Chapter 1: The overarching theme of Job

Okay, here we are in Job part two, loss and sorrow. Uh, I wanted to start this morning’s discussion or lesson with a a bit of a opening statement, maybe some clarification. I’ve had some kickback on my proposal as to the overarching theme of this book and I understand. I wouldn’t say it was argumentative kickback or anything like that. Just people asking lots of questions. And I get it. There’s a reason that the book of Job is and has always been a huge topic of debate among scholars. It is perhaps one of the most theologically complex, philosophically unsettling, and literarily sophisticated texts in the entire Hebrew scripture. As stated in part one, I maintain that Job’s story serves as a microcosm of what Yahw did to and for Israel in order to cultivate within them hearts of genuine faith.

While I regard this as the central and most significant theme of the book, it is not my intention to diminish the numerous other themes present in the text, nor to discount the many legitimate possibilities concerning its broader theological meaning. One might say that the truths of Job’s story are a foreshadowing of our own lives as we are shaped by trials, confronted with the limitations of human understanding, and called to abandon moralistic self-reliance in favor of authentic enduring faith in the sovereign will and wisdom of Yahw. And number two, who’s sitting here with me, posited that the story mimics the old and new covenants. both could be true. My only goal is to land on that theme that allows for everything that we see happening in Job’s story.

And I personally believe it to be the battle against human moralism and genuine faith while at the same time we cannot disregard every other subthe. And there are other sub themes be it the mystery of divine sovereignty, problems of human suffering, human limitation and theodysy, pursuit of integrity, the futility of human wisdom, divine justice versus our perception of justice, restoration and divine compassion, divine permission and limits on Satan’s power. These are all sub themes of the story of Job and we can’t afford to dismiss them. We see all of these things in in Job’s story. But for

Chapter 2: Analyzing Job’s trials

me, and this is just me, there must be one overarching reason under which all of these sub themes exist. And I ask the question, why? Well, the answer at least again for me is I take into consideration my own life experiences where things were falling apart, where I was faced with catastrophe or death or some perceived injustice. And when I think back at those times in my life, there were a lot of things going on in my story. If someone was to be writing about my life during one of these moments, he or she could camp on all different kinds of reactions, emotions, feelings, perceptions, all of these things were present. But hindsight is 2020.

And when you get past those moments and you look back, it’s an amazing thing how Yahw opens your eyes to that one thing that he was trying to teach you and using all of the subtexts, all the sub themes, all the things that were going on at the same time to help me arrive to that position, to that place of understanding. Job’s story is a lot like this. We see all of these things going on, but at the end of this day, we have to try to like in our own lives look at the story of Job and go, okay, yeah, all these things were going on, but what was that one thing that Yahw was trying to help Job see overall? And that’s why I believe it to be the battle between his heart of moralism and true genuine faith in believing in who Yahw is. And as I said in the fellowship prior and following lessons, we’re going to get into a lot of the things that Job says that show his subthe battles.

But at the end, we’re going to reveal how he arrived at that one thing and how the how his life after everything was restored to him also reflects that. So, as I stated in the fellowship as well, this could be a 10-p part series, but I’m going to try and limit it to three, maybe four. Glenn thinks I’m going to do four. uh which is very possible because it’s such a dense book. So I hope that’s clear. Loss and sorrow Job one. Just like last time that we got together, I’m

Chapter 3: Job’s initial response

going to read a section of scripture and I’m going to ask you what you see. And since my co-host David is not here with us today, I want to bounce my questions off of Glenn number two and ask him what what he sees. But I also want you as the viewer to be thinking to yourself, what do you see? Job 1 13-22. Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. And a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them when the Sabians raided them and took them away. Indeed, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Calaldanss formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. Yes. and killed the servants with the with the edge of the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell you. While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead. and I alone have escaped to tell you. Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord is taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this, Job did not sin nor charge charge God with wrongdoing.

There’s two things I want to pull out of this. But first, we can’t not discuss the manner in which this swift destruction came. It seemed to have come in waves, right? One after the other after the other. and finally hearing the news that your children have been killed. First, all these servants are dying. And second, all of his property is being stolen. And lastly, he’s hearing the stories of his children being killed. And that’s what happens sometimes in our own lives when we deal with calamity or actual discipline from the Lord. I I used to say that these kinds of things happen in threes. And I could share some personal stories about how these things, for me at least, happened in threes. One bad thing after another. And I’m sure all of you could share stories of your own life from when you seem to have things like this happen.

Maybe not to the to the degree that Job experienced with the loss of everything you own and everyone you love, but you can still share similar stories where it just felt like waves of disaster or calamity or discipline seemed to come into your life. But let’s trying to figure out the two things that I want to point out here. Glenn, number two, is there any one thing that you see early in this story that jumps out at you? Yes. One of the things that I see is that Satan knew exactly what was most important to Job. Okay. had enough a number of businesses and each of those businesses was annihilated in such a way that it couldn’t be restored. So yeah, Glenn number two is approaching this from the his Satan attacking his businesses. And of course, Glenn number two is self-employed and he owns businesses. And so that’s that stands out to you. Satan knew what was most important.

He knew what was most important. That’s very true. Yeah. was his family. His family. Yep. Yep. And those are the things that were attacked. Here’s the thing that jumped out to me. Now, again, you’re getting a insight into how I see things. And yes, everything that Glenn number two just said is absolutely true. But this is what stood out to me. The fire of God fell from heaven. Now, we know the story. We have the benefit of knowing that all this stuff happened at the enemy’s hand. He did it. Did God allow it? Yes. Yahw allowed it. He is sovereign. But when you get into the nitty-gritty, if you will, of the story, we know that everything that has befallen on Job was a direct result of Satan’s interaction. And yet, the perception of people of in this case Job’s servants is that God did it.

And that’s where we tend to go just like Job in our own life when something happens that we don’t understand or some major event shows itself in our life or we lose a loved one. Our initial knee-jerk reaction is to blame the father. We see this in the story of Lazarus, don’t we? When Lazarus died, the scriptures tell us that Yeshua took extra time before heading to Bethany. And that is an interesting little subject that we could talk about for hours, but he allowed extra time to pass before he went. Probably because, not probably, he’s sovereign. He knew Lazarus was going to die and he wanted to allow that to happen. But what did Mary say when he showed up? Or was it Martha? I think it was Martha. What did she say when Yeshua showed up? She said, “What?” Lord, if you had only been here, right? In other words, where were you? Where was God?

And this is it’s the almost subtle accusation that we have when these things happen and we don’t ever stop and think that it’s not God. It’s an attack by the enemy. It’s an attack by the by the enemy of our souls by Satan. So, I thought that was an important thing to talk about because in these guys’ minds, this was all God doing this and it wasn’t. It it was Acatan. And then the second thing that jumps out to me is this here. This last section of scripture within this paragraph that Job arose and did all these things, fell to the ground and worshiped and had this moment of clarity. It seems where he says, “Hey, listen. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away.” I don’t know if this happened to me.

If all in one matter of one hour I learned that everything that I had owned and everyone that I had loved was gone, that I would have had the clarity of mind, the resolve to make such a statement, almost seemingly emotionalless statement, right? He was in shock. Glenn says he was in shock and that’s probably true. He probably couldn’t fathom everything he was hearing and just blurted out this seemingly emotionless response, but at the same time it it it sounds kind of spiritual too, right? And all this Job did not sin nor charge with wrongdoing. And just like in in the uh first section, I had to in the first lesson, I had to ask this question. Does this initial response describe Joe’s true condition? And my answer to that, of course, no. I don’t believe that this seemingly spiritual response describes Job’s true condition in his heart. Why? Because of everything that he says afterwards.

The entirety, and we’re going to learn this on another slide, the entirety of chapter three reveals everything that Job was really thinking and feeling in his heart. So again, just like last time we talked, this single passage being so early in the story has the ability to set the prism through which you will view the rest of the book. You say, “Wow, all that suffering and destruction and Job stayed righteous, never wavering in his conviction.” That’s the thought that we go into the book with in our minds. This thought in connection with Job being blameless from chapter 1, from early in chapter 1, forms our perspective from the start. But at the end of the day, it’s not the moral of the story.

As a matter of fact, if you stick to this narrative while reading the entirety of the book of Job, it is nearly impossible and was impossible for me to stay with that paradigm until the end because too many things throughout the book just did not add up. Hence my reason for having so many quote doovers throughout the years of study. And if you’re watching this on YouTube and you haven’t watched part one, I encourage you to do that. But in part one, I shared how the book of Job has been my white whale in my faith since I came to the Lord. uh studying it over and over again for years and years trying to find that overarching theme. And I had a lot of doovers because every time I thought I was landing on the overarching theme, something that I read within the pages of Job would challenge that theme and I had to start all over.

The one thing that seems to fit at all is the dichotomy between Job’s moralism and having a true genuine heart of faith. Losing family and possessions shatters the heart, but feeling personally attacked by Yahw shatters the soul, leaving you not just grieving what’s gone. And we see that Job does that but questioning the goodness of the one you serve. And I think that’s what we begin to see unraveling in Job’s heart in the following pages. Job 2 chapter 1:es 1-10. Again,

Chapter 4: The intensity of suffering

there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From, where do you come?” Satan answered to the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” And we learned from part one that what that says in the Hebrew is not have you considered my servant Job because that makes it look like Yah is offering Job to Satan. What that says in the Hebrew if you go back and watch part one is have you set your heart on Job? Obviously, Satan’s walking back and forth. He was circling Job like a lion, as Peter says. And the father said, “Have you set your hope on Job? There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.

and he still holds fast to his integrity even though you incited me against him to destroy him without cause. So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin, yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “He is in your hand, but spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potur with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? curse God and die. But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God? And shall we not accept evil?” That word in the Hebrew is not adversity, it’s evil.

In this, Job did not sin with his lips. So again, I ask, “What do you see?” Just think that it’s just getting more intense. It’s getting more intense. Okay? You know, God’s mind to even take it higher. Okay? Here’s what I saw in all this. Job did not sin with his lips. I find it interesting as I was reading this back in the day that the Holy Spirit decided to use these words that Job did not sin with his lips because that’s exactly what Satan said would happen. He will surely curse you to his to your face. and the same thing that his wife actually did. So the one thing that Satan said would happen with Job did actually happen with his wife, but not with Job. He did not sin with his lips. And we have to put ourselves in Job’s situation right here. Especially as a man, it’s challenging to lead your family in a godly spiritual way and to do it consistently, being an example to them as best that you can.

And Job, we see early on in in chapter one that he was very much so doing that even to the point of overkill. But as a husband, your partner in life sees all this and she has the exact opposite reaction and response to what’s going on than you do and even encourages you to abandon your faith. And so Job here does not sin with his lips even though Satan said it would happen and his wife encouraged it to happen. But I believe that even Job did not initially quote sin with his lips. He does show us that sin was in his heart. Let’s take a few glimpses of some of the things that we see in Job’s heart

Chapter 5: Glimpses into Job’s heart

that kind of reveal what I’m trying to say. three times in the course of his discussion. Well, this was actually really before the discussion started to happen in in Job chapter 3. Job laments his birth. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why is light given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter of soul who long for death but it does not come and search for it more than hidden treasures. Three times Job prays for death. So three times three times he laments his birth and three times he actually prays for death. Oh that I might have my request that God would grant me the thing that I long for that it would please God to crush me that he would loose his hand and cut me off. Job 7 so that my soul reach chooses strangling and death rather than my body. I loathe my life.

I would not live forever. Let me alone for my days are but a breath. And in Job 14, “And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me to judgment with yourself? Oh, that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me until your wrath has passed.” So these verses give us a peak into what was in Job’s heart. And I would just ask you, Glenn, number two, to give me your two cents on this. When someone laments his birth or someone prays for death, what what does that say about his where he was at in in his mind, in his heart, in his in his thinking, in his perception of what was going on. Self-pity. Self-pity. That was as succinct an answer as you could have given, and it nails it right on the head. Job was was was struggling with self-pity. which my wife says is understandable and and there’s some truth to that, right?

If you’re going to lose everything in one fell swoop, you’re going to have moments of introspection so much so that it reveals itself as self-pity. But to me, for me, when someone goes as far as cursing the day of his birth and saying words like this, it makes me matter of fact, let me back up because I wanted I wanted to camp out on one thing that he said here. He’s blaming God, too. Yeah. There there isn’t an aspect of blame here on God that he was even born in the first place. Why was he born to experience this tragedy? And to share a little personal story here, one of my children actually posed that question to me in a discussion where it was asked or stated, I didn’t choose to be born. I Why was I created? And why am I forced to submit to this quote unquote God? and well, and I didn’t ask for this. And that is an accusation against the creator of the universe who granted you an amazing thing.

to be able to breathe the air and with your eyes see creation and with your life experience the ups and the downs, the victories and the failures of life that are all meant to teach us amazing things about the father. that you would despise that gift shows something very dark in your heart. And this is what was going on with Job. And the one thing that I wanted to point out there in Job 7 15-16, he says, “I loathe my life.” I loathe my life. Now stop and think about this, Glenn. or two. Job as according to the scriptures, according to chapter 1, was the greatest man of the east. He had servants. He had camels and sheep. He was on top of the world. He was Elon Musk or Donald Trump or who’s the Amazon guy, you know? He’s he’s that guy where he had everything. Was Job loathing his life then? No.

I I I I can’t imagine that when things were all going smoothly and his kids were all partying in the older brother’s house on a regular basis, he had to have looked upon this life of his and felt pretty darn good about it. He might one might even say proud. Christmas is good. Family is good. Yeah, that’s right. Everything is good. But now at this moment, he’s loathing his life. Now, to me, when I read this, I can’t help but think about my children, how in their youth, they could go from being fired up and happy to crying and throwing fits when they’re little because they didn’t get their way. Now, that didn’t happen very often to my house because I I took care of that, didn’t I? I’m looking at my son. Uh I I didn’t let my kids throw fits. But it’s it’s almost what’s the word I’m looking for when I think about this. It’s almost it’s juvenile.

It’s a juvenile emotional roller coaster because we just saw him say, “Shall we accept good from God?” and not evil. And now he’s saying, “I hate my life.” Do you see what I’m saying? When I when I talk about how it seems the paradigm is always changing. He’s getting worn down. Glenn says he’s getting worn down. And he is. By chapter 7, he’s already heard from his three friends, right? At least once. And they’re all accusing him of being in sin. We’re going to look at that in a moment. But we can see this flip-flopping in Job where at one point he’s got this amazing seemingly amazingly amazing response. Shall we receive good from God and not the evil? And yet three chapters later he’s hating his life. He doesn’t see a way out. Yeah. Okay. So let’s take a look at life as Bill Dad and Zofar. How many friends were there, Glenn, in total? There were

Chapter 6: The friends and mourning

four, right? But we’re going to look at the first three because Elihoo or Elihoo or however you want to say that um he he had some pretty good things to say in comparison to the first three. But let’s look at this. Job 2 11 through13. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place, Elias the Temonite, Bildad the Shouhite, and Zofar the Namothite. But they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him and comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, they didn’t recognize him. Why? Because he had shaved his head, right? and he was full of dirt and dust and boils. They lifted their voices and wept. And each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days, seven nights. And no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

If you know the book of Job, what do we know about his friends from the story? If you could put it in a nutshell, what do you what would you say, Glenn? I don’t know where you’re headed, but they were they were also well off and they were wise. Yes. But in their interaction with Job, what do we know about them? Well, they they thought and like we thought that that everything that happens is a consequence. Okay. Yes. Uh son, you said something. They were legalistic. Yes. They they were constantly accusing Job or trying to help Job see that all this happened as a result of his sin. Yes. Right. Mhm. But they they all were just like you said like him in many respects both financially well off and in the same frame of mind the same paradigm of understanding. Right? So we know that because again hindsight’s 2020. We we’ve read the book and we can see that.

But we see here in this scripture that the Bible says they came to mourn with him and comfort him. I do you think they were mirroring Job’s frame of mind? I do. Yeah. I think I think they were mirroring his frame of mind. But what I thought was interesting here is that all that we know about what actually happened, the scriptures say that they came to mourn and comfort him, which seems like a again, it seems like a difference. It’s okay. It said it says he came to mourn and comfort him, but what you ended up doing is trying to tear him down in the long run, right? Yeah. So I thought it would be interesting if we just took a look a quick look here at some information about these men. This is something that I discovered that was really interesting. Alifas uh the meaning of his name is my god is fine gold or god is strength depending on how you interpret that.

Elifaz accuses Job indirectly suggesting suffering and we’re going to see all this in our next meeting together. He accuses Job indirectly suggesting suffering is the result of hidden sin. The name Elifaz association with refined gold. Interestingly enough connects Elifaz’s repeated assertion that suffering refineses a man. You know how they say that the book of Job is among the books of poetry, right? This is one of the reasons why because even these men’s names line up with how they treated Job. His emphasis on divine chastisement as purification aligns with the image of God as a refiner. His final speech in Job 22 accuses Job and calls him to seek God’s refining presence. Yes, the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. I found it incredibly interesting that when you consider the meaning behind Elias’s name and the words that he actually spoke, they’re almost synonymous.

And you’ll see the same thing with the other three. Bill Dad’s name means possibly ball has loved or an ambiguous confusing love depending on how that’s read. Bildad builds upon Eliah as his argument. In other words, he piles on appealing to the tradition and ancestral wisdom. He is blunt and warns of the fate of the wicked. While the name of Bildad, potential reference to Ball, a pagan deity, is odd in a Hebrew context, if we understand the meaning as confusing love. It may reflect Bill Dad’s theology suggesting that God’s justice is strict, his love on is conditional, and suffering inevitably punitive. His speeches lack compassion, emphasizing judgment and the transitory nature of man. He says in Job 25, “Man is a maggot.”

So if Bill Dad’s name, a meaning behind it is confusing love, then that would make sense as to Bill Dad’s theology that God is strict, his love is conditional, and suffering inevitably punitive. Again, I’m not showing you guys these things because I want you to be a information about these men’s names. I’m showing these things to you in hopes that you might find yourself in one of them or all of them. Because we can’t when we’re studying the book of Job, we can’t just study Job. We have to study as friends because they get rebuked in the end by God. And if that’s the case, we have to try to figure out how much like these men are we so far. The meaning is chirping, twittering, or leaping. And no, that’s not the social media twittering. Zofar is the most severe. He outright accuses Job of wickedness, calls for his repentance. His imagery is vivid and forceful with sharp rebukes.

The idea of chirping or twittering suggests constant insistent noise fitting Zofar’s aggressive, almost impatient tone. His speeches leap to conclusions without measured reasoning, moving swiftly to condemnation. The name Zofar fits his shrill impetuous role. Job 11 he says know therefore that God exacts from you nor less no less than your and my little thing is blocking that but I can’t see it. Um, so again, just like the first two, Zofar’s name, fits is in line with mirrors, is in synchronicity with how he speaks to Job and what he speaks to Job. And I asked the question, can we see ourselves in the friend’s tactics? Now, I shared with you in the first meeting that the first time I read the story of Job, I found myself agreeing with his friends. What they said seemed to resonate with me. And when I got to the end and Yahw rebuked them all, I was confused.

And that forced me back to try to figure out what it was about these men that God was rebuking. And so I ask, do you see yourself in Job’s friends? Elias, the Bible says that he was accusing indirectly. What does that mean, Glenn? To accuse indirectly through inference. Yeah. It’s almost manipulation, right? Were you trying to make a point with somebody without directly saying it? You’re beating around their bush. You’re leading them on this path, suggesting suffering is the result of hidden sin and that suffering refineses a man. Now, here’s the interesting thing about what I just said. According to Deuteronomy 28, curses come as a result of sin. So could it be said that sin or suffering is the result of hidden sin or sin? Yeah, it can be. Suffering refineses a man. Is that also true? It doesn’t matter. I mean, suffering refineses a man. Just try it out.

And so what was so wrong about Elias’s words was the way he did it. Indirect accusations, lack of love. And we see it again with Bill Dad assuming guilt. Assuming guilt. He was blunt, warning of the fate of the wicked, suggesting that Yah’s justice is strict. His love was conditional and suffering was inevitably punitive. He lacked compassion and he emphasized judgment. How many of us in in our old days in the church would this fit to a tea? Yeah, my I’m raising my hand. Glenn’s raising his hand. Uh I’m sure many of you are raising your hand. When you’re confronting somebody in sin, how often times was judgment emphasized all the time. Zofar outright accusing one of wickedness. Now see how how different Zofar is from Elias. Lias beat around the bush. Zofar didn’t. Zofar just outright called him out. Now, in complete honesty, I’m more like Zofar. I’m not known to be one that beats around the bush.

I can be direct. I can be too direct. In today’s, you know, verbiage, I could be that guy in your face. And I’ve been told that. I was like Zofar, calling for repentance, sharp rebukes, impatient tones, leaping to conclusions without measured reasoning. What does that mean? You have no wisdom. You’re just reaching for conclusions and you’re moving swiftly to condemnation. This was his three friends. So I say a careful study into Job’s friends will reveal while why they were rebuked by Yahw. What do we see in the New Testament in Galatians when about catching somebody in sin? If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. And that’s not what we see in Job’s three friends.

We don’t see this spirit of gentle gentleness which is ironic because if you look above the first paragraph that we read it says they came to do just that but they didn’t end up doing that. And then this sitting Shiva it says he was on the ground seven days and seven nights and no one spoke a word to him for they saw that his grief was very great. Shiva the practice of sitting Shiva is the week-long mourning period in Judaism for firstderee relatives. The ritual is referred to as sitting Shiva in English. The Shiva period lasts for seven days following the burial. Following the initial period of despair and lamentation immediately after the death, Shiva embraces a time when individuals discussed their loss and accept the comfort of others. I learned about Shiva uh when I studied Job um and what it meant to sit Shiva is the 7-day morning period commanded in the Torah.

Number two, I don’t know that it’s commanded, but we we sure see it over and over again 30 days when Sarah died and you know, over and over. Yeah. Job wasn’t the first one to do it in the Bible. We saw Jacob do it. We see um Solomon’s sons do it. Yep. Uh and you mentioned Sarah. Yeah. Abraham. So, it’s it was a it was a regular practice, but it’s not commanded in the Torah. There’s no explicit Torah commandment mandates a 7-day morning period for the death of a relative or any person. So, where did it come from? Well, we see the 7-day periods associated with mourning and uncleanness connected to death. And maybe this is why they did it because we see that Joseph mourned his father for seven days. And in Numbers 19, we see that contact with a dead body made a person unclean for seven days.

So could it be that the practice of Shiva came as a result of them knowing that they were unclean when they’re holding touching of deceased one who had passed in Joseph’s case there with his father um is that where it came from. They knew they were unclean and they knew they were going to be unclean for seven days. And so they sat this period alone to both grieve and protect others from their unclean state. So death related uncleanness lasted seven days establishing a numerical pattern in relation to death but not a morning commandment. Therefore, seven days repeatedly serves as a biblically significant period of purification, separation, or mourning. But no commanded commandment explicitly instructs the mourner to mourn for seven days. Um, another thing that I I I I couldn’t not look at, we have to stop for a moment to consider the weight of this period of time on Job, right?

I mean, just think about that. On the ground, I have a backyard here at my house that serves much like my dog’s toilet. I imagine myself going out there and sitting on the ground for seven days and seven nights alone, thinking, praying. Friends show up. They sit down. Not a word is spoken. They can see the grief. And I had to ask because as I imagine myself going through that, what are the thoughts bouncing around in Job’s heart and head where he’s sat with his friends, not a word is being spoken, he’s covered in dust, he’s not eating. What things are going on in his head during this time? Everything. His mind is bouncing around like a pong game on on steroids. Okay, Glenn says everything. More specific. Where’s God? I think I would reflect a lot. Reflect. I would search my heart or my recent history and figure out if there was something I did to deserve it. What did I do to deserve this? Yep.

Well, aside from the obvious question, why did this happen to me? I mean, that’s had to been one of the biggest questions, right? What what in the world? Why is this happening? We see a we see several things. Well, we can infer several things. The sorrow of losing his children and everything he built, the meaningless of his existence, which we’ve already explored. The apparent injustice of his suffering. That’s a big one, right? Because you’re Job and you know that you’re blameless because you are moralistically committed to crossing the tees and dotting the eyes as it pertains to your devotion. So he had to have had used his time to be thinking about the injustice of his suffering. And to whom is the injustice directed? God. Yeah. This injustice. He has to be struggling with this the torment of his physical afflictions. Now I I I’ve never had a boil. Have you ever had a boil? Blend number two.

You have? Where? Arm. Arm. Swollen. Big lump. Painful. I don’t even know what I don’t even know what a boil is. Is it like a blister? No. It’s got tentacles that go deep into the skin and it’s inflamed red. And so he had these things on from the top of his head to the bottom of his soles of his feet. Right. Yeah. So this had to have been everything. I mean he he he was not only just sitting in the dust, but he was probably trying not to move, scraping and he was scraping his s with this pottery shard. Yeah. So that’s going on during this 7-day period. And then questions about the character of Yah, right? Because none of this fits his paradigm. This isn’t supposed to be happening. And then this the seductive simplicity of cursing Yah to end his life. Where did he get this suggestion? His wife. He had to have been thinking about that.

He had to have been thinking about her invitation to curse God and die. And it had to have been a seductive temptation because after all, what else do I have to lose, right? He’s lost it all. And so, he had to have toyed around with the idea of cursing Yah and ending his own life. Right. Again, I’m trying to help you see to get inside of his brain a little bit as to what was going on during this 7-day period. And we see that the entirety of Job chapter 3 when he finally opens his mouth is essentially a vocalization of what accumulated during those silent days. So he has a seven days of silence where all these things are going on in his heart and then he finally speaks in Job chapter 3 and what comes out is everything that he was thinking and feeling. And that whole chapter reveals a man who’s overwhelmed by sorrow, embittered by calamity and confused by divine providence, pain, sleep deprivation.

sleep deprivation, pain, hunger, confusion about Yah and yet not willing at that point to curse God. He wasn’t quite there yet. He had to have considered this, even romanticized the idea of his wife’s words. holding fast to your integrity, curse God and die. Now, Glenn, if someone was to constantly tell you in words of encouragement over the course of your life, you’re the man that has the most integrity I’ve ever seen. And then you have your own wife ask you if you’re still hanging on to that, Glenn, what did it get you? You’re so you’re you’re such a man of integrity. What has it gotten you? Curse God and die. He had to have been thinking about that. Mhm. and whether or not this life of integrity was worth it. Glenn says his experience didn’t make any sense. And that is very true.

Chapter 7: Performance vs. relationship

So, I wanted to finish our second section here with a look at Job in chapter 3 and in other chapters defends his blamelessness. And I want to recall the quote that we read from part one from LJ Waters in his book about Job said that the moralism in Job’s heart, this pragmatic approach reasons that all blessings are evidence of goodness and righteousness and conversely all suffering is evidence of unrighteousness. and sin. This was Job’s mental trap. God became a means to an end for Job. And he was essentially using God in order to receive the good life. And by the way, this last slide are snippets from my book on Job. He was essentially using God in order to receive the good life instead of using what he had to love God. I’m not saying that Job’s intent was devious or evil, but he was nonetheless caught up in this endless cycle of performance.

Job had systematized his devotion into checkboxes of dos and don’ts, and he felt really great about himself because he was absolutely confident that his boxes were checked. He even verbalizes these accomplishments in chapters 29 and 31 where he states that he a he never quote coveted another woman, harmed servants, forsook the less fortunate. He talks about his morality, his sexual purity, his generosity, his justice, his benevolence, and his truthfulness. Who does that sound like, Glenn? Who else in the Bible does that sound like? Who talks about his qualities this way? Think, think, think. Road to Damascus. Paul, right? Paul is on record in two different places of saying who he is. Pharisees, Pharisees in the ways of the law, blameless. He’s saying all these things. But what was Paul’s problem? He didn’t have faith in Yeshua, right? He rejected the whole idea of Yeshua.

He had all these things, right? But he rejected faith in Yeshua until Yeshua showed up, just like he did to Job. And so just like Paul, Job is telling us who he is in these sections. He has abstained from lust, greed, envy, deceit, vengeance, and violence. Job is telling us why he is blameless. And that is the problem. Nowhere in Job’s list does he ever mention his faith in Yahw or his trust in Yahw’s control. What he does show is how much faith he has in his own works and conduct which should have delivered him. Hence the confusion. In other words, he was obedient to the formula and thus shouldn’t have received his fate. Was Job’s report accurate? Indeed, it was. But all this does is reflect a mindset of justification by works, justification by obedience, justification by performance. He was a righteous man with wrong motives, knowing the rules of the game while not knowing Yah.

And again, that defines Paul. Lastly, as humans, we are all prone to be subservient to structure and obeying rules. As I have already mentioned, once observed, we use them as barometers for our spiritual health. Not saying that we need to ignore the things that God calls us to do in regard to obedience, but obedience without relationship, obedience without faith is legalism, and righteousness without freedom is oppression. Such was the case of Job. Understanding relationship or faith is to understand grace and patience in the presence of failure. Understanding freedom is to understand mercy and forgiveness when performance fails and for most of us it will fail in our life. So, I end with this note on Job to help us have a better picture of who he was in his heart before we start getting into the back and forth of his friends that we’ll do the next time we meet.

So, today that’s the end of our discussion. So turn your mics on. Share something. Glenn you want to share? Yeah. I I just see the the difference between Deuteronomy 28 and what James and Peter both said about counting it all joy when you find yourself in various trials because that’s the Christian walk. Until you’ve got a target on your back, life can be pretty good. Mhm. But once once Satan attacks, then expect it. Don’t don’t be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Somebody else. Go ahead, Jeff. You’re you’re you’re muted, so make sure you turn your mic on. I was I was seeing a a very similar situation with Cain when God said, you know, if you do right, isn’t that good for you? And if you don’t, sin is crouching at the door. Yeah. I think it’s kind of the same. This is like a a very explicit look at a man’s life, whereas Cain, we just kind of have a snapshot, an overview.

But I see it him as having the same thoughts about everything that he checked the boxes that he did what was right when he brought his sacrifice. Interesting. Amen. Thank you, Jeff. Go ahead, Paul and Lori. Just me. Um, a couple things um kind of rattled through my brain as we were going through the as you were doing another excellent teaching our Torah portion this morning that we were going through. um was Leviticus 24 um let’s see verses 15 and 16 tell the people of Israel whoever curses his god will bear the consequence of is a sin and whoever blasphemes the name of yote vave must be put to death the entire community must stone him the foreigner as well as the citizen is to be put to death if he blasphemes the name. So that rattled through my brain as um his wife was telling him to curse God and die.

And then um Hebrews the Hebrews 11 certainly we just took that yet in our own private study um that it’s glaring that Job was um missing. when everyone else, you know, even Sarah who laughed when she was told she was going to bear a son at her advanced age, even she was recognized. So um but yeah it’s it’s and that Hebrews 11 is all about faith trust that’s the common core as you have um so indicated and I think that needs an actually actually a separate study and maybe you’ve done that I don’t know um on the the levels of faith and the the deceptive faith that we could have because of our various backgrounds and how to dis discern and distinguish between them. That’s those are just my thoughts. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts as always, Lori. Uh Angela. Yeah.

Um, I think one thing that I have trouble with personally, um, is that, uh, okay, we’re taught in the law that if we do these things, that blessings will pursue you and overtake you. And if we don’t do them, curses will pursue you and overtake you. And trying to find that trying to keep away from being legal and checking off boxes and yet still be in faith. You know, it I think that’s one of my personal things that I fight with all the time. And so if you’ve got any comments on that, I’m all for it. Well, so you’re Yeah, that’s a great question actually. What does it look like to be a person who uh obeys the ways of the Lord and being faithful at the same time? Um, how how can I put this? You see a striking difference in your Bible to the uh walk the ways of the lives of say the 12 apostles than you do in Paul’s prefaith world or Job’s world.

It’s easy for one to be disciplined at boxchecking at doing the things that you know to be right while at the same time having no real relationship with the creator. I did a lesson some months back that was entitled a relationship with Christ is not biblical the way we use it or the way that we have used it. The Christian world is all wrapped up in this quote unquote personal relationship with Jesus. Um, and they’re always fighting to find the intimacy while at the same time not being obedient to what he actually says. And I made the argument that to walk by faith was to walk with him. And what does walking with him mean? It’s not just loving him, but loving his ways. Attributing his ways, his laws to him in your prayer life, in the joys and the struggles that you find in obeying them because some of them bring instant joy. Some of them are hard.

They’re they’re a little bit challenging for your character depending on who you are, what your background is. It’s it’s the person who wrestles. It’s the person who is honest and real in their heart about their daily life with him, acknowledging his presence. And I just don’t get the the the sense in reading the story of Job. He knew of Yah. No doubt probably from Abraham or others close to him. He knew that obedience was important, but he didn’t really have he didn’t really know in the strictest sense of the word who he was. And that’s that’s what it means for me at least in part in order for me to obey Yahw’s ways, I want to know the lawgiver. I want to have a and I I hate using this word over and over again, relationship, a bond, a trust. What does that trust look like?

A trust means if I fail in observing any one of his commands, I trust that in his love, he will forgive me and continue to teach me to be more and greater and better. So, it’s all part of your understanding. Does that make sense? It does. It does. I I you know, I’m a highly analytical person and I sometimes I think that I overthink things. Well, that’s a good thing. Don’t stop overthinking things. That makes you a better student. Brothers didn’t have the book of Job. Say it again. Job did not have the book of Job. Oh, yeah. Glenn number two says, “Job didn’t have the book of Job to refer to.” No, he did not. Tim Tim Snow. Um, yeah, I just had a couple thoughts. Um, I did want to remind you I I hear you about the Job’s moralism. Um, redirect by God, if you will, but God did boast in verse 8, chapter 1 that it he said to Satan that, hey, Job is perfect and an upright man.

Like he feared God and and shunned evil or executed evil. But so you know I I was going okay so God actually says he’s perfect but like all of us Job has things to learn and I think suffering is not nec I’m you know not necessarily punitive here. Um I think that um God’s ways are are beyond our understanding. Um I think it’s crucial to trust in him even when you know we’re we’re facing immense immense suffering, immense hardship. Um, so I I think there’s a for me what I’m getting out of it is I’ve got to get out of this reward punishment system. Yes, God is going to look at our integrity of heart, our thoughts and our actions, um our righteousness, which is our obedience, but beyond that, going beyond that, we we’ve got to uh like like you just said, trust in his character. So, I think these are just a few of a few of my thoughts. ma’am. Thank you, brother Snow.

Uh Glenn, so I’m in Montana right now for my 50-year class reunion, which should be very interesting. Uh I appreciate the lesson. It was really good. So, could this be considered type anti-ype? You have Satan going before God presenting, taking everything away from a man, and then of course you have Satan with Yeshua. I saw the parallels with Paul also, but Satan in the desert offering everything to Jesus and then Jesus who really had nothing, didn’t have a a a rock to lay his head on. And then just the the righteousness of both men, one incarnate and the other obviously not. And Jesus had his moment too where he said, you know, why have you forsaken me? which didn’t last long. Are there the parallels there with Yeshua also is what I’m asking. Yeah, I I think many people have have um grasped at that possibility that the story of Job is ultimately about the story of of Yeshua.

Um that that didn’t resonate with me personally. Is the story of Job typology? Well, yeah, it could be argued that the entire story of Job is typological, but anytime that you want to look at something in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew scriptures, and wonder if it’s typological, you have to be able to identify its anti-ype for it to truly be typological. Example, was Moses a type of Christ? Yes. Yes. Right. And I have a lesson on that as well. Yeah. Uh prophet like you. He was a type of the coming Christ and Christ is the anti-ype. So was Joseph. So was Elisha. The flood was a type of what? Baptism. Right? You you can you can find the the anti-ype. So anytime that you want to ask is this typological then you have to be able to identify its anti-ype. What would be the anti-ype of the story of Job? Personally I think it’s every human being’s battle with moralism. We all do it.

We all struggle with moralism at one level or another. So when I say that Job is us and we are Job, then yes, the entire story of Job can be looked at as a type for those of us who are wrestling in the course of our lives to to truly understand faith and to escape our moralistic ways of life, our moralistic mindsets. Listen. And yes, I can see you as Zofar. Thank you. You’re welcome. Anybody else? Some of the new people. How about pal? I see a new face there. Hey, I’m I’m Gabby. I didn’t get to change my name. It’s my brother’s computer. Oh, hi Gabby.

Um, it’s, you know, I work as a nurse and I do deal with death a lot and I work with a lot of type A personalities and I was born type A and it’s interesting on a daily basis getting to see um, my nursing friends as well as my patients families always wrestling with tragedies and Um there’s I mean I live in Southern California so everybody there’s not really a big bent on conservatism here and um and I see my co-workers whenever they see a tragedy it’s like a point against God. It’s like oh you’re actually not that good. And it’s always a challenge to actually share with them like God’s sovereignty. And so it’s really helpful to understand like Job’s perspective and Job’s um friends accusing him of doing something wrong. Um, but it’s uh it’s it’s been really helpful and I really appreciate your uh your message. Amen. We’re so happy to have you. Thanks for thanks for coming. Uh let’s see.

Someone just raised their hand. Emily Nord, go ahead, Emily. Shalom. I always I always wrestle with whe whether to speak just because of how um you know are women supposed to speak. I’m not not teaching just commenting. Right. Right. Um so I thought just so you know Emily I taught a lesson on that several well it’s been a couple years now hasn’t it? I we went into deep detail on uh women’s roles. uh just happened to be the one one of my lessons that didn’t get recorded, which I kill myself every day for not recording that one. But we learned some interesting things about women’s roles that don’t are not in line with today’s Christian perspective on on women’s speaking. So, uh I just wanted to say that real quick, but go ahead and feel free to share what’sever on your heart. Oh, well, I would have loved to have hear that have heard that. Maybe you’ll do it again. Yeah.

So, I was just contemplating um how it said Job, you know, was perfect. I don’t know if the word blameless was used and then talking about the typology, but you know, it is to me beautiful how this story can it just uncovers what’s hidden, you know, so well. And how here you had a seemingly perfect man And yet the only perfect being was Yeshua. And so eventually all the layers were peeled back to expose that um imperfection in Job. And it, you know, I’m sure that as the as your teachings go along, it will um reveal that. But it it just shows how there was only one. It was only his son was perfect. Yep. I love that. And then also I know as we approach Shaveote and we talk about um our ability to please Yah that um only the Holy Spirit his ruach can give us that ability. And so we have to have that in order to please him.

And so I I guess I just kind of I like how that might play a probably does play a huge role in us being able to, you know, hear his voice and follow in his ways. And I know Angel brought up, you know, how do we follow the law and yet not be justified, you know, through our works? And then the whole what James says about how it’s you know you know you just it’s proof of you being his child that you follow and want to please him but you have to have faith first and so we have to have the Holy Spirit to empower us. You know I’m probably all over the board but just wanted to say that it’s all good. Uh I really appreciate your thoughts and your insights. Thank you Emily. Uh go ahead Cordon. Hey uh Ed. I just really want to thank you for today and for your lesson and Shabbat. Shalom to everyone. May you have a blessed sha uh Shabbat and an awesome day of rest and relaxation.

I just really wanted to thank you. I think one of the things about Job that I find very interesting is the fact that basically is that he didn’t see that what had God had given to him as a privilege. It’s more of basically just like you know I’m grateful for what God did but it’s not so much as far as a privilege goes. And I think as as things go on, there’s a lot of things that from his friends based upon what you said shows kind of the suffering as far as what went on, but it shows kind of like the different true nature. I’ve found that very compelling and I think you did a great job with LFZ, all the rest of them as far as that goes there. So, I just wanted to thank you. I just wanted to ask because I know that Ed, you looked at the uh documents. I am going to be getting with my pastor today. So hopefully if you can pray for a soft heart, I even have a shirt that’s from Ezekiel for a soft heart.

So that way hopefully he can actually uh allow me to preach on uh the service and such. And uh again, I just really want to thank you again, Ed, and I appreciate everything you do. Amen. Thanks, brother. Uh yes, of course, we’ll be praying for you. Okay, Laura Lee will be our last comment. She is uh one of the contributing authors on the the website. So Laura Lee, turn your camera on so we can see your face. Even though you may have bed head, we don’t care. And then uh jump in there and share. Okay. I’m trying to figure out how to Oh, there we go. Okay, my camera’s on. Hi, everybody. Hello. I’m so glad I was able to make it today. Um, I’m usually on some sort of assignment on Shabbat, but today I’m at the beach. Um, anyways, and I really appreciated this. Um, I’ll have to go back and and watch part one. This was excellent. I actually have a teaching where I um it’s called um based on Nehemiah.

What’s your rubble? What’s your rubble? And so, um, being a trauma survivor, I’m very sensitive to this, um, to the book of Job. And I’ve actually through the years had a lot of people who have heard my story say, “Wow, you’ve had you’ve lived the life of Job.” And um so I like to help people to understand or to ponder where they are in the story of Job. And how are they like Job’s friends? And I think it’s really important for us to to ponder these things. And Job was what uh some people would call a trauma survivor. He went through severe trauma. And um a lot of people, they don’t understand what trauma is. They don’t understand the trauma response. And so I just want to encourage people to maybe look into what trauma is and the fight, flight, fawn, freeze response.

and perhaps learn how to not be like Job’s friends because people that have gone through severe trauma um a lot of us don’t know what to say. We don’t we don’t know how to come alongside of a person and sit with them, sit with their sorrow when they’re suffering. And um so I just wanted to share that excellent teaching. Thank you so much. Well, thank you, Lauri. Of course, we appreciate you. Um, as I said before, Laura Lee is one of our contributing authors on the website. She’s got some things on the website. She’s got her own website, I think, Laura Lee. Uh, that you guys can uh look look into. She’s a great gal. We love having her. Um, okay guys. Well, it’s five we’re running five minutes long. Thank you so much for coming. I would do did want to say one final thing here to Jared.

Uh we were talking about beef bacon in the fellowship before the lesson and Jared said something about making your own beef bacon in the comments. Jared, I would love for you to email me your recipe so I can share it with the rest of the group cuz I’m sure we’re all very curious as to how to do that if it’s as easy as you say it is. But uh guys, have a fantastic Shabbat, restful, peaceful day. Have a great weekend and we will see you next time. Shabbat shalom. Shabbatal shalom. Shalom everybody. Shalom. Thank you, Lori. Yeah. New new uh new blog going up by the way. Okay. Yeah. All right. Bye bye. Thank you everyone. God bless all of you. May Yahava bless you and the rest of your family as you enjoy this day of rest.