Lessons From Job

Brethren, there's a great piece of literature in the Bible. It contains episodes of wisdom, pain and suffering, reconciliation, and even prophecy. It's an impressive piece of work. Even John Calvin, a Protestant minister, gave about 159 sermons on that book. The churches of God have given many sermons and references to this book.

Within the writings sections of the Old Testament are what we refer to as the poetical and wisdom books: Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and Job. Chronologically, Job is first among these. So this is what I'd like to cover in the next 50 hours or so. If John Calvin did approximately 159 hours, I figured I could maybe try to do it in 50 hours—but I couldn't stand here that long.

Job is mentioned right up there with people like Noah and Daniel. As a reference scripture, you can look at Ezekiel 14:14: "Even these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God." So we can see that they were righteous in their ways—godly righteous in the end result.

Job is in Scripture, and it proves he is a historical figure. He is actually mentioned as Jobab, the second king listed of Edom, and his name is in the lineage of Saul. References to those scriptures would be Genesis 10:29 and Genesis 36:33. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, explicitly concludes by stating that Job's other name was Jobab.

Job by definition means "persecuted." And he sure was, wasn't he? He was persecuted by Satan the devil. A parallel would be when Satan wanted to take Christ down. He tried to deceive Him and make Him go against what He shouldn't have done, in Matthew 4:4. So Satan is out there. He's an accuser of the brethren. But God does allow Satan certain limits, to show that Job is upright and that he would not curse God. But just to state it plainly, we verify that Job is a real person. Some call it a folklore. That's why I stress that so much, because people don't believe that Job was a real person in Scripture.

So let's look at this masterpiece and turn to Job chapter 1. By looking into Job's sufferings and how he handled them—his biggest test being that Satan said he would curse God—let's turn to Job 1:1. "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East." So we can see that he had a great deal of wealth.

Now in verse 6 it says, "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' So Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.' Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?' So Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord."

When we look at Job's sufferings and how he handled them, one of the biggest tests was whether he would curse God. I wonder how many people have cursed God for a lot less than what Job went through. I'm just referring to people in the world, but maybe some have—even maybe in the Church of God. This I do not know, but I sure hope not. Some have endured long health issues, spiritual issues, emotional issues. These are all real sufferings that we go through. I don't think anything like what Job went through would be done to us today—at least I would hope not. But there are things we can learn from these Scriptures, such as how to speak to someone—not like Job's friends did.

Myself, when I have to think, sometimes I put my foot in my mouth. When you're trying to encourage people or say something nice, it may not come out quite right. So there's a lesson there for us when we see the example of his friends and how we need to use good, godly wisdom. As we go through, think about how you as an individual would react. You might ask, "What are some of my deep sins that could be revealed through a trial?" If we suffer, we might want to ask, "Why?" Was it sin, or a testing to see where our treasures are?

Remember that Job lost all his wealth. He was the wealthiest person of the East. When I asked Google how much his wealth was worth, they figured between 30 and 40 million dollars. I don't know if that was before or after he lost everything—but even if it was half of that, you're talking about a very wealthy individual.

So the beginning of this literary piece is the prologue, when Satan went before God to accuse Job. In verses 12 through 17 of Job 1, it goes on to describe how people kept coming to Job about his animals and servants, and how they were all destroyed, captured, or taken away. He lost everything he had. All his servants were dead. It was just gone. Can you imagine losing everything? Your bank account suddenly at zero for some reason—maybe nowadays from some kind of computer scam. But he lost everything.

And then in verse 18: "While he was still speaking, another also came and said, 'Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!'" It's pretty bad to lose all your wealth, but then to lose your children too. We're talking seven sons and three daughters killed by that time.

Job had the right attitude, you would think. In verse 20: "Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" What a trial. What a disaster. I don't even have the words to describe what he must have gone through.

Is God unjust? Was God punishing him for his sins? No, He wasn't. This was a test. Remember, Abraham was also tested when he was to offer Isaac as a sacrifice—but that was directly from God, not from Satan. Just like Job and Abraham, we may be tested. To what point, I don't know. We all go through difficulties and health issues—not just our own, but those of friends and others we associate with. It really wears on a person.

In chapter 2, Satan again came before God. Let's skip to verse 4 for the sake of time: "So Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes."

In verse 9: "Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!' But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.'" There's a point to make here. She carried these ten children in her womb. She's going through a lot too. Not much is said about his wife, but she didn't have the boils—yet she sure suffered. First, her food source was gone, but worst of all, she lost her children.

In verse 11: "Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place... And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great."

When we read about the boils from head to toe, we may not capture what it's really like unless someone has experienced it. I've talked to a couple of people in other church areas who've had a few boils in their life, and it's not a pretty thing. He was covered from head to toe—walking, moving his arms, and they were just a mess. Maybe all over his arms, his armpits, his body, his feet—just all over. Such suffering.

Some in the world reading this might think God was unjust. What are boils? They are sensitive to the touch—extremely tender and warm. Even minor friction from clothing can trigger a sharp, stinging pain. No wonder he was out in the garbage heap where the ashes were. The pain is amplified in areas where the skin is thin, sensitive, or subject to friction—the nose, ears, armpits, groin, or buttocks. It can cause extreme, severe discomfort. When a boil matures and develops a yellowish or whitish center, the skin becomes shiny and intensely inflamed. The pain is usually at its peak just before the boil bursts and drains, and lessens once it erupts. This may be why he was scraping—it was probably oozing. Even doing that must have been painful. That may sound a little gross, but this is what Job went through.

His friends sat with him seven days in silence. How long was Job this way? Scripture doesn't say exactly, but if we look at Job 7:3, it gives us an idea: "So I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be ended?' For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn. My flesh is caked with worms and dust, my skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope." It seems he had already accepted death as an ending. This shows it could have been many months he was this way. A lot of our trials last a long time, don't they? I've had back issues—I've been on medications for back pain for the last 25 or 30 years. There's a lot of things people go through.

It took a long time, but he did not curse God, which was the very thing Satan wanted. Let's go back to chapter 3. Here Job is speaking. Verse 1: "After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: 'May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, "A male child is conceived." May that day be darkness; may God above not seek it, nor the light shine upon it.'" Verse 11: "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?" Verse 12: "Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? ... Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light?"

These are amazing remarks in Scripture—but very understandable. What would we think of ourselves going through some of that? I hope we can see the suffering and understand what some go through nowadays. Some still deal with cancer. People deal with heart issues and so much more. Our sympathy and prayers go out—there are long prayer lists for people getting sick. But if we don't have some things happen to us in our lives, how can we relate to or understand other people?

Now let's go to the dialogue. There are many chapters here, so I'll shorten it. I don't know about you, but I think I may have found some different friends by how they counseled him. They did have some wisdom, but they really weren't the ones. Yet Scripture shows that Job did love them. The lesson from his three friends is to be careful how we try to help and encourage others. It takes love. It takes wisdom from God—not self-righteous wisdom or conventional wisdom, like maybe his three friends had.

By the way, does anyone know who the shortest person in the Bible is? It's mentioned right here in Job. It was Bildad—he was a Shuhite. Well, I've got to lighten it up a little after all that.

Let's look at Bildad's "comforting" words in Job 8:2: "How long will you speak these things, and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? ... If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression." Wow—is that really something to say to a man who just lost his children? The lesson is to use godly wisdom. If you read all three friends' advice, there's no other conclusion: they truly lacked godly wisdom. They were full of the wisdom of the day, and it wasn't God's wisdom.

To summarize Zophar, another friend of "great wisdom"—Zophar accuses Job directly of wickedness. He argues that Job's suffering is too light and that he deserves greater punishment. His friends were accusing him of things God said differently about. Didn't God say Job was upright and shunned evil? So his friends didn't have the wisdom they should have had. God sees things differently. God sees our heart.

Let's turn to chapter 19, where Job is answering Bildad: "How long will you torment my soul, and break me in pieces with words? These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you have wronged me. And if indeed I have erred, my error remains with me. If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, and plead my disgrace against me, know then that God has wronged me, and has surrounded me with His net." He feels God has wronged him. In verse 21: "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me! Why do you persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!"

There's a Scripture where this was taken care of. We have God's Word. It's been preserved in the scrolls to this day. That reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:16, where it talks about Scripture being given by inspiration—for reproof, for doctrine, for understanding. Well, Job got his words. He wanted them printed, and they sure were. It's here for us to learn from and gain understanding.

Let's continue: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" You see, Job had some understanding of Jesus Christ's return. We all have a Redeemer, don't we? We believe Jesus will return. We see that through the holy days. It's the hope that should lie within us—that our Savior will return, and we will be changed. Job had understanding of that same thing.

He said he wanted to see God in the flesh. Some believe he wanted to see Him before his death. If we go a little further, we do see him—but in a different way—in chapter 38, what we can call God's answer. Verse 1: "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 'Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?'"

We must remember who the Lord is—the greatness of God. He created the universe. He stretched out the line. Who created gravity? God did. We have to see ourselves through our little selves in His sight, and truly see the greatness of God. Who are we to argue with God? We can beseech God.

A little while back, I was praying out loud to God—actually in tears with a lot that's been going on. I've had four surgeries in the last six months. My wife has been dealing with a great deal of pain. I deal with a great deal of pain. My home hasn't sold yet. There's been a lot going on. I remember praying, "I give up. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to pray about. I ask, and it seems like it just gets worse and worse." But we can't give up, can we, brethren? We need to keep going and keep pushing through the times and trials we have. It's possible the closing on my home may come soon, though it's been delayed four times. But who are we to question God?

Job, even at this point, had not yet fully understood who God was. He still held his integrity. After much—and this is what we must realize—no matter how little or how much we go through in our lives, now and likely in the future, we need to come as Job did. Let's go to chapter 42:1: "Then Job answered the Lord and said: 'I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, "Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, "I will question you, and you shall answer Me." I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'"

Job did see God, didn't he? Not in person, but he saw the greatness and the power, and how small he really was. He recognized his own self-righteousness.

Verse 7: "And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.'" So Job is almost parallel to Jesus Christ—almost like a mediator. God used Job's prayers so his friends could be forgiven.

"So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had accepted Job. And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house."

Verse 12: "Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters." What a blessing! When we endure through trials and never give up on God, we see that God does not give up on us, does He? He blesses us—physically, spiritually, or both.

Verse 14: "And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch." In the beginning, it didn't mention his daughters' names, so I thought it interesting that these are mentioned. Some scholars believe Job's daughters represent restoration. Jemimah means "dove," a symbol of peace. Keziah refers to the aromatic spice cassia, a kind of cinnamon—it represents pleasantness and was an ingredient in the ancient holy anointing oils. Keren-Happuch translates to "horn of adornment," referring to a decorative container used to hold ancient cosmetics, symbolizing outward beauty and radiance.

Another thing out of the ordinary: Job gave his daughters an inheritance. Back in Bible days, women did not typically receive inheritances, but he even provided for his daughters. Verse 15: "In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers." Verse 16: "After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days." That was amazing. God truly blessed him greatly with another family and everything he had lost. There are blessings in obeying God.

Job saw himself. He repented. What an example for us today. Some things to point out: sometimes things happen to good people and evil people. Some things we bring upon ourselves, and some things just happen. Job came to a different perspective. He realized he was wrong to question God, wrong to believe God was unjust and lacking knowledge. Then Job realized his own self-righteousness. Our insides really need to be pure before God—not just outwardly doing good things, whether giving charity or serving out in the world, but inwardly also.

God allowed Satan rule over this earth now. Thankfully, He puts limitations on Satan. If He didn't, I can imagine the suffering would be even greater than it is now. We need to truly know God, love God, and be close to God. Brethren, there will be hard times ahead, and I hope we remember the lessons of Job to help through them. There's always something we will learn in trials—even sore trials—as Job humbled himself.

So where are the blessings? Job grew in understanding of God. He understood God's power, and through it, he became closer to God. In chapter 42, God gave him twice the livestock and the same number of children. After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and grandchildren. What joy that must have been after all he went through—the joy, the happiness, and even greater closeness with God than before.

This is an amazing book that has been preserved for our learning. God is with us through the tough times, and even when things aren't so tough, what we need to do is cling to the most wonderful blessing of all—the Kingdom of God—and remain strong to the end. Remember Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." We learn from the things we suffer—trials, tests, health issues, and many things we go through in this life. It's training for our role in the Kingdom of God. How else can we have compassion, understanding, and sympathy for others if we don't experience some of these things ourselves, even now? We learn from Job's trials—faith, compassion, forgiveness, and greater agape love for all humanity.

So brethren, let's give praise and glory to God, because He will work things out in our lives, no matter what days and things may come. Just give God praise.