Job's Protector part one

Lesson six in the Job series.

Job is in big trouble. He is poor. He is needy. He is afflicted. He is destitute. He is dying. His enemy Elihu is railing at the dying man and calling for his ultimate damnation. Job has cried out for God to rescue him and plead his case and answer his prayers for vindication. And now Job's Savior has shown up--in the most dramatic entrance ever. The Lord answers Job in a whirlwind. Do you remember when King David was in a similar situation and God showed up in the same way? You can read all about it in Psalm 18:1-30. God showed up in a storm because he was so angry at David's enemies and he plucked David up and rescued him from them. In the Old Testament, any time God showed up in a storm or on dark clouds or in a whirlwind, it was because he was angry. Another good example is from Isaiah 66:12-16 which shows us again how God comforts his people while simultaneously judging their enemies. 

For thus says the Lord:

"Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river;

and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip

and bounced upon her knees.

As one whom his mother comforts,

so I will comfort you;

you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;

your bones shall flourish like the grass;

and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,

and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.

For behold, the Lord will come in fire,

and his chariots like the whirlwind,

to render his anger in fury,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,

and by his sword, with all flesh;

and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

Whirlwinds are mentioned 21 times in the Old Testament and every time it was because God was coming in wrath to rescue his servants and destroy or bring calamity on their enemies.

Just for context here: Recall that Elihu is on the stage ranting about how Job is speaking "words without knowledge" like a wicked man. God suddenly interrupts Elihu in the whirlwind and says, "WHO is this that darkens counsel by "words without knowledge?" 

Understand that God has come in answer to Job's prayers. And when God shows up, he is not only coming as the Judge, but also as the Advocate (Arbiter) that Job so longed for. Not only that, but the Holy Spirit also shows up to convict the three wise men. So we have the entire Trinity taking center stage at this point. And all three have a part to play. God speaks TO Job, but whenever God speaks it is FOR everybody just like when he spoke to his other servants like Moses and David. For example, when the Israelites left Egypt and were complaining about having no food, God promised them manna. The rules were to collect only enough for one day for five days of the week and they were not to try to save some for the next day. Then on the sixth day they were to collect double because there would be no manna on the seventh day. As you know, several of the people disobeyed. Exodus 16:28 says, And the Lord said TO Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?"  Now we all know that it was NOT Moses who was squirreling food away in his tent and it was NOT Moses who was out searching for hidden manna on the Sabbath. But that is how God talks to his servants. He did the same when he spoke to Job.

Think of it this way--when your pastor preaches a sermon on Sunday morning, he has all kinds of people in the congregation. Some are saved, some are not. Some are on the way to being saved. But the message is the same for everybody even though everybody is in a different place and receives it differently. When God comes on the scene in Job, the same thing happens. When God says, "Dress for action like a man," that means one thing for Job who will be discarding his sackcloth and taking on the role of a priest for a new kind of service. It means another thing for Elihu who is facing his own day in court before the Judge, and it means something quite different for the three wise men who will soon be putting off the old man and putting on the new as the Holy Spirit convicts them. Each person has his own level of interpretation depending their circumstances, but the message is the same for everyone. 

After this, God launches into a long speech. Here is where you have to pay really close attention because this next part will be like solving a puzzle. In order to know who God is addressing, you have to look at the words God is using and then go back and see who used those same words and phrases before. Only after you do this will you be able to see what is happening here and how to interpret it. 

We will start that puzzle next time!

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.