The Bible is a collection of stories that together tell a much larger story of the entire history of our redemption, with Jesus as the ultimate hero. Job is one of the stories that appear in the Old Testament. As we strive to know God through this complicated book, it’s important to remember what the Book of Job is about.
What is the book of Job About?
The book of Job is the story of a righteous man who loses everything, wrestles with undeserved suffering, and discovers that trusting God is more important than understanding His ways.
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How does the Book of Job fit into the Bible?
The Old Testament has five divisions, and the Book of Job is the first book in the third division. In the Bible Book Club we have finished the first division, the Pentateuch or Torah, which includes the first five books of the Bible, and the second division, the History Books, which includes the next twelve books. Both of these divisions tell Israel’s story.
- The Pentateuch or Torah: the first five books of the Bible; explains the Law and Covenant
- The History Books: the next twelve books; records Israel’s journey to keep the Law
- The Poetry and Wisdom Books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs; a sudden shift from narrative to reflection.
Here is another way to think of how God has created a Bible roadmap. The first division, the Law, gives the rules of the road. The second division, the Historical Books, shows what happened when the Israelites drove on the road. The Wisdom Books pull over at the rest stop to ponder:
- Where are we going and why?
- What does it all mean?
- Why do people suffer?
- How do I navigate relationships?
- What makes life worth living?
Why does the Book of Job shift from narrative to reflection?
The Book of Job shifts to reflection because the focus is no longer on Israel but on the human condition. God places the Wisdom books after the history of Israel’s rise and fall because wisdom is often born from experience.
Hopefully, we have gained experience from reading through seventeen podcast seasons of Israel’s rise and fall. The bottom line is, whether yesterday or today, once you know the rules (Law) and you’ve experienced the difficulty of life (History), you are finally ready to wrestle with the questions in Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, pondering the why that brings wisdom. Questions about suffering, meaning, love, and morality.
These books are written for people, for us, because we are living in a world where life doesn’t always make sense. Where grief, confusion, and doubt produce questions. God wants us to trust Him for the answers. And that is what we will learn to do in the next five books.
What is the unique focus of each of the five Poetry and Wisdom Books?
The five Poetry and Wisdom books are quite different and each has a unique purpose, because God has a plan in His design of the Bible.
- Job: suffering and trust
- Psalms: human emotion (joy, worship, grief, anger)
- Proverbs: living wisely
- Ecclesiastes: the search for meaning in life
- Song of Solomon: human love and intimacy
Who wrote the Book of Job?
We do not know who wrote the Book of Job; however, most commentators assume the author is an Israelite because he used the Israelite name for God, Yahweh, often. Therefore, the book was written well after Job lived.
Many speculate that the book was written during the exile, because it was a time of great suffering for Israel. The author may have been inspired to document the story of Job to encourage the exiles wrestling with suffering. Thousands of years later, we are still encouraged by the wisdom in the Book of Job.
When and where do the events of the Book of Job take place?
Job’s story takes place somewhere between 2000 and 1000 BC during the time of the patriarchs in Genesis before Israel was a nation. Job lived in Uz, a territory that lies near Edom southeast of what would become the nation of Israel, near modern-day Jordan.
Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, came from Teman, which is associated with the Edomites. Recall that the Edomites were descendants of Esau, the son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob.
What evidence suggests Job lived during the time of the patriarchs?
We know Job lived during the time of the patriarchs because his lifestyle paralleled the patriarchs. He lived a long life, well over 140 years. His wealth was measured in livestock. And the priesthood developed under Moses was not known. Job acted as a priest for his family.
What is the main theme or purpose of the book of Job?
The purpose of this book is to explore God’s policy of suffering and justice in the world, especially the suffering of the righteous or innocent, which leads to the real question. Are God’s ways just? The hope for the book is that we will attain the wisdom to trust God for what we may never understand, because we don’t have the perspective to judge what is just. God’s ways are not our ways.
Isaiah 55:8–9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
The courtroom structure of Job
The author uses the theme of a court hearing to structure the discourse, and there is a lot of discourse. This theme makes sense, because the whole discussion is about Justice. On the surface Job is on trial. His friends show up like a prosecuting team, insisting he must have sinned to deserve such devastation. Job, in his attempt to defend himself, tries to put God on trial, demanding that God meet him in court and explain His ways.
Before any of this happens, the book opens with a courtroom scene that Job and his friends are unaware of. God is holding court, and the Accuser challenges God to prove that his relationship with the people is authentic and not transactional. The accuser states that God’s people do not love Him for who He is; they only love Him for what He gives them. In other words, their faith is built on blessings. If God were to strip them of all blessings, they would curse God.
Who are the main characters that appear in the Book of Job?
- Job: the righteous man at the center of the story
- Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar: they arrive to comfort Job but end up debating him for much of the book.
- Elihu: a younger man who appears suddenly in chapter 32, frustrated that neither Job nor his friends have resolved the argument. He delivers four speeches before God arrives.
- God: who appears in chapters 1 and 2, the Prologue, but then goes silent until the Epilogue
- The Satan or ha-satan in Hebrew: translated as the accuser, appears in the prologue, then disappears
What is the meaning of the term “Theodicy” in the Book of Job?
Theodicy is the attempt to justify how a good and all-powerful God can allow innocent people to suffer. The term comes from Greek: theos (God) + dikē (justice). Job wrestles with theodicy throughout the story, until the end.
How does the “Retribution Principle” explain the arguments of Job’s friends?
The Retribution Principle is the conviction that the righteous, or good people, will prosper, and the wicked, or bad people, will suffer. In other words, God’s relationship with man is transactional. Job’s friends operate from this framework: Job is suffering; therefore, Job must have sinned.
- Righteous people are rewarded with health, wealth, long life, and children.
- Wicked people are punished with suffering, poverty, early death, and disaster.
Job wrestles with his friends and the retribution principle throughout the story, refusing to accept his friends’ answers about why he deserves his pain.
What is the most obvious question God never answers?
God never answers the most obvious question: Why does God allow suffering in the world? How is this just? Instead, God questions Job leading him to a deeper understanding. God reveals Himself to Job. Knowing God was all Job needed to stop questioning.
Isn’t that what we all need? To know God? It is through God’s Word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we “know” God.
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
To know God, His Word, His Son, and the Holy Spirit is to trust Him for all the answers.
Scene 1: Job, the Righteous Target
Job 1:1-3
Prologue 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
Was Job innocent?
The author sets the stage by making a case for Job’s righteous innocence. Here is what we know about Job:
- Job is not an Israelite. In fact, he lives in Uz, nowhere near Israel.
- He is blameless and upright. Blameless refers to his character. Job is a man of integrity. Upright refers to his actions. Job is a man who behaves according to God’s expectations.
- Job fears God and shuns evil. He fears God in a good way, meaning he takes God seriously, and he actively turns away from evil.
- Nowhere does it say that Job is without sin. He is not perfect, but his actions reflect a heart that desires to follow God.
- Job is blessed. He has it all: a large family, great wealth, and standing among his people. In fact, he is the greatest of all the men in the East.
It is news to me that the custom of celebrating birthdays was widespread in the Ancient East. But good old Herodotus, the Greek writer who taught us so much about Persia in the book of Esther, confirmed and documented the ancient birthday tradition. These birthday parties reveal that Job seems to have been blessed with a close-knit family, for they regularly celebrate each other. And Job cares deeply for them, regularly sacrificing for them after their birthday celebrations.
Job, the worrisome father
Which leads to the question, why is he sacrificing and why for them? Job, as their father, acts as their priest. This was the custom before there were priests from the line of Aaron. Job’s motive for sacrificing leads us to believe he may not attend his children’s birthday parties, since it doesn’t sound like he knows what happens there.
And being an upright and probably worrisome father, he takes action to purify and make sacrifices for his children. Just in case, under the influence of wine, they may have been tempted to do something or say something about God they shouldn’t have.
Bottom line, Job is a conscientious, good guy. And God confirms this in the next scene. Unfortunately, he is so good that he becomes the target for a test.
Scene 2: A Rare Scene from Heaven
Job 1:6-12
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Suddenly, we are transported to the heavenly realm.
God is on the throne as angels come to present themselves. About what we don’t know. The Hebrew word for angel is mal’akh, which means “messenger,” and that is what angels primarily do. Deliver messages from God. However, the Hebrew word used for angel here is bene Elohim, which means “sons of God.” We are not sure whether the sons of God are the same as angels. These bene Elohim may not be angels but some other angelic-like agents of God.
Who are the sons of God in the Bible?
In the Book of Job, the sons of God make up a kind of divine council which meets to give reports to God. There are several other passages that portray similar celestials at work. The most obvious passage is in 1 Kings 22 when God has a conversation with a heavenly multitude about Ahab.
1 Kings 22:19-22 18 Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’
“One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.
“‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.
“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’
God asks the heavenly multitude who will do the work of enticing Ahab. Ideas are thrown out by several, and a spirit steps forward to volunteer. Is he a son of God, an angel, or some other type of agent for the Lord? We don’t know. The point is, these beings, whatever they are called, exist with God and are useful to him.
To make the scene in Job more fantastic, Satan is with the sons of God. What does that mean? What it means is that this scene offers a different view of spiritual warfare than what we, as New Testament believers, are familiar with. At this time, when the book of Job was written, little was known about evil and God’s opposition.
What is the significance of the “ha-satan” title in the Hebrew text?
The Hebrew word for Satan is ha-satan. The “ha” is the definite article “the,” which makes the word a title meaning “the accuser” or “the adversary.” In this scene from Job 1, Satan is presented as a being with the title “the accuser.”
Satan is there with the sons of God and approaches God as a prosecutor to present a case against mankind. He is definitely not for us, but against. What is fascinating, and what the commentators do a deep dive on, is that there’s no sign of emotion from God or Satan. The accuser is adversarial, but he’s part of the reporting system. God is not angry or surprised by his presence and expects him to accuse someone.
The scene plays out as if Satan steps forward to report just as any other son of God. God asks him where he has been, and he answers. Then God jumps in and leads the conversation, proving that He is fully aware of what Satan has in mind before he even asks. Out of the blue, God asks, “Have you considered my servant Job?” In other words, I know why you’re here, so let’s get to the point of your accusation.
Satan gets to it, stating his case: Job is only faithful because God has protected and blessed him. If God were to take it away, Job would curse God. Then God, still the one initiating, gives Satan permission to test Job. Note Satan has no autonomy and can’t seem to do anything without God’s explicit permission.
How has our understanding of Satan changed since Job?
Job’s ha-satan is evidence that ancient Israel understood testing and adversity as part of God’s sovereign purposes. Later, as they wrestled with massive evil like exile, oppression, and persecution, their understanding developed. Ha-satan or “the satan” became Satan, the name of the rebellious spirit actively opposing God’s purposes.
It’s not that the writer didn’t know who Satan really was, but that the concept of a singular, evil figure didn’t exist in Jewish thought during the time Job was written. The evolution of Israel’s understanding can be seen if we fast-forward through Scripture. In 1 Chronicles the author, Ezra, used the Hebrew name Satan, capital “S” not the title, so by this time the prophets had learned that Satan was one being.
1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
In Zechariah, the author again uses the name Satan and in this story, as in the Book of Job, Satan approaches God. However, not as a part of a divine council report. Satan accuses, but is rebuked and dismissed rather than allowed to proceed, as in Job.
Zechariah 3:1–2 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
Satan in the New Testament
By the time we get to the New Testament and Revelation, Satan and his purpose are much more defined as expected. Because the apostles have the teaching of Jesus, and Jesus has intimate knowledge of Satan. The Apostle John ties the progression of what the authors of the Bible come to know about Satan all together in Revelation.
Revelation 12:7–10 7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down.
John uses all the names for Satan recorded throughout the Bible:
- Ancient serpent: first found in Genesis 3
- Devil: Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, etc.
- Dragon: Revelation
- Satan: used throughout the Old and New Testaments
John defines this spiritual being as the one “who leads the whole world astray” and as “the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before God day and night.” Note: Satan also has angels, bad agents.
How does the New Testament Book of Revelation connect to Job’s story?
In Revelation 12:7–10, John is completing Job’s story. In the Book of Job, Satan accuses Job of a transactional relationship: humans will only serve God for what they can get. Take it away, and humans will reject God. Revelation declares that the accuser has lost that argument.
Jesus won the trial
Jesus—our advocate, our defense attorney—won the trial. He proved that humans can remain faithful through the absolute worst suffering imaginable, even death itself. Jesus is our human example! He could have escaped the cross. He was offered a deal from the devil during the temptation. And he declined!
Matthew 4:8–11 8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Jesus, fully human, faced every temptation we face. And proved that we can remain faithful through the worst suffering imaginable, even death itself. As our representative, His victory becomes our victory. His faithfulness covers our failures. Because of Jesus, there’s nothing left to prosecute. Through him, we’re forgiven and freed from sin. He paid the price. He stands between us and every accusation. The case is closed.
What does that mean for those of us today?
We are still living in the greater story, waiting for Christ’s return. And that means, that despite the fact that Satan knows he has lost, he hasn’t given up trying. He is still on the prowl. He still accuses, attacks, and tempts us to doubt. Our job is to fight the good fight, trusting God and confident that the end is sure!
The plot thickens in our next chapters, when the accuser asks for more, and Job spirals into unimaginable suffering.
Group Discussion Questions for Job Chapter 1
- When life doesn’t make sense and you’re in a season of grief, confusion, or doubt, what has your default response been: to question God or to trust Him? What has helped you move toward trust?
- The Retribution Principle says good people prosper and bad people suffer. Have you ever subconsciously believed this? How has your own experience of suffering (or someone else’s) challenged that belief?
- Job is described as conscientious and upright, yet he becomes the target for a test. Have you ever felt that doing the right thing made things harder for you rather than easier? What did that season teach you?
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