Job's Prosecutor

Lesson five in the Job series.

Now we know who Job's persecutors were and we are going to discover who his prosecutor will be. Elihu is a man who is a center of controversy. Some people think he is very godly and paves the way for God's dramatic entrance at the end of the book, and some people think Elihu is evil. So we will have to see what he actually says and make our own judgment. For starters, when Elihu comes on the scene, he is described as "burning with anger" four times. That raises about...four red flags. In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus says, You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire.

Like I said, we are not even out of the gate and we have four red flags. Elihu is angry with Job's friends for not winning their argument and he is angry with Job because Job keeps insisting that he is blameless. Job has expressed several times that God has spoken to him and they have an intimate relationship. This infuriates Elihu who twice accuses Job of speaking words "without knowledge." In the Bible, the word knowledge means the kind of knowledge that one could only have access to if he has an intimate relationship with someone--in this case God. It is Job's insistence that he has this kind of relationship with God (Job 27:1-4) that infuriates Elihu.

Elihu also claims to be "perfect in knowledge" (36:4) like God--red flag number five. By making this statement, Elihu is claiming to have the status of the Son of God! Jesus says in Matthew 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. What Elihu has just uttered is blasphemy--no two ways about it. He further implies that he was present at creation in 36:3-4. Elihu has already silenced Job (33:31). Now he is telling Job that if Job will just listen to him, he can have access to this intimate knowledge like God. Can you hear the hiss of the snake in these words? Where have you heard words like that before?

Elihu has a lot to say about Job, but his words are not true--red flag number six. He insists over and over that Job is a wicked man. It seems to me that if someone really claims to have perfect knowledge like God, then that person should recognize that Job is God's servant. Elihu then wishes eternal damnation for Job. In chapter 34:36 he says, "Would that Job were tried to the end because he answers like wicked men." That may not sound so bad in English, but the Hebrew word for to the end is netsach which means forever or eternally. A more literal English translation would be "I hope you rot in hell!" --Red flag number seven.

Elihu presents a solution for Job's problem, but it is a false gospel. He tells Job that God will accept him based on his behavior (34:11) and that when God does accept him, he will become very prosperous and live out his days in comfort and prosperity (36:11). We know this today as the prosperity gospel--red flag number eight.

Finally, Elihu begins an intense interrogation of Job. It is as if he has set up a kangaroo court in which to try Job. A kangaroo court is an unofficial court where the defendant is denied his rights. He gets no lawyer, no witnesses, no unbiased judge. So poor Job has all the cards stacked against him. The questions Elihu asks in 37:15-20 seem to imply that Elihu himself knows the answers to exactly how God has planned out every aspect of creation. Elihu just keeps pummeling away at Job who remains silent throughout this discourse--red flag number nine. 

Many centuries after Job lived, another kangaroo court would be held in the middle of the night. This was in the house of the high priest and Caiaphas was in control, or at least he thought so. Jesus was the one on trial and Caiaphas accused Jesus of blasphemy because Jesus claimed he had an intimate relationship with God. Hmmmm...sound familiar? Caiaphas and the chief priests also demanded the worst possible penalty--crucifixion, the curse of God. And Jesus was crucified and descended into hell.

The most egregious effect of Elihu's blathering is the fact that he outright slanders God. He tells Job over and over that God does not hear his cries and will not answer Job (35:13-14). He carries on about God's righteousness and justice and begins ranting about how God will not violate these attributes. Let's listen in for moment: Elihu says, "The Almighty--we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in the own conceit." On the surface this might sound true. But what Elihu is really claiming here is that God administers justice to all individuals without mercy--because mercy would violate God's justice. God cannot have mercy on anyone because he is bound by his own righteousness and justice to punish people. That is why men fear God. 

Satan...I mean Elihu, refuses to recognize that Jesus will bear the punishment for those whom God has declared blameless. He refuses to acknowledge that God is merciful and gracious and slow to anger, showing lovingkindness to thousands. Elihu has just condemned God by slandering him and smearing his reputation--red flag number 10. It is just at this point in Elihu's rant that God storms onto the scene interrupting this scandalous tirade. With all these red flags surrounding Elihu, it should be easy to see where God's wrath will be directed. 

Job's Prayers and Prophecies

Lesson four in the Job series.

During the course of Job's trial, he prays two prayers that we will look at very closely. The first prayer is in Job 6:8-10. Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that would let loose his hand and cut me off! This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 

Now on the surface, it looks like Job is asking God to kill him and be done with it. But this is a wisdom book, so we have to dig a little deeper. Job's comfort is the key theme of this entire book. What is Job's comfort? That during the course of this trial, he will not deny the words of the Holy One--that he would not deny God's commands by sinning against them!

Think about this! Here is Job in excruciating pain, surrounded by friends who are cruel to him. And the only thing that will give him comfort is to not sin against God. He would rather die than sin. His one request and his one hope and his only comfort would be not to sin. I don't know about you but if I were in Job's place, I would just want the pain to go away. I would want to be healed. But Job says he would even rejoice in his pain if he could be assured of not sinning against God. Who does that remind you of? It should remind you of Jesus who was willing to go to the cross for you!

Job is the most righteous man on the earth and he is praying the most righteous prayer in all Scripture. One psalmist was so impressed by Job's prayer that he made it into an acrostic form of poetry and song that we still sing today. It is Psalm 119 and it is a fitting exposition of Job's prayer--"Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." Job's prayer should be our prayer in every trial. 

Job's second prayer is in chapter 16:19-21. Job has no idea why he is being treated so unjustly and he wants his day in court so he can lay out his case before the judge. But every plaintiff (the person who lays out his case) needs a lawyer who understands the law to help him with his case. In this case Job wants an arbiter. An arbiter is someone who goes between both parties and tries to help both. He has the best interests of both parties in mind. This says a lot about Job--Job isn't just looking out for himself--he wants to be fair to all sides. But who could possibly be the arbiter between a man and God? A man would not be able to represent God's best interests (Job 9) and God would not understand a man's frailty (Job 10). So Job is asking for a miracle in this prayer. He starts out expressing his faith: Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, that he would argue the case of a man with God, as a son of man does with his neighbor.

Do you see what Job is asking here? He literally wants God himself to argue with God on his behalf in the same way that a man would argue with his friend! This is unheard of. It is almost as if God could be two persons at once--God arguing with God! Really??? We have to remember that at the time Job lived, there was no theology about the Trinity, so we have to see this as a prophecy. Job didn't even realize exactly what he was talking about, but he knew what he needed and he knew God would provide it. We see Job's faith revealed in chapter 19:25-27 when he says, For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me.

Job realizes he is going to die any minute. If they had hospice back then, the hospice workers would be calling the family in. But he is so sure that God will come and vindicate him that he has logically deduced that there must be a bodily resurrection. This is another of Job's prophecies--something that had never been heard of before. In Old Testament times, all they knew is that the body went into the ground to Sheol, and the spirit returned to God in heaven. They had no clue about bodily resurrection. But Job's process of reasoning that he began in chapter 14:7-14 finds its logical conclusion in chapter 19:25-27. He knows that even if God came right now, he would literally have to raise Job from the dead because his body has already decayed and his bones have rotted. It is a miracle that he can even still speak. 

We see more evidence of Job's faith in chapter 23:3-7. He says, Oh that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

Job is predicting that when God does show up on the scene, it will not be as his judge but as his advocate.  The "upright man" who argues with God will be Jesus, but Job does not know this. He only knows that an upright man will be provided to argue his case. 

Job's well-laid-out case has brought him to two significant logical deductions: 1) There has to be a bodily resurrection, and 2) There has to be a fully God/fully man arbiter. His faith in God is so strong that he knows these things to be true. Job knows God can do the wildly impossible. I hope you know that too. 

Next time we will talk about Job's prosecutor.

Job's Persecutors (AKA Comforters)

Lesson three in the Job series.

Three wise men come from afar to comfort Job. The Hebrew word nacham which means comforted or consoled is used nine times in the book of Job. That means that comfort is one of the main themes of Job's story. Who are these wise men anyway? And did they comfort Job?

All three men were like kings--chiefs of the lands they came from. They were wealthy and prosperous and they came from places that were known for wisdom. Eliphaz was a descendant of Abraham through Esau, and Bildad was also a  descendant of Abraham through one of the sons he had by Keturah, his second wife after Sarah died. Job himself was a descendant of Abraham's brother Nahor as was Elihu who comes later. We don't know much about Zophar but he may have been a king of the Minaeans. All of these men put their faith in their own wisdom. According to Eliphaz, wisdom comes with age. In Job 15:7-10 Eliphaz says to Job, 

"Are you the first man who was born?

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

Have you listened in the council of God?

And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that is not clear to us?

Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

Older than your father."

This is probably in answer to Job who has just said to them, "Shouldn't wisdom come with age and understanding in length of days? With God are wisdom and might, he has counsel and understanding" (Job 12:12-13). Now I should warn you that in many Bibles verse 12 says, "Wisdom is with the aged and understanding in length of days." However, you miss the intended irony if you read it that way. The literal meaning of the Hebrew asks the question. Job is contrasting the alleged wisdom of the elders with the wisdom that comes from God and saying that their wisdom is no wisdom at all. This is going to be important later when God picks up Job's argument in chapter 38. 

So the three wise men heard about Job's plight and they came to comfort him. But when they came to him, he was so disfigured by his disease that they couldn't even recognize him. He looked like a living corpse. Maggots were already consuming Job's decayed flesh and his teeth and bones were rotting. So they just sat there for seven days. Then Job cried out--more like bellowing and roaring in the Hebrew--about his pain, cursing the day of his birth and wishing he had never been born. (Jeremiah copies Job's lament in the Book of Lamentations chapter 3 as if he had memorized it.) After Job's outburst, the friends begin to talk.

You would expect that seeing someone in this much pain and suffering, the friends would respond with compassion, but they did not. They all wanted to analyze Job and his problem and discover the source of the calamity. They all believed in the sovereignty of God and they all believed that God is just. They all thought that the righteous prosper and wicked suffer calamity. But their god was not merciful and neither were they. You are what you worship. None of the friends believed that a righteous person could suffer like this so they began by telling Job to confess his sins. Job understood why his friends were so adamant about sin producing suffering.  It was because they were afraid. You see, if something like this could happen to a man who was as blameless as Job was, then it could happen to anybody--even them. Job 6:21 says, "...you see my calamity and are afraid." 

Job refused to repent because he had not sinned. This made the friends really angry so they started inventing sins that Job must have committed. Here is a sample from the speech of Eliphaz:

"For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

and stripped the naked of their clothing.

You have given not water to the weary to drink,

and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

~Job 22:6-7

They also told Job that he was the cause of his children dying and that his children must have been killed because they were sinning. This is called slander and God abhors slander. It was all the worse because these men were considered to be the experts. They did not recognize Job as God's servants at all. In slandering Job, they were unwittingly slandering God. This reminds me of the Pharisees in Jesus' day. They thought they were the experts on God, but when Jesus came, they didn't even recognize him as God's Son!

The more the friends slandered Job, the more Job protested his innocence and that made the friends even angrier. They did say a lot of right things about God--just like the Pharisees did, but when you only get something half right, it is as good as getting it wrong. Fifty per cent on a test will still get you an F. No true friend of God would slander God that way and no true friend of God would slander God's servant either. So we know that these friends were unbelievers. 

Finally, the three friends had exhausted all their resources and they quit talking. The three of them were no match for the dying man who went on to lay out his full case complete with a closing argument to boot. So Job won that round. The score is now God: 3 and Satan: 0.

One of the lessons we should learn from Job's persecutors is that sometimes people will say things to us that sound true, but even if everything they say is true, it may not be the whole truth and ends up being pure deceit. Lots of Christians get sidetracked and derailed this way. The only way you can fight it is to know the whole truth. 

Stay tuned for part 4 where we will look at the prayers and prophecies of Job during this horrific trial. 

Job's Priorities/God and Satan Make a Bet

Lesson two in the Job series. It is time to focus on God, Satan and Job. 

Job, the servant of God was described by God as "blameless, upright, fears God and turns away from evil." Did you know that these same words describe all Christians? You may not feel blameless, but if you believe in God and put your faith in Jesus, then God says you are blameless too! That is because when you become a Christian, God takes all of your sins and records them in Christ's ledger book and then he takes all of Christ's righteousness and records it all in your book!

Job, as the servant of God, was the most blameless man in all the earth. One day, when all the sons of God came before the throne, Satan appeared with them. The sons of God were most likely angels. God and Satan got to talking and God said, "have you noticed my servant Job?" God did a little bragging about Job and it got Satan all irate. It just so happened that Job was also the richest man in town and he had a big family too. So Satan said something like this to God, "He doesn't really love You, You know. He just loves all the stuff You give him. But if you take it all away, he will curse you to your face." 

What did Satan mean by that? Today, when we think of cursing, we think of swearing at someone or using foul language, or threatening them or maybe even delivering some kind of incantation designed to bring them harm. But the Hebrew word for curse [barak] is the same Hebrew word for bless. That means you have to look closely at the context in order to see how you should interpret it. So to curse literally means to not bless. A good example of this is in Proverbs 30:11. In Hebrew poetry things are often stated two times in two lines that give an expanded meaning. This verse says, "There are those who curse  their fathers and do not bless  their mothers." Do you see the correlation between curse and do not bless?

When we bless God, we acknowledge him, we honor him, we give him glory, we praise him, and we obey him. When we curse God, we do the opposite--we deny him and disobey and dishonor him by breaking his commandments. Any sin that we commit, no matter how insignificant it seems to us, literally curses God by putting Jesus under God's curse. Jesus was "pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities." Here is another way to look at it. If Jesus had failed to keep the law in just one teensy little point, all of us would be condemned to hell for all eternity. That is how egregious sin is. Any sin is the equivalent of cursing God.

Satan thinks he can make Job curse God by taking away all his stuff. And God gives him permission. First, Satan takes away all Job's wealth--all of his oxen and donkeys and sheep and camels. But it wasn't just the animals--all Job's servants were killed as well. And then the final blow came when all of Job's ten children were killed by a whirlwind. God only knows how many people died that day--maybe as many as a hundred. So Job lost everything. Did Job sin? No. He said, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Did you notice the word blessed? Job did not curse God; he did just the opposite, he blessed God. 

So God won that bet and the score was God: 1 and Satan: 0. But then Satan came back another day and he said, "Well, maybe Job didn't love his stuff more than You, but he certainly loves himself more than You God." So God gave Satan permission to destroy Job's body--his bones and flesh--but not to kill him. Poor Job was covered from head to toe with extremely painful boils. The boils pierced his flesh and began to decay and maggots were crawling all over him and even his bones and teeth were rotting. Some folks say his teeth were even falling out. That was when his wife joined the conversation and told Job to "curse God and die." Yet the Bible says, "In all this, Job did not sin with his mouth." Once again we see the contrast between curse and did not sin. And the score is God: 2 and Satan: 0. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

In part three, we will look at Job's persecutors. 

Job's Purpose

Lesson One in the Job series.

The next several blogs will be about the book of Job. It's been a long time coming with a couple hundred hours of research, but well worth the time and effort! Suffering is a common theme in our lives and unjust suffering is something everybody needs help with. So here goes...

The book of Job is best studied after the entire book has been read. It takes so many twists and turns that it can be confusing to interpret if you do it chapter by chapter. The best way to approach the book is by the themes that occur throughout the book, and then tie them together at the end. I will cover these themes in the following order: 

Job's Purpose

Job's Priorities

Job's Persecutors

Job's Prayers and Prophecies

Job's Prosecutor

Job's Protector (in three parts)

Job's Perseverance and Prosperity

Job's Priesthood and God's Greater Purpose

Job's Purpose

For starters, the book of Job is written as a drama with about seven main characters. God is the "mainest" of the main characters. Then there is Satan whose name means adversary. He is also known in the Bible as the serpent, the accuser, the devil, the tempter--you get the idea. The protagonist in the story is man named Job. God says, "My servant Job" five times in this book. So Job is right up there with Moses and all the Old Testament prophets. He was a spokesman for God. God's spokesmen were the men who would write the Old Testament Scriptures. 

As God's servant, Job would take his place in the city gates where he would dispense justice, taking care of the poor and needy and widows and orphans. He would also engage in dispensing wisdom and when he was there, the other princes and noble men would put their hands over their mouths as a sign of respect and honor. It meant that they recognized that someone more important and wiser was in their midst and it was their way of saying that they would keep silent and let him speak. You can see the full list of things Job did in chapter 29. 

Job was the wisest of all the men because he got his wisdom from God. He would tell the people what God told him. There is a whole chapter in the book of Job--chapter 28--where Job talks about this wisdom and where it comes from. In the end, he says that you can't really understand all of God's ways and you can't find wisdom by searching for it, (or by getting old!) but if you want to attain wisdom you have to begin by fearing God. He says, "Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom and to turn away from evil, that is understanding." Does that remind you of another very wise man? I hope it reminds you of King Solomon who wrote the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 

Job had been God's servant for a long time but now God had a special purpose for him. Job was the one chosen to teach people about God's kindness and comfort when they suffer unjustly. We suffer unjustly when bad things happen to us for no apparent reason. Sometimes we suffer because we sin, but that is not suffering unjustly. The Apostle Peter talks about this in his first letter. He says, For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, that is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you leaving you an example so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. (I Peter 2:19-22)

So when we suffer unjustly, we follow Christ's example. Christ taught us how to suffer without resorting to sin. But whose example did the Old Testament people follow? They knew nothing about the suffering of Christ and how he suffered unjustly because it hadn't happened yet. You probably know where this is going. Job was selected by God to be the stand-in example for how to suffer unjustly until the time Christ came. Job was the poster boy they could look to for comfort. Job was not suffering because of sin. This does not mean that Job was not a sinner. But Job's suffering had to be seen as completely unjust because God said it was unjust: God said to Satan, "...You incited me against him to destroy him without reason (2:3). Still, God committed to protect Job's soul during this trial. Job was God's example to Old Testament believers of how to suffer unjustly without resorting to sin. 

One of the people who followed Job's example was King David, and he wrote a lot about unjust suffering in the Psalms. He was kept from sin when Saul was trying to kill him, because God's words were in his heart, and even when he had a chance to kill Saul, he wouldn't do it. Many of the Psalms use laments that draw from Job as the original source. Psalm 22 which is a prophecy about the crucifixion is remarkably similar in its description to Job 19 which describes Job's tortured condition. David put many of Job's emotions and prayers into songs of beautiful poetry which the church has used through the ages in worship, and we still sing these songs today. 

Jeremiah also followed Job's example. Jeremiah often quotes Job in both Jeremiah and Lamentations. In fact, Job says nothing in this book that we can't find elsewhere in the Bible. We call that a seminal work--the original source from which the others draw. The book of Job became a source of comfort to everyone who suffered because it helped people see that God is the source of all kindness and comfort and they could see clearly through Job's story how God would be Job's Rock and Shield and Defender. Job's steadfast faithfulness to God during this trial made him a legend in his own time. God was still talking about Job when Ezekiel was a prophet and even the Apostle James draws heavily on Job when teaching about how suffering produces steadfastness. 

In the next lesson we will look at Job's priorities.

When Grace Comes Disguised As A Thorn

No doubt we have all read about the Apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh. While Paul does not tell us explicitly what the thorn was, there are some things we know about it. We know that it was a gift. He tells us a thorn was given me in the flesh. A messenger of Satan applied the thorn, but the thorn was a gift from Christ. We know this because the thorn was given to him to keep him from being conceited. Satan would have rejoiced to see Paul overcome by conceit.  How it must have galled Satan to be used by God as an instrument in Paul’s sanctification! We do not normally think of demons being used to prevent humans from sinning, but Paul is pretty explicit here “a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.”

False apostles in the church at Corinth tried to build up their credentials by falsely reporting spiritual experiences and ecstasies. At the same time, they tried to discredit Paul because Paul had not shared any such experiences. In fact, Paul appeared very weak in person. But Paul did have an experience—a revelation that surpassed anything that the false apostles could even imagine. He had gone to the highest level of heaven and seen things no man had ever seen. We can only imagine the temptation to put these false apostles in their place. They were destroying Paul’s reputation, his ministry, and his message. The church listened to them and refused to commend Paul. From a human standpoint, all Paul had to do was tell about his own revelations and reveal what he was commanded not to reveal and the problem would be solved. He could vindicate himself and put the false apostles in their place by doing this one thing. He could save his ministry. No doubt Satan keeps whispering this in the Apostle’s ear: “You are God’s special boy. Go ahead and tell. It will save your reputation and your ministry. God won’t punish you.” 

The thorn stops Paul from considering this temptation. It is a constant reminder that he does not need to brag about his experiences to build up his ministry.  God and God alone builds the ministry. We know Paul's thorn was both painful and humiliating. We also know this: The false apostles were given no such thorn. Their pride and arrogance would be their undoing. God was letting them go their own way. 

We often think of grace as the beautiful, fragrant, feel-good part of the Christian walk--like a rose. But grace can come disguised as a thorn. We may have problems that are painful or humiliating, problems that seem to never end. We may even convince ourselves that it is the devil himself tormenting us. But every pain and every humiliation comes from the hand of a Redeemer who is far more concerned about our holiness than our happiness. In the end, it is all grace—even the thorns.