The book of Job teaches us a whole lot about God, the world, our enemy, suffering, sin, friendship, and humility. If you didn’t get the chance to read my post from yesterday, I would encourage you to do so. It will give you some guidance on how to approach the book of Job, and it will provide you with some brief background information (Suffering And Sin).
Let’s dive in.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. – Job 1:1-5
That is all that we’re going to cover today. This narrative introduction in the book of Job sets the stage for all that is to follow. In these five verses, we see some things about Job that will come in handy down the road. I would encourage you to leave any preconceived notions about Job behind as we dig in together.
I know that for me, I had a cookie cutter version of Job in mind growing up. I thought that he was a near perfect man who was given a bad hand. I thought that all he did was righteous and right. That’s not the case necessarily. So, deconstruct any image of Job that you have, and let’s build him back up together as we look at the text.
Who Was Job?
We don’t know a ton of stuff about Job from a historical point of view. While some doubt that Job was even a real person, I hold to the belief that he was. In Ezekiel 14, the prophet Ezekiel is speaking about how Jerusalem would not be spared. In verses 14 and 20 of that chapter, he mentions that even if Job were there in Jerusalem, his righteousness (and that of Noah and Daniel) would not be enough to spare the city. While this isn’t an airtight argument for the literal existence of Job, I believe it is a reminder that people knew his story.
Biblical scholars who are far smarter than me have deduced that Job lived in the time of the patriarchs (Think Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). He was an extremely wealthy man, as seen by the great number of livestock that he had. I personally would be confused, rather than impressed, by a man with thousands of camels. Back in the day though, that was some serious wealth. I can’t really think of a modern equivalent, so just think, super rich.
Not only was Job wealthy, he was divinely blessed by God. When the text says that he had seven sons and three daughters, the original readers of this book would have seen those numbers to be signs of completion and divine blessing. Basically, Job is presented with the divinely given perfect family and perfect life.
Lastly, we are told that Job was righteous, blameless even. This is not to say that he was perfect. Instead, it is to say that he was a man who turned away from evil. He didn’t allow sin to fester in his life. He removed it, he repented of it, he turned from it.
Where Did Job Live?
Job lived in Uz, which was in ‘the east’. When you read ‘the east’, think the Wild Wild West. One commentator I read likened it to the edge of civilization, a romantic, often wild place. It wasn’t an empty desert, but it certainly wasn’t the center of civilization, much less Israelite civilization, in the time of the Patriarchs. This isn’t the place to go into a detailed study of exactly where this location was, but some see it as to the northeast of the Sea of Galilee.
Job was a God-fearer. He was a man who feared the God of the Israelites, even though he was not living with the Israelites. Anytime I read in Scripture that there are people worshipping God outside of the geographical residence of the people of God, I’m reminded that God’s Kingdom is not limited to borders, to a country. Those at the edge of civilization today are just as capable to love and fear and serve God as those of us with access to all that Western civilization has to offer.
What Did Job Do?
Lastly, we see what Job did. Now, this is where things just about immediately descend into tension and gray area.
We see that Job’s children had parties at their individual houses, something that we should NOT read as an indictment against their character. Job’s children were simply celebrating and utilizing the lavish wealth that God had blessed their family with. There is nothing in the text to assume that these were wild parties of drunkenness and licentiousness. That being said, Job made sure that they were purified. That’s why verse four tells us he would have them consecrated after their feasts.
Job would also make sacrifices to God in order to atone for the possible sins of his children. He didn’t know for sure that they had committed the grievous sin of cursing God, yet out of his love for them, he made sure to offer the Lord sacrifices on their behalf.
This is not yet explicit in the text, but there is a hint of a reciprocal view of service and blessing here. We find out later a little bit more about Job’s regular offerings, but we see already that he had what could be construed as an unhealthy view of God’s justice upon his children.
I’ll close with a quote from Craig Bartholomew.
“His greatest fear appears to be that their (his children) behavior would bring God’s judgment rather than His ongoing blessing. Therefore, part of Job’s religion was motivated by an unhealthy anxiety and fear.”
Can you relate?
Is your religious activity sometimes motivated by a fear that if you don’t offer up your prayer, time in His Word, Sunday morning attendance, or service, that you will be cursed, or at least certainly not blessed by God?
If so, as we keep going through Job, my prayer is that you will see that God is faithful. I pray that you will see He is not a God to be anxiously feared, but rather a God to be humbly trusted.
In His Name,
Nathan Roach