Job Lesson 1

Job

“The problem of suffering”

KEY VERSE: JOB 5:17, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.”

THEME: Suffering of the righteous. (The mystery of suffering)

  • Why do the godly suffer?
  • How can their suffering be harmonized with the righteousness of God?
  • When God is love, and He loves His saints, why do they have afflictions?

DATE: Job probably lived about 2,000 B.C.; just before the time of Abraham.

  • The book finds its place between the eleventh and twelfth chapters of Genesis.
  • Job is doubtless the oldest book of the Bible.
  • The book itself was probably written about 1520 B.C.

WRITER: Most scholars believe that probably Moses wrote the book of Job in the desert of Midian (Exodus 2:15)

WRITTEN: Job is one of the most ancient books of the entire Bible.

  • It gives comments about the Pyramids (Job 3:14), cities of the plains (Job 15:28) and the flood (Job 22:16)
  • No mention is made of Israel’s history, the giving of the law, the exodus from Egypt, the Red Sea crossing, the journeying in the land of Canaan, or any of the kings of Israel, so obviously, it was written before these events.
  • It was written about the settling of Job’s family in the land of Uz that probably was located northeast of the Sea of Galilee running toward the Euphrates river.
  • The Hebrew language used in the original writings was that of very early times and not of later day Hebrew language.
  • Traces of the Chaldean language are found in the Hebrew of Job.

THE BOOK: Number in Bible: 18th of 66 Books / Number of Chapters: 42 / Number of Verses: 1,070  /  Number in Order of Writing: 1st Book of Poetry

PURPOSE:To show the disciplinary nature of suffering.

  • To inspire patience in the lives of Bible readers in the misfortunes of life. Some Reasons Given for Job’s Sufferings…
  • That Satan might be silenced (1:9-11; 2:4-5)
  • That Job might see God (42:5)
  • That Job might see himself (40:4; 42:6)
  • That Job’s friends might learn not to judge (42:7)
  • That Job might learn to pray for his critics, rather than to lash out against them. (42:10)
  • To demonstrate that all God’s plans for His own eventually have happy endings (42:10)

DIVISIONS:

I. The Disasters of Job (1-2)

   1. The explanation of his troubles

   2. The extent of his troubles – Satan was permitted to:

      a. Take Job’s fortune

      b. Touch Job’s family

      c. Torture Job’s flesh

      d. Turn Job’s friends against him

II. The Debates of Job (3:1-42:6)

   1. Job’s cry – (3)

   2. Job’s critics – (4-31)

   3. Job’s comforter – (32-37)

   4. Job’s creator – (38:1-42:6)

III. The Deliverance of Job (42:7-17)

   1. The reconciliation to God

   2. The restoration from God

FACTS:Job is classified as one of the poetic books of the Old Testament.

  • Ezekiel 14:14 proves that Job really lived.
  • James 5:11 also gives proof of Job’s existence.
  • Job lived before the days of Moses.
  • Job offered sacrifices on behalf of his family.
  • We believe that Job lived to be approximately 210 years of age.
  • The book of Job contains more scientific truth than any other book of the Bible.
  • Job’s contemporaries all believed the earth was flat, that it rested upon the shoulders of one of the gods, or the back of an elephant, or on a giant sea turtle; but, Job said that God “hangeth the earth upon nothing.” (Job 26:7)
  • The flat earth theory was still believed in the days of Columbus, before the discovery of America some 3,000 years later; but, Job had insight from God on this. It was settled long, long ago.
  • Job’s name means “persecuted.”
  • The book of Job might be labeled “tested.”
  • Job summed it up when he said, “But He knoweth the way I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)

OUTLINE:

I. Introduction – (1:1-5)

II. Controversy Between Jehovah and Satan, and the Results. – (1:6-11)

III. Controversy Between Job & His Friends-(2:11-27-31)

   1. First series of controversies (2:11-14)

   2. Second series of controversies (15-31)

   3. Third series of controversies (22-31)

IV. Testimony of Elihu (32-37)

V. Jehovah’s Testimony & Controversy with Job (38-41)

VI. Confession of Job (42:1-6)

VII.      Restoration and Blessing of Job (42:7-17)

MISCELLANEOUS: Four different views of suffering are prevalent in the world today. All four of these are presented in the Book of Job:

  1. THE VIEW OF SATAN: Satan’s accusation before God was that His people love and serve Him only to gain temporal advantage, or for what good they can get out of it (health, etc.)
  2. THE VIEW OF ELIPHAS, BILDAD, AND ZOPHAR: These three so-called friends of Job came to the conclusion that sufferings of the righteous are punishment for known, but perhaps secret sins.
  3. THE VIEW OF ELIHU: This wise man pictures God as a great God. He gives a true account of man in suffering. But, in his conceit, he was guilty of the very thing he had accused Job of.
  4. THE VIEW OF GOD: The godly are afflicted so that they might be brought to self-knowledge and self-judgment, or afflictions are there for purifying.

The Lord Jesus is seen in the Book of Job:

  • Job longed for a mediator (Job 9:32, 33)
  • He spoke of a daysman (Job 9:33)
  • He recognized a need for some link between himself and God.
  • The Lord Jesus is called the Mediator (Daysman) (I Timothy 2:5)

Many writers and poets set the Book of Job up as the most remarkable book in the Bible:

TENNYSON: “The greatest poem of all ancient or modern literature.”

MARTIN LUTHER: “More magnificent and sublime than any book of Scripture.”

THOMAS CARLISLE: “I call Job one of the grandest things every written with pen.”

VICTOR HUGO: “The book of Job is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of the human mind.”

PHILLIP SCHAFF: “It rises like a pyramid in the history of literature without a predecessor and without a rival.”

                                                                                                                                                            Dr. Tom Wallace

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