The Writings/Poetry/Wisdom Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs (Lamentations)
Job A book that wrestles with the issue of suffering alongside of the righteousness and justice of God. Date:? Historical:?
Chapters 1-3 Uncomfortably, God is the initiator of the story. God is in charge right from the beginning, including getting Satan to think about Job - not the other way around. God tests Job s faithfulness by allowing Satan to attack him.
Chapters 1-3 God told Satan, All that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him (1:12). Job loses everything, including his health, and his wife tells him to curse God and commit suicide. Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. (1:22).
Chapters 4-37 Job s friends give him plenty of bad advice. They mistakenly blame his sufferings on his personal sins. Job s friends represent conventional wisdom - the unbending, have-it-alltogether theologians who believe their wisdom is sufficient to understand the ways of God in the world.
Chapters 4-37 Job argues with his friends and tells them they are no comfort to him. Job believes that his calamities do ultimately come from God, yet he can see no clear cause-and effect correlation. So Job seeks an explanation for his suffering, and many of his speeches are pleas for the right to defend himself before God.
Chapters 38-42 God speaks out of the storm, breaking the silence, in fulfillment of Job s deep yearning. But rather than vindicate Job, as Job had hoped, Or punish Job, as his friends had expected, God simply challenges our human wisdom.
Chapters 38-42 God tells Job and his friends that they have spoken incorrectly. Who is this that darkens my counsel by words without knowledge? God humbles Job by asking him a series of questions about his creation, its origins and his care for it, that could never be answered by anyone other than God. Wisdom lies with God alone.
Chapter 42 In the end, Job answers God by saying, I have declared that which I did not understand. God then blesses Job with twice as much as he had before his trials began.
Main Themes -Human wisdom cannot understand the ways of God. -Undeserved suffering has no easy answer. -God is not obligated to explain everything to humans. -The fear of the Lord is the path to true wisdom.
An attack on Magic Job is a book challenging our tendency to make religion into magic. (i.e. our attempts to control/manipulate the gods for our own ends). Job s suffering is the result of a contest in the heavenly court where Satan has argued that people are righteous only because they get paid for it.
An attack on Magic Will people love God for himself alone or only for his benefits? Do human beings love God only for what they get out of the relationship? Is it possible to fall into the same trap by following God with a focus on heaven, crowns, blessings, etc.?
An attack on Human Wisdom Are the godly willing to live within the bounds of creaturely wisdom? Wisdom is found not only in knowing, but in also knowing our limits. God does not need to explain himself to us. How do we balance off the complaining to God we see in the Psalms and Prophets with God s, Who is this that darkens my counsel?
An attack on Human Wisdom In the book of Job, humanity want to put God on trial and insist that he explain his actions. The book ends with God putting humanity on trial as to whether or not they will trust him when they receive no immediate benefits and are given no explanations to their questions.
1 Corinthians 1:20-25 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. We preach Christ crucified. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (NIV).