Job Nkjv (2024)

FAQs

What was God's answer to Job's questions? ›

Job challenged God's justice, and God responded that Job doesn't have sufficient knowledge about our complex universe to make such a claim. Job demanded a full explanation from God, and what God asks Job for is trust in his wisdom and character. So Job responds with humility and repentance.

SUMMARY. After being silent throughout the dialogues between Job and his friends, God finally speaks to Job out of the whirlwind. God does not answer their questions about Job's guilt or innocence, but rather speaks about the created order and contrasts what God can do with what humans are able to do.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth.” This reveals the perspective Job had in his trials. Life had been difficult; he had suffered and lost much yet his hope and faith was to the time when the Lord would come in righteousness, restoring what was lost, and bringing peace.

Job represents innocent suffering. That suffering is authentic, because it is not covered up, or solved, or answered, or tidied up, at the end. (Remember: the prose conclusion is not part of the poem! Poetry says that God does not guarantee happy endings; prose says God does.)

In response to Job's plea, God takes him on a tour of the universe, reminding him that the world has order and beauty but it is also wild and dangerous. The problem of human suffering isn't as simple as reward vs consequence.

In it, we see the value of patience, perseverance, and the importance of holding our tongue, not to mention God's faithfulness, restorative power, and goodness. Job's story sticks with us because it's quite epic and vivid: a rich man loses everything, suddenly and without warning, and yet remains faithful to God.

Satan was proved wrong, and God's righteousness had prevailed! Job gained new insight into who God was, and his own place in God's creation.

Job recognized that all suffering is not divine punishment. Because his suffering was not caused by sin, Job's job was to trust God.

The Book of Job asks “why good people suffer,” but never actually answers the question. What it does do, is correct misconceptions about why we suffer.

The story of Job is a famous tale which shows how devotion to God can sustain a person through any adversity. The character of Job from the Bible is now virtually synonymous with suffering, as he becomes the focus of a wager between God and Satan as to how much someone can suffer and still remain loyal to God.

Why did God punish Job in the Bible? ›

The Talmud mentions him as one of the three Prophets consulted by Pharaoh prior to his decision to drown the Hebrew baby boys (Exodus). Balaam tells him to kill the Jews, Yithro to spare them and Job who does not agree with the plan says nothing. The Talmud concludes that it was for this reason that Job was punished.

The book of Job points to a God who is always acting with goodness and justice, including the times when people are experiencing or causing pain. A person's suffering does not automatically mean he or she is receiving divine punishment.

Second, God's purposes are marvelous beyond our understanding. When Job complained of how God permitted him to suffer, God replied that Job had “spoken rightly” and called him his “servant.” Job was right to protest his innocence and, in lamenting and questioning the reasons for his affliction, he did not sin.

Given Job's previous recognition that “I don't know” is often the wisest answer, his humble response is not surprising. “I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth” (Job 40:4). Most commentators suggest that God is giving Job a larger picture of Job's circ*mstances.

And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath (42:7).

The traditional moral of the tale is this: when you are faced with hard times, don't be tempted to relinquish your faith in God. God has reasons beyond your understanding for what God is doing, and if you hold on to your faith long enough, God will reward you for your suffering.