The Answer of God
God provides an answer. Not
the answer Job wanted but nevertheless an answer. The answer is linked with the
character of God.
In chapters 1 and 2 God is
identified by His personal name YHWH. This is His Name when He is linked with
revelation, redemption and restoration, as evidence by the compound names YHWH-Tzidkenu (The Lord our righteousness); YHWH-Jireh (The Lord who provides), etc.
In chapters 3 through 37 He
is identified by the Name Elohim, which is the Name used when He is linked with
creation and providence.
The in chapters 38 through 42
He reappears in the narrative under His Name of YHWH to provide an answer for
Job.
What we are indicating here is
– the test was initiated by YHWH and in the end is answered by YHWH. This
strongly suggests that to be able to rightly respond to difficult issues such
as bereavement and loss, and be able to rightly react to questions such as ‘why
do the innocent suffer?’ you have to understand the character of God.
Jesus (Salvation of YHWH)
The character of God in
revelation, redemption and restoration is best seen in the person of Jesus. And
the cross (the emblem of the unjust, inhuman abuse of the only innocent man
that ever lived) is the highest expression of the wisdom of God. It does not
commend itself to human reason, INDEED IT IS FOOLISHNESS TO MOST. “We
preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks
foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:23). This confirms what God revealed through Isaiah: “For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your
ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).
THE ANSWER OF YHWH
The answer is complete and final
There is no question that
God cannot deal with - but the answer invariably comes at the end (not in the
middle or at the beginning). “For now we see in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know
fully just as I also have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12) .
The first speaker was God, ‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1:1)
and the last speaker will be God! When God has spoken – all will be silenced,
except to say ‘Amen’. In the book under consideration, after all others have fallen
silent, God speaks and Job is compelled to
say, "Behold, I am insignificant; what can I
reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.”
(Job 40:4) He is silenced!!
The answer is convincing
YHWH answers with a stream of
rhetorical questions regarding the mysteries of creation.
“Do you know about the layers of
the thick clouds?” (Job 37:16)
“Have you entered the storehouses of
the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail?” (Job 38:22)
“Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions?” (Job 38:39)
“Do you give the horse his might? Do
you clothe his neck with a mane?” (Job 39:19)
He is calling on Job to ‘learn
wisdom’. If YHWH has bestowed skill and
wisdom on the smallest snowflake will He act carelessly with the crown of His
creation? If the minutest detail of any animal declares divine wisdom, will He
act carelessly with man? Even if Job only knows God in terms of Elohim, i.e. in
terms of creation, God says, that is still enough information to come to a
right understanding of the character of the Lord of heaven and earth.
God was saying to Job TRUST
ME! And He has the same message for us, i.e.
Trust Me!
The answer is compensating
7000
sheep at the beginning: 14000 at the end.
3000
camels at the beginning - 6000 at the end.
500
yoke of oxen at the beginning - 1000 at the
end.
500
donkeys at the beginning - 1000 at the end.
7
sons and 3 daughters at the beginning - now another 7 sons and 3 daughters. (N.B.
People are not the same as animals!)
And
this man, who had been covered with sores from head to toe, was the father of daughters
of whom it was said:
“In all the land no women were found
so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their
brothers.” (Job 42:15)
Conclusion to Job
By the end of the book Satan
is defeated and God glorified. Note -
Satan is absent at the end of the book.
Reading the book of Job
perhaps could teach us how to live for God when life is an enigma.
At least we should learn the
one main lesson – God said, and continues to say:
TRUST ME!
