May 11, 2006

Reading through the Bible in one Year:1 Samuel 22:1-26:25; Luke 20:1-38

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I am not sure how long we are going to be in the book of Job.  Considering that I am still taking a full load, I have recently been enjoying the luxury of time when I prepared the studies due to being on a stay at home vacation.  But I'm back at the books again, so bear with me as I struggle through the two remaining courses for the spring semester.  There are areas where we will move rapidly through this book, other places where we will poke along and enjoy the journey. 

"There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. " (Job 1:1, NASB95) ^[1]

What about Job anyway?  Some have tried to say that Job is an allegory; the scriptures approach the book as a factual happening.  The first verse points out that Job did exist.  The book was written sometime very early in the world's history.  It was after the flood, and Job was from Abraham's home town.  We know that it was after the flood because it is mentioned in the text.  However, how long after the flood?  We really don't know that answer. 

One other thing that I find intriguing about Job is that since it was written shortly after the flood, Job wrote from a very early witness’s point of view on the creation.  There is a lot about the creation in this book.  Some of the places mentioned are not able to be found.  This isn't a huge mystery from the creationist point of view since as a creationist I believe that the earth was separated during the days of Peleg.  If the earth did exist as a single continent until that time, it would make sense if some places disappeared during the shift of the tectonic plates.

There isn't any mention of Israel, no mention of the Jews, or the law; because they did not exist.  One of the fascinating things about the Book of Job is that Job did not have any written scriptures that we know about to live his life by.  No written standards to direct his paths.  Imagine, spiritually he was on his own, but on the other hand, not really on his own because he was close enough to the creation to where an aggregate knowledge of who God truly was existed among the people.  Consider also that idolatry is not mentioned in the book.  That is very significant because there was only one God on the earth, false gods had not been invented yet. 

As a matter of fact, so much has been written on this book, you could study if for a lifetime.  Job will teach us a lot about life and about how to walk with God.  I hope that as we enter this study that we will be able to glean practical truths from it that we can all apply to our lives which will strengthen our walk with the Lord.  I also hope that we can challenge our view of God and our view of our relationship with Him so that we can be drawn into a deeper fellowship with Him. 

I got carried away with the introduction, so we won't enter the text.  I am also considering posting this on a discussion board at www.carm.org.  I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider Your Word today, open our eyes so that we can see and apply the scriptures to our lives.

In Him,

Joe Turner.