Ezekiel Bible Studies
The End of the Age and Its Restoration
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Session 9
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Job is an Old Testament book that most
interpret as addressing the perplexing question of why the righteous
suffer. This conclusion probably comes from the fact that the heart of the
book, Chapter 3-37, contains Job’s three friends and the mysterious
Elihu debating Job’s wretched conditions. What did Job do to deserve
such treatment by a righteous God?
The telling of Job’s story has in it the story of every man. In fact,
the sequence of events may contain the mystery of life, even though the
players in the story are unaware of what is at work beneath the surface.
They are concerned with the obvious, why is Job suffering. The answer to
that question is never given other than God is completely moral and man
can never completely understand how this moral law is achieved. There is
more to the story than the question of why bad things happen to good
people.
The underlying theme of the book seems to deal with the concept of evil.
How does evil occur in a perfectly good world? The storyline of the book
does not follow the events of what has happened to Job (the debate over
why the righteous suffer) but rather the reactions of Job to these
calamities and the following debate.
The adversities of Job actually seem to be a part of the human dilemma.
Man has the treasure of life (incorruptible, immortal, glorious, and
powerful) in an earthen vessel (corruptible, mortal, infamy, and weak).
How does man fall (the inception of evil) from the lofty state of the good
life?
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The Theme of the Book of Job
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Age
of Innocence — Chapters 1 & 2
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The Human Dilemma
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Innocence
Lost — Chapters 3 - 31
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The Three Friends Who
Came to Mourn and Give Comfort
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Eliphas —
Chapters 4-5, 15, and 22
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Job Responds —
Chapters 6-7, 16 & 17, and 23-24
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Bildad —
Chapters 8, 18, and 25
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Job Responds —
Chapters 9-10, 19, and 26-31
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Zophar —
Chapters 11 and 20 |
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Job Responds —
Chapters 12-14 and 21
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(Summarized
by Elihu — Chapters 32-37)
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God
Intervenes — Chapters 38-41
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Job Responds —
Chapter 40:3-5 and Chapter 42:1-6
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| Innocence
Regained — Chapter 42 |
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Schedule