Job 20 and 21: The Wicked Prosper

October 30, 2023Posted inJob
In these two chapters we have the second interchange between Zophar and Job, and the third interchange in the second round between Job and his friends. Both speeches differ somewhat from the earlier speeches in the book. Zophar, for the first time among the friends, indirectly accuses Job of specific sin—oppression of the poor. Job’s…

Job 18 and 19: I Know that My Redeemer Lives

October 24, 2023Posted inJob
In Chapter 18 Bildad continues with the same theme that he, Eliphaz and Zophar had been developing all along—the judgment of God that comes on the wicked. And in chapter 19 Job replies in the same manner as before—that unconfessed sin was not the explanation for his suffering. In fact, in chapter 19 he goes…

Job 16 and 17: O Earth, Do Not Cover My Blood

October 16, 2023Posted inJob
Chapters 15 to 17 in the book of Job record the second interchange between Eliphaz and Job. In chapter 15 Eliphaz is much more severe with Job than he had been in his first speech. After listening to Job’s protestations of innocence and complaints against God, he became convinced that Job had sinned and even…

Job 13:20 to 14:22: Contending with God

October 5, 2023Posted inJob
Job’s answer to the first speech of Zophar, the third of his friends, is found in chapters 12–14. This speech has two main parts. In the first part (12:6–13:19) Job describes for the benefit of his friends some of the destructive and mysterious ways of God. His point is that the wisdom of God (12:13f)…

Job 9-10: How Can I Contend with God?

September 21, 2023Posted inJob
In chapter 8 Bildad, who had pretty bluntly accused both Job and his sons of sin (8:4), called Job to repentance (8:5), and promised blessings if Job became pure and upright (8:6f). In chapters 9 and 10 Job answers him by asking the question, “How can a man be righteous before God (9:2)?” I believe…

Job 6 and 7: No Help in Friends, Self, or God

September 15, 2023Posted inJob
When Eliphaz spoke to Job the first time (Job 5) he gave him good advice (“Do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds but His hands make whole,” 5:17–18), but showed no compassion. In his response (chapters 6–7) Job focused on three things: 1) that his…

Eliphaz’s First Speech to Job: Truth without Love

September 8, 2023Posted inJob
What would you say to a fellow Christian afflicted with a very painful disease who had just lost his family and all his possessions in a great natural catastrophe like an earthquake or a flood? How would you reply if he said with great bitterness, “I wish I was dead?” Two things would be necessary:…

Wisdom in the Book of Job (Part 3: Chapters 38-42)

April 1, 2022Posted inJob, Wisdom
Job has already taken one pounding from his young friend Elihu. In these chapters he takes another from the Lord himself. It is a severe mercy that the Lord shows him here. Job has acted wickedly and very foolishly in thinking that he could justify himself in God’s eyes. The Lord brings him back to…

Wisdom in the Book of Job (Part 2: Chapters 29-37)

March 30, 2022Posted inJob, Wisdom
In the first part of this short series, we saw that Job spoke truthfully and eloquently about wisdom in chapter 28. But in this part, it will be necessary for us to see that Job was not living according to the wisdom he had praised so highly. God said of him in chapter 1 that…

Wisdom in the Book of Job (Part 1: Chapter 28)

March 25, 2022Posted inJob, Wisdom
God willing, this post begins a series that will examine wisdom in the last part of the Book of Job. There are three books in the Old Testament that talk about wisdom more than any others. They are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. In Job we have a practical demonstration of the truth that knowing what…