05/17/21 New Living Translation Version

 

The book of Job is a fascinating book that helps us see the life of Job, a man who feared God. This man however in the context of things was a gentile, and we know he was a gentile because of the location where the story takes place; in the land of Uz just west of Saudia Arabia, next to Egypt and below of Jordan. We know it takes place in this region because the bible mentions the Chaldeans and the Sabeans who took part in Job’s conflict.

 

As mentioned above Job lived a life fearing God. Although he was a gentile, he lived to please God in everything he did.

 

After we are told the facts of Job’s rich life in the first chapter, we come to verse 7 where we read that God’s court gathers, and among the court, Satan being present is asked where he came from. In this section, we learn that Satan does not reside in hell like many believe it to be. This part of the scriptures tells us where exactly he comes from. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” JOB 1: 7 (NLT)

 

Although the Bible may seem to be silent on this, we can come to a conclusion that Satan does not reside in hell for we also find in Scripture that he is the “lord of this world” which implies that he resides, although not omnipresently, on earth. So we learn that Satan is on the earth moving from place to place, so to bring things into perspective, Satan has been bound to roam the earth since almost the beginning of time.

 

Because the book of Job is very long, I will only focus on a few highlighted verses and comment on those verses. I believe they provide big insight into things that sometimes we overlook.

 

JOB 4: 12-20 (Eliphaz Responding to Job)

 

12 “This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. 13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. 14 Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. 15 A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end. 16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn’t see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say, 17  ‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’ 18  “If God does not trust his angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness, 19 how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth. 20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace.

 

One of the things that captured my attention in this section was Eliphaz’s vision, obviously a dark dream. It was a deep sleep where the body is bound to the bed and is unable to move, this type of nightmarish deep sleep brings fear to those who have experienced such sleep that only occurs when one is aware of their surroundings but is unable to move.

 As I read this and analyzed the quote, it is clear that the voice he heard was his own. v. 7 “Remember now, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed?” Because it is clear that he reminds Job of his patience over those he had helped in the past but now that the tables have turned, Eliphaz questions Job of his patience. So with that, we can see that Eliphaz does see some tension between the experience of Job and what was then seen as upright living. Thus, Eliphaz has, as we perceived now in the light of Christ, a misunderstanding of upright living. The dream thus emphasizes and reinforces such tensions but it is because of a false reality that Eliphaz had adopted.

But I am still mesmerized at the voice Eliphaz heard, it almost sounded as if the enemy himself said those words, words so crafty and well arranged, shadowing the same dialog Eve had with the serpent in the garden. But we know now that a mortal can be innocent before God through Jesus Christ. And anyone can be made pure through the Holy Spirit.

 

JOB 9: 1-35 (Job Responds to Bildad a Third Time)

 

32 “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. 33 If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. 34 The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.

 

Job recognizes something very important, the need for a mediator. It is possible that during this time Abraham, Issac and Jacob had already been given the promise of salvation. In contrast, it is as if God heard Job’s cry for a savior. And in these verses, we see that Job is wishing to have someone who can bring peace between him and God.

 

JOB 14: 13-14 (Asking How Job Sinned)

 

13 “I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! 14 Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.

 

Sometimes when we face conflict, we want to either hide or wish that time just passes us by and be done with the trouble we are going through and wish were already on the other end of things.

Job thinks God is angry at him, therefore he wishes he would hide from his anger and the grave seemed to be a reasonable place to hide because when people die they no longer experience hardships. But he specifies that he doesn’t wish to be dead forever, because then he says, “But mark your calendar to think of me again!” But almost right away he questions his request, by asking the question “Can the dead live again?” If it is so, he would wait patiently for the “release of death”, that is, being able to live again.

 

JOB 16: 19-20 (21) (Job Responds to Eliphaz a Fifth Time)

 

18 “O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf. 19 Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. 20 My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. 21 I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.

 

Despite the sadness and calamity of Jobs’ situation, he recognizes that there is someone in heaven that is there to speak for him. A witness, someone who understands the despair and hardships of humanity, could it be that Job realized that one day God would live among men and would experience everything he is experiencing? That is why he says “my witness”. In verse 21 he expresses that he needs a mediator, someone who can bring him and God together. 

Christ is that witness who can mediate between men and God because he lived on earth and experienced our earthly joys and troubles. And in those times when no other nation knew about a redeemer, Job was given insight that he needed a mediator, that mediator we know is Christ our Lord and Savior, our advocate.

 

JOB 19: 25-27 (Job Responds to Bildad a Sixth Time)

 

25 “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last. 26 And after my body has decayed, yet in my body, I will see God! 27 I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!

 

We read that Job knows that his redeemer lives. We previously saw that Job could only hope to know if there was a mediator to bring his cause before God, then we learned that he needed a mediator between God and him. And now we read that he knows there is a mediator, and that after his body dies, he will see God in his body, meaning that he will one day live again. The question he once had whether one can come back to life, was revealed to him in this dialogue.

And so we learned that throughout the time we humans fear the unknown. But God who knows all and is in control of our everyday life and our hope is Jesus Christ. And in him, we can say that our redeemer lives, and just as He lives we will one day live with our new physical bodies.

Amen!