{"id":20940,"date":"2023-02-23T12:08:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T20:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=20940"},"modified":"2023-02-23T12:08:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T20:08:14","slug":"dont-overlook-the-book-of-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2023\/02\/23\/dont-overlook-the-book-of-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Overlook the Book of Job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Overview of the Book of Job<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Throughout the entire Book of Job, to Job\u2019s credit, <\/strong>he was seeking higher divinely revealed Truth beyond the conventional wisdom of the religious folks of his day. In this book, several common religious misconceptions are addressed about the meaning of life, what is behind human suffering, the nature of Elohim and divine justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first religious misconception that the Book of Job addresses is the prevailing viewpoint that all human suffering is a direct result of sin, and that blessing is a result of obedience to the laws of Elohim. (Actually, Yeshua addressed this is the same misconception among the Jews in his famous Parable of Lazarus and the Richman.) In the minds of those who hold this viewpoint, there is no middle ground between these two poles. Job\u2019s wife took it a step further. She urged Job to take the easy way out by admitting that he was a sinner and then to curse Elohim and give up and die (Job 2:9). By contrast, Job was earnestly seeking the middle ground of truth, which is also the higher ground. He knew there was a higher truth that his friends and wife were missing and despite the discouraging and misguided lectures from is so-called friends, he doggedly sought that revelation in the midst of his suffering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job\u2019s diligent persistence finally paid off when YHVH not only sent him a wise human counselor, but also wonderfully and mercifully revealed himself to the suffering Job at the end of his long and arduous ordeal. Job was the beneficiary of the ] promise that the future would make that those who persistently ask, seek and knock will acquire the desires of their hearts (Matt 7:7). Likewise, Paul teaches us that we will reap in due time if we don\u2019t grow weary and faint in the mean time (Gal 6:9). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, therefore, is the story of Job\u2019s life, and should be our story too. Keep seeking the higher truth. Even as the earth doesn\u2019t yield its gold nuggets without much digging and toil; likewise, heaven doesn\u2019t give up its rich spiritual treasures and secret ways except to those who will value them enough to earnestly and with great effort dig for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, to Job\u2019s discredit, he needed to come to the higher ground of truth regarding his own level of righteousness, of which he had a high opinion . That truth is that all of man\u2019s righteousness before Elohim is but mere filthy rags (Isa 64:6 cp. Isa 1:18\u201320\u2014something that Job eventually learned. Throughout the book, Job asserts his own righteousness, and even goes so far as desiring to make this case before the Almighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the book, Elohim sets both Job and his three religious friends straight with regard to their misconceptions. Though Elohim considered Job to be the most righteous man on earth, Job needed to learn some humility. For their part, Job\u2019s friends needed to learn that righteous people do suffer, and not because of sin, but because YHVH is refining their character and understanding to bring them to a higher level spiritually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisdom About Life From the Book of Job<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Book of Job is the timeless story of a man<\/strong> who is seeking the answer to the age old question: what is the meaning of life? Unlike modern secular humanists be they atheists or agnostics, Job never questions the existence of the God of the Bible (or YHVH Elohim). Throughout the book, he perplexes over many basic conundrums of life that have been haunting humans from time immemorial. The Book of Job ends with a face-to-face encounter with Elohim where, though Job\u2019s questions are not specifically answered, he reaches a place of stasis where he finds a certain peace and security with his station in life despite his still many unanswered questions. In this new place of faith, he discovers Elohim\u2019s river of life and heaven\u2019s blessings uninterruptedly flowing down upon him despite periods human suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is crucial to make the distinction between Job the theist and those modernists who deny or question the existence of Elohim. This is because this marks a critical delineation between the wise man and the fool. The Bible declares that only fools doubt the existence of Elohim (Pss 14:1; 53:1). Therefore, by biblical definition, atheists are fools, and the converse of this is that believers in Elohim are not fools; they may even be possessors of wisdom, which is the opposite of foolishness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What hope does a fool have of finding the true meaning of life? He is like a blindfolded man who refuses to remove that which prevents him from seeing preferring instead to grope around in this own self-imposed darkness. On the other hand, Job is no fool, but is a wise and God-fearing man in pursuit of more wisdom and understanding about his Creator and the meaning of his life and the purpose of his existence in the presence of a superior, divine Being who is up there, but seems impersonal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end, Job has a face-to-face encounter with his Creator, and this mind and heart are opened to the reality and presence of Elohim. Job declares, \u201cI have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you\u201d (Job 452:5). In the end, is this not the quest of every human who believes in the existence of God\u2014to know him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mean time, Job asks all of the perennial questions concerning the meaning of life, expresses the typical emotions including doubts and fears that all humans have, and confronts then ponders the many conundrums that life presents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Book of Job, three categories of people present their viewpoints. All are religious and believe in a God. The book presents no opinions from atheists or agnostics. The biblical view is that the views of agnostics and atheists are mere foolishness and empty vanity (or literally, wind or hot air) and, therefore, not worth recording. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first point of view are from Job\u2019s three friends, which, to fair to them, are God fearing men, but whose knowledge about the ways of Elohim is incomplete and is a mixture of men\u2019s opinions, philosophies and conjectures and is not based on a full understanding of him. These three men are feeding from the tree of the knowledge good and evil, and thus they have both correct and incorrect things to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next perspective comes from Job, a godly man, who basically has a right understanding of Elohim, but has a plethora of unanswerable questions about the ways of his Creator that, quite frankly, are beyond man\u2019s comprehension. Job is a man who is seeking to know Elohim better and wants to go deeper in his faith walk, but is stumbling over many deep and nagging questions of life. He is also somewhat blinded by his own goodness or self-righteousness,which prevents him from going deeper in his spiritual walk with Elohim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final human perspective comes from Elihu, who is a righteous man and whose views are unimpeachable in that Elohim fails to impute any wrong doing to him. Elihu is feeding from the tree of life and his views in accordance therewith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Elohim, the Book of Job concludes by revealing the ultimate source of Truth. This occurs when YHVH Elohim answers Job in the whirlwind of human emotional, mental and spiritual struggles and turmoil over the meaning of life. YHVH gives job a larger perspective on life and the creation, which helps Job to focus on a much larger picture that is way beyond Job and his personal circumstances. This view helps to lift Job out of his self-imposed woe-is-me, pity party attitude and up to something or Someone much larger than himself. When this occurs, Job is able to step into the river of life,which flows from heaven\u2019s throne and move into a new and higher place of spiritual understanding resulting in a revival of his faith leading to praise and worship. This is when heaven\u2019s blessings begin to flow in Job\u2019s direction and restoration occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The circumstances and lessons of Job\u2019s life mirror what many people of faith go through, and thus we can derive much light in our own time of need from this often over-looked book of the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topics Discussed in the Book of Job<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Job\u2019s Questions About the Meaning and Purpose of Life and the Ways of Elohim<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n