Introduction to Job
The book of Job begins in heaven with a conversation between God and Satan, then moves to earth for a look at the life of a righteous man named Job. Overnight, Job’s blessings dissolve into heartaches as he suffers the loss of his health, wealth, family and status. In suffering, Job seeks to answer the question why? His friends are not able to provide the insight Job desperately needs. Finally it remains for Yahweh to teach Job a lesson about God’s sovereignty and the need for complete trust in the Lord. But the question Job raises will ultimately be answered when the Messiah comes.
Survey of Job
The book of Job reads like a drama. There are three acts: Act I is in heaven and we see God and Satan making a bet on Job’s faithfulness. Act II is on earth and it is a series of debates between Job and his friends. Act III is where God appears to Job and speaks directly to him.
Act I Ch 1 – 2 Conversation between God and Satan
Act II Ch 3 – 37 Debate between Job and his friends
First Debate 3 – 14
Second Debate 15 – 21
Third Dabate 22 – 26
Final Defense of Job 27 – 31
Elihu’s Answer 32 – 37
Act III Ch 38 – 42 God’s answer & reward to Job
The most difficult part of Job to read is the debates Job has with his friends. The three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, all express the orthodox theology of their times: they say that Job is suffering because of his sin. Job defends his innocence. Job has not done anything to deserve such a calamity. Job’s defenses are much longer than his friends accusations, and in the process of defending his innocence, Job may have become guilty of self-righteousness.
After Job’s final defense, a fourth man named Elihu suddenly jumps in the debate and offers his view. Elihu tells Job that he needs to humble himself before God and submit to God’s process of purifying him through trials.
Elihu’s opinion seems to be closer to truth in Job’s case. When God appears, God points out that Job’s friends have not said right things about God, but God does not say anything bad about Elihu. (But this does not mean what Job’s friends said were completely wrong. Their generalized doctrine just does not apply to Job’s special case. In fact, the argument of Job’s friends are sound and convincing. The debate seems to have ended in a stalemate, prompting Elihu to jump in.)
When God appears in a whirlwind, God does not give an answer about Job’s suffering. Instead, God asks Job a series of questions that no human beings can answer. God’s questions reveal God’s absolute sovereignty, power and care over the creation. Though God does not say anything about his suffering, Job does catch a glimpse of God’s perspective and acknowledges God’s complete sovereignty over his life.
Theme & Message
The theme seems to be the mystery of the suffering of the righteous in a world created by a righteous God. However, though this may be the theme of the book, that is not its purpose, for the book never answers that question. Even God, in His remarkable four-chapter monologue at the end of the book, never even mentions the question at all. Rather, God emphasizes the sovereign right of the Creator to use and test His creatures as He wills. But God is not a tyrant. God is never unjust and never capricious, and we must simply trust in God.
Christ in Job
The book of Job raises more questions than it answers. The question about evil and suffering Job raises looks forward to the coming of the Messiah. When we look at all the evil and suffering in the world, it seems as if God is not in control.
Job felt abandoned by God in his calamity. His friends’ condemnation made him feel angry and all alone. Job could only cry out to God from the depths. But to Job’s relief, God did not desert him forever. God appeared to Job and revealed himself directly to Job. God assured Job that God is the sovereign Lord who is in complete control of the universe.
Job was an innocent sufferer. Other prominent figures in the bible were also innocent sufferers: Joseph, David, Jeremiah, Daniel and his three friends, Paul, and most of all, Jesus the Messiah. Jesus also felt abandoned by his disciples and even by the Father when he was on the cross. But God was the sovereign Lord. By raising Jesus from the dead, God turned the greatest evils into greatest good for the whole humankind.
When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, there was no suffering. Suffering came when we sinned and rebelled against God. But God did not leave humanity to suffer forever. God has come down and joined us in our sufferings and loneliness. Jesus bore all the sins of the world, and received the penalty in our place, to redeem humankind and bring us into His kingdom where there is no more death, mourning or pain.
In his famous commentary to Job, Francis Andersen concludes his introduction with this comment: “that the Lord Himself has embraced and absorbed the undeserved consequences of all evil is the answer to Job and all the Jobs of humanity.”