Job-faith full?

[Gooney1]

I have just been reading Job chapters 6-16 and I can't help but agree with his three friends. I don't know why but I just think that Job is sounding arrogant and that just seems to disagree with what I have always been taught about Job.

Anybody got an opinion? Cos I want to read this book correctly and this is affecting me.

 

[paulnoel]

Job's friends wrongly assumed that suffering always came as a result of sin. With this in mind, they tried to persuade Job to repent of his sin. But in chapter 1vs1 it says that Job was blameless and upright and he feard God. Going back to the three friends, They were wrong because suffering is not always a direct result of personal sin. When we experience severe suffering it may not be our fault. A young man named Elihu who had been listeing to the entire conversation, criticised the three friends for being unable to answer Job. He said that although Job was a good man he had allowed himself to become proud, and God was punishing him in order to humble him, But this is not so. If you go back to chapter 1vs6-12 God and Satan have a disscussion, God asks satan were he has been, satan replies roming the earth going to and fro, Then God tells satan That there is no-one on earth like his servent Job. God says he is blamless and upright and shuns evil. But then Satan replies to God, haven't you but a hedge around him and blessed everything he does, but if you take all that away wont Job curse you,So the Lord said to satan o.k. everything is in your hands, but dont lay a finger on him.Jobs friends were certain that they were correct in their judgment of him. Man's wisdom is always partial and temporary. God alone knew the purpose behind Jobs suffering, and yet he never explained it to Job. In spite of this Job never gave up on God, even in the misdt of his suffering. He never placed his hope in his experience, widom, friends or wealth. Job just focused on God.


The application of of the book of Job is this,....Job showed the kind of trust we should have when everything is stripped away. We need to recognise that God is all we ever really had in the first place. We should not demand that God explains everything. God gives us himself through Jesus, but not all the details of HIS plans. We must remember this life is not our final destiny.

 

[nephilimiyr]

I agree with what paulnoel said. Gooney1, the last chapter of Job shows God bringing His wrath upon those friends of Job who talked such foolishness but you're right about Job so far. The last half of the book is God speaking to Job and correcting him on his arrogance. Plus there's another character that will soon be introduced to you that admonishes not only Jobs friends but Job too.

 

[bluemarkus]

dear gooney

job for me also was always one of the hardest books to understand.
it´s subtle and tricky. the "friends" come up with a lot of religion and docrtine mixed with some percentage of falseness. a dangerous mixture.

what helps me on this problem you mentioned( i also always had problems sorting out the theologies of the friends, and couldn´t see where they are wrong):

*ask yourself if the advice / "godly" rebuke they give to job are good help
in his situation, although the might contain some percentage of sound
doctrine....

* try to read patiently on although the characters sometimes talk a bit over -
exaggerating (listen to me blablabla i figured it all out blabla....) and even
insult each other....

* some bibel commentators hold that the different countries the
"friends" come from, present different ways of thinking/religion

* in the last chapters god reveals to us that he is not at all satisfied with the
hermeneutics of the friends, and criticises them harsh. this should lead us to actively look for mistakes in their teachings...

let the spirit guide you.

greetings

MB

 

[Gooney1]

I thank all of you for your solid wisdom, particuarly bluemarkus, it was definately a case of I need to read more and see thru their monologues!

Bless ya all!

 

[StAnselm]

So to read the book correctly, we actually have to read all the speeches in light of the last chapter. You reaction, is, I think, is the one the author expects you to have. But at the end of the book you find out that even though Job's friends sounded good, they were actually bad. And even though Job sounded bad, he was actually good. Everything is topsy-turvy.

 

[Dmckay]

A couple of things to consider when reading Job that haven't been mentioned, but have an effect on your understanding. first, Job is actually a form of Hebrew poetry. Our Western poetry uses rhyme and meter to try and invoke within the reader the same feelings that the writer felt when writing the poem. Hebrew poetry uses a rhyme of various parallelisms of thought to make the reader think as the writer was thinking at the time that the poem was written.

Secondly, Job is the oldest book of the Bible. Job was probably a contemporary of Abraham at the time that this event took place. How much doctrine do you think that Job's friends actually knew about G-d? Their thinking was pretty much, if you please G-d, or the gods you are blessed. If you do something to displease G-d or the gods, prepare to get stomped. Job didn't have a complete understanding of G-d either, but he knew that he had lived in accordance with what he knew of the will of G-d. He even offered sacrifices for his children for sins that they might have inadvertantly committed.

Remember, G-d started the whole thing with, "Have you considered my servant, Job?" Holding him out as an outstanding example to Satan. So G-d had already given Job some pretty high marks to begin with. When you know that you are right and don't give in to opposing positions of others around you, you come across as arrogant just for sticking to your guns.

 

[Gooney1]

Thanks Dmckay that is a really helpful insight and kinda what I had concluded after finishing the book!