Job Flashcards
How can we best understand the book of Job?
To understand the full impact of the book of Job it must be read and understood as a whole.
When was Job likely written?
Before Genesis
Describe Job’s three friends
Eliphaz: roughly based his (bad) advice on personal experience.
Bildad: based his advice on tradition
Zophar: based his advice on Doctrine
Who is Elihu?
The student a descendant of Nahor who comes closest to an appropriate response.
What does Job’s wife base her advice off of?
Desperation, grief, and unbelief
Can we use the statement of Job’s friends for doctrinal purposes?
The statement of Job’s friends although in the Bible cannot be used for doctrinal purposes for they are often wrong. In the end of the book God rebukes then for not speaking the truth about him.
Name three other wisdom literature pieces of the Near East at this time:
Man and His God
I will praise the Lord of wisdom
(The poem of the righteous sufferer)
The Babylonian Theodicy
What did Job’s friends do that we can use in ministry?
They came.
They wept with him. (Sympathized)
They were present and saying nothing for 7 days.
What is Elihu’s view on suffering?
Suffering can be preventative as well as punitive.
What happens when the Lord speaks on chapters 38-42?
The whole monologue from God changes from considering God’s justice to considering God’s wisdom.
What is God’s message in Job?
Just as God’s wisdom is infinitely higher than mans so God’s understanding of justice is higher than mans. So it should be no surprise that we might not always ‘get’ God’s justice.
Why is Job at peace when none of his questions have been answered?
Because Job has accepted the fact that God’s wisdom is so high above his own that the most healing thing is to know God rather than knowing all the answers.
What is the book of Job testing?
The book of Job is testing retribution Theology (the righteous will prosper and the wicked will suffer).
Job also tests the pagan culture of his time.
What can we say about suffering?
There is some suffering that is beyond explanation and we should resist to make efforts to try to make sense of it all.
The answer “I don’t know” is sometimes the best (and most healing) answer to someone’s begging question of “why”
