| Job
BOOK
: Job
Description
:
a story of suffering, questioning and restoration
Author:
unknown
Date
written : unknown
Chapters
:
42
Brief
Synopsis:
•
Gets its name from the main player, Job,
who suffers and argues.
•
We are given an insight behind the scenes
in heaven (Ch.1 & 2) which explains all that happens to Job and
which must be remembered throughout.
•
Satan is allowed to move against Job who
has the most intense suffering.
•
Three friends come to console him and
end up arguing with him about the reasons for his state.
•
At the end he encounters God and realises
that there is no point arguing with the Almighty sovereign God.
•
(Beware! Don't try grabbing verses out
of the argument part of this book because not everything the ‘friends'
say, is right.)
Outline
:
Ch.1,2
Prologue
Ch.
3-27 Dialogue-Dispute
Ch.3-14
First Cycle of Speeches
Ch.3
Job's Opening Lament
Ch.15-21
Second Cycle of Speeches
Ch.15
Eliphaz
Ch.22-26
Third Cycle of Speeches
Ch.22
Eliphaz
Ch.26,27
Job's reply
Ch.28
Interlude on Wisdom
Ch.29-42
Monologues
Ch.29-31
Job's Call for Vindication
Ch.32-37
Elihu's Speeches
Ch.38-42
Divine Discourses
Key
Verses :
Because
there are so many facets to the arguments in this book we are not including
extensive verses but would simply ask you, as you read through those
arguments to bear in mind the divine assessment of Job at beginning
at end:
Assessment
of Job
1:22
In all this,
Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
2:10
In all this, Job did not sin
in what he said.
42:7-9
After the LORD had said these
things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with
you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is
right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven
rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves.
My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and
not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of
me what is right, as my servant Job has." So Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the
LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.
NB.
This is important to hold on to when Job's friends try to accuse him
of sinning
Job
comes to Understanding
40:1-4
The
LORD said to Job: "Will the one who contends with the Almighty
correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!" Then Job answered
the LORD: "I
am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth
42:1-6
Then
Job replied to the LORD: "I know that you can do all things; no
plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, `Who is this that obscures
my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know. "You said, `Listen now, and
I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears
had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise
myself and repent in dust and ashes."
42:10-12
After
Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and
gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters
and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house.
They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought
upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The
LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first.
•
The ultimate message of this book is don't
try reasoning or rationalising suffering; you only get understanding
through revelation from God.
•
If you read this book, in the early chapters
catch and empathise with the anguish that Job is suffering and remember,
suffering people don't want logical answers, they want loving and accepting!
•
As you go through the arguments of the
friends, ask yourself is what they are saying actually true?
•
For this book we thoroughly recommend
for the person who wishes to really get to grips with it, that you use
the Meditations referred to below, and be prepared for some solid reading!.
Additional
Study Material
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