The Book of Job.

International Uniform Lesson.
By H. A. Ironside, Litt.D. Pastor of the Moody Memorial Church, Chicago.

 "In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly"—Job 1: 22.
JOB TEMPTED TO DOUBT GOD'S GOODNESS.
"WE HAVE heard of the patience of Job," writes the Apostle James (Jas. 5: 11), “and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” That “end” was to give to Job such a realization of the greatness, the majesty, the power, and the goodness of God, that it would produce in his servant such a sense of his own nothingness as to bring him to repentance (Job 42: 2-6). But it was the repentance of a saint, not of a sinner; for God’s children need to see their own good-for-nothingness as truly as the unregenerate. No matter how careful our walk or how consistent our behavior, we are ever to say with Paul, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18). Hence, it is that when God would write a book on repentance, He searches the world over, not for the worst, but for the best man He can find, and then He shows how He brought that good man to an end of himself.

The Historical Setting.
While the Book of Job is largely poetry, the most remarkable drama ever written, it deals with historical facts. Job was an actual person (Ezek. 14: 14, 20), and his friends were evidently Edomite sages, who lived some time before the nation of Israel was settled in the land of Canaan. There is no reference to them in this book. The land of Uz was probably east of the Jordan. No one today knows the author’s name. A Jewish tradition says it was Moses and places the writing of it in the land of Midian. Some believe Elihu wrote it. The “day” will declare it.

Verse by Verse. 
Job 2: 1—“The sons of God . . . and Satan came.” The sons of God are angels (38: 7) who minister to human needs (Heb. 1: 14). Satan is that fallen angel who led the rebellion against God and is ever the accuser of his people (Rev. 12: 9, 10; Zech. 3: 1, 2). He has access to God, for His complete judgment is still future (Rev. 20: 1, 2, 10).
Verse 2.—“From whence comest thou?” Satan is permitted to roam the world, tempting the people of God and fomenting rebellion against the Most-High, hence, our need to be constantly on guard (1 Pet. 5: 8, 9; James. 4: 7).
Verse 3—“Hast thou considered my servant Job?” ‘This is the second time the challenge comes. Job has already proved that he loved God more than wealth. He still held fast his integrity in spite of all Satan had been able to do, as recorded in chapter one, to shake it.
Verse 4.—“All that a man hath will he give for his life.” It was Satan who said this. He implied that to Job his own comfort in life was more than loyalty to God.
Verse 5.—“Touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse [renounce] thee to thy face.” The Devil was sure that no man loved God supremely, but that behind all love and worship, there was a selfish aim and object. Job, he insisted, loved God for the favors he received from Him.
Verse 6.—“Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” The Devil has no power or authority save as God permits, but he is used as the sifter of God's wheat (Luke 22: 31).
Verse 7.—"So went Satan forth . . . and smote Job with sore boils.” The malignant foe of God and man took delight in inflicting a loathsome and most painful disease upon Job, which made his life a burden to him. In this way, he hoped to demonstrate Job’s selfishness in relation to God.
Verse 8—“He sat down among the ashes.” Unfit to remain in his tent or house, Job sat outside in the place of refuse and scraped his filthy sores with a broken bit of pottery. He was a forlorn spectacle, enduring what might well provoke him to complain, unless he recognized God’s infinite goodness.
Verse 9.—"His wife said unto him . . . Renounce God and die." The poor, distracted woman was filled with amazed indignation, that God should permit so good a man to suffer so terribly. Why not end it all by renouncing Him who was responsible for it all!
Verse 10.—“Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.” How delicate a rebuke was this! Job did not lose his temper. He did not call his distressed wife a fool. He exclaimed with surprise that she (who was wise) had so far forgotten herself as to speak like a simpleton. Then came his great declaration, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” It was the acknowledgment of the Divine sovereignty, humbly acquiesced in. And so, Satan was defeated and Job’s character established.
Verse 11—“Job’s three friends . . . made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.” The first bears an Edomite name (Gen. 36: 10, 11, 15). The others were probably of the same people. They were desert sheiks and came in true Oriental fashion to lament with Job over his misfortunes, as they deemed them.
Verse 12.—“They lifted up their eyes . . . and knew him not, . . . and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads.” So dreadfully had their friend become disfigured that his countenance was unrecognizable. In their sympathy and horror, they manifested every sign of grief, mourning, and indignation, as they tore their garments and put dust upon their heads.
Verse 13.—"They sat down . . . seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word.” Touched to the depths of their souls, they mourned in silence as they contemplated the depth of Job’s anguish and the grief of his heart. They said no word, but the following chapters show they thought plenty!

A Lesson Outline.
JOB'S TESTING AND TRIUMPH.
Job’s character (1: 1)
His family (v. 2)
His wealth (v. 3)
His piety (vs. 4, 5)
God’s challenge (vs. 6-8)
Satan’s accusation (vs. 9-1})
God’s. permission (v. 12)
Job’s first testing (vs. 13-19)
His triumph (vs. 20-22)
The second challenge (2: 1-3)
Satan’s second accusation (vs. 4, 5)
Divine permission (v. 6)
The second testing (vs. 7-9)
The final triumph (v. 10)

The Heart of the Lesson.
It has been well said that “God is a substitute for everything, but nothing is a substitute for God.” This is the great truth demonstrated in these two chapters. It is one thing to have a love for God, born of gratitude for the gifts His mercy bestows. It is quite another to find in Him a satisfying portion for the soul, so that the heart can rest in a sense of His love (Jude 21), though bereft of every creature comfort and robbed of every outward source of joy. The natural man knows nothing of this and the carnal believer has not entered into it. It is only one who is truly spiritual who can find his all in God and so be content whatever the circumstances (Phil. 4: 11). Job and Paul both knew the blessedness of this.
 
Special Lesson Topics and Truths.
God’s Use of Satan.
The question is often asked by thoughtless people, and sometimes by those who are really thoughtful, “Why did not God destroy the Devil in the beginning, or at least render him powerless to mislead humanity?” One answer is that He had use for even Satan himself in the redemption scheme. He was permitted to tempt mankind in order to bring out what is in men, that it may be judged in the presence of God. He was allowed to tempt Jesus Christ in order that His perfection within and without might be manifested.
The Hidden Corruption of the Human Heart.
There may be correct outward behavior and evidence of genuine piety even where the hidden evil of sin in the flesh is not truly known. God would have Job recognize this, but before He proceeds to bring it to light, He would silence the adversary, who dared to question the integrity and godliness of His dear servant.
The Unseen World.
Had Job been aware of what was going on between God and Satan in the unseen world, he would never have given way to such perplexity and distraction of spirit as he afterward showed, when his three friends assailed him and tried to prove that God never allows the righteous to suffer, but that Job’s afflictions were the proof of hidden wickedness, which he needed to confess and judge in order to secure God’s favor again.

Applications and Summaries.
How many of us, who profess to know Christ as our Saviour, are so behaving ourselves that God can even challenge Satan to show a flaw in our conduct?
Job was perfect and upright—that is, his ways were well-ordered and he walked in righteousness, but he was a complacent man who needed to learn the plague of his own heart.
Job’s prayer for his children is interesting, as furnishing a side light on his state. He feared that they might have sinned and sacrificed for them. We are not told that he brought an offering for himself.
The truly broken man realizes his daily need of the work of Christ on his behalf, because of the corruption of his nature, even though not actually conscious of known sin.
It is remarkable how often Satan’s words, “All that a man hath will he give for his life,” are quoted with approval by those who have forgotten who was the author of them.
The devoted man of God would far rather lay down his life than dishonor God or injure his neighbor.
Have we learned how wonderfully God can fill the heart and life, so that bereavement, sickness, bitter anguish, and false friends cannot move us from confidence in His unchanging love and wisdom?

JOB’S FAITH IN LIFE AFTER DEATH.
"I know that my Redeemer liveth."—Job 19: 25
Approach to the Lesson.
THE poetical part of this book begins with chapter 3 and goes on to chapter 42: 6. In this great drama, we have Job in controversy with his three friends, who insist that God does not permit a righteous man to suffer, but that affliction is the portion of the wicked only; therefore Job’s case implies that God is dealing with him because of some sin or sins, open or secret, which the patriarch cannot or will not acknowledge. When the friends fail to convince him of wickedness, Elihu appears “to speak on God’s behalf” and shows that suffering is not necessarily punishment for sins actually committed, but may often be chastening or discipline in order to bring man to a deeper realization of his own impotence, as also to emphasize man’s littleness and ignorance and to magnify the greatness and wisdom of God. This the Lord Himself enlarges upon when He speaks to Job out of the storm, with the result that the heart of the sufferer is bowed in reverence and repentance before Him. During all the perplexing experiences, Job maintains his faith in God and has absolute assurance that some day all will be made clear. Meantime he can say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” for he has a sure hope of resurrection when he shall, in his flesh, see God and all will be made plain.

Verse by Verse. 
Job 14: 13.—"O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave.” The Authorized Version here is misleading. It is not the tomb Job has in view, but Sheol (the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Hades), the place of departed spirits. There, one is hidden from earthly calamities. There, Job would rest until the appointed hour of resurrection.
Verse 14.—“If a man die, shall he live again?” Scripture answers yes. There shall be “a resurrection . . . both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24: 15). Of this Job was assured and he could wait in faith until that great change should come.
Verse 15.—“Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee.” This is indeed sublime faith. Death would not touch the fact of personality. The real man would remain the same. God shall call him by name, and he will respond with intelligence and glad recognition.
Verse 16.—“Thou numberest my steps.” The patriarch knew that the all-seeing eye of God beheld all his ways. He did not profess absolute sinlessness. He realized the Holy One saw what he himself might not even be conscious of and kept watch over his sin.
Verse 17.—“My transgression is sealed up in a bag.” Job had a clear conscience as to any charge of willful violation of God’s mind, so far as he understood it. He did not question that God saw what he knew not, but, if so, it was as something hidden and sewn up, because forgiven.
Chap. 17: 13.—“If I wait, the grave is mine house.” Here again, it is not the grave, but Sheol, of which he speaks. There in the intermediate state, he would tarry, after the death of the body, making his bed in darkness—that is, in the unseen place—so far as men in this life know.
Verse 14.—“Corruption, . . . the worm.” The body, he knew, was doomed to go down into the tomb and to become the prey of corruption, to be food for worms. But this was not the end of man.
Verse 15.—“Where is now my hope?” In view of the appointed end of man, as viewed from the merely materialistic standpoint, what hope was left to cheer the distressed and suffering believer? The question is left for the moment unanswered, but Job well knew what the true answer was.
Verse 16—“Rest together is in the dust.” The bodies of saints and sinners, of believers and unbelievers, go down to the grave and sleep together in the earth in accordance with the judgment on mankind because of sin, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3: 19).
Chap. 19: 23.—“Oh that my words were now written! . . . printed [inscribed] in a book!” He is about to make a declaration of great moment. He little realized that his testimony was to be recorded and preserved until the end of time, so that untold millions of men yet unborn might be thrilled and blessed by his confession of faith in the resurrection of the just.
Verse 24.—“Graven with an iron pen.” The reference is to the method of cutting inscriptions upon stone tablets, the ordinary process of making books in that day of the far distant past.
Verse 25.—“I know that my redeemer [or Vindicator] liveth.” The word used is that for a kinsman-redeemer, under the law, in later years (Lev. 25: 25). It signifies one who undertakes the case of a relative who has been sold into slavery, meets every claim against him, sets him free, and appears as his defender against all who would seek to injure or oppress him. Christ alone fulfills all that is required. He is our Redeemer and for Him, the promised Seed of the woman (Gen, 3: 15), Job waited in faith.
Verse 26.—"Though . . . worms destroy this body.” Death might do its worst, but nothing should thwart the fulfillment of the promise of God. In resurrection, Job should see the One whose ways were so hard to understand.
Verse 27—“I shall see for myself.” There was no possibility that God’s plan would miscarry, nor was resurrection merely the idea of race survival. Job, the individual, the very same man who had suffered so terribly, was to see God with his own eyes, and so to enjoy an eternity of bliss in His presence. Verse 28.—“The root of the matter is found in me.” Sustained by so sublime a faith, Job reproved his friends for even suggesting that he doubted God’s wisdom and goodness, even though he did not understand the hidden reason for his mysterious providences. He believed in God in spite of all, and it grieved him that his friends thought otherwise.
Verse 29—“Ye may know there is a judgment.” Some day, all would be made plain. Then God would vindicate Himself and justify His ways with men. Until then, Job could afford to wait, and it would be the part of wisdom for his accusers to do the same (1 Cor, 4: 5), 

The Heart of the Lesson.
Though God’s ways with His people are often perplexing and baffling to human reason, we may be assured that He will justify Himself at last. If we never understand the reasons for many of His dealings with us here on earth, all will be clear when we stand eventually in His presence, in the full blaze of resurrection glory. Till then, faith can afford to wait, knowing that infinite wisdom cannot err, and that all the sufferings of this present life will be repaid abundantly with bliss eternal. This was Job’s confidence even when his distress was so deep that he seemed to be overwhelmed in a sea of trouble and false accusation.

Lesson Outline.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST.
A resurrection unto life (John 5: 29)
The time of recompense (Luke 14: 14)
When the body will be redeemed (Rom. 8: 23)
Full conformity to Christ (Phil. 3: 20, 21)
At the Saviour’s return (1 Thess. 4: 16)

Special Lesson Topics and Truths.
Job’s Three Friends.
Eliphaz was a man who tested everything by experience. One of his favorite expressions is, “I have seen” (Job 4: 8; 5: 3).
Bildad was a traditionalist. He banked on the testimony of the ancients (8: 8).
Zophar was a hard, stern legalist, whose offensive dogmatism was detestable to Job (11: 2, 3; 12: 2).
All were agreed that a good God would never allow a righteous man to suffer, and that Job’s afflictions proved he had been living in sin, either secret or open, which God was judging.
Job’s Perplexity.
The patriarch’s conscience was clear before God and men. He knew he had not willfully departed from the path of integrity. But the reasoning of his friends confused him and at times he justified himself rather than God (32: 2; 35: 2). Yet throughout, he had implicit faith that some day all would be made plain.

Applications and Summaries.
Are we inclined to jump at conclusions and, when we see others in trouble, do we take it for granted their unhappy circumstances imply that God is punishing them for some sin?
The chastening of the Lord is not always punitive. It is often preventive. Paul’s thorn in the flesh was of this character (2 Cor. 12: 7).
It is evident, from a study of the Book of Job, perhaps the oldest in the Bible, that the truth of the resurrection of the body was revealed to man from the beginning.
Job’s faith was based upon a Divine revelation, and this gave him the certainty that whatever the present suffering, all would come out right in the day of resurrection.

JOB’S REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION.
"The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends"—Job 42: 10.
Approach to the Lesson.
Let man contend as he may against the Divine ways, he must at last be brought to repentance or crushed in judgment. The "end of the Lord" James. 5: 11), in the case of Job, was to humble him before God, to deliver him from self-occupation and to give him grace to justify God in all his dealings with him. Thus was his repentance manifested.
Let me remind my readers of what was intimated in our first lesson on this portion of Holy Scripture: the Book of Job is the book of repentance, but it is the repentance of a saint, not of a sinner. The place of highest blessing is ever that of the lowest self-abasement. When Job learned this lesson, his trials ended and God was able to shower his favours upon him and to bless his latter end more than the beginning (42: 12). A chastened man became the intercessor for his former accusers (42: 7-10).

Verse by verse.
Job 42: 1.—"Job answered the Lord." The patriarch has listened in awed silence as God spoke to him out of the storm and the whirlwind, setting before him the Divine wisdom and majesty in such a marvelous way, asking question after question which exposed the ignorance of the wisest of men and for which Job had no answer. Now he speaks, but not to justify himself rather than God (32: 2). He speaks to confess his limitations and acknowledge his errors.
Verse 2.—"I know that thou canst do every thing." It is the recognition of the omnipotence and the omniscience of God, who does not do anything capriciously but always acts according to His wisdom and loving-kindness.
Verse 3.—"I uttered that l understood not." He repeats the question God had asked in Chapter 38: 2. and owns that he had spoken without due consideration and a true understanding of the ways the Lord.
Verse 4.—"Hear, I beseech thee . . . declare thou unto me." He would not sit in judgment upon God or try by human reasoning to understand his dealings with him. but as a learner, he would sit at His feet to be Divinely instructed.
Verse 5.—“I have heard of thee . . . now mine eye seeth thee.” Much as he had loved God in the past, he had come into a new understanding of Him now. He had heard and believed in days gone by, but the new revelation that had come to him had given him a sight of God such as he had never known in the days of his prosperity. 
Verse 6.—“I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Mark, it is not, “I abhor my sins.” This he had ever done. But he had learned the hidden plague of his own heart, like Paul in a later day (Rom. 7: 18). He recognized as never before the unspeakable evil of his natural heart. Thus, his whole attitude was changed.
Verse 7.—“Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.” This was God’s reproof to the three friends, who in their legalistic zeal had impugned the character of God when they thought they were defending it. Job has acknowledged the righteousness of all God’s ways. They had only confused the issues involved in the trial of their friend.
Verse 8.—“Offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering.” They were not commanded to go to a priest. This was before the establishment of the Levitical service in Israel, and they were Edomites. “My servant Job shall pray for you.” He whom they had maligned was now to speak to God on their behalf.
Verse 9—“The Lord also accepted Job.” When he acted as intercessor for his friends, showing no resentment for all their cruel and unfounded accusations, he himself was conscious of a new sense of the Lord’s acceptance.
Verse 10.—“When he prayed for his friends.” This is surely a lesson for us all. We too, are to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us, and we may be sure of this, that when we so intercede on their behalf, we shall lose nothing thereby, but rather find greater blessing, even as God gave Job twice as much in material wealth as he had before his trial began.
Verse 11—“Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all . . . his acquaintance.” In the hour of his need, they were missing, but now, with returning prosperity, they come to add to his wealth, and to express their belated condolences for his past sorrows.
Verse 12—“The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” Not only did he have greater wealth in material things, but he was enriched immensely in his own spiritual experience because of the fiery trial he had been through.
Verse 13—“Seven sons and three daughters.” Again, he is surrounded with as large a family as before, who gladdened his old age with their filial care and, as we learn in the closing verses, brought their children to the fourth generation to cheer their aged sire, who lived one hundred and forty years, and died at last, “old and full of days.”

The Heart of the Lesson.
Every one of us is by nature worse than any thing he has ever done. The natural heart is a den of every kind of evil (Matt. 15: 19). The flesh is incorrigibly corrupt and can never be improved (Gal. 5: 19-21; Rom. 8: 7). It is all-important that this be recognized and judged in the presence of God. When thus dealt with, we cease to look for good in ourselves and realize that it is from the new heart (Ezek. 36: 26; Matt. 12: 35), given in regeneration, that all good must come. This was the lesson Job had to learn, and it is one we all need to understand. Then we shall find that, as we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5: 16). Our boast will then be only in the Lord (Psa. 34: 2), for we shall realize that all is grace from first to last.

A Lesson Outline.
CONFESSIONS OF GREAT SAINTS.
Job—“I am vile” (Job 40: 4) “I abhor myself” (42 :6)
Abraham—I am “but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27)
Isaiah—“I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa. 6: 5)
Peter—“I am a sinful man” (Luke 5: 8)
Paul—“Sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim, 1: 15)

Special Lesson Topics and Truths.
Job’s Acknowledgments.
In Chapter 40, Job exclaims, “I am vile,” that is, “I am insignificant.” Contrasting himself with the greatness of God, he owns his utter littleness. The word “vile” as used in our Authorized Version means “lowly” or “of little account.” It does not mean “wicked,” as generally used today. In Chapter 42, Job goes deeper when he declares, “I abhor [or loathe] myself.” This was the effect of beholding God’s infinite holiness and righteousness.
Job’s Children.
Some have supposed that Job’s children, of Chapter 1, are the same as those of the last chapter, and that the report of their death was only the servant’s wild exaggeration of what had actually occurred. But there does not seem to be good ground for this supposition. It would appear that God gave him another family of sons and daughters to take the places of those who had been killed by the storm.

Applications and Summaries.
If we have high thoughts of self, it is because we have low thoughts of God. He who has been consciously in the presence of the Holy One, cannot but realize his own imperfections.
The best man has within him a sinful nature, which, if unrestrained by Divine grace, is capable of any iniquity.
The new birth, whereby we become children of God, gives us a new life and nature, which is pure and holy in God’s sight.
A new nature in itself, is not power. The Holy Spirit is the power of the new life whereby we may rise above that which is merely natural or fleshly.
Job’s repentance was the recognition of his own corruption. His sufferings were not in vain, for they were the means used to bring him into the presence of God.
“The Sunday School Times” 1940