Book of Job
Title: Job – “persecuted one”
Date of
writing: Patriarchal
times, period of Solomon, prior to the Exile.
Date of
Narrative: Either
patriarchal times, or times of the period of kings.
Structure:
a. 1 – 2,
Job un-created (formless, empty, dark)
b. 3, Job curses his beginning
c. 4 – 26, Job and three “friends”
d. 27 – 31, Wisdom above the earth
c’. 32 – 37, Job and Elihu
b’. 38 – 42:6, God “breaths” a new life into
Job
a’. 42:7-17,
Job re-created (formed, filled, glorified)
Main
themes:
As usual –
struggles of life of an individual are picked as the main theme. But…
Challenges
of leadership. Who is Job? And term “friend”.
Scapegoat
theology and sociological functions.
Living by
faith – the dialog between satan and God is hidden from Job during the whole
time. He – Job – needs to operate based on what he believes, and not what he
sees. (2 Cor. 5:7)
Main
Characters: The LORD, sons of God and satan, Job, his wife, his children
(boys and girls), his friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu.
Reflection
in other parts of the Bible:
The answer
of the LORD (38-39) is built upon the theology
of creation.
Prophet
Ezekiel (14:14,20) mentions Job as a righteous man in the context of the
speeches against Jerusalem (14:12-23). Which means that the story of Job was
well known prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.
James (5:11)
brings up the example of Job as a steadfast man in the midst of the suffering.
The idea of
doubling. At the end of the story all the “stuff” is doubled, the number of
children stays the same though (cp. 1:2-3 and 42:12-13). Jesus uses the same principal
in the parable of talents (Mt. 25:14-30). Yet, it should not be applied
woodenly as a health/wealth theology.
Lutheran
teaching:
Apology of
Augsburg Confession V(III):77/198 teaches that the godly person should learn to
seek God’s will rather than the rewards: “This can be seen with Job, Christ,
and other saints…”
Formula of
Concord, Epitome I:10 affirms that the human created nature and the nature
corrupted by the original sin can be separated only by God, and only
after/through death in the blessed resurrection (Job. 19:26-27).
Lutheran
hymnody:
LSB 461 – I
know that my Redeemer lives.
Relevancy
of the Book:
All of us
have a fare share of troubles, losses, and rejections. The Book of Job is a
sobering reminder that the life on earth is not an ideal – paradise-like –
place. We keep our hopes and expectations high for the time when all fears,
anxieties, and pains will be gone. While we are here, we can learn from the
steadfast Job whose life and experience point to the ultimate rejection,
betrayal, and death of Jesus by His friends, community, and the world.
The book
also teaches an important lesson against heath/wealth theology – Job did not
“deserve” the pains and turmoil he went through. Then we see ourselves or our
friends experiencing the hardship of life we need “to weep with those who weep”
(Rom. 12:15b), not engaging ourselves into a quest of looking for a hidden sin.
Memory
verses:
19:25-26
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the
earth/dust. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall
see God”
