Job

Objective: 

• Job and His Family in Uz

• Satan Attacks Job’s Character

• Satan Attacks Job’s Health

• Job’s Three Friends

• Job Deplores His Birth

• Job Defends Himself

• Elihu Contradicts Job’s Friends

• The Lord Reveals His Omnipotence to Job

• Job’s Response to God

• Job’s Repentance and Restoration

Resources:

• Fr Tadros Y Malaty Commentary
• Catena Bible Commentary
• Fr Dawoud Lamie Bible study (Arabic)

Reading:

• Job 1:1-22
• Job 2:1-13
• Job 3:1-13
• Job 13: 1-5
• Job 32:1-22
• Job 38
• Job 40: 1-5
• Job 42:1-17

Key verse(s):

“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.” Job 1:21

Comments:

• Job is thought by many scholars to have lived during the time of the Patriarchs (Abraham) or shortly before them. Most scholars agree that Job lived before the time of Exodus.
• Job is a story of a righteous man whom God allowed trials to come on him for his purification. The devil wanted to tempt Job but failed.
• Job suffered from "Self-righteousness". And the trials that the devil conducted (thinking he could break him), God used them for his salvation and edification.
• The Book of the Job is composed of many poems between the characters of the Book.
• Job is the author of the book. Many scholars think that Moses is the one who put the book/story in its poetic format to make it easy for memorization.
• Characters of the book:
  • God
  • Devil
  • Job
  • Job's wife
  • Job's friends
    • Eliphaz
    • Bildad
    • Zopher
    • Elihu
• Breakdown of the book:
  • Dilemma and conflict of Job: Ch. 1-3
  • Debates of Job and people around him: 3-37
  • Deliverance of Job: 38-42
• Ch.1
  • Job was a righteous and wealthy man.
  • God is happy with his son Job who is faithful and righteous. The devil tells God that Job is living like that only because God blessed him with everything. The devil states that if all the blessings were taken from Job, he would not follow God anymore. 
  • God allows the devil the tempt Job without touching his soul.
  • In one day, Job lost his livestock, servants, and ten children.
  • Job thanks God and never loses faith 
  • He realized that he came empty and will leave the world empty (V.21)
• Ch.2
  • Job's health is affected
  • His three friends came to support him
  • They were silent for 7 days respecting the mournful circumstances he was going through
  • V.9-13
    • Job's wife accuses him of still being faithful to God, urging him to "curse God and die" after experiencing immense suffering, essentially telling him to give up on God and accept his fate by blaming God for his hardships. 
    • Job calls her "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks". Losing faith in God and leaving him due to a trial is foolish!
• Ch.3
  • Out of weakness and the heavy pressure of trials, Job curses the day of his birth. However, he never deplored God!
• Ch.4-11: His three friends are giving reasons why he is suffering all of this
  • Eliphaz: Eliphaz was the first to speak and he argued that Job's suffering was a punishment for his sin. He claimed that the innocent do not suffer and that Job must have done something wrong to deserve such pain
    • This is false. God loves his children and only punishes them for their edifying their souls not to see them perish and suffer pain.
  • Bildad: He argued that Job's suffering was a result of his own wickedness or the wickedness of his children. He urged Job to repent and seek God's forgiveness.
    • This is false. He is speaking without truly understanding God's will, Job's character, or his spiritual life
  • Zophar: He was the most harsh of the three friends and accused Job of being arrogant and deceitful. He claimed that Job's suffering was actually less than he deserved and that Job should be grateful for God's mercy.
    • This is false. His argument was based on a belief in his own righteousness and a lack of compassion for Job's pain
• Ch. 13
  • Job defends himself. He mentioned that he is not less than them on knowledge or experience
  • He called them:
    • Forgers of Lies (13:4)
    • Worthless physicians (13:4)
    • They would be wise if they stayed silent! (13:5)
    • Miserable comforters (16:2)
  • Do we act like Job's friends when people around us need our help? or do we support them and remind them of God's love and mercy?!
• Ch. 32
  • Elihu the young in age (Job's fourth friend) enters the conversation
  • He did not agree with Job or the other three friends in analyzing the situation and trying to find an answer
  • He disagreed with Job because he "justified himself rather than God" (V.2)
  • He disagreed with his friends as they tried to make up a reason without knowing the truth or understanding God's will (V.3)
• Ch.38
  • God asks Job many questions. All of them can be answered with "no" or "I don't know"
  • This reveals that anytime we 'accuse' God, we are false about this accusation as we do not know the depth of His wisdom and foreknowledge.
• Ch. 40
  • Job realized that God's wisdom and knowledge is far from his understanding
• Ch. 42
  • Beautiful ending to the book
  • Job realized that all of what happened to him was God's plan to purify him
  • V.5: An important realization that Job reached. We all hear about God. We only see Him, know Him, and get closer to Him during trials. Hence, God allows them.
  • Job interceded for his friends and God forgave them
  • V.10-12: Everything that was taken was returned to Job. Everything was doubled except his children.
    • He did not lose them. They only departed to another place (The Heavens!)
  • All of what happened to Job, yet he still died "old and full of days."
    • Gives us hope that God is in control of everything and everyone (Pantocrator). He has a plan for everyone!

Review/recap questions:
**Servant may add more questions

1. Who are the sons of God?
2. What was Job’s response to the test and what do we learn from it?
3. What do you think of Job’s response to his wife?
4. What do you learn about Satan from chapters 1 and 2? 
5. In his sorrow did Job consider suicide? Give proof.
6. How had God lodged in Job? 
7. Having heard God, what does Job now admit?
8. Briefly tell how Job’s friends had misrepresented God.

Homework:
**Servant may add more questions 

1. Job had _______ sons.
   a) seven b) five c) three
2. Job possessed:
   a) 7000 sheep b) 3000 camels c) 500 yoke of oxen d) all of these
3. Job's wife wanted him to:
   a) worship God b) curse God c) fast
4. Give the names of Job’s three friends. 
5. What did Job curse?
   a) the day he was born b) his friends c) his luck
6. Who said, “Why did I not die at birth?"
   a) Satan b) Leviathan c) Job
7. What did Job do for his friends?
   a) give them money b) reproach them c) pray for them
8. Job had _______ sons and ________ daughters.