Job Chapters 1 – 3 Notes, Summaries of Literature

Download Job Chapters 1 – 3 Notes and more Summaries Literature in PDF only on Docsity! Job  Chapters  1  –  3  Notes     Background  and  Setting     Scholarship  varies  widely  on  the  understanding  of  the  history  of  Job,  but  the   foundation  of  this  study  rests  on  2  Tim  3:16,  that  “All  Scripture  is  breathed  out  by   God  and  profitable  for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  and  for  training  in   righteousness.”  I  believe  that  the  book  of  Job  is  as  true  as  God  is  and  that  it  recounts   historical  events.  Job  is  not  myth.     Nothing  in  the  Bible  specifies  when  Job  lived,  but  a  few  clues  from  the  text  helps   narrow  the  timeline.  Job  lived  140  years  plus  enough  years  to  have  ten  [grown]   children  (Job  42:16,  1:2-­‐4).  If  you  were  to  plot  human  lifespan  through  the   genealogies  in  Genesis  through  Judges,  you  would  see  that  they  start  very  high   (Adam  lived  to  be  930  years  old),  start  dropping  precipitously  after  the  flood  and   level  out  to  our  expected  age  range  by  the  time  Israel  moves  into  the  Promised  Land.   Job’s  age  fits  in  the  curve  around  the  time  of  the  Patriarchs—Abraham,  Isaac  and   Jacob.  Other  historical  clues,  such  as  names,  lifestyles  and  level  of  technology   corroborate  that  Job  lived  around  2,000  BC.     Using  some  of  the  same  clues  to  date  Job,  we  may  estimate  the  approximate  area  in   which  he  lived.  Being  a  man  “of  the  East”  (Job  1:3),  that  means  he  lived  East  of  the   Jordan  River,  and  he  was  likely  bordered  between  Assyria  and  Edom.  The  blue  box   highlights  this  area:           Job  was  likely  written  significantly  after  the  events  happened.  Common  for  the  day,   the  story  would  have  been  passed  down  through  oral  tradition  until  it  was  written   into  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Proximity  with  Abraham’s  family  would  have  allowed   them  to  witness  the  struggles  of  Job  and  inform  their  understanding  of  God.  The   book  is  written  as  Hebrew  poetry  and  is  part  of  the  wisdom  literature.  The  most   probable  scenario  is  that  the  Hebrew  people  kept  Job’s  story  until  God  inspired  its   author  to  write  the  book  as  we  know  it,  and  much  of  the  Bible’s  wisdom  literature   was  written  between  the  time  of  King  Solomon  and  King  Hezekiah  (971  –  687  BC).     Outline     1:1-­‐1:5,  Job  and  his  character  introduced   1:6-­‐1:12,  Satan  challenges  God,  God  accepts   1:13-­‐1:19,  Satan  takes  Job's  servants,  livestock  and  children   1:20-­‐1:22,  Job's  response:  worship   2:1-­‐2:6,  Satan  challenges  God  to  a  second  round,  God  accepts   2:7-­‐2:8,  Satan  attacks  Job's  health   2:9-­‐2:10,  Job's  wife's  exasperation,  Job  responds  about  receiving     good  and  evil   2:11-­‐2:13,  Job's  friends  arrive  at  sit  with  him  for  a  week   3:1-­‐26,  Job  speaks,  curses  the  day  he  was  born     Study     As  we  start  the  book,  the  first  thing  we  encounter  is  Job:  a  man  unparalleled  in  his   wealth—both  physically  and  spiritually.  The  first  verse  of  the  book  extols  Job’s   character,  and  this  is  important  to  remember  going  through  the  book.  Job  really   does  nothing  to  merit  the  suffering  he  encounters,  and  it  can  be  easy  to  forget  this   point  as  we  struggle  with  Job  and  his  friends’  through  the  darkness  and  through  the   arguments.     The  antagonist,  Satan  (lit.  The  Accuser),  is  then  introduced.  He  is  contrasted  with  the   “sons  of  God”  (they  may  be  angels,  but  this  phrase  is  usually  used  when  referring  to   God’s  covenant  people—those  whom  he  has  saved).  God  initiates  a  conversation   with  Satan  and  tells  him  to  consider  his  servant  Job.  Satan  claims  that  Job  only   follows  God  because  Job  has  been  blessed  with  material  possession—if  those  things   were  taken  away,  Job’s  attitude  about  God  would  change.  God  gives  Satan   permission  to  take  those  things  away.  With  a  synchronicity  that  could  not  be   coincidental,  Job  loses  everything:  his  servants,  his  livestock  and  his  family.     Job’s  response  was  to  worship,  “Then  Job  arose  and  tore  his  robe  and  shaved  his   head  and  fell  on  the  ground  and  worshiped. And  he  said,  “Naked  I  came  from  my   mother’s  womb,  and  naked  shall  I  return.  The  LORD  gave,  and  the  LORD  has  taken   away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  LORD”  [Job  1:20-­‐21].    The  next  verse  says,  “In  all   this  Job  did  not  sin  or  charge  God  with  wrong.”  Satan  lost,  God  won.