Search The Scriptures —Study 19 — Job 40:6- 42:6. The Lord's second speech and Job's reply

Study 19 From the Book of Job is: Job 40:6 – 42:6. The Lord's second speech and

Job's reply

1. God brings before Job two powerful wild creatures—the hippopotamus (40:15-24) and the crocodile (41:1-34). What does God intend that Job should learn from these animals? What questions does He ask Job?
2. Job has been given no explanation of his sufferings. What brought him to the deep humbling and self-abasement described in 42:1-6?

Note. 'The point in these descriptions is the prodigality of Created Might' (H.R. Minn).

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Search The Scriptures —Study 18 — Job 38:1 – 40:5. The first speech of the Lord and Job's reply

Study 18 From the Book of Job is: Job 38:1 – 40:5. The first speech of the Lord and

Job's reply

The speeches of the Lord and Job's Replies (38:1 – 42:6)

1. Consider the examples of God's handiwork here depicted. What relation had this to Job's condition and perplexity? What response ought this to produce in us? Cf. Pss. 97:1-6, 12: 104: 1, 24.
2. Job had pleaded for an interview with God in which his innocence could be established. See 13:3; 23:3, 4; 31:37. God proves his littleness. Why do you think Job is answered like this? What does Job confess in his reply?

Notes

1. 38:2. This means: 'You are obscuring the truth by speaking without thinking.'
2. 38:4ff. The reader should take good note of the bold, magnificent images employed here. The world is like a building erected by one man (verse 4). The sea's birth was like a child's issuing from the womb (verse 8). Dawn shakes the earth like an open-air sleeper rising and shaking out of his blanket the creatures which came in for warmth (verses 12, 13). 'God is now speaking to deeper need, to the hidden fear, hardly realized by Job and certainly unconfessed, that there might be somewhere where the writ of God did not run, where god was not all-sovereign' (H.L. Ellison).
3. 40:2. This means: Can you prove yourself right only by proving me wrong?

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Search The Scriptures —Study 17 — Job 36 and 37. Elihu's last speech

Study 17 From the Book of Job is: Job 36 and 37. Elihu's last speech

1. What does Elihu here assert concerning (a) the character of God's rule, and (b) the evidences of His greatness? To what conclusion about his trouble does he seek to lead Job?
2. Of what is Elihu profoundly aware concerning (a) the character and the ways of God, and (b) his own attempts to describe them? Cf. Rom 11:33-36.

Note 37:20. Elihu expresses dread at the thought of contending with God.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 16— Job 34 and 35. Elihu's second speech

Study 16 From the Book of Job is: Job 34 and 35. Elihu's second speech

1. According to Elihu Job says (a) that God is wronging him (34:5, 6) and (b) that there is no profit to be gained from delighting in God and doing His will (34:9; 35:3). How does Elihu answer these contentions? What precious truths about God does he declare?
2. 'In the setting of the book of Job it is not a question whether Elihu is right or not—obviously he is right, at least in large measure—but whether he contributes anything to the solution of Job's “Why” Obviously he does not' (H. L. Ellison). Do you agree with this judgment? Why did a man who knew so much fail to be helpful? Of what danger should this make us aware?

Notes

1. 34:13-15. The thought here seems to be that God as Creator has no motive for injustice; and that the existence and preservation of the universe in an evidence of God's interest in His creatures.
2. 34:23-30. There is no need for God to act as men do by process of trial and judgment. God knows all and acts at once.
3. 35:10. God is the only source of all true comfort. Cf. Ps. 42:8; 2 Cor. 1:3-4.

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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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