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“Though He Slay Me . . . ” • 2.21.21 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- The section before us captures the dialogue between Zophar the Naamathite and Job. Chapters 11 through 14 encompass the final portion of "Round 1" of the "Dialogue" portion of Job.
- As we move into chapter 11, I remind you that the dominant theological consideration of Job's friends concerns the absolute rule that God only responds to people by how they respond to Him.
- Their agreed upon theology states that "God only ALWAYS judges the wicked and only ALWAYS rewards the righteous." This is the bedrock upon which they stand.
- As the book continues and they become increasingly entrenched in their view, their frustration mounts as Job fights against their faulty preconception.
- We will see a case in point here beginning in chapter 11. Verse 1.
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• Job 11:1-6 : "Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 'Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you? For you have said, 'My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you, that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves." : Zophar barges in with a verbal assault on Job for his empty, voluminous talk. He is personally insulted!
- Job can't think to reject their beliefs and not get a response from them! Why is Zophar so enraged? He thinks that Job is mocking and making fools of them!
- Zophar rolls his eyes when he listens to Job defending his doctrine and purity. "If only God would speak, Job would see how little he actually knew!
- He sarcastically adds that God would let him in on the secrets of wisdom and then he would finally have some! No, God has taken less from Job than his sin deserved!
- "Job, you are lucky that God didn't deal with you according to true justice." Zophar's contention is that Job actually got off easy!
- It is increasingly hard to comment upon these men's lack of grace. Remember that these men came with the express intent to comfort Job. Zophar has fallen far afield from that goal.
- He looks at this boil infested man and questions his integrity based entirely upon his own theological presupposition. His cruel refrain incredibly misrepresents the true God.
- God had not exacted punishment against Job, but Zophar has no other explanation. Verse 7.
• Job 11:7-12 : "Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. If He passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, then who can hinder Him? For He knows deceitful men; He sees wickedness also. Will He not then consider it? For an empty-headed man will be wise, when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man." : Zophar doesn't mind taking shots at Job's integrity and now, focuses his ill will upon his intellect! What did Job think he knew about God?
- Could he really speak with any authority about the Lord? What can a person know about the depth or the breadth of an infinite being?
- Better still, what could a person hope to do in causing Him to consider His actions? Their measure cannot be measured by land or sea. They are incalculable, past our finding out.
- What is interesting is that Job cannot know these things, but Zophar can! He can speak authoritatively for God. Job's suffering has supplanted Zophar's respect for him.
- Zophar, along with Eliphaz and Bildad, came to comfort, but ended up being condescending, subconsciously believing that Job's suffering made him less than themselves! Is it any wonder?
- These men believe that they have the moral high ground. In their minds, they are looking at a man that is being judged by God! In Zophar's opinion, Job had better be careful.
- God knows when a person is being false. The not so thinly veiled insinuation is that Zophar knows that Job is hiding something! Even here and now, Job is covering some sort of sin.
- The NLT renders the second half of verse 11, "he takes note of all their sins!" "Job, you had better confess!" What an ominous warning from the Naamathite.
- Zophar doubles down and connects Job with being an empty headed man! He essentially calls him a moron! He closes with this strange shot.
- A man in Job's supposed condition, who hides his sin, will be wise when a wild donkeys colt turns out to be a man! It seems to be the ancient equivalent to "when pigs fly!"
- The point is that it won't ever happen! Job will never reach wisdom if he doesn't act. V. 13.
• Job 11:13-20 : "If you would prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him; If iniquity were in your hand, and you put it far away, and would not let wickedness dwell in your tents; Then surely you could lift up your face without spot; Yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; Because you would forget your misery, and remember it as waters that have passed away, and your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning. And you would be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you would dig around you, and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down, and no one would make you afraid; Yes, many would court your favor. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope—loss of life!'" : Zophar tells Job to put his heart in order and surrender to the Lord.
- Job must be forced to admit that there was sin in his hand. He has to be done with it. It can't have a place to live within his tents. For another man, this would be excellent advice!
- If you have sinned, surrender to God, repent and get the offensive action out of your life! Only then can you and I lift our faces to God, have hope of being steady in our walk and not live in fear!
- I can only imagine the vacant look in Job's eyes as he is again promised respite. His misery will be a memory that floats away like a river and his life will return to a bright "sunshiny" afternoon!
- Job had talked about wanting to feel safe from the Lord. Zophar promises that he'll be secure and able to take his rest without fear of God's response to him.
- God will restore him to his place and people will again look to him for favor, but he better watch out. If he doesn't turn, he'll lose everything he has left, including his own life! Chapter 12.
• Job 12:1-3 : "Then Job answered and said: 'No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?'" : The gift of wisdom will pass away with these men! They have answers for everything, except for Job's case!
- Their brand of wisdom is elementary and not in any way superior to Job's understanding. In fact, who doesn't know the things that they have put together!?
- They are clinging to general truths that any child could put forth! Job wants to furnish them with a few examples of exceptions to their beliefs, beginning with his own life. Verse 4.
• Job 12:4-12 : "I am one mocked by his friends, who called on God, and He answered him, the just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure—In what God provides by His hand. But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food?" : "All of you say that God never acts in judgment against the righteous, but I am sitting here being mocked by my friends!" Job had called upon God and been answered by Him.
- Prior to this season in Job's life, he had excellent communication with the Almighty!
- Yet, he is the very one that is sitting in the city dump being dumped upon by those that he thought loved him most! What a cruel picture! May we never be guilty of being painted in!
- Why do they respond to Job this way? These are rich men who haven't been touched by the troubles that Job has been torched by! Shallow theology rarely survives the trial of deep pain!
- It's no wonder that they "despise" a lamp. They aren't near any darkness! That lamp isn't designed for the "bright" periods of life, but in the dark caves, where the next step is treacherous!
- Job won't let his friends think that his is an isolated case. He asks them to consider "Exhibit B." In their minds, God is judging Job, but what about the fact that He is prospering thieves!?
- Thieves are prospering while blaspheming the God that made them by acting as though they will never be accountable for their crimes! What is more galling is that God's hand provides for them!
- Does this mean that God approves of evil or that He actually underwrites their ministry? Not at all! That would be a blasphemy! Job is referring to the doctrine of common grace.
- Jesus expands upon this when He tells His listeners that God makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and lets His rain fall on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
- "The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all His works," remarks the writer of Psalm 145:9. Job sees a present reversal of his friend's theology.
- God isn't judging them is He? The thieves that Job knew seemed to be doing pretty well! There are drug dealers today that are not struggling at all! What about godless celebrities?
- Job doesn't intend to say that this is happening without consequence. That would stumble anyone. What he is pointing out is that their belief about God is woefully inadequate to describe life!
- God holds every life in His hand! He closes with yet a third illustration of the animal Kingdom. Animals happily going along and everything seems right, until their lives are cut short!
- This is the reality of life on a fallen planet. What we see right now contradicts the theology of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. Job goes further with his friends in verse 12.
• Job 12:13-25 : "Wisdom is with aged men, and with length of days, understanding. But true wisdom and power are found in God; counsel and understanding are his. If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release. If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His. He leads counselors away plundered, and makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings, and binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered, and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes, and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunken man." : Zophar has openly questioned Job's wisdom. Job though wonders if they don't see the irony!
- Wisdom is usally equated with age, but one shouldn't think that age alone produces wisdom. Job tells them that this is a gift from the Lord! It is found in God and must be received from Him!
- What they had, at best, was an elementary knowledge that was at best, incomplete! True wisdom and power originate in God. Could it be true that they had failed to ask for His wisdom?
- God alone has the wisdom to apply His knowledge to a situation and the power to affect that outcome. The entire theme of this section is centered around the power of God to secure His desire.
- God has power over materials. Whatever God decides to destroy, can never be built again! God has power over men. If He deems one a prisoner, that person will never escape.
- God has the power over the landscape. If He chooses to change it, He doesn't have to ask of get a permit for land use! He doesn't need an environmental impact study!
- God has power over those with power! He is able to turn the tables on wise counselors, judges and Kings.
- Once proud, in an instant, a King can lose His vestments and trade them in for the ropes of slavery! God will remove priests, life long political figures, trusted advisers and so on!
- Princes cannot resist His decree and the strong find themselves without weaponry. This is our God! There isn't a system on Earth that can withstand Him!
- When He wants people to understand, even in the deepest gloom, He will bring His wisdom to light.
- God works on a personal level and a national level, expanding nations and abandoning them when they have run their course.
- Their Kings are stripped of understanding and go from knowing where they are going to walking around without a clue! They can't see straight and look like drunken men! Chapter 13.
• Job 13:1-5 : "Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. But you forgers of lies, you are all worthless physicians. Oh, that you would be silent, and it would be your wisdom!" : Job isn't speaking from a theoretical basis. He has witnessed this throughout the course of his life! His suffering hasn't affected his intellect, but this isn't the issue.
- He doesn't want to talk with them about his problems. He would speak and reason with God!
- He doesn't want to mince words with them. He wants to argue his case before Almighty God! That is where he will find satisfaction and help. His friends frame their words to make Job seem guilty.
- As physicans, they are good for nothing! They aren't able to diagnose Job's issue and therefore, cannot be trusted to offer him a true remedy!
- Their best attempt at wisdom at this point would be to choose silence! Unfortunately, they won't take Job's advice! Verse 6.
• Job 13:6-12 : "Now hear my reasoning, and heed the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out? Or can you mock Him as one mocks a man? He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality. Will not His excellence make you afraid, and the dread of Him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay. Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may! " : Job cannot let his friends win their case for three reasons. First, it impugns his own character. Job has not sinned in action or by his lips. These are God's words.
- Second, their elementary thinking about God and His ways leaves them open to great disappointment and without equipment to understand real world scenarios.
- If your theology is based upon your own experiences, spiritual or practical, or upon traditions held and taught by human beings, you have insufficient means to explain life on this planet!
- The third issue however is the most serious of the three. If Job's friends continue to hang onto their case, they will be guilty of greatly misrepresenting God Almighty!
- Job, in the midst of his is physical pain, is concerned that their theology is causing them to speak wickedly for God. This is a serious charge and one that we need to take heed to.
- These men have walked in and insisted that they hold the truth of God. They are authoritatively commenting upon Job's case, acting as if they spoke on His behalf!
- Let me say this: When you and I ARE allowed to speak on the Lord's behalf and we do it properly, it will be attended with humility, be in concert with His Word and issue in peace.
- Job's friends have been condemning, condescending and contradictory to the Lord, but have spoken as if there words were His to transmit! That is a very dangerous way to live!
- If they had come with humility and a willingness to propose their own thoughts, that would be a different story. That isn't what they did.
- Please be careful not to ascribe actions to God's judgment that cannot be corroborated by scripture. In such a case, understand that actions are condemned, not necessarily the person!
- Stealing is condemned by God as sin, but a thief who is breathing is invited to redeemed. Adultery is condemned by God as sin, but the adulterer can turn from their way.
- This is what was missing in the "ministry" of Job's comforters! They had no action to point to!
- These men spoke wickedly on behalf of God in condemning Job. This is a very brash sin that we must never be guilty of. To make a man believe that God is "done" with them is a high crime!
- You will remember that Moses was kept out of the promised land because he failed to honor the Lord in the eyes of the Lord's people. (Numbers 20:12)
- We are a Kingdom of priests and if we misrepresent God based upon our own theories and our predisposed prejudices, we are in great error and truly, in grave danger!
- This is the present application, but understand that there is an equal sin to consider here. It is equally wicked NOT to condemn actions that God DOES condemn!
- To give a person the idea that their lifestyle isn't condemned when God clearly says that it is, is also to speak "wickedly," perversely, for God!
- We are to speak the truth in love and love demands honesty! A person living in sin, whether that sin is adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc., cannot be made comfortable in it!
- To act as if a person can live in any of these sins and be pleasing to God is akin to spiritual betrayal! Can you invite a person into fellowship with God who has no true desire for it!
- Every person who claims to want to be with God must first believe that He is and then repent from what they are! We haven't the time, but I'd ask you to consider the warning of Ezekiel 33.
- When it comes to final judgment, we can never be spokesman, but when it comes to actions that are judged, we are always watchmen!
- Job's friends spoke wickedly for God and they spoke deceitfully. They came and were already convinced of Job's guilt! In doing so, the stacked the deck in God's favor!
- They are not looking at this case with any kind of partiality and are making up facts to argue on His behalf! Their arguments have been one sided against Job, assuming his guilt.
- If they would act this way in a regular court, they would be in great danger. Later in history, but earlier in the Bible, God's law will expressly forbid favoritism in legal proceedings.
- Neither the rich nor the poor were to be favored according to Leviticus 19:15. If God found that they had not followed justice, they would fall under His judgment!
- They lacked any fear of God in their approach to Job's plight. If they continued, God's indictment upon them would bring great terror to their hearts.
- Without knowing it Job prophecied of what God will do with his friends by the end of this book! Everything that they have said thus far have been like ashes and clay.
- It holds no value and can't stand up to scrutiny but Job isn't worried about what they think. He knows his case well and is happy to accept the consequences. Verse 13.
• Job 13:13-19 : "Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands? Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech, and to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish." : Job was willing to speak the truth about his case, even if it seemed as if he had a death wish!
- He believes that he is inviting death just to make his case with God. Why would he do this?
- "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" What a profound statement to make!
- Listen to it in the NLT: "God might kill me, but I have no other hope." "Even if He kills me, I will hope in Him!" (CSB) Job has resolved to bring it to this end.
- He has suffered immensely and the worst that can happen is that God would kill him!
- That's actually what he has been asking for anyway! For Job, this proposition is a no lose situation, though if he could plead his case, he believes that God would be his salvation!
- Job is reduced to believing that God is His only hope of deliverance and that is a good thing! How far would Job have been willing to trust the Lord if he hadn't been given this pain?
- At this point, he has no choice! He is in a corner that forces him to place his life in the place where his life has always been!
- Job offers his friends a final note of the proof of his innocence. If he were being a hypocrite, why would he ever want to bring his case before God Almighty!?
- Before Job even got a word out, God would see right through him. Job will either be vindicated before his friends as having been an innocent victim or he will die before God.
- Either way, Job cannot keep quiet. He must speak and seek vindication.
Conclusion
- What a series of warnings for us to consider! How easy is it for you
and I to despise a lamp when we are living in the bright lights of success?
- Let us be careful of how we look at our friends in their time of pain. They are not inferior to us, nor is it a foregone conclusion that God has caused them to suffer for what they have done.
- Let us beware of speaking wickedly for God, either condemning men that He hasn't or failing to condemn actions which He has!
- Most of all, may we have the grace to agree with Job. "Even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" Let us bring our lives to the God of our salvation and trust Him to carry us through!
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