Today’s passage: Job 36

Helpful thoughts:

• Elihu’s words in verses 2-4 are quite lofty.  It’s ironic that he is about to speak about what he thinks God does to the arrogant.
• Once again, Elihu argues that God is to be revered and that He never does wrong.
  • The implication being that Job must be in the wrong.  If Job is questioning God as to why he is suffering, Job must be calling God a wrong-doer.
• We are getting close to the end of Elihu’s argument.  We will see how it holds up once God Himself speaks.

Questions to consider:

1. What parts of Elihu’s words in the chapter are compelling and accurate?  Where does the logic become inconsistent with what we know is happening?
2. For whom did Elihu say he was speaking?  Why was this presumptuous?  How can we really know what we are sharing with others is from God and therefore able to bear much fruit (Romans 10:17)?
3. How can we be bold when we share the Word of God with others without sounding prideful?  How might you reword verses 2-4 in a way that expresses confidence in the message being shared while also evidencing humility?

Today’s passage: Job 35

Helpful thoughts:

• Elihu rebukes Job for presuming he (A man of God’s creation) should think God must hear and answer him.
• The picture Elihu paints in this chapter is of a big God who made all things by His power, and a people who would be nothing without God treating Him as if He worked for them.  Elihu believes Job has taken on this mindset in wanting an audience with God for his defense.
• Because Elihu believes Job’s cry to God is only for the purpose of self-exoneration (A complaint and charge of injustice against God), he is calling Job’s plea “empty.”

Questions to consider:

1. Elihu likely believed he was defending God with his words.  Was he?  In what way did God need to be defended?  Did He need defending at all?
2. Were Job’s cries for exoneration “empty?”  When these men learn the purpose behind Job’s suffering, what answers are they going to get?  Who will they be learning about?
3. In what ways was Elihu calling for humility from Job?  In what ways would humility have corrected Elihu’s rebuke?

Today’s passage: Job 34

Helpful thoughts:

• Elihu believes Job should at least ask the Lord for insight into what he could have done wrong as opposed to altogether defending his innocence.  The idea being, if Job at least had a heart to be humble and learn from his mistakes, God could teach him and he could move forward.
• The argument of this chapter:
  • Job is guilty and being judged by God,
  • Since Job refuses to acknowledge his guilt then he is also calling God wicked.
  • In calling God wicked, Job is adding to his own sin.
• Verse 8 sounds much like what we read in Psalm 1.  God Himself knew and declared Job had not been a man who walked with the wicked (Job 1:8).

Questions to consider:

1. How does Elihu verbalize his conclusion concerning the innocence of Job, or the lack thereof (Verses 7-9)?  How did Elihu’s decision (His judgment) necessitate the rest of his response and attempt at speaking with wisdom?
2. Why is it so important to keep the first chapters of Job in mind as we continue to read?  How could this book get confusing if you forget the context?  Is Elihu right?  Wrong?  Why?
3. What has Elihu said about God that is accurate and true?  How could we discern that as we read through his arguments?  Through what other information do we interpret tough passage in the Bible (Acts 17:11)?

Today’s passage: Job 33

Helpful thoughts:

• After his introduction in the previous chapter, Elihu begins his message to Job and his friends.
• Elihu details what Job has said and uses the same imagery to argue his position.  He has been listening and seems to have a desire to reason with Job on his behalf.
• However, even with a different approach, the end result is the same.  Elihu believes God is allowing all this suffering to bring Job to repentance.

Questions to consider:

1. What does Elihu say are the two ways God speaks to man (Verses 15, 19)?  What is the purpose for God’s speaking according to him?  How does this understanding fall short of what we know of God from Scripture?
2. Under this scenario (If God allowed Job to endure this suffering to cause him to turn in repentance), what would then be the “ransom” which God found in verse 24?  Could the loss of Job’s possessions and the death of his children pay the penalty of his sin?
3. What is the only ransom God receives for our sin (Matthew 20:28)?  How does Elihu’s view of sin, judgment, repentance and reward differ from what we know and enjoy through Christ and the gospel?

Today’s passage: Job 32

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapter 32 introduces the reader to Elihu, a man who has not been mentioned up to this point in the book.  He will also not be referred to again after his words are concluded by the end of chapter 37.
• He is the only man in the book who bears a Hebrew name.
• His discourse will convey a different perspective than any of the men thus far.  However, when God speaks, Elihu’s words will be ignored.

Questions to consider:

1. What do you think is the overall point of this first chapter for Elihu?  What message is he trying to convey?  What is he about to do?
2. Does age automatically make a person is wiser (Verses 7-9)?  Why or why not?  How can knowing the Word of God and then interpreting the experiences of life through the Scriptures increase wisdom in a far greater way?
3. What emotions does Elihu share he is experiencing?  How do you differentiate comments made under the control of emotions and comments made in measured response to emotional feelings?  Do emotions make statements right or wrong?  How would we know or discern whether what Elihu is about to say is true for not?

Today’s passage: Job 31

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter will conclude Job’s appeal.
• Job recounts several areas of his life and service which could be inspected.
  • Before God and man, he believes he has lived wisely and righteously.
• He desires to give an account of all his steps (His actions in life) to the Lord.

Questions to consider:

1. If everything Job says about himself is true in this chapter, what kind of a man was he?  How did he perceive possessions/wealth?  How did he view other people (Even if they were poor or strangers)?  What motivated him to live righteously?
2. To whom had he understood he would be giving an answer for how he lived?  How are his words now revealing a countenance that expects the opposite?  Who needs to answer to Job now?
3. If Job did everything he speaks of in this chapter flawlessly, what do you think is his downfall?  What is true of all of us and necessary to understand if we are going to ask for grace (1 John 1:8-10)?

Today’s passage: Job 30

Helpful thoughts:

• Job’s testimony now moves back into the present.
• Job used to help the needy, now the needy mock him.
• In the previous chapter, Job recounted his own willingness to help those who were in need.  Now that he is the one in need, God seems unwilling to help him.  Job wants to know why God appears to be acting unjustly.

Questions to consider:

1. What can be true of earthly honor and prosperity?  How firm and long-lasting are they? (Verse 15) If those who respected Job only did so as long as he helped them financially, what was the true nature of the “respect” they gave him?  If we live to be pleasing to man, how hard will we have to try to stay in the world’s good favor?
2. Is it wrong to ask God to be fair?  What is often our view (Or the limitation of our viewpoint) to be able to discern fairness/justice?  How does starting from the belief that God is perfectly just help us to pray correctly concerning our desire to see God act justly?
3. What is the greatest appearance of injustice in history which brought about justice and provided for our eternal salvation?!?!  (Romans 3:21-26)

Today’s passage: Job 29

Helpful thoughts:

• Chapters 29-31 will go together as a unit.
  • In chapter 29, Job will remember with fondness the past.
  • In chapter 30, he will grieve the present.
  • In chapter 31, he will make his request for the future.
• Job believed the blessing on his life was a gift from the Lord, that God had chosen to look on him favorably.
• The kindness Job chose to extend in sharing God’s favor on him resulted in accumulating a great deal of respect from others who knew who him.

Questions to consider:

1. How does this description of Job’s life compare/contrast with what his friends have been assuming he was doing?  If all these things were true, what severity of sin would have been necessary of Job to deserve all the suffering under his friends’ view of wickedness and judgment?
2. What would be necessary for Job to remember concerning the blessing of the earlier years of his life?  Why were they truly blessed?  How could the wealth and the respect have become great temptations?  If verses 2-5 weren’t in this chapter, what might it sound like?
3. How does Job’s testimony give some example of what we learn from 1 Timothy 6:17-19?