Job 1

“You have heard of the patience [endurance] of Job” (James 5:11).

Yes, many people have heard about Job and his trials; but not many people understand what those trials were all about and what God was trying to accomplish. Nor do they realize that Job suffered as he did so that God’s people today might learn from his experiences how to be patient in suffering and endure to the end.

When I decided to write about Job, I said to my wife, “I wonder how much suffering we’ll have to go through so I can write this book.” (I don’t want to write or preach in an impersonal and academic way. The Word has to become real to me, or I can’t make it real to others.) Little did we realize the trials that God would permit us to experience! But we can testify that God is faithful, He answers prayer, and He always has a wonderful purpose in mind (Jer. 29:11).

You, too, may have to go through the furnace in order to study the book of Job and really grasp its message. If so, don’t be afraid! By faith, just say with Job, “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23: niv). Gold fears no fire. Whatever we have that is burned up and left behind in the furnace wasn’t worth having anyway.

As we study the book of Job together, I trust that two things will be accomplished in your life: you will learn to be patient in your own trials, and you will learn how to help others in their trials. Your world is filled with people who need encouragement, and God may be preparing you for just that ministry. Either way, I hope this book helps you.

Lord Byron was on target when he wrote: “Truth is always strange; stranger than fiction.”

The book of Job is not religious fiction. Job was a real person, not an imaginary character; both Ezekiel (14:14, 20) and James (5:11) attest to that. Because he was a real man who had real experiences, he can tell us what we need to know about life and its problems in this real world.

These first three chapters introduce us to the man Job and reveal four important facts about him.

The land of Uz was probably in or near Edom (Lam. 4:21). Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, came from Teman, which is associated with the Edomites (Job 2:11; Gen. 36:11).

His character (Job 1:1). Job was “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1). He was not sinless, for nobody can claim that distinction, but he was complete and mature in character and “straight” in conduct. The word translated “perfect” is related to “integrity,” another important word in Job (2:3, 9; 27:5; 31:6). People with integrity are whole persons, without hypocrisy or duplicity. In the face of his friends’ accusations and God’s silence, Job maintained his integrity, and the Lord ultimately vindicated him.

The foundation for Job’s character was the fact that he “feared God and shunned evil.” “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding” (28:28). To fear the Lord means to respect who He is, what He says, and what He does. It is not the cringing fear of a slave before a master but the loving reverence of a child before a father, a respect that leads to obedience. “The remarkable thing about fearing God,” said Oswald Chambers, “is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.”

His family (Job 1:2). Job was prosperous in his family. The events in Job took place during the Patriarchal Age, when a large family was seen as a blessing from God (Gen. 12:2; 13:16; 30:1). The children must have enjoyed each other’s company since they met frequently to celebrate their birthdays. This speaks well of the way Job and his wife raised them. The fact that their father offered special sacrifices after each birthday feast does not prove their celebration was wicked. It only shows that Job was a pious man and wanted to be sure his family was right with God.

His material possessions (Job 1:3). In those days, wealth was measured primarily in terms of land, animals, and servants; and Job had all three in abundance. But being rich did not turn him away from God. He acknowledged that the Lord gave this wealth to him (Job 1:21), and he used his wealth generously for the good of others (4:1–4; 29:12–17; 31:16–32). Job would have had no problem obeying what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:6–19.

His friends (Job 2:11). While it is true that his three friends hurt Job deeply and wronged him greatly, they were still his friends. When they heard about Job’s calamities, they traveled a long distance to visit him, and they sat in silence as they sympathized with him. Their mistake was in thinking they had to explain Job’s situation and tell him how to change it.

“My best friend,” said Henry Ford, “is the one who brings out the best in me”; but Job’s friends brought out the worst in him. However, in the end Job and his friends were reconciled (42:7–10), and I like to think that their relationship was deeper than before. To have true friends is to be wealthy indeed.

In one day, Job was stripped of his wealth. One after another, four frightened messengers reported that 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, and 3,000 camels were stolen in enemy raids; 7,000 sheep were struck by lightning and killed; and all 10 of his children were killed by a windstorm. King Solomon was right: “Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them” (Eccl. 9: niv).

Job knew what had happened, but he did not know why it had happened; and that is the crux of the matter. Because the author allows us to visit the throne room of heaven and hear God and Satan speak, we know who caused the destruction and why he was allowed to cause it. But if we did not have this insight, we would probably take the same approach as Job’s friends and blame Job for the tragedy. not the least of which is that God is sovereign in all

Several important truths emerge from this scene, things. He is on the throne of heaven, the angels do His will and report to Him, and even Satan can do nothing to God’s people without God’s permission. “The Almighty” is one of the key names for God in Job; it is used thirty-one times. From the outset, the writer reminds us that, no matter what happens in this world and in our lives, God is on the throne and has everything under control. Satan has access to God’s throne in heaven. Thanks to

A second truth—and it may surprise you—is that John Milton’s Paradise Lost, many people have the mistaken idea that Satan is ruling this world from hell (“Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav’n”). But Satan will not be cast into the lake of fire until before the final judgment (Rev. 20:10ff.). Today, he is free to go about on the earth (Job 1:7; 1 Peter 5:8) and can

This third truth is most important: God found no even go into God’s presence in heaven. fault with Job, but Satan did. God’s statement in Job 1: echoes the description of Job in verse 1, but Satan questioned it. The word “Satan” means “adversary, one who opposes the law.” This is a courtroom scene, and God and Satan each deliver different verdicts about Job. As you study this book, keep in mind that God said, “Not guilty!” (1:8; 2:3; 42:7). There was nothing in Job’s life that compelled God to cause him to suffer. But Satan said “Guilty!” because he is the accuser of God’s people and finds nothing good in them (Zech. 3; Rev. 12:10).

Satan’s accusation against Job was really an attack on God. We might paraphrase it like this: “The only reason Job fears You is because You pay him to do it. You two have made a contract: You protect him and prosper him as long as he obeys You and worships You. You are not a God worthy of worship! You have to pay people to honor You.”

Job’s three friends said Job was suffering because he had sinned, and that was not true. Elihu said that God was chastening Job to make him a better man, and that was partly true. But the fundamental reason for Job’s suffering was to silence the blasphemous accusations of Satan and prove that a man would honor God even though he had lost everything. It was a battle “in the heavenlies” (Eph. 6:12), but Job did not know it. Job’s life was a battlefield where the forces of God and Satan were engaged in a spiritual struggle to decide the question, “Is Jehovah God worthy of man’s worship?”

Now we can better understand why Job was so unyielding as he resisted the advice of his friends. They wanted him to repent of his sins so that God would remove the suffering and make him prosperous again. Job was not going to “invent” sin in his life just so he could repent and “earn” the blessing of God. To do that would be to play right into the hands of the accuser! Instead, Job held fast to his integrity and blessed God even though he did not understand what God was

A fourth truth emerges: Satan can touch God’s doing. What a defeat for the prince of darkness! people only with God’s permission, and God uses it for their good and His glory. Phillips Brooks said, “The purpose of life is the building of character through truth.” God is at work in our lives to make us more like Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29), and He can use even the attacks of the devil to perfect us. When you are in the path of obedience and you find yourself in a severe trial, remind yourself that nothing can come to your life that is outside His will.

Some of the so-called tragedies in the lives of God’s people have really been weapons of God to “still the enemy and the avenger” (Ps. 8:2). The angels watch the church and learn from God’s dealings with His people (1 Cor. 4:9; Eph. 3:10). We may not know until we get to heaven why God allowed certain things to happen. Meanwhile, we walk by faith and say with Job, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

The hosts of heaven and of hell watched to see how Job would respond to the loss of his wealth and his children. He expressed his grief in a manner normal for that day, for God expects us to be human (1 Thess. 4:13). After all, even Jesus wept (John 11:35). But then Job worshipped God and uttered a profound statement

First, he looked back to his birth: “Naked came I of faith (Job 1:21). out of my mother’s womb.” Everything Job owned was given to him by God, and the same God who gave it had the right to take it away. Job simply acknowledged

Then Job looked ahead to his death: “and naked that he was a steward. shall I return.” He would not return to his mother’s womb, because that would be impossible. He would go to “Mother Earth,” be buried, and turn to dust. (The connection between “birth” and “Mother Earth” is seen also in Ps. 139:13–15.) Nothing that he acquired between his birth and death would go with him into the next world. Paul wrote, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing

Finally, Job looked up and uttered a magnificent out” (1 Tim. 6:7). statement of faith: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Instead of cursing God, as Satan said Job would do, Job blessed the Lord! Anybody can say, “The Lord gave” or “The Lord hath taken away”; but it takes real faith to say in the midst of sorrow and suffering, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

“In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God with folly” (v. 22).