It was God’s turn to speak to Job last time. We studied God’s first response to Job by studying His knowledge. We looked at God in His role as Lord over all nature.
We ended the last study by asking the question: do you see your sins as scarlet?
But God isn’t finished speaking to Job. We will now look at God’s second speech to Job.
(Editor’s Note: This post will conclude the study of the book of Job.)
The Book of Job – Part XI: God’s second speech to Job – His power
Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said, “Now gird up your loins like a man; I will ask you, and you instruct Me. Will you really annual My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?” –Job 40:6-8.
Just before God started His second speech to Job, Job was humbled by God’s first speech. However, he was not yet repentant. It took until this point for Job to see that he was insignificant or vile (Job 40:3). He has come quite a way from his insistence on his own righteousness, but God still has more layers to peel back.
How many people today “condemn [God] that [they] may be justified?”
“Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His?” –Job 40:9.
God asks Job if he has the strength of God.
“Adorn yourself with eminence and dignity, and clothe yourself with honor and majesty. Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud, and make him low.” –Job 40:10-11.
As Lord of all, God here speaks of His majesty. The Psalmist said:
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is established, it will not be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. –Psalm 93:1-2.
God does have anger. Don’t be mistaken.
Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up by Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue His enemies into darkness. –Nahum 1:6,8.
God hates a prideful heart. We looked at Nebuchadnezzar before and how God brought him low because of his pride. He would remark about this judgment by saying:
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways are just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.” –Daniel 4:37.
Back to Job:
“Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him, and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them in the dust together; bind them in the hidden place. Then I will also confess to you, that your own right hand can save you.” –Job 40:12-14.
Powerful passages. God is basically telling Job that if he has the strength, the majesty, and power to humble the proud, then God will confess that Job can save himself. I think that’s a question everyone should answer for himself. I think you’ll find that your own answer is lacking and that you cannot save yourself.
“Behold now, Behemoth, which I made as well as you; He eats grass like an ox. Behold now, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron.” –Job 40:15-18.
Here, and the next few verses to follow, are frequently used to make a case for the mention of dinosaurs in the Bible. I don’t want to turn this post into an argument against evolutionary theory–since evolutionists will say that dinosaurs and humans never lived together at the same time–but if you read these verses carefully, you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with any other explanation given the description of “behemoth.”
“He is the first of the ways of God; let his maker bring near his sword. Surely the mountains bring him food, and all the beasts of the field play there. Under the lotus plants he lies down, in the covert of the reeds and the marsh. The lotus plants cover him with shade; the willows of the brook surround him. If a river rages, he is not alarmed; he is confident, though the Jordan rushes to his mouth. Can anyone capture him when he is on watch, with barbs can anyone pierce his nose?” –Job 40:19-24.
This creature–”the first of the ways of God”–is mighty in description and deeds. God explains to Job that not only did He make this great animal, but God also made him (Job). God points out that since Job cannot even control this great animal, how dare he think he could control God!
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” –Job 41:1.
God will now use a creature called “Leviathan” to argue His position. Leviathan is sometimes thought to be a crocodile.
“Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you, or will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him for a servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you bind him for your maidens? Will the traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hand on him; remember the battle; you will not do it again!” –Job 41:2-8.
God uses this series of questions to demonstrate that Job has no power over this creature. He uses sharp humor by saying something to the effect “you better remember your battle with him, because it won’t happen a second time!”
The rest of the verses–from Job 41:9-32–are all further descriptions of this great sea creature called “Leviathan.” God ends the description and his second speech by saying:
“Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear. He looks on everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.” –Job 41:33-34.
God calls this creature a “king over all the sons of pride.” The “sons” here is referring to animals. God alone can tame this great creature. The point is well-taken with Job, as we will see.
Job Repents!
Then Job answered the Lord and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” –Job 42:1-2.
Here is the great climax of the book of Job. Here is the grand statement, the one that God has been waiting to hear from Job’s lips.
“‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will instruct me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” –Job 42:3-6.
If we truly know who God is, then none of us needs to know why He allows us to suffer or experience trials and hardship. The question, then, isn’t “why” at all. God is either in control of everything or He isn’t. If God is Lord of your life, then He is in control of you and your circumstances. God is all-powerful and Almighty. He is the Creator of the Universe. If He has that much power, then certainly He can take care of His own children.
God is sovereign. No one tells Him what to do. We may never know, this side of heaven, why we go through the things we do. In spite of that, we must always use caution to never criticize Him for His dealings with us.
Job’s Restoration
It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.” –Job 42:7.
I’ve been known around my family to use the phrase “a day of reckoning.” Well, here we see that God has ordained a day of reckoning for Eliphaz and his two friends (Bildad and Zophar). It’s interesting that God doesn’t even use the latters’ names!
It’s one of those passages where I read it and then say, “Wow.” I start to think to myself: “Have I misrepresented God? Have I misspoken the things of God?” God doesn’t take these things lightly. In fact, His wrath is kindled!
“Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” –Job 42:8.
Four times in verses 7 and 8 does God call use the phrase: “My servant Job.” It’s a wonderful word-picture of God’s vindication of Job after Satan’s accusations of him back in Job 1:8.
Also, God repeats Himself here to Eliphaz about what he and Bildad and Zophar had done wrong. I read these verses and I can really feel God’s anger towards these three. But it’s a wonderful picture that the one doing the offering on their behalf is the one they brought accusations against!
“So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job.” –Job 42:9.
Another example of God’s restoration of Job.
The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. –Job 42:10.
Job prayed for his friends before any mention that he even prayed for himself!
Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. –Job 42:11.
This was the custom of the day. We see an example of this in 2 Chronicles:
And many were bringing gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem and choice presents to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter. –2 Chronicles 32:23.
The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. –Job 42:12-14.
God doubled all of Job’s former possessions except for his children. God gave him back one child for each child lost. It’s interesting that the Bible does not list the names of the seven sons that were given to Job, only the three daughters. Here are the meanings of their names:
- “Jemimah” means “day by day” or “a dove.”
- “Keziah” means “cassia.” Cassia is a bark similar to cinnamon but less aromatic, so called from its being peeled off.
- “Keren-happuch” means “horn of antimony” or “horn of paint.” Antimony is a brittle silvery-white metalloid.
In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. –Job 42:15.
This was an unusual practice. Later, once the law was given, daughters would only get an inheritance if there were no sons (Numbers 27:8).
After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days. –Job 42:16-17.
Remember, the 140 year figure is after all these things had happened. The text does not give Job’s age prior to this. Either way, this life-span was completely normal for the time period. It’s also worth noting that if Job lived that much longer after the events in the book, then his health must have been completely restored to him as well.
Job is a wonderful book to study for so many reasons, not just to ask the question of “why do we suffer?” I encourage you to spend some time in the book and explore it more fully. God has something for each of us in it.
May He Increase!
Joe , great series, I enjoyed it! I feel Job was written to be performed as a play. When I read it in that light it “pops” for me. The Psalms were hymns, and Song of Songs an opera, so a play rounds out the library rather well.
I never quite thought of it that way but you know, it makes total sense. Thanks for that insight. It’s sinking in more and more, the more I think about it.