Ilya Repin, via Wikimedia Commons
Bible Gems and Studies – How Great Thou Art in Job
Chapter 1 The book of Job is one of the most surprising of all the books of the Old Testament scripture. It
fits in after the book of Esther and before Psalms in a significant manner for in Job we learn
directly of the almighty sovereignty of the Lord our God, and we learn that His judgments are
just and righteous altogether …
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Chapter 2 In Job chapter two we are introduced to the final or second stage of the test applied to Job. We
are also introduced in chapter two to the three debaters whose words take up such a large part of
the book …
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Chapter 3 Now in Job chapter three we come to the beginning of the great debate. The question debated is whether a truly righteous man would be allowed to suffer, or not. We have already seen these ‘characters’ who will debate the question …
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Chapter 4 “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said…” So begins the great debate. What subject is
under debate? Should a truly righteous man be allowed to suffer, or not? And Eliphaz the
Temanite answers. …
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Chapter 5 What can we learn from Eliphaz? There is much we can learn from Eliphaz in Job chapter five. Eliphaz, remember, represents normalcy, which is learned from or by experience. …
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Chapter 6 “But Job answered and said…” Eliphaz is a ‘friend” when everything is normal, for Eliphaz represents in one character that which is reasonable and rational and normal and expected. …
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Chapter 7 In Job chapter seven the lamentation of the man Job is very poignant and moving. Here he makes mention of his afflictions: “My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.” …
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Chapter 8 “Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?” Bildad the Shuhite is the second of the three ‘characters’ taking part in this debate. …
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Chapter 9 “Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.” It becomes more obvious as we read the book of Job that the translators did not fully understand the matter, …
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Chapter 10 In the tenth chapter of the book of Job we find Job continuing his complaint and reproach of God. What is he saying? He is saying this has gone on long enough! He is pleading for an end of it! …
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Chapter 11 “Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said…” In Job chapter eleven we need to see the relevance of the third ‘character’ in this debate. Remember the subject under debate is this question, “Should a truly righteous man suffer, or not.” …
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Chapter 12 “And Job answered and said, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?” Elementary, scoffs Job. …
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Chapter 13 “Lo,” says Job, “mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.” No, Job is by no means inferior. Job has been said to be – by God Himself – a ‘perfect’ man. …
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Chapter 14 “Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” That much-quoted verse is the prelude to chapter 14 of the book of Job. Now Job, as we said earlier, was by no means a young man at this point, and furthermore Job lived after this point another one hundred and forty years. …
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Chapter 15 “Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said…” We come now to the words of Eliphaz. If you recall, Eliphaz represents in one ‘character’ the sense of reason, normality, rationality, and plays a major part in the debate which is the bulk of the book of Job. Again the subject debated, remember, is this – Should a truly righteous man suffer or not. …
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Chapter 16 “Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end?” (Have you finished berating me?) “or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?” …
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Chapter 17 “My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.” We can see that chapter 17 of the book of Job follows on closely from chapter 16; indeed the last verse of the previous chapter properly belongs to this chapter. For in this chapter 17 the whole thought of resurrection is entirely missing. …
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Chapter 18 “Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said…” Each in turn takes the stage in this great dispute, so that we may perceive the cognizance of their arguments. Bildad the Shuhite, remember, represents for us both tears and laughter, as the normal ups-and-downs of life. A life lived on the mountain tops of Pisgah is not normal. …
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Chapter 19 “Then Job answered and said, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.” …
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Chapter 20 “Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said…” Why do we study the book of Job? Is it history? Is it only an exercise in ingenuity? Or is it scripture, testifying to Christ? We need to see that the debate, rather than the story, is the ‘raison d’être’ for the book. If it were only the story of Job, then five or six chapters would have sufficed for the whole. But the story is only the introduction and the end of the book …
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Chapter 21 “But Job answered and said, Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolation. Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.” Job in chapter 21 has passed the point where the heat has been turned off, the pressure abated, the trial over, yet he is far from recovery although his recovery has in fact begun. …
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Chapter 22 “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?” Eliphaz the Temanite, you may recall, represents reasonableness, and shows us the difference between normal and abnormal. Without Eliphaz we may fail to discern that the day of grace is actually an abnormal state of affairs. …
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Chapter 23 “Then Job answered and said…” The great debate continues, and the pressure on Job has abated only a fraction at this point. “Then Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.” …
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Chapter 24 Job continues to speak in Job 24, but here his emphasis is on man rather than on God. “Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?” Occasionally the English rendering is a little obscure, yet without knowledge of the meaning and purpose of the book freer translations are often misleading. …
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Chapter 25 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said…” and in five short verses we learn all that Bildad has to say. The debate is actually over at this point. The question debated is, “Should a truly righteous man suffer, or not?” and, as we have seen, Job answers in the negative, Eliphaz answers in the negative, Bildad answers in the negative, and Zophar answers in the negative …
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Chapter 26 “But Job answered and said…” This chapter actually concludes the debate, because Job is allowed the last word, as it were, although Job’s speech runs on into chapter 31. We need to clearly distinguish the parts of scripture, ‘rightly dividing the word of truth,’ if we are to see the matter. …
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Chapter 27 “Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” …
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Chapter 28 As we come to chapter 28 of the book of Job, we come to one of the great chapters of the Old Testament. We need desperately to learn wisdom instead of folly, and any chapter that sets out to explain the wisdom of God to us has got to be worthy of most earnest study. We have seen in chapter 27 that God recognizes only two, or possibly three, classes of men – …
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Chapter 29 “Moreover, Job continued his parable, and said…” We need to see that this is a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. As we come to chapter 29 of Job we are tempted to see once again only the earthly story, for here is Job’s autobiography. …
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Chapter 30 Now as we go on to chapter 30 of Job we see that, in fact, the parable continues. Job begins chapter 30 by describing the baseness of the men who now surround him. “But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.” …
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Chapter 31 Here endeth “the words of Job,” in chapter 31 of the book of Job. We have seen that earlier in the book the “words of Job” arranged a vent for the increasing pressure forced upon him, and now we see that the pressure has abated to the point where it may be borne thereafter in silence. …
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Chapter 32 “So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.” …
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Chapter 33 “Wherefore,” says Elihu, “wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, and hearken to all my words.” Elihu represents the man of God in truth. We have seen already that Elihu represents in a sense the conclusions of the New Testament, the doctrine of the apostles, the teachings of the gospel writers …
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Chapter 34 “Furthermore Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.” We have seen the first conclusions Elihu has led us to see in the previous two chapters. Now we come to the ‘Furthermore’ chapter, chapter 34. Elihu is speaking now to the wise, to men of understanding and knowledge. “ For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.” …
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Chapter 35 “Elihu spake moreover, and said, Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?” It is not difficult to see how Job arrived at that very wrong conclusion. Job was perfect and upright, and God destroyed him “without cause,” …
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Chapter 36 “Elihu also proceeded, and said, Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf. I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.” …
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Chapter 37 “At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.” What is “this also” that causes Elihu to add one more chapter to add to our understanding of God? Let us see. Elihu is the summary, or the summing up, of the debate in the book of Job. He represents the conclusions, the right conclusions, we should by now have arrived at as we come to chapter 37. …
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Chapter 38 “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said…” The great debate is over, the conclusions are all in, Elihu has been allowed to add his final chapter, and the picture has been painted for us. It is all over. …
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Chapter 39 In chapter 39 God continues with His questions to Job, but here they concern only the animal kingdom, and follow on as it were in sequence from verse 39 of the previous chapter. …
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Chapter 40 “Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.” As we come to chapter 40 of the book of Job, we are made aware that indeed God is very great. The only word that sums up our feeling is the word ‘Almighty.’ …
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Chapter 41 “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?” God asks Job. God is deliberately drawing attention to things slightly outside of our knowledge and comprehension, to greatness little understood because no longer seen on earth. …
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Chapter 42 “Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” As we come finally to the end of the book of Job, the book that has taught us so much about God, we too should answer the Lord. “I know that thou canst do every thing.” …
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Gems from God's Word 