The Lord Restores Job’s Prosperity

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As we conclude our study of the Book of Job and consider how the Lord restored Job to his former prosperity, we need to keep in mind that all Job and the friends knew about God prior to Job’s calamities was what was handed down through oral tradition. In fact, there is no ancient evidence of an alphabet prior to Israel’s coming down to Egypt about the time of Joseph’s reign as second in command to Pharaoh.[1] So, knowledge of such things revealed in the New Covenant scriptures, like God forgiving us is dependent upon our willingness to forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15; cp. Ephesians 4:32), simply wasn’t known or understood in the ancient world. Even if such things were known from the beginning, Paul shows us that that kind of knowledge of God would have been lost to mankind by the time of Job (Romans 1:18-25).

 

What Happens to Folks Who Are Lost?

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When the dialogue between Job and the friends began, Job expressed his ignorance over what the Lord was doing in his life, as well as his depression over the fact that his worldview had disintegrated before his very eyes, vis-à-vis for all intents and purposes, he faced nothing but chaos for the remainder of his life. Nothing made any sense anymore. How should Job live? In other words, Job felt lost, because everything that he built his life upon was like a foundation of sand that the great storm had taken away (cp. Matthew 7:26-27).

 

What Was Wrong With Job?

46576809 – what’s wrong question handwritten on vintage school slate board isolated on white

The Book of Job opens by describing Job’s character. He is a very good, moral person (Job 1:1). In other words, Job faithfully followed God, and for all intents and purposes, there was absolutely no reason for God to punish him. However, is that what God was doing? Keep in mind that the story of Job takes place in ancient times, probably during the time of Abraham. If Abraham had to be taught what God was like, certainly other folks at that time were ignorant too. Therefore, if they were to learn deep truths about the Lord, God had to break into their lives in some way and bring them to the point, where they would understand him better, and, in doing so, correct their then current, but false, worldview.

 

The Lord’s Challenge

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Job had been humbled by the Lord’s first reply. Moreover, although he once believed he would desire to speak to God and declare his innocence and make his righteousness known before him, so the Lord would vindicate him in the presence of the friends and others who believed him to have been secretly wicked (Job 13:18-19, 22; 23:10), Job, now, declared he had spoken foolishly and no longer claimed any right to present his defense before God (Job 40:3-5). Therefore, the Lord resumed speaking out of the whirlwind (Job 40:6), telling Job to prepare himself in his Presence, because he would demand an answer from him by reason of what he was about to say (Job 40:7).

 

What Did Job Know about God?

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Often, we, as Christians, give non-Christians the same terrible understanding of God and the Gospel that Elihu and the friends had. We judge them according to what we believe the Spirit has given to us. So, when they sin, in our eyes they could hardly be more wicked, and they, obviously, deserve the judgment of God. On the other hand, Jesus claimed they are ignorant and don’t understand the truth at all, for as he hung on the cross, he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). We are a lot like Jonah, who, also, had a misconception of the lost. After he accepted God’s call to preach to Nineveh, not only didn’t he preach the correct message, but he afterwards waited for God to destroy them, just as he (Jonah) had predicted. However, when Nineveh repented, and God turned from the judgment he planned (Jonah 3:10), Jonah became indignant. He complained that he knew it would go badly from the beginning, which is why he didn’t want to preach to Nineveh (Jonah 4:1-2). However, just as he did with Jonah, God helped Job understand the value of repentance and mercy, when dealing with folks who are ignorant (Jonah 4:10-11).

 

Is Elihu Wise or the Fool!

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Some scholars believe that all of Elihu’s speech represents an insertion by a later editor of the Book of Job. On the other hand, many conservative scholars say there is both internal and external evidence, which supports the understanding that Elihu’s arguments fit very well into the context of the book’s theme. Some even conclude that at this point Elihu hints at being the author of the Book of Job. Not that he made it all up and was solely responsible for its content, but, rather, he is the historian, so to speak, who recorded the actual debate between Job and the friends. Accounting for Elihu’s speech by making it a confession of one of the friends, who suddenly changed his mind, simply wouldn’t fit well, nor would forcing it to fit into what the Lord says immediately afterward, because Elihu admits to fears about being wrong and fears of intruding into a discussion, wherein its participants would consider him unfit. Rather, Elihu’s words are his own and fit into the context of the discussion, if one simply permits his sudden arrival to take place as the text concludes.

 

Is God to Be Blamed for Evildoing?

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Up to this point in Job’s record, whenever he mentioned what God had done to him, he admitted the Lord had a right to do whatever he wished. Indeed, the Lord had removed the hedge of protection he had placed around Job (Job 30:9-11), but does this mean God is to be blamed for Job’s suffering? We, the readers, know that something has occurred behind Job’s story, concerning which neither Job nor the friends are aware (viz. Job 1 & 2). However, God permitted the occurrence, and seemed to be a party of the evil that occurred to Job. What can be said about this?

 

What Is the Proof of One’s Worldview?

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Job tells his friends that he is willing to change his mind, if he has misunderstood his predicament, or if he has misunderstood Eliphaz’s argument (Job 6:24). However, Eliphaz and his friends need to show just cause for their opinions, not merely say Job is wrong, and not merely say they hold the correct point of view. This is largely the fault of many, today, who approach the truth. They assume their understanding about a matter is correct, so they argue according to the presumed correctness of that worldview. Nevertheless, if their worldview doesn’t work, if it is wrong, their conclusion about the matter under discussion will inevitably be wrong, as well. Yet, it is very difficult to bring these same folks to understand that they, like Job’s friends, are in error.[1]

 

Satan Destroys Job’s Family and Wealth!

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With Job’s fate placed in the hands of his enemy by none other than God, himself, we read that Job’s sons and daughters were again feasting together in the home of his eldest son (Job 1:13). No doubt Job knew what was going on and may have been at that very time praying for them. As chance would have it, on the very day Job’s sons and daughters were feasting, one of Job’s servants came running to him, to say the Sabeans had come suddenly upon Job’s plowmen, killed everyone laboring in his fields and stole his herds of oxen and donkeys, and only he escaped alive to tell him (Job 1:14-15).

 

Job’s Character and Wealth

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The name Job is Iyob in the Hebrew (H347), and it is derived from the Hebrew word ayab (H340), meaning hated or persecuted (hostile or hostilely treated). So, considering the content of the book, the name may have been given him in later life, like Peter was given to Simon, one of the Twelve, and Paul was given to Saul, the Apostle to the gentiles. If this is so, not only couldn’t this person be the son of Issachar (Genesis 46:13), as is often supposed, but we couldn’t possibly identify him from scripture. There is a possibility that he may be someone who lived in Abraham’s day or sometime prior to him. We do know that he lived before the time of Moses, because, as the father and head of his family, Job was a priest and offered up sacrifices to God on their behalf (Job 1:5). Whatever the case may be, concerning his identity, this man was righteous, and his integrity was unique among his peers (Job 1:8; 2:3).

 

Are There More than One Book of Job?

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In my previous study, I mentioned two ancient Middle Eastern texts that are similar to the Book of Job, wherein the authors of the texts suffered much and wondered why God would permit such a thing to occur to one who sought so much to obey him. The texts are Dialogue Between a Man and His God, which is an ancient Accadian text, and A Man and His God, which is an ancient Sumerian text. Both works have been compared to the Book of Job by some scholars. I wonder, if it isn’t a bit more than that. What I mean is, do they represent three completely different ancient works, having nothing in common but the desire to know why a righteous God permits human suffering, or do they all have a common source, and, if the latter is true, what would that mean to our study?

 

An Introduction to the Book of Job

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Job is placed among the wisdom books of the Bible, and there are five: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Some add one or two others, but, usually, these are the accepted books listed under the title: Wisdom. However, although one might describe the Book of Job as poetry, its main character seems to be an actual historical figure, not a mythological character used to teach a hidden truth (cp. Ezekiel 14:14, 20; James 5:11). The book has 42 chapters and is considered by many to be the oldest book of the Bible. Nevertheless, some scholars like to place it much later, saying it was written by Moses, Elijah or even by a rabbinical scholar (Ezra?) during the Babylonian captivity. However, if this were true, why isn’t the Law mentioned, or the Sabbath? Why isn’t the Exodus mentioned, Canaan or any of the kings of Israel?