Bible Studies For Life
Compelled to Act Special Focus Session 7 18 JAN 26
JOB 31:1-3 Finally God breaks His silence and speaks to Job directly, employing a series of more than 70 questions to show Job his ignorance and God's greatness. How absurd to think that a creature should become the critic of the Creator. Like a man (Heb., geber) denotes man in his strength as a combatant. God accepts Job's challenge (9:34; 10:2ff.; 13:3; 23:3ff.; 31:35ff.).
The exact date of composition is uncertain, but estimates range from the 7th to the 4th century BCE. Some scholars suggest it may have been written during the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE).
The language and style indicate it was likely composed in ancient Hebrew. Overall, the Book of Job is considered one of the oldest texts in the Hebrew Bible.
Job's themes suggest familiarity with earlier traditions, possibly dating back to the patriarchal period. The book reflects a sophisticated understanding of suffering and divine justice, indicating a developed theological context.
Job talked a lot but he was not very knowledgeable. This is why most of the suffering of Christians happen. Christians get themselves into situations that God usually let playout as a training session.
JOB 31:13-14 (Job 31:13-14 RSV) “"If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me; {14} what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?”
Job saw the actual speaking with God a scary event.
JOB 31:15 (Job 31:15 RSV) “Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?”
Job’s understanding of Bible truth was common in his day since people thought the earth was flat and was the center of the Cosmos.
JOB 31:16-18 (Job 31:16-18 RSV) “"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, {17} or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it {18} (for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother's womb I guided him);”
Job means after the son was born, he assumed the job of the father teaching the son.
This does not mean the mother had no input. The father and mother were to train the son right on this aspect of his life. (Prov 22:6 RSV) "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." (Prov 31:1 RSV) "The words of Lemuel, king of Massa, which his mother taught him:" Proverbs hold that a child is to listen to both parents. Few recognize what the writer of Proverbs said in (Prov 1:8 RSV) "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and reject not your mother's teaching;" This is a Hebrew parallelism that makes the father’s instruction and the mother’s teaching equal. Both were seem as having equal responsibility in the growth of the their child. Note again, the male child was to obey his mother to the same degree as his father! The writer said it again in (Prov 6:20 RSV) "My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching." Remember well that God created male and female equally in His Image! (Gen 1:26 RSV) "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."" [“Man” means “Mankind”]
JOB 31:19-21 (Job 31:19-21 RSV) “if I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without covering; {20} if his loins have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; {21} if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw help in the gate;”
There are many repeated thoughts of similar meanings in the manner of the day. One could look at each if individually but I see no real benefit in doing so.
JOB 31:22-23 (Job 31:22-23 RSV) “then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. {23} For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.”
Job highlights the consequences of wrongdoing, indicating that he fears God's judgment.
APPLY THE WHOLE BIBLE BEFORE YOU STATE A DOCTRINE!
Best Study Guide: How to Study the Bible Principles with Bible, A Study Sources by Orin T. Binkley.
https://sites.google.com/view/dma1-ganotemd/home