Search The Scriptures —Study 15 — Job 32 and 33. The introduction and first speech of Elihu

Study 15 From the Book of Job is: Job 32 and 33. The introduction and first speech of

Elihu

The Speeches of Elihu (32-37)

Elihu is a young man who has overheard the friends and Job speaking. Both sides anger him, and he wants to put things right. His main beliefs are these:God is incapable of making a mistake; pain is a divine deterrent aimed at keeping men from sin.

1. What made Elihu angry? On what grounds does he claim a right to speak? What do you think of the way he begins his speech?
2. Job had said that God treated him unjustly (33:8-11), and that He made matters worse by refusing to talk to him (33:13). What replies does Elihu give to Job about this? See verses 12, 14-33. In what ways does he say God speaks? And for what purpose?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 14 — Job 30 and 31. Job's final speech (continued)

Study 14 From the Book of Job is: Job 30 and 31. Job's final speech (c0ntinued)

1. Chapter 30. Contrast Job's present condition with his previous prosperity surveyed in chapter 29. In what different ways in Job now beset by misery and distress? What is his chief reason for perplexity and complaint?
2. Chapter 31. Of what sins, secret and public, does Job here declare himself innocent? Make a list and use it for self-examination. In contrast to the judgment of his friends, what is Job here seeking to prove about his present condition?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 1 3— Job 28 and 29. The search for wisdom: Job's final speech

Study 13 From the Book of Job is: Job 28 and 29. The search for wisdom: Job's final

speech

1. Chapter 28. What is here expressed concerning (a) human skill, and (b) human inability? What are (a) the source, and (b) the essence of true wisdom? Cf. 1:1; 2:3; Ps. 34:11-14.
2. Chapter 29. What may we learn from Job's description of his manner of life before tragedy overwhelmed him? What most stands out in his memory? What then grave enrichment and direction to his daily living?

Notes

1. Chapter 28 reads like an independent insertion—a poem in praise of wisdom. The 'wisdom' meant is not simply mental ability, but understanding of the right way to act in the face of life's mystery. Supremely, as known only to God, it means the master plan behind the created order. The New Testament declares that this wisdom is found and expressed in Christ. Cf. 1 Cor.1:30; Col. 2:23.
2. Job's speech in chapter 29-31 is best understood as a concluding monologue, summing up the whole situation.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 12 — Job 25-27. Bildad's third speech and Job's reply

Study 12 From the Book of Job is: Job 25-27. Bildad's third speech and Job's reply

1. How do Bildad and Job speak of (a) God's holiness, and (b) His omnipotence?

2. The knowledge of God's power does not help Job now. To what does he cling (27:1-6)? Was he right in this?
3. Does 27:7-22 add any fresh ideas about the wicked?

Note. 27:7-22. Some part of the otherwise lost third speech of Zophar is possibly here. The thought echoes 20: 12ff.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 11 — Job 22-24. Eliphaz' third speech and Job's reply

Study 11 From the Book of Job is: Job 22-24. Eliphaz' third speech and Job's reply

THE THIRD CYCLE OF SPEECHES (22-31)

Only Eliphaz speaks at length to Job in this third cycle. Zophat says nothing (see, however, the Note on 27:7-22). The friends' case against Job is already leaking badly. Eliphaz sinks it by shouting false charges at Job, which Job later (31) refutes. Job ends by repeating his innocence, and his perplexity.

1. Chapter 22. Of what does Eliphaz accuse Job (verse 6-9)? List God's blessings on the humble (verses 21-30). Why does Eliphaz' list of blessing (verse 3) make so little impression on Job?
2. Chapter 23. Job earnestly desires to find God (verse 3). How is he now thinking of God? See verses 5, 6, 10, 13, 16. Is it a Friend or a Foe?
3. Chapter 24. What anomalies does Job see in society around him? Compare what 'you' say (verses 18-20) with what Job says. Does this chapter teach us anything about how to make observation on life?

Note. 22:2-4. Eliphaz' argument is that God's treatment of man is not with a view to any gain or advantage to Himself but for man's sake. Since we cannot suppose that He punishes them for their piety (verse 4), it must be because of their sin.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 10 — Job 20 and 21. Zophar's second speech and Job's reply

Study 10 From the Book of Job is: Job 20 and 21. Zophar's second speech and Job's

reply

1. Place Zophar's views of the state of the wicked in this world alongside Job's. Cf. 20:6-28 with 21:6-26. At what points do they (a) agree, and (b) disagree?
2. In this second cycle Job's friends, gaining no victory, utter threats. Is defeated conservatism bound to take refuge in acid prediction of gloom? Had Job something to teach them if only they were willing to learn?

Notes

1. 20:5. Cf. Pss. 37 and 73 on the sudden end of bad men.
2. 20:7. 'Dead men are dead'. Job's hopes about another life receive short measure from Zophar.
3. 20:17. 'The rivers': i.e., of paradise.
4. 21:34. Job means that they have not troubled to check their thesis against life itself. So they are dealing in lies.

Concluding note to the section chapter 15:21. Job's friends have nothing new to say: but Job has. He is stumbling towards the truth that death itself will provide a way out of his impasse, when a shadowy but friendly Redeemer will acquit him.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 9 — Job 18 and 19. Bildad's second speech and Job's reply

Study 9 From the Book of Job is: Job 18 and 19. Bildad's second speech and Job's

reply

1. In 18 the sequence of events which happen to the wicked and the ungodly.
2. In 19 Job says he feels imprisoned and alone. List the metaphors under which he pictures his solitary confinement. How does he picture his release? To what grand assurance does his faith triumphantly rise?

Notes

1. 18:2. 'How long before you make a capture of mere words'? i.e, before you stop mouthing empty ideas. 'Consider' i.e., say something worth saying, and our answer will be weighty.
2. 18:4. The world's natural laws will not be altered to suit Job.
3. 19:25-27. Even if Job had no hope of vindication in this life he believed that God must vindicate him and that, after death, he would see God and find God on his side. Cf. Rom. 8:33-39.
4. 19:28b. 'The real cause of the trouble is himself' possibly expresses the sense intended.
5. 19:29. 'Trouble will come to them if they go on rejecting his cries for pity' is what Job here means.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 8 — Job 15-17. Eliphaz' second speech and Job's reply

Study 8 From the Book of Job is: Job 15-17. Eliphaz' second speech and Job's reply

1. Read chapter 15 and compare its tone and approach with Eliphaz' first speech in chapters 4 and 5. Note the emphasis on human depravity. How should Eliphaz have dealt with a younger man who would not agree with him? Why was he so sure he was right? To whose shortcomings was he blind?
2. 16 and 17. Even in the depths, Job finds some particles of hope. What form do these take?

Notes

1. 15:4. Eliphaz accuses Job of being an enemy of true religion and godliness because he denies the traditional orthodoxy.
2. 17:11b. A reference to the earlier speeches of Job's friends.
3. 15:18-19. Eliphaz claims that his doctrine is ancient and pure, untainted by foreign heresies.
4. 16:2. Ronald Knox renders this: 'Old tales and cold comfort; you are all alike.'
5. 16:19, 21. A further reference to the mediator.
6. 17:16b. Taken as a statement, not a question, this indicates a sudden further advance in Job's hopes.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 7 — Job 13 and 14. Job speaks again

Study 7 From the Book of Job is: Job 13 and 14. Job speaks again

For convenience the first cycle has been considered as ending at 14. It could equally finish at 12, with 13 and 14 beginning the fresh round of opposing speeches.

1. What is Job's chief accusation against his friends? What two demands does he now make to God?
2. In the long dirge on man's uncertainties in chapter 14 there is one small but significant gleam of hope. What is it? Compare and contrast the Christian's view of this hope with Job's. (Note, however, that in chapter 18 Job relapses into a deeper pessimism still.)

THE SECOND SPEECH CYCLE OF SPEECHES (15-21)

Unable to persuade Job that he is wrong, his friends now use blunter accusation and scarcely-veiled threats. They dwell on the fate of the wicked. Job, by this time very upset, sinks into repeated moanings about his troubles. Then, quite suddenly, at the deepest point of misery he revives a little (16:19; 19:25 and in 21 attacks this antique idea of his friends that 'It's always the bad who get the pain' and accuses them of preaching a dogma denied by life. Their observations are inaccurate.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 6 — Job 11 and 12. Zophar's first speech and Job's reply

Study 6 From the Book of Job is: Job 11 and 12. Zophar's first speech and Job's reply

1. Observe (a) the sharp rebuke in 11:6; (b) the steps to repentance in 11:13, 14; (c) the picture of blessing in 11:15-19. Why do you think Zophar failed to help Job?

2. Eliphaz spoke of visions, and research, Bildad of the wisdom of the ancients. To what authority does Zophar appeal to support his conviction that sin and suffering are inevitably linked?

3. Zophar and Job each speak of divine wisdom. Compare the various examples of it which they cite.

Note. 12:5-12. Perhaps Job is ironically quoting Zophar's view back at him. Job's point is that these platitudes are irrelevant to his situation. He does not deny them.

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