Job is doubtless one of the more difficult books of the Bible, both to read and to comprehend. The entire book seems to be shrouded in obscurity. The author and the date of the story are unknown. Nor is there certain evidence when Job himself lived. The body of the book is primarily a series of speeches by uninspired, groping, oft-mistaken men seeking to answer questions they did not begin to comprehend (This is not to say the author of Job was uninspired when he recorded their speeches. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” - 2 Timothy 3:16) Their language is the highly figurative speech of Near Eastern poetry, as obscure to Western minds as computer terminology would be to a wandering bedouin in the Arabian desert (which is where Job lived). The speeches of God near the end of the book even name some creatures as illustrations that cannot be certainly identified today. The orations are long, wordy, tedious, and repetitious.

But all this fits precisely the theme of the book - the Problem of Human Suffering. Affliction is as timeless as the existence of man, its causes and reasons are often completely obscure (Why me?!), and the worst of suffering seems to its victims to stretch on and on endlessly.

Job was a real man (cf. Ezekiel 14:14; James 5:11). He was a Gentile patriarch who worshiped and served God (1:1,5). He was a man of remarkable righteousness (1:1-5), in fact, there was none other as righteous in his day (1:8; 2:3). He was blessed with a large family (1:2) and was the wealthiest man of all the East (1:3). Job became of all mere mortals the ultimate example and standard of perseverance in suffering (James 5:11).

The author uses the affliction of Job to address two questions, one from the heavenly viewpoint and one from the earthly. The heavenly inquiry is, will a man serve God if he has nothing temporal to gain? The earthly is, why do people suffer?

The first question is answered quickly and emphatically. Satan charged, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (1:9; 2:4) He contended that if God removed Job’s material blessings, Job would curse God. God allowed Satan to horribly afflict Job, and Job proved Satan wrong. There are people who will continue to serve God even though they have no earthly blessings to show for it.

The second inquiry, which is debated throughout the human speeches of the book, is never answered. Job’s “friends” contended that the righteous prosper in this life (5:19-26) and that all human suffering is the direct result of one’s own sins (4:7-9) and is disciplinary (5:17). Job did not understand why he was suffering so terribly (He was not privy to Satan’s conversation with God, as we are.), but he maintained his righteousness (13:15).

Rather than revealing why the righteous suffer, the book draws a lesson from Job’s affliction of priceless value. It shows us how to handle suffering that seems too awful to endure and completely inexplicable. The great, practical lesson of Job, the truth that Job himself learned in the crucible of unbearable affliction, is that, when the suffering of this life is overwhelming and its causes are beyond our comprehension, we must trust God. We must believe that He is just, that He rules all, and that, although the affliction is unrelenting, agonizing, and without apparent reason, He will see us through and even use it to make us better people. This beautiful lesson is found in Job’s remarkable statements of faith in the midst of his tremendous anguish:

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust him...” (13:15).
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another (19:25-27).

As the story begins, God could assert of Job, “there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). But when the story ends, Job’s trust was immeasurably deepened, and this depth of faith was the result of bearing unbearable suffering (cf. Romans 5:3-4; Hebrews 12:1-13; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 4:1-2).

Story

God allowed Satan to afflict Job to prove whether or not this righteous man would maintain his integrity in adversity (1:6-12). In a terrible series of satanic blows, Job lost his wealth, children, and health (1:13 - 2:8). His wife turned against him (2:9). His friends came to visit him and only added to his affliction (2:11-13). When they finally spoke to him, they viciously charged him with awful sins. Yet in all this “Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong” (1:21-22; 2:10).

The body of the book is a series of speeches. Job first bemoans his birth, then his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, begin to accuse him of suffering because of his sins (“With friends like these, who needs enemies?”), and Job answers each one in three cycles of exchanges. Job’s faith at times wavers, and he sometimes speaks foolishly of God, but at last his faith returns stronger than ever, and he silences his three antagonists. The young observer Elihu (the brash youth who arrogantly thinks he can solve the mystery which has stumped the aged wise men) tries unsuccessfully to untangle the problem. Finally, God Himself appears to Job in the midst of a violent storm and reprimands him for questioning divine providence. Job confesses this sin and repents.

At the last, God reprimands the “friends” for falsely accusing Job and instructs them to seek Job to offer sacrifice for them. Job is justified. The Lord restores Job’s prosperity and even increases it, and Job lives to great age with his dignity restored and increased.

Time of the Story

Apparently Job lived sometime in the age of the patriarchs. Job acted as a priest, in the manner of patriarchs (Genesis 8:20; 12:7) by offering sacrifices for his family (Job 1:5) and praying for his penitent friends (Job 42:8-9). The Sabeans (1:15) and Chaldeans (1:17) were bands of raiders rather than settled nations.

Brief Outline

I. Introduction - chapters 1 - 3
..A. Job’s Righteousness and Prosperity - 1:1-5
..B. Job’s Calamity - 1:6 - 2:13
..C. Job’s Despair - chapter 3
II. The Accusations of Job’s Friends and Job’s Replies - chapters 4 - 31
..A. First Round of Speeches - chapters 4 - 14
....1. Eliphaz - chapters 4 - 5 (“Those who plow iniquity and sow
........trouble reap the same.”)
....2. Job - chapters 6 - 7 (“What is my sin?”)
....3. Bildad - chapter 8 (Earnestly seek God.)
....4. Job - chapters 9 - 10 (How can a man contend with God?)
....5. Zophar - chapter 11 (“God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.”)
....6. Job - chapters 12 - 14 (“Will you speak wickedly for God”?)
..B. Second Round of Speeches - chapters 15 - 21
....1. Eliphaz - chapter 15 (“What is man, that he could be pure?”)
....2. Job - chapters 16 - 17 (“Miserable comforters are you all!”)
....3. Bildad - chapter 18 (“The light of the wicked indeed goes out.”)
....4. Job - chapter 19 (“How long will you torment my soul”?)
....5. Zophar - chapter 20 (“The triumphing of the wicked is short.”)
....6. Job - chapter 21 (“How then can you comfort me with empty words,
........Since falsehood remains in your answers?”)
..C. Third Round - chapters 22 - 31
....1. Eliphaz - chapter 22 (“Is not your wickedness great, And your
........iniquity without end?”)
....2. Job - chapters 23 - 24 (“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips.”)
....3. Bildad - chapter 25 (“How can man be righteous before God?”)
....4. Job - chapters 26 - 31
......a. How have you helped? - chapter 26
......b. My righteousness I hold fast. - chapter 27
......c. The fear of the Lord is wisdom. - chapter 28
......d. Summary - chapters 29 - 31
........(1) once honored
........(2) now despised
........(3) maintains integrity
III. Elihu Speaks - chapters 32 - 37
..A. Though Young, Demands to Be Heard - chapter 32
..B. Job Wrong to Contend with God - chapter 33
..C. God Righteous and Job Rebellious - chapter 34
..D. Condemns Job’s Self-Righteousness - chapter 35
..E. God’s Righteousness - chapter 36
..F. God’s Greatness - chapter 37
IV. God Answers Job (Man Not Capable of Questioning God) - chapters 38 - 41
V. Conclusion - chapter 42
..A. Job Repents of Challenging God - verses 1-6
..B. God Rebukes Job’s Friends - verses 7-9
..C. Job’s Prosperity and Honor Restored - verses 10-17