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WHERE JOB LIVED.--"Uz," according to GESENIUS, means a light, sandy soil, and was in the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates, called by PTOLEMY (Geography, 19) Ausitai or Aisitai. In Ge 10:23 22:21 36:28 1Ch 1:17,42, it is the name of a man. In Jer 25:20 La 4:21 and Job 1:1, it is a country. Uz, in Ge 22:21, is said to be the son of Nahor, brother of Abraham--a different person from the one mentioned (Ge 10:23), a grandson of Shem. The probability is that the country took its name from the latter of the two; for this one was the son of Aram, from whom the Arameans take their name, and these dwelt in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Compare as to the dwelling of the sons of Shem in Ge 10:30, "a mount of the East," answering to "men of the East" (Job 1:3). RAWLINSON, in his deciphering of the Assyrian inscriptions, states that "Uz is the prevailing name of the country at the mouth of the Euphrates." It is probable that Eliphaz the Temanite and the Sabeans dwelt in that quarter; and we know that the Chaldeans resided there, and not near Idumea, which some identify with Uz. The tornado from "the wilderness" (Job 1:19) agrees with the view of it being Arabia-Deserta. Job (Job 1:3) is called "the greatest of the men of the East"; but Idumea was not east, but south of Palestine: therefore in Scripture language, the phrase cannot apply to that country, but probably refers to the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine, Idumea, and the Euphrates. So the Arabs still show in the Houran a place called Uz as the residence of Job.
AN OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF JOB1
MESSAGE STATEMENT:
THE REASONS FOR SUFFERING IN A PERSON'S LIFE ARE NOT NECESSARILY
RELATED TO HUMAN EXPLANATIONS OF PERSONAL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT
ARE WITHIN THE SCOPE OF GOD'S GOOD AND POWERFUL PROVIDENCE
RESULTING IN THE DEFEAT OF EVIL AND GLORY TO HIMSELF
I. Introduction--Job's Former State of Integrity:2 1:1-5
A. Job's Piety: 1:1
B. Job's Prosperity: 1:2-3
C. Job's Posterity: 1:4-5
II. Speeches & Dialogues--The Problem and Proposed Solutions:3
1:6--42:6
A. Two Interviews of Yahweh with Satan--The Presenting
Problem:4 1:6--2:13
1. First Interview of Yahweh with Satan, a Test and
Reaction: 1:6-22
a. Interview with Satan: 1:6-12
b. The Disasters: 1:13-12
c. Job's Reaction: 1:20-22
2. Second Interview of Yahweh with Satan, a Test and
Reaction: 2:1-13
a. Interview with Satan: 2:1-7a
b. Job's Affliction: 2:7b, 8
c. Job's Second Reaction: 2:9-10
d. Transition--The Arrival of Job's Friends:
2:11-13
B. Dialogue of Job with His Friends--The Solutions of
Job's Three Friends and Elihu: 3:1--37:24
1. Three Cycles of Debate with Job 3:1--31:40
a. Job's Opening Lamentation: Job wished that
either he had not been born, died at birth,
or would have died then 3:1-26
1) Desire Not to Have Been Born: 3:1-10
2) Desire to Have Died at Birth: 3:11-19
3) Desire to Die: 3:20-26
b. Dialogue/Debate in Three Cycles:5 4:1--27:23
1) Cycle One of Speeches and Job's Response-
-God Punishes the Wicked and Blesses the
Good: 4:1--14:22
a) Eliphaz & Job--Principle Stated:
4:1--7:21
(1) Eliphaz: Eliphaz accused Job
of being inconsistent since
suffering results from sin and
no one is pure before God;
thus he urged Job to ask God
to help him and affirmed that
God would deliver him after He
had disciplined him 4:1--5:27
(2) Job: Job responded by
affirming that his suffering
was causing his rash desire to
die, Eliphaz's response has
disappointed him, and by
asking for forgiveness if he
has sinned 6:1--7:21
b) Bildad & Job--Principle
Illustrated: 8:1--10:22
(1) Bildad: Bildad affirmed that
history has confirmed that if
Job is righteous God will
restore him, unlike the
ungodly who parish 8:1-22
(2) Job: Job responds by affirming
God's wisdom and power, asking
why He is against him, and
requesting to die 9:1--10:22
c) Zophar & Job--Principle Applied to
Job: 11:1--14:22
(1) Zophar: Zophar rebukes Job by
affirming that God should show
him true wisdom and by
affirming that if he would
turn to God, he would be
blessed 11:1-20
(2) Job: Job responds by
criticizing Zophar for not
telling him anything new, not
helping him, and not
representing God well,
whereupon, he again asks God
to let him die 12:1--14:22
2) Cycle Two of Speeches and Job's Response-
-The Wicked Suffer and Perish because
They Are against God: 15:1--21:34
a) Eliphaz & Job II: 15:1--17:16
(1) Eliphaz: Eliphaz affirms that
Job's words are meaningless,
that he is guilty, and that he
is like the wicked because he
is in distress 15:1-35
(2) Job: Job responds rebuking his
friends for being no help,
desiring to plead his case
with God, and affirming is
situation of despair 16:1--
17:16
b) Bildad & Job II: 18:1--19:29
(1) Bildad: Bildad rebukes Job for
his arrogant words about them,
and affirms that the wicked,
like he, are weakened,
ensnared, diseased, insecure,
forgotten, hated, and alone
18:1-21
(2) Job: Job rebukes his friends
for tormenting and insulting
him, affirms that God has
wronged him, urges his friends
to have pity on him, and
affirms that God will prove
his innocence after his death
and judge his friends 19:1-29
c) Zophar & Job II: 20:1--21:34
(1) Zophar: Zophar accuses Job of
insulting him and reminds him
that the wicked may be
blessed, but they will then
loose their riches 20:1-29
(2) Job: Job retorts that his
impatience is excusable and
reminds Zophar that the wicked
prosper and live (unlike he)
21:1-34
3) Cycle Three of Speeches and Job's
Response--God Is Majestic, but Job is
Wicked: 22:1--27:23
a) Eliphaz & Job III: 22:1--24:25
(1) Eliphaz: Proclaiming God's
disinterest in Job for his
social deviations and
spiritual defiance, Eliphaz
urges him to repent for God is
great 22:1-20
(2) Job: Job longs to plead his
case before God 23:1--24:25
b) Bildad and Job III: 25:1--27:23
(1) Bildad: Bildad affirmed that
because God is great and man
is small and impure there was
no hope for Job to be just and
clean 25:1-6
(2) Job: Job affirms that his
friends are not help to him
since he knows that God is
great and powerful over nature
26:1-14
(3) Job's Conclusion: Job
concludes the discussion by
continuing to proclaim his
innocence and the hopelessness
of the wicked 27:1-23
c. Job's Closing Affirmations: 28:1--31:40
1) Transitionary Discourse on God's Wisdom:
Job affirms that although man is
skillful in mining, wisdom is harder to
find for it is God who knows where
wisdom is 28:1-28
a) The Skill of Man in Mining: 28:1-11
b) Hidden Wisdom: 28:12-22
c) The Ability of God: 28:23-28
2) Job's Desire for His Former Estate of
Glory: Job wishes that he was in his
former days of spiritual blessing,
material prosperity and social prestige
which occurred because he helped the
needy, exercised justice and counseled
others 29:1-25
a) Job's Wish: 29:1-11
b) Reason For Job's Former Prosperity:
29:12-25
3) Job's Lament of His Present Miserable
Humiliation: Job proclaims his misery as
he is mocked by poor young men and
vagabonds, and his humiliation as he is
in pain and nobody helps him 30:1-31
a) Mocked by Poor Young Men and
Vagabonds: 30:1-15
b) Helpless Pain: 30:16-31
4) Job's Ultimate Challenge--An Oath of
Innocence which 'Legally' Calls God to
Answer" 31:1-40
a) Job Has Not Lusted: 31:1-4
b) Job Has Not Lied or Deceived: 31:5-
8
c) Job Has Not Committed Adultery:
31:9-12
d) Job Has Not Failed to Help His
Slaves: 31:13-15
e) Job Has Not Failed to Help the Poor
and Needy: 31:16-23
f) Job Has Not Trusted in His Wealth:
31:24-25
g) Job Has Not Turned to Idolatry:
31:26-28
h) Job Has Not Treated His Enemies
Unfairly: 31:29-30
i) Job Has Not Been Stingy: 31:31-32
j) Job Has Not Hidden His Sins: 31:33-
34
k) Job Wishes God Would Hear Him:
31:35-37
l) Job Has Not Been Unfair to His Farm-
workers 31:38-40
2. Four Speeches by Elihu: 32:1--37:24
a. Introduction of Elihu: 32:1-5
b. Elihu's First Speech--God's Instruction to
Man through Affliction: 32:6--33:33
c. Elihu's Second Speech to the Three Friends
and Job--God's Justice and Prudence
Vindicated: 34:1-37
d. Elihu's Third Speech to Job--The Advantages
of Piety: 35:1-16
e. Elihu's Fourth Speech to Job (and Friends)--
God's Greatness and Job's Ignorance: 36:1--
37:24
C. Two Interviews of Yahweh with Job--Yahweh's Solution:
38:1--42:6
1. First Interview with Yahweh and Job--Limits in
Knowledge: 38:1--40:5
a. Yahweh: 38:1--40:5
1) Yahweh Challenged Job: 38:1-3
2) Yahweh Questioned Job Regarding Two
Areas of Creation:6 38:4--39:30
a) Yahweh's Questions Regarding the
Physical World: 38:4-38
b) Yahweh's Questions Regarding the
Animal World: 38:39--39:30
3) Yahweh Challenged Job to Reply to His
Questions: 40:1-2
b. Job Replied in Silent Humility:7 40:3-5
2. Second Interview with God and Job--Limits in
Power:8 40:6--42:6
a. Yahweh: 40:6--42:6
1) Yahweh Challenged Job to Listen: 40:6-14
2) Yahweh questioned Job Regarding Two
animals of Creation:9 40:15--41:34
a) Yahweh Questions Regarding the
Behemoth: 40:15-24
b) Yahweh Questions Regarding the
Leviathan: 41:1-34
b. Job Replied with Repentance:10 42:1-6
III. Conclusion--Job's Latter State: 42:7-17
A. Yahweh's Verdict on Job's Friends: 42:7-9
B. Yahweh's Restoration of Job's Fortunes: 42:10-17
JOB A REAL PERSON.--It has been supposed by some that the book of Job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial character of many of its statements. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. He had seven thousand sheep, seven sons, both before and after his trials; his three friends sit down with him seven days and seven nights; both before and after his trials he had three daughters. So also the number and form of the speeches of the several speakers seem to be artificial. The name of Job, too, is derived from an Arabic word signifying repentance.
But Eze 14:14 (compare Eze 14:16,20) speaks of "Job" in conjunction with "Noah and Daniel," real persons. St. James (Jas 5:11) also refers to Job as an example of "patience," which he would not have been likely to do had Job been only a fictitious person. Also the names of persons and places are specified with a particularity not to be looked for in an allegory. As to the exact doubling of his possessions after his restoration, no doubt the round number is given for the exact number, as the latter approached near the former; this is often done in undoubtedly historical books. As to the studied number and form of the speeches, it seems likely that the arguments were substantially those which appear in the book, but that the studied and poetic form was given by Job himself, guided by the Holy Spirit. He lived one hundred and forty years after his trials, and nothing would be more natural than that he should, at his leisure, mould into a perfect form the arguments used in the momentous debate, for the instruction of the Church in all ages. Probably, too, the debate itself occupied several sittings; and the number of speeches assigned to each was arranged by preconcerted agreement, and each was allowed the interval of a day or more to prepare carefully his speech and replies; this will account for the speakers bringing forward their arguments in regular series, no one speaking out of his turn. As to the name Job--repentance (supposing the derivation correct)--it was common in old times to give a name from circumstances which occurred at an advanced period of life, and this is no argument against the reality of the person.
THE WRITER.--All the foregoing facts accord with Job himself having been the author. The style of thought, imagery, and manners, are such as we should look for in the work of an Arabian emir. There is precisely that degree of knowledge of primitive tradition (see Job 31:33, as to Adam) which was universally spread abroad in the days of Noah and Abraham, and which was subsequently embodied in the early chapters of Genesis. Job, in his speeches, shows that he was much more competent to compose the work than Elihu, to whom LIGHTFOOT attributes it. The style forbids its being attributed to Moses, to whom its composition is by some attributed, "whilst he was among the Midianites, about 1520 B.C." But the fact, that it, though not a Jewish book, appears among the Hebrew sacred writings, makes it likely that it came to the knowledge of Moses during the forty years which he passed in parts of Arabia, chiefly near Horeb; and that he, by divine guidance, introduced it as a sacred writing to the Israelites, to whom, in their affliction, the patience and restoration of Job were calculated to be a lesson of especial utility. That it is inspired appears from the fact that Paul (1Co 3:19) quotes it (Job 5:13) with the formula, "It is written." Compare also Jas 4:10 and 1Pe 5:6 with Job 22:29; Ro 11:34,35 withJob 15:8. It is probably the oldest book in the world. It stands among the Hagiographa in the threefold division of Scripture into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa ("Psalms," Lu 24:44).
God then allows Satan to bring suffering into Job's life, with the condition that it not do any physical harm to Job. By the end of the day Satan had removed all of Job's wealth and killed all seven of his children.
In spite of the huge loss in his life, Job never sways from his faith and trust in God saying "Blessed the name of the Lord".
Satan then asks to attack Job's physical health, God allows it under the condition that Job will not be killed. Satan gives Job an extremely painful rash of boils that caused him to sit among ashes and scrape himself with a piece of broken pottery in an attempt to relieve his pain.
THE AGE WHEN JOB LIVED.--EUSEBIUS fixes it two ages before Moses, that is, about the time of Isaac: eighteen hundred years before Christ, and six hundred after the Deluge. Agreeing with this are the following considerations: 1. Job's length of life is patriarchal, two hundred years. 2. He alludes only to the earliest form of idolatry, namely, the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts (called Saba, whence arises the title "Lord of Sabaoth," as opposed to Sabeanism) (Job 31:26-28). 3. The number of oxen and rams sacrificed, seven, as in the case of Balaam. God would not have sanctioned this after the giving of the Mosaic law, though He might graciously accommodate Himself to existing customs before the law. 4. The language of Job is Hebrew, interspersed occasionally with Syriac and Arabic expressions, implying a time when all the Shemitic tribes spoke one common tongue and had not branched into different dialects, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. 5. He speaks of the most ancient kind of writing, namely, sculpture. Riches also are reckoned by cattle. The Hebrew word, translated "a piece of money," ought rather be rendered "a lamb." 6. There is no allusion to the exodus from Egypt and to the miracles that accompanied it; nor to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (PATRICK, however, thinks there is); though there is to the Flood (Job 22:17); and these events, happening in Job's vicinity, would have been striking illustrations of the argument for God's interposition in destroying the wicked and vindicating the righteous, had Job and his friends known of them. Nor is there any undoubted reference to the Jewish law, ritual, and priesthood. 7. The religion of Job is that which prevailed among the patriarchs previous to the law; sacrifices performed by the head of the family; no officiating priesthood, temple, or consecrated altar.