- Classes
- Certificates
- My Account
- Donate
- Search
Search
The Book of Job
About this Class
Lecture 1:
Approaching the Book of Job
When you see what you would describe as evil and injustice in the world, how does that affect your view of God? When someone is suffering, do you assume that it’s because they are getting what they deserve? This lecture gives you an overview of the book of Job by describing his situation, how he interacts with his friends and God, and what we can learn about how God is managing the world.
Lecture 2:
Basic Introductory Matters
Because there is nothing specific in the text that tells you when the book of Job was written, the sections in Job that allude to other passages of scripture give you some helpful clues. The structure of the book of Job focuses your attention on the main subject of the book which is God’s wisdom.
Lecture 3:
ANE Literary Parallels
Other cultures in the ancient near east created literature with themes that are similar to the book of Job. The book of Job is unique because of his character and the answer that the book provides for the situation he is in.
Lecture 4:
Biblical Genres in Job
Job is one of the wisdom books of the Old Testament. It covers more “advanced” topics than Proverbs and uses a variety of literary genres and allusions to other Biblical passages to explain and illustrate profound truths about God’s nature and his involvement in the world.
Lecture 5:
The Historical Setting of Job
There is limited information in the book of Job about its geographical and historical background. However, it can be helpful to understand general information about the geography and history of the area to give you a context for reading and studying the book of Job. The author of the book of Job was a Hebrew poet who had an extensive vocabulary. Being uncertain about history and geography is good because the message is timeless.
Lecture 6:
Job and Apocalyptic Literature
Job contains literary elements that are similar to what you find in other Biblical books that are Apocalyptic. These elements include depictions of events in heaven and on earth, the emphasis on specific numbers and persevering in your faith in God, the references to mythological animals and God’s supernatural control of all events.
Lecture 7:
The Prologue (Job 1–2)
Satan appears before God with an accusation against Job. Even though Job is described as, “upright and blameless,” Satan accuses Job of serving God only because Job is prosperous. God allows Satan to take away Job’s possessions, children and health. The remainder of the book is the dialogue of Job and his friends attempting to determine why this is happening.
Lecture 8:
Job’s Opening Speech
Job curses the day he was born. When you carefully examine what he is saying, you realize that it is more intense than just saying that he wished he had never lived.
Lecture 9:
Eliphaz’s First Response (Job 4–5)
Eliphaz begins tactfully in his remarks to Job. He did not intend to do harm. However, he thinks God is causing Job to suffer because of a sin Job committed. He speaks accurately of the justice of God, but in Job’s case, he misapplies it. He also gives a message he received from the “night spirit.”
Lecture 10:
Job responds to Eliphaz
Eliphaz considers the message of the “night spirit” a revelation from God. However, at it’s core, this message is inconsistent with God’s attitude toward Job, and creation in general.
Lecture 11:
Eliphaz and the Night Spirit
Job’s theological worldview has fallen apart because he knows he doesn’t deserve to suffer. Eliphaz calls Job to repent. Job responds questioning why he is suffering, because according to his worldview, he hasn’t done anything to deserve it.
Lecture 12:
Bildad Speaks
Bildad is direct is his rebuke and admonition of Job. He uses metaphors to get his point across.
Lecture 13:
Job responds to Bildad
When Job’s friends describe God as all-powerful in an attempt to comfort Job, he becomes terrified because he sees God as causing his suffering and there is nothing that can stop it.
Lecture 14:
Zophar’s Speech (Job 11) and a summary of cycle 1
Zophar assumes that Job is being punished because he sinned and accuses him of mocking God. Job's three friends move from tactful suggestions to open hostility. As Job is searching for answers, he becomes disappointed in his friends.
Lecture 15:
Job begins the second cycle (Job 12–14)
Job agrees with his friends that God is causing his suffering, but disagrees with them about why it’s happening. Job believes that God will eventually vindicate him.
Lecture 16:
Eliphaz’s Second Response
Eliphaz appeals to the night spirit and the tradition of the elders to tell Job that he is a babbling and blaspheming fool.
Lecture 17:
Job and Bildad speak
Job begins by criticizing what his friends are saying to him and then professes his faith in God. Bildad responds harshly to Job.
Lecture 18:
Job’s Fond Hope
Even though Job’s friends have criticized him, he has grown in his faith in God. Job is worn out and begs for compassion. When he gets nothing but contempt and hostility instead, he confesses his faith and hope in God. The messianic theology of Job is different from any other book of the Bible.
Lecture 19:
Zophar declares Job to be God’s enemy
Zophar uses metaphors that are found in other passages of scripture as well as Job’s own words to accuse Job of being wicked. However, Zophar made a serious error, which we need to avoid in our lives.
Lecture 20:
Job begins the 3rd cycle
Job continues to wrestle with the presence of evil in the world and the apparent injustice of God.
Lecture 21:
Eliphaz makes a Furious Final Speech
Eliphaz attacks Job as being wicked by twisting the meaning of what Job has said previously. The irony is that Job will be reconciled to God and will pray for Eliphaz.
Lecture 22:
Job wants Justice; Bildad Advises Despair
Job wants to lay out his case before God by claiming his innocence. Job says that God is hidden and does as he chooses, but that God neither judges the guilty nor helps the righteous. Bildad responds by contrasting God’s holiness and human lowliness.
Lecture 23:
Job’s Final Retort to the three
Job sarcastically thanks the friends for their wise words, which he doesn’t think were wise at all.
Lecture 24:
The Secret Wisdom
This is a poem about wisdom that divides the content of the book and points to a deep truth. It is inserted by the author of the book and is not attributed to Job or the friends.
Lecture 25:
Job’s Final Discourse
The crisis that Job is experiencing is not just the material losses and physical suffering, but also his crisis of faith. He thought he understood what his relationship with God is all about but he feels that God has abandoned him for no apparent reason. Job laments the pain he feels from being disgraced and humiliated.
Lecture 26:
The Negative Confession
This is the last major statement that Job makes, other than his responses to God that come later. Job is taking a series of oaths that he has not committed any of the sins he mentions. The Bible is distinctive in declaring that all people are created equally, in the image of God. In ancient cultures, some people intrinsically have more value than others because of heritage, wealth, gender, race, etc. God looks on everyone impartially.
Lecture 27:
Elihu
Elihu is not mentioned either before or after his speech. He claims to be perfect in knowledge. Elihu thinks that the other three did not convince Job because they did not give a satisfactory answer, but Elihu ends up repeating what they have already said. He thinks that the doctrine of retribution is the answer to Job’s situation. Elihu is a warning to us that we don’t have all the answers.
Lecture 28:
God and Inanimate Nature
The questions of the book of Job are, “How does God address the problem of evil and why do we serve God? God created a world that is stable and not chaotic. Where there was chaos, God brought in light, shape and beauty. Chaotic forces are necessary for life and God controls them.
Lecture 29:
The Ancient Perspective on Nature
People in ancient Mesopotamia lived in constant fear of the chaos, danger, ferocity of nature and they valued subduing, controlling and pushing back nature. Wilderness was something to be tamed and pushed back by civilization. In the Gilgamesh epic poem, Enkidu is transformed into a civilized man who protects the domestic animals from the wild animals. In Egypt, there were gods of the Black Land and gods of the Red Land. God sees everything in the world as entirely under his control.
Lecture 30:
God and Animate Nature
God’s care for the animals and how this relates to the problem of Job. The Lion was the epitome of the ferocity and danger of the wilderness. God protects the prey when are vulnerable giving birth and raising their young. The wild donkey and wild ox are thriving, even though they aren’t domesticated. The ostrich is an animal that thrives with no wisdom. Civilization and humanity can use the horse, but the horse’s strength is from God. God has made the eagles to be dangerous predators and God manages the glory of his earth. All of these things that we see as chaos, and out of control depend on God and thrive because he provides for them and things that he manages and glories in. God describes nature as good, unlike the night spirit that describes it with contempt and loathing. God knows how to manage the chaotic elements of creation.
Lecture 31:
The Powers above Nature
The societies of the Ancient Near East had a high concept of justice. It was the duty of the rulers to uphold justice and protect the powerless. If you are a man who leads, you need to make sure that evil is held in check. Listen to people who come to you with a grievance. The “Eloquent Peasant” speeches were from the perspective of an Egyptian that had been mistreated who was presenting his case before a magistrate. He encouraged the magistrate to listen to the plea of people who are oppressed and come to their rescue. In Mesopotamia, we have a recorded prayer of Ashurbanipal to the god Shamash to help him to be just and for the Shamash to be just. Psalm 101 is a prayer by King David for his successor. In Genesis 18, Abraham expects God to behave with justice just like he would expect a king to behave with justice. God is asking Job if he comprehends what it means to bring justice to the world. It involves both power and wisdom.
Lecture 32:
The Identity of Behemoth
Behemoth is the plural form of a Hebrew word that refers to animals in general also specifically to wild animals. In Job, it’s also used as a metaphor representing the composite forces of the powers of the earth that are against God.
Lecture 33:
Behemoth as the “beginning of the ways of God”
Behemoth is a dangerous power that God must reckon with. Some people think this is an allusion to animals that God created in Genesis 1:24. “Lady Wisdom” is the wisdom that God built into creation. Behemoth is dangerous and a force to be reckoned with, not the embodiment of good behavior. One aspect of principalities and powers is forces outside of the world we can see. In Revelation, God protects people from the fury and wrath of the dragon, which is an oppressive power that seeks to take the place of God.
Lecture 34:
Identifying Leviathan
Job 41 describes Leviathan. Leviathan is not a natural animal like a crocodile. Sometimes Leviathan refers to a large sea creature, and sometimes death, chaos and the embodiment of evil. Satan is present at the first of the book but he is never mentioned again. In order for God to deal with evil in the world, he must defeat Leviathan.
Lecture 35:
Combating Leviathan
Leviathan is a ferocious creature that no human can subdue. God is saying that he is willing to oppose Leviathan and is not frightened of Leviathan or intimidated by his boasting. God is the one who will defeat this enemy who seems unbeatable to humans. God tells Job that he will deal with Leviathan but God doesn’t tell him how he will do it. Job embraced God’s answer even though Job didn’t know how God would deal with evil.
Lecture 36:
Job Repents (Job 42:1–6)
Job announces that he has changed his outlook on evil, God’s governance of the world and his own suffering. Job knew that God is all-powerful. Now Job knows something more about how God uses his power. Should God be merciful to people who will still be evil? Eschatological is an event that can only happen by a work of God. Emergence of divine power within the historical context. Job admits that he didn’t understand the complexity that is involved in God conquering evil. God forgives Job’s three friends because Job interceded for them. God is showing his approval with job by publicly restoring him.
Lecture 37:
The Theology of Job 1
Job’s suffering brought him to a new understanding of who God is and what God is doing in the world. Job’s hope, and our hope, is in a heavenly redeemer that rose from the dead. Legalism comes about often when people hold to essential teachings but they don’t know God. They substitute the rules for relationship.
Lecture 38:
The Theology of Job 2
Job mentions composite animals similar to those described in other apocalyptic passages. Job had faith that God would do a work of salvation but didn’t understand everything that Jesus would do. There is a hidden plan of God to redeem people and conquer evil that is a major theme in apocryphal books and also in Job.
Lecture 39:
The Theology of Job 3
Job tells us about the heavenly mediator. Prior to his afflictions, Job’s life was almost god-like because he was relatively free of suffering. Job through his affliction, faces the problem of evil and the enormity of suffering in the human race. Even though some people commit evil and violent acts, Job describes them in pitiful terms.
Lecture 40:
Does Job Serve God for Nothing?
Should virtue, or piety, be disinterested? If it’s not done for it’s own sake, is it real? Job’s love for God is not disinterested, but it is real.