JOB -
Chapters 1-3 Introduction and Job's wish for death
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- Where he lived
- His character
- His blessings: family and possessions
- His devotion to his family and to his God
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- The events in heaven
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Satan (the "accuser") is introduced.
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The Lord points out Job's character. Satan claims that Job's character
originates with evil, self-serving motives.
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Satan challenges the Lord and the Lord accepts the challenge!
- The events on earth
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Job loses everything within a very short period of time.
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Job's response
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What he did: grief and worship
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What he did not do: sin
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The events in heaven
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Satan is introduced.
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God points out Job's continuing good character. Satan claims that Job
still has evil motives underlying his character.
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Satan challenges the Lord and the Lord accepts the challenge!
- The events on earth
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Job's health is destroyed in a most horrifying manner! We will see that
it impacts the totality of his being (such as physical, emotional, social, and
spiritual dimensions).
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Job's integrity is tested by his wife.
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Job's response - rebukes his wife; refuses to sin.
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- Where they lived
- Their desire to comfort
- Their shock and surprise
- Their sympathy and grief
Note: These friends will end up (unknowingly) testing Job much more severely
than his wife did!
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- Was Job actually "blameless and upright" (1:1)? Explain!
- Who did this to Job? (See also verses elsewhere, if desired.) When we
experience trials, who does it to us?
- How would we have responded if all this had happened to us? Why?
- How would we have responded if all this had happened to a friend? Why?
(Consider the intentions, actions, and words of Job's friends).
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- (3:1-10) I wish that the day and night of my birth would cease to exist
[perhaps like a day missing from the calendar!], because I was conceived
and did not die prior to that day.
- (3:11-19) If I had died at birth (or before), I would now be at rest,
equal with all who have lived and died before - both the smallest and the
greatest, the best and the worst.
- (3:20-26) Why should life be given to a person who desires only death
- who has ceased to find any value in life, and who has lost all hope of
escape from continuous horror and agony?
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- Things have really changed. Why has Job given-up in despair? How would
you respond if you were Job?
- How do you think his friends should respond? How would you respond if
Job was your friend?
- Note that even in the worst of circumstances Job doesn't take matters
into his own hands and end his life. As you study this book, note that no
matter what he says and does, he still has an unswerving reverence and loyalty
to his God. How (or why) are "loyalty to God" and "taking matters into one's
own hands" incompatible?
- At this point, Job does not know the final outcome (ch. 42). He sees only hopelessness.
In contrast, we (who know his final outcome) realize that Job's trial was
only temporary. How can we apply this knowledge to our own life? (You may
wish to include specific examples from your life.)
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Dennis Hinks © 1989, 2004
050105