When Tragedy Occurs
Study Scripture: Job 1: 14-15, 18-19, 22; 3:1-3, 11
Lesson 5

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Key Verse

But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Job 2:10

INTRODUCTION

The Book of Job is a fascinating, gripping, epic drama, that tells us of a real, actual, living man. Some however believe that no such man existed and that a poetic genius created him, put him in certain circumstances in order to discuss certain troubling questions that face humanity.  

The Scriptures however, tell us that he was a real man and the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 14:14-20 names him, along with Noah and Daniel, as one of the three great men of Scripture. The book of James also speaks of his patience and steadfast endurance.  

The Book is also considered by some to be one of the oldest in the Scriptures. Some believe he lived in the patriarchal age before the time of Abraham.  Some believe he lived at the same time as Moses, while others in the time of the Judges, or the time of David, or the time of Solomon, or even during the time of the Babylonian captivity.  

The problem is that the text does not identify the author and the Jews and their Rabbinic tradition does not even attempt to identify an author, except to suggest that the writer must have lived before Moses.  

Its style is definitely not that of Moses and while Moses used the name Yahweh often, Job uses other names for God common to Semitic peoples such as Eloah or Elohim, and Shaddai, the latter name used thirty-one times in Job as opposed to sixteen times in the rest of the Old Testament.  

There is much speculation about who wrote it, with some believing he wrote it himself, others that one of his visiting friends wrote it, others that Moses wrote it, still others that Solomon wrote it, or that Isaiah or Ezra wrote it, and so on.  

The things that happen in the book are generally placed in the patriarchal age.  It does not like the rest of the Scriptures,

-give references to historical events,

-the tone is definitely Aramaic,

-Job uses Arabic words unlike Moses,

-         the cultural background is unfamiliar and does not sound much like that of the Hebrews,

-         -they seem to be a clan-family organization headed by the father, which would fit the time of Abraham or before

-         the father who heads the family acts as a Priest

-         the references to the nomadic way of life points to an early date

-         the land of Uz where Job is said to have lived is generally thought to be located in Southern Arabia and as well one of Job’s friends Eliphaz came from Teman in Edom , while Elihu came from northeastern Arabia .

-         The lifestyle and having a new family at such a late age and other things suggest patriarchal longevity.

-         The kind of references to animal life suggest a time early in the age of man.

There is speculation about his nationality, whether or not he was Arab, Egyptian, Syrian, an Israelite, or Idumean.  

Conservative scholarship, both Jewish and Christian however regard the book as unquestionably canonical and locate its events in the very  early period of man’s history.  

The book is about a man who “feared God”, something that the Scriptures tell us is the beginning of wisdom, and which is another designation or name for true religion.  It can be classified as wisdom literature, dealing with the same philosophical questions as similar literature and containing immense poetic skills in its approach to these questions.  

This was a man who was genuinely committed to his God.  Four synonyms are brought together by the writer to describe Job’s piety and spiritual maturity in the strongest possible fashion.

It is stated:

1. His whole heart was bent toward God and to what was good;
2. He strongly loved and was very careful in always showing that he was well disposed to his fellow men;
3. In thought and action he was unswerving in conforming to that which was right;
4. Since he feared God, his entire actions were motivated by the fear of God, which is the beginning principle of wisdom;
5. He kept himself away from evil, and anything that was opposed to God, or was proscribed by God.

He was described as ‘perfect’, that is, ‘blameless’, ‘upright’, from the root word meaning “to be straight” or to “go straight”.  

This description of course does not mean that Job was sinless. They add up to mean that he was a man of consistent integrity, was dedicated to walk in reverence and was quite aware of his sins, (see 7:20 and 13:26). He was aware that sin had its root in the human heart (see verse 5), and the need to frequently make atonement for the sins of his family by the stipulated sacrifice and a fresh rededication to God.  

He was the Head or Priest of his family and behaved befitting in this role, taking the initiative in showing his fatherly love and concern for his children and performing his religious duties in the right way.  

In addition to all this, Job was described as very prosperous, with a large household and great possessions, so that in wealth, prosperity, and reputation, he was without equal among the Eastern tribes. Even with this great prosperity, he still obeyed God fervently, resolutely, and reverently. God had indeed blessed him.  

For him, this matter of “cursing God in the heart” was something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Ultimately he was put to the test on this matter of whether he would ever curse God in his heart.  

Note carefully that here was a man of God going about his private business, completely unaware that the attention of God was about to focus on him in a special way and that, as one writer puts it:

“He has become the battleground for a conflict between God and Satan in which God is planning to pull the rug out from under Satan and to reveal him as the phony that he is. Job is that battleground, and Satan immediately moves in with shock troops”.  

This book strips away the fog through which we view life, taking away the illusions and delusions of life, and show us what life is really like.  

Here in the book of Job we see a man, a player to whom God has ‘tossed the football’ and immediately at whom the well-trained and powerful team of evil, the devil and his angels rush, directing all their energies and focus in their attack on him.  

Job is no longer sitting safely on the bench, or at home watching the televised game and enjoying it, but though he does not know it and is completely unaware of events unfolding around him, he is now thrust into the centre of a very heated and dangerous game of true reality, where he is now the direct and specific target of the enemy.  

Let us understand that this Book is talking about us. 

THE PURPOSES OF THE BOOK

1. It shows that God is worthy to be loved even if one does not consider the material blessings he provides.
2. It explains that God may allow suffering in order to purify and strengthen a person in Godliness.
3. It most strongly emphasizes that man is unable to view life from God's vast perspective.  Behind the thoughts and ways of God are considerations and issues that are too complicated and deep for us to understand and appreciate.  The issues of life that God deals with, the breath of understanding, vision and power is outside our scope.  But we note that God knows what is best for us and our ultimate good and for His own glory.
4. It enables us to examine and learn about the justice of God when he treats or allows the righteous to suffer.
5. It clearly shows Satan and the Evil angels that when God blesses the righteous, which he often does, this does not in all cases hinder the development of true righteousness.
6. It shows the true nature of Satan, his disrespect of, low opinion of, destructive intentions and unbelievable hatred for men.
7. It shows how men wrestle with affliction, even though affliction often defies human explanation.
8. It shows that the righteous often undergo the bitterest agony of body and spirit, even though they are well aware of having lived an upright life.  Despite that affliction they can remain steadfast and ultimately experience happier life to the glory of God the Father.
9. We must see in this book that human wisdom is not able and has completely failed to delve properly and successfully into the mystery of human suffering.

Often, we face trouble, temptations and pressures in our lives and we must understand what we are into.  We are into a war with the powers of darkness, a never-ending combat against very powerful forces  

We must understand that when there are many adverse circumstances facing us, or hostile people and we are continually being invited to get involved with attractive but deadly and destructive things, to act contrary to the teaching of the Word of God, pressured to lose our faith, be impatient and angry, or to compromise with the world; we are often and almost always in an identical position to Job. Our pressures are growing and the attacks more insistent as we approach the end of time.  

We will often face people who look at the situation of the righteous and wonder if a person with a great reputation could suffer such awful and devastating misfortune. They shake when they considered that their own security is in peril because of the possibility that the same thing could happen to them.  

These people will fight hard to make the righteous believe that it is their grievous un-confessed sins that make sense of the disaster they are facing. But all they are doing is trying to establish their own sense of security.  

Men will develop all kinds of unbiblical but certainly attractive doctrines that material blessings means it is God that is blessing you and that you are with him, even when you are openly breaking his commandments.  They will tell you the converse, that the absence of material blessings means that God is not on your side, then they advocate the solution that you pay them tithes and offerings to solve the problem.  

This is of course all chicanery and lying. Yes, we should pay our tributes to God and we should obey him, but the kind of guarantees that the flesh seeks is really not available.  

Job does not know what is happening, and he views events in his life from his viewpoint, a view that God does not really want him to have.  One writer advises us:

“We are given this because we too are not permitted this viewpoint in times of trial.  We do not know what is going on behind the scenes in our lives, with all or pressures and trials. We do not know what has transpired between Satan and God about us, but we are given this reassurance that something does happen, and that we are being subjected to a test.  This is very revealing and very important.”  

In order to teach us what true wisdom is like, God has pulled away the veil from the invisible angelic world and shown us the royal court of the Sovereign Lord God, where He sits on his throne surrounded by His servants, who report to him on their activities.  

This is a most impressive scene, similar to John's description in Revelation 4.  

These angels, according to Job 28:4-7, are the earliest beginnings of creation, before the material world and man was created. They reflect the glory of God and surround God in his eternal glory and they are the instruments of God in his rule over the universe.  They are the holy ones, heavenly spirits and they go about in the universe and among men.  They are called the ‘sons of God’ and God directly created them.  

Note that they are different from us men, for unlike Adam they were not given authority to procreate and multiply and produce others like themselves.  That is a bad no-no for angels.  

It appears that there are trillions of them, countless numbers, direct creations of God and they have a hierarchy and they have their role and work, and from time to time present themselves before God to give a report of their activities.  

Clearly then we are taught that God is in absolute and total control of this one universe, which for God is just one place.  

The Adversary, this is what the word ‘Satan’ means, was once like these holy ones, but he withdrew himself from the love of God, was captivated by self-love, and became, though he was allowed to for a time retain his beautiful and glorious form, forever the enemy of God.  

He comes among the servants of God, to oppose and treat God with enmity, since he is now totally evil.  He has access to God even though he is obviously still fallen.  He is not excluded from the presence of God.  

There are many people who read books that tell them that Satan is bound in Hell.  He is burning in some furnace. The Bible tells us that that is not true, that is just idle and satanic speculation designed to confuse and trick us.  When Satan and his demons come to us, they are not going to smell of smoke, except they think that we can be easily frightened by that kind of antics.  They generally come disguised as ‘angels of light’ and bringing attractive but badly flawed messages.  So be warned.  

Note in all this however that though he was evil, he must serve God, for God makes even evil minister to fulfill his purpose of salvation. Satan, though the Adversary, is absolutely subordinate to God along with all other beings, whether they are visible or invisible.  

Remember that though Satan is fallen, for now God has not excluded him from his presence, and he still has access to God.  

We learn from this that Satan, our vicious and implacable enemy, is not the equivalent of God, for God is in control of all things. No being, including Satan, can go beyond or operate beyond God’s word and his will.  

Clearly then we also learn that God is not a ‘heavenly bellboy’ ready to run at our command.  God is certainly in charge and always will be in charge and we must deal with him as he wishes. It is not our will but his will that must be done.  

As we read we realize that this is a strange ‘battle’ that is shaping up, for one side must get permission from the other side before it can attack. Satan asks God for permission, for he is always ready to bring out testing, but it is God that permits it.  

Obviously, it is not really a ‘battle’ or a ‘war’.  It is simply a test, a rigorous test of Job’s faith that now follows.  

We can ask ourselves why God does this, and why he challenges Satan. Consider the scene, and you will begin to understand why people of God suffer.  

It is here in the presence of God and in the presence of the holy Angels that God glorifies himself, with the Angels watching with great interest, pointing to Job as “a creation of his redemptive grace”.  

When Satan admits to his satanic activity of going up-and-down looking for somebody that he can get at as 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, looking for a chink in our armor, looking for the opportunity that we give him, (see the Apostle Paul’s warning in Ephesians 4:26), God responds by issuing a challenge.  

In fact, says God to Satan, despite your satanic activity, your satanic philosophy, and the corruption you have wreaked among men, there is on earth real genuine piety.  

God in triumph displays his servant, fully confident that he will oppose Satan and glorify him, proving that what God says about the elect people whom he has given to Jesus, is true.  

Just remember that God might be saying the same thing about you to Satan, fully expecting that you will prove him right by your reaction to turmoil and distress and by your consistent integrity in behaviour.  

The satanic philosophy is of course that the fundamental law of life is looking after yourself and your interests first. What is in it for me? or what is it going to do for me? is the cry of all men, says Satan.  

Now, this is something that we all do, for we think that when (or because) we obey God and do what is right, because it is in our best interest to do so, we think we are exercising great faith. Most of us serve God only when it is in our best interest to do so, and as long as God is blessing us, or promises to bless us. When the blessing stops, and difficulties and trials begin, we want to stop serving God. Where is he? we ask. Has God stopped listening to us? we say.  

We will learn from this book that great faith, the kind of faith that God wants, is shown only when we continue to serve God, despite the fact that it is the hardest and most difficult thing to do.  

The hostile Satan cannot find anything in Job’s outward behaviour to accuse him, and that was a great testimony to Job’s character and consistent integrity. So Satan put it to God that Job was devoted to him because of calculated self-interest.  

Satan was really saying in front of the Angels that Job, like him Satan, was no different but was just also a deceiver.  

In doing so, he was accusing God of being naïve, and in fact probably lying by claiming that Job was his genuine son because of his redemptive grace. There was no such thing as redemptive grace for men. God had simply bribed Job to behave as if he was reverent. Job was putting on a good show because God had blessed him and protected him.  He was not really sound.  

Note that Satan’s attack on the integrity of Job was basically an attack on the integrity of God.  

Job was now to be given the opportunity through his trial, not so much to vindicate himself but to justify God.  

Would we be able to do that? Let us examine ourselves and make sure we would be able to justify God, for the grace that He has bestowed on us.  

We must not simply approach the book of Job for an answer as to why the righteous suffer, but as an answer to the need for wisdom; for true wisdom means a total consecration of self to a faithful God. This means that even if the world around us disintegrates, and we are stranded without any help or support, bewildered by our lot in life, we must absolutely continue to fear God. This is true wisdom.  

One commentator pointed out that the conflict between David and Goliath was nothing in comparison to this, for in comparison to this, David and Goliath were equal matched. He states:

“How unequal the contest seems! Prenatural knowledge and power- with the element of surprise in its favor- arrayed against a mortal! David and Goliath, in comparison, were equally matched. Yet Job’s steadfast righteousness, like David’s heroism, was only the visible index of the power of divine redemption working in and through the servant of God.  The strategy of God, like that of Elijah on Carmel , was to make it impossible for Satan to foist on the witnesses a naturalistic explanation of the wonder He was about to perform.  The overwhelming advantage God allowed Satan became, in the sequel, the measure of the devil’s ignominy and of God’s praise.”  

Men, despite the presence of their sinful flesh, do not have to keep on sinning, and can resist Satan, and do not have to waver between good and evil. When we do sin, as we often do, confession of sin to God and repentance will bring forgiveness and cleansing from God.  

Clearly the Bible presents Job as man at his best; sincere, moral, devoted, selfless, doing in a godly fashion godly deeds of worship, doing deeds of good and helping many people, focusing on what God wants. He does not care about wealth or want to hold on to the material things and deny God.  

Through suffering he learns, and we learn a lot about the nature of God, God’s compassion, his mercy, and God’s caring and control of everything that happens around us, and his sending suffering to teach us many things about his will, that we might not have otherwise know.

THE TEXT

Verses:13-15.   We first note that the rules of the test in this apparently unequal contest were very clear. God had set the rules.  

Once God had set the rules for Satan’s attack, Satan wasted no time. Satan went immediately to the limit that God had set for him and took away everything Job had, not stretching it out, not easing the load, not giving Job time to prepare himself spiritually or emotionally. He simply stripped him using the forces in the natural world as well as the actions of men. One after the other, Satan sent four messengers of misfortune to Job, as the hammer fell. The results were terrible.  

Job had prospered, and had piously comforted and enjoyed his children. He cared about his children, was jealous over them with godly jealously and whenever they feasted together, once feasting was over, sent and sanctified them, had them prepare themselves for solemn sacrifice and worship.  

He offered sacrifices to seek mercy for sins that they might have committed and to ask God to preserve them from future error.  

Such a family was comfortable and in repose, confident of the protection of God, unaware of any possible problem. The eldest brother was a leader, was close to the family and led the feasting. Clearly, it is good to have good clean fun and to feast and enjoy oneself, but all feasting must be done decently and in order.  

 It is in this context that Satan choose to attack viciously and quickly.  

One messenger rushed to Job after Satan's foul attack and told Job that everything was proceeding normally as usual and suddenly the Sabeans, who lived by plunder, attacked, killed the braves servants and took away the cattle.   

There was no hint of provocation but Satan put it in their hearts to do wickedness.  Clearly, Satan has no difficulty finding evil men to be his instruments, for he works in the children of disobedience.  They had no difficulty killing the many servants that were looking after Job's five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she- asses.  Job clearly had extensive land holdings for so many oxen to be plowing and so many she- asses to carry loads.  

Satan made sure he left one witness to come and bring the terrible news to Job.  

In the middle of this news another messenger interrupted to say that Job’s seven thousand sheep and servants were lost because the fire of God had fallen down from heaven and done the job of destruction.  

Calling this instrument of destruction the fire of God must probably even if innocently said, was aimed at making Job blame God.  

Now poor Job had no sheep or oxen to sacrifice to God.  

Then another interrupted that messenger to tell them that the Chaldeans had come, killed his servants and  taken away his three thousand camels.  Job must have been extremely wealthy to have that many camels.

Verse 18-19.   Then without getting a chance to catch his breath, Job was hit by the news that his most dear and valued possessions, his children, were buried in the collapsed house in which they were feasting.  They and all the servants were killed, and only one had escaped to bring this bad news.  Satan had saved the worst for the last, doing everything he could, using natural forces, to provoke Job to curse God.  

 Remember however that Satan had to obtain divine permission to even use these natural forces to achieve what he wanted.  

Remember also that God is not just a cold, impersonal God, allowing torture and injustice like this for no reason.  God is merciful and compassionate as this book teaches.

Verse 20-22.   Job heard the first three messengers in silence, but when he heard that his children had died he could not restrain his grief.  But he did not despair, but humbled himself, fell prostrate on the ground and worshipped God.  

Here, in verse 21, Job used the covenant keeping name of God that he would use only one other time, (12:9), describing Him as the fully glorious, majestic God, who ordered his life according to his own counsel, who is ever worthy of praise, and who in his infinite wisdom gives and takes away.  

Rather than complain about what had happened to him, he recognized that God had the sovereign right to do with him as he willed, giving to him, and taking away from him.  He did not blame God or question God, or get upset at God, certainly not suggesting that God did not care about him.  

Job never got to the stage or go so far as to deny God and never said anything unworthy about the rule of God. He did not understand what was happening to him but he still feared God.  

He never resisted the sovereign God. He never provoked God. He did not say anything ridiculous or attributed any foolishness to God. He maintained his composure.  

Job looked at himself, took inventory of what he had lost, but he also looked at the fact that what he had been given much as a free gift by God and that God could give as well as take away. He had come naked and empty into the world and had only been a steward of God’s gifts. His many possessions had not been his by right.  

In all this he still found occasion to praise God.

CHAPTER 3

Satan had lost this round.  A man as Job would still not curse God when he lost all that he had.  He still would love God, follow him and serve him, and recognize that God had the right to do as he wished with him, his creature. Job had proved that God was right and that Satan was wrong.  

We should ask ourselves whether we would allow Satan to destroy, hurt, wreck and embarrass God when we find ourselves in difficulty.  Would we still understand that God’s protecting hand, his hedge is over us and that we should still serve him? Would we still thank and praise him and count it all joy when we suffer?  

We know that Satan was not finished with Job. Always the wily snake, he had some cards up his sleeve. He had not killed Job’s wife, but had reserved her as the source of another temptation.  

Even then if that failed, he reserved his heavy guns in the form of Job’s friends, who would accuse and blame him wrongfully and pull the rug out from under him, instead of supporting him and lifting him up to God.  

God warns us Satan is persistent and he will adopt new, different  wiles and strategies to get us.  So he wanted God to let him get at Job himself.  

Satan implied that Job was really pretending love and as one writer puts it paying “an exorbitant but necessary fee for health insurance”. He then told God that if God allowed him to touch Job’s body, Job would realize there was no profit left in the “religious deal”, and he would curse God.  

Satan failed again also.  

 Satan now played one of his other cards.  He now used Job’s wife as his instrument to attack Job emotionally and spiritually. She basically abandoned him, advising him to turn from his faith, apostatize, and renounce his God. This would lead to his death she felt.  

This was Job’s greatest trial to date, for his wife, now closest to him, was repeating what Satan had said to God, instead of strengthening his faith. This was evil counsel. Spouses should never encourage the doing of evil despite the circumstances.  

She obviously said this after some time had elapsed, for she questioned why he was still retaining his integrity, despite his continued suffering. Here this attempt failed also.

We note that Job was very restrained in his reply to her and his rebuke was quite gentle.  He did not attack her as a ‘foolish woman’, but simply pointed out that she was walking in the company of those with whom she would not normally consort. He literally said she was thinking madly and acting impiously.

He posed two questions to her to show her the folly of her position.

The questions suggested the answers, namely, that if we took the joys, pleasures and pleasant things of life from God with gladness and gratitude, we should not stop being grateful because life becomes different from what we like, and curse God to protest the difficult things that he sends.

Chapter 3:1-3

Job now faced his friends who had come to comfort him, but the longer they looked at the ruined figure of their formerly respected, admired, attractive friend who now sat on an ashes heap scraping puss from his sores, the more they began to suspect that he was an hypocrite deserving of this terrible calamity.  Satan would now use them to increase Job's torment and anguish.  

Note Job in his anguish asked three painful questions.

First, Why was I ever born? (Verses 1-3)

Second, Having been born, why didn't I died at birth? (vs. 11-19), and

Third, Why can't I died now? (vs. 20-26)  

Job’s life was so miserable that he longed for death and his past enjoyments faded in importance, not helping him in his present torment and anguish.  

We can see that many others have suffered much worse than we have, but we also see that even though Job comes close to cursing God he never does. Instead of cursing God Job curses the day of his birth, and any curses that God has allowed to happen.  

As the pressure increased Job begins to break.  Suffering can put a terrible strain upon the soul and so as Job experienced this he cried out.  It is important for us to understand that the hardest thing to bear and to keep up under is unexplained trouble, when we see no reason for what we are undergoing and when trouble seems so pointless.  

We understand why Job thinks that life is totally meaningless and that it would have been better for him to have died when he was born.  

It is to be remembered that there's a reason for everything that happens to us, and even though our troubles might become extreme and extraordinary, and our friends seem to enjoy our calamities and misinterpret the reasons for them, we must curse Satan and never curse God.

CONCLUSION

We are often reminded that our God is a testing God.  Moses pointed that out to the children of Israel in Exodus 20:20,

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not;

He pointed out to them that the fear of God would keep them from sinning. The prophet Isaiah also told Israel , Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, (48:10).

The Apostle Peter also advised the suffering Christians to rejoice despite their distress by various trials. 1 Peter 1:6-7.

Moses and the Apostles gave us some good advice.  They told us to

-follow God the Lord,

-to revere him,

-to keep his commandments and obey him

-to serve him

-to hold fast to him.

Let us not follow the renegades who are servants of Satan, for they will only destroy us. Let us realize God’s presence during the storms, and trust in the presence and power of our risen Lord.  

Psalm 107 is a great Psalm. In verses 28-31 it reads

“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble

And he bringeth them out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm

So that the waves thereof are still.

Then are they glad because they be quiet;

So he bringeth them until their desired haven.

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness,

And for his wonderful works to the children of men!”

Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people,

And praise him in the assembly of the elders.”  

We can remain safe through the storms of life only if we place our faith in Jesus and cry to him in the midst of the storm.  Only he can calm the storms and bring us to safety, protecting us through all the difficulties of life and from the attacks of the enemy of our souls.  

Let us remember our covenant and maintain our integrity in the midst of our suffering.