Job

Book Introduction

Author: Job, Moses, Solomon, or Elihu.  No one really knows.

The story may have been presented as a dramatic play, but Job was likely a real person. Some have labeled this book a parable, but parables don’t name specific people and places. 

A Job is mentioned in Genesis 46:10, Ezekiel 14:14, and 20. 

Date

No specific date reference is found in the book.  Job lived in a day when wealth was the size of a man’s heard.  We see that sacrifices were offered by the patriarch or elder of the family.   There is no mention of Israel, Abraham, the temple, or law.   Many scholars date Job around the time of Abraham, approximately 2000-2200 B.C.

What is the purpose of the book of JOB?

Some say it addresses the question, “Why do the righteous suffer?”  If so, did it answer the question? This book certainly reveals God's sovereignty. Under the heading of sovereignty, and in light of the story, we get to answer these questions.

• Do you trust God, no matter what?
• Can you praise the name of God no matter what?

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hind’s feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

• Can you let go and not fight your circumstances when they are beyond your control? 
• Job stands before God without anything.  His previous life had been wiped away.  We will all stand before God with nothing from our previous life.  Our status, money, authority, name, and good intentions will all be gone.  What will we stand on?

Three Friends

• Eliphaz – the endeavor of God
• Bildad – Old Friendship
• Zophar – rising early, crown

Were the 3 friends aiding in Satan’s attack on Job?  The arguments presented weren’t necessarily bad reasoning, just wrongly applied.  Or, maybe we would say they were good arguments for some cases, but not Job’s situation.   Conventional answers come first to us when tragedy strikes, but those answers aren’t a one-size-fits-all. 

In Job 23:3-8 we hear Job’s complaint that he can’t find God. 

• Is he looking in the wrong place?
• Is he looking for the wrong reasons?
• Is it a fact of life that sometimes we won’t find Him?

©2017 DOUG FORD; REVISED & UPDATED 2024