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903. Bible Study: Job 9 and 10 (Job feeling "Hopeless"- and inaccurately portraying God) · Faith by annm2705

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The next two chapters are basically Job's response.
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So I'm going to cover chapters 9 and 10 and just read from the
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study guide. I don't know that there's a lot
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that I had to add to this, so I will just begin reading.
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And 1st, let's pray. Dear Lord, please be with us as
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we read through this. If there is something you want
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us to pay attention to, please call it to our attention in
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Jesus name, Amen. So this starts out Job's
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response. His second friend had just made
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a response prior to this in chapter 8 and now Job is
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responding. Then Job replied, Indeed, I know
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that this is true, but how can mere mortals prove their
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innocence before God? Though they wished to dispute
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with him, they could not answer him one time out of 1000.
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His wisdom is profound, his power is vast.
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Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?
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He moves mountains without their knowing it, and overturns them
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in his anger. He shakes the earth from its
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place and makes its pillars tremble.
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He speaks to the sun and it does not shine.
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He seals off the light of the stars.
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He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves
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of the sea. He is the maker of the Bear and
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Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the South.
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He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that
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cannot be counted. When he passes me, I cannot see
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him. When he goes by, I cannot
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perceive him. If he snatches away, who can
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stop him? Who can say to him, What are you
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doing? God does not restrain his anger.
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Even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.
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How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue
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with him? Though I were innocent, I could
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not answer him. I could only plead with my judge
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for mercy. Even if I summoned him and he
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responded, I do not believe He would give me a hearing.
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He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no
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reason. I'm going to pause right there.
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And because I have to say something.
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God always has a reason and he he always states what that
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reason is. As I've been reading through
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scripture, he when something bad happens or a consequence
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happens, he through the prophets at least he says This is why it
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happened. I would say I guess more so with
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the prophets. There are other things where we
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don't maybe get an answer on it, but when he's talked in many
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times in the Bible, when some sort of judgment comes it
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there's a reason given for it. So it said so I don't think this
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is this is accurate. This is just Joe being
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desperate. And I think that's this is one
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of those places where if somebody used this out of
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context, they could identify a, a characteristic about God that
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isn't true. I mean, it's in the Bible, but
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it does need to be taken in context because Job is
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despondent in his afflictions and he's not seeing the light.
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He's just seeing what he's suffering from and he's not
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understanding it because he does not know that God let Satan have
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access to him. So we'll continue here, verse
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18. He's Job is talking about God.
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He would not let me catch my breath, but would overwhelm me
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with misery. If it is a matter of strength,
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He is mighty. And if it is a matter of
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justice, who can challenge him? Even if I were innocent, my
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mouth would condemn me. If I were blameless, it would
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pronounce me guilty. Although I am blameless, I have
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no concern for myself. I despise my own life.
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It is all the same. That is why I say he destroys
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both the blameless and the wicked.
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When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of
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the innocent. When a land falls into the hands
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of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges.
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If it is not he, then who is it? So this is also showing that Job
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doesn't really know what's going on.
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My days are swifter than a runner.
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They fly away without a glimpse of joy.
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They skim past like boats of papyrus, like eagles swooping
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down on their prey. If I say I will forget my
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complaint, I will change my expression and smile.
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I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me
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innocent since I am already found guilty.
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Guilty. Why should I struggle in vain?
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Even if I washed myself with soap in my hands with cleansing
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powder, you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my
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clothes would detest me. I'm going to pause here again
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because even if I washed myself with soap there you know that
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is. I don't believe this is accurate
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either. This is Job again, just saying
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these things, but there is we know in scripture, we know
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directly from God that you know, there are many times where if
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someone repents, then God relents.
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And and then there is, you know, this cleansing that has always
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been a part of the Israelites tradition and still is yet to
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come when Jesus talks about the, the the purification that will
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happen when he returns and how Israel will be purified at that
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time and will be cleansed and even the fountain that flows
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from the temple for cleansing people.
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I mean, that never went away. Like God.
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God, we couldn't do it on our own.
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So God gave us a way to cleanse ourselves.
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That way is through Jesus. Jesus is the one who purifies
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us. And then it's Jesus gives us the
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Holy Spirit to begin to change our lives and to begin to make
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us more and not make us but change us into the reflection of
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God. And so there is a process and
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God showed that so many times, you know, even with, you know, I
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think it was even with Paul with his eyesight too.
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And there were other people who were healed where they were
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supposed to be cleansed first before they got healed.
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They were supposed to go through a process of cleansing with
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water. And that was like an ancient
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traditional ceremony that they did that the Israelites had.
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So there's there's much there's there are many references in
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Scripture about cleansing and it's symbolic of what actually
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happens when we come to faith in Jesus and we believe in Jesus.
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And like Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life and
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no one comes to the Father except through me.
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So that is really the process. But Job is not aware of this.
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And so he's he just, he just, he knows himself.
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He knows what he's done and he knows that he hasn't done
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anything intentionally against God and he's not understanding
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why he's suffering all of this because he didn't have the
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knowledge of what was happening in the heavenly realms with a
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conversation between God and Satan.
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So going back to verse 32, talking about God, this is Job.
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He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we
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might confront each other in court if only there were someone
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to mediate between us, someone to bring us together.
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It's kind of funny that he says that because ultimately that's
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Jesus. But verse 34, someone to remove
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God's rod from me so that his terror would frighten me no more
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than I would speak up without fear of him.
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But as it stands now, I cannot. That's, you know, that's kind of
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interesting too, because like on our own power, we are sinful.
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And if we are trying to do everything on our own, we're not
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going to be able to, we're not going to be able to make
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ourselves holy to be in the presence of God and like God
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says, be holy because I am holy. So it's impossible for us on our
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own to be quote good enough. But that's where God did.
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He saw that, you know, people just failed over and over again.
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And that's why he sent his son Jesus to make it possible.
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So many times it says I will save them by my own arm.
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He's talking about Jesus, about his own arm.
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That's the Savior. He, Jesus is the Savior of for
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all of us. And it's impossible for us to do
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it on our own. So that's the end of Chapter 9.
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So I'll read the questions and answers in the study Bible from
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Chapter 9. And then actually I'll just
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continue in chapter 10, and then I'll read all of them.
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So Job continues. I loathe my very life.
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Therefore I will give free reign to my complaint and speak out in
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the bitterness of my soul. I say to God, do not declare me
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guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me.
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Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your
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hands while you smile on the plans of the wicked?
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Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as immortal sees?
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Are your days like those of immortal, or your years like
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those of a strongman, that you must search out my faults and
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probe after my sin, though you know I am not guilty, and that
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no one can rescue me from your hand?
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I mean, Job's really speaking out here.
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Verse 8. Your hands shaped me and made
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me. Will you now turn and destroy
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me? Remember that You molded me like
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clay. Will you now turn me to dust
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again? Did you not pour me out like
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milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh,
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and knit me together with bones and sinews?
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You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your Providence
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watched over my spirit. So he's remembering all these
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things that God has done for him but now.
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But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that
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this was in your mind. If I sinned, you would be
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watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished.
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If I am guilty, woe to me. If.
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Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of
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shame and drowned in my affliction.
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If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again
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display your awesome power against me.
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You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger
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toward me. Your forces come against me wave
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upon wave. Why then did you bring me out of
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the womb? I wish I had died before any I
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saw me. If I had never come into if only
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I had never come into being or had been carried straight from
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the womb to the grave. Are not my few days almost over.
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Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy before I go to
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the place of no return to the land of gloom and utter darkness
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to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder
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where even the light is like darkness.
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So that's the end of chapter 10. It's it's a very horrible.
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You can see like how terrible Job is feeling and hopeless and
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that there is just no response. Like Job has no idea what is
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going on with him. And, and it's kind of
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interesting. I can actually relate to that
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many years ago when I've kind of felt like that, like Job is
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expressing and and that's when God showed.
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I'm going to say God showed me the book because I was the first
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time I opened the Bible to read it and I opened it to the book
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of Job, which is so interesting. And it's like God was showing me
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what was going on at that moment.
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So I will read the questions and answers for chapters 9 and 10
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and then that'll wrap this up for today.
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So did Job concede Bildad's argument?
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This is at the beginning. Job was probably referring to
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the general idea that God is just and holy in all that he
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does. In other words, Job conceded the
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overall facts of Bildad's argument, but still raised the
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large, larger question of how a person can be righteous in God's
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sight. So Bildad was the friend that
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spoke in chapter 8. Let's see, innocence before God.
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Job echoed the earlier words of Ilphus.
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This was the first friend that spoke, perhaps to counter
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Bildad's simplistic explanations.
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What you say is true, but what Ilphus says is also true.
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No one can be righteous before a holy God.
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So Job is pointing out the truths that they said.
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But his friends certainly aren't helping him.
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What would Job have known about the constellations?
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His words probably reflect the common knowledge of ancient
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people in the prevailing view of astronomy at the time.
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Just as mountain seas and other physical landmarks were named,
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ancient people mapped out the skies and gave names to various
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combinations of the stars. Does God hide from us?
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Sometimes it may seem so. The writers of the Psalms
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expressed this frustration numerous times.
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Job was saying that while people can sense God's presence all
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around them and see the evidence of God's work, the sovereign God
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of the universe is still elusive.
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Job was not Speaking of a God who hides so much as he was
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expressing poetically the awesome grandeur of God.
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What was Rahab? A mythological sea monster.
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The name itself means storm. I also looked up because I saw
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Rahab because Rahab was also the the prostitute who helped the
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Israelites, the spies in Israelite when the wall of
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Jericho finally came down or prior to the wall of Jericho
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coming down. And so I looked up that name and
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in a word search, but if you go back to the original Hebrew word
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and search that word only, the only time that Rahab is
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mentioned, that specific word is in the book of Job is within the
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book of Job. So you have to look at the exact
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word that's used and it read does refer to this like sea
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monster. But it's kind of interesting
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also in Isaiah. And I didn't call up that
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scripture, right. I might as well do that now.
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But in the it's, I think it's also miss in, it's also in the
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book of Isaiah. So if you just search Rahab to
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start with, you'll find like in the NIV version, you'll find 14
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different references and you'll see the whole story about in
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Joshua chapter 2 about the spies and the prostitute named Rahab.
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So it's kind of interesting when you see that reference, but
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there's, like I said, 14 different times.
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But in the book of Job, if you go to blueletterbible.org and
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you go to Job 9 verse 13 and then click on the tools, you
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will see this word Rahab at the bottom that it according to
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Strong's concordance, it talks about proud or strength and it
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says the root word in etymology is bluster or blusterer.
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So but the definition in according to Strong's definition
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is proud or strength. And then in Strong's it's H7293,
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it says literally storm arrogance, but only as names.
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So it's a mythical sea monster or it's also an emblematic name
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of Egypt. So we see the references here
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there are for that specific word.
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It shows up three times. It's in Job 913, Job 2612, and
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Isaiah chapter 30, verse 7. And that's where it references
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Egypt. So that same word is is
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connected. So in Job 26 verse 12, it says
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by his power he churned up the sea.
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By his wisdom, he cut Rahab to pieces.
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So again, this is something that I'm not really sure about this
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like sometimes like Bible prophecy has multiple
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fulfillments. It's almost like I see a
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correlation between this Rahab monster in the sea and
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Leviathan, which is the monster of the sea, which is also called
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the gliding serpent. And then you see the the beast
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in the Book of Revelation that comes up out of the sea.
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I don't know if these are parallels or if they are kind of
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one in the same or if they are spiritual entities or if they
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are also a foreshadowing. So you have Job and then you
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have, you know, later on what comes up in the Book of
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Revelation. And again, I don't know that any
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of us will know that until afterwards in hindsight, when
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it'll finally be revealed. And we probably won't even care
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about it in the very end. But somehow it this word Rahab
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really in the book of Job it's different, but then Isaiah uses
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that same and he's referring to Egypt.
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Therefore I call her the do nothing.
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And I don't think it's Isaiah. I think it's the Lord probably
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speaking this. I will read the Let's see what
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it says. Yeah, 'cause if you start with
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Isaiah 30 chapter or chapter 30 verse one, it says woe to the
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obstinate children, declares the Lord to those who carry out
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plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my
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spirit heaping sin upon sin. That's really interesting too,
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because the beast that comes up in the Book of Revelation is an
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alliance of, I guess it 7 entities.
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I mean, there were 10, but one of the, I guess, oh, I guess
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three of them were replaced by 1.
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So it's an alliance of 1st, initially 10 nations or 10
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groupings of people or 10 representatives, and then it
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comes down to seven because one of them takes out three and then
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it becomes 7. And it this is interesting
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again, Isaiah 30, because it talks about forming an alliance,
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it says, but not by my spirit. So this is like a spirit that is
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not of God heaping sin upon sin, who go down to Egypt without
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consulting me, who look for look for help to Pharaoh's
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protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.
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But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame.
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Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace, though they have
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officials in Zohan and their envoys have arrived in Haines.
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Everyone will be put to shame because of the people's use,
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because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor
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advantage, but only shame and disgrace.
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A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev.
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Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lioness,
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of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on
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donkeys, back their treasures on the humps of camels, to that
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unprofitable nation, to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
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Therefore I call her Rahab, the do nothing.
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And then he says, go now, write it on a tablet for them,
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inscribe it on a scroll that for the days to come, it may be an
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everlasting witness for these are rebellious people, deceitful
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children, children unless unwilling to listen to the
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Lord's instruction. So this is it's very interesting
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about that and I won't, I'm not going to continue on this.
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But so we see that it's either the monster in the sea Leviathan
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and also referred to as Egypt. And it's about being proud.
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And it's kind of interesting because Satan was at pride was
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the big issue with Satan that he wanted to be God.
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And so who knows if these are symbolic representations of him
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or if they are actually different entities, but doesn't
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really matter. But it's it's what the verse in
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Scripture and Job says is that even the cohorts of Rahab
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cowered at his feet. It's God's sovereignty.
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Nothing stands up to God. God is the creator.
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God is the ultimate. So just like Isaiah was saying,
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if they're going to Egypt for help or anywhere else that we go
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for help, it's useless because God is ultimately sovereign over
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everything. So let's see.
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We'll go back to the questions and answers.
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Did Job think God is vindictive? Job was expressing frustration
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and despair. He believed he was right, but he
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had no hope in an argument with God because God is all powerful
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and no one can challenge his justice.
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Worse to Job than all his losses was the silence of God in
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response to his pain. Does God blindfold justice?
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Job accused God of promoting injustice.
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He looked for fairness and held God accountable for the apparent
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lack of it. But life is unfair.
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People pervert justice. God may seem passive at time,
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leading many to cry with the psalmist.
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How long Lord? But God intervenes to right all
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the wrongs when the time is right.
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He heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt after 400
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years of slavery. And because he became human and
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suffered unjustly, Jesus is intimately acquainted with the
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suffering of His people. What were boats of papyrus?
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These were boats made of the tall grass like plants that grew
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in marshes. The papyrus stalks were woven
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together and waterproofed. The basket boat that carried
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Moses as a baby was a smaller version.
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Was Job guilty until proven innocent?
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Job's unrelieved suffering was proof to Job's friends that he
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had sinned and refused to repent.
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But Job was honest enough to insist he knew nothing he had
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done for which he should repent. Since he was apparently being
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judged and knew of no way to exonerate himself before God,
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Job may have resigned himself to suffering.
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Job considered it hopeless to seek vindication when God seemed
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determined to hold him guilty. I think this is probably a good
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example for us because God doesn't necessarily want us to
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suffer unjustly. And God is just.
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So in this situation, I think we can learn from Job that if we
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have a clear conscience and the Holy Spirit doesn't convict us
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of anything, then we should know or believe or think or, you
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know, remember Job and at least consider that this could be
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something spiritual that's happening, happening to us and
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not from God. And be aware of the spiritual
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realm and be aware of what happened back then.
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And know that, you know, ultimately the spirits that are
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rebellious to God, they seek to separate humans from God.
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So they look for every opportunity and what better way
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but to bring suffering on humans to make humans think that God
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doesn't care about them. So again, this is this could be
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a testing of us like we need to be.
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We need to have discernment. Would God really do that?
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You know, if we have nothing that you know, if we pray to the
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Holy Spirit and say Holy Spirit, please let me let my eyes be
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open to anything that I've done that God is not happy with,
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please reveal that to me. God will respond to that.
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And if you don't get anything that you've done, looking at the
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book of Job, it's probably something spiritual coming
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against you and it's probably a test.
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So the best thing that we can do is praise God in that and not
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let the Spirit get a hold of our life to where we start rejecting
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God or getting angry with God or thinking God is unjust or
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anything. We know God is just.
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We know God is merciful. We know God is loving.
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So God would not do that. He may allow us to be tested,
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but also that would that would grow us, that would make our
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eyes open. We would become more mature and
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recognizing the enemies attacks. So I think this book of Job is
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really helpful, especially for Christians who are, you know,
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determined or committed to doing God's will.
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I think it's something of encouragement to let people know
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that there is a spiritual realm that could be testing you and
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don't give up. Just praise God and eventually
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that you know, it says resist the enemy and he will flee,
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resist the devil and he will flee.
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So it's not like we have to put up a huge fight, but just maybe
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it's just a longer process or time frame of praising God
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before it, it gets removed and, and earnestly seeking God and,
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and asking God. Is there anything that I need to
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do in my life that, you know, this has come upon me as a
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reason for it? And if it is, please reveal it
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to me. So I think this is very helpful
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to understand these things. Why did Job long for a mediator
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between him and God? Confident of his clear
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conscience but seemingly unable to gain a hearing with God, Job
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longed for an arbitrator to decide his case with God.
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It was a whimsical request. Job knew there was no one to
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make an appeal to God on his behalf.
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Yet his desire for an advocate was a power, powerful
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foreshadowing of our need for a Savior.
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Was Job's request for an explanation unreasonable?
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No Job was not being rebellious or arrogant.
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He simply wanted to understand the reasons for his suffering.
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But the larger issue, which is not mentioned until later, is
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that the sovereign God can decide to withhold information
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from us. Though we understand the reasons
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behind Job Job's suffering from chapters one and two, we don't
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know why God thought it was best to leave Job in the dark.
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There's Is God guilty of neglect?
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No, but to those who have hit bottom and feel abandoned, God
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might appear to be neglectful in his despair.
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Job was painting a horrifying and incorrect picture of God.
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So that's important to note that this was an incorrect picture of
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God that Job is talking about. So again, reading something in
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context is really important. So if anybody ever quotes Job
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and says look at all these things that says this in the
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Bible about God, then you need to say, well, what is it?
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What chapter is it? And if it's in Job Chapter 9,
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then they need to know the whole book and understand that this is
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not a correct representation of God.
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This was someone crying out in despair.
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So in his despair, Job painted a horrifying and incorrect picture
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of God, saying that God afflicts for no reason, overwhelms people
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with misery, destroys both the blameless and the wickedness,
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indiscriminately laughs at the despair of the innocents, and
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blindfolds judges so that in injustice prevails.
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Job's fear of this tyrannical deity could even have forced him
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to confess to sins he had not committed.
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But these were words of a despondent, discouraged Job.
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On the whole, Job had a higher view of God than this.
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The major difference between Job's view of God and the view
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of God held by his friends was Job's belief that affliction in
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this life come to both the unrighteous and the righteous,
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that suffering cannot always be explained in terms of what 1
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deserves. Does does God watch?
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Oh, wait, did I skip over a bunch?
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OK, yeah, all right. Does God watch to catch us
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sinning? All people are accountable to
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God, and God's eye is on us continually, but not in the
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sense of trying to catch us doing wrong.
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God's love and concern cause him to watch over us continually.
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Job's words, however, expressed his darkest thoughts and fears.
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More than likely, Job did not have access to God's written
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word, which could have encouraged him with God's
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watchful mercy. All Job had at the time was what
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he knew of God from scattered sources and his his experience
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of suffering. Is it better to never, to have
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never lived at all than to live with trouble and suffering in
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his misery? Job might have thought so.
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But the Bible's message throughout is that life, all
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life, is a gift from God. Even in terrible suffering,
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God's glory can be revealed. I want to add more to it because
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I think I mean just there's some thoughts that came to mind with
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that. Is it better to have never lived
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at all than to live with trouble and suffering?
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I would say absolutely not that to never have lived because this
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is being very short sighted. This response is thinking only
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at the world and how we live on the world and the suffering and
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the trouble that comes in the world.
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But if you never had a life, that means you would never be
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able to be in the Kingdom of God and to live with God in person
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someday. So to say that you would want to
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never have lived, I think is very short sighted and not
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thinking about what we know. Like in Job's time, I again like
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it said, who knows what kind of resources he had, what knowledge
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he had of God. But we know from the Bible that
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there is this, there is, you know, trouble in the world as
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Jesus said, but trust me, I have overcome the world.
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So Jesus is promising that this trouble will go away.
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The Book of Revelation says, you know that there will be no more
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tears and there is this promised Kingdom of God that will come to
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earth eventually. There's going to be a separation
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of good and evil. And I guess that's and you have
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to almost put good in quotation marks because no one is good but
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God. But there is a a separation of
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those who choose righteousness, who choose to respond to God,
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and those who reject God. That's basically it.
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It's our free will decision. Like we either accept God or we
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reject him. And there's going to be a
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separation of those people and those who reject God will be
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completely separated. And then those who accept God
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and want God in our lives, then we will be in this promised
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Kingdom of God that will be forthcoming someday.
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So if you never had a life, you couldn't be in that Kingdom.
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And there are so many like blessings that are not even
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completely revealed. But there's glimpses of it
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throughout. Isaiah talks about some of it
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like the millennial reign. And then the Book of Revelation,
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the last couple chapters talk about it.
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So it's, I mean, it's beyond description.
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I think John saw a little glimpse of it through the Book
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of Revelation, the last couple of chapters.
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So we only know a little bit, but we know that there's
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something, and even Paul talked about some things.
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He talks about rewards at the end of all of this, that there
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are some rewards. What rewards they are, I don't
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really know, but somehow he has. He was very focused on the
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rewards and receiving the rewards after this, this life
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struggle that we go through on the earth in our lifetime.
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But there's there's a promise of more and better things and a
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better time ahead. And if we were never born, we
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would not be able to enjoy that in the future.
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We're all waiting for that. Just like the Israelites were
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waiting for the promised land. We are waiting for the Kingdom
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of God. And then that will be that will
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come to reality eventually. The Israelites did receive part
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of the promised land and but then when Jesus returns, they
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will fully receive all of the promised land because they never
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have this whole, all of these thousands of years.
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They never received the because they didn't follow God, they
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didn't listen to him, they didn't do what he said.
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So therefore they didn't get it all.
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But God's going to send his own son once again to return and
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then establish the boundaries of Israel once again.
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So anyway, let's go back to what did Job believe about the
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afterlife. Everyone in the ancient world
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believed in the resurrection of the dead and the existence of an
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afterlife, Job included. It's uncertain, though, whether
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he thought in terms of a bodily resurrection as taught later in
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the New Testament. Job merely expressed a strong
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confidence that somehow, somewhere, he would meet God
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face to face. How is light like darkness in
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the next life? In ancient times, little was
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known about what happened after death.
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Lack of knowledge was frequently characterized as darkness.
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Knowledge was enlightenment. The mysteries of the hereafter
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seemed like deep darkness to people.
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In Job's time, the land of the dead was considered as absolute
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night without a hint of light. So thank God we have more
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information about it and there's something more hopeful that we
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know comes after what we call death.
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But Jesus defeated death, and maybe that's why the Bible
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refers to it as going to sleep, that they are asleep.
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And it's a transition that happens until what God will
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reveal to us someday. Anyway, that wraps up chapters
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please share this with someone else and come back next time for
38:13
Chapter 11. Thank you.