God was deficient. • The whole response is a self-humbling in the face of his new, deeper experience of God. Source: Lucas, 122.

  37. Human limits • Obviously, humans cannot control all the forces that can hurt them. • Further, there is a limit to their understanding because only God knows wisdom. • Sometimes humans act as if they can control what is beyond their capacity. • At other times, they do not live up to the potential that they already have. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  38. Job: Reader’s Theatre

  39. From why? To Trust • Nick Vujicic • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM_eHJcdjig

  40. Small group discussion • What did you hear that was meaningful for you? • How is Nick’s question (Why God?) and God’s response (Do you trust me?)similar to Job’s?

  41. Theme: Trust • The usual understanding of Job 42:1-6 is that Job now accepts his limits, turns away from his earlier angry statements about God, and puts his trust back on the one and only God. • For many, in times of suffering, it is hard to continue to trust in a good, powerful, gracious God when there seems to be little evidence that God has heard and acted on one's behalf. • Job's trust seems to be renewed when God addresses him directly. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  42. Theme: The nature of God • The way God is presented to the reader of Job is problematic for many. • In the prologue, God seems to be too willing to turn his faithful servant Job over to the hands of Satan. • For many chapters God remains silent, even though Job begs for some word to clarify his situation. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  43. Theme: The nature of God • In the God speeches, God seems to intimidate Job with power and sarcasm. • How do all these images of God compare both within the book and in the context of the whole Bible? Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  44. Theme: Cause of suffering • After reading the entire book of Job, the reader may still wonder if the book gives any clear answer about the cause and meaning of suffering. • Is the answer in the prologue, in the interpretations of the counselors, in the God speeches, in Job's humble submission at the end of the book, in Job's reward for staying strong throughout the ordeal? • Or is the "answer" in the realization that from the human perspective there is no answer? • Conclusions vary greatly from those who read Job and try to apply its lessons to their own life experiences. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  45. Theme: Crisis of faith • Many have experienced a crisis of faith when terrible things happen to them or their loved ones. • They ask how a good God could either cause or permit such things to occur. They wonder if a good and just God is at work in the world. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  46. Theme: Crisis of Faith • Ian Provan states that it seems strange for people to have a crisis of faith and wonder if there is a God when tragedy strikes. • If there were no God, then tragedy is normal and why wonder?! Source: Ian Provan. Old Testament Foundations lectures, Job.

  47. Theme: Evil • Satanin Job 1-2 is NOT the same as the devil in later Scriptures, though Satan does seem to want to stir up trouble. • The Behemoth (chapter 40) and Leviathan (chapter 41) represent a common Old Testament way of personifying the presence of evil in the world. • The sea and the monsters that live in the sea provide symbolic or mythic ways to identify the reality of evil at work in the world. • Without God's help, we would be completely vulnerable in any encounter with such monsters. Source: Daniel Simundson, “Job.” EnterTheBible.org

  48. Perspective: Day of the Lord • Old Testament View • (Isa 4:2-6; Zeph 3:15-20; Zech 14:9-20) New Age Old Age “Day of the Lord” or Judgment Day

  49. Perspective: Day of the Lord New Age starts with Jesus’ baptism New Testament View New Age Continues to eternity X Old Age Old Age ends with Jesus’ return We are in the “Messy Middle” or overlap

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