Week Three: Job, Faith, and the Revelation of God - Job 1-2 Overview The text introduces Job, a man who lives about the time of the patriarchs (as evidenced by the lack of a priestly system for sacrifices, the lack of references to any Mosaic instructions, camels, which the Jews did not use, and his great age). Job is righteous, rich, religious, and respected by God and men. God presents his character to Satan, whom He permits to test Job first by his possessions and his children, and then by his health. Chapters 3-31 describe a series of dialogues between Job and his three friends Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad who come to comfort him but end up condemning him. Chapters 32-37 recount the speech of Elihu, who justifies God while exposing the errors of Job and his friends. God addresses Job directly in Chapters 38-42; Job responds in humility, and God restores him. Job was a man of faith in the tradition of Adam and Eve, Abel, Noah, and Abraham. Lesson Objective: At the conclusion of this lesson about Job s dialogue with his friends, students will be able to recognize the four filters through which all people interpret suffering. Key Truths Job demonstrates amazing faith in God based solely upon God s revelation in Genesis 1-11. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). The stories in Genesis 1-11 reveal a God who cares about human suffering. Job understands that the way to God is through the shedding of the blood of the innocent on behalf of guilty sinners. He learns this truth through the story of the Fall, Abel s offering, and Noah s offering. A conversation in heaven occurs that changes the course of Job s life. God brings up Job s name and states Job s position before Him. God s revelation regarding Job s status, though unknown by Job except by faith, cannot be altered by a change in circumstance or an onslaught by Satan and his demonic forces. People interpret suffering (and all of life) through one of four filters: revelation, observation and experience, tradition, or human reasoning. The finite mind, darkened by the Fall, cannot understand suffering or make real sense of life without the illumination that comes from understanding the origin of creation and man, and the Fall. Job (in the tradition of Abel, Seth, and his descendants) seeks to walk by faith in the goodness of God. Faith in God is the only thing that pleases God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). This lesson examines the four filters through which men interpret all of life.
Lesson Outline - Job 1:1-2:13 1. Job begins with an earthly scene that is radically altered by a heavenly conversation - (1:1-12) That Job understands the necessity sacrifice is evident at the beginning of the story, So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did regularly (1:5). Meanwhile, in heaven, the LORD brings Job s name into the conversation, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? (1:8). Clearly, the LORD confirms Job s faith-based righteousness. Job and the other characters on earth remain ignorant of what happens on the heavenly plane; it is only we, the readers, who are let into the secret of why Job is suffering. 1 God reveals in the heavenly council what is true and real on earth. Job is not included in the conversations in heaven, although he is the subject of those conversations. Job undergoes an immediate reversal from a wealthy, healthy, and respected man to a poor, sick, and despised person. He loses wealth and children in a series of violent, inexplicable events. After he responds positively to these tragedies (1:20-22), he then by the permission of God loses his health. In spite of these trials, and against the counsel he receives (2:9), he chooses to receive his lot as from God (2:10). All Job has to base his faith on are the truths about God and man handed down to him through the stories of Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel. Truths about God from these stories mobilize Job to persevere under severe physical, emotional, and relational suffering. These early Genesis stories reveal: A God who is good, merciful, and redemptive A God who is worthy of trust (13:15) A God who is to be feared (28:28) Evil and suffering that is the result of sin in the human heart and enticement by Satan Accepting these truths while he suffers enables Job to persevere and declare the words that have comforted so many sufferers since, But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the 1 Donald A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), loc. cit.
commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food (Job 23:10-12). 2. The story of Job continues when the hedge around Job s life is removed and he and his friends seek to reconcile faith-based righteousness and suffering - (2:11-13; 4:7-8) Job loses his children and all of his wealth. All that remains are a bitter wife and three comforting friends. Job s comforters are so astonished by the depth of Job s suffering that they sit silent for seven days. Their silence probably comforts him. The interrogation begins when they open their mouths and speak through the filters they each use to interpret suffering and life--and question Job s righteousness. They illustrate three of the four filters through which man interprets all of life. His friends sincerely but wrongly believe that all suffering is the result of some deficiency on the part of the sufferer. As far as he knows, however Job is right with God. He approaches God as did Abel and Noah (Genesis 4:4; 6:8-8; 8:20-21; Job 1:5). The book of Job contains and illustrates all four sources of knowledge through which people filter and understand life: revelation, observation and experience, tradition, and finally, human reasoning. We all use one or more of these filters to make sense of our world. Revelation The book of Job opens with the revelation filter. The reality of Job's situation is defined by what takes place in heaven and what God reveals about the situation. God describes Job as a "blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil" (1:8; 2:3). Observation and Experience "Consider now," begins Eliphaz, as he filters Job's experience through his "experience filter." Eliphaz interprets Job's suffering through what he knows by observation and experience. Innocent people don't suffer. Therefore Job must be guilty of some wrongdoing: "Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it (4:8). Eliphaz also believes that the innocent only suffer temporarily and asks, Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? (4:7). Therefore, if Job is basically a God-fearing man, he has a right to be confident that he will not suffer for long. Tradition Bildad interprets Job's suffering through what he knows by tradition or what has been passed down to him by those who've lived previously: "For inquire, please, of the former age, and consider the things discovered by their fathers, for we were born yesterday, and know nothing" (8:8-9). Therefore, he challenges Job, "God does not pervert justice." Bildad, a firm believer in the doctrine of retribution, finds his theology confirmed by the deaths of Job s children, who must have been great sinners (Job 8:4). Job himself still lives, so the sin for which he is being punished cannot have been severe, and he may take comfort from the fact that his life is spared. Human Reasoning
Zophar interprets Job's suffering through human reasoning: "If you devote your heart to him... then you will lift up your head without shame" (11:13-15). Zophar believes suffering is always the result of sin, but, believing also that God is merciful, he can only suppose that Job s suffering is less than he really deserves from a just God (Job 11:5 6). Lastly, Elihu values suffering as a channel of divine communication, a warning against future sin. Certainly, some truth regarding suffering can be understood through observation and experience, tradition, and human reasoning. The book of Job reveals God s wisdom and revelation, which trump man s understanding. Though thousands of years have passed since Job suffered, humans continue to view suffering as one of life s key questions. Just as in Job s time, humanity still filters suffering through the sieves of revelation, observation, tradition or human reasoning. People who reject the revelation of Scripture as ultimate authority do so by using one of the other three filters. They may depend on their own personal experience; they may rely on the traditions of men; or they may count on the assured results of human reasoning. In the end, however, all these lines of authority fall short. "There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Application - What does this lesson teach us about God? Man? Sin? Redemption? Job doesn't know about God's conversation regarding his character until the end of the story, but he does know the stories about creation, the Fall, sacrifice, and the flood. He understands that man's relationship with God is not based on personal merit but on an acceptable sacrifice. He responds to all the revelation or light that he has about God. By the end of his suffering, his view of God has been enlarged. We all benefit from that enlargement. Your acceptance or rejection of suffering is determined by what God has revealed about Himself in Scripture. Summary God speaks, but His divine counsel often remains hidden; what is expressed in the heavens often remains in the heavens, but man can trust what the Bible reveals about God regardless of his circumstances. God acts when he removes the hedge from around the lives of His people, not because of personal sin but to refine and reveal faith. Suffering happens to those who are saved and to those who are lost. Christians, however, suffer in hope. God reveals His character, which grounds the faith of sufferers so that they persevere under trial. Discussion Questions Which filter do people primarily use to interpret the events and circumstances of their lives today?
How does Job s response to the challenge before him differ from Adam s response in Genesis 3 and Noah s response in Genesis 6-8?