- The first things said are usually the most important things. And usually the theme or purpose can be determine from the initial paragraph. What do the opening lines tell us or hint to us?
- Job is in error.
- Job has spoken what is right. There is no contradiction. Job has certainly made some errors, but in regard to the dispute between him and his friends, he was right, God was not judging him for sin. Elihu was also right, that there are things you can learn
- Why does God challenge Job to answer his questions?
- Job thinks that he is wise enough to debate God
- God first attacks this sense of his wisdom and knowledge as being sufficient for Job to trust
- God says two things, Job darkens counsel and Job uses words without knowledge. So, we should expect God to prove this. Why would this be Job's problem?
- He thought he could debate God
- He was known for counseling others
- He thought he was "clever" by sacrificing for his children
- What is a rhetorical question?
- Technically, these are not rhetorical questions since the answers are not obvious
- These questions are education
- What is their purpose--the questions?
- They are intended to reveal how little Job really knows
- They do have one obvious answer -- "don't say anything!"
- The questions are phrased in ways that Job could understand. It would be meaningless to ask a question of Job that he could not understand. There is no need to bring up gravity as that would be outside of Job's understanding. On the other hand, that knowledge is required to truly understand the question
- Verse 12-15 tells us what? And how does that fit with reality?
- God has the power to deal with the wicked even now
- But he does not choose to exercise that power
- How do you see verse 21?
- It is a sarcastic statement, but it goes to the heart of God's argument against Job
- Job does not in any way compare to God in knowledge
- Note (Constable): God continues quizzing Job in the following areas?
- Note (Constable): the wild ox (or aurochs, 39:9-12) have been extinct since 1627, was one of the most powerful of all hoofed beasts, exceeded only by the hippo and elephant (Anderson)
- Note (Constable): God’s point in asking Job to consider each of these animals was this. Even upon careful examination there are many things about their individual characteristics, behavior, and life that people simply cannot explain. That is still true today. For reasons unknown to Job God allowed each animal to experience what was His will for that one. Just so, he permits every human being to experience what he or she does for reasons partially unknown to us. Only Yahweh is powerful enough and wise enough to do this.
- “A main function of the Lord’s speeches is to show the absurdity of Job’s attempt to manipulate God by a ‘lawsuit,’ which assumed that his relationship to God is a juridical one.” (Parsons)
- Note (Constable): God rarely used legal metaphors, which Job had employed so often, in His speeches to Job. From now on Job stopped using them. This is an important observation because it shows that the basis of Job and God’s relationship was not a legal one, as Job had assumed. A legal relationship requires equal compensation by both parties for what each of them has done to the other. The basis of God’s dealings with Job was gracious, not legal.
- Starting with the first two verses, what other insight do we get from God?
- Job is a faultfinder of God
- Does Job still think he has that right or authority? Absolutely NOT
- This is Job's first response (of only two) he will make to God. Before, he had gone from angry to demanding a confrontation with God to the point of facing him as a prince (on equal standing). Now how does he feel?
- Job does not even want to answer
- Job is in no position to stand or answer God (he does not compare to God in knowledge or understanding)
- Once again, God challenges Job to answer him. In other words, God is not finished, there is still one other issue to address. Either that, or Job's response is insufficient. More likely, God has two issues. He has addressed the first. He now addresses the second. What is the second?
- Part of the issue is that Job has condemned God as wrong
- The other part seems to center on the topic of power, "an arm like God"
- This first paragraph gets to the issue fairly well. Job had a lot of wealth. He was recognized as the richest man in the east. But what did he or could he really do?
- He could not get rid of evil
- His power and majesty did not compare to God in any way
- And the most important point: "(his) own right can(not) save (him)"
- There is a lot of disagreement on this passage and the next passage, as to whether the animals are mythological or are real animals of the time (such as dinosaurs). There are very good arguments to their reality, but this is one case where, in my mind, it does not matter. It only matters that Job thinks they can exist, why do I argue that?
- God is comparing the power of some of his creation to Job's power
- It would not work to compare God's power to Job, the distance is too great
- Job only needs an idea of terrible power for the comparison to work
- How is the Behemoth described?
- Powerful
- Strong
- Nearly invincible
- The first and last verses of the passage emphasize God's point
- God made him as he made Job
- He is beyond Job's strength, but not beyond God's since God made him
- There are a lot of possibilities for the Leviathan, from sea monster to Alligator. What is God's point?
- He is also untouchable, yet he is God's creation
- God has created things which are far more powerful than Job
- Vs 5, Job cannot make a pet of the very things God created
- If Job's power does not even compare to a few of the things God created, how can he compare in any way to God?
- NOTES (Constable): To some degree Job, his three friends, and Elihu had all based their arguments on the rationality of God’s acts. God reminded them of Behemoth and Leviathan partially to teach them all that His actions transcend our ability to explain everything rationally.
- Job responds in typical Jewish reverse order to the issues
- No purpose of God's can be thwarted (Job must trust in God's power, not his)
- Job's wisdom and knowledge does not compare to God's (Job must trust in God's wisdom to bring good out of suffering)
- Job quotes God which is a nice way of saying, "you were exactly right"
- Job repents
- Job despises himself (probably his pride)
- Job is probably also sorry that God had to visit him in order for him to realize how wrong he was (no one else in history will get the same explanation)
- Job is not repenting of some previous sin that brought about the suffering. Job sinned because of his suffering. Job is repenting of his arrogance, his impugning God's justice, and his demanding an answer from God
Job
38:1-2 (ESV) Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
2 “Who is this that darkens counsel
by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it
known to me.
Job 42:7-9 (ESV) After the LORD had spoken these words to
Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and
against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my
servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go
to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant
Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you
according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my
servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and
Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD
accepted Job’s prayer.
Job
38:4-7 (ESV) “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its
measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang
together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
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Job
38:8-21 (ESV) “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you
come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be
stayed’?
12 “Have you commanded the
morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the
skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under
the seal,
and its features stand out like a
garment.
15 From the wicked their light is
withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
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16 “Have you entered into the
springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been
revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep
darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the
expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
19 “Where is the way to the
dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its
territory
and that you may discern the paths to
its home?
21 You know, for you were born
then,
and the number of your days is great!
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Weather
|
38:22-28
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To include
lightning, path for rain
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Constellations
|
38:31-33
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Motions and
appearance?
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Lion and Raven
|
38:39-41
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How do they get
food?
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Goat and Deer
|
39:1-4
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How do they bear
young?
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Donkey and Ox
|
39:5-12
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How are they
tamed?
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Ostrich and Horse
|
39:13-25
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Why do they act
strangely?
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Hawk and Vulture
|
39:26-30
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How do they fly?
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Job
40:1-9 (ESV) And the LORD said to Job:
2 “Shall a faultfinder contend
with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer
it.”
3 Then
Job answered the LORD and said:
4 “Behold, I am of small account;
what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will
not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”
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6 Then
the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
7 “Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it
known to me.
8 Will you even put me in the
wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be in
the right?
9 Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like
his?
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Job
40:10-14 (ESV) “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
11 Pour out the overflowings of
your anger,
and look on everyone who is proud and
abase him.
12 Look on everyone who is proud
and bring him low
and tread down the wicked where they
stand.
13 Hide them all in the dust
together;
bind their faces in the world below.
14 Then will I also acknowledge to
you
that your own right hand can save you.
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Job
40:15-24 (ESV) “Behold, Behemoth,
which I made as I made you;
he eats grass like an ox.
16 Behold, his strength in his
loins,
and his power in the muscles of his
belly.
17 He makes his tail stiff like a
cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are knit
together.
18 His bones are tubes of bronze,
his limbs like bars of iron.
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19 “He is the first of the works
of God;
let him who made him bring near his
sword!
20 For the mountains yield food
for him
where all the wild beasts play.
21 Under the lotus plants he
lies,
in the shelter of the reeds and in the
marsh.
22 For his shade the lotus trees
cover him;
the willows of the brook surround him.
23 Behold, if the river is
turbulent he is not frightened;
he is confident though Jordan rushes
against his mouth.
24 Can one take him by his eyes,
or pierce his nose with a snare?
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Job
41:1-11 (ESV) “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you?
Will he speak to you soft words?
4 Will he make a covenant with
you
to take him for your servant forever?
5 Will you play with him as with
a bird,
or will you put him on a leash for
your girls?
6 Will traders bargain over him?
Will they divide him up among the
merchants?
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7 Can you fill his skin with
harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hands on him;
remember the battle—you will not do it
again!
9 Behold, the hope of a man is
false;
he is laid low even at the sight of
him.
10 No one is so fierce that he
dares to stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before
me?
11 Who has first given to me,
that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is
mine.
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Job
42:1-6 (ESV) Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all
things,
and that no purpose of yours can be
thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel
without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not
understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did
not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it
known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing
of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
