Book of Job

Okay, well, we have a number of chapters we'd like to survey tonight. We have, right here in the middle of Job, a continuation of a lot of these discussions where one friend speaks, Job replies, another friend, Job replies, and then finally we get to the point where the friends just have nothing to say. And I think for all practical purposes, they realized Job made some points and proved them wrong. And so they had nothing to say, and Zophar even passed on his third chance. So the first two friends had their third time to address. And so, anyhow, a lot of this is repetition. They're not bringing out anything new, just maybe looking at it from a different angle. So that's where I said last time we will make a little bit of time moving a little faster, hitting high points this time. So, chapter 22. This is Eliphaz's third and final speech. And from the outset, he continues to accuse Job and he continues to exhort Job, since you're a sinner, repent, go back to God, and things will be fine. Well, 22, Eliphaz. Alright, verse 2, can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself. In another way, what he's asking is, can a man earn God's favor? And the answer is no. God is not obligated to reward us for any acts of righteousness that we may perform. God does reward us according to our works, but we're certainly not earning. That's where salvation is and has always been a free gift. It is unearned, unmerited forgiveness for our sins. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you're righteous? Is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? So again, he's piling on. Job, you're saying you're without sin. So is this any great gain to God? Verse 4, is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you and enters into judgment with you? One translation suggests that he's saying, Job, God's not afraid of you. God is not fearful of coming and of facing you face to face. Is not your wickedness great and your iniquity without end? So again, here we go. Same old approach. Job, you're filled with sin. You are wicked. And yet, as He goes through this, they're not offering any proof. They've somehow surmised this because they have the mindset that if you are tried and tested, if you suffer, you brought it on yourself because you're a sinner. And that just simply is not true. God oftentimes tests us because He's purifying the metal. So, verse 6, for you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason and stripped the naked of their clothing. Well, He's making it up as He goes as the way it strikes me. Job was called just, righteous, one who feared God and hated evil at the very beginning of the book. "...but the mighty man possessed the land, and the honorable man dwelt in it. You've sent widows away empty. The strength of the fatherless was crushed." So, He's accusing Job of all of this. "...therefore, snares are all around you." Again, all He can see is you're suffering, so you had to have done it to yourself. You had to have brought calamity on yourself.

Well, verse 12, this is not God in the height of the heaven. "...the highest stars, how lofty they are." Interesting that He goes that direction because it won't be long that God Himself will be on the scene. And God will say, where were you when I was hanging the universe around out here?

Job also comes back to that theme as well.

Verse 13, "...and you say, what does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness?" So, He's saying, Job, you have essentially said that God does not concern Himself with our human affairs. That God is so far removed behind a dark cloud that He cannot see or hear what is going on.

Verse 15, "...will you keep to the old way, which wicked men have trod, who were cut down before their time, whose foundations were swept away by a flood?" So, Job, you're headed for the same type of destruction, just like those who have gone on before. And maybe he was referring back to literally the flood of Noah's day, when all of humanity but eight were destroyed. "...they said to God, depart from us. What can the Almighty do to them? Yet He filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from Me." So, let's see, verse 19, "...the righteous see it and are glad, and the innocent laugh at them." So, Eliphaz is so certain that Job is unacquainted with God, and as he sees it, Job, you need to turn around, get right with God, and good is going to be poured out on you. Verse 22, "...receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart." So, he's saying, Job, you're not listening to God.

All right, 23, "...if you return to the Almighty, you will be built up." So, like we said earlier on, the old health wealth gospel has been around a long time, that if you obey God, you will be blessed for it. Eliphaz and the friends do not see the aspect of God uses pain and suffering to change us, to teach us. There are so many things each one of us over the years has come to see that we did not see before because we hurt. All right, verse 25. He talks about your gold. God will be your gold, your silver. Down to 27, "...you will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you." You'll pay your vows. So, again, this is hinging upon, repent, return to God.

You will also declare a thing it will be established for you. So, you'll pray to God, you'll make plans, and God will bring it to realization.

29, "...when they cast you down and you say, exaltation will come, then He will save the humble person.

He will even deliver one who is not innocent. Yes, He will be delivered by the purity of your hands." So, Job, you're not innocent. And it is, to me, ironic that these three spent a lot of chapters telling Job how wrong he was. But at the end of the book, God says He was very displeased with these three. "...and if you go take your sacrifices, and then Job prays for you, I will hear him on your behalf." Okay, 23 we have then Job's reply. This is a two-chapter reply. If you're counting, this is actually the eighth time that Job will speak. The eighth time.

So, Job says, "...even today my complaint is bitter, my hand is listless because of my groaning." Again, he is saying, God's hand is on me. God has done this to me. So, some of Job's approach is still the same. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat, that I could present my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. So, he goes back to the same old verse. He wants that day in court. He wants to stand before God. He wants to present his own case. And surely then, God will hear what he has to say. Verse 5, I know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in his great power? No, but he would take note of me. So, Job is asking for a patient, methodical presentation of his case. And yet, he fears a bit that God would not patiently hear him out like a human magistrate might. He is fearful that God would frighten him, terrify him with his power. Now, verse 7, there the upright could reason with him, for I would be delivered forever from my judge. The judge refers to God. God would have to admit to Job's righteousness is essentially what he's saying. Verse 8, look, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. When he works on the left hand, I cannot behold him. When he turns to the right hand, I cannot see him. So, he's saying here that God is hiding from him. God's ducking him. Any direction he goes and looks, he can't find God. Verse 10, but he knows the way that I take. When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. So, this speaks to the common metaphor the Bible uses of precious metals being purified by fire, turning up the heat, liquefying it, the slag, the impurities rise to the top on our skimmed off, leaving behind a more purified precious metal.

In verse 10, he knows the way that I take. Okay, I just read that. Verse 12, I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Okay, let's, you know, he says he has not deviated from God's words in all of this trial. Although we have already seen, he has judged God. He has accused God of being unfair and unrighteous in his dealings with him. Verse 15, therefore, I am terrified at his presence. When I consider this, I am not afraid of him, for God made my heart, and the Almighty terrifies me, because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, and he did not hide deep darkness from my faith. And of course, the New Testament says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And here we see Job's attitude of God is more than questionable. He's frightened of God, terrified of God. He sees God as this unmerciful God who has punished him for no good reason. I have a couple of sentences here from Barnes' notes on this verse 17. The difficulty with Job was that God had not hidden this darkness and calamity, so he could not see it. He could not understand why, since he was his friend, God had not taken him away that he should not see, even in death. This feeling is not uncommon among those who are called to pass through trials. They often do not understand why they were reserved for these sufferings and why God did not take them away. And I think there's a lot to that. One of the greatest questions of this book is, is God hidden? Is God hiding? Why doesn't God come out in the open? And a lot of times in life, we have these unanswered questions, and we just aren't told everything. But it is the journey. It's the process that prepares the metal in us so that God can use us in a greater way. He continues in chapter 24, and he argues that God is indifferent to the wicked.

Why are the wicked spared and live on in prosperity? Well, since times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know Him see not His days? Some, now he's going to personify those who are wicked. Some remove landmarks. And you remember back in the Pentateuch, the Old Testament law, Deuteronomy, there were strong penalties for removing a landmark that was a property line. You had inheritances that were to stay in certain family lines, and anyone who would remove that is stealing property from someone else, from future generations as well.

Then he says, they seize flocks violently and feed on them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless. They take the widow's ox as a pledge. Now, the donkey of the orphan, that's a beast of burden. May have been needed in hauling goods to and from market. May have been needed for preparing, cultivating a field for planting. And to take that away, especially from a fatherless, is one of the most horrible things that could be done. Same with a widow. That her ox that was needed on her property for the hard work. That ox was taken and held as a suretea for a loan. And of course, the law forbade even that as well. Verse 5, indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, searching for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for their children. So he pictures the needy as being forced then to go out and just hunt and gather. Just go out and find whatever they can gather to just have food to get through another day. Let's skip on down to verse 9. Some snatch the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge from the poor.

Picture here stealing babies while they're nursing, selling them into slavery. Verse 10, they cause the poor to go out naked without clothing. They take away the sheaves from the hungry. You know, Old Testament law. Think of the book of Ruth, how Ruth was able to go out with the others and glean in the fields. The corners of the fields were not to be harvested. That was left for the poor, the needy. Any grain that fell down behind the cleaners, they couldn't go back and try. That was left for the needy.

They press out oil within their walls. They take away the sheaves from the hungry. Excuse me, I went back up a verse. They tread wine presses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God does not charge them with wrong. So here he's speaking of how the poor are forced to work for literally nothing. And in all of this, God's aware of it, Job argues, but God does not intervene. God doesn't punish tyrants and oppressors. And he doesn't intervene and lift up the needy who are suffering. Well, verses 13 through 17, he refers to a variety of examples of what the wicked do while it is dark. And yet he's making the case that even though it's in the dark, God is aware of all that they are doing, and yet he doesn't choose to do anything. And you know, there's a lot of truth to that. He talks about the murderer. He talks about the adulterer. He talks about those who break in the houses of steel. And this is done. They avoid the light so they can hide. Verse 18, as drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him. The worm should feed sweetly on him. So, the sense of the meaning is that those who have sinned in this way die in the same quiet manner as the righteous. They, well, you use the term there, the waters in the wilderness. They they just quietly disappear. And they die a peaceful death. Well, over to verse 23, he gives them security and they rely on it. Yet his eyes are on their ways.

They are exalted for a little while. Then they are gone. They are brought low. They are taken out of the way like all others. They dry out like the heads of grain. Now, if it were not so, who will prove me a liar and make my speech worth nothing? So, here's Job's conclusion. His friends had argued throughout that the wicked are punished in this life. And yet, Job states with a certain eloquence that no, God allows their wickedness to take place.

It is often done under the cover of darkness, but God is aware of it. And God chooses to stay out of their lives for the most part. And yet, Job recognizes something the friends do not. Job recognizes there will be a time of judgment for those wicked. A time will come. So, in verse 25, he really is challenging their main premise. They have said throughout, you're wicked, therefore you are punished. And Job has shown, no, that is not true.

And so now he calls on them to prove that he is wrong. And, you know, I think we reach a point here that his appeal is decisive, and the facts were undeniable, and they realized, you know, he's got us. He's got us. And he won the argument. They all knew it. Except Bill Dad. I think that they all, I think Bill Dad knew it. They all knew it. And somewhere along the line, this younger man, Eli Hugh, has appeared. And of course, when he starts speaking, we're going to see he's fit to be tied. But for the first time, we have somebody who really makes some good points to Job. So, in chapter 25, we come to Bill Dad's third and final address.

This is their last attack on Job. Zophar won't speak again, so this is the last address. And he really, he, it's like, well, it's my turn, so I've got to say something. But it's just a repetition of the same old material. And he really, his words don't even focus on the main argument they've been having. So, chapter 25, very briefly, Bill Dad, verse 2, Dominion and fear belong to him. He makes peace in his high places. And so he's saying, God is absolute monarch. He has all power. And men ought to revere his position, his power.

He said, he maintains peace in the heavenly realm over which he rules. Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not shine? How then can man be righteous before God, or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? So, again, Bill Dad is evading the challenge Job had just offered to them.

He's avoiding the issue. He's not admitting that they lost the argument. He repeats what has been said before and, again, doesn't even apply to what's been covered. If ever the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is a maggot and the son of man who is a worm? Well, Albert Barnes on this verse, verse 4, he says, all that is said in this chapter is true and beautiful, but it has nothing to do with the debate at hand.

Job appealed to the course of events. Look at so many we know who are wicked, and they live a long, full life and don't suffer for it. And he had them. Okay, 26. We are going to have Job his ninth speech. He first, this chapter, he addresses, it is his rebuttal of what Bill Dad just said. And then you see there, chapter 27, where it starts off and it says, Moreover, a lot of your authors, the commentary writers, basically have the feeling, and I agree, that maybe it was then directed towards Zophar, and it was his term to have his third speech, but he was just so bumfusiled or angry, or he had nothing to say.

And so, Moreover, and Job kept on talking, and Job's going to speak all the way until we have Yom Elihu on the scene in chapter 32. So, in chapter 26, Job uses quite a bit of sarcasm, and he tells his three friends that you have not helped me one tiny bit. But then he agrees with, and he affirms what Bill Dad said about the magnitude of God's great power.

Now, verse 2, How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? How have you counseled one who has no wisdom? Again, a lot of this tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

How have you declared sound advice to many? To whom have you uttered words, and whose spirit came from you? The dead tremble, those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol, that's the Hebrew word for the grave.

Sheol is naked before him, and destruction has no covering. Now, destruction, you will notice it is capitalized. There are times when a word is personified. This is the Hebrew word of Baden. You may remember in Revelation 9, verse 11, it will talk about when these demons are released from a bottomless pit. It will use the Hebrew word of Baden and the Greek word of Polyon for these destructive forces.

Verse 7, He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing. So, He is affirming but adding to the little reference of Bildad to God's great power. And again, won't it be interesting when God comes along and He asks Job in particular, by the way, where were you when I did all of that? He hangs the earth on nothing. Okay, the phrase above, the north over empty space. That is the Hebrew word tohu. You remember in Genesis 1, verse 2, the earth became without form and void. Tohu and bohu. And this is tohu. It means emptiness or nothing. God stretched the universe over nothing. Now, verse 8, He binds up the water in His thick clouds. Yet the clouds are not broken under it. So, look at how much water, clouds. We've got this tropical storm bill that's moved up across Texas and Oklahoma. It's going to kind of swing to the north and the east and then more east. And yet, central Texas, the hill country, and down to Houston, they just got pounded, what? Two or three weeks? Three or four weeks ago? I think when we were together on Pentecost, they were getting pounded. And some of those places had 12 and 20 inches of rain. Look at how much water the clouds can hold. And He says in here, they're not broken. It's kind of the picture of a bag, you know, like they would use a goatskin bag, say, to carry water. There's so much in there, but it doesn't burst. And here in that same region, it's happening once again. He covers the face of His throne and spreads His cloud over it. It speaks of boundaries of light and darkness, pillars of heaven, tremble. Verse 12, He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding, He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit, He adorned the heavens. You know, all the way back to Genesis 1. Of course, that was the re-creation. But if you go back to the original, God builds, God creates through His Spirit. It's the power by which God works, but we saw it in Genesis 1, where the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And so it was active there. And then it says, His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Now, there is a dragon or serpent constellation that may be referred to here. Verse 14, indeed, these are the mere edges of His ways. He says, this is just the smallest reference to His power. We are only the tiniest portion of that. And He says, And how small a whisper we hear of Him, but the thunder of His power, who can understand? And it is beginning, you know, once in a while, there's a reference to the storm, the waters, the thunder. And we're going to see God come on the scene out of this whirlwind. And it makes me wonder if way off in the distance, maybe there is, they're discussing, they're hearing the rumblings, and it's going to get closer. And Elihew in chapter 37 is going to make several references to what is happening around them. And then from the storm, God speaks, kind of like He did from whatever was boiling there on top of Mount Sinai in Exodus.

So that's chapter 26. And Job continues, but again, the moreover may imply a pause where Zophar just had the opportunity, but just was so put out or ashamed or angry that he didn't have a thing to say. So in 27, Job continued, As God lives, who has taken away my justice, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter. Uh-oh. He is saying, God is the cause of all my pain and suffering. And, you know, the further we get into this book, it started out, Job sounded like such a marvelous, and he is a just and righteous man. And he does fear God and hate evil. But the further we go, we begin to see glimpses of how he is judging God, and he's got an attitude toward God that's not right. He's calling God an unjust judge. And now we begin to see why God expressly is going to come and speak to this man in person. So, verse, let's see, As long as my breath is in me, and the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness. So, I'm right, and I'm still right. Then I used to get on, if we ever think that way. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live. So, he is going to hold on to his integrity and his own uprightness, and he will not give it up. Job had lost property, health, family, all of his domestic comforts. He had been subjected to one calamity after another that God allowed Satan to put upon him. Then he got beat up by three friends, and he still says, I'm right, and I'm not going to change. Well, it won't be long. He will put his hand over his mouth and have nothing to say. Verse, well, let's go to verse 11. I will teach you about the hand of God, what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. Surely, all of you have seen it. Why then do you behave with complete nonsense? So, Job says, you guys have had the chance to see the obvious course of human events. Why have you continued to maintain that suffering is a result of guilt, of sin? Now, in verses 13 through 23, the rest of the chapter, Job restates the case presented by the three friends. He's kind of turning it back on them. The children of the wicked are destroyed by the sword. His children die of hunger. He gathers silver, but is divided by the just and innocent. But Job turns their argument back on them to what? Illuminate the absurdity of their position. So, verse 13, this is the portion of a wicked man with God and the inheritance of oppressors received from the Almighty. If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. Well, no, they're not. Again, he's turning their argument back on them. He's turning it around. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Oh, yes, they will be. A lot of the offspring of the wicked live a long, full, prosperous life.

Verse 15, those who survive him shall be buried in death, and their widows shall not weep. Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay, he may pile it up, but the just will wear it. In other words, he's saying, you guys have argued that this wicked guy is going to be punished, and God's going to take all his wealth and all that he accumulates in the just and righteous are going to wear it. And they all knew good and well. No. So Job is just further piling on to show them how absurd their argument has been.

Verse 19, the rich man will lie down, but not be gathered up. He opens his eyes. He is no more. Terrors overtake him like the flood. A tempest steals him away in the night. The east wind carries him away. He's gone. He sweeps him out of his place. 23. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss out of his place.

Okay. 28. Let's notice a little here. His first 11 verses, he uses the analogy of mining, mining and man's attempts to find precious stones and precious metals hidden deep down in the earth. So surely there is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth. Copper is smelted from ore. Man puts an end to darkness. Man finds these precious metals down in the heart of the earth where you don't have any light. And man is able to somehow get light down there so that he can work to bring the ore out. He searches every recess for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death. They really are in how many lives, just on a regular basis, we hear of mine cave-ins and miners trapped and lives lost or just miraculous things, phenomenal things done. Well, where was it? Down in Chile or not a few years ago? And actually it was American Company and technology went and drilled down. They had that thing. They let down and lift them out one to time. It was just a marvelous success story. But anyhow, we're somewhat familiar with mining and if you're down in there, you're down in the heart of the earth or something goes wrong. You really are in the belly of the earth. Verse 6, its stones are the source of sapphires and it contains gold dust. That path no bird knows nor has the falcons eyes seen it. No, it's down the deep of the earth. Proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it. And the lion may have their little den back in under the rocks, but not down deep where man goes to mine. He puts his hand over the flint. He overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels and the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing. He damns up the streams. A lot of times, water in those mine shafts is a major problem. Man figures out how to get that water out of there so you can continue bringing out the precious items. Verse 12, but where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding? So now he shifts. 11 verses he talked about mining and how man works to go and find these precious things. But now he turns to man's, what should be man's quest for wisdom and understanding. And he argues that true wisdom is only found in knowing and having a relationship with God. Wisdom does not come about by mere chance, happenstance. God designed it. God embodies wisdom. God created it. It is a reflection of who and what God is. So verse 12 we read verse 13, man does not know its value nor is it found in the land of the living. Here he's talking about wisdom. The deep says it is not me. The earth says it is not me. It cannot be purchased for gold nor can silver be weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir. You'll see that phrase, the gold of Ophir used a lot of places and it refers to the the purest of gold. Its precious onyx or sapphire neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. You know, and man spends his lifetime running around seeking how much money he can make, how much he can lay aside, and all it takes is a few events to totally collapse the stock market and all of those investments are worth nothing. And one day down the line in this world is we are headed fast in that direction.

It's just however long God wants it to go on. But our currency, wow, the value it has lost and it's just the faith and the almighty, the so-called almighty American dollar, it keeps it up. But it's not just ours. You know, the euro has suffered. You have other currency units that have suffered a great deal. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. From where does wisdom come? Where is the place of understanding? You know, when Solomon came into his throne, he early on was overwhelmed with what had just happened. He had had the weight of Israel placed on his shoulders. And God appeared to him in that dream. Ask what you want, and I'll give it to you. And he said, you know, I'm just a child. I don't know how to go in and come out. Who am I to judge this? You're so great a people. So we essentially asked for wisdom and understanding. And God was so pleased. He gave him that wisest man to ever live. But he also gave him great riches that he did not ask for. But here, where do we find wisdom and understanding? Well, Solomon knew you ask of God. It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Destruction and death. There's destruction and death. That's another word that sometimes is capitalized like they're being personified.

Say, we have heard a report about it with our ears. God understands its ways, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens to establish a weight for the wind and a portion the waters by measure. When he made a law for rain and a path for the thunderbolt, then he saw wisdom and declared it. He prepared it. Indeed, he searched it out. And the man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And it depart from evil is understanding. Some of the similar statements are made as the book of Proverbs opens up. Chapter 29. Let's briefly look at this one. I think we'll draw our study to a close.

Chapter 29 always leaps out to me because Job begins to reflect back upon his past. I think we can use the word greatness. Some of the greatness that he had once had that has all been swept away or so he seems to think. He uses the words I, me, and my somewhere close to 50 times.

So does he have an eye problem? Implying, is he filled with pride?

Or is he, like the Apostle Paul did more than once, defending himself? You know, Paul got shot at a lot. And there were times when he says, you know, you want to list up your sufferings, here's my list. And I think it had a purpose in shutting the mouths of the detractors. And my conviction is that's what Job is doing here. I mean, this man has been pounced on for we don't know how long this whole process took place, as well as all of his pain. And so let's just look and notice what we see here. Job further continued his discourse. And again, with verse 1, maybe the indication is he paused again to see if anybody had any reply, and then he continued on. Verse 2, Oh, that I were as in months past as in the days when God watched over me. So there's I and me in that verse. When his lamp shone upon my head. Now, again, we see what he's saying here. God's left me. God's not watching over me. We know different, though. God was there from the very beginning and all the way through the end. And God was working something through adversity in Job's life that was very important for him. And when by his light I walked through darkness, just as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent. So some of the things that he's going to say here would lead us to conclude that he had a position where maybe he was a judge over people. And maybe that's why he's crying out for this day in court to appear before the judge God. When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me. And again, we see an insight into his thoughts. God has left me. But in reality, no, he hasn't. When my children were around me. Yeah, you know, that had to deeply affect this man. I have 10 children at once swept away. When my steps were bathed with cream and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me. When I went out to the gate by the city and I took my seat in the open square. You know, the open square of the ancient cities or the city gates were the places where those in with responsibility. You know, you had the angels went to Sodom and Lot was there at the city gate. The ancient cities of refuge. If someone was guilty of manslaughter and took off to go to a city of refuge, the leaders would hear his case and determine if it was premeditated, he was not given protection. If though it was an accident and he got there before the family Avenger of death caught him, they would give him, they would allow him to live there for that period of time. Okay, what verse was that? No, verse seven. Verse eight, The young men saw me and hid, the aged arose and stood. So he obviously had a very responsible position. The princes refrained from talking and put their hand over there on their mouth. The voices of nobles was hushed, their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard, then it blessed me. When the eye saw, then it approved me. So he was used to walking into a given situation and those of royalty and those other leaders and those well up in years would defer to him to hear what Job had to say. Because, verse 12, I delivered the poor who cried out.

You know, and here these men, these friends of his, just in the previous chapters, have said, you've taken the ox of a widow, a shirty, and you have taken the donkey of the fatherless. But Job's saying, you know, in reality, I delivered the poor, the fatherless and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man came upon me and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My head was like a robe and a turban.

I was eyes to the blind. I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor. And I searched out the case that I did not know. You know, he dug into the facts. He heard the cases. He he inspected every possible evidence to render a just judgment.

I broke the fangs of the wicked. And when there were those he found who were the wicked, they paid for it under Judge Job and plucked the victim from his teeth. Then I said, I shall die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters and the dude lies all night on my branch. My glory is fresh within me. My bow is renewed in my hand. Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel. After my words, they did not speak again. So maybe a little point to these three men sitting there. By the way, this is what I've been accustomed to. My word was the last word and you guys have kept piling on. My speech settled on them as as do. They waited for me as for the rain. They opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain. If I mocked at them, they did not believe it. In the light of my countenance, they did not cast down. I chose the way for them and sat as a chief. So I dwelt as a king in the army as one who comforts mourners. But now they mock at me, men younger than I. But we'll pause right there. I think that we have a good break next month, chapters 30-31, and that will wind up Job's ninth address. He'll have just a little bit to say, but basically this is his last big address. And then, you know, the end of chapter 31, it says the words of Job are ended. And then we have Eli-Hugh. And I think it's a lot of interesting ideas and insight come from Eli-Hugh's word. He held back. He was younger, and he waited to see what would unfold. But anyhow, any observations or comments on what we've covered? Seems like this ordeal took a pretty good while. He said months and back time he was referring back days, so months passed. So I believe this right here was something probably put on through the whole month. It's quite a while. So it's going through. And it sure is, with all the grief that he had when they began speaking.