God's Response to Job

RESEARCH PAPER

God’s response to Job 38-42 and the Message of the Book of Job

OBST 520 Old Testament Survey II

OBST 520-B07

Dr. Wayne Poplin

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary

Charles A. Williams (ID# 24737324)

October 5, 2014

INTRODUCTION

The Story of Job

The book of Job is a mixture of divine and human wisdom that addresses a major life issue: Why do righteous people suffer undeservedly? The basic structure of the book consists of a prologue (chapters 1 and 2), a body of speeches (chapters 3-42) and an epilogue (chapter 42:7-17). The book starts with Job, a prosperous man who was blameless and upright, feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). Immediately following this brief introduction Satan challenges God about the fact that the only reason Job is like no other (1:8) is because of his blessed life. God agrees to allow Satan to test this theory by surrendering Job to him with the exception that Job’s soul would not be touched (1:12).

This prologue sets the stage for all that is to come throughout the Book of Job. With this agreement between God and Satan in place, Job is afflicted with the loss of his family, the loss of his possessions, and finally the loss of his health. Satan’s purpose in all of this was to see if Job would curse God (1:11). Reyburn summarizes Satan’s objective stating that “Satan’s main objective was to turn a righteous man against a just God.” Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, arrived to comfort Job who has remained firm in his devotion to God in the midst of his intense suffering; (Eliphaz - Job 4:1-21, 15:1-35, 22:1-30; Bildad - 8:1-22, 18:1-21, 25:1-6; (Zopher 11:1-20, 20:1-29). Although Reyburn notes two basic lines of interaction running through Job; Job’s crying out to God and Job’s disputations with his three friends. However, I see three lines of interactions running through the book of Job, (1) Job’s crying out to God , (2) Job’s disputations with his three friends and (3)...