Let’s return to the prologue, vis-à-vis to chapters one and two of the Book of Job once more. Here we find that God addresses a being called the satan. Meaning ‘the enemy’ or ‘the adversary.’ Folks can believe whatever they wish about this being, but I do not recognize him as a spirit being who rebelled against God either before or after the creation of mankind. None of the references to satan, the devil or the serpent show that he is an evil angel. That said, and for the purpose of this study, I’ll hereafter refer to him as the adversary. So, let’s look at what took place between him and the Lord. God spoke with the adversary and pointed to Job, asking if he had considered how Job behaved. God claimed Job was the Lord’s servant, and said he was the most righteous man on earth (Job 1:8). That, in itself, says a great deal about Job, and what we’ve studied about him thus far. Nevertheless, the adversary painted a different picture. Read the rest of this entry »
Once again Job turns from speaking with the friends to speaking to the Lord (Job 16:7). In the previous verse, Job claimed that no matter what he did, he was unable to vindicate himself. If he attempted to speak out in his own defense, he was rebuked and accused of being wicked. If he tried to silently endure his lot, he was accused of being evil, and the presence of his constant suffering testified that was true. Even prayer was of no avail, for the heavens were silent, as if to say the Lord had already spoken in judgment against Job. Thus, with all hope of comfort crushed, Job testifies that God had made him weary (Job 16:7). In other words, Job is without any strength to continue. The Lord had removed any hope of vindication, and Job was at his wits end to present anything new in his defense. Read the rest of this entry »
We have recently begun a study of the Book of Job. For the benefit of interpretation, the reader is offered knowledge, which the four main actors of the play are not given. We, as readers, know that God is behind Job’s troubles. He has afflicted him, according to the challenge made by one of Job’s enemies (called satan,[1] which means adversary, enemy, opponent). We don’t know who this character is, but his identity isn’t important to the plot of the play.[2] As we listen to the reaction of the actors, we come to understand that worldviews are in conflict. Job’s truth about life and God has been shattered. He realizes this and simply wants to die, because nothing makes any sense to him anymore. He is suffering beyond his strength to endure, actually cursing the day of his birth. Job believes that even never having been born would be better than this life. Read the rest of this entry »
Interestingly, satan is referred to by name fourteen times in the Book of Job, all in the first two chapters! He is mentioned in eleven verses, five in the first chapter (Job 1: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12) and six in the second (Job 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7). Nevertheless, he is never mentioned or referred to again in the rest of the book! Why? Well, perhaps it’s because he was wrong on all counts. He observed Job, and, as is usually the case for the unrighteous who observe the righteous, he thought he knew what made Job tick, but he really didn’t, and the unrighteous never admit error, because that would be the righteous thing to do! Read the rest of this entry »
The satan, vis-à-vis Job’s enemy, has made a wager with the Lord, asking: “Does Job serve the Lord for nothing?” His challenge was that the whole method of the Lord’s treatment of people was a farse. It didn’t reflect reality. It is all about stuff. Job served the Lord for what he could get, not for any altruistic reason. Job wasn’t righteous for nothing. He behaved as he did, because he received blessings of wealth from the Lord. In other words, righteousness was only as real as the Lord’s blessings. Take away the blessings, and righteousness would disappear, as well! However, we don’t hear about Job’s satan after chapter two. In fact, he has no active role beyond Job 2:7. Afterward, his surrogates speak for him, Job’s wife and later Job’s friends. Read the rest of this entry »
We have come to the point in our study of the Book of Job, where we are introduced to Job’s friends, “Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite…” (Job 2:11). We don’t know much about them, but we know they loved and respected Job. They were his friends. They were also his peers. They, too, were wealthy and were considered wise, and sought to serve God, according to their understanding. Some scholars take the position that they are literary figures. That is the friends have roles to play and the author of the Book of Job causes them to live out their respective roles for the purpose of his literary work. Without denying the value of the roles the friends play, I take the position that Job was a real person, and if this is true, the friends must be real people, as well. Read the rest of this entry »
According to our present study, it appears that in the course of time, while the Lord rules among the gods of this earth, one or more of these men of rank (human gods according to Psalm 82) may challenge God to prove those whom he judges righteous. Job was righteous, and righteous folks have enemies, in that the unrighteous are jealous of them, even offended in them. Why is this? Many presume, or presume it is thought by righteous folks, that the moral character presents a context that the righteous are betterthan the unrighteous. One man even complained to me that, because I contended God’s people had his Spirit within them, I was claiming the righteous were more advanced or greater human beings than the unrighteous or those who didn’t believe in God. Thus, the unrighteous seem to be challenged or duty-bound to prove there is no difference between righteous folks and the unrighteous. Read the rest of this entry »
In chapter one we were introduced to a man called Job, who was righteous before the Lord, and was blessed with a large family and great wealth. We are even told that he was the greatest of all the men of the East (Job 1:3). Suddenly, we were brought into Job’s world, and we saw it crumble before Job’s own eyes. He lost both his family and his wealth. This occurred, not because Job had done anything wrong, but because God had removed the hedge of protection he had placed around Job. The Lord was challenged by Job’s satan, vis-à-vis Job’s enemy, and he accepted satan’s wager. Job’s satan had accused him of merely expressing respect for God, because God had blessed him so well. Satan contented that once the Lord’s blessings were removed, Job would surely curse God to his face. In other words, he didn’t believe Job was sincere in his reverence for God. He believed Job was self-righteous, and only appeared to revere God in the presence of other men. Satan contended that, in reality, Job was no better than anyone else. Nevertheless, when Job’s blessings were removed, he still worshiped the Lord, despite the destruction of his world as he knew it (Job 1:21-22). Read the rest of this entry »
When we pray for friends or relatives as they take a journey, we, often, ask the Lord to place a “hedge” about them for protection. We did this in the church, where I worshiped, before I moved away, and my wife and I still do it for those we love. Where does that idea come from, whereby we desire that God would “place a hedge” about a person, and what does it mean? Actually, the words, themselves, come from satan, Job’s enemy! Imagine! We actually use his words to bless those we love. The words are found in Job 1:10, where satan is speaking with God “…have you not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land!” Read the rest of this entry »
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). Read the rest of this entry »
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We are told in Job 1:6 that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord on a certain day, and someone called Satan was among them. In my previous study we learned that there is absolutely no context in the Bible that would lead anyone to believe the sons of God were spirit beings, angelic in nature. If this is true, and accurately understood from the word of God, how could Satan be anything but a human being? Why would he appear before the Lord with the sons of God, human beings of high rank, if he were something other than human himself? From where do we get the understanding that Satan is an angelic being who rebelled from the Lord eons ago? Read the rest of this entry »
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Interestingly, the text, abruptly leaves off speaking of Job, specifically, and points to a certain day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Moreover, we are introduced to a specific son, whom the text refers to as Satan, because he was among those sons of God who appeared before him. At least most biblical scholarship will tell us the sons of God are angelic beings, and Satan is one of these spirit beings. However, the text doesn’t say so, specifically. In fact, if we were reading the Book of Job and had no prior understanding of angelology, it is difficult to believe one would readily receive this impression from the text. So, from where do the scholars get this understanding? Read the rest of this entry »
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As Jesus ended his mini discourse with his disciples, he became very troubled in his spirit. Often, when folks come to realize they’ve been betrayed or their love for another had been abused, they become angry and lash out at the guilty one, but not so, Jesus. He simply grieved over the fact that Judas would do such a thing. Like grieving over the passing of a loved one, although you knew it would occur and were prepared for it, you still grieve over the loss. Then Jesus told his disciples for the third time that one of them would betray him (John 13:21). There were several tables in the upper room, and Jesus disciples sat at each one, but during the meal Jesus revealed that it would be one of the Twelve, who sat at his table, who would betray him (Mark 14:20). Each one had already taken his turn, asking if he were the betrayer, but Jesus replied only that it was one who dipped with him in the dish (Mark 14:19-20). Read the rest of this entry »
Saying they were the spiritual children of God (John 8:41) meant that these Jewish authorities knew the will of God and did the will of God. In other words, they thought and acted in the same manner they believed God would. Otherwise, the relationship between man and God has no meaning, because God didn’t physically beget human children. The Jewish faith isn’t anything like the Greek religion, where gods rape one another, kill one another and show themselves as having the same lusts as mankind. However, although they understood a child of God is one spiritually, Jesus told them their statement that they were children of God couldn’t be true. Had they really been God’s children, they would have loved Jesus, for he had come to them from God as his physical representative. Jesus came willingly to witness to them, because God had sent him (John 8:42). Therefore, how could they be God’s children, if they didn’t believe the very one God had sent to them? Then Jesus asked: “Why don’t you understand my speech?” and immediately he answered his own question, saying: “Because you cannot hear my word!” (John 8:43). Read the rest of this entry »
In Mark 8:27 we find Jesus in Caesarea Philippi! While Jesus wasn’t well received by the Jewish nation from the beginning, especially by the Jewish authorities (cp. Mark 6:1-6), it seems he had to be particularly careful for his safety immediately following Herod’s execution of John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29). About the time of John’s death, Jesus had sent out his disciples to preach the Gospel around the towns and villages of Galilee (Mark 6:6-13), and, when his labors came to the ears of Herod, the governor wished to see him (Luke 9:7-9). Moreover, because Herod’s curiosity is put in the context of John’s execution, his interest in Jesus was probably of a political nature, believing him to be a rival. Read the rest of this entry »
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