Review of the Literary Genre for Job
Although Job was a real person, the events in Job are not written as a historical narrative. Other than the prologue (Job 1:1-2:13) and epilogue (Job 42:7-17), which are highly stylized prose, the rest of Job is a series of poetic speeches (Job 3:1-42:6). These poetic forms show that they are not word-for-word quotations, but carefully crafted pieces of poetry. The artistic presentation of these speeches make them one of the literary masterpieces of the ancient world.
So, as we study Job, we are not to read it as if it’s a textbook. Read it like poetry, with all the license that poetry takes to deliver its message to us.
The Prologue: Not Poetry, but Poetic Prose
The Prologue and uses repetition for effect, becoming a vehicle to set up the story. And we can even sense that’s true, if we let the words of Job have their way with us.
We find that Job is “blameless and upright” (1:1, 8; 2:3), he “feared God and turned away from evil” (1:1, 8; 2:3). After disaster struck, Job “did not sin” (1:22, 2:10). Later recounting his losses, Job said, “I alone have escaped to tell you” (1:15, 16, 17, and 19). And as Job was speaking, we hear the introduction of the other characters: “While he was yet speaking, there came another and said” (1:16, 17, and 18).
Action: Outside of Job
Last week, we heard the setup of the plot for the rest of Job. Satan had told God that Job only trusted in Him because God had blessed Him. To prove Satan wrong, God said that Satan all him to do anything to Job, but not to harm Job in any way. So now, we hear what Satan brings to pass.
Read Job 1:13-19
- Based on whom or what afflicts Job and his family, what is the effect that those disasters are supposed to have on Job? (vs. 15, 16, 17, and 19)
- Of Job’s family, whom does the text not mention as dying? What is being “set up” by this non-event?
Sabeans: African people living in Nubia (southern Egypt and northern Sudan today), whom Isaiah mentioned (45:14). In Joel 3:8, they were a distant nation to whom the Judeans will sell peoples captured from Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia. Then, it probably referred to the inhabitants of the Arabian kingdom of Sheba (today, Yemen).
Chaldeans: The people of lower Mesopotamia and their culture; the 11th dynasty of the kings of Babylon (6th century B.C.) is generally known as the Chaldean dynasty, which Nebuchadnezzar. Today, it would be the region of Iraq and eastern Syria.
“fire of God”: a poetic way of saying lightning. However, the writer of Job wants us to know that it is “of God,” and what impact that was to have on Job.
The Sabeans came from the southwest, the Chaldeans from the northeast. All people have turned against Job and now surround him. A great wind did its worst: even the elements of creation now frown upon Job. And worst of all, the “fire of God”—even God!—has turned His back on Job. This is the setup for what follows next.
Reaction
Read Job 1:20-22
- What does Job do that shows how he views God?
“fell on the ground and worshiped”: In both the Hebrew and the Greek-language translation of the Old Testament, Job falls to the ground and then worships God in a form that involves prostration (Hebrew: shachach; Greek: proskeneuo). So, this verse says the same thing twice, using repetition. However, the second time amplifies the meaning: Through his bodily actions, Job is worshipping God in reverence and fear (Hebrews 12:28).
- How does Job’s words confess what his bodily actions showed?
Excursus: The Lord Gives, the Lord Takes; Blessed be the Name of the Lord
When Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” he revealed that he was living his life in time, but from an eternal perspective. Job was not enjoying what had happened to him. He would have wished it to be different.
Read Roman 8:18-25
- What does faith allow Job to see?
- Discuss end-of-life issues, knowing that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
Action: On Job Himself
Read Job 2:1-8
- Why does Satan think that Job is righteous?
- What now happens to Job?
Reaction: Job and his Wife
Read Job 2:9-10
- Where does Job’s wife now stand in relation to God?
- Where is Job in relation to God after personal physical affliction and the “counsel” from his wife?
- What do the ashes reveal about Job’s state of being?
Read 1 Corinthians 10:13
- What does God promise?
- Discuss: What may the way of escape sometimes entail?
Read James 1:13-14
- What is God not the author or source of what?
- How is the person involved in his own temptations?
- What then should be the response?
Prayer: Psalm 25
P: Remember not the sins of my youth, O Lord, or my rebellious ways!
C: Remember me in light of Your gracious love, because of Your goodness. Psalm 25:7
P: Who is the man who fears the Lord?
C: God will teach him the path he should to take. Psalm 25:12
P: The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear Him;
C: He makes His covenant known to them. Psalm 25:14
P: Turn to me and have mercy, O Lord,
C: for I am alone and afflicted.
P: The troubles of my heart increase;
C: rescue me from my anguish!
P: Consider my affliction and distress,
C: and take away all my sins. Psalm 25:16-18
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