Bereansearching Bible Studies

Introduction

The Book of Job is a long and complex book of the Bible that was written in narrative style, but nonetheless provides poignant, but unmistakable, “spiritual” insights into Who God Is, and how He Sovereignly works in the lives and affairs of men in this temporal “earthly” world.

Job, whose name, in the original Hebrew is אִיּוֹב (‘îyôḇ)^H347, means “hated” (e.g., persecuted) who in different ways, “typologically” represents both the first Adam (man), as well as the Second Adam (the Lord Jesus Christ). Job was a real historical figure who lived in the land of Uz, associated with Edom (Lamenations 4:21), which we know today as part of the Arab lands east of the river Jordan.

The real existence of Job is further evidenced by his being mentioned twice by the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 14:14, “Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, ^H347 were in it, they should deliver [but] their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.” and in Ezekiel 14:20, “Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, ^H347 [were] in it, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall [but] deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” In the New Testament, we are provided another reference to Job in James 5:11, “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job , and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Interestingly, in the original Greek, Job is (Ἰώβ (iōb))^G2492, which means “Cry of woe“.

The Book of Job is all about “Redemption”…addressing those repentant sinners who are Redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and the believers’ Kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are also provided some key words of wisdom in the Book of Job that convey to the believer signal themes such as we find in Job 1:21&22, “And (Noah)said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. ¶In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” and Job 19:25&26, “For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth: And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God:”

And the parallel should also be noted that just as at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis we see the devil attacking the first man, Adam, who was made perfect, also at the beginning of the Book of Job we also see the devil attacking the man Job, of who was also said by God in Job 1:1 to be a “man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.“

The Book of Job is also complex in that there are multiple levels of understanding, such that it is yet one more “Historical Parable“. Of course there is the literal and historical aspect, where we read of the real man, Job, who underwent numerous personal losses to the point of his utter and total despair, yet we see that despite all of his pain and suffering, followed by the duress of the onslaught of false accusations coming from his “friends”, that Job never lost his faith in God.

On an earthly level, Job was a man in the flesh, who felt that he had committed no sin worthy to deserve any punishment (evidencing the inherent pride of all mankind descended from the first Adam), while his three “friends” could only point their fingers at Job to accuse him of his sin (typifying those who have a “form of godliness” as we read in 2 Timothy 3:5.) Those “friends” are well-meaning religious folk, who preach salvation by the works of the law rather than only by Grace, and thus representing what can be called the “corporate church”. They knew “the Law of God”, but not the fact that no one (other than Jesus) is capable of meeting the demands of the Law. Those three friends clearly did not personally know or understand God’s love and mercy, which only the repentant believer can (someone who is in the true “eternal” church).

However, on a spiritual level, we can also see how Job’s sufferings can be related to that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus voluntarily left His Heavenly habitation, where He had been in the direct presence of God The Father, to come to this sin-cursed earth to take upon Himself a body of flesh and bones, and become the Suffering Servant, the Kinsman Redeemer, the substitutionary Atoning Sacrifice for the sins of His elect. Jesus was stripped both literally and spiritually of all that He previously had in going to the cross of Calvary. Isaiah 53:10, “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” [Note in particular that the word translated as “bruise” is in the original Hebrew דָּכָא (dāḵā’)^H1792, which also means to “crush“, “oppress“, and “break in pieces“.]

Interwoven within the text there are some other, more subtle, insights that can be gleaned, which this teacher has referred to in other posts as “Hidden Spiritual Gems“. Those posts illustrate how perfectly God has crafted His Word the Bible to conceal important spiritual truths. Those hidden gems are for the believers to “search” out, and to celebrate, with other believers, and to edify and to strengthen the faith of the saints. This tenth such post takes a closer look at the four friends of Job to uncover one such hidden gem.

Job Put to the Test

We first hear of Job in Job 1:1, “¶There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name [was] Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” He had ten children and was a man of great wealth. The Bible tells us that one day Satan presented himself before God and God asked Satan what he thought of Job. Satan accused Job of honoring God only because God had blessed him. So, God allowed Satan to take away Job’s wealth and his children. Later, God allowed Satan to afflict Job physically. Job grieved deeply, but according to Job 1:21&22, we read, “And (Job) said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. ¶In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

Job’s Three Friends Become His Accusers

Following the unimaginable personal catastrophes that God allowed the devil to bring upon Job, we read in Job 2:11–13, of the first three of Job’s four friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who came to commiserate with him. Coming upon him and not recognizing him, they initially empathized with him and “…they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.” Then the three “friends” sat in silence with him for seven days before they offered their advice (and accusations).

Subsequently, these three men each gave a series of speeches to Job, recorded in Chapters 4—25 in which they accused Job of committing sins so grievous that God was punishing him with misery. Job knew God well enough to know that He did not work that way; in fact, he had such an intimate, personal relationship with Him that he was able to say in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” And note how Job responded when, in Job 2:9, Job’s wife suggested he simply curse God and die, “¶Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” but Job only replied in Job 2:10, “¶…Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

The Three Friends Preached a False Gospel

The speeches of Job’s three friends included many Biblical truths, but they were nonetheless wrong in their presumptions and applications of those truths with regard to Job and his situation. Job’s friends were certain that Job must have sinned in order to deserve punishment and argued with him about it. But Job maintained his innocence, though he confessed that he wanted to die and did ask questions of God. Their overarching belief was that Job was suffering because he had done something wrong. As a result, they repeatedly encouraged Job to admit his wrong doing, repent, and do good so that God would bless him again.

This is where his three friends, who represent the False Church, failed as they were, in effect, preaching a works gospel, in the which they believed and were teaching that “bad things happen to bad people” and “good things happen to good people”, and thus they believed that God’s blessings are reserved for those who “deserve” or “earn” it. This is the kind of theology that will only lead a person to Hell on Judgment Day. Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.“

Although the Bible does teach that we reap what we sow… Galatians 6:8, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” James 3:18 states, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” We also know that God blesses the righteous Psalm 5:12, “For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as [with] a shield.” and Psalm 32:10, “Many sorrows [shall be] to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.”

But Jesus also made clear that in this life the believer would have tribulation. Hence blessings will not necessarily always take temporal material form. If they always did, we would have no way to explain the anguish and deprivation suffered by the Apostles, martyrs, or faithful Christians around the world (for example Hebrews 11:35–40). God’s blessing to the believer may often be unseen, and hence spiritual, as we read in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” And let us not forget that regarding having tribulation in this world, Jesus more fully stated the following in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.“

At one point Job, weary of their unhelpful words, told them, “ Job 16:2, “I have heard many such things: miserable comforters [are] ye all.” Adversity and calamity in this world are not always a sign of God’s displeasure. Jesus specifically made this point regarding those who died in the falling tower of Siloam in Luke 13:4&5, where Jesus said, “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” To equate disaster with God’s curse is to believe and behave like Job’s “miserable comforters.”

Elihu, the Fourth Friend, Was Different

Job later goes on in chapter 31 to assert his integrity before God. And that is when the fourth, younger, friend, Elihu (which in the original Hebrew, אֱלִיהוּ (‘ĕlîhû)^H453, means “He is my God“…see more on this below), is introduced in chapter 32, who, after initially holding his peace, speaks for the first time in anger, rebuking both Job and his three friends. There is a lot of hidden wisdom in this chapter. Notice that when Elihu begins to speak, Jobs three “friends” are “amazed” (astonished) and “they answered no more: they left off speaking,…(for they spake not, but stood still, [and] answered no more;).

Job 32:7-10, “I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But [there is] a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not [always] wise: neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.“

This man, Elihu, would speak with different words. It brings to mind what we read in 1 Corinthians 3:19, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” And think about this…God is referred to as the “Ancient of Days” as we read in Daniel 7:9&13&22. Job 12:12, “With the ancient [is] wisdom; and in length of days understanding.” God is eternal, and His Wisdom supersedes man’s wisdom, but God can grant His Wisdom and Understanding to the believers by His Holy Spirit. This is exactly what we read in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, “But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. ¶Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.“

Then the last six verses make clear that Elihu would not speak to either them, or Job, in the manner that his friends had come with arguments and accusations. As was noted above, these verses similarly use language that involves veiled references to the Lord Jesus Christ. The wine in the bottle points to Jesus’ shed blood and His imputed life-giving Spirit, as we read in Matthew 9:17 (also Mark 2:22 and Luke 5:37), “Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break,  and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” A person has to be changed, made new (born again), prior to receiving God’s Holy Spirit.

Elihu goes on to speak beginning in chapter 33 by the “Spirit of God” to effectively declare both God’s Sovereignty and His Mercy and Grace to undeserving sinners among whom is Job, despite Job being the epitome of humankind uprightness. Elihu’s soliloquy goes for five chapters to effectively make clear that no one is righteous before God, as we read in Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” and, moreover, that God’s Holiness, and His thoughts and ways are so far above man’s thoughts and ways as to be unsearchable, and that God Alone Is both Sovereign and Righteous. Isaiah 55:8&9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.“

We could say that those five chapters could be summarized by what the Apostle Paul was inspired to write in Romans 11:33-36, “¶O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? ¶For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.“

NOTE TO THE READER: Job Chapter 33 is significant in another way because Job Chapter 33 is all about Jesus and His Gospel of Salvation! Although Elihu is a real historical person (perhaps even a “Theophany“), Elihu is being used by God as “Type” to be representative of the Lord Jesus Christ in a manner consistent to what Jesus told His disciples on the Road to Emmaus. Note in particular the language that God uses, and the way each of the following verses unfold. In Verse 3, Elihu states, “My words [shall be of] the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.” Only Jesus is upright in heart, only Jesus utters knowledge clearly. Verse 4, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Jesus was conceived in Mary by The Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit, as we read in Luke 1:35. Jesus is therefore wholly God, but also wholly man, exactly as is expressed in Verse 6, “Behold, I [am] according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.” Then after some chastisement of Job for claiming to be righteous before God, Elihu states in 1 Verses 13&14, “Why dost thou strive against him (God)? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.” God does not have to give an answer to anyone as He is totally Sovereign. “For God speaketh once, yea twice, [yet man] perceiveth it not.” God has provided mankind with both the Old and New Testaments, and yet mankind (apart from God’s intervention) still does not understand what the words mean. But God does reveal Himself in miraculous ways such that in Verse 16, “Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,” Remember what we are told in Proverbs 20:12, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” God has to intervene to given someone the ability to “perceive His Words” (please see “The Hearing Ear…“). In Verse 17, we read, “That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. God intervenes to prevent someone from destroying his self or her self who because, if his or her pride were not covered they would continue headlong to Hell. Proverbs 16:18, “Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” This is borne out in the immediately following verse…Verse 18, “He (God) keepeth back his (man’s) soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” God keeps the saved soul from going to Hell and from being Judged on Judgment Day by the Word. This is more evident in these other verses: Verse 23&24, “If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” The messenger is the one who brings the Gospel of Salvation to that person and explains what the Bible is teaching, to show that we are all sinners in need a Savior, Who Is Jesus. Then that person will be saved from going to Hell (the “pit” is synonymous with “Hell”), only because Jesus paid the full ransom price at the Atonement on the cross for that person’s sins. The result is as we read in the next verse, the person will be born again and commune with God! Verses 25&26, “His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth: He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.” Note that Jesus imputes His righteousness to the believers as we read in Revelation 19:8, “And to her (the church) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.” The next four verses wrap things up concerning the repentant soul. In Verses 27-30, “He (God) looketh upon men, and [if any] say, I have sinned, and perverted [that which] was right, and it profited me not; He (God) will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these [things] worketh God oftentimes  with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” Remember that Jesus is the Light of the world and the Light of the Living, as we read in John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The Gospel message in interwoven, albeit in a veiled manner, throughout all of Job, Chapter 33!

God Openly Speaks Directly to Job

Next we read where God Personally steps in directly at the beginning of Chapter 38, and throughout to the end of Chapter 41, speaking out of a whirlwind to Job with innumerable, unanswerable, rhetorical questions concerning Creation. The only interlude being Job’s response in Job 40:3&4, “¶Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.” Finally, at the beginning of Chapter 42, Job acknowledges to God that God is totally Sovereign, abhors his own vileness, and humbled himself before God as we read in Job 42:2-6, “I know that thou canst do every [thing], and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.”

Note to the reader: Although none of these rhetorical questions posed to Job by God can be answered affirmatively by any man, including Job, they nonetheless can all be answered affirmatively by the Creator, Lord Jesus Christ, for whom Job serves as a spiritual “Type”.

We next read where God turned from Job in anger to Job’s three friends in Job 42:7, “¶And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is] right, as my servant Job [hath]. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you [after your] folly, in that ye have not spoken of me [the thing which is] right, like my servant Job. ¶So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite [and] Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.”

God told the three men to offer sacrifices, and that Job would pray to Him (God) on their behalf and that He would accept Job’s prayer. Job did so, thus forgiving his friends for their harshness to him. God restored Job’s fortunes two-fold: Job 42:10, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” And Job 42:12, “¶So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:” Then in Job 42:16, “¶After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, [even] four generations.“

A Key Message of Job

The Book of Job is all about “Repentance, Redemption and Restoration“…addressing those repentant sinners who are Redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and the believers’ Kinsman Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who Restores the sinner into the Presence of God, which is better than the lost estate was in the Garden of Eden.

What Job did not understand was, even though he trusted and believed in God‘s sovereignty and mercy, his personal faithfulness was not an insulation from affliction. He perceived that he had done nothing to deserve his unimaginable suffering. However, no matter how “good” he appeared to be, Job (the man) was still a sinner in need of a Savior…A Kinsman Redeemer…Who can only be the Lord, God, Jesus Christ. God emphasized this point in Chapters 40 and 41, using the Behemoth and Leviathan to represent the devil, to show that only God is powerful enough to overcome the devil and save Job. Job clearly got the message, and he repented as we read in the following and last chapter in Job 42:5&6, ” I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.” And then God blessed Job double-fold, just as God did for Jesus after His Atonement on behalf of His redeemed.

The trials that Job endured were not related to his behavior or lack of faith. Instead, God used the sufferings as a test and as part of His sovereign plan in Job’s life to provide yet another spiritual reference to point to the undeserved sufferings of Jesus to save a people for Himself. Following this period of Job’s suffering and torment, and Job’s intercession on behalf of his three friends, God blessed Job with full restoration as we read in Job 42:10, “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Job 42:12, “¶So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:” and finally, Job 42:16 “¶After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations.“

The Spiritual Aspect of Job Points Us to Jesus and His Sufferings

But that is not the whole story, just as Job endured unimaginable torment that was undeserved, so too did the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily endure unimaginable torment, which He did not deserve to save His people from the just punishment for their sins. As their Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus had to be the intercessionary Stand-In. Job made clear that he understood that this would be the case when he said in Job 19:25, “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:” And just as Job’s estate restored (his captivity turned) and increased double, so too was Jesus restored to The Father in Heaven after the Atonement and following His Resurrection. Moreover, Jesus’ Kingdom was also magnificently increased by the addition of all the souls for whom Jesus came to die for, and to suffer the pangs of Hell for their sins. Remember what we read concerning Jesus in Hebrews 10:7-10, (referencing Psalm 40:7&8) beginning with, “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” For a more in-depth study on how and why God has supernaturally interwoven Jesus throughout the entire Bible please see: Exalting the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ: The Key of Knowledge* for Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible

Jeremiah 5:30, “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love [to have it] so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.“

Psalm 58:4, “Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.“

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