“the greatest poem of ancient or modern times.” appreciate the deep suffering of others around...

“The greatest poem of ancient or modern times.”

appreciate the deep suffering of others around us

appreciate the deep suffering of others around uslearn how to comfort others, and how not to comfort others

appreciate the deep suffering of others around uslearn how to comfort others, and how not to comfort othersprepare for our own deep suffering

appreciate the deep suffering of others around uslearn how to comfort others, and how not to comfort othersprepare for our own deep sufferingmaintain a proper theology through our suffering

appreciate the deep suffering of others around uslearn how to comfort others, and how not to comfort othersprepare for our own deep sufferingmaintain a proper theology through our sufferinggrow in our respect for God through suffering

•situated around 2000BC (Abraham)


•included among the OT wisdom literature



•largely composed in Hebrew poetry




•describes a unique case of profound suffering





•includes 7 major characters: God, Satan, Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu






•describes one man’s struggle with pain, and the struggle of his friends to understand and comfort him






•describes one man’s struggle with pain, and the struggle of his friends to understand and comfort him

•does not solve the problem of suffering

How to Misdiagnose Suffering




Do the righteous always prosper?Do the righteous always prosper?

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2 “If someone should attempt a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can refrain from speaking? 3 Look, you have instructed many; you have strengthened feeble hands. 4 Your words have supported those who stumbled, and you have strengthened the knees that gave way. 5 But now the same thing comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are terrified.

Job 4:1-9 (NET Bible)

6 Is not your piety your confidence, and your blameless ways your hope? 7 Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed? 8 Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same. 9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.”


Scenes in heaven; Job’s loss (1-2)Job’s complaint (3)3 rounds of speeches (4-31)Elihu (32-37)God (38-41)Job (42)

Scenes in heaven; Job’s loss (1-2)Job’s complaint (3)3 rounds of speeches (4-31)Elihu (32-37)God (38-41)Job (42)



“The hospital room is perhaps not the place for diagnosing the theological cause of the patient’s suffering.”

“The hospital room is perhaps not the place for diagnosing the theological cause of the patient’s suffering.”





Do the righteous always prosper?Do the righteous always prosper?



Do the righteous always prosper?Do the wicked always suffer?



17 “I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, 18 what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, 19 to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. 20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. 21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him.

22 He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; 23 he wanders about – food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. 24 Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, 25 for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty…”


“The author of Job intends to show how the theological position of Job’s friends represents a shallow and only partial observation of human life.”

–Frank E. Gaebelein

“The author of Job intends to show how the theological position of Job’s friends represents a shallow and only partial observation of human life.”

–Frank E. Gaebelein





Do the righteous always prosper?Do the wicked always suffer?Can suffering always be traced to a particular sin?

Do the righteous always prosper?Do the wicked always suffer?Can suffering always be traced to a particular sin?

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2 “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? 3 Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless? 4 Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you? 5 Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity? 6 For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. 7 You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food.

Job 22:1-11, 21-23 (NET Bible)

8 Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it, 9 you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed. 10 That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you, 11 why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.

21 Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good. 22 Accept instruction from his mouth and store up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent…”

Job 22:1-11, 21-23 (NET Bible)

1 Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.”

John 9:1-3 (NET Bible)

“Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

–Screwtape, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters

“Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

–Screwtape, C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters



“the greatest poem of ancient or modern times.” appreciate the deep suffering of others around...

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