Sunday, March 13, 2011
INTRODUCING JOB
Job 1:1-5
Please allow me to ask you some tough questions. Why do people suffer? Even more specifically, why do the righteous suffer? If God is love, then how can He allow the terrible suffering we see in this world? What is the relationship between sin and suffering? Can God expect people to worship Him, when they are in the midst of intense suffering? Is God touched by man’s suffering? Does God give answers to all of these questions?
At this point some of you may be thinking, “Ron, you sure do talk a lot about suffering. Why?” The answer is simple: Suffering is a prominent theme in both the Bible and in life. To ignore the theme of suffering is to fail to deal with life as it is. It’s kind of like death. We live in a society which has invented all kinds of ways to help us avoid thinking about death. Funeral homes bury our dead, so that we won’t have to have any direct contact. Soft music, nice clothing, and a truck full of lies so dominate funerals that most cannot hear the message of Heb. 9:27, “…It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Because death is not a pleasant subject, it is generally avoided. It is the same way with suffering. Large segments of our society have concluded that the best way to deal with suffering is to avoid it at all cost. Though many people have questions about suffering, they are generally left unasked, because it seems easier to avoid the subject altogether. That is not the approach of the Bible. Like death, suffering is a reality that must be faced openly and honestly.
Now let me ask you an easier question. Except for the Lord Jesus, what man has suffered more than any other person in history? I believe the number one answer has to be “Job.” Even among non-Christians, Job is known as the supreme sufferer. Phrases such as “the suffering of Job” or “the patience of Job” are not uncommon. Anyone who has read about or heard about Job will not soon forget his story, because he experienced incredible suffering. Job would easily make the Guiness Book of World Records as the man who endured the most extreme suffering. But even if someone could be found who suffered more than Job, his story could not compare with that of Job, because of the unique circumstances that surround the story of Job’s suffering. When we read the book of Job, we get the inside story about what was really going on.
As you might have guessed, we are going to spend some time in the book of Job. I believe we will proceed through the first couple of chapters rather slowly, as they set the stage for everything else. Then we will move through the middle part of the book a bit faster, though at this point, I think we will plan to cover all of it. Then we will give special attention to the end of the book. While the middle part of the book may seem a bit tedious, I have had more than one person say, “I get the first and last part, but it is hard for me to make much sense out of the rest of it.” Let’s dive in and ask the Lord to give us insight into the truth of this book.
Let’s begin by reading Job 1:1-5…
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. 4. And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered 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 did Job continually.
I. The Background -- Who? Where? and When?
So who was this man “Job”? He is introduced in almost storybook fashion: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.” He is the main character in the book that bears his name, and his name occurs in this book a total of 55 times. We call it “the book of Job” for good reason. But outside of the book of Job, this man is mentioned only three times -- twice in the fourteenth chapter of Ezekiel and once in the fifth chapter of James. Those references refer back to him, but they do not give us any information about his background. The reference to Job in Gen. 46:13 is most likely to another man by the same name (compare Gen. 46:13 to Num. 26:24 & I Chron. 7:1). Basically, we are introduced to a man we know nothing about.
However, we do know where Job lived. He lived in the land of Uz. The land of Uz is also mentioned in Jer. 25:20 and Lam. 4:21, which associates Edom with the land of Uz. Edom was south and east of the Dead Sea. This would be consistent with the attacks of the Sabeans (1:15) and the Chaldeans (1:17), who lived in that general area. Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, was from Teman, a city not too far from this area. It seems best to conclude that Job lived in what is the northwest part of modern-day Saudi Arabia, which included the area of Edom. This would put him down southeast of the Dead Sea. [However, some believe that he lived further north, east of the Sea of Galilee.]
So when did Job live? There is nothing in the Bible that directly tells us when he lived. It would be nice if some well-known biblical character was mentioned in the book of Job, but that is not the case. However, there are clues that point to the fact that Job probably lived in the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Let me just mention a few of those clues. First of all, there is a very interesting reference in Job 22:15-16, "Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16. Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood." Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends was speaking about how God in the past had cut down wicked men by a flood. Most all who have studied this book agree that he is referring to the flood in the days of Noah. If that is true, then Job lived after the flood. It seems that we can establish the other limit of Job’s life by concluding that he lived before the giving of the law in the time of Moses. Like other patriarchs (Genesis 8:20; 12:7-8; 31:54), Job, as the head of his family, offered up sacrifices to God (Job 1:5; cf. 42:8). After the giving of the law, this was the task of the priests. Also, in the law, daughters were not normally given land as an inheritance (see Num. 27:1-11; 36:1-13). However, we see in Job 42:15 that he did not hesitate to give his daughters such an inheritance, indicating that he lived before the time of the law.
The other thing we must note is the length of his life. How long did Job live? We don’t know exactly, but we can get some idea. Before his suffering, he lived long enough to father 10 children, and to become the greatest man of the east. It would seem that these children were grown, though it is possible that a couple of them may not have been. The book of Job concludes with these words: "After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. 17. So Job died, being old and full of days" (42:16-17). We can’t be sure exactly when the 140 years started, but it certainly was after his suffering and seems to be after the birth of his second set of ten children. Putting the pieces together, it seems clear that Job must have lived to be around 200, and maybe a good bit older. Such an age fits in very well with the time of the patriarchs. Abraham lived to be 175 years (Gen. 25:7), while Isaac died at 180 (Gen. 35:28). So it seems safe to conclude that Job lived between the time of the flood and the time of Moses. (See http://apologeticspress.org/article/2516... article by Eric Lyons, “When Did Job Live?”).
A much more highly debated question concerns when the book of Job was written. Of course, we could answer that question much more easily if we knew who wrote it, but we don’t. Some would suggest that Job himself wrote the book. After all, it does include detailed biographical information, which no one would have known better than Job. Since he lived a 140 years after the events took place, he would have had plenty of time to have written it. Others suggest that Elihu may have written it, as he too was an eyewitness of what took place. (Elihu speaks to Job in chapters 32-37). Or maybe even Moses, since he spent time in the deserts of Midian, whose location was not too far from where Job lived. Many scholars today believe that it was written by Solomon or someone associated with Solomon, because its style has much in common with the wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes). You will notice that it has been placed with the poetic books. Ultimately, it is the Spirit of God who is the author of this book. That is all we have to know.
With those background notes, let’s come to the text itself and see…
II. The Character of Job
What kind of man was Job? We don’t have to wonder. All we have to do is read the very first verse, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” The ESV reads, “…And that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” Who said that Job was blameless and upright? The author of this book, and ultimately the author is the Holy Spirit of God. But furthermore, God Himself gives the exact same description of Job later in this chapter. This is what God said about Job.
What is meant by the statement that Job was a “perfect” man? Most translations render the word “blameless.” However we translate it, we must understand something of what it means. It does not mean that he was sinless. How do we know? We know he wasn’t sinless because the Bible tells us clearly from cover to cover that all have sinned (Ps. 53; Rom. 3:23). Then what does the word mean? It (tam) comes from a Hebrew verb which means “to be complete, to be finished, to be without blame.” The text is basically saying that Job had the kind of character that could not be called into question. No one could rightly accuse him of moral failure.
Job was not the only Old Testament saint who was described as being blameless (perfect). We find the same thing said about Noah in Gen. 6:9, "These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." “Perfect” is the translation of this same word that means “blameless.” Later, God would say to Abraham, "… I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1). So like Noah and Abraham, Job was a blameless man.
Not only was he blameless, but he was also “upright.” The root meaning of this word is “straight.” He lived a life that was straight on target. Of the two words, this one speaks more of the outward behavior of the man. He lived a just or righteous life. His behavior was exemplary.
Then we see that this was not just an arbitrary morality that Job pursued, but he feared God. The Bible elevates the fear of God to great heights. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 10:9). “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him…” (Ps. 25:14). "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Ps. 130:3-4). “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever…” (Ps. 19:9). On the other hand, when Paul wanted to summarize the sinful behavior of man, he quoted these words from the Old Testament, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18, quoted from Ps. 36:1). The person who fears the Lord has such great reverence for the Lord that he orders his life according to what the Lord would think. His audience is not the world, but the Lord Himself. That is the way Job is described. The fact that he was blameless and upright grew out of his fear of God.
Notice that the text then says that Job eschewed evil. That he is, he avoided evil; he shunned it; he turned away from it. Job refused to have anything to do with evil. We read in Ps. 97:10, “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” That describes Job. He loved and feared the Lord, but he hated evil. Job did not see how close he could come to evil without actually partaking of it; he fled from it.
III. The Relationships of Job
Job’s character reflects a strong relationship with the living God. His blamelessness and uprightness does not describe a man who was a little bit more moral than the people around him. This was not just a human goodness. Rather, it was a righteousness that was rooted in his relationship to God. We see that in the fact that Job feared God.
Now let’s turn to his human relationships. Later in the book we will learn more, but at the very beginning we are introduced to his family. We will meet his wife in chapter 2, but here in 1:2 we learn that Job had seven sons and three daughters. Wow! That’s quite a family. We are not told how old they were or in what order they were born, only that there were seven sons and three daughters. Job was blessed with ten children, who apparently were healthy and normal in every way.
Did Job love his children? While there is no direct statement about his affection for his children, let’s allow his actions to speak. Job’s children must have been a close knit group of siblings, because whenever one of the boys had a birthday, he would invite all his brothers and sisters to come to his party. That speaks highly of the family relationship. We don’t really know whether Job attended the birthday parties or not; we are not told. There was something more important to Job than whether or not he attended their feasts. Notice that after each of these feasts, he would send for all of them and sanctified them. That is, he rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings for each one of his children.
There is a certain mystery about his actions. Remember that, as far as we can tell, this was before God established the priesthood among His people. As a father, Job took spiritual responsibility for his children. Notice the reason behind his actions. Job was thinking, “It might be that one of my children has sinned and cursed God in his heart.” Whatever the exact meaning of this sanctifying/purifying/consecrating of his children, it is clear that Job saw himself as interceding for them before God. We might even call this a dedication of his children to God. At least seven times a year (on the birthday of each son), he made it a point to offer special offerings to God on their behalf. His great concern for his children was spiritual. He was eager to further their relationship with the Lord. Not only was Job’s relationship with God a noble one, but so was his relationship with his kids.
Though we are not specifically told so, the text seems to imply that this done with the knowledge of his children. At first, you might think that Job just did this in private. However, notice that “Job sent and sanctified them.” The Amplified suggests this idea in its rendering: “Job sent for them to purify them…” If it is true that he made these offerings in their presence, it indicates that his children had the highest respect for their father and his God.
Notice the last words of verse 5, “Thus did Job continually.” This is a very literal translation (same wording in NASV and ESV). This doesn’t mean that Job never did anything but offer sacrifices on behalf of his children. Rather, it means that this was the regular custom of Job. Whenever his children celebrated a feast together, he would then send for them and sanctify them. Job did not grow weary in what he believed was his responsibility as a father. He continued to do this year after year.
IV. The Blessings of Job
So we have seen Job’s background, his character, and his relationships. Now let’s take a look at his blessings. Verses 2-3, “There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east” (ESV). As it was with the patriarchs, a man’s wealth in Job’s day was measured largely by the number of livestock he accumulated (another reason we believe that Job lived in the time of the patriarchs). Friends, that’s a lot of sheep, camel, oxen, and donkeys. You can see why he had “very many servants.” It required “very many servants” to keep up with and care for the very many animals. These animals were valuable because they provided labor and products essential to their owners.
The sheep are probably mentioned first because they were of the greatest value. No doubt, it required a large area to provide pasture for 7,000 sheep, but the wool and food they produced made it worth it. 3,000 camels also speaks of wealth. These were beasts of burden, able to carry heavy loads for long distances. What we know best about them is that they store up massive amounts of water and can thus go a long way between drinks. The possession of so many camels suggests that Job traded with others who lived far away. The 500 yoke of oxen were used mainly for plowing the land. Donkeys could be used to carry things, as well as for plowing. The specific mention of female donkeys probably suggests that they were also valued for their milk.
As we have already seen, Job had seven sons and three daughters. We realize, of course, that having these children was an even greater blessing than all his other possessions. Nevertheless, both the great number of children and the tremendous wealth he enjoyed were demonstrations of God’s blessing. Who can deny that God had richly blessed Job?
The concluding statement says simply, “This man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” What is meant by the “greatest”? The context leads us to understand that he was rich in both character and possessions. The two are related closely together. No other man in that part of the world had more than Job.
The extent of his riches does not exhaust the “greatness” spoken of here. Surely Job was a man of authority and influence. We can certainly see that in what Job says about himself in Job 29:7-10…
When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! 8. The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. 9. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. 10. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job had earned the respect of all those around him. Truly, he was a great man, the greatest man of the east.
Who can argue against the conclusion that the primary reason for Job’s greatness was the fact that he was a blameless and upright man, who feared God and turned away from evil and that God blessed him richly for his faithfulness? We will see the implications of this truth next week.
Conclusion
Now we have been introduced to the main character of this book. In reality, God Himself is the main character of this book and every other, but the action is centered around the principle human actor, and that is Job. We have an idea of what this man was like, what kind of father he was, and how he was richly blessed by God.
Now let me ask you one last question: What does the future hold for such a man is this? We must admit that Job is a very unusual man. It isn’t everyone who is designated blameless and upright, who fears God and refuses to have anything to do with evil. Surely God was pleased with this man. We read in Ps. 11:7, "For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright." Job not only had the respect of people around him, but he was a man in whom God was pleased. What kind of future would you expect for this blameless and upright man?
Perhaps he would be like Moses, of whom it was said: “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Ex. 33:11). Or maybe the Lord would bless him in a great way, as He would later do for His servant David. Or perhaps Job would be translated to meet God without dying, as was true of Enoch and Elijah. Didn’t God give these marvelous promises in Dt. 28:1-8… (NKJV)
1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
8 “The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Surely the future was very bright for this faithful man of God. We are going to spend our time looking at the future of this man in the weeks ahead. As we do, we must remember the character of our righteous, holy, and sovereign God. The book of Job will stir up deep questions within us. Surely our great and gracious Lord is able to use our questions to further His own glory.
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