JOB-- UNDERSTANDING THIS BOOK #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. END

 UNDERSTANDING  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  #1

THE  TRANSLATION  USED  IS  FROM  THE  NEW  LIVING  TRANSLATION  1996.

Prologue

 There was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless, a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. 2He had seven sons and three daughters. 3He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys, and he employed many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.

4 Every year when Job's sons had birthdays, they invited their brothers and sisters to join them for a celebration. On these occasions they would get together to eat and drink. 5When these celebrations ended—and sometimes they lasted several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, "Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.

[THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  BIRTHDAY  CELEBRATIONS  IS  IN  A  STUDY  OF  MINE  -  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's First Test

6One day the angels [Hebrew the sons of God - angels are sons of God in the sense God created them, as so “offspring of God”] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan the Accuser came with them. 7 "Where have you come from?" the Lord asked Satan. And Satan answered the Lord, "I have been going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that's going on."

8Then the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil."

[EVEN  GOD  HIMSELF  HAD  TO  ADMIT  THAT  FROM  A  HUMAN  POINT  OF  VIEW  JOB  WAS  A  VERY  RIGHTEOUS  MAN (righteousness  defined  in  Ps.  119:172)  -  Keith Hunt]

9Satan replied to the Lord, "Yes, Job fears God, but not without good reason! 10You have always protected him and his home and his property from harm. You have made him prosperous in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"

12"All right, you may test him," the Lord said to Satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So Satan left the Lord's presence.

13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were dining at the oldest brother's house, 14a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, 15when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

16While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds, I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

17While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

18While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home.19 Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the desert and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." 

20Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground before God.21 He said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be stripped of everything when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord !"

22 In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

[NOW  THAT  IS  PRETTY  IMPRESSIVE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  ON  JOB’S  PART  -  ALL  THAT  TAKEN  AWAY  FROM  YOU  AND  YOU  THANK  THE  LORD  FOR  HAVING  IT,  AND  THANK  HIM  AGAIN  WHEN  IT’S  TAKEN  AWAY…..PUT  YOURSELF  IN  HIS  SHOES,  WOULD  WE  DO  THE  SAME  AS  JOB?  WELL  I  HOPE  WE  WOULD  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's Second Test

2

One day the angels [Heb. sons of God] came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan the Accuser came with them. 2 "Where have you come from?" the Lord asked Satan.

And Satan answered the Lord, "I have been going back and forth across the earth, watching everything that's going on."

3Then the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you persuaded me to harm him without cause."

[IT’S  KINDA  SHOCKING  TO  THINK  GOD  COULD  LET  US  BE  HARMED,  WITHOUT  CAUSE.  I  DO  NOT  THINK  GOD  IS  PERSUADED  LIKE  THIS  FROM  SATAN  VERY  OFTEN,  BUT  OBVIOUSLY  SOMETIMES  THE  LORD  ALLOWS  THIS;  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  WENT  THROUGH  SOME  TERRIBLE  THINGS  IN  LIFE,  AS  HE  PREACHED  THE  WORD  OF  GOD,  THE  LORD  ALLOWING  MAN (OFTEN  INSPIRED  BY  DEMONIC  FORCES)  TO  BRING  MUCH  GRIEF  UPON  PAUL  AT  TIMES,  AND  FINALLY  HIS  DEATH.  FOR  THE  AVERAGE  CHRISTIAN  THIS  DOES  NOT  HAPPEN,  THOUGH  SOME  HAVE  HAD  TO  GIVE  THEIR  LIFE  FOR  LIVING  AS  A  CHRISTIAN  -  HEBREWS  11  -  Keith Hunt]

4Satan replied to the Lord, "Skin for skin—he blesses you only because you bless him. A man will give up everything he has to save his life. 5But take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!"

6"All right, do with him as you please," the Lord said to Satan. "But spare his life." 7 So Satan left the Lord's presence, and he struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot.

[SHOWING  SATAN  DOES  AT  TIMES  HAVE  THE  POWER  AND  IS  ALLOWED  BY  GOD,  TO  BRING  PHYSICAL  SICKNESSES  TO  OUR  BODY;  MOST  OF  THE  TIME  THOUGH  IT  IS  OUR  WRONG  WAY  OF  LIVING  AND  “TIME  AND  CHANCE” (CATCHING  SOMETHING FROM  SOMEONE)  THAT  BRINGS  PROBLEMS  TO  OUR  PHYSICAL  BODY  -  Keith Hunt]

8Then Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. 9His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die."

[MAYBE  MOST  AT  THIS  POINT  WOULD  CURSE  GOD,  BUT  JOB  DID  NOT;  HE  HELD  HIS  INTEGRITY  -  Keith Hunt]

10 But Job replied, "You talk like a god-less woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

[THIS  SHOWS  SOMETIMES  THE  LORD  ALLOWS  BADS  THINGS  TO  HAPPEN  TO  GOOD  PEOPLE.  AGAIN  PAUL  HAD  ALL  KINDS  OF  BAD  THINGS  HAPPEN  TO  HIM  DURING  HIS  SERVICE  IN  GOD’S  MINISTRY. HE  HAD  A  “THORN  IN  THE  FLESH”  THAT  HE  ASKED  THREE  TIMES  TO  BE  REMOVED….. GOD  SAID  “NO,  MY  GRACE  IS  SUFFICIENT  FOR  YOU”  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's Three Friends Share His Anguish 

11Three of Job's friends were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. 12When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to demonstrate their grief. 13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. And no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

[I  MEAN  SURELY  THESE  WERE  GOOD  FRIENDS;  WHO  WOULD  SIT  BY  YOU  FOR  7  DAYS  AND  MOURN  WITH  YOU,  ONLY  GOOD  FRIENDS  WOULD  DO  THAT  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's First Speech

3

At last Job spoke, and he cursed the day of his birth. 2He said: 3 "Cursed be the day of my birth, and cursed be the night when I was conceived. 4 Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let it be shrouded in darkness. 5Yes, let the darkness and utter gloom claim it for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it. 6Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months. 7Let that night be barren. Let it have no joy.8Let those who are experts at cursing—those who are ready to rouse the sea monster [Hebrew rouse Leviathan].— curse that day. 9Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light. 10Curse it for its failure to shut my mother's womb, for letting me be born to all this trouble. 11Why didn't I die at birth as I came from the womb? 12Why did my mother let me live? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? 13 For if I had died at birth, I would be at peace now, asleep and at rest. 14I would rest with the world's kings and prime ministers, famous for their great construction projects. 15I would rest with wealthy princes whose palaces were filled with gold and silver.16Why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? 17For in death the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 18Even prisoners are at ease in death, with no guards to curse them. 19Rich and poor are there alike, and the slave is free from his master.

[I  WOULD  THINK  IF  ANY  OF  US  HAD  JOB’S  AFFLICTIONS  WE  WOULD  ALSO  WISH  FOR  DEATH,  AND  EVEN  THAT  WE  HAD  NEVER  BEEN  BORN.  WE  ALSO  SEE  THAT  DEATH  IS  A  SLEEP,  JUST  AS  JESUS  ALSO  TAUGHT  IN  THE  GOSPELS  -  JOHN  11  AND  LAZARUS  -  Keith Hunt]

20 "Oh, why should light be given to the weary, and life to those in misery?21 They long for death, and it won't come. They search for death more eagerly than for hidden treasure. 22It is a blessed relief when they finally die, when they find the grave. 23 Why is life given to those with no future, those destined by God to live in distress? 24 I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. 25What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come to be. 26 I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; instead, only trouble comes."

[BEARING  SUCH  PHYSICAL  BODY  PAIN  AND  MENTAL  ANGUISH  AT  LOOSING  YOUR  SONS  AND  DAUGHTERS  AND  THE  LIVESTOCK  OF  YOUR  FARM,  WOULD  I  THINK,  BRING  MOST  PEOPLE  TO  WISH  THEY  WERE  DEAD.  I  PERSONALLY  CANNOT  IMAGINE  SUCH  PHYSICAL  AND  MENTAL  PAIN  -  Keith Hunt]

Eliphaz's First Response to job

4

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied to Job: 

2"Will you be patient and let me say a word? For who could keep from speaking out? 3"In the past you have encouraged many a troubled soul to trust in God; you have supported those who were weak. 4Your words have strengthened the fallen; you steadied those who wavered. 5But now when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken. 6Does your reverence for God give you no confidence? Shouldn't you believe that God will care for those who are upright?

[THOUGH  HE  STARTS  OF  PRAISING  JOB  FOR  GOOD  THINGS,  HE  SOON  GETS  INTO  “WHEN  TROUBLE  COMES  YOU  HAVE  NO  CONFIDENCE….GOD  WILL  CARE  FOR  THE  UPRIGHT.”  A  WAY  OF  SAYING,  “JOB  YOU  AIN’T  REALLY  UPRIGHT  AFTER  ALL”  -  Keith Hunt]

7"Stop and think! Does the innocent person perish? When has the upright person been destroyed? 8My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same. 9They perish by a breath from God. They vanish in a blast of his anger. 10Though they are fierce young lions, they will all be broken and destroyed. 11 The fierce lion will starve, and the cubs of the lioness will be scattered.

[JOB  IS  TOLD  YOU  ARE  NOT  SO  RIGHTEOUS  AFTER  ALL,  YOU  ARE  REAPING  WHAT  YOU’VE  SOWN  -  Keith Hunt]

12 "This truth was given me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. 13It came in a vision at night as others slept. 14Fear gripped me; I trembled and shook with terror. 15A spirit swept past my face. Its wind sent shivers up my spine. 16It stopped, but I couldn't see its shape. There was a form before my eyes, and a hushed voice said, 17'Can a mortal be just and upright before God? Can a person be pure before the Creator?'

18 "If God cannot trust his own angels and has charged some of them with folly, 19 how much less will he trust those made of clay! Their foundation is dust, and they are crushed as easily as moths. 20They are alive in the morning, but by evening they are dead, gone forever without a trace. 21 Their tent collapses; they die in ignorance.

[JOB  IS  BEING  TOLD  HE  IS  A  SINNER;  HE’S  REAPING  WHAT  HE’S  SOWN;  GOD  IS  PAYING  HIM  BACK  FOR  SINS  -  Keith Hunt]

Eliphaz's Response Continues

5

"You may cry for help, but no one listens. You may turn to the angels, but they give you no help. 2Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple. 3From my experience, I know that fools who turn from God may be successful for the moment, but then comes sudden disaster.4Their children are abandoned far from help, with no one to defend them. 5Their harvests are stolen, and their wealth satisfies the thirst of many others, not themselves/ 6But evil does not spring from the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the earth. 7 People are born for trouble as predictably as sparks fly upward from a fire. 8 My advice to you is this: Go to God and present your case to him. 9For he does great works too marvelous to understand. He performs miracles without number. 10He gives rain for the earth. He sends water for the fields.11 He gives prosperity to the poor and humble, and he takes sufferers to safety. 12He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so their efforts will not succeed. 13He catches those who think they are wise in their own cleverness, so that their cunning schemes are thwarted.14They grope in the daylight as though they were blind; they see no better in the daytime than at night. 15He rescues the poor from the cutting words of the strong. He saves them from the clutches of the powerful. 16And so at last the poor have hope, and the fangs of the wicked are broken.

[WELLLLL…… NO!  GOD  DOES  NOT  ALWAYS  BRING  RETRIBUTION  ON  THE  WICKED  IN  THIS  LIFE-TIME;  MANY  LIVE  AND  PROSPER  IN  THEIR  WICKEDNESS,  AS  DO  SOME  OF  THEIR  CHILDREN.  THE  POOR  ARE  NOT  ALWAYS  RESCUED  FROM  EVIL  PEOPLE.  AGAIN  ELIPHAZ  IS  TELLING  JOB  HE’S  A  SINNER  AND  THE  LORD  IS  REWARDING  HIM  ACCORDINGLY  -  Keith Hunt]

17"But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the chastening of the Almighty when you sin.18For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal. 19He will rescue you again and again so that no evil can touch you 20He will save you from death in time of famine, from the power of the sword in time of war.21 You will be safe from slander and will have no fear of destruction when it comes. 22You will laugh at destruction and famine; wild animals will not terrify you. 23You will be at peace with the stones of the field, and its wild animals will be at peace with you. 24You will know that your home is kept safe. When you visit your pastures, nothing will be missing. 25Your children will be many; your descendants will be as plentiful as grass! 26You will live to a good old age. You will not be harvested until the proper time!

27 "We have found from experience that all this is true. Listen to my counsel, and apply it to yourself."

[NO  HISTORY  AND  EXPERIENCE  DOES  NOT  TELL  YOU  THAT  GOD  WILL  KEEP  THE  UPRIGHT  IN  SUCH  SAFETY  AS  MENTIONED  BY  ELIPHAZ.  HE  WAS  PUTTING  FORTH  AN  IDEA  THAT  THE  UPRIGHT  WILL  NEVER  HAVE  WHAT  JOB  NOW  FINDS  HIMSELF  WITH.  GOD  DOES  NOT  ALWAYS  RESCUE  SO  NO  EVIL  WILL  COME  UPON  YOU;  GOD  DOES  NOT  ALWAYS  SAVE  YOU  FROM  DEATH,  OR  FROM  THE  SWORD,  OR  FROM  SLANDER,  YOUR  HOME  OR  FARM  IS  NOT  ALWAYS  KELP  SAFE  FROM  WILD  ANIMALS;  CHRISTIANS  DO  NOT  ALWAYS  LIVE  TO  “A  GOOD  OLD  AGE.”  JOB  WAS  BEING  TOLD  HE  WAS  BEING  CHASTENED  OF  THE  LORD;  HE  WAS  A  SINNER  AND  NEEDED  PUNISHING…..SO  JOB  CONFESS  YOUR  SINS  THAT  YOU’VE  KEPT  FROM  US  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

6

Then Job spoke again: 2 "If my sadness could be weighed and my troubles be put on the scales,3they would be heavier than all the sands of the sea. That is why I spoke so rashly. 4For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. He has sent his poisoned arrows deep within my spirit. All God's terrors are arrayed against me.5 Don't I have a right to complain? Wild donkeys bray when they find no green grass, and oxen low when they have no food. 6People complain when there is no salt in their food. And how tasteless is the uncooked white of an egg! 7My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

[“NO  I  HAVE  NOT  SINNED,  GOD  IS  AGAINST  ME,  HE  IS  BRINGING  ALL  THIS  UPON  ME  WITHOUT  CAUSE….SHOULD  I  NOT  HAVE  THE  RIGHT  TO  COMPLAIN?”  SO  JOB  IS  SAYING  -  Keith Hunt]

8 "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my hope. 9 I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me. 10At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11 But I do not have the strength to endure. I do not have a goal that encourages me to carry on. 12Do I have strength as hard as stone? Is my body made of bronze?13 No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

[JOB  SAYS: “I  AM  BUT  HUMAN  FLESH  AND  BLOOD;  DESPITE  WHAT  GOD  HAS  BROUGHT  ON  ME  I  HAVE  NOT  DENIED  HIS  WORDS;  I  AM  WANTING  TO  DIE,  I  HAVE  NO  STRENGTH  LIKE  A  STONE,  MY  BODY  IS  NOT  MADE  OF  BRONZE….. I  AM  WEAK  FLESH  AND  BLOOD,  I  WISH  GOD  WOULD  END  MY  LIFE”  -  Keith Hunt]

14 "One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you have accused me without the slightest fear of the Almighty. 15My brother, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring 16when it is swollen with ice and melting snow. 17But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat. 18The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing there to drink, and so they perish in the desert. 19With high hopes, the caravans from Tema and from Sheba stop for water, 20but finding none, their hopes are dashed. 21You, too, have proved to be of no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid. 22But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged you to use any of your wealth on my behalf? 23 Have I ever asked you to rescue me from my enemies? Have I asked you to save me from ruthless people?

[JOB  SAYS  TO  HIS  FRIEND,  YOU  HAVE  BEEN  NO  HELP  IN  MY  DESTRUCTION,  FOR  YOU  HAVE  NOT  SAID  THE  TRUTH…

You, too, have proved to be of no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid. 22But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged you to use any of your wealth on my behalf? 23 Have I ever asked you to rescue me from my enemies? Have I asked you to save me from ruthless people?  -  Keith Hunt]

24 "All I want is a reasonable answer— then I will keep quiet. Tell me, what have I done wrong?25 Honest words are painful, but what do your criticisms amount to? 26Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation? 27You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend. 28Look at me! Would I lie to your face? 29Stop assuming my guilt, for I am righteous. Don't be so unjust. 30Do you think I am lying? Don't I know the difference between right and wrong?

[JOB  MAINTAINS  HIS  INTEGRITY  AND  HIS  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  HE  ASKS  TO  BE  TOLD  WHAT  HE’S  DONE  WRONG.  IN  OTHER  WORDS  HE  KNOWS  HIS  FRIENDS  HAVE  NEVER  SEEN  HIM  DO  WRONG  OR  EVIL  OF  ANY  KIND  -  Keith Hunt]  

7

"Is this not the struggle of all humanity? A person's life is long and hard, like that of a hired hand, 2like a worker who longs for the day to end, like a servant waiting to be paid. 3 I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery. 4When I go to bed, I think, 'When will it be morning?' But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn. 5My skin is filled with worms and scabs. My flesh breaks open, full of pus.

[JOB  TELL  THEM  WHAT  IT’S  LIKE….. MISERY  THAT  IS  HARD  TO  IMAGINE  -  Keith Hunt]

Job Cries Out to God

6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle flying back and forth. They end without hope. 70 God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I will never again experience pleasure. 8You see me now, but not for long. Your eyes will be on me, but I will be dead. Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes, those who die will not come back. 10They are gone forever from their home—never to be seen again. 11 I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish. I must complain in my bitterness. 12Am I a sea monster that you place a guard on me?13If I think, 'My bed will comfort me, and I will try to forget my misery with sleep,' 14you shatter me with dreams. You terrify me with visions. 15 I would rather die of strangulation than go on and on like this. 16 I hate my life. I do not want to go on living. Oh, leave me alone for these few remaining days.

[I  THINK  WE  CAN  KINDA  UNDERSTAND  BY  NOW  THAT  FOR  JOB  DEATH  WOULD  BE  A  BLESSING,  LIFE  AS  IT  IS  FOR  HIM  AT  PRESENT  IS  OVERWHELMINGLY  ANGUISH  -  THOSE  WHO  DIE  ARE  GONE  FROM  THE  EARTH,  NOT  TO  COME  BACK  IN  A  FEW  WEEKS  OR  MONTHS.  ONLY  THE  VERY  FEW  HAVE  EVER  BEEN  RAISED  TO  PHYSICAL  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH…. LAZARUS  IN  THE  GOSPEL  OF  JOHN  WAS  ONE;  BUT  GENERALLY  ALL  WILL  BE  GONE…… FROM  THIS  LIFE…… UNTIL  THE  RESURRECTION  DAY  -  Keith Hunt]

17 "What are mere mortals, that you should make so much of us? 18For you examine us every morning and test us every moment.19 Why won't you leave me alone—even for a moment? 20Have I sinned? What have I done to you, O watcher of all humanity? Why have you made me your target? Am I a burden to you? 21Why not just pardon my sin and lake away my guilt? For soon I will lie down in the dust and die. When you look for me, I will be gone."

[JOB  SAYS  TO  GOD,  “IF  I’VE  SINNED,  THEN  SHOW  ME  MY  SIN;  WHAT  HAVE  I  DONE  TO  YOU  THAT  IS  SO  WRONG  YOU  EXAMINE  ME  LIKE  THIS.  JUST  PARDON  MY  SIN  WHATEVER  IT  IS  AND  WALK  AWAY  FROM  ME  AND  LET  ME  DIE”  -  Keith Hunt]

Bildad's First Response to job

8

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job:

2 "How long will you go on like this? Your words are a blustering wind. 3Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? 4Your children obviously sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. 5But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty,6 if you are pure and live with complete integrity, he will rise up and restore your happy home. 7And though you started with little, you will end with much.

8"Just ask the former generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors. 9For we were born but yesterday and know so little. Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow. 10But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you from the wisdom of former generations.

11"Can papyrus reeds grow where there is no marsh? Can bulrushes flourish where there is no water?12While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither. 13So is the fate of all who forget God. The hope of the godless comes to nothing. 14Everything they count on will collapse. They are leaning on a spiderweb. 15They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure. 16The godless seem so strong, like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden. 17Its roots grow down through a pile of rocks to hold it firm. 18But when it is uprooted, it isn't even missed! 19That is the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it. 20But look! God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he make evildoers prosper.21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. 22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be destroyed."

[AGAIN  TRYING  TO  SAY  JOB  IS  SOME  BIG  HUGE  SINNER,  AS  HIS  CHILDREN  WERE,  SO  THEY  PERISHED.  IT  IS  NOT  TRUE  THAT  EVIL  DOERS  DO  NOT  PROSPER,  SOME  EVIL  DOERS  PROSPER  RIGHT  TILL  DEATH.  AS  THE  PAPYRUS  GROWS  ONLY  IN  THE  MARSH,  SO  EVIL  BRINGS  FORTH  DISASTER  -  THE  TWO  GO  HAND  IN  HAND.  THIS  IS  THE  ARGUMENT  THAT  GOD  WILL  NOT  PROSPER  EVIL  DOERS,  SO  JOB  NEEDED  TO  CONFESS  HIS  SINS  AS  EVERYTHING  WAS  TAKEN  AWAY  FROM  HIM;  HE  MUST  THEREFORE  BE  AN  EVIL  DOER.  Keith Hunt]

Job's Third Speech: A Response to Bildad

9

Then Job spoke again: 2 "Yes, I know this is all true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in the eyes of God? 3If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? 4For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?

[JOG  SAYS,  “HOW  DO  I  CHALLENGE  GOD  TO  PROVE  I’M  NOT  A  SINNER?”  -  Keith Hunt]

5 "Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger. 6 He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble. 7If he commands it, the sun won't rise and the stars won't shine. 8He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. 9 He made all the stars—the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky. 10His great works are too marvelous to understand, He performs miracles without number.

[ JOB,  “HOW  CAN  I  CHALLENGE  SUCH  A  MIGHTY  ONE  AS  GOD?”  -  Keith Hunt]

11 Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves on, I do not see him go. 12If he sends death to snatch someone away, who can stop him? Who dares to ask him, 'What are you doing?' 13And God does not restrain his anger. The mightiest forces against him are crushed beneath his feet.

[JOB,  “SEE  HOW  MIGHTY  HE  IS,  WHO  AM  I  TO  STAND  UP  TO  HIM?”  -  Keith Hunt]

14"And who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him? 15 Even if I were innocent, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy. 16And even if I summoned him and he responded, he would never listen to me. 17For he attacks me without reason, and he multiplies my wounds without cause.

[JOB,  “I  AM  WEAK  TO  REASON  WITH  GOD.  HE  WOULD  NOT  LISTEN  TO  ME,  FOR  HE  NOW  ATTACKS  ME  WITHOUT  CAUSE,  WOUND  UPON  WOUND.”  Keith Hunt]

18 He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows. 19As for strength, he has it, as for justice, who can challenge him? 20Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.

[JOB,  “WHATEVER  I  WOULD  SAY,  WOULD  COME  TO  NAUGHT;  SAYING  I  AM  BLAMELESS  WOULD  NOT  HELP.”  Keith Hunt]

21"I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me—I despise my life. Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to him. That is why I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' 23He laughs when a plague suddenly kills the innocent. 24The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges and lets them be unfair. If not he, then who?

[JOB,  “GOD  IS  IN  CHARGE;  NOTHING  HAPPENS  WITHOUT  HIM  ALLOWING  IT;  IF  IT’S  NOT  HE  WHO  ALLOWS  IT,  THEN  WHO,  THERE  IS  NONE  GREATER.”  Keith Hunt]

25"My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away, filled with tragedy. 26It disappears like a swift boat, like an eagle that swoops down on its prey. 27If I decided to forget my complaints, if I decided to end my sadness and be cheerful, 28I would dread all the pain he would send. For I know you will not hold me innocent, O God. 29Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what's the use of trying?

[JOB,  “HE’S  SO  MIGHTY  COMPARED  TO  ME,  HE  WILL  DO  WHAT  HE  WILLS,  SO  WHY  SHOULD  I  TRY  TO  DEFEND  MYSELF.”  Keith Hunt]

30Even if I were to wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye to make them absolutely clean, 31you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and I would be so filthy my own clothing would hate me.

32 "God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. 33 If only there were a mediator who could bring us together, but there is none. 34The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. 35Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.”

[JOB,  “I  ONLY  SEE  UTTER  DEFEAT  IF  I  TRIED  TO  CHALLENGE  GOD;  AND  THERE  IS  NO  MEDIATOR;  A  MORTAL  LIKE  ME  COULD  NEVER  TAKE  GOD  TO  TRIAL  OR  ARGUE  WITH  HIM.”  Keith Hunt]

Job Frames His Plea to God

10

"I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2 I will say to God, 'Don't simply condemn me—tell me the charge you are bringing against me.3 What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while sending joy and prosperity to the wicked? 4Are your eyes only those of a human? Do you see things as people see them? 5 Is your lifetime merely human? Is your life so short 6that you are in a hurry to probe for my guilt, to search for my sin? 7Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your power.

[JOB  CLINGS  TO  BEING  NOT  GUILTY  OF  ANYTHING  WORTHY  OF  ALL  HE  HAS  AND  IS  SUFFERING;  HE  SAYS  GOD  KNOWS  THERE  IS  NO  CAUSE  FOR  HIM  TO  BE  GIVEN  ALL  THIS  MISERY,  BUT  HE  IS  IN  GOD’S  HANDS  AND  NO  ONE  CAN  DELIVERY  HIM  FROM  THE  LORD’S  POWER  -  Keith Hunt]

8"You formed me with your hands; you made me, and yet you completely destroy me.9 Remember that I am made of dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon? 10You guided my conception and formed me in the womb.* 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. 12You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care. 13Yet your real motive—I know this was your intent—14was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my iniquity. 15 If I am guilty, too bad for me. And even if I'm innocent, I am filled with shame and misery so that I can't hold my head high. 16And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me. 17Again and again you witness against me. You pour out an ever-increasing volume of anger upon me and bring fresh armies against me. 18Why, then, did you bring me out of my mother's womb? Why didn't you let me die at birth? 19Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave. 20 I have only a little time left, so leave me alone—that I may have a little moment of comfort 21 before I leave for the land of darkness and utter gloom, never to return. 22 It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of utter gloom where confusion reigns and the light is as dark as midnight.”

[JOB  IS  SAYING  HE  DID  NOT  WARRANT  THIS  HARD  POWER  OF  GOD’S  HAND;  HERE  WE  SEE  GOD  FORMS  LIFE  IN  THE  WOMB;  WHEN  EGG  AND  SEED  UNITE  HUMAN  LIFE  IS  FORMED.  AT  THIS  POINT  JOB  IS  BELIEVING  HE  HAS  BUT  A  SHORT  TIME  LEFT  BEFORE  THE  DARKNESS  OF  DEATH  IS  UPON  HIM.  TO  JOB  IT  SEEMED  GOD  WAS  AFTER  HIM  AT  EVERY  CORNER.  HE  BEMOANS  THE  FACT  THAT  HE  LIVED  AFTER  BEING  BORN,  AND  THINKS  GOD  SHOULD  HAVE  LET  HIM  DIE.  IF  WE  WERE  IN  JOB’S  SHOES  I  THINK  WE  ALSO  WOULD  HAVE  THOUGHT  IT  BETTER  THAT  WE  HAD  DIED  AT  BIRTH.  AT  THIS  POINT  IN  HIS  ORDEAL  HE  PUTS  DEATH,  IN  THE  PICTURE  OF  DARKNESS,  UTTER  GLOOM,  NEVER  TO  RETURN.  LATER  HE  COMES  TO  SEE  THERE  IS  HOPE  AFTER  DEATH,  A  RESURRECTION.  WHAT  HE  MEANS  BY  “WHERE  CONFUSION  REIGNS”  IS  PROBABLY  HIS  MIND  OF  CONFUSION  AS  IT  WAS  THEN  -  IN  SUCH  A  MIND-SET  FROM  HIS  PAIN,  DISCOMFORT,  AND  MENTAL  ANGUISH,  HE  COULD  SEE  NOTHING  ELSE  BUT  CONFUSION  WAITING  FOR  HIM.  HE  COULD  NOT  EVEN  SEE  THAT  AS  A  CHILD  OF  GOD  NO  SUCH  CONFUSION  AWAITED  HIM  AFTER  DEATH.  WHEN  IN  THIS  SATE  OF  PHYSICAL  TORMENT  THE  MIND  CAN  PLAY  TRICKS  ON  US;  WE  JUST  DO  NOT  THINK  CLEARLY  -  Keith Hunt]

10:10 * Hebrew - You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese.

………………..

TO  BE  CONTINUED

UNDERSTANDING  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  #2

Zophar's First Response to job

11

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied to Job:

2 "Shouldn't someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent gust by talking a lot? 3Should I remain silent while you babble on? When you mock God, shouldn't someone make you ashamed? 4 You claim, 'My teaching is pure,' and 'I am clean in the sight of God.' 5 If only God would speak; if only he would tell you what he thinks! 6 If only he would tell you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom is not a simple matter. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!

[HE  IS  CLAIMING  JOB  IS  SOME  BIG  SINNER  BUT  HAS  HIDDEN  IT  WELL  -  Keith Hunt]

7 "Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything there is to know about the Almighty? 8 Such knowledge is higher than the heavens—but who are you? It is deeper than the underworld*—what can you know in comparison to him? 9 It is broader than the earth and wider than the sea. 10 If God comes along and puts a person in prison, or if he calls the court to order, who is going to stop him? 11 For he knows those who are false, and he takes note of all their sins. 12 An empty-headed person won't become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear human offspring*!

13 "If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! 14 Get rid of your sins and leave all iniquity behind you. 15 Then your face will brighten in innocence. You will be strong and free of fear. 16 You will forget your misery. It will all be gone like water under the bridge.17 Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Any darkness will be as bright as morning.18 You will have courage because you will have hope. You will be protected and will rest in safety. 19 You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help. 20 But the wicked will lose hope. They have no escape. Their hope becomes despair."

[CONTINUING  TO  CLAIM  JOB  IS  A  SINNER  AND  NEEDS  TO  CONFESS  THE  SINS  GOD  IS  PUNISHING  HIM  FOR  -  Keith Hunt]

……

11:8 Hebrew Sheol.   11:12 Or bear a tame colt.

……

12

Job's Fourth Speech: A Response to Zophar 

2 Then Job spoke again: 

2You really know everything, don't you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you! 3 Well, I know a few things myself—and you're no better than I am. Who doesn't know these things you've been saying? 4 Yet my friends laugh at me. I am a man who calls on God and receives an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me. 5 People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling. 6 But even robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God—and God has them in his power—live in safety!

7 "Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. 8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish of the sea speak to you. 9 They all know that the Lord has done this. 10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of all humanity.11 Just as the mouth tastes good food, so the ear tests the words it hears. 12 Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to those who have lived many years.

13 "But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his.14 What he destroys cannot be rebuilt. When he closes in on someone, there is no escape. 15 If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert. If he releases the waters, they flood the earth.

16 "Yes, strength and wisdom are with him; deceivers and deceived are both in his power. 17 He leads counselors away stripped of good judgment; he drives judges to madness. 18 He removes the royal robe of kings. With ropes around their waist, they are led away. 19 He leads priests away stripped of status; he overthrows the mighty. 20 He silences the trusted adviser, and he removes the insight of the elders. 21 He pours disgrace upon princes and confiscates weapons from the strong.

22 "He floods the darkness with light; he brings light to the deepest gloom. 23 He

raises up nations, and he destroys them. He makes nations expand, and he abandons them. 24 He takes away the understanding of kings, and he leaves them wandering in a wasteland without a path. 25 They grope in the darkness without a light. He makes them stagger like drunkards.

[JOB  IS  AMPLIFYING  THE  FACXT  THAT  GOD  IS  IN  CONTROL  OF  EVERYTHING;  HE  IS  THE  ULTIMATE  POWER  OF  THE  UNIVERSE;  HE  CAN  DO  WHAT  HE  LIKES,  WHEN  HE  LIKES,  HOW  HE  LIKES,  WITH  WHOM  HE  LIKES.  JOB  IS  SAYING,   “GOD  HAS  CHOSEN  TO  DO  WHAT  HE  LIKES  WITH  ME,  AND  I  CAN  DO  NOTHING  ABOUT  IT;  GOD  HAS  CHOSEN  TO  BRING  SORROW,  PAIN,  BRIEF,  ON  ME;  IT  IS  ALL  IN  HIS  HANDS,  AND  I  AM  INNOCENT  OF  SOME  TERRIBLE  SINS  THAT  YOU  MY  FRIENDS  HAVE  SAID  I  HAVE  DONE  AND  CLEVERLY  COVERED  UP”  -  Keith Hunt]

13

Job Wants to Argue His Case with God

"Look, I have seen many instances such as you describe. I understand what you are saying. 2 I know as much as you do. You are no better than I am. 3 Oh, how I long to speak directly to the Almighty. I want to argue my case with God himself. 4 For you are smearing me with lies. As doctors, you are worthless quacks. 5 Please be quiet! That's the smartest thing you could do. 6 Listen to my charge; pay attention to my arguments.

7 "Are you defending God by means of lies and dishonest arguments? 8 You should be impartial witnesses, but will you slant your testimony in his favor? Will you argue God's case for him? 9 Be careful that he doesn't find out what you are doing! Or do you think you can fool him as easily as you fool people? 10 No, you will be in serious trouble with him if even in your hearts you slant your testimony in his favor. 11 Doesn't his majesty strike terror into your heart? Does not your fear of him seize you? 12 Your statements have about as much value as ashes. Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot.

[THEY  CLAIMED  JOB  WAS  HIDING  SOME  GREAT  SINS  THAT  NO  ONE  KNEW  ABOUT,  ONLY  GOD,  AND  SO  GOD  WAS  NOW  PUNISHING  HIM  FOR  THOSE  SINS  THAT  HE  WOULD  NOT  ADMIT  EXISTED.  THEY  WERE  LIKE  THEY  WERE  ACTING  FOR  GOD,  KNOWING  HOW  GOD  KNEW  THESE  THINGS.  JOB  SAYS  THEY  SHOULD  HAVE  MORE  FEAR  OF  THE  LORD  THAN  THINKING  THEY  COULD  ACT  FOR  HIM,  AS  IF  THEY  WERE  GOD’S  REPRESENTATIVES  IN  JUDGING  JOB  ABOUT  SECRET  SINS  HE  WOULD  NOT  ADMIT  EXISTED  -  Keith Hunt]

13 "Be silent now and leave me alone. Let me speak—and I will face the consequences. 14 Yes, I will take my life in my hands and say what I really think. 15 God might kill me, but I cannot wait. I am going to argue my case with him. 16 But this is what will save me: that I am not godless. If I were, I would be thrown from his presence.

17 "Listen closely to what I am about to say. Hear me out.  18 I have prepared my case; I will be proved innocent. 19 Who can argue with me over this? If you could prove me wrong, I would remain silent until I die.

[JOB  IS  ADAMANTLY  SAYING  HE  IS  UPRIGHT,  RIGHTEOUS,  AND  IS  NOT  WHAT  HIS  FRIENDS  ARE  TRYING  TO  MAKE  OUT  THAT  HE  IS  -  Keith Hunt]

Job Asks How He Has Sinned 

20  “O God, there are two things I beg of you, and I will be able to face you. 21 Remove your hand from me, and don't terrify me with your awesome presence. 22 Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to you, and you reply. 23 Tell me, what have I done wrong? Show me my rebellion and my sin. 24 Why do you turn away from me? Why do you consider me your enemy? 25 Would you terrify a leaf that is blown by the wind? Would you chase a dry stalk of grass?

26 You write bitter accusations against me and bring up all the sins of my youth. 27 You put my feet in stocks. You watch all my paths. You trace all my footprints. 28 I waste away like rotting wood, like a moth-eaten coat.

14

"How frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble! 2 Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. Like the shadow of a passing cloud, we quickly disappear. 3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? 4 Who can create purity in one born impure? No one! 5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. 6 So give us a little rest, won't you? Turn away your angry stare. We are like hired hands, so let us finish the task you have given us.

7 "If a tree is cut down, there is hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches. 8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, 9 at the scent of water it may bud and sprout again like a new seedling.

10" But when people die, they lose all strength. They breathe their last, and then where are they? 11 As water evaporates from a lake and as a river disappears in drought, people lie down and do not rise again. 12 Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.

[THE  TRUTH  OF  DEATH  WAS  THEN  KNOWN  BY  JOB;  WHEN  PEOPLE  DIE  THEY  LIE  DOWN  AND  THEY  GO  INTO  SLEEP!  THIS  IS  EXACTLY  WHAT  JESUS  TAUGHT  IN  JOHN  11  AND  THE  DEATH  OF  LAZARUS.  FOR  A  FULL  IN-DEPTH  STUDY  OF  DEATH  SEE  THE  STUDY  CALLED  “DEATH  -  THEN  WHAT?”  Keith Hunt]

13 "I wish you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! 14 If mortals die, can they live again? This thought would give me hope, and through my struggle I would eagerly wait for release. 15 You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. 16 For then you would count my steps, instead of watching for my sins. 17 My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover over my iniquity.

[WE  NOTE  JOB’S  QUESTION,  IF  MAN  DIES  CAN  HE  LIVE  AGAIN?  YES,  OH  YES,  GOD  WILL  CALL  AND  THE  DEAD  WITH  ANSWER;  THE  LORD  WILL  YEARN  FOR  HIS  HANDIWORK  TO  COME  FORTH  AND  BE  FINISHED….. THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  SAINTS  -  1  COR.  15.  YOU  WILL  FIND  MANY  STUDIES  ON  THIS  WEBSITE  CONCERNING  DEATH  AND  THE  RESURRECTION/S  -  Keith Hunt]

18 "But as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, 19 as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people's hope. 20 You always overpower them, and then they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. 21 They never know if their sons grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. 22 They are absorbed in their own pain and grief."

[AH  YES  THE  DEAD  KNOW  NOTHING;  THEY  ARE  NOT  LOOKING  DOWN  ON  THEIR  LOVE  ONES  SEEING  HOW  THEY  ARE  GOING  FORWARD  IN  LIFE…..GOODLY  OR  BADLY  -  Keith Hunt]

15

Eliphaz's Second Response to Job 

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:  

2 "You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag. 3 It isn't right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do? 4 Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him? 5 Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception. 6 But why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does!

7 "Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made? 8 Were you listening at God's secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? 9 What do you know that we don't? What do you understand that we don't? 10 On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father!

11 "Is God's comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough? 12 What has captured your reason? What has weakened your vision, 13 that you turn against God and say all these evil things? 14 Can a mortal be pure? Can a human be just? 15 Why, God doesn't even trust the angels*! (Hebrew is "holy ones" - this is Job's friend speaking; By now in history I'm pretty sure God does trust the angels that did not rebel when the "covering cherub" became the Devil, and took one third of the angels with him - Keith Hunt). Even the heavens cannot be absolutely pure in his sight.16 How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness!

[THE LAST VERSE SURELY SHOWS HOW MUCH JOB'S FRIENDS WERE REALLY THINKING,  WE HAVE HERE A MAN WITH GRIEVOUS SINS HE IS HIDING  -  Keith Hunt]

17 "If you will listen, I will answer you from my own experience. 18 And it is confirmed by the experience of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers, 19 those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.

20 "Wicked people are in pain throughout their lives. 21 They are surrounded by terrors, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer. 22 They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered. 23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?'* They know their ruin is certain. 24 That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for an attack. 25 For they have clenched their fists against God, defying the Almighty. 26 Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.

27 "These wicked people are fat and rich, 28 but their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down. 29 They will not continue to be rich. Their wealth will not endure, and their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon.

[WELLLL....YES  THAT  IS  THE  ULTIMATE  FATE  OF  THE  WICKED  RICH,  WHO  WILL  NOT  REPENT; FOR  NOW  SOME  DO  NOT  HAVE  THEIR  WEALTH  AND  RICHES  TAKEN  AWAY;  THEY  ARE  NOT  ALL  IN  PAIN,  MANY  DO  NOT  THINK  THERIR  RUIN  IS  CERTAIN;  MANY  DO  NOT  LIVE  IN  STRESS  AND  ANGUISH;  ONLY  SOME  ARE  IN  THE  THROWS  OF  WHAT  VERSES  20 - 29  TELL  US  -  Keith Hunt]

30 "They will not escape the darkness. The flame will burn them up, and the breath of God will destroy everything they have.31 Let them no longer trust in empty riches. They are only fooling themselves, for emptiness will be their only reward. 32 They will be cut down in the prime of life, and all they counted on will disappear. 33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested before they are ripe, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms so the fruit cannot form. 34 For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will be consumed by fire. 35 They conceive trouble and evil, and their hearts give birth only to deceit."

[ONLY  SOME  ARE  CUT  DOWN  IN  THEIR  PRIME  OF  LIFE;  YES  IN  THE  END,  IF  THEY  DO  NOT  REPENT,  THE  FLAME  OF  THE  SECOND  DEATH  WILL  BURN  THEM  UP  -  Keith Hunt]

……

15:23 Greek version reads "He is appointed to be food for a vulture."

……

16

Job's Fifth Speech: A Response to Eliphaz

Then Job spoke again: 

2 "I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! 3 Won't you ever stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes you speak so endlessly? 4 I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout off my criticisms against you and shake my head at you. 5 But that's not what I would do. I would speak in a way that helps you. I would try to take away your grief. 6 But as it is, my grief remains no matter how I defend myself. And it does not help if I refuse to speak.

[JOB  RIGHTLY  ANSWERS  THAT  HIS  FRIENDS  ARE  NO  HELP  TO  HIM,  AND  SPEAK  WORDS  THAT  ARE  NOT  CORRECT  MUCH  OF  THE  TIME  -  Keith Hunt]

7 "O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. 8 You have reduced me to skin and bones—as proof, they say, of my sins. 9 God hates me and tears angrily at my flesh. He gnashes his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. 10 People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me. 11  God has handed me over to sinners. He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.

[ONCE  MORE  JOB  SAYS  HE  IS  INNOCENT   AND  HAS  NO  CAUSE  FOR  GOD  TO  DEAL  WITH  HIM  THIS  WAY  -  Keith Hunt]  

12 "I was living quietly until he broke me apart. He took me by the neck and dashed me to pieces. Then he set me up as his target. 13 His archers surrounded me, and his arrows pierced me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood.* 14 Again and again he smashed me, charging at me like a warrior. 15 Here I sit in sackcloth. I have surrendered, and I sit in the dust. 16 My eyes are red with weeping; darkness covers my eyes. 17 Yet I am innocent, and my prayer is pure.

[JOB  SEES  NO  CAUSE  FOR  ALL  THIS  TERRIBLE  HAPPENINGS  THAT  HAVE  BEFALLEN  HIM  -  Keith Hunt]

18 "O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. 19 Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. 20 My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. 21 Oh, that someone would mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. 22 For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.

[ALL  JOB  CAN  SEE  IS  DEATH  BEFORE  HIM;  HE  LONGS  FOR  SOME  PERSON  TO  MEDIATE  FOR  HIM  -  Keith Hunt]

……

 16:13 Hebrew my gall.

……

17

Job Continues to Defend His Innocence 

"My spirit is crushed, and I am near death. The grave is ready to receive me. 2 I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me.

3 "You must defend my innocence, O God, since no one else will stand up for me. 4 You have closed their minds to understanding, but do not let them triumph. 5 NThey denounce their companions for their own advantage, so let their children faint with hunger.

6 "God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face. 7 My eyes are dim with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self. 8 The upright are astonished when they see me. The innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

9 The righteous will move onward and forward, and those with pure hearts will become stronger and stronger.

[JOB  SEES  HIS  SITUATION  AMONG  THE  PEOPLE;  HE  SEES  THEY  ARE  BLIND  TO  THE  REAL  FACTS;  HE  CRIES  FOR  GOD  TO  DEFEND  HIS  INNOCENCE;  HE  KNOWS  THAT  GOD  KNOWS  THE  TRUTH;  HE  THINKS  SOME  WORDS  THAT  GIVE  HIM  SOME  PEACE,  "The  righteous  will  move  onward  and  forward,  and  those  with  pure  hearts  will  become  stronger  and  stronger"  -  Keith Hunt]

10 "As for all of you, come back and try again! But I will not find a wise man among you.1 My days are over. My hopes have disappeared. My heart's desires are broken. 12 They say that night is day and day is night; how they pervert the truth,13  I might go to the grave and make my bed in darkness. 14 And I might call the grave my father, and the worm my mother and my sister. 15 But where then is my hope? Can anyone find it? 16 No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in the dust!"

[JOB,  LOOKING  AT  WHATEVER  IS  PHYSICAL  -  PERSON,  FINDS  NO  HOPE  IN  THEM;  THEY  ARE  SAYING  THINGS  BACKWARDS  AND  UP-SIDE-DOWN;  THEY  PERVERT  THE  TRUTH;  HE  SEES  ONLY  DEATH  BEFORE  HIM  AND  NO  WISE  MAN  TO  HELP  HIS  PLIGHT  -  Keith Hunt]

18

Bildad's Second Response to Job

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 "How long before you stop talking? Speak sense if you want us to answer! 3 Do you think we are cattle? Do you think we have no intelligence? 4 You may tear your hair out in anger, but will that cause the earth to be abandoned? Will it make rocks fall from a cliff?

5 "The truth remains that the light of the wicked will be snuffed out. The sparks of their fire will not glow. 6 The light in their tent will grow dark. The lamp hanging above them will be quenched. 7 The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened. Their own schemes will be their downfall.

8 "The wicked walk into a net. They fall into a pit that's been dug in the path. 9 A trap grabs them by the heel. A noose tightens around them. 10 A snare lies hidden in the ground. A rope lies coiled on their path.

11 "Terrors surround the wicked and trouble them at every step.12 Their vigor is depleted by hunger, and calamity waits for them to stumble.13 Disease eats their skin; death devours their limbs. 14 They are torn from the security of their tent, and they are brought down to the king of terrors. 15 The home of the wicked will disappear beneath a fiery barrage of burning sulfur. 16 Their roots will dry up, and their branches will wither.17 A11 memory of their existence will perish from the earth. No one will remember them. 18 They will be thrust from light into darkness, driven from the world. 19 They will have neither children nor grandchildren, nor any survivor in their home country. 20 People in the west are appalled at their fate; people in the east are horrified. 21 They will say, 'This was the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God.'"

[WE  SEE  HERE  IN  NO  UNCERTAIN  WORDS  WHAT  HIS  FRIENDS  WERE  THINKING..... JOB  IS  A  TERRIBLE  SINNER,  FOR  ONLY  SUCH  DEVASTATION  AS  HE  HAS  AND  IS  EXPERIENCING  COME  ON  THE  WICKED.  WHAT  THEY  FAIL  TO  SEE  IS  MANY  OF  THE  TRULY  WICKED  DO  NOT  HAVE  ALL  THESE  THINGS  COME  UPON  THEM  SOME  OF  THE  WICKED  DO  LIVE  IN  RELATIVE  PEACE,  SAFETY,  AND  WEALTH  UNTIL  THEY  DIE  -  Keith Hunt]

19

Job's Sixth Speech: A Response to Bildad 

Then Job spoke again: 

2 "How long will you torture me? How long will you try to break me with your words? 3 harshly. 4 And even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours. 5 You are trying to overcome me, using my humiliation as evidence of my sin, 6 but it is God who has wronged me. I cannot defend myself, for I am like a city under siege.

[JOB  AGAIN  PLEADS  HIS  INNOCENCE  AND  DECLARES  GOD  HAS  NO  CAUSE  TO  DEAL  WITH  HIM THIS  WAY  -  Keith Hunt]

7 "I cry out for help, but no one hears me. I protest, but there is no justice. 8 God has blocked my way and plunged my path into darkness. 9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head. 10 He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has destroyed my hope. 11 His fury burns against me; he counts me as an enemy. 12 His troops advance. They build up roads to attack me. They camp all around my tent.

[JOB  IS  CONTINUING  TO  PLEAD  HIS  INNOCENCE;  HE  SEES  GOD  IS  AGAINST  HIM  BY  ALL  THAT  HAS  COME  UPON  HIM  -  Keith Hunt]

13 "My relatives stay far away, and my friends have turned against me.14 My neighbors and my close friends are all gone.15 The members of my household have forgotten me. The servant girls consider me a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them. 16 I call my servant, but he doesn't come; I even plead with him! 17 My breath is repulsive to my wife. I am loathsome to my own family. 18 Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me. 19 My close friends abhor me. Those I loved have turned against me. 20 I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.

[TRY  TO  PUT  YOURSELF  IN  THE  SHOES  OF  JOB;  TRULY  IT  SEEMS  ALL  PEOPLE  HAD  FORSAKEN  HIM,  AND  HE  HAS  SO  FAR  ONLY  ESCAPED  DEATH  BY  "THE  SKIN  OF  MY  TEETH"  -  Keith Hunt]

21 "Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why must you persecute me as God does? Why aren't you satisfied with my anguish?

[AGAIN  JOB  SAYS  HE  IS  INNOCENT;  THERE  IS  NO  CAUSE  TO  HAVE  HIM  SUFFER  SO  MUCH;  HE  CRIES  OUT  THAT  THEY  SHOULD  CHANGE  THEIR  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  HIS  ANGUISH  -  Keith Hunt]

23 "Oh, that my words could be written. Oh, that they could be inscribed on a monument, 24 carved with an iron chisel and filled with lead, engraved forever in the rock.

[JOB  DID  NOT  REALIZE  AT  THIS  POINT  THAT  INDEED  HIS  WORDS  AND  HIS  SITUATION,  WOULD  BE  WRITTEN  DOWN  FOR  ALL  GENERATIONS  TO  COME  -  Keith Hunt]

25 "But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God*! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!

[JOB  BRINGS  TO  HIS  MIND  A  BASIC  TRUTH  OF  THE  WHOLE  WORD  OF  THE  LORD.... HIS  REDEEMER  LIVES,  YES  HE  KNEW  AS  OTHER  CHILDREN  OF  GOD  FROM  CREATION  KNEW.... A  REDEEMER  FROM  THE  GODHEAD  WOULD  COME  TO  EARTH  TO  REDEEM  PEOPLE  FOR  SALVATION;  AND  HE  KNEW  THAT  REDEEMER  WOULD  COME  AGAIN  TO  EARTH  IN  THE  LAST  DAYS,  TO  STAND  ON  EARTH.... A  THEME  TAUGHT  OVER  AND  OVER  AGAIN  IN  THE  GOD'S  WORD.... WHAT  TODAY  WE  CALL,  "THE  SECOND  COMING  OF  CHRIST."  JOB  ALSO  KNEW  HE  AND  OTHERS  LIKE  HIM,  WOULD  BE  RESURRECTED  FROM  THE  GRAVE  TO  ETERNAL  LIFE.  AND  TWO  TRUTHS  ARE  GIVEN  HERE;  THOUGH  JOB'S  BODY  WOULD  DECAY  YET  IN  HIS  BODY  HE  WOULD  SEE  GOD.  AT  THE  RESURRECTION  ALL  SAINTS  WILL  BE  LIKE  JESUS  WAS  AFTER  HIS  RESURRECTION  -  HE  COULD  BE  FLESH  AND  BONE,  PEOPLE  COULD  TOUCH  HIM.  DISCIPLES  OF  JESUS  COULD  SEE  AND  TOUCH  HIM  WITH  THEIR  EYES  AND  HANDS.  JOB  SAYS  ONE  DAY  HE  WILL  BE  ABLE  TO  DO  JUST  THAT  ALSO.  

THEN,  IF  WE  TAKE  THE  ALTERNATE  READING  GIVEN  BELOW  "Without  my  body  I  will  see  God"  WE  HAVE  ANOTHER  TRUTH  BEFORE  US.  WE  SHALL  IN  THE  RESURRECTED  FORM,  IN  GLORY  FORM,  AS  SPIRIT  FORM,  BE  ABLE  TO  SEE  GOD  AS  IN  HIS  SPIRIT  GLORY  FORM;  THIS  TRUTH  GIVEN  TO  US  IN  PLACES  LIKE  1  JOHN 3:1-3.  MOSES  WANTED  TO  SEE  GOD  IN  GLORY  FORM,  BUT  HE  WAS  TOLD  A  FLESH  AND  BLOOD  HUMAN  COULD  NOT  SEE  THE  FACE  OF  GOD  AND  LIVE;  GOD  WOULD  ALLOW  MOSES  TO  SEE  HIM  FROM  THE  BACK.  WHEN  THE  SAINTS  ARE  IN  RESURRECTED  GLORY  FORM  THEY  SHALL  BE  ABLE  TO  SEE  GOD  FACE  TO  FACE (REV. 22: 1-5). 

28 "How dare you go on persecuting me, saying, 'It's his own fault ? 29 I warn you, you yourselves are in danger of punishment for your attitude. Then you will know that there is judgment."

[JOB  ASSERTS  HE  IS  CORRECT  AND  THEY  ARE  WRONG  -  Keith Hunt]

……

19: 26 Or "without my body I will see God."

……

20

Zophar's Second Response to Job 

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: 

2 "I must reply because I am greatly disturbed. 3 I have had to endure your insults, but now my spirit prompts me to reply.

4 "Don't you realize that ever since people were first placed on the earth, 5 the triumph of the wicked has been shortlived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary? 6 Though the godless man's pride reaches to the heavens and though his head touches the clouds, 7 yet he will perish forever, thrown away like his own dung. Those who knew him will ask, 'Where is he?' 8 He will fade like a dream and not be found. He will vanish like a vision in the night. 9 Neither his friends nor his family will ever see him again.

10 His children will beg from the poor, for he must give back his ill-gotten wealth. 11 He was just a young man, but his bones will lie in the dust.

12 “He enjoyed the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue.13 He savored it, holding it long in his mouth. 14 But suddenly, the food he has eaten turns sour within him, a poisonous venom in his stomach.15 He will vomit the wealth he swallowed. God won't let him keep it down. 16 He will suck the poison of snakes. The viper will kill him. 17 He will never again enjoy abundant streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey. 18 His labors will not be rewarded. His wealth will bring him no joy. 19 For he oppressed the poor and left them destitute. He foreclosed on their homes. 20 He was always greedy but never satisfied. Of all the things he dreamed about, nothing remains. 21 Nothing is left after he finishes gorging himself; therefore, his prosperity will not endure.

22 "In the midst of plenty, he will run into trouble, and disasters will destroy him. 23 May God give him a bellyful of trouble. May God rain down his anger upon him. 24 He will try to escape, but God's arrow will pierce him. 25 The arrow is pulled from his body, and the arrowhead glistens with blood.* The terrors of death are upon him.

……

20:25 Hebrew with gall.

……

26 "His treasures will be lost in deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour his goods, consuming all he has left. 27 The heavens will reveal his guilt, and the earth will give testimony against him. 28 A flood will sweep away his house. God's anger will descend on him in torrents. 29 This is the fate that awaits the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God."

[WELLLLL….. YES  THE  WICKED  WILL  EVENTUALLY  BE  DESTOYED,  THE  UNREPENTANT  WILL  BE  CAST  INTO  THE  LAKE  OF  FIRE  -  THE  SECOND  DEATH;  BUT  NOT  ALL (SOMETIMES NONE)  THE  THINGS  SPOKEN  ABOVE  BY  ZOPHAR  COME  ON  THE  WICKED  IN  THIS  LIFE  -  JOB  WILL  NOW  BEGIN  TO  SAY  A  TRUTH  TO  THEM  THAT  THEY  HAVE  IGNORED  -  Keith Hunt]

21

Job's Seventh Speech: A Response to Zophar 

Then Job spoke again: 

2 "Listen closely to what I am saying. You can console me by listening to me. 3 Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may mock me.

4 "My complaint is with God, not with people. No wonder I’m so impatient. 5 Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. 6 When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.

7 "The truth is that the wicked live to a good old age. They grow old and wealthy. 8 They live to see their children grow to maturity, and they enjoy their grandchildren. 9 Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. 10 Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves without miscarriage.

11 Their children skip about like lambs in a flock of sheep. 12 They sing with tambourine and harp. They make merry to the sound of the flute.13 They spend their days in prosperity; then they go down to the grave in peace. 14 A11 this, even though they say to God, 'Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.15 Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us if we pray?' 16 But their prosperity is not of their own doing, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

17 "Yet the wicked get away with it time and time again. They rarely have trouble, and God skips them when he distributes sorrows in his anger. 18 Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm? Not at all!

19 "'Well,' you say, 'at least God will punish their children!' But I say that God should punish the ones who sin, not their children! Let them feel their own penalty. 20 Let their own eyes see their destruction. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. 21 For when they are dead, they will not care what happens to their family.

22 "But who can teach a lesson to God, the supreme Judge? 23 One person dies in prosperity and security, 24 the very picture of good health. 25 Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life. 26 Both alike are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same worms.

27"Look, I know your thoughts. I know the schemes you plot against me. 28 You will tell me of rich and wicked people who came to disaster because of their sins.

29 But I tell you to ask those who have been around, and they can tell you the truth. 30 Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape. 31 No one rebukes them openly. No one repays them for what they have done. 32 When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb. 33 A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest and the earth gives sweet repose. 34 "How can you comfort me? All your explanations are wrong!"

[AND  SO  INDEED  JOB  IS  CORRECT ;  MANY  OF  THE  WICKED  ARE  NOT  PUNISHED  IN  THIS  LIFE  TIME;  TIME  AND  CHANCE (AS  KING  SOLOMON  SAID)  HAPPENS  TO  THEM  AS  WELL  AS  THE  RIGHTEOUS.  AS  JESUS  SAID  IN  THE  GOSPELS,  THE  FATHER  SENDS  RAIN  AND  SUNSHINE  ON  THE  JUST  AND  UNJUST.  THIS  LIFE  CAN  BE  A  MIXED  BAG  FOR  PEOPLE.  FEW  HAVE  WHAT  WE  CALL  “A  CHARMED  LIFE”  -  MY  FATHER,  WILLIAM  JAMES  HUNT,  DID  HAVE  A  CHARMED  LIFE.  IN  HIS  OLD  AGE,  DURING  HIS  80s  HE  WOULD  TELL  ME  ABOUT  HIS  LIFE,  THEN  SAY,  “I  REALLY  DID  HAVE  A  CHARMED  LIFE.”  CHRISTIANS  ARE  NOT  PROMISED  A  COMPLETE  CHARMED  LIFE;  YES  JESUS  DID  SOME,  “I  AM  COME  THAT  YOU  MAY  HAVE  LIFE,  AND  HAVE  IT  MORE  ABUNDANTLY.”  BUT  THAT  WAS  NOT  MEANT  TO  SAY  WE  WOULD  HAVE  NO  PROBLEMS,  NO  TRIALS,  NO  TESTS.  SOME  CHRISTIANS  HAVE  MORE  THAN  OTHERS….. READ  THE  BOOK  OF  ACTS  AND  PAUL’S  LETTERS;  PAUL  CERTAINLY  DID  NOT  HAVE  A  CHARMED  LIFE  PER  SE.  BUT  HE  SAID  HE  HAD  LEARNT  TO  BE  CONTENT  IN  WHATEVER  LIFE  GAVE  HIM.  WE  CAN  ALSO  READ  HEBREWS  11  AND  MANY  OF  THE  SAINTS  OF  THE  PAST.

SO  JOB  WAS  VERY  CORRECT  TO  TELL  HIS  FRIENDS  THEY  WERE  SPEAKING  MANY  INCORRECT  THINGS,  THEIR  IDEAS  WERE  NOT  FOUNDED  ON  LIFE  REALITIES  AS  YOU  LOOK  OVER  CENTURIES  OF  LIFE  IN  THE  LIVES  OF  THE  GOOD  AND  BAD,  THE  WICKED  AND  THE  RIGHTEOUS.

Keith Hunt]

………………..

TO  BE  CONTINUED

UNDERSTANDING  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  #3

Eliphaz's Third Response to Job 

22

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2”Can a person's actions be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him? 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect? 4 Is it because of your reverence for him that he accuses and judges you? 5Not at all! It is because of your wickedness! Your guilt has no limit!

[WOW….THAT IS POURING IT ON TO JOB, HE IS WICKED, HIS GUILD HAS NO BOUNDARIES  -  Keith Hunt]

6 "For example, you must have lent money to your friend and then kept the clothing he gave you as a pledge. Yes, you stripped him to the bone.7 You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. 8After all, you think the land belongs to the powerful and that those who are privileged have a right to it! 9You must have sent widows away without helping them and crushed the strength of orphans. 10That is why you are surrounded by traps and sudden fears. 11that is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.

[HE TELLS JOB, OR SAYS TO JOB, “I’LL BET THESE ARE SOME OF YOUR SINS……  Keith Hunt]

12"God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars. 13 But you reply, 'That's why God can't see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? 14For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.'

15"Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked? 16They were snatched away in the prime of life, and the foundations of their lives were washed away forever. 17For they said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?' 18But they forgot that he had filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.

19"Now the righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh them to scorn. 20They will say, 'Surely our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.'

21"Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you. 22Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty and clean up your life, you will be restored. 24Give up your lust for money, and throw your precious gold into the river. 25Then the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!

26"Then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and look up to God. 27You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. 28Whatever you decide to do will be accomplished, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. 29 If someone is brought low and you say, 'Help him up,' God will save the downcast. 30Then even sinners will be rescued by your pure hands."

[SO IT WAS MORE DISRESPECT FOR GOD AND JOB IS TOLD AGAIN HE IS A GROSS SINNER WHO NEEDS TO CONFESS HIS SINS AND RETURN TO GOD  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's Eighth Speech: 

23

A Response to Eliphaz 

Then Job spoke again: 2"My complaint today is still a bitter one, and I try hard not to groan aloud. 3 If only I knew where to find God,  I would go to his throne and talk with him there. 4  I would listen to his reply and understand what he says to me. 6Would he merely argue with me in his greatness? No, he would give me a fair hearing. 7Fair and honest people can reason with him, so I would be acquitted by my Judge.

[MOSES ONCE REASONED WITH GOD, WHEN THE LORD WANTED TO DESTROY ALL OF ISRAEL AND START AGAIN WITH MOSES AND HIS DESCENDANTS; THE LORD WAS WILLING TO LISTEN TO MOSES AND BE PERSUADED NOT TO DO WHAT HE WANTED TO DO….WOW, THAT SURE SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE CHARACTER OF GOD, THAT A SMALL INSIGNIFICANT MAN CAN SO REASON WITH GOD  -  Keith Hunt]

8"I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. 9 I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. 10But he knows where I am going. And when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent.

[JOB SAYS, WHEN I FIND GOD HE WILL KNOW I AM INNOCENT OF ALL THE SUPPOSED SINS MY FRIENDS IMAGINE I AM GUILTY OF  -  Keith Hunt]

11"For I have stayed in God's paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from his commands but have treasured his word in my heart. 13Nevertheless, his mind concerning me remains unchanged, and who can turn him from his purposes? Whatever he wants to do, he does. 14So he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny. 15No wonder I am so terrified in his presence. When I think of it, terror grips me.16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.17 Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.

[JOB KNOWS NO HUMAN CAN RESIST GOD; THE LORD CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS, WHEN HE WANTS, HOW HE WANTS, WITH WHOM HE WANTS; JOB SAYS, “YET DESPITE WHAT HE DOES TO ME, I HAVE STILL OBEYED HIS COMMANDMENTS, I HAVE STAYED ON HIS PATHS, I HAVE FOLLOWED HIS WAYS, I HAVE NOT TURNED ASIDE, I HAVE TREASURED HIS WORD IN MY HEART”  WOW…..IF ONLY THAT COULD BE SAID ABOUT EACH OF GOD’S CHILDREN; BUT JOB WAS MIGHTY IN DOING RIGHTEOUSNESS, AS WE SHALL SEE FURTHER ALONG  -  Keith Hunt]

Job Asks Why the Wicked Are Not Punished

24

"Why doesn't the Almighty open the court and bring judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain? 2Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal flocks of sheep, 3and they even take donkeys from the poor and fatherless. A poor widow must surrender her valuable ox as collateral for a loan. 4The poor are kicked aside; the needy must hide together for safety. 5Like the wild donkeys in the desert, the poor must spend all their time just getting enough to keep body and soul together. They go into the desert to search for food for their children. 6They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. 7A11 night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. 8They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.

9The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast; they take the baby as a pledge for a loan. 10The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They are forced to carry food while they themselves are starving. 11They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. 12The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God does not respond to their moaning.

13"Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways. They will not stay in its paths. 14The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. 15The adulterer waits for the twilight, for he says, 'No one will see me then. He masks his face so no one will know him. 16They break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light. 17The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.

18"But they disappear from the earth as quickly as foam is swept down a river. Everything they own is cursed, so that no one enters their vineyard. 19Death consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. 20Even the sinner's own mother will forget him. Worms will find him sweet to eat. No one will remember him. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm. 21For they have taken advantage of the childless who have no protecting sons. They refuse to help the needy widows.

22"God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance in life. 23They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. 24And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, withered like heads of grain.

[JOB CONTRASTS MANY OF THE WICKED WITH MANY OF THE POOR AND THOSE WHO ARE OFTEN UNDER THE THUMB OF THE WICKED; BUT HE SAYS THE UNRIGHTEOUS  WILL COME TO AND END, THEY WILL BE GONE NEVER TO BE REMEMBERED. THE SECOND DEATH WILL DESTROY FOREVER THOSE WHO WILL NOT REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND UNRIGHTEOUS WAYS  -  Keith Hunt]

25 "Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?"

Bildad's Third Response to job 

25

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 

2"God is powerful and dreadful. He enforces peace in the heavens. 3Who is able to count his heavenly army? Does his light not shine on all the earth? 4How can a mere mortal stand before God and claim to be righteous? Who in all the earth is pure? 5God is so glorious that even the moon and stars scarcely shine compared to him. 6How much less are mere people, who are but worms in his sight?"

Job's Ninth Speech: 

A Response to Bildad 

Then Job spoke again: 

2"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved a person who has no strength! 3How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise things you have said! 4Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you? 5The dead tremble in their place beneath the waters. 6The underworld* is naked in God's presence. There is no cover for the place of destruction. 7God stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. 8He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight. 9He shrouds his throne with his clouds. 10He created the

26:6 Hebrew Sheol [death and the grave - Keith Hunt]

horizon when he separated the waters; he set the boundaries for day and night. 11The foundations of heaven tremble at his rebuke. 12By his power the sea grew calm. By his skill he crushed the great sea monster.* 13His Spirit made the heavens beautiful, and his power pierced the gliding serpent.

14 "These are some of the minor things he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who can understand the thunder of his power?"

Job's Final Speech 

27

Job continued speaking: 

2"I make this vow by the living God, who has taken away my rights, by the Almighty who has embittered my soul. 3As long as I live, while I have breath from God, 4my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. 5 I will never concede that you are right; until I die, I will defend my innocence. 6 I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.

7"May my enemy be punished like the wicked, my adversary like evil men. 8For what hope do die godless have when God cuts them off and takes away their life? 9Will God listen to their cry when trouble comes upon them? 10Can they take delight in the Almighty? Can they call to God at any time? 11 I will teach you about God's power. I will not conceal anything that concerns the Almighty.12 But I don't need to, for you yourselves have seen all this; yet you are saying all these useless things to me.

[JOB IS HOLDING HIS INNOCENCE AND TELLS HIS FRIENDS WHAT THEY HAVE SAID IS USELESS  -  Keith Hunt]

13"This is what the wicked will receive from God; this is their inheritance from the Almighty.14 If they have a multitude of children, their children will die in war or starve to death. 15Those who survive will be brought down to the grave by a plague, with no one to mourn them, not even their wives. 16Evil people may have all the money in the world, and they may store away mounds of clothing. 17But the righteous will wear that clothing, and the innocent will divide all that money. 18The houses built by the wicked are as fragile as a  spiderweb, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches. 19 The wicked go to bed rich but wake up to find that all their wealth is gone. 20Terror overwhelms them, and they are blown away in the storms of the night. 21The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away. 22 It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power. 23But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.

[WELL  EVENTUALLY  ALL  THE  WICKED  WILL  COME  TO  NOUGHT  AND  ALL  THEIR  PHYSICAL  WHATEVERS  ARE  GONE,  THE  RIGHTEOUS  WILL  HAVE  THEM.  SOME  HAVE  IT  REMOVED  IN  THIS  LIFE  AND  END  UP  IN  JAIL  OR  COMMIT  SUICIDE;  OTHERS  LIVE  OUT  THEIR  LIVES,  BUT  IF  NEVER  COMING  TO  REPENTANCE  THEY  WILL  HAVE  IT  ALL  TAKEN  AWAY  AS  THEY  ARE  CONSUMED  BY  THE  FIRE  OLF  THE  SECOND  DEATH  -  Keith Hunt]

 

Job Speaks of Wisdom and Understanding 

28

"People know how to mine silver and refine gold. 2They know how to dig iron from the earth and smelt copper from stone. 3They know how to put light into darkness and explore the farthest, darkest regions of the earth as they search for ore. 4They sink a mine shaft into the earth far from where anyone lives. They descend on ropes, swinging back and forth. 5Bread comes from the earth, but below the surface the earth is melted as by fire. 6People know how to find sapphires and gold dust—treasures that no bird of prey can see, no falcon's eye observe—8for they are deep within the mines. No wild animal has ever walked upon those treasures; no lion has set his paw there. 9People know how to tear apart flinty rocks and overturn the roots of mountains. 10They cut tunnels in the rocks and uncover precious stones. 11They dam up the trickling streams and bring to light the hidden treasures. 12But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? 13No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living.14 'It is not here,' says the ocean. 'Nor is it here,' says the sea. 15 It cannot be bought for gold or silver.

[WISDOM….. THOUGH MAN CAN DO MANY THINGS, TRUE WISDOM CANNOT BE FOUND IN THE THINGS OF THE EARTH, OR THE SEA….THE BOOK OF PROVERBS - TELLS US WHERE WISDOM IS FOUND - Keith Hunt]

26:12 Hebrew Rahab, the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature.

16 Its value is greater than all the gold of Ophir, greater than precious onyx stone or sapphires.17Wisdom is far more valuable than gold and crystal. It cannot be purchased with jewels mounted in fine gold. 18Coral and valuable rock crystal are worthless in trying to get it. The price of wisdom is far above pearls. 19 Topaz from Ethiopia* cannot be exchanged for it. Its value is greater than the purest gold.

20"But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? 21 For it is hidden from the eyes of all humanity. Even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it. 22But Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of where wisdom can be found.’

23"God surely knows where it can be found, 24for he looks throughout the whole earth, under all the heavens. 25He made the winds blow and determined how much rain should fall. 26He made the laws of the rain and prepared a path for the lightning. 27Then, when he had done all this, he saw wisdom and measured it. He established it and examined it thoroughly. 28And this is what he says to all humanity: 'The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.'"

28:19 Hebrew from Cush.

[AH….. THE TRUTH ABOUT WISDOM, IT IS ALL RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF PROVERBS; WISDOM IS FROM THE VERY NATURE AND CHARACTER OF GOD  -  Keith Hunt]

Job Speaks of His Former Blessings

29

Job continued speaking: 

2 “I long for the years gone by when God took care of me, 3when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness. 4In my early years, the friendship of God was felt in my home. 5The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me. 6 In those days my cows produced milk in abundance, and my olive groves poured out streams of olive oil. 7Those were the days when I went to the city gate and took my place among the honored leaders. 8The young stepped aside when they saw me, and even the aged rose in respect at my coming. 9The princes stood in silence and put their hands over their mouths. 10The highest officials of the city stood quietly, holding their tongues in respect.

11"All who heard of me praised me. All who saw me spoke well of me. 12For I helped the poor in their need and the orphans who had no one to help them. 13 I helped those who had lost hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows' hearts to sing for joy. 14All I did was just and honest. Righteousness covered me like a robe, and I wore justice like a turban. 15 I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor and made sure that even strangers received a fair trial. 17 I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and made them release their victims. 18 I thought, 'Surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long, good life. 19For I am like a tree whose roots reach the water, whose branches are refreshed with the dew. 20New honors are constantly bestowed on me, and my strength is continually renewed.'

21"Everyone listened to me and valued my advice. They were silent as they waited for me to speak. 22And after I spoke, they had nothing to add, for my counsel satisfied them. 23They longed for me to speak as they longed for rain. They waited eagerly, for my words were as refreshing as the spring rain. 24When they were discouraged, I smiled at them. My look of approval was precious to them. 25 I told them what they should do and presided over them as their chief. I lived as a king among his troops and as one who comforts those who mourn.

[NOW WE BEGIN TO SEE THE  SPECIFICS  OF  JOB’S  RIGHTEOUSNESS  - HOW DO WE STACK UP SO  FAR  AGAINST  JOB’S  RIGHTEOUSNESS?  Keith Hunt]

Job Speaks of His Anguish 

30

"But now I am mocked by those who are younger than I, by young men whose fathers are not worthy to run with my sheepdogs. 2A lot of good they are to me—those worn-out wretches! 3They are gaunt with hunger and flee to the deserts and the wastelands, desolate and gloomy. 4They eat coarse leaves, and they burn the roots of shrubs for heat. 5They are driven from civilization, and people shout after them as if they were thieves. 6 So now they live in frightening ravines and in caves and among the rocks. 7They sound like animals as they howl among the bushes; they huddle together for shelter beneath the nettles. 8They are nameless fools, outcasts of civilization. 9And now their sons mock me with their vulgar song! They taunt me! 10They despise me and won't come near me, except to spit in my face. 11For God has cut the cords of my tent. He has humbled me, so they have thrown off all restraint. 12These outcasts oppose me to my face. They send me sprawling; they lay traps in my path. 13They block my road and do everything they can to hasten my calamity, knowing full well that I have no one to help me. 14They come at me from all directions. They rush upon me when I am down. 15 I live in terror now. They hold me in contempt, and my prosperity has vanished as a cloud before a strong wind.

16"And now my heart is broken. Depression haunts my days. 17My weary nights are filled with pain as though something were relentlessly gnawing at my bones. 18With a strong hand, God grabs my garment. He grips me by the collar of my tunic. 19He has thrown me into the mud. I have become as dust and ashes.

20"I cry to you, O God, but you don't answer me. I stand before you, and you don't bother to look. 21You have become cruel toward me. You persecute me with your great power. 22You throw me into the whirlwind and destroy me in the storm. 23And I know that you are sending me to my death—the destination of all who live.

24"Surely no one would turn against the needy when they cry for help. 25Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was I not deeply grieved for the needy? 26So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell. 27My heart is troubled and restless. Days of affliction have come upon me. 28 I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help. 29But instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches. 30My skin has turned dark, and my bones burn with fever. 31My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep.

[IT’S  HARD  TO  PUT  YOURSELF  IN  JOB’S  SHOES,  THE  PAINFUL  AGONY  BLOWS  MY  MIND;  THEN  ALSO  ADD  THE  MENTAL  ANGUISH  AS  ONES  HE  KNEW  FORSAKE  UP  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's Final Protest of Innocence 

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a young woman. 

[ EVEN  IN  SEXUALITY  JOB  WAS  A  CHAMPION  -  Keith Hunt]

2What has God above chosen for us? What is our inheritance from the Almighty on high? 3It is calamity for the wicked, misfortune for those who do evil. 4He sees everything I do and every step I take.

5"Have I lied to anyone or deceived anyone? 6Let God judge me on the scales of justice, for he knows my integrity. 7If I have strayed from his pathway, or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen, or if I am guilty of any other sin, 8then let someone else harvest the crops I have planted, and let all that I have planted be uprooted.

9"If my heart has been seduced by a woman, or if I have lusted for my neighbor's wife, 10then may my wife belong to another man; may other men sleep with her. 11For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished.12 It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell. It would wipe out everything I own.

13"If I have been unfair to my male or female servants, if I have refused to hear their complaints, 14how could I face God? What could I say when he questioned me about it? 15For God created both me and my servants. He created us both.

16"Have I refused to help the poor, or crushed the hopes of widows who looked to me for help? 17Have I been stingy with my food and refused to share it with hungry orphans? 18No, from childhood I have cared for orphans, and all my life I have cared for widows. 19Whenever I saw someone who was homeless and without clothes, 20did they not praise me for providing wool clothing to keep them warm?

21 If my arm has abused an orphan because I thought I could get away with it, 22then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! Let my arm be torn from its socket! 23That would be better than facing the judgment sent by God. For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there? 

24Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold? 25Does my happiness depend on my wealth and all that I own? 26Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies, or the moon walking down its silver pathway, 27and been secretly enticed in my heart to worship them? 28 If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven. 

29Have I ever rejoiced when my enemies came to ruin or become excited when harm came their way? 30No, I have never cursed anyone or asked for revenge.

31My servants have never let others go hungry. 32 I have never turned away a stranger but have opened my doors to everyone. 33Have I tried to hide my sins as people normally do, hiding my guilt in a closet? 34Have I feared the crowd and its contempt, so that I refused to acknowledge my sin and would not go outside? 

35 If only I had someone who would listen to me and try to see my side! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty show me that I am wrong. Let my accuser write out the charges against me. 36 I would face the accusation proudly. I would treasure it like a crown. 37For I would tell him exactly what I have done. I would come before him like a prince. 38If my land accuses me and all its furrows weep together, 39or if I have stolen its crops or murdered its owners, 40then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley."

[IT  IS  TRULY  FROM  A  HUMAN  POINT,  ONE  OF  THE  MOST  REMARKABLE  DIALOGUES  OF  SOMEONE  SHOWING  HOW  RIGHTEOUS  THEY  WERE,  EVEN  TO  CHALLENGING  GOD  TO  FIND  THEIR  SIN;  JOB  WAS  AN  UNBELIEVABLE  MAN  IN  INTEGRITY  AND  HAVING  NOTHING  TO  DO  WITH  EVIL,  JUST  AS  THE  LORD  TOLD  SATAN  IN  THE  FIRST  CHAPTER  -  Keith Hunt]

Job's words are ended.

32

Elihu Responds to Job’s friends

Job’s three friends refuse to reply further to him because he kept insisting on his innocence

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became angry. He was angry because Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him. 3He was also angry with Job's three friends because they had condemned God* by their inability to answer Job's arguments.

4 Elihu had waited for the others to speak because they were older than he. 5But when he saw that they had no further reply, he spoke out angrily.

6Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said, "I am young and you are old, so I held back and did not dare to tell you what I think. 7 I thought, 'Those who are older should speak, for wisdom comes with age.' 8Surely it is God's Spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent. 9 But sometimes the elders are not wise. Sometimes the aged do not understand justice. 10So listen to me and let me express my opinion.

[IT IS NOT THE BREATH OF GOD AS WHEN HE MADE ADAM AND BREATHED INTO HIM; THIS IS THE “SPIRIT OF MAN” PUT INSIDE HIM FROM THE LORD; IT IS THAT MIRACULOUS SOMETHING THAT GOD IMPARTS TO THE HUMAN MIND, TO MAKE HUMANS FAR ABOVE ANIMALS; IT IS THIS “SPIRIT” OF MAN THAT GOES BACK TO GOD AT DEATH - ECC. 12:9 - SAFELY KEPT UNTO THE RESURRECTION DAY. THE SPIRIT IN MAN IS THE CASSETTE TAPE THAT RECORDS OUR CHARACTER WITHOUT SINS. I HAVE A FULL STUDY ON “THE SPIRIT IN MAN” ON THIS WEBSITE  -  Keith Hunt]

11"I have waited all this time, listening very carefully to your arguments, listening to you grope for words. 12 I have listened, but not one of you has refuted Job or answered his argument. 13And don't tell me, 'He is too wise for us. Only God can convince him.' 14 If Job had been arguing with me, I would not answer with that kind of logic! 15You sit there baffled, with no further response. 16Should I continue to wait, now that you are silent? Must I also remain silent? 17No, I will say my piece. I will speak my mind. I surely will. 18 For I am pent up and full of words, and the spirit within me urges me on. 19 I am like a wine cask without a vent. My words are ready to burst out! 20 I must speak to find relief, so let me give my answers.21 I won't play favorites or try to flatter anyone. 22And if I tried, my Creator would soon do away with me.

……

32:3 As in ancient Hebrew scribal tradition; the Masoretic Text makes no reference to God.

TO  BE  CONTINUED

UNDERSTANDING  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  #4

Elihu presents his case against Job

33

Listen Job, to what I have to say. 2Now that I have begun to speak, let me continue. I speak with all sincerity: 3 I speak the truth. 4For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 5Answer me, if you can; make your case and take your stand.

6"Look, you and I are the same before God. I, too, was formed from clay. 7So you don't need to be afraid of me. I am not some great person to make you nervous and afraid. 8You have said it in my hearing. I have heard your very words. 9You said, 'I am pure; I am innocent; I have not sinned. 10God is picking a quarrel with me, and he considers me to be his enemy. 11He puts my feet in the stocks and watches every move I make.'

12"In this you are not right, and I will show you why. As you yourself have said, 'God is greater than any person.' 13So why are you bringing a charge against him? You say, 'He does not respond to people's complaints.' 14But God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. 15He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in bed. 16He whispers in their ear and terrifies them with his warning. 17He causes them to change their minds; he keeps them from pride. 18He keeps them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death. 19Or God disciplines people with sickness and pain, with ceaseless aching in their bones. 20They lose their appetite and do not care for even the most delicious food. 21They waste away to skin and bones. 22They are at death's door; the angels of death wait for them. 23But if a special messenger from heaven is there to intercede for a person, to declare that he is upright, 24God will be gracious and say, 'Set him free. Do not make him die, for I have found a ransom for his life.' 25Then his body will become as healthy as a child's, firm and youthful again. 26When he prays to God, he will be accepted. And God will receive him with joy and restore him to good standing. 27He will declare to his friends, 'I sinned, but it was not worth it. 28God rescued me from the grave, and now my life is filled with light.'

29"Yes, God often does these things for people. 30He rescues them from the grave so they may live in the light of the living. 31 Mark this well, Job. Listen to me, and let me say more. 32But if you have anything to say, go ahead. I want to hear it, for I am anxious to see you justified. 33But if not, then listen to me. Keep silent and I will teach you wisdom!"

Elihu Accuses Job of Arrogance 

34

Then Elihu said: 

2"Listen to me, you wise men. Pay attention, you who have knowledge. 3Just as the mouth tastes good food, the ear tests the words it hears. 4So let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good. 5For Job has said, 'I am innocent, but God has taken away my rights. 6 I am innocent, but they call me a liar. My suffering is incurable, even though I have not sinned.'

7"Has there ever been a man as arrogant as Job, with his thirst for irreverent talk? 8He seeks the companionship of evil people. He spends his time with wicked men. 9He has even said, 'Why waste time trying to please God?'

10 "Listen to me, you who have understanding. Everyone knows that God doesn't sin! The Almighty can do no wrong. 11He repays people according to their deeds. He treats people according to their ways. 12There is no truer statement than this: God will not do wrong. The Almighty cannot twist justice. 13Who put the world in his care? Who has set the whole world in place? 14If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath, 15all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust.

[HERE  WE  SEE  MANKIND  WAS  CREATED  WITH  “SPIRIT” (NOT  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT)  AND  WITH  “BREATH”  -  TAKE  THOSE  AWAY  AND  LIFE  WOULD  CEASE  - Keith Hunt]

16"Listen now and try to understand. 17Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the almighty Judge? 18For he says to kings and nobles, 'You are wicked and unjust.' 19He doesn't care how great a person may be, and he doesn't pay any more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all. 20 In a moment they die. At midnight they all pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand. 21For God carefully watches the way people live; he sees everything they do. 22No darkness is thick enough to hide the wicked from his eyes. 23For it is not up to mortals to decide when to come before God in judgment. 24He brings the mighty to ruin without asking anyone, and he sets up others in their places. 25He watches what they do, and in the night he overturns them, destroying them. 26He openly strikes them down for their wickedness. 27For they turned aside from following him. They have no respect for any of his ways. 28So they cause the poor to cry out, catching God's attention. Yes, he hears the cries of the needy. 29When he is quiet, who can make trouble? But when he hides his face, who can find him? 30He prevents the godless from ruling so they cannot be a snare to the people.

[GOD CAN DO ALL THESE THINGS IF HE SO CHOOSES, AND WHEN HE SO CHOOSES, TO WHOM HE SO CHOOSES  -  Keith Hunt]

31"Why don't people say to God, 'I have sinned, but I will sin no more'? 32 Or ‘Don't know what evil I have done; tell me, and I will stop at once'? 33Must God tailor his justice to your demands? But you have rejected him! The choice is yours not mine. Go ahead, share your wisdom with us. 34After all, bright people will tell me, and wise people will hear me say, 35'Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight' 36Job, you deserve the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked. 37For now you have added rebellion and blasphemy against God to your other sins."

Elihu Reminds Job of God's justice 

Then Elihu said: 

2"Do you think it is right for you to claim, 'I am righteous before God'? 3Yet you also ask, 'What's the use of living a righteous life? How will it benefit me?'

4"I will answer you and all your friends, too. 5Look up into the sky and see the clouds high above you. 6 If you sin, what do you accomplish against him? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?7 If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give him? 8No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds affect only other people.

[IT IS TRUE….SINS DO NOT EFFECT GOD, THEY DO MAKE HIS SAD TO SEE WHAT IT BRINGS ON MANKIND  -  Keith Hunt]

9"The oppressed cry out beneath the wrongs that are done to them. They groan beneath the power of the mighty. 10Yet they don't ask, 'Where is God my Creator, the one who gives songs in the night? 11 Where is the one who makes us wiser than the animals and birds?'

12"And if they do cry out and God does not answer, it is because of their pride. 13 But it is wrong to say God doesn't listen, to say the Almighty isn't concerned. 14And it is even more false to say he doesn't see what is going on. He will bring about justice if you will only wait. 15But do you cry out against him because he does not respond in anger? 16Job, you have protested in vain. You have spoken like a fool."

36

Elihu continued speaking: 

2"Let me go on, and I will show you the truth of what I am saying. For I have not finished defending God! 3 I will give you many illustrations of the righteousness of my Creator. 4 I am telling you the honest truth, for I am a man of well-rounded knowledge.

5"God is mighty, yet he does not despise anyone! He is mighty in both power and understanding. 6He does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted. 7His eyes never leave the innocent, but he establishes and exalts them with kings for ever. 8 If troubles come upon them and they are enslaved and afflicted, 9he takes the trouble to show them the reason. He shows them their sins, for they have behaved PROUDLY. 10He gets their attention and says they must turn away from evil.

11"If they listen and obey God, then they will he blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant. 12But if they refuse to listen to him, they will perish in battle and die from lack of understanding.13For the godless are full of resentment. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to cry out to him for help. 14They die young after wasting their lives in immoral living. 15But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer. For he gets their attention through adversity.

16"God has led you away from danger, giving you freedom. You have prospered in a wide and pleasant valley. 17But you are too obsessed with judgment on the godless. Don't worry, justice will be upheld. 18 But watch out, or you may be seduced with wealth. Don't let yourself be bribed into sin. 19Could all your wealth and mighty efforts keep you from distress? 20Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed. 21Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for it was to prevent you from getting into a life of evil that God sent this suffering.

Elihu Reminds job of God's Power 

22"Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him? 23No one can tell him what to do. No one can say to him, ‘You have done wrong.’ 24 Instead, glorify his mighty works, singing songs of praise. 25Everyone has seen these things, but only from a distance.

26"Look, God is exalted beyond what we can understand. His years are without number. 27He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain. 28The rain pours down from the clouds, and everyone benefits from it. 29Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunder that rolls forth from heaven? 30 See how he spreads the lightning around him and how it lights up the depths of the sea. 31By his mighty acts he governs the people, giving them food in abundance. 32 He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target. 33The thunder announces his presence; the storm announces his indignant anger.*

36:33 Or even the cattle know when a storm is coming. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

37

"My heart pounds as I think of this. It leaps within me. 2Listen carefully to the thunder of God's voice as it rolls from his mouth. 3 It rolls across the heavens, and his lightning flashes out in every direction. 4Then comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty. He does not restrain the thunder when he speaks. 5God's voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power.

6"He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down. 7 Everyone stops working at such a time so they can recognize his power. 8The wild animals hide in the rocks or in their dens. 9The stormy wind comes from its chamber, and the driving winds bring the cold. 10God's breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water. 11He loads the clouds with moisture, and they flash with his lightning. 12The clouds turn around and around under his direction. They do what ever he commands throughout the earth. 13He causes things to happen on earth, either as a punishment or as a sign of his unfailing love.

14"Listen, Job; stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God! 15Do you know how God controls the storm and causes the lightning to flash forth from his clouds? 16Do you understand how he balances the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? 17When you are sweltering in your clothes and the south wind dies down and everything is still, 18he makes the skies reflect the heat like a giant mirror. Can you do that?

19"You think you know so much, so teach the rest of us what to say to God. We are too ignorant to make our own arguments. 20Should God be told that I want to speak? Can we speak when we are confused? 21We cannot look at the sun, for it shines brightly in the sky when the wind clears away the clouds. 22Golden splendor comes from the mountain of God. He is clothed in dazzling splendor. 23We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty, yet he is so just and merciful that he does not oppress us. 24No wonder people everywhere fear him. People who are truly wise show him reverence."

The Lord Challenges Job 

38

Then the Lord answered Job from O the whirlwind:

2"Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? 3Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

4"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. 5Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? 6What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone 7as the morning stars sang together and all the angels* shouted for joy?

38:7 Hebrew sons of God. [The angels are son of God by creation; they can never become the Sons of God that humans can become - see - “A Christian’s Destiny” study on this website  -  Keith Hunt]

8"Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, 9and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness? 10For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. 11 I said, 'Thus far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!'

12"Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? 13Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? 14For the features of the earth take shape as the light approaches, and the dawn is robed in red. 15The light disturbs the haunts of the wicked, and it stops the arm that is raised in violence.

16"Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you walked about and explored their depths? 17Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? 18Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!

19"Where does the light come from, and where does the darkness go? 20Can you take it to its home? Do you know how to get there? 21But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!

22"Have you visited the treasuries of the snow? Have you seen where the hail is made and stored? 23 I have reserved it for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war. 24Where is the path to the origin of light? Where is the home of the east wind?

25"Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning? 26Who makes the rain fall on barren land, in a desert where no one lives? 27Who sends the rain that satisfies the parched ground and makes the tender grass spring up? 28Does the rain have a father? Where does dew come from? 29Who is the mother of the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? 30For the water turns to ice as hard as rock, and the surface of the water freezes.

31"Can you hold back the movements of the stars? Are you able to restrain the Pleiades or Orion? 32Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons or guide the constellation of the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? 33Do you know the laws of the universe and how God rules the earth?

34"Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? 35Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it? 36Who gives intuition and instinct? 37Who is wise enough to count all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven, 38turning the dry dust to clumps of mud?

39"Can you stalk prey for a lioness and satisfy the young lions' appetites 40as they lie in their dens or crouch in the thicket? 41Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they wander about in hunger?

The Lord's Challenge Continues 

39

"Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Have you watched as the wild deer are born? 2Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery? 3They crouch down to give birth to their young and deliver their offspring. 4Their young grow up in the open fields, then leave their parents and never return.

5"Who makes the wild donkey wild? 6 I have placed it in the wilderness; its home is the wasteland. 7 It hates the noise of the city, and it has no driver to shout at it. 8The mountains are its pastureland, where it searches for every blade of grass.

9"Will the wild ox consent to being tamed? Will it stay in your stall? 10Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you? 11Since it is so strong, can you trust it? Can you go away and trust the ox to do your work? 12Can you rely on it to return, bringing your grain to the threshing floor?

13"The ostrich laps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork. 14She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust. 15She doesn't worry that a foot might crush them or that wild animals might destroy them. 16She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She is unconcerned though they die, 17for God has deprived her of wisdom. He has given her no understanding.18But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.

19"Have you given the horse its' strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane? 20Did you give it the ability to leap forward like a locust? Its majestic snorting is something to hear! 21 It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength. When it charges to war, 22 It is unafraid. It does not run from the sword. 23The arrows rattle against it, and the spear and javelin flash. 24Fiercely it paws the ground and rushes forward into battle when the trumpet blows. 25 It snorts at the sound of the bugle. It senses the battle even at a distance. It quivers at the noise of battle and the shout of the captain's commands.

26"Are you the one who makes the hawk soar and spread its wings to the south? 27Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest? 28It lives on the cliffs, making its home on a distant, rocky crag. 29From there it hunts its prey, keeping watch with piercing eyes. 30 Its nestlings gulp down blood, for it feeds on the carcass of the slaughtered."

……….

TO  BE  CONTINUED

UNDERSTANDING  THE  BOOK  OF  JOB  #5

40

Then the Lord said to Job, 

2"Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answers?"

Job Responds to the Lord 

3Then Job replied to the Lord, 

4"I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will put my hand over my mouth in silence. 5 I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say."

The Lord Challenges Job Again

6 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

7 "Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. 8Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so you can say you are right? 9Are you as strong as God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10A11 right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor.11 Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. 12 Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand. 13Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead. 14Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.

The great BEHEMOTH

15"Take a look at the mighty hippopotamus. *[Hebrew - behemoth] I made it, just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox. 16See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly. 17 Its tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of its thighs are tightly knit together. 18 Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron. 19 It is a prime example of God's amazing handiwork. Only its Creator can threaten it. 20The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play. 21 It lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds. 22The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream. 23 It is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon it. 24No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.

The Lord's Challenge Continues 

41

The great LEVIATHAN

"Can you catch a crocodile * [Hebrew - Leviathan]with a hook or put a noose around its jaw? 2Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike? 3Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity? 4Will it agree to work for you? Can you make it be your slave for life? 5Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with? 6Will merchants try to buy it? Will they sell it in their shops? 7Will its hide be hurt by darts, or its head by a harpoon? 8If you lay a hand on it, you will never forget the battle that follows, and you will never try it again!

9"No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be thrown down. 10And since no one dares to disturb the it, who would dare to stand up to me?11Who will confront me and remain safe? Everything under heaven is mine.

(11)Hebrew reads …confront me that I must pay.

12"I want to emphasize the tremendous strength in the Leviathan limbs and throughout its enormous frame. 13Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor? 14Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! 15The overlapping scales on its back make a shield. 16They are close together so no air can get between them. 17They lock together so nothing can penetrate them. 18 When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn. 19Fire and sparks leap from its mouth. 20smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a boiling pot on a fire of dry rushes. 21Yes, its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.

22"The tremendous strength in its neck strikes terror wherever it goes. 23 Its flesh is hard and firm, not soft and fat. 24 Its heart is as hard as rock, as hard as a millstone. 25When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror. 26No sword can stop it, nor spear nor dart nor pointed shaft. 27To the Leviathan, iron is nothing but straw, and bronze is rotten wood. 28Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are as ineffective as straw. 29Clubs do no good, and it laughs at the swish of the javelins. 30 Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. They tear up the ground as it drags through the mud.

31"The Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It churns the depths. 32The water glistens in its wake. One would think the sea had turned white. 33There is nothing else so fearless anywhere on earth. 34Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts."

[THIS  IS  TRULY  WHERE  WE  GOT  THE  LEGENDS  OF  THE  FIERY DRAGON  -  NOTHING  ON  EARTH  IS  ANYWHERE  CLOSE  TO  THIS  CREATURE  -  THEY  HAVE  NOW  DISAPPEARED  FROM  OFF  THE  EARTH  -  A  DINOSAUR  TYPE  ANIMAL  CREATED  IN  THE  AGE  OF  MAN  -  Keith Hunt]

Job Responds to the Lord 

42

Then Job replied to the LORD:

2 “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. 3You ask, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me. 4You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.'

5 I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. 6 I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance." -

[JOB  FINALLY  REALIZED  HE  HAD  BEEN  ARROGANT,  PROUD,  SELF-RIGHTEOUS  TO  THE  HIGHEST  DEGREE;  YES  HE  WAS  INNOCENT  OF  SINS  PER  SE;  YES  HE  IS  CLASSIFIED  BY  THE  LORD  AS  ONE  OF  THE  3  MOST  RIGHTEOUS  MEN  WHO  EVER  LIVED  -  NOAH  -  DANIEL  -  JOB.  SO  IN-TUNE  WITH  GOD’S  COMMANDMENTS  HE  COULD  NOT  SEE  HIS  BIG-HEADED  SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS  WAS  JUST  FILTHY  RAGS  NEXT  TO  THE  ETERNAL  GOD.  HE  KNEW  GOD  IN  A  CERTAIN  WAY  BUT  HAD  NEVER  REALLY  PUT  HIMSELF  NEXT  TO  THE  MOST  HOLY  ONE.  AFTER  THE  LORD  GOT  THROUGH  WITH  HIM,  JOB  REALIZED  HE  WAS  AS  NOTHING  IN  COMPARISON  -  HE  REPENTED  IN  DUST  AND  ASHES - Keith Hunt] 

Conclusion: 

The Lord Blesses Job 

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "I am angry with you and with your two friends, for you have not been right in what you said about me, as my servant Job was. 8Now take seven young bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not been right in what you said about me, as my servant Job was."

[THERE  WAS  NO  CAUSE  THAT  GOD  HAD  TO  INFLICT  SUCH  PAIN  AND  DESTRUCTION  ON  JOB;  HE  WAS  NOT  BEING  PUNISHED  FOR  CERTAIN  SINS;  IT  WAS  ALLOWED  BY  GOD  THAT  SATAN  DO  SUCH  THINGS  ON  JOB,  IT  WAS  A  TEST;  AND  IN  SO  DOING  GOD  WAS  ABLE  TO  TURN  IT  AROUND  TO  DEEPLY  CLEANSE  AND  PURIFY  THE  ATTITUDE  OF  JOB  IN  HEART  AND  MIND  -  Keith Hunt]

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer.

10When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! 11Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money* and a gold ring.

12So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. 

14He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15In all the land there were no other women as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.

[I  THINK  “LOVELY”  HERE  WAS  MORE  THAN  JUST  PHYSICAL  BEAUTY;  IT  WAS  LOVELY  IN  HEART  AND  MIND  -  Keith Hunt]

16 Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. 17Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, good life.

……….

42:11 Hebrew a kesitah; the value or weight of the kesitah is no longer known.

THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  YEARS  THAT  JOB  LIVED  WE  ARE  NOT  TOLD,  BUT  INDEED  IT  WAS  A  LONG  GOOD  LIFE.

WE  SHOULD  REMEMBER  GOD  DOES  NOT  WORK  THIS  KIND  OF  WORK  BUT  ONLY  NOW  AND  AGAIN.  JOB  WAS  AN  EXCEPTION  AND  WAS  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL,  WHOM  THE  LORD  SAID  HE  WOULD  HAVE  TO  ENDURE  MANY  HARDSHIPS  FOR  THE  GOSPEL.

YES  IT  IS  TRUE,  SOME  DOWN  THROUGH  THE  CENTURIES  HAVE  HAD  TO  GIVE  UP  THEIR  LIVES  IN  DEATH  FOR  THE  WORK  OF  THE  LORD.  BUT  VERY  VERY  FEW  WERE  EVER  ALLOWED  TO  BE  TESTED  THE  WAY  JOB  WAS.

BUT  LET  THE  LIFE  OF  JOB  BE  AN  INSPIRATION  TO  YOU,  AND  REMEMBER  IT  IS  WRITTEN  IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,  GOD  WILL  NOT  LET  YOU  BE  TESTED  ABOVE  WHAT  YOU  ARE  ABLE  TO  BEAR.

Keith Hunt