The Story of Job

MEMORY VERSE: “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” —Hebrews 12:11

JOB 2:1-10

JOB “was a man in the land of Uz.” (Job 1:1) (see Smith’s Bible Dictionary for the location of Uz) In the New Testament James wrote, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.” (James 5:11) Job needed patience, for the Lord allowed him to go through a very trying ordeal. He lost his flocks and his herds, his children and his health. His wife turned against him and said, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.”—ch. 2:9

Job replied to his wife, saying, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job did maintain his integrity before God, although he found it difficult to understand why he was being permitted to suffer so severely.

After Job became ill three of his friends visited him—and later a fourth—thinking to comfort him; but their viewpoint (particularly that of the three) was far from comforting, for they insisted that Job had committed some gross sin that he was concealing, and for this he was being punished. Job knew this was not true, and most of the Book of Job is taken up in presenting opposing arguments on this point by Job, and by his friends.

Job also exercised great faith in God, although he did reach a point where he asked God to let him die that he might be free from suffering. Having made this request he wondered about the future, and asked, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:13,14) Job did not ask if a dead man is really dead, for he knew that death is a reality. What he asked was, “Shall he live again?”—in the resurrection, that is. Then Job added, “All the days of my appointed time will I wait [in death] till my change [from death to life] come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.”—vs. 15

Job was one of God’s inspired prophets, and therefore spoke the truth concerning the hope of the resurrection. But Job could not understand the meaning of his great personal trial. Speaking of his effort to find God in his bitter experience Job said, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he cloth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, but I cannot see him: but he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”—Job 23:8-10

While Job, by his searching, could not find God’s hand in his suffering, he maintained his faith in God, and in the fact that he was watching over him. To Job, the fact that he could not find God in what was happening to him did not mean that God had forsaken him. “He knoweth the way that I take,” Job said. In other words, Job believed that God knew where he was and where he stood, even though he could not find God; and he knew that in his trial God was testing him and that he would “come forth as gold,” and he did.

The thought of our memory verse is related to Job’s experience. It speaks of the chastening of the Lord. The Greek word translated “chastening” in this text means tutorage, or training. Job was not only tested, but he was being taught to know God better, and to have greater faith in him.

Beginning with chapter 38, God asks Job a series of questions designed to teach his servant how very little he really knew concerning the great Creator of the universe, and his designs for his human creatures. And from these questions, none of which Job could answer, he learned the divinely designed lesson. He said, “I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.”—Job 42:1-4

To this Job added, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” (vs. 5) Job failed to find and see God by his own efforts, even though he looked for him on every side. But now God had revealed himself to Job and he could “see” him who before had been hidden. Job now saw God by the eye of faith, and this will be true of all mankind when a knowledge of the Lord fills the earth.—Isa. 11:9

QUESTIONS

Who was Job? Relate briefly his great trial.

What was Job’s hope for life after death?

Could Job find and know God by his own efforts?

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