Segment:
Outline:
1. Zophar’s
Second Argument
a.
Job 20:1-29
b.
Says those who have wronged others will suffer
c.
Raises question “Then why did the victims ever have to
suffer?”
d.
20:3- claims to be speaking through a spirit
2. Job
responds to Zophar
a.
Job 21:1-34
b.
If this is true, then why do the wicked go unpunished?
c.
21:20-21 What do unjust care if their descendents
suffer for them?
3. Eliphaz’s
Third Argument
a.
Job 22:1-30
b.
You need to get yourself right with God before all
will be well.
4. Job
responds to Eliphaz
a.
Job 23:1-24:25
b.
Still needs to know what he’s doing wrong
c.
Job needs to know God is there and sees him.
d.
Still sees wicked doing bad and getting away with it
e.
24:18-20- implies Job agrees with his friends
f.
24:24- seems to answer above passage.
·
Unjust succeed for a time, but pointless since it’s a
short time
5. Bildad’s
Third Argument
a.
Job 25:1-6
b.
Seems to argue what Job has.
c.
25:4 “How then can a mortal be righteous before God?”
6. Job
responds to Bildad
a.
Job 26:1-31:40
b.
Seems favorable to Bildad
c.
Won’t let go of integrity until has to (cf. 27:5)
d.
Where is Wisdom to be found? (cf. 28:1-28)
e.
Gives proof of his innocence by his actions (29:11-20)
f.
Once he was respected, now he’s not (30:1-31)
g.
Asks for punishment if he has sinned (31:1-40)
h.
27:7-23- again seems like his friends’ idea of justice
7. Final two
speeches (Elihu and God)
Final Notes:
·
Job is willing to take any punishment he might
deserve, even death. He just wants to know what he did.
·
His friends are looking to the old view of justice.
o
They try to help, but doesn’t really work.
·
Job sees that this view doesn’t seem to work anymore.
·
If we accept Job that he’s innocent, then a new view
is needed.
·
Long may be right here, maybe we are moving from the
old view to a new one.
·
What often seems to be missing for Job is what we
have: Jesus Christ.
Relevant Issues for our Time:
·
Job and his friends seem to talk around each other,
not listening.
·
“Prosperity gospel”- a modern idea that if you’re
good, your wealth will show it.
·
The treatment of Job raises the issue of victim
shaming in our times.
Sources:
Davidson,
Lisa ed. “The Book of Job”, The New
Interpreter’s Bible. Nashville: Abingdon, 2003.
Long, Thomas G. What
Shall We Say?: Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith. Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2011.