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The summary of the message of the book of Job by Duke Jeyaraj using the acronym ‘Job of Uz’ Introduction:  T20 World Cup Final 2007 – I remember where I was when I watched it.
Job 38:4
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding… Stephen Gately’s sudden death – Job 36:14 (Elihu’s words) They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes…. Cult prostitutes were often males who offered homosexual services. Have you called someone and that person did not pick your call. It happened to Job. God did not pick his call, it seemed. Job 30:20
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me. Here is a book that is relevant for you!
Outline for Job: I. The Prologue (Ch 1-2) (In Prose)
II. The Dialogue (Ch 3:1 – 42:6) (Prose) With Humans a. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (3-31)
1. Round One (3-14)
2. Round Two (15-21)
3. Round Three (22-31)
b. Elihu (32-37) – a monologue Job makes 10 speeches – 3 each to Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar and 1 to Elihu. With God 1. Round One (38-39)
2. Round Two (40:1-40:6) III. The Epilogue (42:7-17) (Prose)
Final Round – God Vs Job Job is Prose sandwich with poetry filling! This outline is prepared by David Pawson. We will summarize the message of Job using the acronym “Job of Uz” – J – ust Man Job Revealing Book of Job Read Job 1:1 Job is listed with righteous elsewhere in the Bible Ezek 14:14,20
James 5:11 (verse 8). Job 1:5
While other fathers did not care about their kids, Job did. Job 1:8
God’s testimony about him – ‘none like him…’ He says it again in Job 42:7 Job’s testimony about himself – “If ….. JOB WAS A HOLY MAN Job 31:1,9 – Holy man
31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin? (ESV)
1-4"I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. (Eugene Peterson version)
verses 9-12 of Job 31
"If I've let myself be seduced by a woman
and conspired to go to bed with her,
Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead
and sleep with anyone she wants to.
For disgusting behavior like that,
I'd deserve the worst punishment you could hand out.
Adultery is a fire that burns the house down;
I wouldn't expect anything I count dear to survive it.
JOB WAS A ‘HEART’ MAN Job 31 13 “If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,
when they brought a complaint against me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (for from my youth the fatherless [2] grew up with me as with a father,
and from my mother's womb I guided the widow [3]),
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or the needy without covering,
20 if his body has not blessed me, [4]
and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.
JOB WAS A HUMBLE MAN Job 31:29
29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook him Job was not claiming sinless purity…… Job 31:33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do [6]
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, 7:21 – Why do you not pardon my offenses? 7:20 – I have not been perfect but what terrible sin have I committed that deserves this kind of suffering…. SECRETS OF HIS HOLY LIFE. A. Faith – Job 13:15 – Though he slay me, yet will I….
B. Word – Job 23:12 – The Bible was his necessary food….
C. He considered the consequences of his actions – “Ifs” in Job 31
O-STRACISED JOB’S SAD STORY RECORDING BOOK OF JOB
He was OSTRACISED FROM HIMSELF Sores head to toe, in physical pain. They were so bad, his friends could not recognize him (2:12).
So started hating himself.
Job 3:1-10 Curses his birthday.
Wished he died as he was born.
Wished his death day was same as his birthday.
See 3:11,12,16. Says it again. – 7:16 He is not able to sleep – 7:16 Says it again – 10:18-19; 10:1 (“I loathe my life”) Yet, He is NOT SUICIDAL. He thanks God – 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
Job 10:11-12 He is Ostracised from his children 1:13-15 (Sabean Attack)
all dead – 7 sons, 3 daughters. He is Ostracised from his wife Job 2:9
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”
In 2:10 – Job corrects his wife. Marriage is not only a place for MAKING OF CHILDREN, MAGICAL CLIMAX (SEX) BUT ALSO FOR MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS. Samson did not have meaningful conversations with his wife or the women he had relationships with. He is ostraciced from his friends Job 12:4
I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. He is ostracized from the society There was a time when he was honored by the society. Read Job 29.
Now, see what was happening: “But now they laugh at me,
men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock. “And now I have become their song;
I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. Job 30:1,9,10 He sat down in dust and ashes (2:8) God sent him 3 friends who just sat with him silent for 7 days and nights (2:11,13). The summary statement: 19:13-21 13 “He has put my brothers far from me,
and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed me,
my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my wife,
and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has touched me! B-EHIND THE SCENES STORY RECORDING BOOK OF JOB Behind Job’s suffering is a scene in Heaven. Job is Not aware of this. Only God is. This was the main reason why Job suffered. Job 1:8-12 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Ronald Youngblood says this about Satan: As a tempter he seeks to alienate man from God (Gen 3: Math 4:1). As an accuser (Satan means ‘accuser’) he seeks to alienate God from man (Zech 3:1; Rev 12:9-10). Satan had to get God’s permission to make Job suffer (1:12; 2:6). Job has no ideas about this heavenly dialogue yet he accurately says – 1:21
21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 2:10
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” [1] In all this Job did not sin with his lips. 12:9
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this? (Isaiah later quotes Job – 41:20). That’s why we read such startling statements in our bibles – I Chron 21:1 n II Sam 24:1 John 9 – We met another man in Job’s shoes. God allowed Job to suffer at Satan’s hands to prove this point: “My children love me for love’s sake. Not because I bless them with gifts!” That’s why we read in our bibles…. Hab 3:16-18
16 I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Dan 3:16-18 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. [1] 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Esther 4:16 – If I perish, I perish (submission to the will of God). O-KAY TRUTHS EMPHAZING BOOK OF JOB Each of Job’s first three friends speak three times. Elihu, the last pal, makes one speech. Job makes 10 speeches in all to them. Not all what Job friends teach are correct. But there are correct things in what they say. Okay truth no. 1 - Elihu – stressed on ORIGINAL SIN 4:17-19 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before [1] God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
Again in 15:14-16 14 What is man, that he can be pure?
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
15 Behold, God [1] puts no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks injustice like water! Angels sinned.
Humans sinned.
Suffering entered the world. Job 9:2
Job agrees: “Truly I know that it is so:
But how can a man be in the right before God? So, we all deserve to suffer, because we all have sinned! Since there in no one INNOCENT in this world (all have sinned) there is nothing called INNOCENT SUFFERING! In Psalm 51 David talks about this original sin. Okay truth no. 2 - Job stresseses RIGHTLY ON BREVITY OF LIFE Job 7:6,7 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
and come to their end without hope.
7 “Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
And again in Job 14:2
He comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
Brilliant imagery used to convey this message.
Bildad agrees.
For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
The Absalom story.
The Raman Lamba Story. Raman Lamba (January 2, 1960 in Uttar Pradesh – February 23, 1998 in Dhaka) was an Indian cricketer who played in four Tests and 32 ODIs, mainly as a batsman. He died after being hit in the head while fielding without a helmet, at short leg in a Dhaka club cricket match at the Bangabandhu Stadium.
Batsman Mehrab Hossain hit the ball hard, and it hit Lamba in the head and rebounded to wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud. Mohammad Aminul Islam, the former Bangladesh captain, recalled "I was the new man in and asked Raman if he was okay. He said, 'Bulli [Islam's nickname is Bulbul] main to mar gaya' [I am dead, Bulli] [2].
Although the injury did not appear to be particularly serious, he suffered an internal haemorrhage and he soon died, despite a neurosurgeon being flown in from Delhi.
The 38-year-old Delhi batsman underwent brain surgery at the hospital Saturday, after receiving a severe blow on the head while fielding at silly mid-on in a premier cricket league match between Abahani and Mohammedan.
Lamba was operated upon by Professor Rashiduddin Ahmad, head of the neurology department at the PG Hospital. An Indian surgeon, Dr Brahma Prakash, was also flown in to help in the surgery.
Lamba's condition deteriorated Saturday night. Lamba went to Bangladesh there to play club cricket in 1991 after his international career was over. Banned from Indian cricket for ten months after an altercation with Rashid Patel, he moved to Dhaka.
The Lady Diana story
She suddenly died in a car crash on Aug 31, 1997, at the age of 36.
Okay truth no. 3 - Zophar – Sinful Pleasures Are Short:
Job 20:4-5
Do you not know this from of old,
since man was placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Heb 11:25/ Psa 16:11
Judas Iscariot.
Becker admitted this:
Becker's sex fling costs him £400,000 a second
By Sandra Laville
Published: 12:01AM BST 11 Jul 2001
BORIS BECKER, the former Wimbledon champion, agreed a "generous" settlement yesterday to provide for a child conceived in a broom cupboard during perhaps the most expensive five seconds of his life.
Becker, 33, did not appear at the High Court but the child's mother, Angela Ermakova, a Russian model, was in court to hear Mr Justice Johnson put an end to months of wrangling over maintenance payments for the child, Anna, aged 16 months. Acknowledging the "popular and natural interest" in the case, the judge took the unusual step of making a public statement following the private hearing. It was, said the judge, "an entirely reasonable and indeed generous" settlement. No figure was provided, but Becker had previously offered Miss Ermakova, 34, £2 million. Until yesterday, she had been seeking £3 million to provide for the child conceived at Nobu, a Japanese restaurant in London, in the summer of 1999. Becker and Miss Ermakova had met only hours earlier at the Met Bar where he was drinking after losing to Pat Rafter at Wimbledon in the final match of his career. They moved on to Nobu, where Ms Ermakova said they had sex in a broom cupboard. Becker at first denied being the father but, after tests, admitted paternity. Of the relationship, he said: "It wasn't even an affair. It was an act which lasted five seconds. Never seen her before. Didn't see her again." And of the sex, he added: "It was just poom-pah-boom!" He said: "When you have grown up for years in a sweet shop it eventually doesn't taste any more. Then you need something with a heart."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1333513/Beckers-sex-fling-costs-him-400000-a-second.html, accessed 13 July 2010.
Later in his autobiography he talks about this as the ‘most expensive five seconds of his life’.
Okay truth no. 4 - Zophar calls for REPENTENCE
Job 11:13-17
13 “If you prepare your heart,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and will not fear.
16 You will forget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
Bildad too.
Job 8:5-7
5 If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
7 And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great. Eliphaz too.
22:21-30
21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; [2]
but he saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent, [3]
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
This passage is in many ways a commendable call to repentance (NIVSB).
Zophar’s argument was that God has forgotten some of Job’s sins. The punishment would be far worse had not God forgotten some of his SINS.
11:6
Okay truth no. 5 – God’s Ways are incomprehensible sometimes. Job 37:5 (Elihu’s words) God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend. Zophar too agrees. 11:7
7 “Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? NT affirms this – Rom 11:33-36 Paul quotes from Job 41:11 Elihu had starting trouble (32:18). But stopping trouble as well. He speaks five chapters long. Job perhaps got bored. He did not even respond. F-RIENDS WITH SUSPECT THEOLOGY PRESENTING BOOK OF JOB Job’s friends do not present biblical truth all the time: For example: Suspect theology one – ‘Wicked do not prosper on this side of eternity’ Bildad’s point of view: 8:11-22 Papyrus grow quickly to 15 feet in wetlands. But they can die quickly if there is no water. 18:5-21 this same philosophy is repeated. Job disagrees (Job 21:1-16) Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Suspect Theology two – ‘U reap what You Sow’ Eliphaz in Job 4:8 The Bible stresses this at other places – Hos 10:13 and Gal 6:7-8
It is true – but there was an error in applying it to Job in this circumstance. His friends put words into the mouth of Job – 11:4 Eliphaz even describes likely ways Job has sinned – 22:5-6 So Job calls them ‘miserable comforters’ (Job 16:2) and ‘comfort-givers with empty nothings’ (22:5-6). Suspect teaching no. 3 – ‘God is too big to be concerned about individuals’ Eliphaz in 22:2,3,12,13,14 Wrong teaching. God is concerned about Job, the invidual. He watches Job swallow spit – Job 7:19 God has a plan for each day of our lives – Psa 139 God is elusive for Job, even though he is immanent – Job 9:11; 23:8-9. Why this wrong doctrine came to Eliphaz. He relied ONLY on visions he had in the night (Job 4:12-21). He did not match the visions with the WRITTEN WORD. Paul warns us about receiving messages from Angels (Gal 1:8). Even the Angel speaking to you in a vision could be wrong! Our final authority is the Bible. Not a vision or a dream. These can only supplement what the Bible teaches not substitute. For example you can never have a dream to support your decision to marry an unbeliever, something against God’s written word. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, - II Pet 1:19 U-mpire Expecting/Searching Book of Job God seemed inaccessible (23:3-9) and silent (20:20) for Job. So He wants an umpire. So he asks for an umpire: Job 9:33
There is no [1] arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both. Job 16:19-21
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as [1] a son of man does with his neighbor. Job 19:23-27
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth. [1]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in [2] my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me! Job 23:7
There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. Is that upright man of Job 23:7, Jesus? Read these wow verses where Job’s desire for an umpire gets fulfilled: I John 2:1; Romans 8:34; I Tim 2:5 and Heb 7:25 How Rahul Dravid spoke up for Saurav Ganguly the captain, when Coach Greg Chappell wanted him out of the playing 11 vs Zimbabwe in a test.
Chapel: ‘mohd kaif should be in the XI ahead of you…’
Dravid: ‘it is not right to change the captain of a team in the middle of a tour’ Z-ipping of mouth by God recording book of Job The book of Job records how God zipped Job’s mouth with a flurry of questions: 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent [1] in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-5).
During his speeches Job asked God to speak to him for atleast 36 times. For eg. 13:3
Now, he gets what he wanted – God speaks to him out of the storm on two occasions.
God asked over 70 questions to Job
Round one of questions: Where were you when I…. (38:4) Job began his speeches by lamenting his birth God begins by celebrating his creation. 38:4-11
38:12-38 – Do you have the knowledge or the ability to govern the elements of nature that you experience regularly? No. So, similarly u cannot see fully now what you are doing throught! Just like Job did not have answers to the 70 questions that God asked there is no answer to the 71 question, Why suffering for me! It is imcomprehensible! Of course, some reasons why we suffer were comprehensible to Job. “so that he could be become like gold” (Job 23:10). God’s nickname to Job was ‘faultfinder’ (40:2). This was the nickname Job shared with Satan! In response, Job puts his hand over his mouth, just as the princes did in his presence (Job 29:9).
Round Two:
In the second round of speeches, God shows how proud he is of his pets – the Leviathan (Crocodile perhaps) and Behomoth (the Hippo perhaps).
“You cannot fully grasp the moral world.
You cannot fully grasp the animal world.
So why argue with me, Job?” – God to Job.
41:11 Who has first given me that I should repay him?! God does not ‘owe’ us ANYTHING! He does not owe us good things! No. If God owed us anything, he would not be God! Even Salvation – he does not owe us.
That is why we have biblical texts such as:
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands;[1] seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD. (Zeph 2:3). The word ‘perhaps’ here shows there is no compulsion on God to save us or heal us or hear us or do good to us!
JOB’S REPLY TO GOD IN 42:2-6
Reflects his humility.
Shows he has listened to God intently as he quotes God. (42:3-4 Vs 38:2-3).
The blessing of praying for others – Job reaceived double blessing – 42:12 (No of animals he had doubled, except the kids). Compare with 1:3.
This was a fulfillment of Job 8:5- 7. God roused himself for Job.
God restored all his lost relationships
Job 42:11
Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil [1] that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money [2] and a ring of gold.
He became an illustration of Prov 16:7
When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
42:8,9,10 – God appreciates Job. “He has spoken rightly of me,” he says.
Job, even in anger, spoke honesty to God. His friends only spoke about God dishonestly. They claimed to know why Job suffered, when they did not NOT.
Their problem was two fold:
1. Spiritual arrogance
2. Dry theology
Elihu made himself God. The same phrase he used for God, ‘perfect in knowledge’ 37:16, he used for God (36:4). Elihu made himseff God.
Job suffered only a small portion when compared to this 140 years of existence (42:16).
II Cor 4:17 – our present trouble are ‘slight momentary afflications…are like small potatores…’ (Eugene Peterson version) I Pet 1:6 – though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trails….
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