JOBTHE DIALOGUE

Job 3:1-31:40

Job’s Birthday Curse• After the 7 days of silence, Job spoke.

JOB 3:3 "May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, `A boy is born!'

Job’s “Reversal of Creation”

• “Let there by darkness” (3:4-6)– That day--may it turn to darkness;

– may God above not care about it; – may no light shine upon it.

• May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; – may a cloud settle over it; – may blackness overwhelm its light.

• That night--may thick darkness seize it; – may it not be included among the days of the year – nor be entered in any of the months.

– Darkness = evil & chaos.

Job’s “Reversal of Creation”

• “Rouse Leviathan” (3:8)• May those who curse days curse that day, those who are

ready to rouse Leviathan.

– PS 74:13-14It was you who split open the sea by your power;You broke the heads of the monster in the waters.It was you who crushed the heads of LeviathanAnd gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.

– (cf. Job 41:1ff)

Job’s Birthday CurseJob longs for death • JOB 3:11-12 "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I

came from the womb?

Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?

Job’s Birthday CurseJob longs for death • Job longs for death. What was death like?

– It was a place to “lie down & be quiet.”– It was a place where everyone goes. – It is a place free from the “raging” of this

world. – (It is also a place without rescue, i.e. 7:9.)

Job’s Birthday CurseJob’s final lament • JOB 3:20 "Why is light given to those in misery, and

life to the bitter of soul?• JOB 3:23 Why is life given to a man whose way is

hidden, whom God has hedged in?• JOB 3:25 What I feared has come upon me; what I

dreaded has happened to me. (What?)(What?)– JOB 3:26 I have no peace, no quietness; I have

no rest, but only turmoil."

Job & his “Friends”Eliphaz, the Mystic Visionary JOB 4:1-6 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:"If someone ventures a word with you, will you be

impatient? But who can keep from speaking? Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.Your words have supported those who stumbled; you

have strengthened faltering knees.But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;

it strikes you, and you are dismayed.Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?”

Job & his “Friends”Eliphaz, the Mystic Visionary • JOB 4:7-9 "Consider now: Who, being innocent,

has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.”

Job & his “Friends”Eliphaz, the Mystic Visionary • Eliphaz’s Vision (4:12-21)

– JOB 4:17 Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

– Human wisdom says that Job is wise, but one must compare Job with God, not other men.

• Appeal to God (5:8ff). – JOB 5:17-18 Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so

do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply • JOB 6:8-10 "Oh, that I might have my request, that God

would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off! Then I would still have this consolation--my joy in unrelenting pain--that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply • JOB 6:14-15a "A despairing man should have the

devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams . . . .”

• JOB 6:24 Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.

Job & his “Friends”Bildad, the Traditionalist• Appeal to divine justice

– JOB 8:3-4 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

Job & his “Friends”Bildad, the Traditionalist• Appeal to History (8:8-10)

– JOB 8:8-10 Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply to Bildad (Job 9)• JOB 9:2-3 "I know that this is true. But how can a

mortal be righteous before God? Though one wished to dispute with him, hehe could not answer himhim one time out of a thousand.”

• JOB 9:15-16 Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge [or adversary] for mercy. Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing.

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply to Bildad (Job 9)• JOB 9:32-34 He is not a man like me that I might answer

him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.– Hebrew mokiachmokiach ( ( יח' 0מ+ו יח'כ1 0מ+ו כ1 ). ). Someone to judge,

decide, or arbitrate, perhaps like an umpire between opposing foes.

Job & his “Friends”Zophar, the Dogmatist• JOB 11:2-3 "Are all these words to go unanswered? Is

this talker to be vindicated? Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock?

Job & his “Friends”Zophar, the Dogmatist• JOB 11:4-5 You say to God, “My beliefs are flawless

and I am pure in your sight.” Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you.

• JOB 11:7-8 "Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens--what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave--what can you know?”

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply• JOB 12:2-3 “Doubtless you are the people, and

wisdom will die with you! But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does Who does not knownot know all these things?”

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply• JOB 13:20-24 “Only grant me these two things, O

God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your handWithdraw your hand far from me, and stop stop frighteningfrightening meme with your terrors. ThenThen summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply. How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin. Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?”

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply• JOB 14:1-2 Man born of woman is of few days and

full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply• JOB 14:7, 10-12 At least there is hope for a tree: If it is

cut down, it will sprout again, . . . But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

Job & his “Friends”Job’s Reply• JOB 14:13 "If only you would hide me in the

grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

Job & his “Friends”2nd Cycle of Speeches (Job 15-21)• JOB 16:19-21 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 a man pleads for his friend.

Job & his “Friends”2nd Cycle of Speeches (Job 15-21)• JOB 19:23-27 "Oh, that my words were recorded, that

they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon 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 & his “Friends”2nd Cycle of Speeches (Job 15-21)• H. H. Rowley: “Though there is no full

grasping of a belief in a worthwhile afterlife, this passage [19:23-27] is a notable landmark in a progress toward such a belief.”

Job 28—The Inaccessibility of WisdomMan’s ability to find hidden things (28:1-

11)• Man can dig precious metals & jewels from

deep within the earth. • These verses paint man as a resourceful,

intelligent being.

Job 28—The Inaccessibility of WisdomWisdom’s inaccessibility (28:12-22)• Man cannot find it. • The “deep,” “sea,” “destruction,” & “death”

do not know of wisdom’s dwelling. – These may be gods—Tehom, Yam, Abaddon, Mot

• Wisdom is beyond all earthly wealth.

Job 28—Wisdom• Job 28 serves to delay the harsh

challenge & conclusion of Job in 29-31.

Job 28—Wisdom• God’s knowledge of wisdom (28:23-

28)– “God understands the way to it and he alone

knows where it dwells, for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm, then he looked at wisdom and appraised it; he confirmed it and tested it. And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’”

Job’s Final Speech (Job 29-31)

Job 29-30—Job’s Past & Present“How I long . . .” Job longs for the past. • JOB 29:14, 17 I put on righteousness as my clothing;

justice was my robe and my turban. I broke the fangs of the wicked and snatched the victims from their teeth.

• He longs for his hope (29:18-19). – JOB 29:18 “I thought, ‘I will die in my own house,

my days as numerous as the grains of sand. My roots will reach to the water, and the dew will lie all night on my branches.’”

Job’s Final Speech (Job 29-31) Job 31—Job’s Declaration of

Innocence JOB 31:1, 4 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to

look lustfully at a girl. Does he not see my ways and count my every step?”– Sirach 9:5, 8 Gaze not on a maid, that thou fall not by

those things that are precious in her. Turn away thine eye from a beautiful woman, and look not upon another’s beauty; for many have been deceived by the beauty of a woman; for herewith love is kindled as a fire.

– Matt 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Job’s Final Speech (Job 29-31)

Job 31—Job’s Declaration of Innocence

JOB 31:5-6 "If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit--let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless--

JOB 31:16-17 "If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary, if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless--

Job’s Final Speech (Job 29-31)

• Final Declaration of Innocence (31:35-37)– "Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my

defense--let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.”

• “The words of Job are ended” (31:40c)!

Elihu’s Discourse (Job 32-37) • He was angry with Job for justifying himself

“rather than God.”• He was angry with the three friends for not

refuting Job. • He had not spoken because he was deferring

to his elders.• “No one has proved Job wrong”(32:12)—

There is no mokiach, an umpire or mediator.– Elihu answers him here that in essence he will be

the mokiach.

• “I am full of words” (32:18)

Elihu’s Discourse (Job 32-37) Elihu’s Message• Elihu accuses Job of “multiplying words

without knowledge” (35:16). • 36:21-22—Affliction can be a teacher to

the one suffering.

Why is Elihu Here? • The speeches describe the proper

response to suffering—submission. • The speeches form a transition between

Job & Yahweh. • The speeches were inserted as a type of

commentary on the dialogue up to this point.

• The speeches point out the ultimate need for an intercessor. – Terrien: “the necessity of a Christ.”