Questions about Job
I want to start off by saying that what I am going to say about Job and my questions about Job is in no way a criticism or saying that I don't believe that God's Word is the inspired Word of God. I do believe that God's word is inspired and that God speaks to us through his word. Job was one of those books early on in my christian walk that I was interested in. It was the first book that I taught a bible study on as teenager. I think it has a lot to say to us about suffering and God's presence in the midst of suffering. But, I also have some quetions in mind when I look at this book.
I noticed in looking at my study notes about this book that it says that there are some sections in Job that are regarded as additions that were added later than the original. Among those are the preface and conclusion, chapter 28, chapters 32-37 and some or all of the Lord's discourses. That makes us a pretty large section of the book. One of my questions about the book is the first two chapters. Since God didn't tell Job about his discourse with Satan in chapters 1-2, I wonder to myself how the writer knew about that and who the writer was? I understand from my study that Job is considered a part of the wisdom books and many consider this to have been written around the time of Solomon or during the exile. Job is considered to be written in poetry, so we can't think of the discourses as something that these people said word for word verbatim. It conveys the general idea of what they said in poetic form.
This post is a little different because these are questions that I have and I don't have solid answers for them yet. I am going to be examining the questions in more detail in the future. There is a possibility that some questions I may never have answers for and I realize that. One other issue I have is that Job is described as blameless. I wonder what that means since we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It appears to me that Job lived before the time of Abraham. I wonder what his understand of God was and his promises. When it says that he was blameless does that mean simply that he was a man of faith who believed in God? What does the word blameless really mean? Especially since our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight?
The other question I have also has to do with chapters 1-2. Satan comes with the angels to present himself before God in chapters 1-2. I wonder if this is something that happens often or if this was a one time event. It seems clear that Satan is an accuser and that he does this to some extent to all of us. I thought it was interesting that God himself points out Job to Satan.
It says at the end of the book that Job's later days were greater than his first and that he had 7 sons and 3 daughters and he saw four generations. Okay, so did God resurrect the children who had died early in the book? Does it somehow justify what happened earlier that now Job is rich again? Would the story really be any different if Job had died some years later having regained none of his wealth? What's the moral of the story there that his wealth was restored.
I noticed in looking at my study notes about this book that it says that there are some sections in Job that are regarded as additions that were added later than the original. Among those are the preface and conclusion, chapter 28, chapters 32-37 and some or all of the Lord's discourses. That makes us a pretty large section of the book. One of my questions about the book is the first two chapters. Since God didn't tell Job about his discourse with Satan in chapters 1-2, I wonder to myself how the writer knew about that and who the writer was? I understand from my study that Job is considered a part of the wisdom books and many consider this to have been written around the time of Solomon or during the exile. Job is considered to be written in poetry, so we can't think of the discourses as something that these people said word for word verbatim. It conveys the general idea of what they said in poetic form.
This post is a little different because these are questions that I have and I don't have solid answers for them yet. I am going to be examining the questions in more detail in the future. There is a possibility that some questions I may never have answers for and I realize that. One other issue I have is that Job is described as blameless. I wonder what that means since we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It appears to me that Job lived before the time of Abraham. I wonder what his understand of God was and his promises. When it says that he was blameless does that mean simply that he was a man of faith who believed in God? What does the word blameless really mean? Especially since our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight?
The other question I have also has to do with chapters 1-2. Satan comes with the angels to present himself before God in chapters 1-2. I wonder if this is something that happens often or if this was a one time event. It seems clear that Satan is an accuser and that he does this to some extent to all of us. I thought it was interesting that God himself points out Job to Satan.
It says at the end of the book that Job's later days were greater than his first and that he had 7 sons and 3 daughters and he saw four generations. Okay, so did God resurrect the children who had died early in the book? Does it somehow justify what happened earlier that now Job is rich again? Would the story really be any different if Job had died some years later having regained none of his wealth? What's the moral of the story there that his wealth was restored.
