Job 17 Commentary

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Human society is organized in units. One arm makes the laws while the other arm enforces them. Yet another arm exists to ensure there is justice. Heaven has rolled up all these functions in one. The Creator God makes all the laws. He is both the enforcer and the judiciary. This simplified system here can help us understand why Job is constantly throwing himself before the Creator God.

Job has questioned the fairness of these laws. His friends have reacted with a weak and distant ‘that is the way it is’ response. But meanwhile, Job’s spirit is broken. His days are cut short. Under these circumstances, let the enforcer of the law, the LORD God, stand in for him. No one will.

These laws without a consistent application have appalled the righteous. They don’t understand Job’s situation. They have rejected the ungodly view that life is just like that. They know the righteousness of the LORD is better than what they have seen. Importantly though is the fact that the righteous will hold their ways. They will grow stronger.

Job invites his friends to the contest again. What arguments do they still have? Yes, his days have passed and his plans are shattered, but the light is near.

When all is said and done, when one’s days have passed and the plans shattered, will there still be hope? The saint is invited to reflect on these important facts.

Job closes the chapter with yet another important question: If my only hope is this side of life, “where then is my hope – who can see any hope for me?” Job has backed up this thought with the facts of the hopelessness of the grave. It is all darkness. Decay follows quickly. Worms become the only good neighbors but their good neighborliness is to quicken the process of corruption and complete erasure of existence as we know it. Can there be any hope in this?

There should be more to life, Job seems to suggest.

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Job 19 verses 25 to 27.

Job is yet to say it but we know that is the hope beautifully painted for us in these timeless lines above. But in this chapter, we can only see it faintly with Job’s statement: “the desires of my heart turn night into day; in the face of darkness light is near”.

New Testament saints call is resurrection.

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Job 16 Commentary

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Job has no kind words for his friends. They are miserable comforters! The need for a friend who sticks closer than a brother can be seen very clearly here.

“There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me, in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name — My Champion, my Friend,” said Job. The Message Bible. It is Job’s case, more than anything, which brings into sharp focus the real need for mediation. Who represents mortals before God as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor?

Job has prayed. Job has called upon the LORD. Silence. It has all been quiet. Now Job appeals to the Mediator – someone who represents mortals before God.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,” First Timothy 2 verse 5. Job has just lamented the absence of mediation. But wrapped within these pages is the hope that the mediator can speak up for Job.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This would be Job’s cry. But we know only this Job or the man that Job so ably represented can cry this way. Ours would probably be: “My God, why haven’t you forsaken me?” Our need for mediation is very different. Is there someone in heaven who can plead forgiveness on our behalf? Yes. The man Christ Jesus. That is the essence of the gospel that we have received.

There is a pattern for us to follow in Job’s responses. He focuses his attention on the LORD God. Yes, he responds to Eliphaz’s arguments but his many thoughts are poured out before the LORD. Let not your tears fall to the ground. There is a shoulder to lean on. The mediator, the man Christ Jesus is always ready to hear you.

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Job 15 Commentary

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Eliphaz speaks again. He accuses Job of lacking seriousness – arguing with empty words. It is the result of Job’s sinfulness.

“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?” During this debate’s first round, Eliphaz presented the same argument: “Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?” Probably because of Eliphaz’s argument Job stated, “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble”

In the context of this book, we cannot make the connection because Job is innocent. His suffering is because the LORD had been boasting about Job’s faithfulness and righteousness. Actually, Job is suffering because of righteousness, and not the lack of it.

But in the context of the entire scripture, a connection exists between Eliphaz’s statement and Job’s observed sad state of mortals – being of few days and full of trouble. It should be the case for mortals coming from Eve’s womb. In the Garden of peace and tranquility, Eve messed up with the factory and everything down the production line is faulty and subjected to suffering.

When read out of context, and in this Book, one is always encouraged to go that route, Eliphaz isn’t wrong at all. Can those born of a woman be pure? The LORD, God Almighty is answering this very question here by presenting Job. He is one born of a woman, living and walking among men, who the LORD declared righteous. Again, the reader is reminded that the characters in this book are fictitious. But the scripture is projecting the picture of a real man called Jesus who the LORD would declare righteous – in whom the LORD is well pleased.

He is the second Adam. The LORD is boasting about him and claims he is perfection itself. He won’t fall like the first Adam. The role of Job’s wife can roughly be contrasted with the role of Adam’s wife. In this Book, the scripture is saying more than we can see.

In the second section of this chapter, Eliphaz argues that whoever invests in lies gets lies for interest. No one should be cheated; you reap what you sow. Job must have invested in lies, hence the heavy hand of the LORD over his life. But we know better. Let the saint know better. When suffering is not a result of Eliphaz’s equation, let the saint stay happy knowing that the LORD is sovereign.

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

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Job 14 Commentary

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Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. Job is not writing a book about philosophy. He is speaking to God about humanity’s sad state of affairs. It is a prayer. The ‘you’ in this chapter refers to the LORD God Almighty.

What is the point of life? If we die, will we live again? Look at it this way, we are all adrift in the same boat: too few days, too many troubles. Is this all there is to life? Aren’t trees better off? At least they shoot up even when they are completely cut. Won’t humanity have a similar hope?  

Job is talking about the possibility of an afterlife. There should definitely be something of the sort for humanity. He cannot wait!

At the first whiff of water the stump springs to life. Is Job anticipating the Living Water that we hear about in the Gospel of John? When Job is laid down in death, is there hope that this water will enable him to spring back to life?

This chapter has timeless questions. The Apostle Paul reflects on the same thought with the following: If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hoped only in this life [and this is all there is], then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied. First Corinthians 15 verse 19.

Job can be seen as begging heaven for a chance to have a better life other than the brief and sad moments that men have on this side of existence.

We have tried to make it better. Technology has scaled boundaries. But with each innovation comes countless headaches for humanity. Deathtraps or innovations? It is always a cut-twenty-two debate. A Remote-control has solved one small problem but it has created two big problems. Humanity is always on top of things. So the Hospital and the Gym are constructed, but at what cost? No wonder Job is complaining. This rat race, and the vanity; is a punishment from the LORD.

Indeed, mortals are of few days and full of trouble. When will the world start looking to the resurrection for relief?

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Job 13 Commentary

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Job continues to speak. He begins by addressing his friends. They are useless physicians. Their arguments are baseless. Real time-wasters. Job has had enough of them. He would take his case to God directly. They should keep quiet and listen. God doesn’t need a lawyer. They shouldn’t speak on His behalf.

Job has taken a hard line on his friends. He feels they have misrepresented God with their lame arguments. This can be a preacher’s greatest fear. Have I delivered the word of the LORD correctly? Is this really what the LORD wants me to say?

Job makes two requests to the LORD. First: clear off my pain and suffering. Second: speak to me and I will answer, or let me speak and you answer me. The LORD will attend to both requests but not just now. This is very important for us to take in. The time comes when the LORD clears all pain and suffering but it may not exactly be our timing.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21 verse 4.

And, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” Revelation 22 verse 4.

In the meantime, the scripture must emphasize the brevity of life for us to understand that complete salvation is just a breath away.

What we hope for this side of existence is “like something rotten, human life fast decomposes.” The chapter is drawing us to a point where we all need to be. Like Job, let the pain and suffering stop. And let us enjoy the presence of the LORD like it was at creation in the Garden of peace and tranquility.

In the meantime, our Job won’t keep quiet, though he had specifically requested that the LORD speaks and he listens. Or he speaks and the LORD listens. Probably on the assumption that the LORD didn’t want to speak, or that the LORD was wasting time, Job decided to speak. How many times the waiting upon the LORD has become a waiting upon man’s own initiates! Especially when we feel the LORD is wasting time!

So Job asks: “How many wrongs and sins have I committed?” We all know Job is not expecting an answer like 4 or 0. His real question is why he is suffering. Since sin isn’t a factor in Job’s pain and suffering, the question remains unanswered. Job has more to say to the LORD, but that is for tomorrow.

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Job 12 Commentary

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Job responds to Zophar’s speech. Unfortunately, Job has fallen into the trap. He is coming to the conclusion that one’s character doesn’t exactly determine one’s destiny. Based on his own observation, and from his own experiences, the LORD distributes His rewards or His punishments randomly.

“The tents of the destroyers prosper; and those who provoke God are [apparently] secure, whom God brings into their power. Verse 6. Amplified Version. But as for Job, a blameless man, he is now a laughingstock. Job’s question is this: Is there a formula for distributing rewards and punishments in heaven? From what he has seen, there is simply no formula.

Job disagrees with the simple wisdom of his friends. Life isn’t about simplified equations presented by the three friends.

“Who does not know all these things”? Job is not probably referring to the wisdom presented by the friends. He is most likely referring to the things that he is about to say.

There is credibility to Job’s argument in this chapter about the randomness of blessings and punishments based on Job’s life. And that is exactly the problem. The LORD cannot be defined by tools of human reasoning and experiences. The New Testament saint understands this fact very well. God is good, all the time; and all the time, God is good. It is a statement that holds true regardless of happenings, bad or good.

Job refers to his own terrible state. He is now a laughingstock, though blameless. He refers to his previous relationship with the LORD: smooth and personal. They spoke.

The saint may have this kind of confusion. What has happened to the good times I enjoyed in the presence of the LORD? Was it all fake? And the wicked with their cursing and sins, why are they still free and enjoying life?

We quickly get back to the endless debate. It is God’s will. Yes. But is it fair? It is not God’s will. Yes. But why then hasn’t the LORD intervened? Ok. Fine. He will intervene; but when? Maybe I have sinned. Repentance follows. Now that I’m clean, I should be good but it doesn’t happen. We get all these thoughts and emotions from Job in his responses. We know he is not the only candidate.

The LORD will eventually answer Job. For now, let’s keep reading. Job continues his speech tomorrow.

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Job 11 Commentary

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Should this kind of loose talk be permitted? Zophar feels Job has gone too far. It is now his turn to put sense in Job.

But wait a minute. Has Job actually said that his beliefs are flawless and that he is pure in God’s sight? Or are these thoughts simply a fabrication of Zophar out of Job’s speeches? The latter is more probable.

Verse 6 is difficult to understand especially from the New International Version Bible. But other Bible translations seem to suggest that Job’s punishment is actually less than what his ‘many’ sins deserve. Job may not be as sinful as Zophar portrays him to be, but the saint knows very well that his life may not be as clean as he wants to believe.

Many saints know their freedom is on account of another man’s innocence. This is the righteousness that the scripture projects and actually wishes for all humanity. Through the man Jesus Christ, righteousness can be had for free.

Zophar’s suggestion that Job devotes his heart to the LORD and puts away the sin from his hand is a good sermon. But as we all know, it is not for mortals to stay away from evil and to stay free of fault. Zophar is asking Job to do the impossible. We are however happy that the LORD has made the impossible possible through the man Jesus Christ. He is the only one who managed to do what Zophar is talking about here.

Zophar’s theology is only as good as it projects the righteousness that only the Son could achieve. The theology is however faulty as a complete thought. Zophar’s world concerns itself with righteousness and its perceived rewards. In Zophar’s world, the sinless Son we have talked about would be the most blessed of men. As the great prophet Isaiah predicted, the Servant who actually doubles as the Son, had all the troubles possible. He would not definitely fit Zophar’s description of righteousness.

Regardless, wasn’t the Son the most blessed of men? Isn’t the born-again man the most blessed of men? Isn’t Zophar’s theology just about right when one considers the blessedness of the saint regardless of the world’s perceptions? Isn’t Job still the loved, blue-eyed boy of the Creator God, though Job’s world didn’t know it?

Job is yet to say it. But let the saint hear it:

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. Can the saint be more blessed than this?

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Job 10 Commentary

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“Tell me what charges you have against me.” Saints may not have the audacity of Job to say this kind of prayer. Why should they invite trouble on themselves? Normally, the saint’s daily life is riddled with known moments of unfaithfulness. Why pray like Job and force the LORD to bring out a large book of sins against yourself?

However, large portions of Job’s prayer here are very familiar. Why is the LORD giving me a hard time while smiling at the wicked?  I know the LORD loves me but why does He appear to be pleased seeing me being oppressed. Definitely, the Judge of the universe can tell the difference between wickedness and righteousness. What kind of love is this?

Job reminds the LORD how He created Job out of clay. Is the LORD about to send Job back to clay? Fine, but should it end this way? Is this really part of what the LORD had planned for me? Job has many questions that many believers have asked.

Why was I born, anyway? For this?

The LORD will eventually answer Job towards the end of this book. For now, we have Job going through gears of emotions. This journey through emotions and thoughts is an unending trip of ‘yes’ and ‘no’. One moment you feel like you understand but the very next moment you feel as confused as before. It is a cycle of rejection and acceptance. One moment you feel like you have said a very good prayer worthy of an immediate acquittal, only to completely rubbish it not long after the prayer is said. Repentance follows. The process repeats itself endlessly. It is a journey of countless back and forth trips to nowhere. This is where the real pain is.

But Job has laid it before the LORD. This is key. We saw how King Saul destroyed himself by lying prostrate on the floor of the witch’s hut in search of answers. (www.lovingscripture.com/2021/11/19/1-samuel-28-commentary/) He had been in a moment of deep crisis. Saints should never do things like this. Bring it to the LORD in prayer. This is Job’s lesson for us all.

These are deep-lying questions of life that no mortal can answer. Yet humans want to think another mortal can have answers. There can only be more confusion and self-destruction.

The scripture puts it this way: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”.

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Job 9 Commentary

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“Indeed, I know this is true,” said Job. What is true? Bildad has said a couple of important things. Which one is true? Or, is Job saying yes to everything Bildad has said?

We can assume Job is referring to Bildad’s statement that the LORD doesn’t reject the blameless. If this statement remains true, then Job must take his case to a higher court for review. He is definitely innocent but how can his innocence be proved?

God is far too high for mortals to reach Him. His wisdom is so deep, and God’s power is so immense. He is so holy that a mere mortal would probably incriminate himself by simply appearing before the LORD. Yet Job wishes for an opportunity to be heard before this very scary Judge of the Universe.

If only there were someone to mediate between them!

This is key to understanding the scripture. In the Garden of peace and tranquility, we saw how this Judge showed up and sentences were meted out to all the culprits, satan included. Later, Abraham interceded and Lot was saved. On countless occasions, Moses interceded and Israel was saved. But in all these cases, the people remained very far from the courtroom. Indeed, the picture we get from the Torah is that of a distant holy God who was nearly impossible to reach. Even His very name was a matter reserved for very sacred interactions.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. According to First Timothy 2 verse 5.

The saint can bask in the knowledge that we have a mediator in the man Jesus Christ.

The man who once lived in the neighborhood understands human pain and struggles. He was moved to tears as Martha and Mary mourned the loss of their brother Lazarus. The scripture is written to encourage the world to come to know this man. He feels your pain. He understands your suffering.

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Job 8 Commentary

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Bildad believes in the principle of causation. Suffering is always caused by sin. Job has sinned; that is the reason why he is suffering. His children sinned; that is the reason they died. The cause and effect principle means Job is losing it unless he quickly repents.

Again, in Bildad’s mind, the causation principle means Job’s repentance would bring about restoration. He would be as good as before. Actually, it is to Bildad’s credit that we have one of the most quoted verses: “Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.”

Verse 7 above is one of the few times when one is encouraged to enjoy the scripture without looking at the context. When set in its position and context, Bildad’s views are terrible. Cause and effect: that is Bildad’s world.

Man is the cause of suffering, by his sins. Man is the cause of his own salvation, by repentance. This sounds good and logical but where is grace? Man is lost and must be found. Man cannot find himself. The salvation that puts man in control of his own destiny may sound good but it is all false and contradicts the value of Calvary.

Eliphaz had suggested that Job’s sin was responsible for the loss of his entire family to a natural disaster. Now Bildad suggests that Job’s children caused their own death by their sins. The wisdom of this world doesn’t have one coherent truth front. It’s ever-changing.

Bildad finds comfort and stability of thought by relying heavily on ancient wisdom. But it is the wisdom of this world.

Bildad says, “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers”. Again, this sounds good when read out of context. It is however Bildad’s cause-and-effect belief system that faults this great truth. Accordingly, Job has been rejected because he is not blameless. And as an evildoer, Job shouldn’t expect help from the LORD.

Not this Job but another would cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” And he was blameless.

Probably our discomfort with Bildad’s theology stems from our appreciation of Calvary. Ironically, and because of Calvary, this chapter still holds the truth. Indeed, God doesn’t abandon the blameless. The blameless Job hasn’t been abandoned. Regardless of the happenings around, albeit sad events, the LORD retains ultimate control. The saint can rest secure in this truth, partly exposed through Bildad’s faulty theology, that indeed the LORD doesn’t abandon the blameless.

The blameless at Calvary Hill wasn’t blameless at all. For at that moment, he carried the sin of the entire world on his shoulders. Bildad’s theology may not be so faulty, after all.

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