“Job: Religion for Nothing”
Introduction:
A. The Book of Job has been held by many as the greatest literary masterpiece ever written.
1. Victor Hug: “Tomorrow, if
all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work
only, I should save Job.”
2. Daniel Webster: “The Book of
Job, taken as a mere work of literary genius is one of the most wonderful
productions of any age or of any language.
3. Philip Schaff:
“The Book of Job rises like a pyramid in the history of literature, without a
predecessor and without a rival.”
B. To many a soul walking through
the valley of grief, Job has been their role model, companion and comforter.
C. The purpose of this study is
to help us understand the central concepts of Job and relevant background
information that will set the stage for individual personal study of this
amazing book.
I.
Keys to Understand Job.
A. Key words include suffering,
trial, perseverance (James 5:11), and the sovereignty of God.
B. Key Verses in Job that
portray central ideas are:
1. Job 1:9 coupled with Job
13:15
2. Job. 23:12
3. Job 1:1 & 1:21-22.
C. Key Phrase in the book is
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job. 13:15).
D. Key Chapters in the book of
Job are 1 & 42 (Crisis to Blessing).
II.
Outlines of Job.
A. Outline of Job By Wayne
Jackson:
1. The Prologue (1-2).
a.
The character of Job (1:1-5).
b.
The misfortune of Job
(1:6-2:10).
c.
Friends of Job arrive
(2:11-13).
2. The Dialogue (3:1-42:6).
a.
Job’s first speech (3:1-26).
b.
First cycle of speeches
(4:1-14:22).
c.
2nd cycle of speeches
(15:1-21:34).
d.
3rd cycle of speeches
(22:1-31:40).
e.
Elihu’s
speeches (32:1-37:24).
g. God speaks (38:1-42:6).
3. Epilogue (42:7-17).
B.
Miscellaneous Outlines:
1. Disasters (1-2)
2. Dialogues (3-:42:6)
3. Deliverance (42:7-17).
III. Job, the man.
A. Most scholars speculate that Job lived in the
Northern part of
B. There are two possible meanings for the name
Job.
1. Job may be from an Aramaic
root word meaning, “to come back, to repent.”
2. Job could be from a Hebrew
word meaning, “hated, persecuted one, to be at enmity,
the assailed one.”
C. The man Job that we read
about is speculated to be the prince of
D. Was Job a real person, or an
allegorical character?
1. Other inspired prophets
believed that Job was a real person (Ezek. 14:14).
2. The inspired half-brother of
the Lord believed Job was real (James 5:11).
E. For the time, it seems that
Job was a wealthy man.
1. Job owned enough livestock
and servants to be raided.
2. Job had a large family.
F. Job’s Suffering.
1.
Financial Bankruptcy.
a. Lost Livestock
b. Lost Servants
2.
Family Loss
a.
All of Job’s children die in one
day.
b.
Job’s wife entices him to curse
God.
3. Health Loss
a.
Most scholars believe that Job suffered from a rare and painful form of
Leprosy known as Elephantitus.
4. Characteristics of Job’s
Disease included:
a.
Sleeplessness (7:4).
b.
Painful boils from head to toe (2:7).
c.
Rotten, cracked, puss infected skin (7:5).
d.
Rottenness of bones (18:13).
e.
Bad breath (19:17).
f.
Terrible pain (30:17-19).
g.
Fever and skin rot (30:30).
h.
Comfort from scraping dead skin with pottery (2:8).
i.
Drastic change in physical appearance (2:12).
j.
Difficulty eating (3:24).
k.
Mental depression (3:25).
l.
Shortness of breath (9:18).
m.
Darkness of eyes (16:16).
n.
Weight loss (19:20).
IV.The
Book of Job.
A. Many claims have been made that the book of
Job is just a poem written by a Jew in the 1st or 2nd B.
C. However, it can be proven that the
book of Job is inspired of God.
1. In 1 Cor.
3:19 Paul quotes from Job 5:13 saying “For it is written, He catches the wise
in their craftiness…” What is important
to notice about this verse is that Paul uses the perfect tense, passive voice
of the Greek word gegrapatia, which would
literally be translated “It has been written and is currently standing so”. Therefore, by quoting Job 5:13, Paul is
saying that Job has been written by God and is currently standing as His
written word.
2. Also, Job is quoted by Paul
in Romans 11:35.
B. The Central Purposes of the Book of Job are:
1. The meaning of suffering.
2. Theodacy-the righteousness of God.
3. Human access to God.
4.
Faith/Patience, perseverance.
5. Will man serve God apart
from the blessings he bestows (Job 1:9-11).
C. The Date of the book of Job is believed to be from the patriarchal age for several reason. (This is not speaking of the writing of the book of Job, but when the events in Job occur). The reasons for a pre-Mosaic age are:
1. Patriarchal family-clan type
organization is more like Abraham’s day than Moses.
2. Sacrificial offerings were
done by head of family rather than priesthood system (Job 1:5)
3. The word qesitah
translated “piece of money” (42:11) is used in the pre-Mosaic age (Gen.
33:19; Josh. 24:320.
4. The rare usage of the Divine
name YAHWEH (ch1-2x, ch2—1x, ch12—1x ch38—1x, ch40—3x, ch42—5x).
5. Wealth and the economy were
measured by livestock (1:3).
6.
The absence of references to
7. Job’s life-span fits those
who lived during the patriarchal period (42:16).
8. Job shaved his head when
mourning (1:20), this act was forbidden by the law of
Moses (Lev. 21:5, Deut. 14:1).
VI.
The Purposes of Suffering
A. To prove that God is worthy of love apart from the blessings he bestows.
B. A means of purifying the
soul in Godliness.
C. God’s thoughts and ways