Wisdom Books Job

Job Responded

Discover Jesus as: Promised Redeemer Job 5-6 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 368 of 730
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INTRO

Job is considered one of the oldest books of the Bible and is classified as wisdom literature. Job is filled with practical information about how to navigate a difficult situation. The primary question of the book of Job is, “Do you depend on the Lord in the midst of suffering?” But Job also raises the question of why we experience suffering. Some say it’s because of sin, others for disciplining, still others consider suffering an opportunity for God to show us His grace and comfort.

In yesterday’s lesson, Eliphaz, one of Job’s three friends who came to visit him when he heard Job had lost everything and that his health had also been taken from him, began to respond to Job’s venting about his situation, in chapter 3. In the first part of his response, Eliphaz stated his belief that God punishes the wicked but rewards the righteous, implying Job experienced his calamity because of his own personal sin. In today’s lesson, Eliphaz continues his first response to Job, and Job begins his response. However, Nelson pointed out, “The dialogue is not so much a conversation between friends as it is a speech contest.”1

TEACHING

Job 6:1–7: This section highlights Job’s reasons for complaining.2Job pointed out he had lost everything: his family, his possessions, and his health. Now Job’s situation is a perfect picture of Proverbs 27:3: “A stone is heavy and sand, a burden, but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.” Eliphaz was a fool. Job having to deal with him was a much heavier burden than Job’s actual sufferings. Eliphaz, and later all of Job’s friends, did not feel the heaviness of his suffering.3Job modeled the type of dependence on God during suffering that Jesus encouraged (Matthew 11:28–29). This attitude was the opposite of Eliphaz.

Job described his feelings as, “the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me” (v. 4). Arrows can be symbolic of judgment. Job’s use of this imagery might indicate he had been somewhat influenced by Eliphaz’s belief that God always punishes wickedness and always rewards righteousness, at least temporarily. Job’s heaviness in his suffering had turned into bitterness in suffering.4He listed a variety of foods that were tasteless before concluding, “I refuse to touch them; they are like contaminated food” (v. 7). Nelson noted this statement was a rejection of Eliphaz’s “tasteless counsel.”5

Job 6:8–13: This section highlights Job’s desperate condition. Wiersbe notes that Job’s language conveys a sense of hopelessness.6Job expresses his desire for God to “crush me” and “cut me off” (v. 9). At this point in Job’s suffering, this “would still bring me comfort” (v. 10). Job had not denied God, but neither could he deny his level of suffering. Nelson observes that Job was “more concerned to preserve his relationship with the Holy One than for God to remove his pain and anguish through death.”7 A shift began to occur in Job’s speech beginning in verse 11. Job shifted from responding to Eliphaz to speaking a prayer.

Job 6:14–23: Job expresses his disappointment with his friends. Job compares his friends to a wadi, a streambed that was full in the rainy season but completely dry in the summer.8 Like travelers who passed by these wadis in the summer and were frustrated to find them completely dry, Job’s friends frustrated him by failing to offer him relief from his suffering with their words and actions. Leonard Ravenhill said, “You can have all of your doctrines right—yet still not have the presence of God.” Somewhere along the way, Job’s friends allowed their relationship with God to become more about law, regulations, and rules rather than the Lord Himself. Their hearts grew far from Him, and they dried up. Job’s friends needed to return to the Lord and allow Him to fill them (Jeremiah 24:7; Zechariah 1:3; James 4:8). However, at this point, they did not know the Lord was not with them, similar to Samson not realizing the Lord had left him (Judges 16:20).

8Constable, p. 42.

Job 6:24–30: Job asks his friends to teach him, to help him understand what he did wrong. He demonstrates incredible humility to his friends who had insulted him, but he also reminds them that his “righteousness is still the issue” (v. 29). Job implied he could discern whether the disaster that came upon him was the result of his own sin in the same way he could distinguish different tastes on his tongue (v. 30).9

CLOSING

Job was not passive aggressive as he expressed his disappointment with his friends. During his suffering, Job found his friends to be dry with nothing to offer him, instead of a refreshing spring in the midst of a desert. If you find yourself dry before the Lord, return to Him. Allow Him to fill you so that you have something to offer others.

  1. TThomas Nelson, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999) 6:1. Accessed electronically https://books.google.com/books?id=rVkt20rhM- 9wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nelson%27s+illustrated+commentary&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwihkdLawazfAhUBKK0KHSdrBpcQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=job%205&f=false on 12/19/18.

  2. Thomas Constable, Dr. Constable’s Bible Study Notes: Job, p. 42; available at https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/job.pdf.

  3. Warren Wiersbe, Be Patient (Job): Waiting on God in Difficult Times (Colorado Springs: David Cook, 1991), p. 39.

  4. Wiersbe, p. 39.

  5. Nelson, 6:5–7.

  6. Wiersbe, p. 39.

  7. Nelson, 6:8–10.

Questions

  1. Do you feel like Eliphaz spoke arrogantly and acted as though he knew everything about God in Job 5? (1 Corinthians 13:12)
  2. Eliphaz said, “We have investigated this, and it is true” (Job 5:27). Who do you think he was referring to when he said, “We”?
  3. Job was clearly angry with Eliphaz in chapter 6 for accusing him of sin without naming what he had done wrong. What did Jesus say about this? (Matthew 7:3; Romans 12:15)
  4. Is it possible Eliphaz was afraid that what happened to Job might happen to him because of some hidden sin in his own life (Romans 6:21)? Was Job’s dilemma a result of sin in his life, as his friends assumed? Have you ever been guilty of finding fault in someone else while overlooking the sin in your own life?
  5. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Job 56 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Job 6:2–3

“If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it in the scales. For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.”

Job responded honestly to his friend Eliphaz. He shared that he was indeed suffering. Because Job was suffering, he was weighed down and heavy-laden. He admitted the boils on his body caused him pain. And yet, despite feeling the bitterness of suffering, despite not agreeing with his friend’s response, Job turned to the Lord in prayer.

Sometimes it’s hard to admit you carry heavy burdens. It’s difficult to be vulnerable with family and friends and admit, “I am weary and worried.” This admission requires honesty and humility. However, as a believer, you walk with a Savior, a King, and a Friend named Jesus who reaches out His hand and says, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus says, “I am your rest.” Friend, rest in Jesus. First, admit your burden. Take a deep breath in and breathe out. As you breathe out, say, “God, take this burden from me. I’m worn out from carrying it. I trust You to carry it for me.” Now, lift your hands in the air with your palms up as a sign of releasing the burden. He’s got it. He is able to carry it, and He is able to equip you with grace and power to walk through this season. Rest in Him.

“If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it in the scales. For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.”

— Job 6:2–3

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Psalm 62:5–8 — “Rest in God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be shaken. My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah.
  • Psalm 91:1–2 — “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”
  • Matthew 11:28–30 — “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”