Today’s passage: Job 5

Helpful thoughts:

• Eliphaz reiterates what he believes to be the general cause of calamity, sin and foolishness.
• He speaks of God as bringing swift justice on the earth and help to those in need.
• Finally, he encourages Job to receive the discipline of the Lord as a blessing.  Eliphaz believes Job needs to repent of his sin so that God will give Him a long life and take away all the hardship.

Questions to consider:

1. What parts of Eliphaz’s counsel sounded right? What passages from elsewhere in Scripture came to mind as you read (Perhaps something like Hebrews 12:7-11)?
2. What is the general argument Eliphaz is making?  If you do good, then your life will be…what?  If you sin, then your life will be…what?  In what ways can this be true?  In what ways could this be wrong? If Job had sinned and repented, would that have guaranteed the return of wealth and health?
3. Read John 9:1-3.  Is everything as clear cut as Eliphaz is making it?  How could he have asked questions instead of making assertions in a way that could have helped him to give better counsel to Job?

Today’s passage: Job 4

Helpful thoughts:

• The rebuke from Eliphaz is this: Job instructed others to endure suffering in the past, and now that he was suffering himself, he was personally unwilling to endure.
• As Eliphaz develops his argument in chapter 4, he makes these arguments:
  • Bad things always happen to bad people (Verse 7).
    • Asaph might have another opinion concerning this matter (Psalm 73:4-12).
  • Everyone has sinned (There is no one who is truly righteous before God) (Verses 12-21).
• In order to speak with authority, Eliphaz claims to have received these statements in a vision (Verses 12-16).

Questions to consider:

1. What has Eliphaz said so far that is correct?  What has he said that seems short-sighted, like there is more to the topic than what he is allowing for?
2. Where does it sound like his argument is going?  On what or whom do you think Eliphaz is going to blame Job’s suffering?
3. Why does Eliphaz think everyone should listen to him and quickly agree?  How is he utilizing this idea of having a vision?  Why is that so dangerous?  How could that method be abused and misused today in religious contexts?  From where do we get authoritative truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17)?

Today’s passage: Job 3

Helpful thoughts:

• With chapter 3, we begin to hear Job, his friends, and eventually the Lord speak.  These chapters (The majority of the book) are written as Hebrew poetry.
• As Job breaks the silence, he laments his own birth and life.  He is in great distress, grieving, mourning.
  • Job expresses his belief in this moment that it would be easier to be dead (To be at rest) than to continue to endure the pain he was in.
• In his lament, Job certainly confirms that the “hedge” Satan had accused God of surrounding him with was gone.  He was now well acquainted with pain and suffering.

Questions to consider:

1. What does Job understand to be true of those who have already died?  Do they carry their social and economic status with them beyond this life?  Why might death look better to him at this point as opposed to the days prior to all these calamities?
2. What did Satan say Job would do if all was taken away?  Has Job cursed God?
3. If you were Job’s friend, what might have been your response to this lament?  What is the right response, and what (at different times in your life) might you have been prone to do or say?  What would have been the most helpful to him? (Romans 12:9-16)

Today’s passage: Job 2

Helpful thoughts:

• Satan accuses God of not playing fair (Even though Satan agreed to the testing in chapter 1).  He believed that Job’s testing had been insufficient because his own health was preserved.
• Had Job died, there would be no test.  It would have been mercy to allow him to perish.  The “saving” of his life allowed him to suffer in a prolonged fashion.
  • Job was willing to allow this testing and suffering even under the sad encouragement of his own wife.
• Job’s friends come to bring him comfort and to grieve with him.  They did a great job…for one week.

Questions to consider:

1. Why shouldn’t we be surprised when we see Satan bringing accusations, even against God (Revelation 12:10)?  What is our hope and security when Satan brings accusation against us (Romans 8:34-39)?
2. Why would God want Job’s life to be spared?  He certainly would not have gotten a kick out of seeing Job suffer!  What would be the end result of Job’s testing?  What is the purpose of our existence and life on this earth (1 Corinthians 10:31)?
3. We will eventually see things we might wish Job’s friends hadn’t said.  But at this point, how is their attempt at kindness and sympathy being shown?  How hard would it be to remain silent for seven days and nights just to mourn with your friend?  How could your presence speak more than any words?

Today’s passage: Job 1

Helpful thoughts:

• There are different ideas as to when the events of the book of Job occurred and when they were put in writing.  Because of the nature of the information surrounding the events and due to the use of other Scripture references, it is possible the events took place during the patriarchal period (Near the time of Abraham, which means Job was not a Hebrew) and that Job was written around the time of the exile.
• Job is the first book in the collection of the books of poetry and wisdom literature in the Old Testament.  Knowing this genre will help us to interpret what we read as we move along through the book.
  • Job is going to get a great deal of counsel from his friends in this book.  Not all their advice is good, and we are to read it in the context of the book as a whole.  So, as we read the book of Job, we will be careful not to come to conclusions and application that are not meant to be.
• In this first chapter, we see the Lord allow Job to be tested, and up to this point Job remains faithful.

Questions to consider:

1. What part does Satan play in this narrative portion of the book?  Is he in charge of what’s happening?  What were “his” demons doing (Verse 6)?  Why was Job right to say, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away” if Satan was the one orchestrating these tragedies?  What does this teach us about Satan’s “authority?”
2. Is Job going to be the real focus of this book?  Why isn’t the story about his children, or the servants who died?  To whom do Satan’s actions, Job’s reactions, and all of the other dialogue point?
3. Job’s offerings in verse 5 show he was aware of our problem of sin and the need for intercession.  What is God’s way (The only Way – John 14:6) of interceding for our sin?  Instead of burning sacrifices for our children, what must we tell people (Our children included) they need to do to have forgiveness of sin (Acts 16:30-31)?