Confused about The Book of Job

[Faith712]

Can someone explain The Book of Job to me? It makes me think that God sees us as expandable, or he's willing to throw us away or put us in pain to prove a point. I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

It makes me have a doubts, and I don't want to have doubts, especially due to a misunderstanding or confusion.

 

[Armistead14]

It's a difficult story when you really get into the facts, leaving many questions hard to answer. We can accept that bad things happen to good people, but this story has Satan approaching God and getting permission to put Job through severe trial and hardship. In the story it seems God goes along and trying to understand what he is trying to prove is difficult.
More, Job lived and became better off is what we often talk about, but look at the death of his children, servants, etc....were they mere tools from birth in Job's testing. I as a parent would've probably cussed God and died if it would save my kids from pain.

Here is a poem I once wrote long ago in bible college as I delved into these hard questions.. It may seem to offend, but it was a requirement to ask the hard questions.



Son of Job {bitter issues)

My name is Bakare, a son of Job.
The story of my father,
I'm sure you all know.
A righteous man to perfection,
until Satan sought his correction.

An angel of light
full of wiles
came to God with an evil smile.
Smite his children and you will see,
Job isn't who he pretends to be.

Do as you will ,
as "I" allow,
smite his children, goats and cows.
Burn the land till all is gone,
leave his wife an empty home.

In the house,
while in front of our plate,
my brothers talked while we ate.
Storms arose, the wind doth sear.
My brothers and I panic with fear.

The walls came down
upon our heads,
left us bleeding, broken… dead.
My father told that we're gone,
honored God at his home.

The story ending,
Job did well,
he never cussed , he never fell.
The richest man in all the land,
newborn children for a better man.

I was joyful,
but my life was short,
as it fell before Satan’s fort.
Born only by God's direction,
to partake in his correction.

My life was precious,
had I lived,
learned to love and to give
knowledgeably became a wise old man,
walking while holding my daughters hand.

Now forgotten
completely replaced,
a look of happiness on his face.
More riches and rings on his hand,
As I lay rotting in the sand.

Instead of….
my righteous cause,
children killed by blowing walls.
Servant's not serving because they're dead,
all because of what Satan said.

Here for me
will be no riches,
sealed in cloth tight with stitches.
From this grave my spirit cries,
you should have cussed God and died.

This relative to kids, the bible does alude to his kids "feasting" maybe more partying and it concerned Job and the verse said they MAY have cursed God in their hearts....we just don't know the complete story. You would think if Job was almost perfect and a good father he would be in control of his household, sounds more like his kids were being kids of that period..

1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

Course that doesn't explain all the servants that died in jobs test by sword or fire, are some people born just to be tools or test for other people,,,?

 

[Yarddog]

Can someone explain The Book of Job to me? It makes me think that God sees us as expandable, or he's willing to throw us away or put us in pain to prove a point. I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

It makes me have a doubts, and I don't want to have doubts, especially due to a misunderstanding or confusion.

According to Jewish tradition, Job was written by Moses, though many modern scholars believe it was written later. It was also an account of someone who lived long before Moses.

I used to think that Job was far too dark for me to read until God took me through a similar experience though not as extreme. When I reread Job, I began to see something much more deep and how Job can relate to man's search for true righteousness. I also do not look at Job as an historical figure but like a parable meant to teach.

As a Christian, I know that Satan has been loosed upon the Church to test her. Job can be seen as a figure of man of the law to a man who finds righteousness through surrendering to a life of faith.

When Satan begins to persecute Job's family, his faith seems to be strong but when Satan directly attacks Job, himself, taking away his glory, Job's faith is shown to be weak. He begins to complain to God. He blames God for what has happened to him, instead of blaming Satan or himself. This shows that he not have faith which leads to salvation.

Finally, after a long dialogue between Job and his three friends, the young Elihu steps in and gives a speech full of faith. We may be able to see this as a sort of Christ giving testimony to the Jews and then God speaks to Job and further reveals the need for Job to be humble before God.

Job finally accepts that he was wrong and repents and humbles himself before God and God restores all, and far more, than he had before.

So, if we don't look at Job as a historic figure but an allegory of man proceeding from a self righteous state to a state of righteousness which comes from above, the book of Job can be seen in a greater light. He has made the transition from the darkness to the light.

Matthew 4:
15. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
16. the people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up.
17. From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The Jews, though they had the Mosaic law, sat in the darkness until the Light was revealed. The law cannot lead to the righteousness which comes from above. Only faith in the saving works of Jesus Christ can lead to true righteousness.

I hope that this helped.
God Bless
Yarddog

 

[juvenissun]

Can someone explain The Book of Job to me? It makes me think that God sees us as expandable, or he's willing to throw us away or put us in pain to prove a point. I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

It makes me have a doubts, and I don't want to have doubts, especially due to a misunderstanding or confusion.

God has no point to prove. Job is not a puppet. Job might curse God due to his extreme pain as his wife advised him. We all failed on some temptations. Job might fail on satan's test too. There is no guarantee that he won't.

So, God has no point to prove by allowing Job to suffer. If so, what else does this Book say? Why would this Book recorded so tediously on the speeches of his three stupid(?) friends? (see, Job said something in one chapter, then those three said something else and it takes three chapters. And this goes around several times. Do you feel that the author was very bored and has nothing better to write?) If you try to read anything said by anyone of Job's friends carefully (choose the shortest one, say, chapter 25), you will feel that his friends are indeed very very wise person. But God punishes them at the end and says that they are very foolish.

So, the structure of this book is like this:

Chapter 1 and 2: (most people read them.)
Chapter 3 to 37: (few read them through)
Job said: I want to die, I did nothing wrong, but God punished me. (is he right?)
Three friends said: You must be guilty. Otherwise God will not punish you (are they right?)
Chapter 38 and on: God says: All of you four (actually five) are wrong. But Job is slightly better.

God is not trying to prove anything. God uses this Book to explain to us a lot of His actions upon us.

 

[juvenissun]

...

More, Job lived and became better off is what we often talk about, but look at the death of his children, servants, etc....were they mere tools from birth in Job's testing. I as a parent would've probably cussed God and died if it would save my kids from pain.

...

We do see good Christian parents or good Christian children die of accidents. Could we learn something from Job's story on this fact?

As long as you are a Christian, is your life on the earth so important?

 

[Caprii71]

The book of Job is about realizing your true faith.

In the story, the devil asked God for a good man to tempt because he had been searching and couldn't find ONE. Think about that.
The devil was having a hard time finding a man that wasn't already corrupted in some way.
So God, knowing all, offers Job. Even though Job is already wealthy, God knows that he is also rich spiritually, but Job doesn't realize the strength of his faith.
Now remember the word of God says "Test everything."

I believe that means that even though you may be doing the right thing, at the right time, the only way to know how far you've come and how far you're going is by testing the situation.

Now, it doesn't say WHAT his wife and children may have done to not be eligible to past this test, but remember the devil had already been looking for candidates and couldn't find ONE!

So, Job was not proving anything to God and God was torturing Job. God knew Job's heart and he knew that he would past this test. That's why he told the devil, he could touch Job's body, but he couldn't kill him.

Plus, Job represents all of us that are trying to do the right thing, but when we come up against an unforeseen and what looks like an unnecessary obstacle, God already knows the result even before your test begins. He knows that you will make it through, as long as you trust in him and allow him to keep you safe and covered.

Sometimes, bad things happen to us and we can't figure out why it happened. Then you get to the next success of your life and you realize that if that bad thing hadn't happen to you, you wouldn't have been able to appreciate the success.

Just remember,God is always in control. We have to never lose sight of that fact.

By the way, even when there are triumphs in your life, it doesn't mean that you can take others with you or do things the same way you've always done them.

The hardest thing for a person to do is CHANGE!!

 

[Harry3142]

Job was originally a story found in the mythologies of the assyrians and babylonians. Moses himself may have heard it while he was living in the royal court of Egypt. But as it was originally written, it demonstrated the fickle nature of the gods, as well as their absolute power over all phases of man's destiny. It also ended with Job uttterly broken and virtually homeless.

The author of Job took this story, sanitized it, and then presented it in such a way as to teach others that God is to be trusted even in times of hardship and pain. Satan, who was considered to be God's prosecutor rather than his mortal enemy in the OT, presented God with the premise that Job had faith only because everything had gone his way. He also stated that if events took a turn that made them no longer advantageous to Job, his faith would quickly evaporate.

The ensuing tests, and the rhetoric that came as a result of them, were a clear directive to all who read concerning what had transpired. When reading concerning Job's friends, who had accused him of doing something that caused the wrath of God to befall him, the directive was to refrain from passing judgement on others purely on the basis of another person's circumstances. When reading concerning the suffering that Job himself went through, the directive was to accept God's wisdom, trusting him to do what is best for us even when it would seem that he has targetted us for destruction.

 

[seeingeyes]

I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

Who told you this?

"And yet He is wise and brings evil;
he does not call back his words,
but will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity." (Isaiah 31:2)

"And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them: therefore has he brought all this evil upon them." (2 Chron 7:22)

"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt 5:44-45)

Honestly, I think we are a little quick to let God "off the hook" for the evils we all endure. (Food for thought: the Hebrew word that is translated "evil" is the same word that is translated "disaster". Most modern translations attribute "evil" to men and "disaster" to God, but the Hebrew makes no such distinction.)

This is the theme that stands out most to me in the book of Job. Job's friends all take turns explaining that Job's problems must ultimately be his fault. How could God allow so much evil befall an innocent man? No, Job must have had some secret sin that he wasn't fessing up to.

But Job ferociously defends his own innocence and demands a hearing from God. Now God shows up and tells them all to pipe down, but ultimately Job is vindicated and his "friends" are not. In fact, God elects Job to offer sacrifices on their behalf.

The idea that God would never dream of allowing any of us to have any discomfort, but that we cause our own suffering (whether directly or indirectly) is both thoroughly modern and incredibly ancient. But this idea is repeatedly shot down throughout the Bible. Besides Job and the passages I posted above, the Psalms are full of laments demanding the justice and rescue that God has promised.

Now, please know that I am not bringing this to light to increase your confusion, but simply to point out the wonderful complications of our God.

We can never forget that we have signed on to follow a God that decided to send His own son to die for folks who were willing to kill him. This is no run-of-the-mill God! Just when we think we have Him nicely packed into the mold we choose for Him, He pops right out and surprises us again.

 

[dana b]

Can someone explain The Book of Job to me? It makes me think that God sees us as expandable, or he's willing to throw us away or put us in pain to prove a point. I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

It makes me have a doubts, and I don't want to have doubts, especially due to a misunderstanding or confusion.

The book of Job shows us mankind's prediciment as humanity collectively. When we left God's garden of Eden we had decided to join up with the natural world. Everything in nature is born, lives and dies going back again into the repeating natural cycle. Adam and Eve began humanity's life there in nature.

The book of Job is a collective synopsys, for lack of a better definition, of how our human situation still stands today. Except that now God who so loved the world gave us his only begotten son that we might have the chance to come out of the revolving cycles of nature and again be with him in eternal blissful existence.(Eden) Job is an example of how God is not standing up for us but letting us make the desision just as Adam and Eve made the decision of where they wanted to be. We make the decision by either following our conscience and convictions to be Godlike good beings or to continue with nature and go from dust to dust and ashes to ashes.

So the devil can taunt us and harass us but he can not kill us during this liftime. We, alike to Job can suffer in this world but continue to hold fast and thereby be rewarded sevenfold after earthly life, or we can throw in the towel and continue with the old Adam and Eve in nature. It's our choice, each his own. That is the reason that God does not intervene in this life because as we(Adam and Eve) made the desision to leave the good life with God, must now make the personal descision to re-enter it. And God is not calous or oblivious to our situation, difficulties or pain. He himself gave his "only begotten son" to suffer and die so that if we wanted we could come back to him again and be, as Paul writes in his epistel, "the second Adam."(and Eve)

That is why in this present world today, contrary to what many false charletans and decieved people may tell you, God is letting us alone. But he is not mean or indifferent to our stuggle. He gave his son. That is the greatest and most dreadfull sacrifice that he could ever make for our sake. Job, even though the others tell him to "curse God and die" continues to hold fast and as it says in the book, is returned and rewarded with many sons.(remember God's son also was returned to him by being resurrected)

(although some may say how can this be because Jesus did not arrive yet in Job's time, so too did the bible write about Abraham going to sacrifice his son long before God actually sacrifices his. God tells us the end even from the beginning)

Have faith in God and Jesus, follow your good consciene in life and live. Praise the Lord all the days of your life1

 

[bottomofsandal]

Can someone explain The Book of Job to me? It makes me think that God sees us as expandable, or he's willing to throw us away or put us in pain to prove a point. I recently learned no evil or pain caused is done by God, so I don't understand why God let all that happen to Job just to prove a point.

It makes me have a doubts, and I don't want to have doubts, especially due to a misunderstanding or confusion.

Job makes demands of God, and accuses God of being ruthless, while God

says Job's words are without knowledge. It the end Job finally repents.

The part where God asks Job over 50 questions following Job's questions is

fascinating. Job finally reaches a conclusion about God in chapter 42.


Job 42:1-6

New King James Version (NKJV)



42 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 Listen, please, and let me speak;
You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.”