A Lesson on the Book of Job

Have you ever studied the book of Job? Or the person of Job? The book and story of Job are one, I’ve come to understand, that brings a certain reverence to mind and action when we think or talk about God. It is one that only the spiritually learned can understand.

Many scholars believe the book of Job is one of the oldest in the Bible. That does not mean that Job himself lived before anyone else in the Bible—he most certainly came after Adam! But there are hints that Job lived in a truly ancient time: Job offered sacrifices himself for his family, instead of relying on a priest (Job 1:5; 42:7–8), and his wealth was measured in livestock, not gold (Job 1:3). Job likely lived sometime between the flood and the time of Moses. Many scholars place Job in the patriarchal period, around the same time that Abraham lived (Genesis 11:28–29).

It seems clear that Job lived before the giving of the law since the book of Job makes no mention of a tabernacle or temple, priests, or the law given to Israel. If Job’s life indeed pre-dated the law, he may have lived sometime around 2200 BC, making him a contemporary of Abraham, Lot, and Isaac. Another clue that places Job in the time before Moses is the fact that Job gave his daughters “an inheritance among their brothers” (Job 42:15). Under the Mosaic Law, a father passed his inheritance to sons only, unless he had no sons (Numbers 27:1–11; 36:1–13). A righteous man such as Job would have followed that law in obedience to God; in Job’s case, the law had not yet been given.

Many have misunderstood the story of Job’s suffering with the idea that God was showing off to the devil. I won’t be explaining this but I’d be recommending a message by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome- Anything is Possible Part 4.
It would explain everything perfectly to you.
Kindly Visit the Pastor Chris Digital Library to listen.

I’m very grateful to God that I started learning the word very fast and chewing strong meats of revelation at a young age. That’s when I learnt how to use context in interpreting the scriptures. It also was around the same time I learnt that the book of Job doesn’t necessarily describe God and the truth of whom He is. They aren’t everything you’d want to affix to one righteous as Our God.
Job and His friends at point got it so wrong in their more than 35 chapters of conversation that God had to speak out of a storm to address the wrong notion about him. Job believed so much that God was the cause of his problems. His three friends thought otherwise
Eliphaz posed a loaded question to Job: “Who that was innocent ever perished?” (4:7).
This implied that humans could never be perfect and righteous. Eliphaz notes that God disciplines even angels. Bildad thinks the same too and adds the idea that Job’s children might have done something that may have caused their death and Job’s suffering. (Job 8:4) Zophar also thinks as his two friends do.
But Job thinks otherwise insisting on his innocence and the goodness of God says in Job 16:18-22 with an implication: Since I am innocent and God is good, there must be a mediator between God and me! My witness is in heaven, he who will argue my case before God as a son of man does with his neighbour!

My kind of guy is Elihu.
Elihu was one of Job’s friends—not one of the three who had come to comfort Job at the beginning of the book, but one who arrives later.
In Job 32 Elihu focuses his response on rebuking Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. In verse 12 he notes, “I gave you my full attention. / But not one of you has proved Job wrong; none of you has answered his arguments.”
Elihu was younger than the other friends of Job, he had been quiet during their conversation to that point he could finally take no more. Elihu speaks up because he is “very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God” and with Job’s three friends, “because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him” (Job 32:2–3).

God speaking out of the storm asks Job one question that will forever ‘taint’ my mind. God asks him “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers? Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?”

God was like Who is this ‘olodo’ guy forming the Lord’s critic… You just have to admit that the Lord’s sarcasm is top notch!

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
It’s amazing God didn’t count Elihu.

This helps you understand my statement above. Thus you have to be very careful when you read scriptures. You need the Holy Spirit!

All in all, you have learnt something right? Wonderful. Go spend sometime to listen to the recommended message and reflect.

Byee!