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Welcome to another

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episode of 40

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Minutes in the

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Old Testament. 40

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1:38

right, Chad, we are in Job 21. We

1:41

got about, I don't know, halfway through this

1:44

thing. And

1:46

Job is in the middle of a rebuttal.

1:49

His rebuttal is pretty

1:52

straightforward because he's had to make it

1:54

a couple of times now. And

1:58

once again, the response was... Hey,

2:01

you know, the bad thing's going to

2:03

happen to the wicked people. It always does. Look around.

2:05

Look at how bad the wicked have it. And

2:08

Job's response is pretty much, you

2:11

look around, what are you talking

2:13

about? Like, who are

2:15

you talking to? What world are you

2:17

living in? The wicked do in fact

2:19

prosper. You're out of your mind. And

2:22

we're kind of about halfway

2:25

through that response. Yeah,

2:28

and speaking of halfway, as we

2:31

were discussing right before we hit record, we

2:33

are halfway through the look of Job. That

2:37

part's kind of wild because you're, you got it, you,

2:40

as you're just the one thing that's true about Job, as

2:43

you're reading, especially this part, which

2:46

is like, this is the

2:48

bulk of Job, this discourse like

2:50

this, as you're reading

2:52

it, like if you got to this part,

2:54

you'd be like, surely, this is

2:56

over, about over. Wrapping

2:59

up any minute. Like, how much longer can this

3:01

go on? Yeah,

3:04

well, you know, anyone who sat in

3:06

on many theological debates knows that they

3:09

are rarely short. So this

3:12

is definitely the theological

3:14

debate book of the Bible.

3:17

So we got a few more chapters to

3:20

go, even though there's not gonna be

3:22

a lot of new things that are said, especially

3:24

by Job's friends. Job has a few more things

3:26

to say. And speaking of

3:28

more things to say. I think one of the things that

3:30

you could maybe,

3:32

because you're doing it chapter by chapter, and

3:34

it's just taken, you know, we're doing this over

3:37

the course of weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. But

3:40

you have to understand that like, this

3:43

conversation, like, Job's friends get there, they

3:45

have for a couple days, you know,

3:47

like, they're chilling. But

3:50

this is all presumably just like a really

3:52

one long frustrating day. In

3:54

fact, I used to a few times, so

3:57

I live in East Texas now, but when I lived

3:59

in Central Texas, I would hike

4:01

in a park called Purgatory

4:03

and I would listen to Job. I just

4:05

figured it was appropriate. And

4:08

also my long hikes would be out there for two hours

4:11

and I could listen to the entire book. So

4:14

yeah, you can you can listen to Job in

4:16

two hours. So, you know this conversation has taken

4:18

place over a day or it could have been

4:21

multiple days. But anyway, yeah, it's

4:23

taking us weeks to get through it, but it

4:26

wasn't like this was a six-month dialogue

4:29

between Job and his buddies. Yeah, they weren't

4:31

like leaving, coming back, leaving, coming back. At least

4:34

we have no evidence of that. Maybe it's over,

4:36

of course, a couple days. We have no evidence

4:38

of that either. Like it seems like it's just

4:40

once they start talking, it's

4:43

on. And you're like, man, this

4:45

is one heck of

4:47

a conversation going on here, man. I just...

4:50

And maybe that's why maybe you can start hearing

4:52

the tone get more and more frustrated. I mean,

4:54

this is just... they're probably getting hungry. They

4:57

probably arguing right through lunch. No,

5:00

yeah, they're hangry now. So it's

5:03

getting worse. Yeah. So

5:05

yeah, Job 17, I mean Job

5:07

21-17 is where we left off

5:09

and he's kind of in the middle

5:11

of this rebuttal where he's

5:13

pointing out that things are not as

5:15

his friends have suggested. It's not like,

5:18

you know, the wicked all are cut

5:20

off in the prime of life

5:23

and suffer the fruits of their

5:26

evil deeds. So he's

5:28

picking up here with verse 17 by saying, how often?

5:31

How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?

5:34

That their calamity comes upon them, that

5:36

God distributes pains in

5:39

his anger. So

5:41

you're claiming that the lamp of

5:43

the wicked is put out all the time.

5:46

They're cut off. Well, show me

5:48

some evidence of that. When does

5:50

this happen? When does calamity come

5:52

upon them when they're in the

5:54

middle of all their evil doing? I

5:56

think Job's argument too is like, how

5:58

often is that? But

6:01

the argument isn't that bad

6:04

things only happen to good people and

6:06

bad things never happen to wicked people

6:08

or that wicked people always get away

6:10

with it and they're never caught and

6:12

they're never punished. The

6:15

argument is that there

6:17

doesn't seem to be any

6:20

sort of pattern to any

6:24

of this. And Job's like, look dude,

6:26

bad things happen to

6:28

good people, bad things happen to bad people,

6:31

good things happen to good people, good

6:33

things happen to bad people. This idea

6:35

that there's this hard, fast rule and

6:37

you can know this, this, and this

6:40

is just obviously not true. And

6:42

so I can ask the question, how often

6:44

does that happen? And

6:47

maybe you can come back and be like, well, I've

6:49

seen it happen. I'm like, okay. But you're arguing that

6:51

it always happens. And that's obviously not true. Is that

6:53

25% of the time? Shoot 50%

6:55

of the time. You could tell me that

6:57

80% of the time

6:59

the bad things happen to wicked people and you

7:01

be like, yeah, they're still, two out

7:05

of 10 times, it doesn't. Because

7:07

I feel like Job's frustration is

7:10

that there's not really a rhyme

7:12

or reason for any of this that he can

7:15

discern. It all seems pretty

7:17

random and arbitrary. Yeah,

7:19

the friends have a very mechanical view of the

7:21

universe. It's

7:24

almost like a deistic kind of God

7:26

where he has set things up to

7:28

where if you do X, lies

7:30

can result. So if you

7:32

do evil, evil will happen to you. If you do

7:34

good, good will happen to you. And

7:38

they're holding to this naive understanding of the

7:40

inverse despite the fact that we have example

7:42

after example, like you were just describing where

7:44

that does not happen, where the wicked prosper

7:46

and the righteous suffer. So

7:49

of course that's one of Job's main points here.

7:51

And he goes on to say, how

7:54

often, verse 18, how often

7:56

does it happen that they're like straw before

7:58

the wind and like chash? that the

8:00

storm carries away. You

8:02

say God stores up their

8:04

iniquity for their children. Then

8:09

Job refuses, not refuses, but sends

8:12

a response. Well, let

8:14

him pay it out to them that they may know it.

8:17

Let their own eyes see their destruction, and

8:20

let them drink of the wrath of

8:22

the Almighty. From what do they care for

8:25

their houses after them when the number of their months

8:27

is cut off? So he first

8:29

of all begins by quoting

8:32

his friends, saying, well, you know what

8:34

God does, really, if

8:37

it doesn't befall the evildoers in

8:39

their own lifetime, well, then

8:41

what's gonna happen is God is gonna

8:43

just hold this punishment until

8:46

they're gone, and then he's going to

8:48

meet it out upon their children. Yeah,

8:50

Job says, yeah,

8:53

Job's like, well, what good does that do? If

8:58

God wants to make a point, then

9:00

let him pay it out to them, that is

9:02

to the evildoers themselves. Let

9:05

their own eyes see their destruction, let them

9:07

drink of the wrath of the Almighty. Because,

9:10

I mean, if he's an evildoer, what do they care what

9:12

happens after they're dead and gone? They're

9:14

dead and gone. You're talking about

9:16

wicked people. It's not like they

9:19

probably aren't the sort of people that have a

9:21

real concern about what

9:23

their children are gonna do or anything like that.

9:25

That's not what they're worried about. I mean, and

9:27

also, I mean, for Job, I think that that

9:30

just, don't worry, Job,

9:32

it'll be just. If we don't,

9:34

if God doesn't get them, he'll get their children,

9:36

and you're like,

9:39

that doesn't sound just. If

9:43

somebody murders somebody, and

9:46

you're trying to find him, you can't find him, you never

9:48

find him, and then he dies, and then you find his

9:50

son, you throw him in the electric chair. I mean, what

9:52

are we doing here? Can

9:55

you say justice has been served? I don't think this is

9:57

correct at all. No, no.

10:00

course Ezekiel will make that same point that you

10:02

don't punish the children for the sins of the

10:04

father. And

10:06

you know speaking of evil though is not

10:09

caring what happens after they're dead and gone.

10:11

Even righteous King Hezekiah, I was

10:13

just reading this morning, well it's

10:15

recorded in Kings as well as in

10:17

Isaiah. I'm reading to Isaiah

10:19

right now and it's that part where

10:22

he's been sick and the

10:25

king of Babylon sends a letter you know telling

10:27

him, hey I hope you get better. And

10:30

then some envoys show up from Babylon and Hezekiah

10:34

takes them all through his stuff,

10:36

shows them all his treasure, all

10:38

his things. And then

10:40

Isaiah catches wind of this and

10:44

comes to Hezekiah and says, hey who

10:46

were those people and what you show them

10:48

and he tells them. And then Isaiah prophesies

10:50

that what's going to happen down the road

10:52

is that these Babylonians are going to come

10:54

and they're going to take away all your things. And

10:57

then Hezekiah who is you know one of the righteous

11:00

kings is like, oh good,

11:03

because that means there's this going to be

11:05

peace in my days. He's not

11:07

worried about what's going to happen to his grandkids

11:10

or great grandkids or whoever, he's

11:12

just happy that in his lifetime

11:14

everything's going to be okay. So

11:17

even righteous Hezekiah isn't that

11:20

worried about what's going to happen to his

11:22

house after him, much much less

11:24

are evil that was going to carry about that. So,

11:26

Job's point is, listen, if this is

11:29

going to be justice, what will be

11:31

done now before those who

11:33

deserve justice are dead and

11:35

gone and don't know what's happening. Job

11:39

awesome might be like, maybe my dad was horrible.

11:47

My father I was unaware of. I

11:50

can't think of anything I did but like, yeah, I agree. That's

11:53

how it works. I may have to go audit his

11:55

life too and figure out if I'm getting punished for

11:57

something he did. So,

12:01

verse 22 picks up with this, and Job

12:03

says, will any

12:05

teach God knowledge? So

12:08

are you going to be the instructor of the Almighty

12:10

here, seeing that he judges

12:12

those who are on high? Judging

12:15

those who are on high, I

12:18

assume, is reflective of other Old

12:20

Testament passages which talk about God

12:22

judging the heavenly

12:25

hosts who were built against Him. And you have that

12:27

in several different places, all the New Testament. So, God

12:30

is the one who judges those who are on high, so

12:32

we're not going to become His teacher.

12:37

Verse 23, one

12:39

dies in his full vigor, being

12:42

holy at ease and secure, his

12:45

pails full of milk and

12:47

the marrow of his bones moist. Another

12:51

dies in distress of soul, never

12:53

having tasted of prosperity. They,

12:56

so the ones that have everything

12:58

and the ones who have nothing, they

13:00

all lie down alike in the

13:02

dust, and the worms

13:05

cover them. So

13:07

this is kind of Job wrapping up this part

13:09

of it, saying basically, listen, you

13:12

look around and what happens? We've got some

13:14

people who are the haves and some people who are the

13:16

have-nots. And Job

13:18

describes the haves here as those

13:21

who's, well, the Hebrew is uncertain here. If

13:23

you check the translations, there's all

13:26

kinds of translations of the first part of

13:28

verse 24, but ESV has,

13:30

his pails are full of milk.

13:33

Other translations have, his sides are filled

13:35

out with fat. I

13:38

have no idea what this means, but the New

13:41

Revised Standard Version says his loins are full of

13:43

milk. I don't know how

13:45

that works, but King James

13:48

has his breast, his breast are full

13:50

of milk. So some

13:52

weird stuff going on here in the translations,

13:54

but they're just trying to make sense of

13:56

the Hebrew. I think we, I

13:58

mean, you capture the essence of it. He's got a

14:00

lot. He's you know, he's not he's not hurting

14:03

whether his tails or his His

14:06

body is full of milk. Well, he's not

14:08

he's not hungry No, whatever whatever that is,

14:10

it sounds weird to say in the the

14:12

marrow is boy bones are moist Yeah,

14:17

I guess if you think it super super

14:19

hydrated your marrow dries up. I don't know

14:23

Yeah, this strange strange metaphors, but I

14:25

mean we get it the sense of

14:28

you've got everything you need You got

14:30

all the milk you need your your

14:32

your bones your marrow of your bones

14:34

are moist your your your good Rich,

14:38

but another guy He's he's

14:41

got an embittered soul. He's never even tasted

14:44

of this prosperity that other people have

14:46

but you know what Joseph it

14:48

doesn't really matter because they're all gonna be dead all of

14:51

them alike are gonna go down to the dust and He

14:54

has this nightmarish

14:56

image Worms worms

14:59

covered it's not as bad as a Listen

15:02

to this parallel. This is from Isaiah 14. He's

15:05

talking about how the king

15:08

is brought down to sheol and

15:10

he says Maggots are

15:12

laid as a bed beneath you and

15:14

worms are your covers. So

15:16

I Wouldn't read that

15:18

verse right before you go to bed because your dreams are gonna be

15:21

pretty weird This

15:23

is back in the day before caskets

15:25

and whatnot man like This

15:27

is just Works

15:31

yeah, man, Joe wraps up

15:33

this section by saying his

15:35

main point is that The

15:38

wicked aren't necessarily going to die in the

15:40

prime of life in the

15:42

end Yes, they will die and yes, so will

15:44

also the those who are

15:46

presumably leading righteous lives in the end

15:49

They all end up in in the

15:51

same place finish

15:53

of skiers Verse 27 Behold,

15:58

I know your thoughts So

16:00

he's talking to his friends here. He goes,

16:02

I know what you're thinking, and

16:04

I also know about your schemes to wrong

16:06

me. I'm assuming he's

16:09

talking about wrong verbally in the sense

16:11

of maligning and accusing him falsely of

16:13

having deserved the things that he's suffering.

16:15

So I know what you're thinking. I

16:18

know about your scheming. For

16:21

you say, where is the house of

16:23

the prince? Where is the

16:25

tent in which the wicked lived? So

16:29

this is reflective of—it's

16:31

not an exact quote, but it's reflective of many of

16:34

the things that friends have said that basically, hey,

16:36

look for my prince. Prince here is understood to

16:38

be a powerful one who

16:40

abused his office. So where's

16:43

this prince's house? Well, it is

16:45

no more because God destroyed it. Or

16:47

where is the wicked tent? Well, it

16:49

is no more either because God

16:52

has gotten rid of him as well. So

16:54

that's what they say. And

16:56

Job responds by saying, basically,

16:59

have you been nowhere? Are

17:03

you unaware of anything happening in the

17:05

world? Have you not—this is what

17:08

he says, verse 1, 9—have you not

17:10

asked those who travel the roads, and

17:13

do you not accept their testimony,

17:16

that the evil man is spared

17:18

in the day of calamity, that he

17:20

is rescued in the day

17:22

of wrath? So

17:25

even if you're unaware of this, do you

17:27

not talk to anybody, the guys who travel

17:30

around and have some experience in the world?

17:32

Because if you took 30 seconds

17:35

to visit with someone who has

17:37

been places, what they're going to tell you

17:40

is that when it comes to the day of calamity, the

17:42

evil guy gets away. And when

17:44

it comes to the day of wrath, he's

17:46

rescued. He's let out from whatever

17:49

danger he's in to rescue. That's

17:52

the way it works, Job says. me,

18:00

like, do you think there's any like, like,

18:03

I don't like we're like, we're Christians and

18:05

everything, but do you think karma is a

18:08

real thing? And I was like, No,

18:11

no, I don't think so. Because

18:15

like, there's certainly like, you know, if you're

18:17

there's like some repeating sewing principles, maybe I

18:19

mean, if you're like, nice to

18:21

people, people will probably generally be nice

18:23

to you. And if you're, you know,

18:27

good to be around people will want

18:29

to be around you more if you're if you're not,

18:31

they won't. And like, I mean, there's like some of

18:33

that kind of stuff is just like, kind of natural,

18:36

but but

18:38

I don't know if that's if

18:40

that's karma. And it seems

18:43

to me, of course, I got job on the mind

18:45

for those I know, you know, we've

18:47

been going through this forever, and we're still in it.

18:51

And I see that some of what Joe was talking about

18:53

this too, is that, like, it seems

18:55

though, that people that

18:58

are sort of above

19:00

and beyond wicked, like the more

19:02

like the more wicked you are,

19:05

the less it seems that like whatever

19:07

kind of like thing you think might

19:10

be like, some form of

19:12

karma exists, right? So like,

19:15

if you're like regular people, and

19:17

you're somebody who is a gossiper,

19:20

you might

19:22

get a reputation as a gossiper, and people

19:25

might stop telling you things are confiding in

19:27

you and you'd be like, ah, that's that's

19:29

just that's karma or whatever. That's you've, that's

19:32

you, you've earned this. But

19:35

if you're like, running

19:37

some kind of like huge

19:40

cabal, and like, you're like, uniquely

19:42

wicked person, you know, there's like, you're,

19:44

you're putting out hit lists and all

19:46

this kind of stuff. No,

19:48

like, those people don't

19:51

you I mean, of course, sometimes, but it's

19:54

not, it's not like that at all.

19:56

Then you just have people fear you and nobody will

19:58

tell you the truth and like, yeah, No, it's

20:00

not it you're not to wait for

20:02

the day of judgment for most of that stuff And it seems

20:04

like that's a lot of what

20:06

job is doing here Like where it's like look

20:09

man like we're not talking about like your average

20:11

wickedness But like the more wicked you are the

20:13

more likely you are to get away with it

20:17

Yeah, when you were talking my

20:19

my mind went to Herod the Great I

20:22

mean and I know for those who

20:24

know Herod story. Yes, he died of a Rotest

20:28

and painful illness. Yeah, sure

20:30

But you look at most of his life and

20:33

if you know anything about the atrocities

20:37

Of which Herod was guilty you like that guy

20:39

didn't go get what he had coming. I

20:41

mean he was I mean it was a Caesar

20:44

once said that it was safer to be

20:46

Herod's pig than his son so

20:52

The he was thinking of people left and right but

20:54

for most of his life he he enjoyed I mean

20:56

he had palaces all over the Holy Land. He had

21:00

You know everything that his his heart Desire

21:03

he had pleasures he had he was

21:05

living an opulent lifestyle so

21:09

I mean he just one example that we

21:11

could multiply today and Joe

21:13

would you know refer to that example of

21:16

Someone who's not getting what we

21:18

might deem. They justly deserve I

21:22

mean If you're

21:24

running the cartel Yeah,

21:27

I don't know maybe you go die in some

21:30

kind of crazy firefight or whatever Yeah

21:32

you've got now you've got all these people that

21:34

are afraid of you and that do whatever you

21:36

say and like and all this kind of It's

21:38

like the the more The

21:41

more because because like it's sort of like extreme wickedness

21:43

is usually a tied with you know It

21:46

care can be Also

21:49

joined to gaining more and more

21:51

power because obviously the more power

21:53

you have the more opportunities you

21:55

have for For doing whatever

21:57

it is you want and and

21:59

so So some of this is like, okay, to say

22:02

like all

22:04

wicked people get what's coming to them,

22:06

you're like, well,

22:08

all powerful people certainly don't get what's coming

22:10

to them. And a lot of powerful people

22:12

are pretty wicked. Mm-hmm.

22:15

Yeah. That's how they got there. Yeah.

22:20

So you can understand Job's frustration

22:23

with the claims of his friends.

22:27

So after saying he's rescued in the name of

22:29

Zorath, verse 31, and we're almost done with

22:32

the chapter here, he says, who declares

22:34

his way to his face and

22:36

who repays him for what he has done? When

22:39

he's carried to the grave, watch

22:41

is kept over his tomb. The

22:44

clods of the valley are sweet

22:46

to him. All mankind follows after

22:49

him and those who go before

22:51

him are innumerable. How

22:54

then would you comfort me with

22:56

empty nothings? There is nothing left

22:58

of your answers but falsehood. So

23:01

he finishes up here

23:03

by saying, these wicked that

23:05

you claim are going to die and

23:08

receive their just

23:10

desserts early in life. Well,

23:13

nobody declares their wickedness to their

23:15

face and certainly no one's going to repay them

23:17

for what they've done. I mean, they

23:19

are all powerful. So

23:21

no one is going to take the risk of doing that. Then

23:25

verse 33, to kind of cap off his argument, he says,

23:27

listen, even when they

23:29

die, it's not as if they're

23:31

tossed into a ditch and perish

23:34

in obscurity. There's all kinds

23:36

of pomp and circumstance around it, even

23:38

with their burial. When they're

23:40

carried to the grave, he says, watch is kept over his

23:42

tomb. So we're going to have a tomb and

23:45

people are going to be all

23:47

around that, keeping watch or extending

23:50

reverence to them or whatever it

23:52

might be. This phrase,

23:54

the clods of the valley are

23:56

sweet to him. Presumably

23:59

this is saying. that it's

24:01

like a mound or something over

24:04

their body. That's what how one

24:06

commentator explains it. So even the

24:08

earth itself in being heaped

24:11

up over them is sweet to them,

24:14

paying homage to them, and then when

24:16

it says all mankind follows after him and those who

24:18

go before him are innumerable, that's the image of a

24:21

procession being led to the

24:24

grave. So even when

24:26

they die, I mean these people who had

24:29

it so well, even when they die, they still have it

24:31

well in the sense of their being honored by all of

24:33

these people. So

24:35

then he finally says basically,

24:37

you guys are worthless. All

24:41

you have are empty words, empty nothings.

24:44

There's nothing left your answers but false.

24:46

I like empty nothings. I'm gonna

24:48

start using that phrase. Very redundant but

24:51

gets the point here. You got a bunch of empty nothings.

24:59

Yeah, I do. I like that translation.

25:03

So that's Joe's argument. That's his rebuttal

25:05

to the claims of his friends that

25:08

the wicked are gonna get their just desserts in

25:10

this life and are gonna get it early. No,

25:14

Job says basically. So

25:17

at the end of Job 21,

25:19

so it's somebody else's turn now,

25:21

Job has had his speech and

25:24

now our friend Eliphaz is

25:26

gonna jump back into the

25:29

rhetorical ring with Job. And

25:31

this is it. This is

25:33

his final speech. Even though we're

25:35

halfway through the book, this is gonna

25:37

be Eliphaz's. He was the

25:40

first guy to speak to

25:42

Job and he's gonna

25:44

be now speaking for the final time. Chapter

25:46

4, chapter 15, and now chapter 22. I

25:48

do like the title of this one. I

25:50

know I keep

25:53

bringing them up but people

25:57

that did the Bible, headers, didn't always

25:59

do a good job. did a pretty good job with

26:01

Job. Maybe it's because it's pretty easy because it's the same

26:03

thing over and over again. But this

26:05

one of course says, Eliphaz speaks,

26:08

Job's wickedness is great. And

26:10

so you're like, Oh, shocker. He's gonna talk about

26:12

how wicked Job is. But

26:15

part of what it is is that after Job

26:17

is saying all this, it's

26:20

like if they came in

26:22

to this situation thinking, man, I wonder

26:24

if it meant Job was pretty

26:27

righteous guy. I wonder what he did. At this

26:29

point, they're like, man, this

26:31

guy had us all fooled. I mean, this guy

26:33

is listening to the words this guy is saying,

26:35

this guy's wickedness is out of control. And like

26:37

this is where Eliphaz is

26:40

like, Job, you're wicked.

26:42

You have not confessed anything,

26:44

but you've confessed everything. I mean,

26:47

these words that you're saying, I can't believe how

26:49

wicked you are. Yeah,

26:52

I appreciate this chapter because Eliphaz

26:55

is kind of up against the wall. And

26:57

so he has to just start making stuff

27:00

up. Yeah, he's like, man, you, Job, you're

27:02

so wicked. Here's what I'm, I

27:04

am certain that you have done these things. I mean,

27:07

there's no other way to explain what

27:10

you're going through, except that

27:12

you have engaged in these kinds of

27:14

terrible things. And he's gonna list those

27:16

once we forget to those. So,

27:19

but he's gonna he's gonna start out here by saying,

27:23

can a man be profitable to

27:25

God? Surely he who

27:27

is wise is profitable to himself. Is

27:30

it any pleasure to the Almighty if

27:32

you're in the right or

27:35

is it gain to him if you

27:37

make your ways blameless? Is

27:39

it for your fear of him that

27:41

he reproves you and enters into judgment

27:44

with you? And then

27:46

we'll stop there. That's through verse four.

27:49

So he's got a kind of an odd

27:51

introduction here. What

27:53

he seems to be saying is that, listen,

27:56

Job, it's not as if

27:58

your righteousness is going to solve somehow add

28:00

to God. So

28:02

can a man be profitable to God?

28:06

He's profitable to himself. So it's not

28:08

like your righteousness is going to add

28:10

anything to God. He's self-sufficient in and

28:12

of himself. So

28:15

even if your ways are blameless, that's

28:17

not going to be some kind of

28:19

gain to gain to God. And after

28:21

saying that, he shifts in verse 4

28:23

to saying, so is it

28:26

because you fear him so much

28:28

that he reproves you and enters into judgment

28:30

with you? And of course, the implication is

28:32

no. It's not because

28:34

you fear him. It's not because you have such

28:36

all faith, reverence, hope, and love toward God that

28:39

he is now entered into judgment with you. It's

28:42

because of your evil. It's because of

28:44

your sin. Now, the

28:47

great irony here is

28:50

that Eliphaz, unaware of

28:52

what we know, unaware of that opening

28:54

scene in heaven between God and Satan,

28:58

does not realize that yes,

29:01

actually, the reason

29:03

that Job is suffering so much is precisely

29:05

because he fears God.

29:08

Eliphaz says, is it for

29:10

your fear of him that

29:12

he reproves you? And we

29:15

say, uh, yeah, kind

29:17

of. I mean, that's what started all this.

29:20

Job was such a righteous guy that Satan said,

29:22

oh yeah, yeah, well, you know, the reason he's

29:24

so righteous is because you've been so good to

29:26

him, but make his life miserable, you know, curse

29:28

you to your face. And God said, okay, go

29:32

for it. Let's see what happens. Well, here's,

29:34

here's like, Eliphaz says sort of

29:37

one thing that's right, which

29:39

is if you're blameless,

29:41

does that, does God gain anything? It's

29:43

just like add to God. And of

29:45

course the answer is that it's like,

29:48

well, no, I don't add

29:50

anything to God. But where, but he starts

29:53

out with something wrong

29:55

in verse three where it says, is it

29:58

any pleasure to the almighty if you are. the

30:00

right. Well, I don't know, like at

30:02

the beginning of this, God seems to be

30:04

like, the whole thing that happens here is

30:06

that God brags on Job. It seems like

30:09

he's taking pleasure and at the

30:11

very least sort of ribbing

30:13

the devil about how

30:15

great Job is. So it

30:18

does seem like he's taking some pleasure in

30:20

it. Like he does it. He was sort

30:22

of reveling in

30:25

how good of a guy Job was

30:27

and rubbing the devil's nose in it.

30:29

And yeah, so nah man. Yeah,

30:32

it seems like God does like that sort of thing. It's

30:35

not adding to him. It's not making him.

30:37

He's not gaining something. He's

30:39

not gaining something. He's not without something if

30:41

he doesn't have it. But does he take

30:43

pleasure in it? It would certainly seem so.

30:46

Well yeah, I mean we have

30:49

Ezekiel saying, or God saying

30:51

to Ezekiel, I don't take any pleasure in

30:53

the death of the wicked, but rather that he turned from his

30:55

evil way and live. Well,

30:58

that means that God does take

31:00

pleasure when the evil man turns from

31:02

his way and lives. That's what pleases

31:04

God. So yeah, I mean God is

31:06

pleased. We're in the right because we're

31:09

doing what is imitative of him as those

31:11

who are created in his image and likeness.

31:14

So we do what's right. That

31:16

means that we're doing what is the will

31:18

of God. This is kind of a weird theology that

31:20

he has too. I mean, you don't see this every

31:22

day, where the

31:25

argument here is kind of that, listen, if

31:28

you do all the right things, if you

31:30

are a righteous person, God

31:32

doesn't care. He

31:35

only cares if you're a sinner. It kind

31:38

of works my way. It's

31:40

kind of the argument here. He's just neutral.

31:43

It's almost like if you are righteous, then

31:45

he just doesn't concern himself with you. God

31:47

is like, and maybe this

31:49

is a common theology, but God's eyes are

31:51

like roaming to and fro. And what

31:54

he's really doing is just looking for sinners. If

31:56

he's righteous, he'll just skip over you. He's not

31:58

going to concern himself with you. you. Always

32:01

thing he's interested is that where the sinners are

32:03

and so that he can pour his judgment out

32:05

on them. So there's no

32:07

pleasure in like repentance or

32:09

righteousness or anything like that. He's just

32:12

like, well that's what you are supposed

32:14

to do so I won't punish

32:16

you. But God is really just like... it

32:19

makes God seem very

32:23

capricious, right? Where it's just

32:26

like, who am I gonna pour my wrath

32:28

out on today? Well it's kind of a... with

32:31

all the... with an apology to all of

32:33

those in law enforcement out there. He kind

32:35

of portrays God as a policeman. You know,

32:38

the highway patrol does not pull me over and

32:41

walk up there and say, Sarah, I just

32:43

want to thank you because I noticed that you were, you know,

32:45

keeping it in your lane and

32:47

you were going to speed limit. I see you're wearing

32:49

your speed... your seat belt too. Just

32:52

wanted to... wanted to thank you. That's

32:54

not the way things work. He pulls you over,

32:56

it's most likely because you've broken the law. So

32:59

that's kind of the way that he's

33:02

portraying God, that God is like that.

33:04

He's only looking for lawbreakers. He's only

33:06

paying attention to lawbreakers and lawkeepers, well

33:08

he just kind of ignores because that's

33:11

not his prerogative. Yeah, it's a very

33:13

negative view of God. Yeah. So

33:16

he has... he

33:18

has postulated that it's

33:21

because of Job's lack of fear that God is

33:23

approving him and entering into judgment with him. And

33:25

so he has to go on now with

33:28

this whole string of accusations against Job. Now,

33:31

keep in mind as

33:34

we hear these that we

33:36

have zero evidence that Job

33:38

has committed any of these things. And in fact,

33:40

we have an abundance of evidence

33:42

that Job has done the exact opposite. But

33:46

again, as we started this chapter out, I

33:48

pointed out that Eliphaz, basically,

33:50

according to his own logical

33:52

or theological system, has

33:55

to claim that Job has done these sorts

33:57

of things. Because in In

34:00

Eliphaz's system, there's no other way to explain why

34:02

Job is suffering what he is. And so here's

34:04

what he says. Verse

34:06

5, Is not your

34:08

evil abundant? There

34:10

is no end to your

34:12

iniquities. 4,

34:15

and here he begins his list. 4,

34:19

you have exacted pledges of your brothers

34:21

for nothing and stripped the naked of

34:23

their clothing. You have

34:25

given no water to the weary to drink, and

34:28

you have withheld bread from the hungry. The

34:30

man with power possessed the

34:33

land, and the favored man lived in

34:35

it. You have

34:37

sent widows away empty, and

34:39

the arms of the faunaless were

34:41

crushed. Therefore, so

34:44

here's his logical conclusion, therefore,

34:46

you know, since you've done all these terrible things, therefore

34:49

Job, snares are all around you,

34:52

sudden terror overwhelms you, or darkness,

34:54

so that you cannot see, and

34:56

a flood of water covers

34:58

you. So there's

35:00

his seemingly airtight argument.

35:03

Here's what you've done, Job. We know that you've

35:05

done it. We have no proof. But

35:09

we are sure that you've done these things, because there's no way

35:11

to explain what you're going through. And

35:14

therefore, ergo, all of

35:16

these snares and terrors and darkness and

35:18

floods of waters are afflicting

35:20

you. It's pretty... Job's

35:22

quite the center. It's pretty wild. Like,

35:25

these... Because these are like, you know... You

35:30

move from like, your speech is too

35:32

lofty, Job. Like, the way that you

35:34

talk to God is... How

35:37

is it any wonder that he's... That he hates you?

35:40

I mean, look at how you speak

35:42

of him, and I'll just say... Two

35:44

very specific things

35:46

that you've done, right? Like

35:48

these are like... Yeah. Yeah,

35:50

dude. And there's zero evidence. In

35:52

fact, all the evidence you

35:55

have in the book... I mean, it started at the beginning. Well,

35:58

if Job was doing all this... How

36:00

is it that God's

36:03

like, have you checked out Job? And how is the

36:05

devil not, wouldn't the devil's response

36:07

not be, have you checked out Job? Have

36:11

you seen what he does? The windows and orphans?

36:14

Come on, what is going on here? That thirsty guy

36:16

that he turned away one day. Like,

36:19

makes no sense at all. God would be like,

36:21

check him out. The devil's like, hey, you check

36:23

him out. This guy's a mess. Yeah.

36:27

So I do think

36:29

it's interesting that all of these sins

36:31

are horizontal. He doesn't say anything about,

36:34

you know, he's blasphemed your

36:36

name and he has trodden your

36:38

word underfoot and he's refused to

36:40

worship you and blah, blah, blah.

36:43

All of these are things he's done to his

36:45

neighbors. This is all kind of a, you know,

36:47

second table of the law stuff. Lack of, it's

36:50

a sins of lack of love with

36:52

regard to the neighbor. In

36:55

particular, the neighbors who are in

36:58

need, you know, the powerless. So

37:02

he's exacted pledges of his brothers for

37:04

nothing. So rather than, you know, taking

37:06

care of his own family, he's exacted

37:09

pledges of them. And this language,

37:11

verse 6, of stripping the

37:13

naked of their clothing, of course,

37:15

that's the irony. If you're naked, you have no clothing. But

37:18

basically, from those who have nothing,

37:20

he's even taken what they have

37:22

is the idea. Course,

37:25

I mean, it's basic

37:27

biblical love to

37:30

give a drink of water to the thirsty and to

37:32

feed the hungry. I mean, that's Matthew 25 stuff, right?

37:34

You know, when I was thirsty, you gave me

37:36

water to drink. When I was hungry, you fed

37:38

me. Nothing more basic than

37:40

that. You don't even need –

37:43

there's some of this stuff is just like – you

37:45

have to be like uniquely wicked. That's

37:47

just human decency, right? Yeah, like you don't even need

37:49

to be a Christian to be like – if

37:52

somebody's like dying of thirst, and you'd be like, yeah, I'll

37:54

give you some water. What? Right.

37:57

It's just – yeah. It's common human

37:59

– human behavior. I mean, you don't

38:02

typically need like, you know, Jesus

38:04

to well up inside of you and be like,

38:06

I feel compelled to not let that person, you

38:08

know, die of thirst. Anybody

38:12

is going to do that.

38:14

If I was super thirsty and I

38:16

came across an atheist, he's not going

38:18

to be like, nope, sorry, no water

38:20

for you, buddy. Yeah, of course, he's

38:22

going to give me some water. Verse

38:25

8 might be a little bit strange

38:27

when it says, the man with power possessed the

38:29

land, the favored man lived in it. The

38:32

Hebrew is kind of interesting here. The man

38:34

with power is the man of arm, because

38:36

arm is a symbolic of might and

38:38

power. So the powerful

38:41

man possessed the land, and the

38:44

favored man in Hebrew is the man with

38:46

uplifted face. So these

38:48

favored and powerful men, they

38:51

possessed the land. And the implication is

38:53

the needy people, the poor people did

38:55

not. So took the land away from

38:57

them. Widows were sent

39:00

empty away, and the arms

39:02

of the fatherless were crushed. I learned something

39:04

this morning. So the

39:06

Hebrew word here for fatherless is

39:09

often rendered orphan. Now,

39:12

if we talk about an orphan today, we, in

39:14

our modern society, mean, a

39:16

child who has lost both his parents. But

39:20

in the biblical world, you can be an orphan

39:23

if you've lost your father, because

39:25

the father was the one who was to protect

39:27

you, to look out for the family, of course,

39:29

all of those things that fathers did and do.

39:32

And so the ESV in rendering this not

39:34

orphan but fathomable, this has actually done well.

39:38

It's because orphans, we tend to think, has

39:40

lost both parents. But an

39:42

orphan in the biblical world is simply

39:44

one who has lost his especially his

39:46

father. The image you get here is

39:48

like some orphan reaching out his

39:50

arms to you and you crud.

39:53

Instead of giving him something or

39:55

helping him or grabbing on to

39:57

them, you crush them. Yeah,

40:01

that's pretty wicked. Yeah,

40:03

I mean, this is kind

40:05

of an escalation that you see off in a

40:07

biblical poetry, where the first line is, well,

40:10

the widow, so you just sent, you know,

40:12

empty, Sinemoy empty. He didn't give them anything.

40:15

And the next line heightens it. He's

40:17

like, yeah, when the father stretched out

40:19

the arms, he didn't just like Sinemoy

40:21

empty. He crushed their arms. So,

40:24

you know, all of this together is

40:28

what I mean, it's really nothing more

40:30

than slander, honestly, is making up things

40:32

about about Job and then and then

40:35

coming to the conclusion that this is the

40:37

reason that Job is suffering, suffering what what

40:39

he is. So one

40:41

more case where the friends seem to

40:43

be so frustrated now

40:46

that they are just making up things

40:48

in order to make an up lies

40:50

and accusations in order to support their

40:53

claims against Job. Yeah,

40:55

well, Elphaz is not

40:57

done. He's got more to say, but we're going

40:59

to have to get into it next

41:02

episode. He will continue.

41:05

And so we will join him for that chat.

41:07

I will see you next week. All right.