2:00

okay and you know they want to

2:02

give him a sponge bath and you

2:04

know tend to his needs but they're

2:06

really there out of fear and that

2:08

fear I think

2:10

is the fear that if this

2:12

can happen to Job it can certainly happen

2:14

to them because they know that Job's a

2:17

better guy than they are I mean they're

2:19

not described as blameless they're

2:21

not ones who only

2:24

walk upright before the Lord so what what

2:26

could possibly be going on and whatever it

2:28

is that Job did to have this happen

2:30

to him they want to make

2:32

sure if they're gonna avoid any sin let's

2:34

avoid that one because this this looks pretty

2:37

horrific now Job has

2:39

been venting all his frustrations and it

2:41

seems that so far needs

2:44

to say not just to Job but

2:46

probably to God too I disagree I

2:49

just I do not want God to

2:51

think for one minute that I agree

2:53

with the things that Job just said

2:55

yeah and thus so

2:58

far he he's gonna make

3:00

you can make it abundantly clear that

3:02

that Job should just shut his

3:04

mouth and repent and then everything

3:06

would be much much better is

3:09

you know the three of the

3:11

three friends I think so far is the

3:13

most not only the most kind of callous

3:16

and uncompassionate but uncreative I

3:19

mean there's there's no compassion whatsoever in his

3:21

speech he just kind

3:23

of he says a bunch of

3:25

things that are just platitudes you know

3:27

they're not untrue but they're also

3:29

not helpful at all so

3:33

yeah he's he's got the character it

3:35

relatively short speech which is good I

3:38

mean this chapter is what 20 verses

3:40

long so but he's this will be

3:42

the third one so we've heard from two of them and

3:45

so so far here will be number

3:47

three and then we'll start the second

3:50

round of speeches so far

3:52

sounds a little more angry

3:54

than the others to like it

3:56

seems that Job's words have offended him or

3:59

at least Yeah, or at least that he's nervous

4:01

about the words that Job just spoke. Yeah,

4:04

and you know part of this might be –

4:06

I hadn't really thought about this until right now

4:08

– but part of this might simply be the

4:10

order. So if Zulfar

4:12

would have spoken first when

4:16

Job had given his opening speech, then

4:18

maybe he would have been slightly

4:21

more compassionate or at least

4:23

compassionate to some degree. But

4:27

now that he's the third one and he's heard

4:29

– not only has he heard Job give

4:32

all of these speeches, but he's also

4:35

heard his other two friends give

4:37

their speeches, and those made absolutely

4:39

no impact on Job. Didn't

4:41

change the position whatsoever. So now

4:43

when it's Zulfar's turn, he's heard

4:45

more, he's frustrated, he's angry

4:48

with Job, he's afraid that

4:50

– well, God – he

4:52

can't remain silent because God might think that he

4:54

agrees with what Job is saying. So

4:56

some of that might prompt his response

4:59

as well. Well, if you were there

5:02

and you thought that God was involved in

5:04

what's happening, which of course these three friends

5:06

have made it abundantly clear that they do

5:08

think that, Job thinks that.

5:11

Everyone present thinks that. And

5:13

then someone starts uttering all kinds of things,

5:16

and you're really trying to figure out what

5:18

it is that God is so upset with

5:20

this person for. And

5:22

you think that this person's response is not

5:25

the right response at all. Yeah,

5:28

you might say, okay, I need

5:30

to make sure that

5:32

God not only knows that I disagree, but

5:34

I'm going to do that in the form

5:37

of a rebuke. And

5:40

that's what this feels like, a rebuke. Yeah,

5:43

the two first friends, they didn't

5:47

come right out and rebuke Job. I mean, they hinted

5:49

very strongly that there

5:51

were some issues with him, and he needs to examine

5:53

himself, and he needs to confess and all that kind

5:55

of stuff. Zulfar doesn't be around the bush.

5:57

He comes right out and says, yeah. This

6:01

is your fault and

6:03

you need to do something about it. And

6:05

if you do, then everything's going to be great in your life. He's

6:08

a very simplistic theologian. Here's

6:12

how he starts out. Should

6:14

a multitude of words go

6:16

unanswered and a man full

6:18

of talk be judged right?

6:21

Should your babble silence men

6:24

and when you mock shall no one shame

6:26

you? For you say,

6:29

my doctrine is pure and I am

6:31

clinging in God's eyes. But

6:33

oh, that God would speak and open his

6:36

lips to you and that he

6:38

would tell you the secrets of wisdom because

6:41

he is manifold in understanding. This

6:45

is the line that gets me. This is

6:47

the last part of verse 6. And this

6:49

is why ESV entitles this

6:51

chapter, You Deserve Worst, because he

6:54

finishes this section by saying, Know

6:56

then that God exacts

6:58

of you less than your guilt

7:01

deserves. Yeah, dude. Just

7:03

brutal. Wow. That is so brutal. And

7:06

this is why I say this, is

7:10

that this sounds like, because

7:12

you're like, what would ever possess you to

7:14

do? Like

7:16

if this was your friend, what would ever possess

7:19

you to do this? Other

7:21

than fear

7:23

that God is listening

7:26

and that you have to do...

7:28

Because what so far is doing

7:30

is he's defending

7:32

God's position, right? Like he's

7:34

defending what's happening to Job

7:36

and saying, well, not, I

7:38

mean, God's more than just.

7:40

I mean, God's actually, be

7:43

frankly, just to put it friend job, God's

7:45

being merciful to you right now. We

7:49

all know that this is less

7:51

than you deserve. Oh,

7:53

you think this is bad? Oh, God could

7:55

give you much worse than what you're going through

7:58

right now. put

8:00

yourself in this situation. I mean you're

8:02

sitting there on the ash heap, you're

8:04

looking at Job, you're watching everything

8:06

happening to his body, you

8:08

probably smell Job. I mean as

8:11

terrible as the situation is, then you're

8:13

going to just attack him with

8:17

words such as this. He's

8:19

prompted by fear, anger, all

8:22

these motivations. Yeah.

8:26

And the words that he uses before this are just,

8:28

I mean just, well, I can't let

8:30

that all, this multitude of words that you've said. I

8:32

mean I can't let that go unanswered. I

8:34

mean a man full of talk, I

8:36

mean he has to be judged. Your

8:38

babble is not going to silence me Job.

8:40

That's not what it's going to do. You

8:43

think you could just string together all these

8:45

words and pull together all this poetry and

8:47

that's going to make me close my mouth?

8:49

I don't think so. In

8:51

fact, this also now is like

8:53

mockery to me and you're going to be shamed for that,

8:55

I'm going to make sure you are. Your

8:57

doctrine is not pure, you're not clean in the eyes

9:00

of God. I'll tell you what, if God would speak,

9:02

he'd tell you this, that I am being merciful because

9:04

you deserve a lot worse than this. I mean that's

9:06

a synopsis of

9:09

what he does right here and you're like, good

9:11

grief, dude. Yeah. He's

9:13

not fair at all because when

9:16

he says, first of all, Job's not babbling.

9:19

He's speaking very poetically and very

9:21

co-appearantly. Nowhere

9:25

does Job mock. He says, when

9:27

you mock, Shana wouldn't shame you. Job's

9:29

not mocking. I mean, yeah, he's

9:31

protesting, he's lamenting, he's being frankly honest

9:33

with God that he's confused by God.

9:36

He doesn't understand what God is doing.

9:38

He has no idea why God is

9:40

treating the way he's doing because Job

9:42

doesn't deserve it. Zophar

9:45

hears all of that and understands

9:47

it to be mockery. No, that

9:50

is not the way one mocks God.

9:52

That's the way that one laments to

9:54

the God in whom he believes, but that's not

9:57

mockery. I mean, it could be. If anybody's mocking,

9:59

Zophar's not mocking. for is mocking Job. Yeah, it

10:01

could be that because he says this, like, should

10:04

your babble silence men? So like, whatever it is

10:06

that you're saying is not gonna shut us up.

10:09

And then when you mock, shall no one shame you?

10:12

This could be even like a throwback, and maybe

10:14

this is part of the reason why he's upset

10:16

as well. Maybe there's some pride involved. That

10:19

Job does sort of have this

10:21

sarcastic tone with them. He's

10:23

like, oh, teach me your ways. And

10:26

so, so far, might be like holding on to that and

10:29

being like, oh, so we're over here

10:31

telling you to repent and giving you this sage wisdom.

10:33

And then you just throw it back

10:35

on our faces. And guess what, man? If

10:39

you're gonna be like that, you think I'm not gonna

10:41

shame you? I'm gonna shame you, actually. And

10:43

since God apparently isn't gonna open his lips and

10:45

speak, I'll do it for

10:47

him and tell you exactly what's going on

10:50

here. Press

10:52

secretary for God, and so far, yeah. So

10:56

that's, you know when he starts

10:58

out like that, that this speech

11:01

is not going to improve,

11:03

and it doesn't. I

11:05

mean, it's, what he says

11:07

afterward is at

11:10

least toned down a little bit. It's

11:12

not like a direct attack, like

11:15

the opening words are. But it really

11:17

doesn't add anything to the conversation either. So

11:20

he shifts gears in verse seven and says, can

11:23

you find out the deep things of God? Can

11:26

you find out the limit of the

11:28

Almighty? It's higher than heaven.

11:31

What can you do? Deeper than

11:33

showhold, what can you know? Its

11:36

measure is longer than the earth and

11:38

broader than the sea. If

11:40

he passes through and imprisons

11:43

and summons the court, who could turn him

11:45

back? For he knows worthless

11:47

men. When he sees iniquity,

11:49

will he not consider it? But

11:53

a stupid man will get understanding

11:55

when a wild donkey's cult is

11:57

born a man. Okay.

12:00

So the first part

12:02

of this where like verses seven through

12:04

ten, I feel like Joe

12:08

would just be like yeah, that's what I've been saying. So

12:11

like if yeah, there's nothing nothing.

12:14

Yeah, there's nothing New that

12:16

he's adding here Do

12:19

you find other deep things of God job just

12:21

like no that's what I've been saying Oh, can

12:23

you find the limit of the Almighty job? No,

12:25

that's exactly what I've been saying like it's higher

12:27

than the heaven Yeah, I know like I've been

12:29

saying that I can't argue with God

12:31

because he's God That's what I've been that's what

12:33

I've been saying this whole time and who can

12:35

turn him back yet. No one Yeah, I know.

12:37

Like that's that's the whole problem here. And then

12:39

in the 11 12 you're like For

12:43

he knows worthless man when he sees in Nick what

12:45

he was not considerate yet. Whoa like

12:48

that's that seems a little like pointy

12:51

and then verse 12 is just

12:54

I Don't even know what's going

12:56

on there I Think

13:00

yeah first 12 ESV has

13:03

a stupid man will get an understanding when a wild donkey's

13:05

coat is born to man I

13:08

like the new American Standard puts it like

13:10

this an idiot will become intelligent when the

13:12

foal of a wild donkey is born a

13:14

man so It's

13:18

more it's not even a veil. I

13:20

think it's pretty pretty pointed accusation that

13:23

job is this idiot that he is

13:25

this Robert

13:27

also translates it a hollow man. The

13:29

Hebrew there is a the

13:31

image of being empty Empty-headed

13:33

is another way you could translate that So

13:37

that's who you that's who you're acting like

13:39

Jove and you're not gonna get wisdom. You're

13:41

not gonna get understanding in fact,

13:43

you're not gonna get that any more than

13:45

a Wild

13:47

donkey is going to give

13:49

birth to to a man It's just it's not

13:52

gonna happen if you persist in your way of

13:54

being empty-headed being foolish being an idiot being a

13:56

stupid man Then you're not

13:58

going to get the understanding you need. But

14:01

of course, if Job were to listen to Zophar,

14:04

I'm sure Zophar would be willing to grant that

14:06

wisdom to Job. Yeah, I mean

14:08

he really wants Job to stop

14:11

pretending like you're not a worthless man

14:13

full of iniquity. Yeah, you know the

14:15

opening verses where he talks about the limit of

14:17

the Almighty, you know, higher than the heavens deeper

14:20

than Sheol. That kind of stuff is all over

14:22

the Scriptures. That stuff is all over the book

14:24

of Job too. And this is why I said

14:26

it's just kind of platitudes. It's

14:28

like, okay, you're just kind

14:30

of spewing forth a bunch of theological truths.

14:34

Fine. These really

14:36

are not advancing the

14:38

conversation. These aren't giving me any kind

14:40

of hope. These aren't really addressing the

14:43

situation which I find myself. So you

14:45

can throw all

14:47

kinds of truisms out there, but that

14:49

doesn't mean that it's going to be

14:51

very, very helpful. Yeah.

14:54

So sometimes it depends on who

14:57

is saying something and

14:59

to whom they're saying it as to

15:01

whether this truth is going to be helpful or not. And

15:04

in this case, of course, it's not.

15:08

So verse 13 says,

15:12

if you prepare your heart, you

15:15

will stretch out with your hands toward him.

15:18

If iniquity is in your hand, put it

15:20

far away and let not injustice dwell in

15:23

your tents. Surely

15:25

then you will lift up

15:27

your face without blemish. You

15:29

will be secure and will

15:31

not fear. You'll

15:33

forget your misery. You will remember

15:35

it as the waters that have

15:37

passed away, just water under the bridge and

15:40

your life. Sorry,

15:43

he's so just optimistic here in

15:45

just incredulous sort of way that

15:47

it's almost hilarious. Your life will

15:49

be brighter than the noon day.

15:51

It's darkness. Will you like the

15:54

morning? You'll feel secure because

15:56

there's hope. You'll look around and

15:58

you'll take your rest in security. You'll

16:00

lie down and no one will make you

16:02

afraid. In fact, many people will court your

16:04

favor, but the

16:07

eye of the wicked will fail. All way of

16:09

escape will be lost to them, and their hope is

16:12

to breathe their last." So

16:15

this is... He goes from

16:17

kind of... He begins by attacking

16:20

Job, saying, I'm not going to put up

16:22

with this. I'm not going to sit here silently listening

16:24

to all this trash coming out of your

16:26

mouth. I'm going

16:28

to rebuke you to your faith. I'm going to shame you, in fact. And

16:31

then he shifts gears. You know, you

16:33

can't figure out the ways of God. Preaches versus 14 and following. And

16:36

basically he's saying to Job, if you'll do

16:38

what is right, then everything is

16:41

not only

16:46

going to be okay, but you're going to lead

16:49

this wonderful life. People will court your

16:51

favor. Everything's going to be

16:53

bright and happy. It's going to be a rose. Life is

16:55

going to be a rose garden for you, Job. All

16:58

you have to do is confess

17:01

and put away your iniquity. Then you

17:03

can lift up your face, and you'll

17:05

be secure, and will live without any

17:07

fear. Yeah, well, it does seem that

17:09

they definitely believe that Job is holding

17:12

on to something, right? Oh,

17:15

yeah. There is... He

17:17

says, if iniquity is in your hand.

17:21

But the whole tone of this is, listen, Job,

17:24

you can lie to yourself all you want, but

17:27

you're not fooling us. We know that you've

17:29

got some iniquity. It's

17:31

in your hand. It's in your heart. It's in

17:34

your past. So, out with it. Confess

17:37

it. And then maybe you'll

17:39

have hope, but not until then. It

17:42

seems pretty clear they don't believe that he

17:44

doesn't know what it is either. Yeah,

17:47

it's not some like thing he's forgotten

17:50

about or something he just didn't

17:52

realize, oh, I didn't know that I was doing

17:54

something wrong when I did that. Yeah,

17:57

they're convinced that he

17:59

knows. But he's

18:02

holding out. Well, I mean if you're If

18:05

you're suffering like this and God is against you

18:07

like this, how can you not know? I mean

18:09

they give you if you had that theology you're

18:12

gonna be like there's no way that you don't

18:14

know Why this is happening? I Mean

18:17

Joe, what's the biggest sin you've ever committed because

18:20

that's the one Like it's

18:22

obvious. I mean, this is like this. This

18:24

isn't happening to us like What

18:27

is it that you did that would bring this

18:29

sort of calamity upon you? There's also this I

18:31

mean, this is a Pronouncement

18:34

of judgment at the very end here too He

18:36

says but the eyes of the wicked will fail all

18:39

way of escape we lost to them and their

18:41

hope is To

18:43

breathe their last this is

18:45

of course. This is what Job wants He

18:48

said it over and over again to breathe his last so

18:50

what does he say? He's like Joe that you are this

18:52

person You are you are

18:54

this wicked person because your your

18:56

hope right now is to breathe your last and that

18:58

is the hope of the wicked Yeah

19:02

Thankfully, that's the end of so far speech I'm

19:06

glad that he that he didn't go on

19:08

to babble babble some more it's

19:12

a relatively brief 20 20 verse speech and Then

19:16

that you know, that's that's the end of the

19:18

first round all three of Job's friends have had

19:20

their chance to speak At this

19:22

point and they've all taken a slightly different

19:25

approach some showing at

19:27

least a little bit of hesitancy and

19:29

patience and compassion until you get to

19:31

so far and there's no compassion no

19:33

patience whatsoever, but yeah, they're I mean,

19:35

they're they're all convinced that That

19:40

Job was in the wrong now. I mean it's not

19:42

as if all three of

19:44

these guys have you know, just Vastly

19:46

different theologies because some of the things they've

19:48

said It crosses over from

19:51

from friend to friend. I think they would all agree

19:53

that you can't search out the ways in the Almighty,

19:55

right? Job said that basically

19:57

so the far says this that his ways

20:00

He's higher than the heavens. He's all-powerful. All

20:04

these things they would certainly agree on. What

20:07

they don't agree on, though, is what

20:11

Job has done and how he

20:14

stands with God and what he needs

20:16

to do to figure out where he

20:18

stands with God, because they're all convinced

20:20

that he's done something that's wrong. Job

20:24

has not and will not ever concede

20:27

to what they demand.

20:29

Yeah, and Job now, I mean, you're

20:31

about to get multiple episodes of Job,

20:33

because Job is about to go on

20:35

a real long

20:38

tirade here. I mean, this thing's gonna go

20:40

on for a while. Job's got a lot

20:42

of words to say in chapter 12 and

20:45

going forward, but he does

20:47

start... I do like in chapter

20:49

12 the way it starts, because it does seem

20:51

like he addresses so far

20:54

first, the first couple

20:56

of verses, and then moves on to other things.

20:58

But you got a

21:00

love that Job says, no doubt,

21:04

verse... this is, you know, chapter

21:06

12. Job answered and

21:09

said this, no doubt,

21:11

you are the people

21:13

and wisdom will die

21:15

with you. That's full-blown

21:17

sarcasm there. You

21:21

are the people and wisdom will die with you. I

21:23

mean, when you're gone, I just don't know what humanity

21:25

is gonna do. So why?

21:27

All the wisdom will just, yeah, we're gonna

21:30

bury you and we're gonna bury wisdom. All

21:34

hope of other wisdom to come

21:36

will perish. I mean, in verse 3

21:38

as it digs well, he said, but

21:40

I have understanding as well as you.

21:42

I am not inferior to you as

21:44

in this, who does not

21:47

know such things as these. Yeah,

21:54

Job, that last speech kind of picked

21:57

Job up from where he left off, you know. the

22:00

end of chapter 10, he was

22:02

in a pretty spiraling

22:05

downward, you know, deep darkness,

22:07

thick darkness, gloomy darkness, all

22:09

the darknesses. And now

22:12

it's like Zophar's speech is riled him

22:15

up. He's ready to go again. Yeah,

22:17

like after that speech, man, yeah, I

22:19

definitely got more to say. I'm gonna

22:22

battle some more. Yeah, for

22:24

sure. Yeah, so yeah, so you have the wisdom

22:26

dies with you, that sarcasm, and then of course,

22:29

hey, I know some things. I'm

22:32

not inferior to you, and also everything that you

22:35

just told me, there's zero people that don't know

22:37

that. You

22:42

didn't tell me anything. Yeah,

22:44

those are the just the platitudes

22:46

that Zophar, you know, thought he

22:48

was no doubt wise and saying,

22:51

but he added

22:53

nothing to the conversation. Good job, good job

22:55

saying things everyone knows. Yeah, the sky is

22:57

blue, the sun is hot, water is wet.

23:00

Thank you for that contribution. None of us

23:02

realize that until you graced

23:04

us. I guess all that knowledge is gonna die with

23:07

you so far. Yeah, the

23:11

verse 4, he says,

23:13

I'm a laughingstock to my friends. I,

23:16

who called to God, then he answered me, a

23:19

just and blameless man, am a

23:21

laughingstock. So, yeah,

23:24

he seems to think that it's almost like his friends

23:26

are making fun of him. I mean, who do you

23:28

think I am? You know, am I someone that

23:31

you think you need to come along and teach

23:33

that the sky is blue and the sun is

23:35

hot, water is wet? I know

23:37

these things. I know that God is

23:39

higher than the heavens and he's

23:41

deeper than Sheol. Of course,

23:43

I know that. So, don't make fun of me

23:46

by treating me as if I am

23:48

somehow inferior to you. Well,

23:51

he also does this thing where

23:53

he said, there's sort of an

23:57

unwillingness. So, they dare say, hey, I

23:59

mean, just So far, it says, you're a wicked man,

24:01

you know? You are

24:05

worthless and full of

24:07

iniquity. And Job says, no,

24:09

I'm the guy who called on God. I'm

24:12

a just and blameless man. Now, I'm laughable

24:16

to my friends. But

24:18

I'll tell you this, I'm not going to concede to

24:21

this point. Yeah.

24:24

Yeah, and good for Job for not

24:26

conceding it. He continues to say the

24:28

same thing that we have been told about him,

24:30

that he is a blameless man. He

24:32

is upright. He is just. He's

24:34

a laughingstock to his friends, but to

24:36

God, he is just and blameless. And

24:39

in saying, I who called to God

24:41

and he answered me, I mean,

24:43

Job didn't mean that as prophetic, but it really

24:45

is. Yeah. Because at the

24:47

end of the book, that's precisely what's going to happen. God

24:50

is going to never… God

24:54

is not going to respond to the

24:56

friends. He's going to respond to Job, and then… Job

24:59

is going to pray for his friends, so… He

25:01

did call to God, and God did, in fact, answer him.

25:06

So verse 5, in

25:09

the thought of one who is

25:11

at ease, there is contempt for

25:13

misfortune. It is ready

25:15

for those whose feet slip. So,

25:18

yeah, I mean, if you're at ease,

25:20

like his three friends are, they have

25:22

contempt for misfortune. That is a

25:24

very true statement. If

25:27

everything is going great, if everything

25:30

is wonderful in your life, if you're at

25:32

ease, if you're like Zophar, you've got everything

25:34

figured out, well, yeah, that

25:37

tends to foster some contempt for

25:39

misfortune. In fact, you can even…

25:42

You can even foster kind of a… What

25:45

is that German word? Schadenfreude,

25:47

that kind of delight in other people's

25:49

misfortune… Yeah. When you're at

25:51

ease, you know, so… But… So

25:54

that's the way it is for people that are at ease,

25:56

but it's ready for those whose feet slip. Well, it also

25:59

turns out that others… other people's misfortune

26:03

can if you're

26:09

fertile soil for self-righteousness which there seems

26:11

to be plenty of right so if

26:13

you're if good things are happening to

26:15

you but bad things are happening to

26:17

that person you have whatever I'm

26:19

doing right yeah yeah

26:22

God must be I don't know about that

26:24

a dude I mean he's going through some

26:27

bad stuff but man my life's pretty good

26:29

so I guess God's really happy

26:31

with me I

26:33

mean that that's what the temptation you

26:36

know that's the temptation for

26:38

those who are at ease not

26:41

even necessarily to have contempt for misfortune but

26:43

to have just kind

26:45

of this naive assumption that just

26:47

because things are going well in your life that God

26:49

must be happy with you that's not the way that

26:51

life works any more than you can say that when

26:53

things are going bad in your life that God is

26:55

angry with you the

26:58

the good quality of the bad quality

27:01

of your life is no gauge upon

27:03

where you stand with God no and

27:05

the contempt from misfortune is not just

27:07

simply a contempt I don't think Job

27:09

is saying that yeah oh yeah you

27:11

can have contempt for just bad things

27:13

but the misfortune

27:17

happens to people and so the contempt

27:19

then is not just for the thing

27:21

itself but the contempt moves from misfortune

27:24

to the

27:27

object of that misfortune which is of course

27:29

a person and so this can happen I

27:31

mean people do this all the time so

27:34

you might there's a difference obviously

27:37

between you see some homeless

27:39

guy and rags on the street you

27:41

can wonder what

27:44

I wonder what happened that

27:46

led to this without despising

27:48

the person but you can easily cross into

27:50

a different thing where you say I'm so

27:53

tired of these people you

27:55

start to have contempt for the actual

27:57

individual not just for the fact that

27:59

such circumstances exist. Yeah,

28:01

exactly. Which is what's

28:04

happening with Job's friends. He finishes

28:06

this section, verse 6, with saying, the tents

28:08

of robbers are at peace, and

28:10

those who provoke God are secure, who bring their

28:13

God in their hand. I think this is Job's

28:15

way of saying things

28:17

are not the way they should be. This seems

28:19

very unjust because robbers, they're back

28:21

at their tents, they're cool, everything's

28:24

fine with them. Like those who

28:26

provoke God, they're secure, they're at ease.

28:28

They're carrying their gods around in their

28:30

hand, and yet everything's fine with them.

28:32

But I, a just

28:35

and blameless man, am a laughingstock

28:37

to my friends, and I've been

28:39

held in contempt by them. I've

28:44

done everything right as far

28:46

as I can see. I mean,

28:48

I've done everything right, and yet everything wrong is

28:50

befalling me. But this seems like a

28:53

theological corrective here. So

28:56

their whole arguments are like, Job, as you

28:58

know, good things happen to good people,

29:02

bad things happen to bad people, that's

29:04

the way of the world. And Job's like, really? I don't

29:06

think it is, because it seems to me

29:09

that there's tents full of robbers, and this

29:11

isn't happening to them. Like,

29:14

money is their God. They

29:16

go and seize that God with their hand, and

29:18

I don't see them in trash heaps covered in

29:20

boils. I don't see that happen. Are you sure

29:22

that God just doles

29:25

out his justice just completely, with

29:27

a complete equity? Are you positive

29:30

about that? Because I seem

29:33

to think that there's lots of bad people that

29:35

aren't having nearly as bad of things happen to

29:37

them as are happening to me. Yeah, Job

29:40

is much more realist than his

29:42

friends. He's also just more observant

29:44

of human nature. Yeah. Later

29:46

in the book, his friends will

29:48

kind of go back and forth with him, or

29:50

they'll talk about how, you know, the

29:52

wicked perish. You know, you won't see

29:54

a wicked man living to old age

29:57

and prospering, and Job will be like...

30:00

What world do you live in? That

30:02

happens all the time. I mean people

30:05

get, you know, they

30:07

get rich off of violence and injustice and all

30:09

this kind of stuff, and they live to a

30:12

ripe old age. So don't go

30:14

around telling me that the wicked are always

30:16

going to suffer in this life. And

30:19

then Job's friends will say something like,

30:21

well, you know, sometimes God will delay

30:23

punishment to the second or third generation.

30:26

Job will say, why? Why? What

30:29

is the guy, care what happens to his great-grandson? Make

30:33

sure that he's the one who actually suffers from

30:35

his wrongdoing. So Job is more of a

30:37

realist. He actually sees the

30:39

way the world works, and his friends

30:41

are kind of living in this castle

30:44

of their own creation, very

30:46

naive about the way this world works. Okay,

30:49

verse 7. He goes

30:51

on to say, Ask the

30:54

beast, and they will teach you the

30:56

birds of the heavens, and they will tell you, or

30:59

the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you,

31:01

and the fish of the sea will declare to you. So

31:04

don't look at creation. You know, go talk

31:07

to some animals. Go talk to

31:09

some birds or some bushes or some fish. Who

31:12

among all these does not know

31:14

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

31:18

In his hand is the life of

31:20

every living thing and the breath

31:22

of all mankind. Does not

31:24

the ear test words as the palate

31:26

taste food? Wisdom is with

31:28

the aged and understanding in

31:30

length of days. So what

31:33

do you think his point is here? The point

31:35

here is that he's saying, like, listen,

31:37

why don't you go ask that bush if

31:40

I'm doing this, if this is something I did,

31:42

or if God is doing this. Why don't you

31:44

go ask that bush? You know, that bush will

31:46

tell you that this

31:49

is something that God is doing. I

31:51

didn't bring this on myself. I'm not

31:53

participating. I have not participated in this.

31:56

I am just the recipient of

31:59

this desire. And you can go

32:01

ask the fish or the bush

32:03

or whatever. This is another

32:05

way of saying this should be Obvious

32:07

to you, especially if these

32:10

are people who know him, right?

32:12

So where he said you should

32:14

know me that you should understand

32:16

the Frustration

32:19

that I'm in and not

32:21

being able to parse out exactly what's going

32:23

on here You should if you know me

32:25

you should be it should be evident to

32:27

you like super obvious to you Like the

32:29

bird over there can tell you about this

32:32

It seems that that is what that's what he's getting

32:34

at. Then of course he goes on to say I

32:36

mean, this is I Saying

32:39

the same sort of like Obvious

32:41

theological stuff of like like

32:43

God's in charge of everything. I mean everything that's living is

32:45

in hand this is as true as

32:47

the the fact that the ears

32:50

hear words and Tongues

32:52

taste food like it's as

32:54

self-evident as that. Yeah,

32:56

that makes that makes sense. I think I might be

32:58

totally off That's how I read it Yeah,

33:01

well, it does make sense. I just I was having

33:03

trouble kind of fitting it into the Jove's arguments You

33:06

know, especially coming off of those first those first six

33:08

verses, but yeah, it doesn't make sense This

33:10

should be as obvious as a as something that

33:12

any beast to the field of the birds of

33:15

the heavens or the fish The sea can explain

33:17

to you. Yeah, even even even ending with it

33:19

Yeah, even ending with wisdom is in you know,

33:21

it was with the ages and understanding the length

33:23

of the days Like you don't need those things

33:25

to determine this Like

33:28

that Bush knows this You

33:31

don't need you so seek out some

33:33

like wise old sage That

33:36

sage Bush knows what's going

33:38

on here Pat

33:40

and patly obvious. Yeah. All

33:42

right, so he having said that verse 13

33:44

to 15

33:48

he goes on with God our

33:51

wisdom and might He has

33:53

counsel and understanding if

33:55

he tears down none can rebuild

33:58

if he shuts the man in can open.

34:01

If he withholds the waters, they

34:03

dry up. If he sends them

34:05

out, they overwhelm the land. With

34:08

him our strength and sound wisdom, the

34:10

deceived and the deceiver

34:13

are his. He leads

34:15

counselors away stripped and judges he makes

34:17

fools. He looses the bonds of kings

34:20

and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

34:23

He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the

34:25

mighty. He deprives the

34:27

speech those who are trusted and

34:29

takes away the discernment of elders.

34:34

I guess I'll just read the rest of the

34:36

season. This is all kind of this one ongoing

34:38

speech about God doing all these things. He

34:41

pours contempt on princes, loosens the belt of

34:44

the strong. He uncovers the deeps

34:46

out of darkness and brings deep darkness to

34:48

light. He makes nations great. He destroys them.

34:50

He enlarges nations and leads them away. He

34:53

takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people

34:55

of the earth and makes them wonder in a

34:58

trackless waste. They grope in the

35:00

dark without light. He makes them

35:02

stagger like a drunken

35:04

man. This whole section

35:07

from 13 all the way to the end

35:09

of the chapter, it just

35:11

filled full example after example of this the

35:14

way I'm reading it anyway, is listen

35:16

God is all wise. God is all powerful.

35:19

He has all this counsel understanding and

35:22

everything happening in creation is one way or

35:24

another being done by Him whether it's seemingly

35:27

good or bad. I mean He's taking

35:30

counsels away stripped. He's loosing the

35:32

bonds of kings. He's depriving some

35:34

of speech. The deceiver and the

35:36

deceived are His. So He puts

35:38

water here. He dries up here.

35:41

Everything in other words is under

35:44

His control and the implication of

35:46

that is including my own life. So

35:49

this is not it. Everything that's happening

35:52

to me is not an accident. It's

35:56

however He did it, God was involved in

35:58

this in other words. If he

36:01

can do all these other things that I've just gone through,

36:03

if he's all wise

36:05

and all-knowing, all-powerful, bringing one nation

36:07

down, lifting up another nation, if

36:10

he can go into the

36:12

deepest depths of the darkness, then it's

36:15

not as if I somehow have

36:17

escaped his attention, have escaped his

36:19

actions any more than

36:21

any of these other parts of creation have

36:24

happened apart from his involvement. Yeah. And

36:27

because of all that, if you want to know why this has happened

36:29

to me, since

36:32

I don't know, why don't you ask him?

36:34

Since he's what it does, everything, you're

36:36

asking the wrong person, right? Right. I

36:40

don't know. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I

36:42

mean, that is kind

36:44

of the undercurrent of all this, too, is

36:47

this struggle that Job

36:49

has continued to have because he doesn't

36:51

know why. God

36:54

obviously does. But how can

36:56

he get to God? How can he have a conversation

36:58

with God? How can you have an empire between him

37:00

and God if this is who God is and then

37:02

this is who Job is? So,

37:05

I mean, you definitely are picking up on the

37:08

fact that he doesn't know where to

37:10

turn because everywhere in which he turns

37:12

either finds God attacking him or sending

37:15

Irish troops against him or just simply

37:17

inscrutable in his ways and his dealings

37:19

with humanity. So he's dealing with a

37:21

God he can't understand. And

37:24

then he's also dealing with friends who

37:26

claim to understand God but don't

37:29

truly understand him. So

37:31

he's got a vertical problem, but he also has a

37:33

horizontal problem. He can't figure out what God is doing.

37:35

He doesn't know where he stands with God. And

37:38

then he has friends who are misdirecting

37:41

him and accusing him and

37:43

not being in any way

37:45

compassionate or helpful as he

37:47

struggles with the questions

37:49

that he faces. Yeah, and these last two verses,

37:51

he might even be sort of alluding to his

37:53

friends. I mean, we don't know who these guys

37:55

are, but Job seems like a guy

37:57

that was in positions of

38:01

notability. I mean, people knew who he

38:03

was and he had, I mean, you

38:05

can't have what Job had and just

38:08

be, you know, some anonymous guy.

38:10

It does seem as he

38:12

takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people

38:14

of the earth, it makes

38:16

them wonder in trackless ways. They grope around

38:18

in the dark without light and make them

38:21

stagger around like drunken men. It does seem

38:23

that, again, I don't know who these people

38:25

are that are coming to talk

38:27

to them, but if

38:30

they are considered chiefs at all, it

38:32

seems that this is maybe talking about them. I

38:35

also think that God has taken away understanding from

38:37

my friends. They're over here

38:39

just groping around. They're

38:41

staggering about, they don't understand anything. Yeah,

38:44

Job makes eye contact with each of the

38:46

three friends of these folks, speaks these last

38:48

couple of verses. Yeah,

38:50

well, in verse 20,

38:52

I think you can kind of see that

38:55

too. Like he deprives of speech those who

38:57

are trusted and takes away

38:59

the discernment of the elders, right? And

39:01

so, don't know, but he

39:03

could be also speaking about them. They hear

39:05

like, your speech

39:08

is worthless. Of

39:11

course, these are his friends. No doubt he trusted

39:13

them and takes away the discernment

39:15

of the elders, right? Like you have no

39:17

discernment here is coming from you, your

39:19

speech. He's deprived any good speech

39:21

from you. Yeah, and so

39:24

all they have to say are

39:26

platitudes and unhelpful

39:28

accusations. Yeah. Job

39:31

isn't done. I mean, that was in chapter

39:33

12. He's going to continue with chapter 13,

39:36

but we'll have to get that in our next

39:38

episode. Yeah, I mean, he's got two more

39:41

chapters to go of continuing. He's

39:47

got a lot to say. So we'll

39:49

join him for it next time. Chad,

39:51

I will see you then. All right? see you then.