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:…

Enemies in Psalm 119

August 31, 2023Posted inPsalms Commentary
Though Psalm 119 is a song of love for the law, the Lord’s servant (as he calls himself) did not write it in the isolation and calm of his study. One of the prominent themes in the psalm is the presence of enemies who seek to turn him aside from the law and hinder him…

Psalm 119: A Very Personal Prayer

August 26, 2023Posted inPsalms Commentary
We think of Psalm 119 as a psalm about the law, and it is that. What we don’t always recognize is that it is more than just an objective celebration of the beauty and value of the law. It is also a psalm about a very personal love for the law. By far the most…

The Law in Psalm 119

August 18, 2023Posted inPsalms Commentary
Everyone who knows anything about the Bible knows that Psalm 119 is a psalm about the law and that it is alphabetic, having twenty-two stanzas of eight verses each, every verse of each of the stanzas beginning with a particular letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Most also know that every verse contains at least one…