Job Chapter 2

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Lesson 2

Read Scripture: Job 3: 1-19

The main idea for this section is Job’s response to the test and his adversities.

Welcome to the second lesson in the study of Job. In lesson one we looked at Job from the perspective of a third party looking into a story. In that we could see what the characters could not see, the battle between God and Satan, good and evil. What we question is the biblical question of why God, whom we have come to know as omnipotent and full of love and grace can allow evil in the world? It is the question we will further explore each week of this study. This section, chapter 3, of the book of Job is described as “Job’s response.” In it, he is the only person speaking. No one corrects him, responds to him or questions him at this point. We assume from the reading that they are listening to him and will see in the next lesson that that has been the case. But what we also see is the anguish and human rawness of Job as he deals with the loss of his world and his health. How would you handle this kind of tragedy? Throughout his response we see raw human emotion. Have you ever encountered this type of emotion in your own life or those around you? How have you dealt with it? Let us hear the words of Job. Have you noticed that the style of writing changed?

^NRS Job 3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ² Job said: ³ "Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man-child is conceived.' ⁴ Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. ⁵ Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. ⁶ That night-- let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. ⁷ Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. ⁸ Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. ⁹ Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning--¹⁰ because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.

Let us look at his chapter three as divided into three specific areas. First is his curse. The second area shows us his questions that are never answered and then finally his response to suffering. It is interesting here what is said in verses 1 through 10. Shepherd’s Notes suggest that he is reclaiming creation in reverse. Instead of light coming out of the darkness, he is asking for darkness instead of light. In place of the creation of stars, he is asking for the stars to go dark. And he calls forth the mythical creature, Leviathan, who in ancient times symbolized death and chaos. Might this be the chaos of creation that God put structure and form to? And we might ask ourselves the deeper question. Why is it that Job would focus on conception itself? Is it because he knows that conception is of God? Is it possible that Job is trying to put everything into proper perspective here by cursing what God has created in him by creating him? Tough, deep questions aren’t they? We will get back to them in a moment.

^NRS Job 3:11 "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? ¹² Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? ¹³ Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest ¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, ¹⁵ or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver. ¹⁶ Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? ¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸ There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. ¹⁹ The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.

It is at this moment that we see Job begin to list his questions. Note that no-one answers him though we can assume that his three friends are sitting silently listening to all that he has to say. And what of his wife who also is suffering greatly. She has lost all of her children, her husband has lost his status and so then has she, and she also must be in great anguish. In fact in the previous verses she even suggests to Job that the best thing for everyone would be for God to strike Job dead. But Job wants to know why. Have you ever encountered the “why” question in the midst of great tragedy? We hear him ask why he was ever born in verse 11. But throughout this response we never hear him talk of suicide. Might we gather from that that Job understands that life itself is one of the greatest gifts of God? How do you feel about that statement? And what of Job’s view of death? Beginning in verse 17, Job talks of death. How do you understand this place in light of Job’s description?

 ^NRS 3:20 "Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, ²¹ who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; ²² who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave? ²³ Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in? ²⁴ For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. ²⁵ Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. ²⁶ I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."

The final area of Job’s response is found in verse 20 through 26. Here we see Job describe his view of suffering and fairness. He asks why the good suffer and bad receive reward. “Light given to one in misery” is referring here to the good of the world who suffer and “life to the bitter” is Job’s way of saying that evil people seem to get rewards. And in the last two verses indicate that Job may have had some intuition of what was to come. Have you ever heard of the expression, “Something bad is about to happen because things have been going to good?” What do you make of Job’s final statement, “I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes?”

Questions

Answer the following questions in discussion group:

1.    What does Job curse and why?

2.    What would Job have gained if he had never been born?

3.    Read Jeremiah 20: 13-18. What might the similarities suggest?

4.    What might we suggest is Job’s view of death from verses 17-19?

5.    Did Job suspect that something bad would happen to him? Why?