Well, shall we kind of warm up our vocal cords since I'll be using mine mostly by doing our memory work Again, I'm not being tested on this so if you see me glancing down. It's because I don't have to memorize them, but I'm trying But let's let's go over them from start to finish moving fairly quickly on those that are familiar so we begin with Psalm 37 4 Speak along with me delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart Psalm 37 4 Psalm 46 10 be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth Psalm 46 10 Proverbs 3 5 and 6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean No, no, no understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your past straight Proverbs 3 5 and 6 Proverbs 3 11 and 12 My son do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke for the Lord disciplines those he loves as a father the son he delights in Proverbs 3 11 and 12 Proverbs 4 18 and 19 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn Shining ever brighter till the full light of day The way of the wicked is like deep darkness They do not know what makes them stumble Proverbs 4 18 and 19 Proverbs 6 16 to 19 there are six things the Lord hates 7 that are detestable to him Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed, innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up to sentient among brothers Proverbs 6 16 to 19 Proverbs 10 910, excuse me, Proverbs 9 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding Proverbs 9 10 Proverbs 14 26 and 27 He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress And for his children it is a refuge. I don't know does him very well 27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life Turning a man from the snares of death Proverbs 14 26 27 yeah, I think I started that off wrong he who fears the Lord is the way that one was supposed to start Proverbs 16 3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed Proverbs 16 3 Proverbs 27 21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold But man is tested by the praise he receives literally by Proverbs 27 Literally by his praise that could be the praise he receives or in fact that which he praises that which he esteems Uncertain which way to take that both are I think relevant next verse Proverbs 29 18 Where there is no revelation the people cast off restraint But blessed is he who keeps the law Proverbs 29 18 Proverbs 29 25 Fear of man will prove a snare but whoever trusts the Lord is kept safe Proverbs 29 25 and here we come to this week's verse 2 verses Proverbs 35 and 6 Every word of God is flawless He is a shield to those who take refuge in him Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar Proverbs 35 and 6 Okay, good. What is the relationship as I hope you're meditating a little bit on these verses as you learn them What is the relationship between what is said in the first half of the first line every word of God is flawless And what is said in the second Half of that first line he is a shield to those who take refuge in him How did you understand that did you puzzle over that at all? Every word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him What do you make of the relationship between those two
He is trustworthy his words are trustworthy Another way to translate that flawless is to translate it as that which is refined as in a furnace In other words, it has stood the test of time Drain Garrett in his commentary on this verse says in the real world of experience people have found that God's revelation stands true Thus it makes sense if every word of God back to this verse every every word of God has stood the test Therefore he is a shield to those who take refuge in him His word will prove true. It's not just talking about flawless in the sense of Some perfection that we stand back and admire that is talking about that which has stood the test in real life experience This is not a mere abstraction But is a practical dealing with the day-to-day life And then the second half says that we should not add to this word You might compare that to what is said in the Old Testament and the New Testament, Deuteronomy 12 32 And also Revelation 22 18 both warned against adding to the word of the Lord But notice that this is not, it doesn't say don't detract from it, don't take away from it If you heard of Thomas Jefferson's Bible, you know the Thomas Jefferson Bible, he took a scissor, he took a pair of scissors And cut out of his Bible that which he didn't particularly like That to which he objected just cut it out Well, that's the practice of unbelief But this is saying don't add to it And that's something that we as believers may be more subject to We may fall into that error of reading more into scripture or reading our own ideas into scripture Maybe taking scripture out of context and making the words of scripture Say what we would like them to say And so this is a word we need to be careful to hear That the word of the Lord is flawless It has stood the test of time It provides a secure refuge for those who put their trust in it And we should be careful not to go beyond that word Now that doesn't mean that the meaning of the text is always perfectly plain on the surface Sometimes it requires some digging It is possible to under-read texts It is also possible to over-read them It is even possible to counter-read them Have them say something that they don't say at all But our desire should be to read them in their fullness In their richest sense without reading our meanings into them But pulling out both what is explicit and obvious And that which is also implicit in the text And thus we want to be good students of the word I know this is a large class so as we open in prayer I wish I could hear all of the things that are on your heart But where we to do that we would be at our first break at least before even went to prayer So we'll not be able to do that Let me just give an item of praise I'm involved this semester in EE training I don't know if many of you have done that But again this past Tuesday in our various groups We have probably about eight or ten teams that go out from our church There were three first-time decisions for Christ made And that was very exciting And so I would ask for prayer for these individuals Who really sincerely the one we talk to Really is a man who seemed very, very sincere in that decision And it was one of these situations where you know God is at work Because the adversary is working double-time Through the large-screen TV Through the young daughter this is a single dad A single again dad with the daughter She was wonderful, beautiful little girl but very talkative And they had a little part Yorkshire Terrier that was also quite talkative in his own way So there was a lot going on and where it not for my teammates And one man in particular who is able to bring calmness into these situations I think I would have gotten so distracted that I would have gone crazy But you could see this man just more and more focusing on what he was hearing And eventually he said why don't we turn off the television To which God's people all said amen So anyway that's a cause for rejoicing And it reminds me and it reminds us of what we're here for That we're not here just to fill our heads with academic stuff And I know it sounds like that and I'm kind of an academic sort So sometimes you feel like that's what I have to say But that's not what the end of the matter is And that's not where we're trying to go however successfully And so let's bear that in mind And I maybe I can take the occasion to encourage you to Really take seriously the Bible reading more of all the assignments As good as Kidner's book is and as good as Longman's was This is what you really want to digest And so don't slight this and say well I'll be in church the rest of my life I'll read the, you know I'll read Job sometime If that incentive is not enough then the requirement may help You are required to read with understanding the book of Job So I encourage you to really capitalize on that during this time Well let's go to the Lord in prayer Father we thank you for this evening We thank you for a beautiful day today and a wonderful weather That again reminds us of your goodness and grace to us And reminds us of the hope of heaven When we will dwell on a new heavens and a new earth We thank you for the new life that we see in the spring We thank you also that you are a loving God Who takes delight in engendering new life And those who formerly didn't know you We thank you for the preceding work of your Holy Spirit in people's lives That prepares them to hear the message of good news And draws them to yourself Father I pray that you would be with these new believers That I mentioned a moment ago I pray that you would establish them in their faith That they would not be that what they have done What they have said, what they have heard And what they have learned would not be snatched away But that it would germinate in their lives And grow up to be a strong and vibrant plant that will bear good fruit Lord I pray now that you would be with us as we consider this This book of Job which is such a challenge And yet also such a comfort to us We ask Father that you would teach us its messages clearly And at every step of the way we would be sensitive to the leading of your spirit That in all that we think and all that we say and do We would bring honor to you And not to ourselves before we pray this in Jesus name Amen Okay, last time you should have gotten a first page on the book of Job Do you all have that? Felt through your notes one more time and make sure it's there What we'd like to do I'd like to begin there Tonight you should have gotten a second page Second sort of outline page to the book of Job And then a set of sheets In about the smallest font I could find on my computer And this is to push you toward midlife crisis If your eyes have not yet failed you This should make you think they have But actually it was a desire to compress as much as possible onto a page By the way just so less you'd be worried I am not expecting that you will memorize the fine print Nor even necessarily read all the fine print But I'll tell you a little more about that as we go along and why I've chosen to give that to you Well the book of Job One of the grandest things ever written with pen So the 19th century writer Thomas Carlisle describes the book of Job A noble book he continues all men's book It is our first oldest statement of the never-ending problem man's destiny and God's ways with him here in this earth There is nothing written I think in the Bible or out of it of equal literary merit Thus people often sing the praises the literary praises of the book of Job But were it not such a book of theological profundity I don't think it's literary merits would would raise quite such adulation from its readers As a literary masterpiece however we should expect it to be challenging It's not going to be an obvious book It's not the cliff notes version It is a challenging book as with so many of these wisdom books It draws us in and asks us to think long and hard about what its central messages are And I think it's fair to put that in the plural because it does have various messages We might want to say what is its central message I may ask you to do that later to reflect on that But it does bear many messages to us
Marie Louise de Limontine How's that for a name writing in 1856 said Job has the tongue of the greatest poet who ever articulated human speech Many many people love this book and I love it too not because of its literary character necessarily but Because of what it has taught me and the comfort it brings me And not so much about the issue of suffering because Though I've had my pains I suppose I cannot claim to have suffered nearly as much as I'm sure many of you even in this room Much less Someone like Joe But this is a book that is that was pertinent when it was written And if you read Kiddner You know that we're having trouble deciding precisely when it was written And we'll talk about that in just a minute But it is pert as pertinent to date today as it was then It's a vitally important book and I hope we'll see why that is as we move along By way of introduction then as we move into introductory matters And by the way, I won't expect you to re-express any of those quotations on any tests Or to remember the name of Marie Louise de Limontine Or nor when she wrote Actually, it's Alfonso Marie Louise de Limontine. So I suppose that's a man after all Alfonso What about the what about Job the man perhaps that's where we should begin As we approach the book of Job it's fitting that we begin with the man Job for As John F. Gunning writes in his book the epic of the inner life Being in the book of Job This wondrous book book centers in a person rather than in a system of thought or reasoning It is Job himself the man Job with his bewilderment of doubt His utter honesty with himself and the world his outreaching faith His loyalty through all darkness and mystery to what is God like Who is the solution to the Job problem How God deals with men and how men may interpret his dealings why God sees fit to afflict the righteous These are indeed important questions and not to be ignored But more vital still is the question of what Job is Becomes Achieves in the fiery trial of God's unexplained visitation In the answer to that personal question lies the supreme answer to all the rest It is not a mere author that we find here but a man Who was this man Job Well, that's what we're going to find out and of course our only window into who this man was is in the book of Job But we can talk a little bit about questions that hover around him will go from the ridiculous to the sublime I hope as we move more toward a consideration of content But we need to start with a few questions that may arise in your own minds One that I've posed is what is the meaning of the name? It's a pertinent question usually when you're dealing with Old Testament narratives to at least or Old Testament books in general Ask what the name might mean just a couple of examples Elijah Yahweh is God Elisha Not Yahweh. Yahweh is God. My God is Yahweh Elijah. Elijah My God saves We see how Their very real names are pertinent to their ministries think of Elijah on Mount Carmel contesting the prophets of Bale Who is God? Well Elijah's very name says it. My God is Yahweh. Yahweh is my God He is the true God Yahweh by the way is what we think might be the appropriate Pronunciation of Jehovah which is an interesting conflation of the consonants of one words and and the vowels of another Which in the Hebrew text are put together But are never meant to be read together So when you say Jehovah you're misreading something, but it's okay. God. I think understands and improves What is the meaning of the name? Joe? Does it mean something? Well, there have been again various suggestions and we're not sure but some of the things it might mean are very appropriate One one suggestion has been that it means where is father? Where is or where is my father? That was certainly a question that would have been on Job's lips in one form or another Another suggestion is that the name may come from an Arabic Cognate and it might mean one who turns back to God the Arabic verb meaning to repent or to turn back one who Repents and you recall perhaps that at the end of the book Job does repent Indust and ashes. I cover my mouth and repent Indust and ashes Another suggestion has been that it comes from the Hebrew word which means enmity or to be at enmity So that the name Job would mean the assailed one the afflicted one Well all of these work all to make sense. Where is my father? The one who repents the one who is assailed all would make some sense and we really don't have any
Information that would allow us to choose between them at this point But some possibilities what about the historicity of the man and Job moving on to the next point in the outline Are we to view Job as a historical person a real person who actually existed or might he not be a literary character The creation of a wonderful theologian philosopher Much as perhaps a character in one of Jesus' parables is a Parabolic creation not necessarily a historical individual could Job be that well first of all A little bit of evidence that would suggest the historicity of the man Job one one the first verse in the first chapter begins this way. There was a man And perhaps it would be good at this juncture since we'll be looking at it from time to time to open our Bibles to Job one
In the land of us there lived a man whose name was Job. Well, that's the NIV translation This this beginning more literally translated there was a man is similar to other phrases that we encounter in notably historical books We have that the beginning of first Samuel we read there was a man Elcana Who had a wife Hannah also a rival wife penina up Hannah would go on and Elcana would be the parents of Samuel Obviously dealing with historical characters Also in first Samuel 9-1 There's mention of there was a man Keish who was the father of Saul also in my view obviously a historical character Judges 17-1 begins in a similar way and so it has been observed that it is typical of Preambles or the introductions to histories to begin this way there was a man As opposed to once upon a time or something else that might suggest a different literary type So that's one small point in the favor of the historicity of Job Another point might be The fact that in the ancient Near East generally outside the Bible extra biblical literature The name Job or something very close to that is is well known as a personal name Or what scholars wishing to confuse us call an appellation That's not someone who lives down in the near the Smokies, but an appellation an appellative Okay And I don't know if it's worth mentioning you don't need to remember this but in the in the Egyptian Execration text from 2000 BC in the Mari texts from the 18th century BC in the Amarna text from the 14th century BC In all of these there are there the name Job appears not referring to this Job But just saying that Job like John or Joe or Fred Was a name that was for real individuals. It's not some kind of mythic name Necessarily so another piece of evidence perhaps for the historicity of Job Another would be in the book of Ezekiel chapter 14 You may want to turn to Ezekiel 14 Good practice finding things in the Old Testament
If you're in Job turn right and go a good long way Chapter 14 verse 14
Ezekiel 14 14 we read this even if these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it They could only save themselves by their righteousness declares the Lord Or again in verse 20 as surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord even if Noah Daniel and Job were in it They could save neither son nor daughter They would save only themselves by their righteousness Now I suppose whether you regard this as an evidence of Job's historicity would have something to do with what how you regarded the historicity of Noah and Daniel But I take this as suggestive of three historical individuals Some have have argued that because the word Daniel the name Daniel has spelled a little funny It's not Daniel, but it's Daniel as in kind of Daniel Boone Some have suggested that this may not be Daniel of biblical fame But one Daniel who was a quasi-mythic character or figure in Eubarytic texts another ancient Near Eastern text that would have come from what would now be Lebanon now Though some have contested that and partially because it's a little embarrassing to find a reference to Daniel For liberal scholarship which regards the book of Daniel as being a second century rather than the sixth century Document is a little embarrassing to find a reference to him at this particular juncture And so sometimes it may appear to be an argument of desperation To say well, this is actually referring to an extra biblical character not the biblical character But lared Harris who used to teach it covenant seminary Does not take this view and he argues rather that the emphasis in Ezekiel 14 is upon the righteousness of these individuals Noah, Daniel, Job, and he says if you know anything about the Eubarytic hero, Daniel that really doesn't fit So the argument doesn't work too well even in terms of content. So again another evidence. I think of That of the historicity or at least a plausible case being made for the historicity of Job Now turning to the New Testament. We have James chapter 5
Comes after Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11
Maybe beginning let why don't we begin in verse 7 James chapter 5 verse 7 be patient then brothers until the Lord's coming See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains You to be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near Don't grumble against each other brothers or you will be judged the judges standing at the door brothers As an example of patience in the face of suffering take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord As you know we consider blessed those who have persevered you have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen What the Lord finally brought about the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. So Job has mentioned Right after the mention of the prophets certainly we regard the prophets as historical individuals this would again I think suggest that the writer that the writer of James would regard Job as a prophet now Having said all that in favor of viewing Job as a historical character. Let me pose a question Is it vitally important that Job be historical what would be lost if this book were a theological slash philosophical literary work on the issue of well whatever the issue in the book is innocent suffering what would be lost Beth Okay, so so you're you're giving some some argument for why you know what what there is in the book that might suggest that it's not To be taken purely as a historical account or a historical What's the word I'm looking for? Record that's not the word I'm looking for transcript of conversations and dialogues that went on between Job and his friends mat
Okay, the theology of suffering would be impoverished would it um Well, what about what about um what about Jesus parables? We know that there can be fictions or made up stories that communicate theological truth Do we not so would it not be possible that this book is is such an is an extended literary work From the mouth of God from an inspired writer or writers We don't have him named or her name or whoever it was that wrote this book. We're not sure Um, but we know that God is the ultimate author of this book could God not have given us a book that would have taught us These theological truths Yes, it's Eve, right Okay, that it would lessen our sense of empathy if it were only a literary figure someone's a figure of someone's imagination and not a real person Well, we could probably go on about this for a long time. Let me just say it would be to my mind it would be astonishing Of course anything God is capable of constructing such a piece of literature But it would be astonishing if a human instrument of God were capable of this kind of expression If he had not suffered something along these lines um For you know, and I do think it would lessen our sense of empathy and so forth So I'm I'm inclined to take the book as historical, but let me just say this some you will find some evangelical scholars who will say That that's not necessary to the case and that it's not particularly important and we need to hear this um There is a sense in which it is less important that we that that The book of Job be historical then say many other passages in the Old Testament and the New Testament And for that is this Throughout most of the Old Testament we have the sweep a redemptive history a redemptive history that begins in the garden With Adam and Eve and sweeps on down to Christ and it's a continuous history I mean there are certainly gaps in the genealogies and such And some structuring of those genealogies, but there's a continuous history of God's redemptive acts in history So were we to take blocks out of that continuous Story and say well, this is not historical. This is not historical. The other thing is made up Um, then we'd have a bit of a problem because when does historicity kick in? You know if it seems to need to be of a piece with the book of Job however Job is not really integrated into that redemptive history quite in the same way Although there are some interesting linkages that some have tried to make in terms of Job being You know living in in us at lihu being a buzzite And linking that in with the I think the brother the son of the brother of Abraham if my facts are not confused So there may be are some cross references that would pull this in tangentially into the sweep of redemptive history But what is that which is that which is central in God's redemptive acts? I think we need to stand up for That which is peripheral to that redemptive sweep it could be that this is a there's a masterful literary work that that teaches us these truths But I'm not I'm not attracted to that notion. I just want you to have some Some sympathy if someone comes along and not make that particular issue a test of orthodoxy Because many many orthodox believers and scholars as well Would not hold to the history of the book of Jonah Of Job Jonah says 40 and slip same goes for Jonah both Job and Jonah both Job and Jonah are a little Outside it's kind of like if you're if you're in an art gallery and all the paintings relate in in one room relate to historical events perhaps even in sequence You think all right all these paintings are historical if you leave that room and go into another room Then you're not sure how to how you should take those paintings and in a sense Job and Jonah are in a different room They're not really as integrated into the sweep of redemptive history again. There are these little cross references And certainly in the book of Jonah he's mentioned in the book of kings Well having muddied the waters sufficiently let's talk about the historical setting now again Hear me my impression my inclination is to take this book as as a historical account of or a Record of a historical event in the life of a historical individual Historical setting well it sounds a lot like the patriarchal age the age of Abraham Isaac and Jacob their number of Evidences of that you may want to just note these I think you find them in your reading as well One one indication of the patriarchal age is that Job's possessions are measured in livestock rather than bank accounts or or Gold and silver per se but in livestock chapter 1 verse 3 Secondly Job performs priestly functions Which is typical of the patriarchal period when the when the fathers the patriarchs in the family would Sometimes build altars and sometimes offer sacrifices chapter 1 verse 5 Job's lifespan of 140 years is Suggestive of a patriarchal type lifespan There's some details in the text such as the mention of a particular kind of money or jewelry a the so-called kisitah right that on the board not that it's Necessary to remember that either but the kisitah Is is a either a piece of jewelry or a kind of of money That is mentioned only elsewhere in the book of Genesis and also in in Joshua 24 So again, that's pushing it back into that time frame Now we need to be cautious about this too in that the story it's possible if it's just a story and not a history That it could be cast in a patriarchal time period it could be placed back in that time period. That's one possibility It's also the case that given these these kinds of things I've mentioned most of them could be found in some cultures today There are cultures today where possessions are measured in livestock and I could point you to some places in the world where I've been recently Where that's the case not so much in money as in livestock and also where patriarchs perform priestly functions Of a sort now the 140-year lifespan. That's a little more difficult to find today So again, this these are just hints in the direction of seeing the the account the story told as early And I would say as something that we should at least Have an open mind toward the historicity of this it lead maybe more than an open mind toward it Now that's that's a little bit about Job the man now we'll deal with his what what goes on in his life more fully in just a bit But what about Job the composition? Let me handle this fairly quickly What about the date? Well, what does Kidner say at the bottom of page 76? I the one book I didn't bring with me was Kidner But at the bottom of that page, I think he says that it could have been written anytime from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra And fortunately Job is no prisoner of time Again, I'm attracted to the earlier time periods But that is something that again the book doesn't tell us and so we don't know for sure What about comparative literature sometimes we can get a hint from that is in terms of when this kind of literature might have been about Well first of all let me say nothing else matches the book of Job There is nothing quite like it and some in in in fact some people think that the book of Job is unique among The literatures of the ancient Near East and certainly as as a part of God's word it is unique But are there other works that pose similar questions? Well, there are a number of works both in Sumerian, Acadian, Babylonian, Egyptian. I won't give you the funny names You can you've read about some of them in Matthews and Benjamin But there are a number of works that ask the question why do why do bad things happen to good people We even got have some books nowadays that ask that question Not always successfully arriving at the correct answers and certainly these books don't come anywhere anywhere near matching Job in terms of theological insight and depth But there are some surface similarities between them and these works come from quite early periods some of them Suggesting that well, it's quite possible that Job would have been quite early too None of these as I said is a true parallel For none measures up to the to the breadth depth tone and theology of Job Thus we might say that Job's puzzlement has a lengthy chain of precedent But no sign of direct ancestry Job did not we Job did not descend from some other literatures But rather it's yeah, there are others that have bear some resemblances to it
David Klein's in his commentary puts it this way many individual motifs in the book of Job are to be found in Non-biblical literature, but no text can with any possibility be regarded as a source or ancestor of the biblical book It is in that sense unique in terms of the authorship again the the the writer is is Remarkably reticent as so many Old Testament books are About who he the author is there's no indication given we're simply not told it does appear that the author was an Israelite a Yahwist We noticed that in the prologue and epilogue the prose portions of the book that the the Covenant name of Israel's God Yahweh mispronounced Jehovah mentioned before Yahweh is is often mentioned Whereas in the dialogues in the poetical portion of the book in the middle Um that that name is never used except in one place in chapter 12 first nine So it makes sense Job Job was described as a man of the east His friends were men of the east and and one Elephaz may have been an edamite and so forth. There's attempts to locate these individuals Um, they did not use the name Yahweh the covenant name of the God of Israel Doesn't mean they're not talking about the same God, but they didn't know him in that same way at this juncture But the writer of the book seems to have been a Yahwist at least if not an Israelite himself The scene recounted is indeed outside Israel Lassur assumes that the author must have had experiences similar to Job both in suffering and in divine encounter Well if that's the case then maybe the author was Job You know either either Job a Job look alike or Job himself. We really have no way of knowing We do know that the author was thoroughly versed in wisdom literature and wisdom techniques And humanly speaking we have to say he was a genius Theologically speaking we simply say he was inspired Now what about the structure of the book? Look at the In the handouts I gave you with the tiny little fine print on the back if you would if you would look to that last page I've copied for you something out of this book Which is the expositors Bible commentary if you're looking for Commentaries. This is a very good set It covers the entire old and new testament and in this one volume you have commentaries on kings chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther and Job Okay, by various authors the The commentator on Job is Elmer Smith The late Elmer Smith who died recently very fine man who has taught from time to time here at Covenant Seminary as well as up at Gordon Conwell and other places But spin a lifetime studying this book and really love this book and this is his as he puts it the architect tonics of the book of Job What is the structure of the book of Job and this is maybe a good way of getting the overview very quickly And we're going to go talk more about the content and the and the message of the book once we get this structure in mind Notice that it does look quite symmetrical as he's laid it out everyone see where we are There's a prologue chapters one and two and there is an epilogue chapter 47 now 42 rather seven to 17 The prologue and the epilogue are in prose Narrative straight narrative the rest is in poetry
The After the prologue we begin in chapter three with Job's opening lament Remember his friends come and sit in silence with him for seven days, and he finally breaks his silence And then the dialogues begin and so we have three cycles of dialogues between elephaz Build ad and so far at with Job responding each time they go back and forth Between his three friends and Job and we have three false well three cycles We'll talk about how full they are in just a minute then in the middle of the book There is an interlude on wisdom chapter 28. We'll talk about who's that is I think I'll ask a question later if you know what who pitoners said that is And then after that interlude on wisdom we have three monologues the first by Job the second by by Elihu Or Elihu Who is the angry young man that has some interesting things to say and then finally the divine appearance to Job in chapters 38 to 42 and he and out of those chapters Dr. Smith in building up the structure you see he's pulled Job's responses out of those chapters to sort of balance the symmetry Job's opening lament Job's closing contrition so he goes through from lament Through dialogue and dispute and even defiance To contrition in the end So this gives a nice overview of the book Any questions on that did you hit did you see that as you were reading the book have you finished reading the book If you haven't you might or even if you have you might want to put this beside the book and really sort of internalize this basic structure because that is something about most about which most people would agree Any questions on that All right, well what I'm going to do is go ahead we're going to go ahead and take a break Um, and when we come back I want you to come back when the big hand reaches the 12 and I will introduce us to about a 10 to 15 minute Project that I want you to do when you come back