1 Job: Lesson 1 The End Memory Text: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.’” (John 11:25) Setting The Stage: I was told in college during my homiletics class that the success of a good sermon, is found in an interesting introduction that captures the attention of the listener, and a terrific ending that brings previous thoughts together into a satisfactory conclusion. Of course, there are many other factors that make a sermon memorable; the two main ingredients being that the sermon was biblically based and that it was also filled with the Holy Spirit. There’s nothing like a good ending. Shakespeare’s Macbeth was a tragedy (a story with a tragic ending) and therefore disliked during some periods. In the 17th C, the Irish author Nahum Tate sought to improve Shakespeare’s King Lear in his own heavily modified version. Tate’s version dominated performances for a century and a half, Shakespeare’s original nearly forgotten. A happy ending is epitomized in the standard fairy tale ending phrase, “happily ever after,” or “they lived happily ever after.” One Thousand and One Nights (a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled during the Islamic Golden Age, and also known as Arabian Nights) has a more “restrained” formula: “They lived happily until there came to them the One who Destroys all Happiness” (i.e. Death). Doesn’t that sound like real life? For all the reasons people give for why human beings are drawn to stories with “happy endings,” I think there are a couple that are worth mentioning: One, we live with not so happy situations all around us and we find relief in a story with a better ending than what reality offers. Second, placed in the human heart is a longing for more than this world has to offer and are therefore drawn to desire a better ending that includes the vindication of good, righteousness, and justice. King Solomon said that God has put eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). Not an eternity of what we presently experience, but an eternity of something far better. Sunday – Happily Ever After? Job 42:10-17 We begin at the end of Job’s life, which, to all appearances, has a happy ending. Who was Job? We no nothing more of Job than what we learn from the Bible book bearing his name. He was a wealthy landowner, honored and loved by his countrymen. He cannot be identified with any dynasty or ruling clan. Job stands out 2 as a majestic figure in history, important because of his personal experience rather than because of his relationship to his time or to his contemporaries. What is the setting of Job? The setting of Job is that of an Arabian Desert culture. Oddly, it’s not an Israelite setting. There were worshippers of God outside of the confines of Abraham’s descendants. The setting is not military, political, or ecclesiastical. Instead, Job emerges from a domestic background, common to his age. What is Job’s story? Job was a man finding his way back to normal life after a series of terrible, unexplainable reverses. The elements in the background that make the situation dramatic are: (1) the contrast between Job’s prosperity and his degradation; (2) the suddenness of his calamity; (3) the problem posed by the philosophy of suffering common in his day; (4) the cruelty of his friends; (5) the depth of his discouragement; (6) the gradual ascent to trust in God; (7) the dramatic appearance of God; (8) the repentance of Job; (9) the humiliation of his friends; (10) the restoration of Job. Just a word about the design of the book of Job. It can’t be well understood without knowing a little about it. The book is a poem (considered one of the greatest poetic works of the world’s literature – the Matterhorn of the Old Testament). The basis of Hebrew poetry is parallelism – a repeating idea expressed differently in two short sentences placed back-to-back. The book has 3 divisions: prologue, poem, and epilogue. The poem is divided into 3 parts: the dialogues between Job and his friends, Elihu’s speech, and God’s intervention. In Job’s arguments with his friends there are 3 cycles, each of which contain 3 speeches by Job and one each by the friends (except for the absence of Zophar’s speech in the third cycle). In Job’s final address, there are 3 speeches. God is introduced as making 3 addresses. The epilogue is divided into 3 parts. This all falls into harmony with the genius of Hebrew poetry. Now back to Job’s “happy” ending. Job 42:10-17. “Family and friends, who weren’t around during the trials (with the exception of Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu, and Job’s wife), come, and they comfort him. They were generous, too, giving him money. As the story ended, Job had twice as much as he had at the beginning of the story, at least in terms of material wealth (compare Job 42:12 with Job 1:3). He had ten children, seven sons and three daughters, to replace the seven sons and three daughters who died (see Job 1:2, 18, 19), and in all the land no women were “found so fair as the daughters of Job” (Job 42:15), something not said about his first ones. And this man who had been so sure that death was right before him lived on another 140 years. “So Job died, being old and full of days” (Job 42:17). The phrase “full of days” in Hebrew (sometimes translated, interestingly enough, “full of years”) is used to describe the last days of Abraham (Gen. 25:8), Isaac (Gen. 35:29), and David (1 Chron. 29:28). It gives the idea of someone in a relatively good and happy place at the time of a decidedly unhappy event: death.” 3 Retribution Theology. A superficial reading of the last chapter of the book of Job could lead to the understanding that, right at the end, retribution theology finally won: Job never sinned, God finally acknowledges that fact, and, in retribution, He restores Job to his previous fortunes and beyond, doubling his possessions. Retribution theology is a dangerous mind-set, especially when disaster strikes. It assumes a direct relationship between a person’s and God’s actions. If we are good, then blessings will come; if we are bad, divine punishment will follow suit. This is the theology of Job’s friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, propagated by them throughout the book and fought against by Job. What we need to realize is that this theology turns God into a predictable deity who works by fixed formulas, ignoring His sovereignty and making Him susceptible to mankind’s manipulations. Monday – Unhappy Endings Matthew 10:24, 25; 16:21 Much to the prosperity preacher’s regret, the Bible reveals that a “happy ending” isn’t always in store for God’s faithful. The “about to come into God’s favor” pitch disintegrates in the face of the supposedly unfair endings of those who honored God with their lives. Let’s take a look at a few of them: Genesis 4:8: “Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” Matthew 14:10: “So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.” Acts 7:59, 60: “And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Matthew 10:24, 25: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. … If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” Christ was in effect saying to His disciples that if He, their Lord, would have to “suffer many things … and be killed” (Matt. 16:21), how could they expect to escape the same treatment? Q. How do we relate to the unhappy endings in our lives when things don’t work out, as in the death of a loved one, loss of employment, or a divorce? How do we help others? Typically we respond with grief. Grief is an emotion common to the human experience, and we witness the process of grief throughout the Bible. In grief, we cast our burdens on Him (1 Peter 5:7), rely on the community of the church (Gal. 6:2), delve into the truth of the Word (Eccl. 7:2; Ps. 30:5; 46:10; Rom. 8:28), and ultimately experience hope (Hebrews 6:19-20). We are to comfort others as God has comforted us (2 Cor. 1:3, 4). 4 Tuesday – The (Partial) Restoration Job 42:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 13:12 Job 42:10. God restored Job’s losses. Restoration looks good, doesn’t it? Think about a newly renovated house, or a restored painting, or even better, a patient restored to health. But was Job’s restoration complete? Do you think Job had all his questions answered? Eventually he would die, and so would his children, and their children, and so on. What we’re talking about is the reality of life. Ecclesiastes 3, “Everything Has Its Time” chapter of the Bible, speaks of a time to live, to die, to plant, to pluck up, to kill, to heal, to break down, to build up, etc.