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The Book of Job _ A Story of Suffering_ Faith_ and Restoration _ Full Bible Story HD · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Before Christ walked on water, before Daniel faced lions, before
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  Speaker 1: David slayed giants, there was Job. A man whose story
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  Speaker 1: prophesies the greatest suffering servant of all time. What you're
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  Speaker 1: about to witness isn't just ancient history. It's a divine blueprint.
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  Speaker 1: Every tear Job shed, every prayer he cried, every moment
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  Speaker 1: of abandonment he felt echoes through eternity to Calvary's cross.
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  Speaker 1: This is the story that reveals God's heart when heaven
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  Speaker 1: seems silent, when prayers feel empty, when the righteous suffer
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  Speaker 1: while the wicked prosper. Job's ashes become the altar where
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  Speaker 1: human pain meets divine purpose. His resurrection from ruin foreshadows
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  Speaker 1: the ultimate victory over death itself. Prepare yourself. You're about
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  Speaker 1: to see the gospel hidden in the oldest book ever written.
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  Speaker 1: In the land of Uz. lived a man whose name
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  Speaker 1: would echo through history, Job. Chapter 1 opens with a
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  Speaker 1: description that seems almost too good to be true. Job
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  Speaker 1: was perfect and upright, one who feared God and turned
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  Speaker 1: away from evil. His wealth was absolutely staggering. 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels,
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  Speaker 1: 500 pairs of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. His household
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  Speaker 1: was enormous. making him the greatest man among all the
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  Speaker 1: people of the East. But Job's true treasure wasn't his possessions.
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  Speaker 1: It was his family. Seven sons and three daughters filled
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  Speaker 1: his home with joy and laughter. These children loved each
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  Speaker 1: other deeply, taking turns hosting elaborate feasts in their homes.
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  Speaker 1: After each celebration, Job would rise early in the morning
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  Speaker 1: and offer burnt offerings for each of his children, thinking,
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
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  Speaker 1: This he did regularly, showing a father's heart that constantly
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  Speaker 1: sought God's favor for his beloved family. Then something absolutely
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  Speaker 1: incredible happened that would change everything forever. The sons of
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  Speaker 1: God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan
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  Speaker 1: came among them. When God asked Satan where he had
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  Speaker 1: come from, Satan answered that he had been walking back
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  Speaker 1: and forth on the earth, roaming throughout it. Then God
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  Speaker 1: said something that would alter the course of history. Have
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  Speaker 1: you considered my servant Job, that there is none like
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  Speaker 1: him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one
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  Speaker 1: who fears God and shuns evil? Satan's response cut straight
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  Speaker 1: to the heart of every question about faith and suffering
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  Speaker 1: that has ever been asked. Does Job fear God for nothing?
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  Speaker 1: Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household,
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  Speaker 1: and around all that he has on every side? You
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  Speaker 1: have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions
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  Speaker 1: have increased in the land. But now stretch out your
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  Speaker 1: hand and touch all that he has, and he will
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  Speaker 1: surely curse you to your face. The Lord's answer would
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  Speaker 1: shock anyone who was listening. Behold, all that he has
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  Speaker 1: is in your power, only do not lay a hand
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  Speaker 1: on his person. In that single moment, a cosmic wager
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  Speaker 1: began that would test the very foundations of faith itself.
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  Speaker 1: The first test came swiftly and brutally like a series
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  Speaker 1: of devastating hammer blows. In a single horrific day, messengers
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  Speaker 1: ran to Job with news that completely shattered his world.
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  Speaker 1: The Sabaeans had attacked and stolen his oxen and donkeys,
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  Speaker 1: killing his servants with the edge of the sword. Fire
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  Speaker 1: from heaven had burned up his sheep and more servants,
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  Speaker 1: consuming them completely. The Chaldeans had formed three bands, raided
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  Speaker 1: his camels, and killed even more of his people with
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  Speaker 1: brutal efficiency. But the worst news of all came last.
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  Speaker 1: A great wind from across the wilderness had struck the house,
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  Speaker 1: where all his children were feasting together, and the house collapsed.
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  Speaker 1: killing every single one of them. Job's response was absolutely
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  Speaker 1: remarkable and completely unexpected. He tore his robe, shaved his head,
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  Speaker 1: and fell to the ground in worship, saying these unforgettable words,'
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  Speaker 1: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall
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  Speaker 1: I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has
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  Speaker 1: taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.' In
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  Speaker 1: all this devastating loss, Job did not sin nor charge
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  Speaker 1: God with doing anything wrong, but Satan wasn't finished with
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  Speaker 1: his assault. Chapter 2 shows him returning to God's presence
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  Speaker 1: once again. When God pointed out that Job still held
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  Speaker 1: fast to his integrity despite being moved to destroy him
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  Speaker 1: without any cause, Satan's reply was absolutely chilling. Skin for skin, yes.
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  Speaker 1: All that a man has, he will give for his life.
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  Speaker 1: But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone
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  Speaker 1: and his flesh, and he will surely curse you to
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  Speaker 1: your face. God gave Satan permission to touch Job's body
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  Speaker 1: directly with just one important condition. He must spare Job's life.
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  Speaker 1: Satan immediately struck Job with painful boils from the sole
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  Speaker 1: of his foot to the crown of his head. Job
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  Speaker 1: sat among the ashes and scraped himself with a piece
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  Speaker 1: of broken pottery. trying to find some relief from the
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  Speaker 1: constant burning pain. Then came perhaps the most heartbreaking moment
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  Speaker 1: of the entire ordeal. Job's wife, watching her husband's unbearable
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  Speaker 1: agony day after day, spoke words that were born from
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  Speaker 1: her own desperate pain. Do you still hold fast to
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  Speaker 1: your integrity? Curse God and die! But Job answered her
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  Speaker 1: with words that have inspired countless sufferers throughout history. You speak!
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  Speaker 1: as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed
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  Speaker 1: accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?
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  Speaker 1: In all this terrible suffering, Job did not sin with
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  Speaker 1: his lips. When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad
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  Speaker 1: the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite, heard about all the
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  Speaker 1: trouble that had come upon him, they made an appointment
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  Speaker 1: together to come and mourn with him and comfort him
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  Speaker 1: in his grief. but when they saw him from a distance,
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  Speaker 1: they could barely recognize the man they had known. They
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  Speaker 1: wept loudly, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust on their
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  Speaker 1: heads toward heaven. Then they sat with him on the
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  Speaker 1: ground for seven full days and seven long nights without
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  Speaker 1: speaking a single word to him, because they could see
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  Speaker 1: that his grief was extremely great. After seven complete days
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  Speaker 1: of absolute silence, Something finally broke deep inside Job's heart.
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  Speaker 1: Chapter 3 records words that shocked everyone who heard them
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  Speaker 1: and continue to shock readers today. Job opened his mouth
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  Speaker 1: and cursed the day of his birth with language that
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  Speaker 1: was raw and desperate. These weren't the calm, measured words
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  Speaker 1: of a patient sufferer. They were the desperate cries of
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  Speaker 1: a man who had been pushed far beyond his breaking point.
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  Speaker 1: May the day perish on which I was born. and
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  Speaker 1: the night in which it was said, A male child
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  Speaker 1: is conceived. Job's overwhelming pain poured out in vivid, almost
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  Speaker 1: frightening language that revealed the depth of his anguish. He
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  Speaker 1: wished that day had been complete darkness, that God above
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  Speaker 1: had not sought it out, that no light had ever
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  Speaker 1: shined upon it. He wanted darkness and the shadow of
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  Speaker 1: death to claim it completely and clouds to settle on it,
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  Speaker 1: and the blackness of the day to terrify it with
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  Speaker 1: overwhelming gloom. His words grew even more intense and desperate
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  Speaker 1: as he continued speaking about that night. May that night
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  Speaker 1: be barren. May no joyful shout come into it. May
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  Speaker 1: those curse it who curse the day, those who are
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  Speaker 1: ready to arouse Leviathan. May the stars of its twilight
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  Speaker 1: be dark. May it look for light, but have none,
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  Speaker 1: and not see the dawning of the day, because it
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  Speaker 1: did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb,
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  Speaker 1: nor hide sorrow from my eyes. But Job's deepest wish
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  Speaker 1: was actually much simpler and more heartbreaking than his dramatic curses.
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  Speaker 1: He wished with all his heart that he had died
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  Speaker 1: at birth. Why did I not die at birth? Why
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  Speaker 1: did I not perish when I came from the womb?
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  Speaker 1: Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts
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  Speaker 1: that I should nurse? He painted a beautiful but tragic
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  Speaker 1: picture of death as a place of complete rest and peace,
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  Speaker 1: where the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary
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  Speaker 1: are at rest. The most painful and piercing question came
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  Speaker 1: at the very end of his lament. Why is light
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  Speaker 1: given to a man whose way is hidden and whom
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  Speaker 1: God has hedged in? The very hedge of divine protection
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  Speaker 1: that Satan had complained about in chapter 1 now felt
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  Speaker 1: like an inescapable prison to Job. His sighs came before
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  Speaker 1: his food each day, and his groaning poured out like
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  Speaker 1: water continuously. Job's explosive outburst was met with genuine concern
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  Speaker 1: from his first friend, Eliphaz the Temanite. Chapter 4 shows
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  Speaker 1: Eliphaz trying to be gentle and diplomatic at first, almost
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  Speaker 1: apologetic for daring to speak at such a sensitive time.
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  Speaker 1: If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary?
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  Speaker 1: But who can withhold himself from speaking? He reminded Job
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  Speaker 1: of how he had been a source of strength to
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  Speaker 1: others in the past. Your words have upheld him who
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  Speaker 1: was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees. But
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  Speaker 1: now it comes upon you, and you are weary. It
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  Speaker 1: touches you, and you are troubled. But then Eliphaz asked
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  Speaker 1: the crucial question that revealed exactly what he was thinking.
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  Speaker 1: Is not your reverend? your confidence, and the integrity of
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  Speaker 1: your ways your hope? Remember now, whoever perished being innocent,
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  Speaker 1: or where were the upright ever cut off? In Eliphaz's
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  Speaker 1: theological worldview, suffering always indicated sin. Good righteous people simply
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  Speaker 1: didn't suffer like this without having done something wrong first.
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  Speaker 1: To support his point and give weight to his argument,
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  Speaker 1: Eliphaz shared something absolutely extraordinary, a supernatural vision that he
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  Speaker 1: claimed to have received directly from the spirit world. Now
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  Speaker 1: a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear
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  Speaker 1: received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the
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  Speaker 1: visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
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  Speaker 1: fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my
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  Speaker 1: bones shake throughout my entire body. The vision itself was
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  Speaker 1: absolutely terrifying in its supernatural manifestation. Then a spirit passed
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  Speaker 1: before my face. The hair on my body stood up.
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  Speaker 1: It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance clearly.
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  Speaker 1: A form was before my eyes. There was silence. Then
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  Speaker 1: I heard a voice saying, Can a mortal be more
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  Speaker 1: righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than
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  Speaker 1: his maker? If he puts no trust in his servants,
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  Speaker 1: if he charges his angels with error, how much more
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  Speaker 1: those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is
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  Speaker 1: in the dust, who are crushed before a moth. The
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  Speaker 1: Spirit's message seemed to provide strong support for Eliphaz's belief
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  Speaker 1: that Job must have sinned. Even the angels aren't considered
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  Speaker 1: perfect in God's sight. So how much less are human
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  Speaker 1: beings who live in fragile houses of clay and can
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  Speaker 1: be crushed as easily as moths? Eliphaz was using this
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  Speaker 1: dramatic supernatural experience to suggest that Job's terrible suffering was
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  Speaker 1: clear proof that he wasn't nearly as righteous as he
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  Speaker 1: had always claimed to be, Eliphaz continued. His lengthy speech
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  Speaker 1: in chapter 5 with what he sincerely thought was helpful
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  Speaker 1: and encouraging advice for his suffering friend. He painted a
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  Speaker 1: vivid picture of what inevitably happens to foolish and wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I
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  Speaker 1: cursed his dwelling place. His children are far from safety.
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  Speaker 1: They are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer.
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  Speaker 1: Because the hungry eat up his harvest, taking it even
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  Speaker 1: from the thorns, and a snare snatches their substance. But
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  Speaker 1: his main message was simple, direct, and meant to be encouraging. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not
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  Speaker 1: despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he makes sore,
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  Speaker 1: but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make whole.
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  Speaker 1: Eliphaz genuinely believed that Job's suffering was simply God's way
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  Speaker 1: of teaching him something important, a divine educational process that
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  Speaker 1: would ultimately benefit him greatly. He promised that if Job
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  Speaker 1: would seek God earnestly and make his prayer to the
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  Speaker 1: Almighty with a humble heart, absolutely everything would be restored
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  Speaker 1: to him and more. The restoration that Eliphaz described was
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  Speaker 1: incredibly beautiful and comprehensive. for he bruises, but he binds up.
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  Speaker 1: He wounds, but his hands make whole. He shall deliver
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  Speaker 1: you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall
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  Speaker 1: touch you. In famine he shall redeem you from death,
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  Speaker 1: and in war from the power of the sword. Eliphaz
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  Speaker 1: painted an amazing picture of complete security and divine protection.
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  Speaker 1: You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
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  Speaker 1: and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.
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  Speaker 1: You shall laugh at destruction and famine, and you shall
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  Speaker 1: not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For
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  Speaker 1: you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field,
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  Speaker 1: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace
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  Speaker 1: with you. He promised that Job's tent would be secure.
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  Speaker 1: his dwelling completely safe, and when he visited his habitation,
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  Speaker 1: he would not sin. His descendants would be numerous like
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  Speaker 1: the grass of the earth. Job would come to his
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  Speaker 1: grave at a full age, like a sheaf of grain
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  Speaker 1: gathered in its proper season. Eliphaz ended his speech with
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  Speaker 1: complete confidence. Behold, this we have searched out. It is true.
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  Speaker 1: Hear it and know for yourself. Job's response in chapters
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  Speaker 1: 6 and 7 says, revealed just how deeply his friend's
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  Speaker 1: well-meaning words had actually hurt him. He began by wishing
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  Speaker 1: that his overwhelming grief could somehow be measured and weighed. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid
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  Speaker 1: with it on the scales! For then it would be
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  Speaker 1: heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words
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  Speaker 1: have been rash. His words seemed extreme, because his spirit
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  Speaker 1: was being crushed under this completely. Impossible weight of suffering Job!
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  Speaker 1: felt like God himself was directly attacking him with supernatural weapons.
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  Speaker 1: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, my
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  Speaker 1: spirit drinks in their poison. The terrors of God are
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  Speaker 1: arrayed against me. He wasn't complaining about nothing or being
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  Speaker 1: overly dramatic. Even wild animals don't cry out unless something
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  Speaker 1: is genuinely wrong. Does the wild donkey bray when it
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  Speaker 1: has grass, or does the ox low over its fodder?
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  Speaker 1: His overwhelming pain had made everything in life taste completely
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  Speaker 1: wrong to him. He couldn't eat because food had become
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  Speaker 1: absolutely disgusting. Can flavorless food be eaten without salt? Or
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  Speaker 1: is there any taste in the white of an egg?
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  Speaker 1: My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome
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  Speaker 1: food to me. What he really wanted was simple but
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  Speaker 1: completely impossible. Oh, that I might have my request, that
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  Speaker 1: God would grant me the thing that I long for.
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  Speaker 1: that it would please God to crush me, that he
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  Speaker 1: would loose his hand and cut me off. In chapter 7,
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  Speaker 1: Job turned his attention directly to God with some of
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  Speaker 1: the most brutally honest words ever spoken in prayer. He
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  Speaker 1: described all human life as constant warfare. Is there not
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  Speaker 1: a time of hard service for man on earth? Are
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  Speaker 1: not his days also like the days of a hired man,
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  Speaker 1: like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, and like
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  Speaker 1: a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages? So
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  Speaker 1: I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights
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  Speaker 1: have been appointed to me. His physical body was completely
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  Speaker 1: breaking down. My flesh is caked with worms and dust.
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  Speaker 1: My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh. My days
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  Speaker 1: are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope.
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  Speaker 1: He reminded God that human life is incredibly brief, like
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  Speaker 1: a breath that quickly disappears. Whoever goes down to the
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  Speaker 1: grave doesn't come back up to see his house again.
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  Speaker 1: Then Job asked God a question again. that pierced straight
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  Speaker 1: to the heart of his complete confusion. What is man?
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  Speaker 1: That you should exalt him, that you should set your
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  Speaker 1: heart on him, that you should visit him every morning
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  Speaker 1: and test him every moment. How long? Will you not
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  Speaker 1: look away from me and let me alone till I
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  Speaker 1: swallow my saliva? He felt like God was watching him
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  Speaker 1: far too closely. Testing him constantly and relentlessly, when Bildad
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  Speaker 1: the Shuhite finally spoke in Chapter 8, his approach was
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  Speaker 1: completely different from Eliphaz's mystical, supernatural vision. Bildad relied heavily
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  Speaker 1: on traditional wisdom that had been carefully passed down through
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  Speaker 1: many generations. He started with a pointed question that must
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  Speaker 1: have stung Job deeply. How long will you speak these things,
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  Speaker 1: and the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
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  Speaker 1: Bildad's theology was remarkably simple and absolutely direct. Does God
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  Speaker 1: subvert judgment, or does the Almighty pervert justice? In his mind,
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  Speaker 1: God was always completely fair and just in all his dealings.
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  Speaker 1: If Job's children had died so tragically, it could only
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  Speaker 1: be because they had sinned against God. If your sons
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  Speaker 1: have sinned against him, he has cast them away for
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  Speaker 1: their transgression. But Bildad did offer genuine hope if Job
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  Speaker 1: would completely change his approach. If you would earnestly seek
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  Speaker 1: God and make your supplication to the Almighty, if you
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  Speaker 1: were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for
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  Speaker 1: you and prosper your rightful dwelling place. Though your beginning
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  Speaker 1: was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly. To
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  Speaker 1: prove his theological point conclusively, Bildad appealed directly to ancient wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: For inquire... Please, of the former age, and consider the
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  Speaker 1: things discovered by their fathers. For we were born yesterday
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  Speaker 1: and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.
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  Speaker 1: He genuinely believed that the ancestors had completely figured out
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  Speaker 1: how God works, and their accumulated wisdom was far more
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  Speaker 1: reliable than current personal experience. Bildad used incredibly vivid word
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  Speaker 1: pictures to make his point crystal clear. The godless person
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  Speaker 1: was like a plant that grows luxuriously in wet marshy soil,
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  Speaker 1: but dies quickly when the hot sun comes out. While
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  Speaker 1: it is yet green and not cut down, it withers
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  Speaker 1: before any other plant. So are the paths of all
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  Speaker 1: who forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
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  Speaker 1: whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is
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  Speaker 1: a spider's web. he painted another detailed picture of someone
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  Speaker 1: who trusts completely in his house, holding fast to it desperately,
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  Speaker 1: but having it collapse anyway when real pressure comes. But
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  Speaker 1: Bildad's final conclusion was genuinely meant to encourage and give hope. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: God will not cast away the blameless, nor will he
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  Speaker 1: uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with
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  Speaker 1: laughing and your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you
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  Speaker 1: will be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of
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  Speaker 1: the wicked will come to nothing. Job's response in that
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  Speaker 1: his friend's simple, straightforward answers weren't helping him at all.
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  Speaker 1: He actually agreed with part of what Bildad had said.
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  Speaker 1: Truly I know it is so, but how can a
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  Speaker 1: man be righteous before God? The real problem wasn't that
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  Speaker 1: Job disagreed. With God's perfect justice, the problem was that
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  Speaker 1: God was far too powerful for any human. Being to
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  Speaker 1: argue with successfully.job painted an absolutely incredible picture of God's
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  Speaker 1: overwhelming power he removes the mountains and they do not
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  Speaker 1: know when he overturns them in his anger he shakes
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  Speaker 1: the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble
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  Speaker 1: he commands the sun and it does not rise he
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: seals off the stars he alone spreads out the heavens
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: and treads on the waves of the sea God's creative
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: power was completely beyond human imagination. He made the bear,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Orion and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: He does great things past finding out, yes, wonders without number.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: If he goes by me, I do not see him.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: If he moves past, I do not perceive him. If
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: he takes away, who can hinder him? Who can say
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: to him, what are you doing? But this overwhelming power
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: made Job feel completely helpless. Though I were righteous, I
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: could not answer him. I would beg mercy of my judge.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: If I called and he answered me, I would not
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: believe that he was listening to my voice. For he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Job's frustration grew exponentially as he imagined trying to argue
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: his case. If it is a matter of strength... Indeed,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: he is strong. And if of justice, who will appoint
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: my day in court? Though I were righteous, my own
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: mouth would condemn me. Though I were blameless, it would
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: prove me perverse. In chapter 10, Job decided to speak
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: directly to God, despite the overwhelming odds. I will say
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: to God, Do not condemn me. Show me why you
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: contend with me. Does it seem good to you that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: you should oppress, that you should despise the work of
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: your hands and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Job reminded God that he had made him. Your hands
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: have made me and fashioned me an intricate unity, yet
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: you would destroy me. The silence was broken by the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: harshest voice yet. Zophar the Namathite had been listening to
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: everything and and his patience had run out completely. Chapter
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: 11 shows him speaking with no gentleness at all, cutting
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: straight to what he believed was the heart of the problem.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: a man full of talk be vindicated? Zophar wasn't going
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: to dance around the issue like his friends had done.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: His attack was direct and brutal. For you have said,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: My doctrine is pure and I am clean in your eyes. But, oh,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that God would speak and open his lips against you,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: that he would show you the secrets of wisdom, for
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: they would double your prudence. Know, therefore, that God exacts
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: from you less than your iniquity deserves. In Zophar's mind,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Job was getting off easy. His suffering wasn't too much.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: It was actually too little for whatever he had done wrong.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Zophar painted a picture of God's infinite wisdom that made
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: human understanding look foolish. Can you search out the deep
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: things of God? Can you find out the limits of
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the Almighty? They are higher than heaven. What can you do?
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Their measure is
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: longer than the earth and broader than the sea. The
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: implication was clear. Job couldn't possibly understand what God was doing,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: so he should stop complaining. Then Zophar delivered his diagnosis
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: with surgical precision, for he knows deceitful men. He sees
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: wickedness also. Will he not then consider it? For an
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: empty-headed man will be wise when a wild donkey's colt
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: is born a man. According to Zophar, Job was empty-headed,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and God could see right through his pretense of righteousness.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: But Zophar also offered a way out. Though it came
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: wrapped in condemnation, if you would prepare your heart... and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity were in
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: your hand, and you put it far away, and would
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: not let wickedness dwell in your tents, then surely you
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: could lift up your face without spot. Yes, you could
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: be steadfast, and not fear. The solution was simple in
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Zophar's mind. Confess your hidden sins, and everything will be fine.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: He promised restoration if Job would just admit his guilt.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Because you would forget your misery, and remember it as
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: waters that have passed away, and your life would be
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: like the morning, and you would be secure because there
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: is hope. Yes, you would dig around you and take
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: your rest in safety, but his final words carried a warning,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: but the eyes of the wicked will fail, and they
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: shall not escape, and their hope loss of life. Job
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: had heard enough. Chapter 12 opens with words dripping with
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: sarcasm that show just how fed up he was with
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: his friend's lectures. No doubt you are the people and
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: wisdom will die with you. The bitterness in Job's voice
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: was unmistakable. He was tired of being treated like a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: fool by people who thought they had all the answers.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: His frustration poured out as he described his situation. But
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: I have understanding as well as you. I am not
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: as these? I am one mocked by his friends, who
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: called on God, and he answered him. The just and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: blameless who is ridiculed, Job pointed out the cruel irony.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: He was being mocked by the very people who should
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: have been comforting him. Then Job made an observation that
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: must have stung his friends. A lamp is despised in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the thought of one who is at ease. It is
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: made ready for those whose feet slip The tents of
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure in
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: what God provides by His hand. He was pointing out
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: that their simple theology didn't match reality. Bad people often
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: lived comfortable lives while good people suffered. Job then launched
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: into a magnificent description of God's power that showed he
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: understood divine sovereignty better than his accusers did. But now
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: ask the beasts, and they will teach you. And the
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: birds of the air, and they will tell you. Or
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: speak to the earth, and it will teach you. And
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: among all these does not know that the hand of
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the Lord has done this? He continued with examples of
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: God's absolute control over everything. With him are wisdom and strength.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: He has counsel and understanding. If he breaks a thing down,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: it cannot be rebuilt. If he imprisons a man, there
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: can be no release. If he withholds the waters, they
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: dry up. If he sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Job was showing that he understood God's power perfectly well.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: That wasn't his problem. The real issue, Job explained, was
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: that God seemed to use his power in ways that
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: confused human understanding— He leads counselors away plundered and makes
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: away plundered and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: God's ways didn't follow the neat patterns his friends insisted
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: they must follow. Job's point was devastating. He pours contempt
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: on princes and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and guides them. If God operated this way with nations
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and kings... Why did his friends think individual suffering always
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: followed predictable rules? Chapter 13 shows Job making perhaps the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: most dangerous decision of his life. He had listened to
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: his friends' theories long enough, and now he was ready
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: to take his case directly to the highest court possible.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Hold your peace, let me alone that I may speak,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and let come on me what may. Job was essentially
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: telling his friends to be quiet because he had something
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: more important to do than listen to their lectures. His
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: decision was breathtaking in its boldness. Though he slay me,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: yet will I trust him. Even so, I will defend
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: my own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: for a hypocrite could not come before him. Job was
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: willing to risk everything, even his life. to get answers
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: from God directly. He believed that his integrity would be
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: his protection, because a truly wicked person wouldn't dare approach
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: God this way. Job had prepared his case carefully.' I
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: have prepared my case. I know that I shall be vindicated.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Who is he who will contend with me? If now
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: I hold my tongue, I perish.' He was confident that
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: if he could just get a fair hearing, he would
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: be proven right. The problem wasn't his guilt. The problem
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: was that he couldn't get God to listen to him.
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Before presenting his case, Job made two requests that showed
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: how desperate he was. Only two things do not do
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to me. Then I will not hide myself from you,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: withdraw your hand from me, and let not the dread
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: of you make me afraid. Then call and I will answer,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: or let me speak, then you respond to me. Job
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: wanted God to stop hurting him long enough for them
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: to have a conversation. And he wanted God to stop
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: being so terrifying that Job couldn't think straight. His questions
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: were heartbreaking in their honesty. How many are my iniquities
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Why do you hide your face and regard me as
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: your enemy? Will you frighten a leaf driven to and fro?
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: And will you pursue dry stubble? Job genuinely didn't know
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: what he had done wrong, and he felt like God
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: was hunting him down, like he was some kind of
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: dangerous criminal. The pain in Job's voice was unmistakable as
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: he described his situation. For you write bitter things against
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: You put my feet in the stocks and watch closely
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: all my paths. You set a limit for the soles
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: of my feet. Job felt like he was imprisoned. with
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: God as his jailer watching his every move and keeping
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: detailed records of his failures. His final words in this
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: chapter painted a picture of human frailty that explained why
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: he needed mercy rather than judgment. Man decays like a
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten. Job was
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: pointing out that humans are naturally weak and temporary. They
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: need compassion, not harsh treatment. Chapter 14 contains some of
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the most beautiful and heartbreaking poetry in the entire Bible,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: as Job reflected on the temporary nature of human life.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: His words painted pictures that anyone could understand. Man who
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: is born of woman is a few days and full
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: He flees like a shadow and does not continue. Job
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: was saying that human life is naturally brief and difficult,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: like a flower that blooms and quickly dies, or a
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: shadow that appears and disappears. The comparison with trees was
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: particularly striking, for there is hope for a tree. if
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: may grow old in the earth, and its stump may
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: die in the ground, yet at the scent of water
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Even a dead tree could come back to life if
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: conditions were right. But humans were different. But man dies
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and is laid low. Indeed, man breathes his last, and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: where is he? As water disappears from the sea, and
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: a river becomes parched and dries up, so man lies
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: they will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Unlike trees, people don't get second chances. When they die,
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: they stay dead. This reality made Job wish for something
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: that seemed impossible. Oh! that you would hide me in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: the grave, that you would conceal me until your wrath
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: is past, that you would appoint me a set time
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and remember me. If a man dies, shall he live again?
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: All the days of my hard service I will wait
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: till my change comes. Job was actually wishing he could
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: hide in death until God's anger passed, and then come
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: back to life when things were better. The hope Job
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: expressed was tentative but beautiful. You shall call. and I
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: For now you number my steps, but do not watch
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: and you cover my iniquity. Job imagined God calling him
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: back from death like a friend calling to a friend,
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: and God choosing not to remember his failures. But Job's
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: hope was crushed by reality. But as a mountain falls
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: and crumbles away, and as a rock is moved from
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: its place, as water wears away stones, and as torrents
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: wash away the soil of the earth. So you destroy
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the hope of man. You prevail forever against him and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: he passes on. You change his countenance and send him away.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Even the most solid things in nature eventually break down
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: and disappear, and humans are far more fragile than mountains
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: or rocks. Job's final words in this chapter were heartbreaking.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: His sons come to honor, but he does not know it.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: They are brought low, but he does not perceive it
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: of them. But his flesh will be in pain over him,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: and his soul will mourn over him. Even if good
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: things happened to his family after he died, Job would
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: never know about it. Death was a permanent separation from
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: everything he cared about. When Eliphaz spoke again in chapter 15,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: his gentle approach was completely gone. He had listened to
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Job's speeches, and decided that kindness wasn't working. Should a
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: wise man answer with empty knowledge and fill himself with
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk or
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: by speeches with which he can do no good? Eliphaz
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: was saying that Job's words were as empty and destructive
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: as a hot desert wind. His accusation was serious and direct. Yes,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: you cast off fear and restrain prayer before God. for
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: your mouth utters your iniquity, and you choose the tongue
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: of the crafty. Your own mouth condemns you and not I.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Your own lips testify against you. Eliphaz was claiming that
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: Job's complaints were actually proving his guilt. By questioning God,
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Job was showing that he didn't truly fear the Lord.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Eliphaz asked cutting questions designed to put Job in his place.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Are you the first man who was born? Or were
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: you made before the hills? Have you heard the counsel
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: of God? Do you restrict wisdom to yourself? What do
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: you know that we do not know? What do you
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: understand that is not in us? He was tired of
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Job acting like he was wiser than his friends. Then
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Eliphaz played what he thought was his strongest card. Both
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the gray-haired and the aged are among us, much older
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: than your father. Are the consolations of God too small
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: for you and the words spoken gently with you? He
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: was reminding Job that older, wiser men had tried to
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: help him, and Job had rejected their comfort. Eliphaz's description
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: of wicked people was clearly meant to describe Job. The
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: wicked man writhes with pain all his days, and the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: number of years is hidden from the oppressor. Dreadful sounds
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: are in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: He does not believe that he will return from darkness.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: But a sword is waiting for him. The implication was obvious.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Job's suffering proved he was wicked. In chapter 16, Job's
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: response revealed how deeply his friend's words had wounded him.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: you that you answer? I also could speak as you do.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: If your soul were in my soul's place, I could
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Job was pointing out that his friends were giving him
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: the opposite of comfort. Job's description of what God was
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: doing to him was violent and disturbing. He tears me
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: in his wrath and hates me. He gnashes at me
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his gaze on me.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: They gape at me with their mouth. They strike me
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: reproachfully on the cheek. They gather together against me. Job
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: felt like God had become his enemy, attacking him with
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: supernatural fury. The physical description of his suffering was heartbreaking.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: God has delivered me to the ungodly and turned me
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: over to the hands of the wicked. I was at ease,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: but he has shattered me. He also has taken me
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: by my neck and shaken me to pieces and set
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: me up for his target. His archers surround me. He
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: pierces my heart and does not pity. He pours out
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: my gall on the ground. Job felt like God was
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: using him for target practice, shooting arrows at him without mercy.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: Chapter 17 shows Job dealing with complete social rejection while
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: clinging to a desperate hope. His description of his situation
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: was pathetic. My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: The graves are ready for me. Are not mockers with me?
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? Even
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: his friends had become people who mocked him instead of
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: helping him. Job felt completely isolated and misunderstood. He has
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: made me a byword of the people, and I have
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: become one before whom men spit. My eye has also
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: grown dim because of sorrow, and all my members are
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: like shadows— people were using his name as an example
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: of someone cursed by God, and his physical condition was
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: deteriorating rapidly. The reaction of righteous people to his situation
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: made everything worse. Upright men are astonished at this, and
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: righteous will hold to his way, and he who has
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: clean hands will be stronger and stronger. Good people looked
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: at Job's suffering and assumed he must be a hypocrite,
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: which made them more determined to live righteously. themselves. But
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: in the middle of his despair, Job made an incredible
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: declaration of faith. But he knows the way that I take.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: When he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: My foot has held fast to his steps. I have
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: kept his way and not turned aside. Despite everything that
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: was happening, Job maintained that God knew his true character
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: and would eventually vindicate him. Job's hope was based on
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: something beyond his current circumstances. Even now, behold, my witness
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: is in heaven and my record is on high. My
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: friends scorn me. My eyes pour out tears to God. Oh,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: that one might plead for a man with God as
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: a man pleads for his neighbor. Job believed that somewhere
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: in heaven... There was a witness who knew the truth
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: about his situation and would eventually speak up for him.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: This hope was precious to him, because human help had failed.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: For when a few years are finished, I shall go
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: the way of no return. My spirit is broken, my
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: days are extinguished, the graves are ready for me. Job
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: knew his time was running out, and if justice was
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: going to come, it would have to come from heaven
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: rather than earth. His final words in this section were
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: filled with resignation about human friendship.' But come back, all
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: of you, and I shall not find one wise man
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: even the thoughts of my heart.' Job had given, upon
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: getting help or understanding from the people around him, Bildad's
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: second speech in— now chapter eighteen was much shorter— and much
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: darker than his first attempt to help Job. He was
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: clearly frustrated with Job's refusal to accept their explanations.' How
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: and afterward we will speak. Why are we counted as
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: beasts and regarded as stupid in your sight?' Bildad felt
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: like Job was treating them like animals instead of wise counselors.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: His entire speech—' was basically one long, detailed description of
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: what happens to wicked people, and the implication was clear.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: This was what was happening to Job. Indeed, the light
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: of the wicked goes out, and the flame of his
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: and his lamp beside him is put out. Bildad was
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: saying that Job's prosperity had ended because he was wicked.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: The imagery Bildad used was vivid and frightening. The steps
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: of his strength are shortened, and his own counsel casts
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: him down, for he is cast into a net by
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: his own feet, and he walks into a snare. The
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: net takes him by the heel, and a snare lays
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: the ground, and a trap for him in the road.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: According to Bildad, wicked people become trapped by their own
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: evil schemes. Bildad's description became even more dramatic. Terrors frighten
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: him on every side, and drive him to his feet.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: His strength is starved, and destruction is ready at his side.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: It devours patches of his skin. The firstborn of death
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: devours his limbs. The firstborn of death was probably a
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: reference to the most terrible kind of disease, which certainly
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: seemed to fit Job's condition. The social consequences Bildad described
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: were devastating. He is driven from light into darkness. and
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: chaste out of the world. He shall have neither son
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: nor posterity among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Those in the west are astonished at his day, as
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: those in the east are frightened. Bildad was saying that
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: wicked people lose their families and are remembered only as
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: examples of divine judgment. Job's response in chapter 19 began
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: with pure exasperation. How long will you torment me and
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: break me in pieces with words? These ten times you
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: have reproached me. You are not ashamed that you have
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: wronged me. Job had reached his limit with his friends' accusations.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: They were supposed to be comforting him, but instead they
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: were making his pain worse. Job felt completely abandoned by everyone.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: He has removed my brothers far from me, and my
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: acquaintances are completely estranged from me. My relatives have failed
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: and my close friends have forgotten me. Those who dwell
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: I am an alien in their sight. Even his own
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: household staff were treating him like a stranger. The physical
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: revulsion people felt toward him was humiliating. My breath is
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: offensive to my wife and I am repulsive to the
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: children of my own body. Even young children despise me.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: I arise and they speak against me. All my close
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: friends abhor me, and those whom I love have turned
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: against me. Job had become physically disgusting to everyone around him,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: including his own family. But then Job made one of
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: the most famous declarations in the entire Bible. For I
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed,
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: and not another. How my heart yearns within me! Even
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: when everything else had failed, Job maintained his faith that
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: God would eventually vindicate him, even if it took a
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: resurrection from the dead to make it happen. Zophar's final
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: speech in chapter 20 was his attempt to solve the
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: problem that Job had raised about wicked people prospering. His
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: solution was simple, their prosperity doesn't last. Do you not
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: know this of old, since man was placed on earth,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment? According
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: to Zophar, what looked like success for evil people was
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: just a temporary illusion. Zophar painted a picture of sudden reversal.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens and his
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: head reaches to the clouds, yet he will perish forever
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: like his own refuse. Those who have seen him will say,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: Where is he? He will fly away like a dream
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: and not be found. Yes, he will be chased away
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: like a vision of the night. Evil people might seem
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: successful for a while, but they would disappear as quickly
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: as dreams. The description of divine judgment was graphic. The
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: increase of his house will depart, and his goods will
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: flow away in the day of his wrath. This is
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: the portion from God for a wicked man, the heritage
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: appointed to him by God. Zophar was confident that God
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: always punished wickedness, even if it took time. Job's response
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: in chapter 21 was devastating. to his friends' entire theological system.
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: He asked them to really listen to him for once.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: Bear with me that I may speak, and after I
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: have spoken, keep mocking. Job was about to present evidence
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: that would destroy their simple explanations. His observations about wicked
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: people were based on reality, not theory. Why do the
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: wicked live and become old? Yes, become mighty in power.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear,
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: neither is the rod of God upon them. Job had
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: watched evil people live long, successful lives while good people suffered.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: The prosperity of the wicked was undeniable. They're bull breeds
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: without failure. They're cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: They sing to the tambourine and harp and rejoice to
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: the sound of the flute. Evil people often had healthy families,
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: successful businesses and happy lives, most shocking of all. They
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: lived this way while completely rejecting God. They spend their
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: days in wealth and in a moment go down to
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: the grave. Yet they say to God, depart from us,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: what profit do we have if we pray to him?
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: These people openly defied God and still prospered. Job's final
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: challenge to his friends was unanswerable. How often is the
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in his anger?
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: that a storm carries away. Job was asking for evidence
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: that wicked people actually get punished regularly, and his friends
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: couldn't provide it. The conclusion was inescapable. In truth, I
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: know it is so, but how can a man be
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: righteous before God? Job's friends' theology simply didn't match the
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: world as it actually worked. Their simple formulas about good
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: people prospering and evil people suffering were contradicted by daily observation.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: The theological debates had gone on long enough. Eliphaz the
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: Temanite decided it was time to stop speaking in generalities
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: and make specific accusations. Chapter 22 shows him abandoning all
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: pretense of gentleness as he launched into direct charges against
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: Job's character. Can a man be profitable to God? though
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: or is it gain to him that you make your
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: ways blameless? Eliphaz was suggesting that God had no reason
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: to protect Job unless Job was truly serving him properly.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: His logic was brutal in its simplicity. Is not your
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: wickedness great and your iniquity without end? Since Job was
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: suffering so severely, his sins must be enormous. But Eliphaz
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: didn't stop with general accusations. he got very specific about
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: what those sins must have been. The charges he brought
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: were serious crimes against basic human decency, for you have
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: taken pledges from your brother for no reason and stripped
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: the naked of their clothing. You have not given the
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: weary water to drink, and you have withheld bread from
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: the hungry. Eliphaz was accusing Job of being cruel to
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: people who desperately needed help. taking their clothes as payment
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: for debts and refusing to give food and water to
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: those who were dying of hunger and thirst. The accusations
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: grew even more damaging. But the mighty man possessed the land,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and the honorable man dwelt in it. You have sent
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: widows away empty, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: According to Eliphaz, Job had used his wealth and power
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: to hurt the most vulnerable people in society— widows— who had
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: no one to protect them, and orphans who had no
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: parents to care for them. These sins, Eliphaz claimed, explained
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: everything that had happened, therefore snares are all around you,
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: and sudden fear troubles you, or darkness so that you
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: cannot see, and an abundance of water covers you. Job's
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: current suffering was simply the inevitable result of his secret
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: cruelty to the poor and helpless. but Eliphaz offered one
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: final chance for redemption. Now acquaint yourself with him and
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: be at peace. Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: be built up. You will remove iniquity far from your tents.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: The solution was straightforward. Confess these hidden sins, repent genuinely,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: and God would restore everything. The promised restoration was magnificent.
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: Then you will lay your gold in the dust and
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. Yes,
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: For then you will have your delight in the Almighty
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: and lift up your face to God. According to Eliphaz,
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: Job would become so blessed that he wouldn't even care
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: about material wealth anymore. Eliphaz painted a picture of complete
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: divine favor. you will make your prayer to him. He
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: will also declare a thing, and it will be established
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: for you. So light will shine on your ways. When
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: they cast down and you say, Exaltation will come, and
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: then he will save the humble person. Everything Job said
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: would come true, and he would have the power to
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: help other people who were in trouble. Job's response in
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: chapters 23 and 24 says, revealed the depth of his
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: spiritual crisis. He wasn't rejecting his friend's advice because he
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: was stubborn. He was rejecting it because he genuinely couldn't
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: find God to repent to. Even today my complaint is bitter.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: My hand is listless because of my groaning. Job's suffering
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: had reached the point where he could barely function physically.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: His deepest desire was simple but seemed impossible. Oh, that
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: I knew where I might find him, that I might
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: come to his seat. I would present my case before
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: him and fill my mouth with arguments. Job wasn't afraid
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: of facing God. He was desperate to find him. He
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: believed that if he could just get a fair hearing,
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: everything would be cleared up. Job was confident about what
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: would happen in that divine courtroom. There the upright could
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: reason with him, and I would be delivered forever from
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: my judge. He wasn't asking for mercy based on God's kindness.
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: He was asking for justice based on his actual innocence.
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: But God seemed to be deliberately hiding from him. Look,
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I go forward, but he is not there, and backward,
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: but I cannot perceive him. When he works on the
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: left hand, I cannot behold him. When he turns to
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: the right hand, I cannot see him. No matter which
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: direction Job looked, God was nowhere to be found. This
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: game of divine hide-and-seek was driving Job to desperation. But
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: it hadn't destroyed his faith. But he knows the way
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: that I take. When he has tested me, I shall
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: his steps. I have kept his way and not turned aside.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: I have not departed from the commandment of his lips.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: I have treasured the words of his mouth more than
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: my necessary food, Job. maintained that his life had been
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: characterized by careful obedience to God's commands. Yet this very God,
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: who knew Job's righteousness, had become terrifying. But he is unique,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: and who can make him change? And whatever his soul
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: desires that he does. For he performs what is appointed
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: for me, and many such things are with him. Therefore
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: I am terrified at his presence. When I consider this,
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: I am afraid of him. Job was caught between his
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: confidence in his innocence, and his terror of God's absolute power.
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: In chapter 24, Job turned his attention to the broader
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: problem of injustice in the world. If his friend's theology
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: was correct, why was evil so common and unpunished? Since
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: who know him See not his days. If God was
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: in control and always punished evil, why didn't good people
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: see evidence of his justice? Job painted vivid pictures of
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: the crimes that went unpunished every day. Some remove landmarks.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: They seize flocks violently and feed on them. They drive
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: away the donkey of the fatherless. They take the widow's
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: ox as a pledge. People were stealing land, taking animals
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: from those who couldn't defend themselves, and cheating widows and orphans.
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: The exploitation of the poor was systematic and cruel. They
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: push the needy off the road. All the poor of
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: the land are forced to hide. Indeed, like wild donkeys
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: in the desert, they go out to their work, searching
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: for food. The wilderness yields food for them and for
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: their children. They gather their fodder in the field and
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: glean in the vineyard of the wicked. Poor people were
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: being pushed out of society entirely, forced to live like
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: wild animals just to survive. The working conditions were horrific.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: They caused the poor to go naked, without clothing, and
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: out oil within their walls and tread wine presses, yet
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: suffer thirst. People were working to produce food and clothing,
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: but weren't allowed to have any for themselves. Even worse
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: crimes happened under cover of darkness. The murderer rises with
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: the light. He kills the poor and needy, and in
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the night he is like a thief. The eye of
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye will
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: see me, and he disguises his face. Murderers and adulterers
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: operated openly, confident they would never face consequences. Job's conclusion
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: was devastating to his friend's theology. They are on the
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: face of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth,
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: so that no one turns into the way of their vineyards.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: grave consumes those who have sinned. Even when evil people
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: eventually died, they often lived long, successful lives before that happened.
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: By chapter 25, Bildad the Shuhite had apparently run out
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: of arguments. His third speech was remarkably short, only six
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: verses compared to his earlier lengthy presentations. It seemed like
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: he was grasping for something, anything, to say that might
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: still support the friend's position. Dominion and fear belong to him.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: He makes peace in his high places. Bildad was trying
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: to emphasize God's absolute authority as if that alone settled
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: all questions. His main point was humanity's complete insignificance before God.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: How then can man be righteous before God? Or how
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: can he be clean who is born of a woman?
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Look even to the moon, and it does not shine. Yes,
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: the stars are not pure in his sight. How much
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: less man who is a maggot and a son of
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: man who is a worm! Bildad's argument had been reduced
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: to calling humans worms and maggots. This was a pathetic
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: ending to what had started as confident theological instruction. Bildad
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: had begun with elaborate explanations based on ancient wisdom, but
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: now he could only point out that humans are worthless
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: compared to God. It wasn't really an answer to Job's questions.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: It was an admission that the friends didn't have answers.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: Job's response in chapter 26 was magnificent and devastating. He
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: began with sarcasm that showed just how unimpressed he was
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: with Bildad's final effort. How have you helped him who
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: is without power? How have you saved the arm that
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: has no strength? How have you counseled one who has
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: no wisdom? And how have you declared sound advice to many?
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: Job was pointing out that Bildad's words had provided no help, strength, wisdom,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: or good advice. Then Job proceeded to demonstrate that he
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: understood God's power far better than his friend did. The
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: dead tremble, those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: Sheol is naked before him, and destruction has no covering.
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: God's power reached even into the realm of the dead.
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: Where human understanding couldn't go, Job's description of divine power
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: was breathtaking in its scope. He stretches out the north
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing. He
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: binds up the water in his thick clouds, yet the
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: of his throne and spreads his cloud over it. God
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: controlled the very structure of creation. Holding the earth in
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: space and managing the weather systems, the boundaries God established
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: were absolute. He drew a circular horizon on the face
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: God had set limits that even the most powerful forces
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: in creation couldn't. Cross.jobs Conclusion showed that human understanding of
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: God's power was necessarily limited. Indeed, these are the mere
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: edges of his ways, and how small a whisper we
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: hear of him, but the thunder of his power, who
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: can understand? Everything humans could observe about God was just
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: the tiniest hint of his true power, like hearing a
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: whisper when the reality was thunder. This wasn't the speech
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: of someone who didn't understand God's greatness. Job knew exactly
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: how powerful God was. which made his questions even more urgent,
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: not less important. Chapter 27 shows Job making one of
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: the most solemn declarations possible. He began with an oath
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: that invoked the very God who seemed to be opposing him.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: As God lives... who has taken away my justice, and
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter. As long
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: as my breath is in me, and the breath of
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: nor my tongue utter deceit. Job was swearing by God's
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: own life that he would continue telling the truth, even
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: though God appeared to be treating him unjustly. This oath
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 1: was essentially Job's final answer to his friend's demands that
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: he confess hidden sins. Far be it from me that
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: I should say you are right. Till I die, I
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: will not put away my integrity from me. My righteousness
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: I hold fast and will not let it go. My
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: Job was willing to die rather than lie about his character.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: His integrity was more important to him than getting relief
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: from his suffering. But Job wasn't content to just defend
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: his own innocence. He turned the tables on his friends completely.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: May my enemy be like the wicked, and he who
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: rises up against me like the unrighteous. Job was essentially
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: saying that anyone who opposed him was in the wrong,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: including his three friends. Then Job did something unexpected. He
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: began describing what happens to wicked people, but he did
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: it in a way that seemed to agree with his
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: friend's theology. For what is the hope of the hypocrite,
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: though he may gain much, if God takes away his soul.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: Job seemed to be accepting that wicked people do eventually
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: get punished. His description of divine judgment was detailed and frightening.
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: call on God? I will teach you about the hand
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: of God. What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Surely all of you have seen it. Why then do
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: you behave with complete nonsense? Job was claiming that his
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: friends had seen evidence of God's judgment, but were drawing
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: the wrong conclusions. From it, the fate of the wicked
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: man's family was particularly tragic. If his children are multiplied,
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: it is for the sword, and his offspring shall not
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: be satisfied with bread. Those who survive him shall be
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: buried in death, and their widows shall not weep. Even
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: if evil people had large families, those families would eventually
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: be destroyed. Their wealth would be temporary. Though he heaps
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: he may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: and the innocent will divide the silver. Everything wicked people
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: accumulated would eventually go to righteous people. The destruction would
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: be sudden and complete. He builds his house like a moth,
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: like a booth which a watchman makes. The rich man
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: will lie down, but not be gathered up. He opens
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: his eyes, and he is no more. Terrors overtake him
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: like a flood. A tempest steals him away in the night.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: All their security would prove to be as fragile as
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: a moth's cocoon. Job's final words in this chapter were ominous.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: The east wind carries him away, and he is gone.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls against
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: him and does not spare. He flees desperately from its power.
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: Men shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: him out of his place. When the wicked finally fell,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: people would be glad to see them go. The implication
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: was clear. If Job had been truly wicked... All this
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: would have happened to him already. The fact that he
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: was still maintaining his integrity proved his innocence. Chapter 28
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: is one of the most beautiful poems in the entire Bible.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: It comes like a peaceful interlude after all the heated arguments.
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: And it seems to be Job's meditation on a question
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: that had been underlying everything. Where can true wisdom be found?
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: The chapter begins with observations about human skill in mining
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: and technology. Surely there is a vein for the silver
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: and a place where gold is refined, iron is taken
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore. Job
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: marveled at human ingenuity in finding hidden treasures. Man puts
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: an end to darkness and searches every recess for ore
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: in the darkness and the shadow of death. He breaks
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: open a shaft away from people. In places forgotten by feet,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: they hang far away from men. They swing to and fro.
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: Miners would go to incredible lengths, risking their lives in dark,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: dangerous places to find valuable metals. The search for precious
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: things led people to places where no living creature had
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: ever been. He puts his hand on the flint. He
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: overturns the mountains at the roots. He cuts out channels
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: He dams up the streams from trickling. What is hidden
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: he brings forth to light, human. Determination could literally move
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: mountains and redirect rivers in the search for treasure. But
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: Job pointed out that there was something far more valuable
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: than gold or silver that couldn't be found through human effort.
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: But where can wisdom be found? And where is the
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: is it found in the land of the living, real wisdom,
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: the kind that could answer the deep questions. of life
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: wasn't hidden in the ground waiting, to be dug up.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: The search for wisdom was frustrating, because it couldn't be. Bought,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: the deep says it is not in me, and the
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: sea says it is not with me. It cannot be
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: It cannot be valued in the gold of a fear,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: in precious onyx or sapphire. Even the deepest parts of
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: the earth and sea claimed they didn't contain wisdom, and
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: no amount of money could buy it. Job listed the
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: most valuable things humans knew about, but none of them
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: could purchase wisdom. No mention shall be made of coral
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: be valued in pure gold. All the treasures people fought,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: wars over and spent their lives pursuing were worthless. Compared
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: to true wisdom, the mystery deepened. When Job considered that
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: even death didn't reveal wisdoms, Location, Destruction and Death say,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: We have heard a report about it with our ears.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: God understands its way, and He knows its place. Only
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: God knew where wisdom could actually be found. God's perspective
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: was completely different from the human perspective, for He looks
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: to the ends of the earth and seas under the
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: whole heavens to establish a weight for the wind and
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: apportion the waters by measure. When He made a law
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: for the rain and a pathway for the thunderbolt, God's
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: wisdom was displayed in the very structure of creation. He
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: had designed the weather patterns and natural laws that kept
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: the world functioning. The revelation of wisdom's true location was
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: simple but profound. Then he saw wisdom and declared it.
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: He prepared it, indeed he searched it out. And to
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: man he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding, true.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: Wisdom wasn't hidden in some secret place. It was available
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: to anyone who would fear God and avoid evil. This
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: poem seemed to be Job's way of stepping back from
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: all the arguments and reminding everyone what really mattered. His
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: friends thought they were wise because they had theories about
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: how God worked. But real wisdom was much simpler and
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: much more practical. Chapter 29 shows Job taking a break
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: from defending himself to remember what his life had been
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: like before disaster struck. His memories were painful because they
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: highlighted how much he had lost.' Oh, that I were
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: as in months past!' as in the days when God
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: and when by his light I walked through darkness. Job
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: remembered a time when he felt God's protection and guidance
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: in his life. Those had been days of prosperity and promise.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: Just as I was in the days of my prime,
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 1: when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent,
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 1: When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: were around me, when my steps were bathed with cream
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me,
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: everything had been going perfectly. His family was intact, his
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: business was incredibly successful, and he felt close to God.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: Job's social position had been impressive and respected. When I
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: went out to the gate by the city, when I
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: took my seat in the open square... The young men
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood.
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: The princes refrained from talking, and put their hand over
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: their mouth. The voice of nobles was hushed, and their
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. Even the
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: most powerful people in the city had shown him deference
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: and respect. The reason for this respect became clear, as
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: Job described how he had used his influence. Because I
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 1: to sing for joy. Job's reputation had been built on
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: his kindness to those who couldn't help themselves. His commitment
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: to justice had been complete. I put on righteousness, and
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 1: a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and I
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: was feet to the lame. I was a father to
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: the poor. and I searched out the case that I
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: did not know. Job hadn't just helped people occasionally. He
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: had made justice and righteousness his daily clothing, and he
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 1: had actively sought out people who needed help. He had
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: even stood up to powerful people who were hurting others.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: I broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: victim from his teeth. Job had used his wealth and
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: influence to protect vulnerable people from those who would take
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: advantage of them. In those days, Job had expected to
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: live a long, successful life. Then I said, I shall
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: My roots are spread out to the waters, and the
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: dew lies all night on my branch. My glory is
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: He had felt like a tree planted by water, strong, growing,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: and permanent. People had valued his opinion and waited to
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: hear what he would say. Men listened to me and
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: waited and kept silence for my counsel. After my words
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: they did not speak again, and my speech settled on
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: them as due. They waited for me as for the rain,
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: Job's words had been like refreshing rain to people who
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 1: were thirsty for wisdom and guidance. His presence had brought
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: comfort and hope to others. I chose the way for
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: them and sat as chief. So I dwelt as a
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: king in the army, as one who comforts mourners. Job
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: had been a leader who brought comfort to people who were,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: grieving and direction to people who were confused. The contrast
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: between Job's past glory and his current humiliation was devastating.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: Chapter 30 begins with Job describing how the social order
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: had completely reversed. But now they mock at me, men
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: put with the dogs of my flock. People who had
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: once respected Job now openly mocked him, including young men
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: whose fathers Job wouldn't have considered good enough to work
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: as shepherds. These weren't respectable people who had turned against him.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: They were society's outcasts. Indeed, they were so worthless that
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: they were driven out from among men. They shouted at
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 1: them as at a thief. They had to live in
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: the clefts of the valleys, in caves of the earth
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: and the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed, under the
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: nettles they nestled. The people mocking Job were homeless vagrants
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: who lived like animals and were chased away from civilized society.
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 1: Their character was as low as their social status. They
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: were sons of fools, yes, sons of vile men. They
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: were scourged from the land, and now I am their
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: taunting song. Yes, I am their byword. They abhor me,
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 1: they keep far from me. They do not hesitate to
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: spit in my face. Job had become entertainment for the
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: lowest people in society. They made up songs about him
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: and treated him with complete contempt. The physical attacks were humiliating.
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: Because he has loosed my bowstring and afflicted me, they
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: have cast off restraint before me. At my right hand
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: the rabble arises. They push away my feet. and they
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 1: raise against me their ways of destruction. They break up
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: my path. They promote my calamity. They have no helper.
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: Job felt like God had removed his protection, and now
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: even worthless people felt free to attack him. The assault
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: felt like warfare. They come as broad breakers. Under the
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: ruinous storm they roll along. Terrors are turned upon me.
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: They pursue my honor on the wind, and my welfare
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 1: passes away like a cloud. Job's reputation and prosperity had
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 1: disappeared as quickly as clouds blown away by a storm.
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: The emotional and spiritual pain was as bad as the
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: physical suffering. And now my soul is poured out because
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: of my plight. The days of affliction take hold of me.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: My bones are pierced in me at night, and my
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: gnawing pains take no rest. By great force my garment
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: is disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 1: my coat. Job felt like he was being torn apart
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: from the inside, and even his clothes had become uncomfortable
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: on his diseased skin. Job felt like God had thrown
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: him away like garbage. He has cast me into the mire,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: out to you, but you do not answer me. I
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: stand up, and you regard me, but you have become
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: cruel to me. With the strength of your hand, you
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: oppose me. The God who had once protected and blessed
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: Job now seemed to be actively fighting against him. Job
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: felt like he was being carried away to destruction. You
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: lift me up to the wind and cause me to
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: ride on it. You spoil my success, for I know
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: that you will bring me to death and to the
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: house appointed for all living. Job believed that God was
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: deliberately destroying him and that death was the inevitable result.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: The cruelest part was that Job had always helped others
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: in similar situations. Surely he would not stretch out his
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: hand against a heap of ruins if they cry out
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: when he destroys. Have I not wept for him who
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: Job had always been compassionate toward people who were suffering,
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: so why wasn't he receiving the same compassion? The disappointment
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: was overwhelming. When I looked for good, evil came to me,
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: and when I waited for light, darkness came. My heart
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: is in turmoil and cannot rest. Days of affliction confront me.
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: I go about mourning, but not in the sun. I
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: stand up in the assembly and cry out for help,
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: instead of the good things Job had expected from his
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: righteous life. He had received only evil and darkness. His
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: physical condition made him an outcast. My skin grows black
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: and falls from me. My bones burn with fever. My
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: harp is turned to mourning, and my flute to the
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: voice of those who weep. Even his musical instruments could
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: only produce sad sounds that matched his grief. Chapter 31
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: contains Job's final and most comprehensive defense of his character.
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just a general claim of innocence. It was
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: a detailed oath covering every area of moral behavior. Job
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: began with sexual purity. I have made a covenant with
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman?
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: For what is the allotment of God from above and
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Job had
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: made a deliberate decision to control even his thoughts about
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: women because he believed God would judge sexual sin. His
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: standard for honesty was absolute. If I have walked with falsehood,
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity.
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: Job was willing to have God examine every aspect of
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 1: his life to prove his truthfulness. He continued with his
• 1:18:21
  Speaker 1: treatment of others. If my step has turned from the way,
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: spot adheres to my hands, then let me sow and
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: another eat. Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. If
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: Job had been dishonest in any way, he was willing
• 1:18:39
  Speaker 1: to lose everything he had worked for, the oath-covered adultery specifically.
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: if I have lurked at my neighbor's door— then let
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: my wife grind for another, and let others bow down
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: over her. For that would be wickedness. Yes, it would
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: be iniquity deserving of judgment. Job understood that adultery wasn't
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: just a private sin. It would destroy families and communities.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: His treatment of servants revealed his character. If I have
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: despised the cause of my male or female servant when
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: they complained against me, what then shall I do when
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: God rises up? When he punishes, how shall I answer him?
• 1:19:23
  Speaker 1: Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: Did not the same one fashion us in the womb?
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: Job had treated his servants fairly because he understood that
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: God had created all people equally. his care for the
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: poor had been extensive. If I have kept the poor
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: to fail, or eaten my morsel by myself, so that
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: the fatherless could not eat of it, but from my
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: youth I grew up with him as with a father,
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: and from my mother's womb I guided the widow. Job
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: had shared his resources with those in need from the
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: time he was young. He had provided practical help to
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: those who needed it, if I have seen anyone perish
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: for lack of clothing, or any poor man without covering,
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: if his heart has not blessed me, and if he
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep. Job
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: had made sure that people had adequate clothing, especially during
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: cold weather. His attitude toward wealth was healthy. If I
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: have made gold my hope, or said to fine gold,
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: you are my confidence, If I have rejoiced because my
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: wealth was great and because my hand had gained much,
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 1: Job hadn't put his trust in money or become proud
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: because of his prosperity. He had avoided idolatry completely. if
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: I have observed the sun when it shines, or the
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: moon walking in brightness, so that my heart has been
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand. This
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, for I
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: would have denied God who is above. Job had never
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 1: been tempted to worship the sun, moon, or stars like
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: some of his neighbors did. His attitude toward his enemies
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: was generous and if I have rejoiced at the destruction
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: evil found him. Indeed, I have not allowed my mouth
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: to sin by asking for a curse on his soul.
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: Job hadn't celebrated when bad things happened to people who
• 1:21:28
  Speaker 1: didn't like him. And he had never cursed anyone. His
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: hospitality was famous. If the men of my tent have
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: not said, Who is there that has not been satisfied
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: with his meat? But no sojourner had to lodge in
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: the street. for I have opened my doors to the traveler.
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: Job's household was known for feeding anyone who was hungry
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: and providing shelter to travelers. He had never tried to
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: hide his sins. If I have covered my transgressions as Adam,
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, because I feared
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: the great multitude and dreaded the contempt of family's so
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: that I kept silence and did not go out of
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: the door. When Job had done something wrong, he had
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: been honest about it instead of trying to cover it up.
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: His final challenge was bold. Oh, that I had one
• 1:22:17
  Speaker 1: to hear me. Here is my mark. Oh, that the
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor had written a book.
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: Surely I would carry it on my shoulder. I would
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: bind it on me like a crown. I would declare
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: to him the number of my steps. Like a prince,
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: I would approach him. Job was so confident in his
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: integrity that he wanted God to write down all the
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 1: charges against him so he could answer them publicly. A
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: fourth voice suddenly broke into the conversation. Chapter 32 introduces Elihu,
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: son of Barashel the Buzite, who had been listening to
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: everything with growing frustration. So these three men ceased answering
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then
• 1:22:57
  Speaker 1: the wrath of Elihu... the son of Barakel the Buzite
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job. His
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: wrath was aroused because he justified himself. Rather than God,
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: this young man was angry at Job for seeming to
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: put his own righteousness above God's, but Elihu was equally
• 1:23:17
  Speaker 1: angry at the three friends. Also against his three friends
• 1:23:20
  Speaker 1: his wrath was aroused because they had found no answer
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: and yet had condemned Job. They had accused Job without
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: being able to prove their case, which made God look
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: bad in the process. Elihu had waited respectfully for his
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: elders to finish speaking. Now, because they were years older
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job. When
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: of these three men, his wrath was aroused. Age was
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: supposed to bring wisdom, but these older men had failed completely.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: His frustration poured out as he explained why he finally
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: decided to speak. I am young in years, and you
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: are very old. Therefore I was afraid and dared not
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: declare my opinion to you. I said, Age should speak,
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: gives him understanding. Elihu believed that wisdom came from God.
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: Not just from getting older, he had been bursting to speak,
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: for I am full of words. The spirit within me
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: compels me. Indeed, my belly is like wine that has
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: no vent. It is ready to burst like new wineskins.
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: Elihu felt like he would explode if he didn't get
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: to share what God had shown him. His approach would
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: be different from the others. I will speak, that I
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: may find relief. I will open my lips and answer.
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone, nor
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: let me flatter any man, for I do not know
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.
• 1:24:59
  Speaker 1: Elihu promised to be completely honest, without favoritism toward anyone.
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: In chapters 33 and 34, Elihu began teaching about how
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: God actually communicates with people. His message was that God
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: was constantly trying to reach humans, but they often missed
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: his messages. Surely God speaks once, yes, twice, yet man
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 1: slumbering on their beds, then he opens the ears of men.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: and seals their instruction. God used dreams and visions to
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: teach people important lessons. The purpose of this communication was protective.
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: In order to turn man from his deed and conceal
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: pride from man, he keeps back his soul from the
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: pit and his life from perishing by the sword. God
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: was trying to save people from making mistakes that would
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: destroy them. Elihu also taught that suffering itself was a
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: form of divine communication. Man is also chastened with pain
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: on his bed, and with strong pain in many of
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: his bones, so that his life abhors bread and his
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: soul succulent food. His flesh wastes away from sight, and
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: his bones stick out, which once were not seen. Sometimes
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: God used physical pain to get people's attention, but even
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 1: in suffering, God provided help. If there is a messenger
• 1:26:27
  Speaker 1: for him, a mediator one among a thousand to show
• 1:26:30
  Speaker 1: man his uprightness, then he is gracious to him and says,
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: found a ransom. God would send someone to help explain
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: what he was doing and provide a way of escape.
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: In chapter 34, Iddihu addressed the question of God's justice directly.
• 1:26:50
  Speaker 1: Far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
• 1:26:54
  Speaker 1: and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity. For
• 1:26:57
  Speaker 1: he repays man according to his work, and makes man
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: to find a reward according to his way. Elihu insisted
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: that God was always perfectly fair in his dealings with people.
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: His logic was simple. Surely God will never do wickedly,
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: nor will the Almighty pervert justice. who gave him charge
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: over the earth? Or who appointed him over the whole world?
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: Since God owned everything and answered to no one, he
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: had no reason to be unfair or corrupt. Chapters 35
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: and 36 show Elihu explaining that God was so great
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: that human actions couldn't really affect him. Look to the
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: heavens and see, and behold the clouds, they are higher
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: than you. If you sin, what do you accomplish against him?
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: to him? God was too high and mighty to be
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: hurt by human failures. Similarly, human goodness didn't make God richer.
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: a man such as you, and your righteousness a son
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: of man. People's actions affected other people, but they didn't
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: change God's essential nature. This didn't mean God didn't care
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: about justice. Because of the multitude of oppressions, they cry out.
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: They cry out for help because of the arm of
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: the mighty. But no one says, Where is God my
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: maker who gives songs in the night, who teaches us
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: wiser than the birds of heaven? God heard when people
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: were being mistreated, but he wanted them to turn to
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: him for help. In chapter 36, Elihu painted a picture
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: of God's love. perfect justice in action. Behold, God is mighty,
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: but despises no one. He is mighty in strength of understanding.
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 1: gives justice to the oppressed. God used his power to
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: protect those who couldn't protect themselves. God's way of dealing
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: with righteous people was completely different. He does not withdraw
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: his eyes from the righteous, but they are on the
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: throne with kings, for he has seated them forever, and
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: they are exalted. God watched over good people and eventually
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: gave them positions of honor and authority. When righteous people
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: did suffer, it was always for a purpose, and if
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction,
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: then he tells them their work and their transgressions, that
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 1: they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: instruction and commands that they turn from iniquity. Suffering was
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 1: God's way of teaching important lessons. Chapter 37 shows, Ildihu
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: pointing to the approaching thunderstorm as evidence of God's awesome power.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: At this also my heart trembles and leaps from its place.
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: Hear attentively the thunder of his voice and the rumbling
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: that comes from his mouth. He sends it forth under
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: the whole heaven, his lightning to the ends of the earth.
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: After it a voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice,
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: and he does not restrain them when his voice is heard.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: The storm was like God's voice speaking to the world.
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: Elihu described God's control over weather patterns. God thunders marvelously
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: For he says to the snow, fall on the earth.
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: his strength. God commanded every snowflake and raindrop. The storm
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: served multiple purposes. He seals the hand of every man
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: that all men may know his work. The beasts go
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: into dens and remain in their lairs. From the chamber
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: of the south comes the whirlwind, and cold from the
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: scattering winds of the north. And to him Weather reminded
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: both people and animals that God was in control of everything.
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: Elihu marveled at God's creative power. By the breath of God,
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. Also
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: with moisture he saturates the thick clouds, he scatters his
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by his guidance,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: that they may do whatever he commands them on the
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: face of the whole earth. Every cloud and weather pattern
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 1: followed God's directions perfectly. As the storm grew more intense,
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: Elihu pointed out human limitations. Listen to this, O Job.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Do
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: you know when God dispatches them and causes the light
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: of His cloud to shine? Do you know how the
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: clouds are balanced, those wondrous works of Him who is
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: perfect in knowledge? Humans couldn't even understand how clouds stayed
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: in the sky, much less control them. The storm was
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: building toward something magnificent, and now men cannot look at
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: the light when it is bright in the skies, when
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: the wind has passed and cleared them. He comes from
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: the north as golden splendor. With God is awesome majesty.
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: As for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He is
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: excellent in power, in judgment, and abundant justice. He does
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 1: not oppress. Therefore men fear him. He shows no partiality
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: to any who are wise of heart. Then it happened.
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: Chapter 38 records the moment everyone had been waiting for.
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. God
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: finally broke his silence. But his first words weren't what
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: anyone expected. Who is this who darkens counsel by words
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 1: without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I will
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: question you and you shall answer me. Instead of answering
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: Job's questions, God began asking his own questions about creation.
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements?
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it?
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 1: to what were its foundations fastened, or who laid its
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: sons of God shouted for joy. God's questions came rapid fire,
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: covering every aspect of the natural world, or who shut
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: in the sea with doors when it burst forth and
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: issued from the womb, when I made the clouds its
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, when I fixed
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: my limit for it and set bars and doors, when
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: I said, This far you may, come but no farther,
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: and here your proud waves must stop. The interrogation continued
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: with questions about light and darkness. Have you commanded the
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: know its place, that it might take hold of the
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 1: of it? God was pointing out that Job had never
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: controlled even basic things like sunrise. Chapter 39 focused on
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: wild animals that no human could control. Do you know
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 1: number the months that they fulfill, or do you know
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: the time when they bear young? God had designed intricate
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 1: systems for animal reproduction that worked perfectly without human help.
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: The wild donkey was completely independent. Who set the wild
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the Onager, whose
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: home I have made the wilderness? and the barren land
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: his dwelling. He scorns the tumult of the city. He
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: does not heed the shouts of the driver. And this
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: animal lived exactly the life God had planned for it.
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: God asked about the mighty ox. Will the wild ox
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 1: Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Some animals
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 1: were simply too powerful for humans to control, no matter
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: how hard they tried. Chapter 40 begins with God giving
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: Job a chance to respond. Moreover, the Lord answered Job
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 1: and said, Shall the one who contends with the Almighty
• 1:35:25
  Speaker 1: correct him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: This was Job's opportunity to defend his complaints against God.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: Job's first response was humble and brief. Then Job answered
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 1: the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. What shall
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: I answer you? I lay my hand over my mouth.
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: Once I have spoken, but I will not answer. Yes, twice,
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: but I will proceed no further. The cosmic interrogation had
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 1: shown Job how little he actually understood about God's ways.
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 1: But God wasn't finished. His second speech began with an
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: even more direct challenge. Then the Lord answered Job out
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: of the whirlwind and said, Now, prepare yourself like a man.
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: you indeed annul my judgment? Would you condemn me that
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: you may be justified? God was asking Job directly whether
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 1: he thought he could do a better job of running
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: the universe. God challenged Job to try taking over. Have
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: you an arm like God, or can you thunder with
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 1: a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 1: and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 1: of your wrath. Look on everyone who is proud, and
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: humble him. If Job thought he could do better, let
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: him try controlling proud and evil people. Then God introduced
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 1: Job to Behemoth. Look now at the Behemoth, which I
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 1: made along with you. He eats grass like an ox.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: See now, his strength is in his hips. and his
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 1: power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: like a cedar, the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: This was a creature of incredible size and strength that
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: God had created. Behemoth's power was awesome. His bones are
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 1: like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: He is the first of the ways of God. Only
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: he who made him can bring near his sword. This
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: animal was so mighty that only God could control it.
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: The creature was completely fearless. Surely the mountains yield food
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: He lies under the lotus trees in a covert of
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their shade.
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: The willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: may rage, yet he is not disturbed, he is confident.
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: though the Jordan gushes into his mouth. Even flooding rivers
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: couldn't frighten this magnificent beast. Chapter 41 introduced an even
• 1:38:09
  Speaker 1: more impressive creature, Leviathan. God's description began with a challenge.
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: his tongue with a line which you lower? Can you
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: put a reed through his nose, or pierce his jaw
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: with a hook? This sea monster was completely beyond human
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: ability to capture or or control. God asked sarcastically whether
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: Job could make Leviathan into a pet. Will he make
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you?
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: him as a servant forever? Will you play with him
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: as with a bird? Or will you leash him for
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: your maidens? The idea of taming this creature was ridiculous.
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: The monster's physical defenses were impenetrable. Who can remove his
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 1: outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle?
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: Who can open the doors of his face with his
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: terrible teeth all around? His rows of scales are his pride,
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  Speaker 1: shut up tightly. As with a seal, one is so
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  Speaker 1: near another that no air can come between them. Leviathan
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  Speaker 1: was like a living fortress. Even the bravest warriors couldn't
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  Speaker 1: fight this creature. The sword that reaches him cannot avail,
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 1: nor does spear, dart, or javelin. He regards iron as
• 1:39:28
  Speaker 1: straw and bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 1: him flee. Slingstones become like stubble to him. Darts are
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: regarded as straw. He laughs at the threat of javelins.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 1: Human weapons were completely useless against Leviathan. The creature's very
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: presence was terrifying. His sneezings flash forth light, and his
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: his mouth go burning lights, sparks of fire shoot out,
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: smoke goes out of his nostrils as from a boiling
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  Speaker 1: pot and burning rushes. Leviathan breathed fire like a dragon.
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: God's final point was devastating. On earth there is nothing
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: like him which is made without fear. He beholds every
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  Speaker 1: high thing. He is king over all the children of pride.
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: If Job couldn't handle one creature that God had made,
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: how could he question God's management of the entire universe?
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 1: Chapter 42 shows Job's complete surrender to God's wisdom. Then
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: can do everything and that no purpose of yours can
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  Speaker 1: be withheld from you. You asked, Who is this who
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: did not know. Job admitted that he had been talking
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 1: about things beyond his understanding. His repentance was genuine and complete. Listen, please,
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: and let me speak. You said, I will question you,
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: and you shall answer me. I have heard of you
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye
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  Speaker 1: sees you, therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: and ashes. Meeting God directly had changed everything for Job.
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 1: Then God turned his attention to the three friends. And
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite,
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends,
• 1:41:32
  Speaker 1: for you have not spoken of me what is right.
• 1:41:35
  Speaker 1: as my servant Job has. The friends who thought they
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: were defending God had actually been misrepresenting him. God's instructions
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: for them were humbling. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant Job, and
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him,
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: lest I deal with you according to your folly, because
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: you have not spoken of me what is right. As
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: my servant Job has, they had to ask Job to
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: intercede for them with God. The friends obeyed, and Job
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 1: prayed for them despite everything they had put him through.
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  Speaker 1: Then came the restoration, and the Lord restored Job's losses
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 1: Job twice as much as he had before. God's blessing
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: returned in double measure. Job's prosperity became legendary. Now the
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 1: Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning,
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 1: for he had 14,000 sheep, 28,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen,
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: and 1,000 female donkeys. His wealth was exactly double what
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: it had been originally. His family was restored too. He
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: also had seven sons and three daughters, and he called
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: the name of the first Jemima. the name of the
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren Hapuch.
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: In all the land were found no women so beautiful
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them
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  Speaker 1: an inheritance among their brothers. His new daughters were famous
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: for their beauty, and received equal treatment with their brothers.
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: Job lived to see multiple generations. After this Job lived
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: 140 years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: So Job died old and full of days. God gave
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: him a long life to enjoy his restored blessings and
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: see his family grow. If this journey through Job's story
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: opened your eyes to something new, hit that subscribe button
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: and join our community of seekers who aren't afraid to
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: ask the hard questions. Share this video with someone who
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: needs to hear that their pain has a purpose, that
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: their questions matter to God. And that restoration is possible
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: even when everything seems lost. The book of Job proves
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: that honest wrestling with God isn't rebellion. It's relationship. And
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 1: sometimes the most profound answers come not in explanations, but
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: in encounters with the Almighty Himself. Don't let this revelation
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 1: end here. Subscribe, share, and keep seeking. Your story, like Job's,
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: is still being written.