The Restoration of Job - Part 2

                  THE RESTORATION OF JOB - PART 2

 (Please follow the links to get the other parts of this study

How to study the Book of Job?

The Restoration of Job (Part - I)

The Restoration of Job (Part - III)

Was there God’s direct intervention during Job’s trials or any miraculous work in Job’s life to restore him back again?

There could not have been God’s direct intervention during Job’s trials, because that was the challenge between satan and God.

If God could not have intervened directly during Job’s trials, how did God answered Job’s questions, cleared his doubts and helped him to overcome his trials?

Imagine Job with his body covered in sores, with dirty clothes on him, sitting on ashes, mocked and scorned by everyone. At what point did he get the strength to getup, walk away from where he was sitting, clean himself, put on his rich robes and face everyone with his old confidence, honour and vigour?

We cannot find God in the form of man visiting, counselling or comforting him. We also don’t find any miraculous events that happened that could have changed Job. So what was that, that gave the strength to Job?

The answer might lie in God’s words to Job.

God’s Words to Job:

Job's shift towards his restoration happens in the four chapters between 38 – 41. I have read many commentaries for these chapters and I see that most commentators have portrayed as though Job needed a lot of soul searching for his questioning of God. Job was over righteous, so God had to put him in his place by teaching about his omnipotence and his power and majesty. When I read such commentaries, I feel we too are standing alongside Job’s friends accusing him of things which he did not do!

1. Job never questioned God about his omnipotence or about what he can or cannot do (26:6_14). Job never questioned God’s power or any other divine attributes. Job never questioned God about the way he cared for his other creations. The only question Job had for God was about God’s dealings with him! God who had taken care of him until then, why did he abandon him suddenly? Even if he had done some mistake, why should God punish him so severely? These were some of the questions asked by Job.

Job’s questions to God:

First Question (Chapter 6:11-13)

“What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze? Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me?

Second Question (Chapter 7:12)

Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me?

Third Question (Chapter 7:17 – 21)

“What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, That You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? How long? Will You not look away from me, and let me alone till I swallow my saliva? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity?

Fourth Question (Chapter 10:4-7)

Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees? Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a mighty man, That You should seek for my iniquity and search out my sin, Although You know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?

Fifth Question (Chapter 13: 22 – 25)

How many are my iniquities and sins? Why do You hide Your face, And regard me as Your enemy? Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble?

Sixth Question (Chapter 14:3, 10, 14)

And do You open Your eyes on such a one, and bring me to judgment with Yourself? Indeed he breathes his last and where is he? If a man dies, shall he live again?

Seventh Question (Chapter 21:7)

Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?

(This is a question for which Job knew the answer. As he said in 21:16, For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; They shall be brought out on the day of wrath)

From these questions we can understand that, these questions arose out of genuine incomprehensibility of Job about his suffering and not because of any arrogance or disbelief.

Job’s entire miswordings about God was only because he didn’t know that it was satan who had touched him and not God. Eventhough Job had questioned God a lot with regard to his sufferings, it was because he had no way of knowing it was satan’s test.

 2.Job neither acted over righteous or nor did he think too much about himself. Job refused to accept his friends’ accusations of him (27:5,6). Although he was a righteous man, even testified by God, he did not dare to hoist his righteousness in front of God (9:14-21)

3. Job felt utterly hopeless and he thought he was at the point of no return. He did not have any hope that his life could be restored back, eventhough he wished to have it restored back to it’s former glory. The entire 14^th chapter of Job talks about that, especially verses 7-10.

God’s dealings with Job:

Eventhough satan had stopped God’s direct intervention with Job, God could still communicate with Job through his creations. That might be the reason why God would have communicated with Job through the whirlwind at first. After that, through other God’s creations, God was speaking to him. Psalm 19: 1-4 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world”. Romans 1: 20 also tells the same thing, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead”

Chapter 38: 1-38

Chapter 38 seems to be the response to Job’s curse on the day of his birth. Job invoked darkness, shadow, clouds, stars etc. as though they are at his will. God had to correct Job and tell him that, he did not have control over any of these. Job knew very well that he did not have any control over the creator. But God had to remind Job that he did not have any control over God’s creations also.

Job 38:2 - “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? (Even though, this sounds very harsh, we can understand that God did not speak it out of anger, but just to remind Job that nothing of nature is under Job’s control. Remember Job had spoken as though he could darken the days and summon the nature to convey his anger and displeasure) 

1.     Job: May the day perish on which I was born (3:3)

God: Have you commanded the morning since your days began (Job 38:12)

2.   Job: Nor the light shine upon it (3:4

God: “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? (38:19)

3.   Job: May darkness and the shadow of death claim it (3:5)

God: Have you seen the doors of the shadow of death (38:17)

4.    Job: May a cloud settle on it (3:5)

God: I made the clouds as a garment for the sea (38:9)

5.     Job: May the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, may darkness seize it (3:5,6)

God: And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, or because the number of your days is great? (38:19,20,21)

6.    Job: May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months. Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it! (3:6,7)

God: Who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (38:6,7)

7.     Job: May the stars of its morning be dark (3:9)

God: Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? (38: 33)

8.    Job: And not see the dawning of the day; Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes. (3:9,10)

God: “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? (38:12,13)

Chapter 38:39 – 39:30

Between these 33 verses, God takes the example of 9 animals / birds and their young ones ( Lion (38:39, 40), Raven (38:41), Wild mountain goats (39:1 - 4), Wild donkey (39:5 – 8), Wild ox (39:9 - 12), Ostrich (39:13 – 18), Horse (39:19 – 25), Hawk  (39:26) & Eagle (39:27 – 30).

God asked Job whether he knew anything from their conception, birth, the way they take care of their young, how they live and die. Most of these questions seem to be a response to Job’s anguish about the circumstances of his birth. 

1.      Job: May the day perish on which I was born, and the night in which it was said, a male child is conceived. Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? (3:3,11)

God: Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?  Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them (39: 1-4)

2.       Job: Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? (3:12)

God: Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food? (38:41)

 Job failed to mention God as his creator or spoke as though God did not have anything to do with his conception, birth and his life. (It could have been simply because of his anguish and pain, that’s why God did not consider it as a sin). God had to remind Job that from the simplest of animals to the greatest even those that are roaming in the wild are taken care of by him. From birth till death, nothing happens without His knowledge. That seems to be the summary of the message given here.

                                                                                             - To be continued