Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 16-21.

One of the things I have written about the Book of Job in the past is that I am unsure if we are intended to understand it as events which actually happened, or if it is a story which God inspired someone to write in order to teach us important lessons.  However, even though I am unsure which is correct, I have always written about the Book of Job as if each of those mentioned were real people who carried on the conversation recorded here,  I realized today that there is some value in reading, and thinking about, the Book of Job as if each of the characters mentioned represent different ways of thinking about God and how He interacts with people.  The best part about this latter approach is that it does not require that the people mentioned not be actual people who said the things written here.

Having said that, in today’s passage Job discusses two of the things which are uniquely his viewpoint.  First, he represents those who seek God, even though they are suffering.  He realizes that in order for any mortal to approach God they will need someone to speak on their behalf (as he had expressed in yesterday’s passage).  Further, he tells us that he does indeed have such an intercessor, One who truly cares about him.  Our Intercessor will plead with God on our behalf and request that God exercise His power in our lives.  A request we can be sure will be granted, since our Intercessor is God Himself in the form of Jesus Christ.

Second, Job complains that the wicked do not suffer for their wickedness.  He says this in contrast to the claim by his friends that the wicked always suffer (they imply that if one suffers it must be because they are wicked),  Job goes on to say that not only do the wicked commit sins, the openly defy God and suffer no consequences.  Job has a point, but one which  we must think carefully about.  Yes, it often appears that the wicked suffer no consequences for their wickedness, but we must consider whether this is actually true.  If we truly believe that God has our best interests in mind (which I do), then we know that there is greater happiness and joy to be had by following His commands then by seeking pleasure through sin.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 16-21.

As I have read the Book of Job time and again in order to write this blog each year I have become convinced that it is only toward the end of this passage that Job begins to say things for which God rebukes him at the end of the book.  In his first two monologues in today’s passage, Job acknowledges that he has an intercessor/advocate who stands before God pleading his case.  The following statement from the first of Job’s three monologues in this passage expresses the great hope which all Christians have in Christ:

Even now my witness is in heaven;

  my advocate is on high.

My intercessor is my friend
    as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God
    as one pleads for a friend.

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.

It is only after Zophar once more makes the claim that the wicked always suffer upon this earth that Job points out that this is not the case.  Sometimes, often times, it seems as if the wicked do not suffer in this life at all.  Perhaps the thing we can most do to comfort ourselves about the wicked who seem to live a life of ease with no concerns is remember, that for them the promise that they will see God with their own eyes is not something which gives joy.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 16-21.

In chapter 16 Job says that his witness, his advocate, his intercessor is in heaven pleading with God on his behalf.  Then in chapter 19, he further says that he knows his redeemer lives and on the earth will stand (the basis for a great hymn of faith and hope).  Further, Job says that he knows that he will see God with his own eyes after his death (a statement which tells us that we will be resurrected with physical bodies).  These are great prophetic statements about the coming of Christ and things which should offer Believers in Him comfort when they experience suffering.

Job starts out his response in today’s passage by telling his friends that what they are saying offers him no comfort.  He makes the point that when people are suffering we should strive to comfort them and offer them relief from their suffering, not condemn them for their past sins.  And his friends reacted to what he said by assuming that it was established that he was a great sinner and going on from there.  The statements made by Job’s friends do not address anything which Job said.  Instead they argue as if Job denied that God punishes sinners. And Job, in his anger at their failure to listen to him, begins to call into question God’s justice. Yet, even so, he still makes his great statements of faith which I talked about in the first paragraph.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 16-21.

I struggle to fully understand what Job says in his monologues.  On the one hand, he accuses God of unjustly punishing him.  On the other hand, he calls on God to make the case for his innocence, and appears to believe that God will do so.  He throws himself on the mercy of God, after proclaiming that God has failed to show him mercy.  This apparent contradiction in Job’s statements is consistent with a person suffering greatly.

In both Bildad’s and Zophar’s arguments in today’s passage we can learn an important lesson.  Neither of their arguments actually address what Job had said.  They have gotten caught up in the argument and have forgotten their purpose in arguing with Job.  They had begun with good, although misplaced, intent.  They started out trying to convince Job of taking actions which they believed would relieve his suffering.  Which brings us a lesson we should take to heart: when we get into an argument we must be careful not to get so caught up in winning the argument that we forget why we were arguing our position in the first place.

Finally, I had always thought that Job believed that death was the end, that once one died everything was over for that person.  I thought that what he says in chapter 17 verses 13-16 represented his belief that there was no reason for hope.  However, today I read it more as a warning that those who take the position that there is no afterlife have no hope.  I see in this statement by Job a parallel to what Paul writes when he says that if Christ did not rise from the dead than His followers are the most miserable of people.   I see Job as saying here that if there is no resurrection from the dead, there is no hope for anyone.  In fact in chapter 19 verses 25-27 he expresses just such a hope, a hope which is fulfilled in Christ.  He says that he knows that his Redeemer lives and that, after his death, he will see God in his own body.  This is the hope which those of us who believe in Christ have.  No matter what suffering we may endure on this earth, death is not the end and we will stand before God once more.