JOB 11-15 Observations

CHAPTER 11

Zophar: Urges Job to Repent

· Zophar: Job, will your words go unanswered?

Job 11:2 - 20 (NASB)

o ² “Shall a multitude of words go unanswered, And a talkative man be acquitted? ³

o “Shall your boasts silence men?

o And shall you scoff and none rebuke? ⁴

o “For you have said,

§ ‘My teaching is pure,

§ And I am innocent in your eyes.’

§ ⁵ “But would that God might speak, And open His lips against you,

§ ⁶ And show you the secrets of wisdom!

§ This has eery resemblance to what Satan said in the garden of Eden.

§ For sound wisdom has two sides. Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity.

§ Great counsel: God’s not giving you all you deserve? Wow! What great counsel. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

o ⁷ “Can you discover the depths of God?

o Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?

§ ⁸ “They are high as the heavens, what can you do?

§ Deeper than Sheol,

o what can you know?

§ ⁹ “Its measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.

§ ¹⁰ “If He passes by or shuts up,

§ Or calls an assembly,

o who can restrain Him?

§ ¹¹ “For He knows false men,

§ And He sees iniquity without investigating.

§ ¹² “An idiot will become intelligent

§ When the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.

§ ¹³ “If you would direct your heart right And spread out your hand to Him,

§ ¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand,

§ (then) put it far away, And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents; ¹⁵

§ “Then, indeed, you could lift up your face without moral defect, And you would be steadfast and not fear.

§ ¹⁶ “For you would forget your trouble, As waters that have passed by, you would remember it.

§ ¹⁷ “Your life would be brighter than noonday; Darkness would be like the morning.

§ ¹⁸ “Then you would trust, because there is hope; And you would look around and rest securely.

§ Hope is what Job needs. But this counselor takes hope away from him. How tragic.

§ IF YOU WERE RIGHT, JOB…

§ ¹⁹ “You would lie down and

§ none would disturb you,

§ And many would entreat your favor.

§ ²⁰ “But

§ the eyes of the wicked will fail,

§ And there will be no escape for them;

§ And their hope is to breathe their last.”

· This counselor gives Job no hope, no answers, no encouragement. This is BAD counsel.

CHAPTER 12

Job Answers His Critics

· Job chides his critical counselors

o Job 12:1 - 25 (NASB) ¹Then Job responded, ² “Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!

§ Note the sarcasm in Job’s comment. Do you think all wisdom resides with you?

o ³ “But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

§ Job maintains that he is not inferior to these critical counselors.

o ⁴ “I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke. ⁵ “He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip. ⁶ “The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power.

o ⁷ “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. ⁸ “Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

§ Job appeals to the beasts, birds, plants and fish to illustrate the principle that violent ones do prosper and live securely.

o ⁹ “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, ¹⁰ In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? ¹¹ “Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? ¹² “Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding. ¹³ “With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding.

o ¹⁴ “Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;

o He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

o ¹⁵ “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;

o And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

o ¹⁶ “With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

o ¹⁷ “He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges. ¹⁸ “He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle. ¹⁹ “He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones. ²⁰ “He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders.

o ²¹ “He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong.

o ²² “He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light.

o ²³ “He makes the nations great, then destroys them;

o He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

o ²⁴ “He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people And makes them wander in a pathless waste. ²⁵ “They grope in darkness with no light,

o And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

CHAPTER 13

· Job: You counselors don’t know more than I do.

· I am not inferior to you.

· You are forgers of lies

· Oh that you would be silent

· Job 13:7 - 12 (NASB) ⁷ “Will you

o speak what is unjust for God, And

o speak what is deceitful for Him? ⁸ “Will you

o show partiality for Him? Will you

o contend for God? ⁹ “Will

o it be well when He examines you? Or will you

o deceive Him as one deceives a man?

· ¹⁰ “He will surely reprove you

· If you secretly show partiality.

· ¹¹ “Will not His majesty terrify you, And the dread of Him fall on you? ¹² “Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

· Job 13:15 (NASB) ¹⁵ “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

· Job 13:20 - 21 (NASB) ²⁰ “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face: ²¹ Remove Your hand from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me.

Job’s Despondent Prayer

· Job 13:23 (NASB) ²³ “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.

· Job’s Questions to God:

o Q1. Job 13:23 - 28 (NASB) ²³ “How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.

o Q2. ²⁴ “Why do You hide Your face And consider me Your enemy?

o Q3. ²⁵ “Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble?

o Q4. Or will You pursue the dry chaff?

o ²⁶ “For You

§ write bitter things against me

§ And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth.

§ ²⁷ “You put my feet in the stocks

§ And watch all my paths;

§ You set a limit for the soles of my feet, ²⁸ While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

CHAPTER 14

· Job: This is the lot of mankind:

· Job 14:1 (NASB) ¹ “Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.

· There is hope for a tree…when it is cut low it will sprout again…but man? Where is his hope when he is cut down?

· Job’s longings:

o Job 14:13 - 22 (NASB) ¹³ “Oh that

o You would hide me in Sheol,

o That You would conceal me

o until Your wrath returns to You,

o That You would set a limit for me and remember me! ¹⁴ “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes.

o ¹⁵ “You will call, and

o I will answer You;

o You will long for the work of

o Your hands.

o ¹⁶ “For now You number my steps,

o You do not observe my sin. ¹⁷ “My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

o And You wrap up my iniquity. ¹⁸ “But the falling mountain crumbles away, And the rock moves from its place; ¹⁹ Water wears away stones, Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;

o So You destroy man’s hope.

o ²⁰ “You forever overpower him and he departs;

o You change his appearance and send him away.

o ²¹ “His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it;

o Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.

o ²² “But his body pains him, And he mourns only for himself.”

CHAPTER 15

Eliphaz: Accuses Job of Folly

· Job 15:4 (NASB) ⁴ “Indeed, you do away with reverence (i.e., you cast off fear) And hinder meditation (restrain prayer) before God.

· Your own words condemn you (counselors)

o Job 15:6 (NASB) ⁶ “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; And your own lips testify against you.

· Sarcastic questions by Job to these inferior counselors:

o Q1. Job 15:7 - 14 (NASB) ⁷ “Were you the first man to be born,

o Q2. Or were you brought forth before the hills?

o Q3. ⁸ “Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

o Q4. And limit wisdom to yourself?

o Q5. ⁹ “What do you know that we do not know?

o Q6. What do you understand that we do not?

o ¹⁰ “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

o Older than your father.

o Q7. ¹¹ “Are the consolations of God too small for you,

o Even the word spoken gently with you?

o Q8. ¹² “Why does your heart carry you away? And why do your eyes flash, ¹³ That you should turn your spirit against God And allow such words to go out of your mouth?

o Q9^{. 14} “What is man, that he should be pure,

o Q10. Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

· Eliphaz: Job, You’re a hypocrite and God’s judging you.

o Again this is very myopic counsel. Eliphaz does not have real insight into what God is doing…and can’t even give Job some comfort, encouragement or support.

o This kind of counsel is very grievous. Better to keep your mouth shut that to counsel someone going through the valley of the shadow of death with this kind of counsel.