Job 1-4: Be slow to judge others

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Given an outside view of what the Adversary was allowed to do to ’Iyyob (Job), we can look down on the spiritual ignorance of his three friends and even of ’Iyyob’s statements in his defense. Rather, this is a powerful lesson on proverbially removing the “log” from one’s eye before looking for the “sawdust” in someone else’s (Matt. 7:3–5; Luke 6:41–42).

The name אִיּוֹב ’Iyyob, could come from אָיַב ’yab, to be hostile or to treat as an enemy. But do we know who he really was? He was not just anyone. He was the most powerful king in Edom, the greatest of those in the East. He is a descendant of Esau and Abraham. The book that bears his name is considered to be the oldest known book of the Hebrew scriptures.

Everything we want to know about God is in His word. We can, in a sense, meet him face to face when we read Scripture. 

His first friend was what we would call a “duke.” We read in Genesis that Esau had 12 sons, who were called dukes and held positions of high leadership in the East. 

What was God trying to accomplish? What lessons are we to learn from this book?

God says not to despise small things because He works with small things. The nations of the world are just a drop in a bucket to him. 

’Iyyob was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” This phrase translated as “turning away from evil” might imply that he simply avoided evil but that is not the meaning in the Hebrew. ’Iyyob was a ruler of men and did not just avoid evil in his personal life but also actively fought against evil. 

“Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noakh (Noah), Dani’el and ’Iyyob were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,’ declares the Lord GOD.” (Ezek. 14:12-14)

What do Noakh, Daniel and ’Iyyob have in common? These three men has a profound effect on history. How did ’Iyyob have a profound effect on history? What these three men have in common is that all three men were not just concerned about delivering themselves from sin, but wanted to help deliver the world and protect other people from calamity. 

“‘If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate.'”(Ezek. 14:15-16)

We can’t deliver anyone from a curse. We can’t ride on the coattails of a righteous man or woman. Yeshua said the gate into God’s kingdom is very narrow (Matt. 7:13–14). 

Job 1:3 tells us that ’Iyyob was a ruler of men and “the greatest of all the men of the east.” ’Iyyob presented sacrifices to the LORD on behalf of all of this children. 

We read at the beginning of the book of ’Iyyob that God had called a meeting of all the “sons of God.” Satan, the devil attended this meeting. When God asks Satan where he came from, the devil reports to God that he had been “roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” The devil is not in heaven, he walks around on the earth. 

God asks Satan specifically about ’Iyyob. Satan knew exactly who ’Iyyob was and tells God, “Does ’Iyyob fear God for nothing?  Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” 

God allows Satan to persecute ’Iyyob but forbids him from putting ’Iyyob to death. 

Have you known anyone in your life who blames God for what happens to them. That is where ’Iyyob is heading. All the thing that ’Iyyob said about God were true. God Himself vouched for what ’Iyyob said about Him. This book doesn’t just tell us about ’Iyyob but tells us about God. 

After his meeting, Satan starts his persecution of ’Iyyob’s household. Satan starts by sicking the Sabeans on his servants, killing most of them. The next event was a fire that burned up his sheepfold and killing all the shepherds, except one. The third event was the Chaldeans killing all his camels and camel-keepers, save one. 

The fourth tragedy was the death of his children. They were all at the eldest brothers house. A tornado hit the home, and the house came down and killed them all. 

How did ’Iyyob react to this? ’Iyyob 1:20 says that he fell down and worshipped, or bowed down and prostrated himself to God. 

’Iyyob did not sin or “blame God” at this point. He did not charge God with folly or foolishness. 

Chapter 2 starts with another meeting of the “sons of God” presenting themselves to God, and Satan is among them. God tells Satan, “Have you considered My servant ’Iyyob? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

Was God’s arm twisted to do something He didn’t want to do or would never have done? God gave Satan his power for a reason. 

Up to this point, Satan did nothing to ’Iyyob personally. He had only targeted ’Iyyob’s possessions and family but now God gives Satan permission to strike ’Iyyob personally, but not to the point of death. 

Satan goes down and strikes ’Iyyob with a very painful disease. He doesn’t look like the greatest man of the east anymore. He looks very vulnerable. 

His wife speaks up and tells ’Iyyob to “curse God and die.” At this point, we want to be very critical of ’Iyyob’s wife but we forget she had lost as much as ’Iyyob had lost. All 10 of her children were dead. The wealth that made her life comfortable was gone and now she has to watch her husband suffer a horrendous disease that rendered him unrecognizable to his own friends. ’Iyyob rebuked her but does not sin against God. 

After this, four of ’Iyyob’s friends show to visit him. They sat with him for seven days to try to comfort him without words, but after the seven days were up, ’Iyyob spoke first. 

’Iyyob asked God to curse the day of his birth and wipe him and all remembrance of him off the earth. Have you ever met someone who said, “I never asked to be born” and blamed their mother and father for living? ’Iyyob blamed his parents and even God for his mother not miscarrying him.

“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?” (Job 3:11) Job 3 is ’Iyyob feeling sorry for himself.

’Iyyob had four woes heaped upon him. Has God ever done that to you? 

After all this chit-chatting and complaining, ’Iyyob said, “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I am not at rest, but turmoil comes.” (Job 3:26)

Now that ’Iyyob has had his say, his friends begin to speak. The first friend is Eliphaz the Temanite. Eliphaz is a fellow duke or king of the people of the east. ’Iyyob was greater than him, though. Eliphaz asks, “If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?” Eliphaz starts by paying ’Iyyob a compliment:

“Behold you have admonished many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have helped the tottering to stand, and you have strengthened feeble knees.” (Job 4:1-4)

Eliphaz saw righteousness in ’Iyyob but he doesn’t see perfection. Eliphaz goes on to accuse ’Iyyob of impatience with God:

“But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; It touches you, and you are dismayed.” (Job 4:5)

And then Eliphaz crosses the line and accuses ’Iyyob of sinning against God and judging him as a sinner. Eliphaz is making an assumption that ’Iyyob is guilty of something. 

These three men were not liars. They simply don’t understand what God really had in mind. They were just ordinary men, like the rest of us, who might assume that when many calamities come upon a person that he or she provoked God somehow. 

Eliphaz then goes on to mention a disquieting vision he received in the night (Job 4:12–21).

Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.