Explanation on the book of job explained

The holocaust, or burnt offering, in patriarchal times, was offered literally, caused to ascend, referring to the smoke. Job pronounced jobe, was a rich farmer living in the land of uz, somewhere northeast of palestine. Too many christians want to put themselves into the role of a job. Can you guess the film from the badly explained plot. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. The book of job is an obvious place to turn when a christian suffers, but it is not easy to discern what god means to teach his people through this difficult book. This is important, for the point of the whole narrative, we shall see, is to expose the. The contents of the book, together with its artistic structure and elegant style, place it among the literary masterpieces of all time.

Job 1 commentary commentary critical and explanatory on. The book of job is primarily about the afflictions of job. Satan can touch flesh and bone but your spirit belongs to god and only you can defile it and cause god to reject it. Job is an unlikely candidate because the books message rests on jobs ignorance of the events that occurred in heaven as they were related to his ordeal. The permission seems to have extended to this, as well as to torturing the body. The name job is mentioned only 54 times and mostly just in the book of job. God says to job, now i want you to pray for your friends these three dear men, so stubborn, so sure that they had all the answers, so well meaning, so sincere, so.

Job wants to find a way to justify gods actions, but he cannot understand why there are evil people who harm the childless woman, and do no good to the widow, only to be rewarded with long, successful lives 24. God says to job, now i want you to pray for your friends these three dear men, so stubborn, so sure that they had all the answers, so well meaning, so sincere, so dedicated, but such utter blunderers. A free bible version and commentary on the old testament book of job in easyenglish. It is possible that job is the oldest of any book of the bible written approximately 21001800 b. The book of job is often referred to as one of the great classics of world literature. Nov 12, 2017 the book of job is one of the most misunderstood books in the bible. Job 15 commentary james burton coffman commentaries on. So, whenever you open the sacred word, also open your heart to god in prayer, allowing the words of this commentary to direct your thoughts to the scriptures and to the one they tell us about. It is the philosophical riddle that concerns us in such an introduction as this. Some bible scholars debate whether he was an actual person or legend, but job is mentioned as a historical figure by the prophet ezekial ezekial 14. It should be kept in mind that job is not the author.

But he has promised the holy spirit to help us understand john 16. The traditional surface understanding doesnt make sense with. How do you trust god even when life isnt fair and you suffer for no good reason. Five truths for sufferers from the book of job the. The dominant theme of job is the difficulty of understanding why an allpowerful god allows good people to suffer. Addressing the issue of theodoric the vindication of the equity of god in the light of humankinds agony, or all the more essentially, why do the noble suffer. On the contrary, god speaks directly to job, just as he does in the patriarchal age with noah, abraham, isaac, jacob, and other heads of. Job was also blameless or perfect, but so was lucifer at one time eze 28. In fact, some scholars believe that job requires and understanding of the book as a whole more than any other book of the old testament. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. This article interprets jobs teaching on suffering from five broad perspectives.

Understanding the book of job by tom tompkins escape. The book of job defends the character of a loving and righteous god in spite of earths obvious evils and injustices. Many scholars are convinced that the prologue and epilogue are later additions to the original, the body of the tale. Key personalities of this book include job, eliphaz the temanite, bildad the shuhite, zophar the naamathite, and elihu the buzite. The book of job is a very tough book of the bible to understand using just the reasoning found within your human mind. The word of god is precious and far beyond human wisdom isa. Satan can touch flesh and bone but your spirit belongs to god. Its purpose is to illustrate gods sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering. To understand the full impact of the book of job the book must be read and understood as a whole. A new chinese coronavirus, a cousin of the sars virus, has infected hundreds since the outbreak began in wuhan, china, in december. When god shook job, the sediment colored the water, and you find job saying some terrible things about god in this book. The book of job is one of the wisdom books of the bible. The book of job is one of the most problematic portions of the bible and has called forth a variety of interpretations. Up in the heavens, god brags to the divine assembly about job.

This to me is the overriding teaching of the book of job. Though we cannot be certain, job may have lived during the time of jacob or shortly thereafter. The book of job is among the other old testament books both a philosophical riddle and a historical riddle. The holocaust, or burnt offering, in patriarchal times.

However, the initiator of the problems in job s life and the cause of the problems are widely misinterpreted. The book of job is one of the most misunderstood books in the bible. You can read our explanation of job 8 meaning of verses 11 through 22 of chapter 8 as well open your bible to job, chapter 8. Even though we still dont have a complete understanding of why, the same is true for us. He is an example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to god. The book of job is a highly controversial book of mostly confusing information. There are no references to the law of moses, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the judges or kings, etc. I attempt to clear that up by offering a different perspective than most people know today. One talmudic tradition suggests moses as author since the land of uz 1. The book of job has been widely given the theme of patience and we see this mentioned in the new testament book of james. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that job himself wrote it. The name job is mentioned only 54 times and mostly just in the.

This summary of the book of job provides information about the title, author s, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of job. In job, we see a man who god allows to be directly attacked by satan. Divisions of the book description of jobs trials ch. As is customary with epic poems, it begins with a prologue that sets up the story line chs 12. We will also see that in some of our darkest hours, the battle must be our own. Nevertheless these ways of god with mankind have always a good purpose romans 8. The subject of the book of job is gods dealings with mankind in his governmental ways in a world in which satan, the adversary of god, has introduced sin, suffering and death. The contents of the book, together with its artistic structure and elegant style, place it.

Although most of the book consists of the words of job and his friends, job himself was not the author. The book of job is included among the wisdom writings precisely because it teaches man that pain and suffering are a mystery of divine wisdom. The book of job is a book of the christian old testament that tells a story about job, who in jewish tradition is the son of uz, who was the son of nahor, the brother of abraham. As humans we tend to think we know a little bit of everything. Sep 07, 2010 the book of job is a highly controversial book of mostly confusing information. It is also, a book of almost endless endurance in the face of great stress. If we define salvation on the basis of performance, then job is surely saved. The author recounts an era in the life of job, in which he was tested and the. God knew that it was there, and he knew that in shaking this godly, blameless man there would arise some imperfection into his life, and that it would need to be purged. Satan targets job because of his righteousness and favour with god and wishes to turn job against god. His speeches neither explain jobs suffering, nor defend divine justice, nor enter into the courtroom confrontation that. Jobs story invites us to consider what it means that god runs.

Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of bible. The name job is the english translation of the hebrew name iyov which means persecuted, hated on the surface job is a long, boring, somewhat confusing book and one might question how it ever came to be grouped with the wisdom books as it is hard to ascertain any wisdom in this tale of woe. Its very hard to navigate your way through those chapters and determine what is true and what is not. Welcome to our job 9 explained article, where well study job chapter 9, verses 12 through 23. But after this experience, job came to embody for me a bible in my pocket answer to suffering, something that could be whipped out to explain. And there is a reality called satan who challenges god that his man is not as good as he thinks he is. Most books of the bible take place on larger stages, but the book of job goes down at a very specific and narrow point in the human life cycle. The gripping and challenging book of job is perhaps one of the most fascinating books of the old testament, and it begins a new division in the scriptures. For seven days jobs friends sat by him in silence, without offering consolidation.

Introduction to the book of job society of gilbert keith. God gives satan permission to attack job, and he does so first through. The lesson from the big book of job is 1 that god is sovereign over all. Well be studying the 8 th chapter of the old testament book of job weve been reminded throughout this book that when we dont understand gods ways, we must trust his wisdom. Hes blameless and upright, and he has kids, a wife, land, and a bunch of sheep.

According to the sacred writer, the truly wise man should realize that the fear of the lord, that is wisdom. Its subject matter is the allimportant question, why, in a world over which yahweh has jurisdiction, should innocent persons have to suffer when at the same time the wicked escape suffering and are permitted to have comfort and security. Or from an arabic word meaning repent, thus bearing the name repentant one. It broke down the book of job and explained things so well. In job, this prologue serves as a literary device to give the reader a perspective that the characters in the story lack.

If we were to film this book, the whole movie would take place on a single set, probably in a single day. An explanation of the biblical book of job the book job is composed of three parts. The book of job is considered being part of the poetic books job, psalms, proverbs, ecclesiastes, and song of songs in todays bible editions. Iyov is a book in the ketuvim writings area of the hebrew bible tanakh, and the main wonderful book in the old testament bible. The big picture of job is that there was a man who was, in one sense, blameless in gods sight.

Although job was unaware of the interaction between satan and god, job comes to the conclusion that god is just and good. Job spends his entire book in a position of sadness and loss. On the contrary, god speaks directly to job, just as he does in the. At the same time, it also asks the question we rarely. Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Though it is hard and rare, it is not impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. If you have not read this series from the beginning, i would highly recommend that you go back and start with part 1. So these three men ceased answering job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Job explores the difficult question of gods relationship to human suffering, and invites us to trust gods wisdom and character.

Then the wrath of elihu, the son of barachel the buzite, of the family of ram, was aroused against job. The books from genesis to esther are all narrative books, and are vitally meaningful to us as living parables, as types worked out in actual history by which we can see what is going on in our own. A major difficulty in understanding the meaning of the book is, what insight leads job to submit so humbly to god at the end. Whole chapters of the book are devoted to speeches by jobs counselors.

Set in uz, an obscure land far from israel, during an unknown time period, the book of job focuses on questions about gods justice and why good people suffer. Jobs saintly friends tried to explain his problems by appealing to the logic of good orthodox theology. The implied prophecies were that job would never be rich job 15. But if salvation comes by faith, he surely isnt at least not at the beginning of his book. In this book, we can see the evidence of satan working to destroy man. The book of job, named after its protagonist apparently not an israelite. Human beings are unable to understand why the righteous suffer job 28. Job free bible commentary in easy english easyenglish bible. However, the name does occur in genesis 46 and ezekiel 14. The last of the book is a beautiful picture of what james calls the tender mercies of god toward job james 5.

Lo and behold, satan comes out and challenges god on job s goodness. Book of job summary by chapter old testament job story. Job with book summary versebyverse bible commentary. Man puts an end to darkness, and searches every recess. This reference in james is the only time job is mentioned by name in the n. Job went through one of the most difficult seasons i think recorded in the bible. God is asking us and inviting us to trust him and his wisdom. If youd like to study verses 111 read our job 9 commentary and our job 9 summary for verses 2435. Addressing the problem of theodicy the vindication of the justice of god in the light of humanitys suffering it is a rich theological work setting out a variety of perspectives. In the end, jobs almost irreverent appeal to god for an explanation led to his justification and approval by god.