Ten Little Known Facts About Job
Many people consider Job a great man and a champion of the faith.
Job, you will recall, lost everything (his family, wealth and health), then sat on a dunghill scratching himself with a broken plate while having a theological debate with seminarians. As a result of this rich, life-affirming experience, many people now believe the following lies:
- God gives and takes away good things like children, health, jobs
- God uses sickness to punish or discipline me
- God puts me through hard times to teach me humility
- God uses Satan as a sheepdog to keep the sheep in line
I want to offer a different perspective.
The Book of Job is not about a great man but a flawed man. The Job we read about was not the man of God many think he was, but a superstitious and fearful man who, in a time of great pain, said things he later regretted.
His story is not about the triumph of the human spirit, but the awesome grace God gives to broken humanity.
“But Job was a righteous man.”
Actually, he was a self-righteous man and basically an unbeliever, as we shall see. I’m not knocking Job. My purpose is to show you how grace changes broken people like you, me, and Job.
By the time we get to the end of this short series, you’re going to be amazed at some of the good things God says about this imperfect man. But to finish well we must begin with a proper understanding of Job’s state apart from God. Here are ten little known facts about Job:
1. Job was superstitious
Like many religious people, Job subscribed to the faithless wisdom of sowing and reaping. If his kids threw a wild party, Job would bring a sacrifice. “They might’ve sinned; I’d better do something about it.” Debits and credits. “This was Job’s regular custom” (Job 1:5).
2. Job was sin-conscious
Not his sins, of course, because he didn’t have any. (Cough!) Job saw himself as a good man who kept the ledger clean. Job viewed sin like kryptonite (see Job 31:11-12). He was terrified of it and thought about it constantly (see Job 31).
3. Job was full of fear
Job was insecure and bound with fear. He would’ve been the perfect customer for an insurance salesman because he feared calamities and disasters that would wipe him out (Job 31:23). When that happened he said, “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25).
4. Job was full of self-pity
Read Job’s words and you get a strong sense of “Woe is me.” Although his woes were legitimate, he was utterly focused on his own sorry state. He was self-indulgent to the point of whining. “I will give free rein to my complaint” (Job 10:1). And complain he did.
5. Job allowed bitterness to take root
Bitterness is a grace-killer, but Job allowed that evil weed to flourish in the garden of his heart. “I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 7:11).
6. Job was self-righteous
Job’s confidence was not in the Lord but his own good behavior. “How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin” (Job 13:23). Like an indignant Pharisee Job had an inflated sense of his moral performance. “Let God weigh me in honest scales and he will know that I am blameless” (Job 31:6).
Job’s self-trust reinforced his victim mentality. “Can anyone bring charges against me?” (Job 13:19). Eventually his self-righteousness became so odorous that it even silenced the self-righteous men who came to counsel him. “These three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes” (Job 32:1).
7. Job thought God didn’t care
“Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing” (Job 9:16). Job’s self-pitying distorted his perception of God’s character. Like many people going through hard times, Job thought God was opposed to him (Job 13:24).
8. Job blamed God for his troubles
It is often taught that Job never blamed God (which is a misreading of Job 1:22). However, Job did not hesitate to point the finger at “the Almighty, who has made my life bitter” (Job 27:2).
A storm killed his kids and tribal raiders stole his herds, yet Job attributed his loss to a God who gives and takes away (Job 1:21). Again and again Job said God was the cause of his trouble (see Job 2:10, 6:4).
Given his good behavior, Job couldn’t make sense of this divine unfairness. “Don’t you have better things to do than pick on me?” (Job 7:20, MSG). God moves in mysterious ways, thought Job. At any time he might “crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason” (Job 9:17).
9. Job thought God was trying to kill him
“Although I am blameless… He destroys both the blameless and the wicked” (Job 9:21-22). Job actually thought that God was trying to kill him. “You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me… I know you will bring me down to death” (Job 30:21,23).
10. Job despaired of life and wished he was dead
Job loathed his life (see Job 7:16). “Who can see any hope for me?” (Job 17:15). This so-called hero of the faith had a death wish. “I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine” (Job 7:15). Job had no faith in a God who heals and restores, but said, “the only home I hope for is the grave” (Job 17:13).
Many people honor Job as a giant of the faith who was renowned for his great patience. However, Job is not listed in Hebrews 11 among the other heroes of the faith and the only righteousness he exhibited was the stinky, self-made kind.
But wait, there’s more…
Stick around because we’re going to see that God’s grace is for imperfect people like Job. “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill” (Psa 113:7).
As we will see, Job’s life had a second act. Before he met the Lord Job was a whiner who falsely blamed God for his troubles; but afterwards he become a brand new man, a man that God saw as righteous and upright.
It is an amazing story and you won’t want to miss it!
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Thankyou Warren, of South Carolina. I understand your concern for my intentions. I know that others read these posts, I have been enlightened by posts and responses to posts by others. I will pray for Leroy and thank you for mentioning it. At the time I felt like there may be somone who would read what he had written and be given cause to stumble, as is spoken of in I Corinthians 8:11, it has happened to me. Satan does not need a whole door to be opened to work his way in, as you are aware, all he needs is to get a foot in the door, just a litttle doubt or leaven. Stop the leaven before the leaven gets a chance to infect others. That’s what I was thinking anyway. You are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved my brother Warren, thanks again.
Thanks John. I am the worst offender so don’t feel bad, just learn from it as I have / had to do. Let your motivation always be the love of God IN you.
Blessings,
Warren (South Carolina, USA)
Hi Paul, I like the challenge of thinking differently about Job and the narrative. I was also reminded of two verses in Ezekiel, where Job is mentioned twice by God in the same breath as Noah and Daniel, highlighting their righteousness. What’s your take on Job in this context, also in the light of God speaking of Job being blameless in Job 1?
Thanks!
In my opinion Romans 4:3, Gal. 3:6, James 2:23, which all refer to Gen. 15:6 concerning Abraham also apply to Job. Which through the New Covenant of Grace now applies to us as well. Job, as well as Abraham, was under grace, it was the Hebrews and their attitude that brought about the Law. I’m looking for at least 5 points for this reply :).
Paul
Have you ever considered that the Book of Job is a parabilic story meant to teach that God is in control, and that those who hold on to God, even in great adversity, will reap blessings in the end. Remember, the whole thing that happens with Job begins with a wager between Satan and God!
Is gambling a sin?
This is such a gross misinterpretation of Job. It was God who declared that Job was a “blameless &upright man,who fearsGod & turns from evil” Job 1:8. Your fan club would do well to read the account of Job for themselves and see the truth.
Anna, I’m not sure what you are offended about, but for what it’s with I totally agree with and love the Lord’s assessment of Job in Job 1:8.
A friend passed this on to me. Wow- what a game changer! Say, do ya have a similar study of David? David and I have just never been able to play nice. I just see a thousand crummy ex-boyfriends in him and I can’t ever wrap my heart around him as ‘ a man after Gods heart” or fully around Gods heart for him. Although let me be clear- I am always open to the idea that I could be the thousand ex- girlfriends and David just hits too close to home. Either way- to understand what Everyone else sees in David if it’s what God sees in David ( and in me) would be a good thing. Looking forward to the rest of Job. Thank you
When someone asked why David was a man after God’s own heart someone will inevitably say that David was quick to repent. I never really saw that, that he repented after all the bad things he did. My opinion is that 1. David really believed in the goodness of God, in how much God loved him. You couldn’t write the most loved psalm without having a genuine experience of God’s love in your life. And 2. Idolatry was simply not part of David’s makeup. He was satisfied with One God. He was tempted by pride, lust and many other things but there were no other Gods for him. I think when we are ALL IN with the one true God and in his goodness toward us it makes all the difference.
Bob took the words out of my mouth. The thing about David is not that he was a better man than others – he wasn’t! – but that he had an incredible grasp of God’s goodness. While others marched to the drumbeat of law (Nathan) or were seduced by the siren call of sin (Saul), David walked to the true heartbeat of God. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than in the Psalm he wrote after committing a most heinous crime.
Jobs 3 friends who blames him and keeps telling him to repent, in the end is told by God Himself to take sacrifices and have Job pray for them before He (God) punishes them. What you are saying about Job is exactly what his 3 friends were saying about him, that he (Job) had sinned. It breaks my hart that Job after all his ordeal and trying to prove his innocence still has to do so today and this after God Himself said that He (Job) had spoken correct about Him (God) and his 3 accusing friends not.
What a pitty that we always have to over-analyze and break down characters that God Himself reckons as blameless.
I wish you blessings none the less in the Holy name of Him that calls Himself The I Am.
I think you may be interested in this article on Job and what God thought of him.
Hi Paul I did a little study on Noah recently and came across a references to Job’s righteousness in Ezekiel 14 :14,16,18,20. Most commentators seem to go for the explanation in Job 1. Any thoughts on these passages?
In Ezekiel 14 the prophet is speaking to the elders of Israel and confronting their hidden idolatry. The Lord speaks through Ezekiel about the severe consequences of Israel’s sin – famine (v.13), wild beasts (v.15), and war (v.17), and plagues (v.19).
Remember, this is under the old covenant where the Israelites signed up to a system of rewards and punishments for good and bad performance.
These sin judgments will be so severe that you would have to be as righteous as Noah, Daniel, and Job to escape them (vv.14, 16, 18, 20). None of these three men was perfect (Noah was a drunkard, Job was a whiner), but they weren’t breaking the law like the Israelites were. God punishes wrongdoers, not right-doers.
God is not saying that Noah, Daniel, and Job were saved on account of their righteousness. He’s saying men like that would not be punished because they hadn’t sinned. More here.
Agreed, thank you so much Paul.
I learned valuable lessons from this:
1. Read the entire portion of scripture. Bad conditioning led me to read only the pericope, Jerusalem will not be spared, containing those verses. Going back to verse 1 however as you did I got the picture.
2. A greater understanding of the goodness of God and His opinion of us although not yet manifest in us. I read your pieces on Job’s Grace Encounter and Psalm 51 The Badness of David Versus the Goodness of God and it just amplified the message that our only appeal is to His goodness and to His provision in Jesus.
What about Daniel though? I am 100% for the grace message, but I always found it interesting in Scripture that of all the characters in the Bible, God mentions very little negative about Daniel. You mentioned that none of those three men were perfect and gave on what Job and Noah did, but what about Daniel? Some say Daniel was a type of Christ? What about Joseph?…
In truth, the Bible records quite a few people who were “blameless”. Yet none of them were saved on account of their behavior.
I get that Daniel and Joseph are those few “blameless” people, but I have to ask, how? How was it possible under the condemnation of the law (except Joseph who wasn’t under the law)? Did Daniel and Joseph have a greater understanding of grace? I mean, if you really study Daniel and who he is, you have to be impressed with how God’s grace worked in the man’s life. How do you come from being humiliated and stripped of your Jewish identity as a 15 year old and then transition to being a faultless government leader who, after 70 years of serving in the most corrupt place on Earth, managed to have a blameless testimony? What was it that God did in Daniel’s life that kept him from sinning like David with Bathsheba or Samson with Delilah? You could ask the same with Joseph; Joseph was tempted after he was betrayed by his own brothers and had no Bible or Holy Spirit to guide him. How did he have a pure record? I mean, there has to be some significance to this, right?
Sorry for the excessive commenting, please don’t delete this question…
I hate deleting comments, but I do have a policy of publishing only short comments about the article being discussed (Job in this case). More here. Thanks for understanding.
The equivalent of Daniel and Joseph are politicians in Washington who after having “dirt” investigators try to scrutinize and analyze them for over their entire life, have no record to accuse. Imagine even CNN admitting that the best politician in government who has been there for 70+ years never made a public blunder. That is almost impossible, especially knowing how much corruption and immorality was in Babylon and Egypt.
Soooooooo, then why would God be so confident in His servant Job, to call him blameless. Upright. And a man with integrity. This whole statement looses it’s credibility in the first short chapter of the book..
What statement would that be?
Boy,do you need to read YOUR bible!!!Calling Job “superstitious”,”full of self-pity”,”self-righteous””blaming God for his troubles”????????What kind of INSENSITIVE SNOB exactly are YOU??????God called him “a perfect and upright man,one that fears God,and eschews evil”.I wil go with GOD’S assesment rather than your’s,thank you very much!!!”Blaming God for his problems”?”thought God was trying to kill him”?,”bitterness”???……….OF COURSE Job acted that way,he suffered great pains and hardships he did NOT deserve,and,from impulsive reaction,said rash things he DIDN’T MEAN!!!!Can’t you GET THAT?????You see my friend,it’s always SO EASY for any “nay-sayers” to be skeptical and critisize someone’s REACTION when they are suffering!Especially from some of our plush and lavish lifestyles!The HARD thing to do is actually BE THERE,and suffer ourselves,and LEARN what we are criticizing!!!!”10 little known facts about Job”????”little known” because God does not see those “facts”.You should entitle it “10 of MY(your) opinionative statements about Job”!!And leave it at that,and do not lead people to CONCEITED DECEPTION!Some more firm but friendly advice,my friend,psalm 105:15 Touch not my anointed,and do my proppets no harm
There is no inconsistency between Job’s flaws – which are clearly recorded in scripture – and God’s assessment of Job as the upright man. The good news is that the love of God can change insensitive snobs like me and abusive ignoramuses like you.
People easily fall into the trap of Job being a perfect man when the truth was he was just a man, like any of us.
Dr. Ellis, the blogger, says, “The Book of Job is not about a great man but a flawed man.”
GOD Himself says, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
I’m sorry, but where a mere man contradicts God, I’m going with God every time. Neither your doctorate, nor mine, nor anyone else’s, empowers or authorizes us to overrule what God says. There’s some interesting stuff in the rest, but its credibility is overshadowed by the author’s presuming to be smarter than God.
Speaking of presumption, perhaps you might like to read my take on Job 1:8 before casting your stones.
Great post! Job is not a Christian model. He’s can’t be a Christian because he was pre New Testament. Actually he was even pre Old Testament. No finished work of Jesus, no Holy Spirit indwelling as a New Creation… Job is not our example!
I have such a huge, GIGANTIC problem with you saying or implying that Job was not saved. You say/imply such a thing in this post and I have seen you do the same on your other “Job” posts. That is such incorrect information, it is not even funny!…
If only you had read all the way to the last paragraph before writing this comment.
Listed in the 11:00 because he was not Hebrew don’t know what Bible interpretation y’all are reading from but you need to get something a little bit better the book is about God’s power it’s not nothing about Job you’re missing the point people but considering it’s the only book of the Bible that points out that God never called an angel son there for the sons of God were actually Suns and it’s one of the few books that God actually talks in
Very interesting. thanks! I have this question …
When you say that Job believed in Karma because he made sacrifices for the sins of his children. Could it not be seen that Job (the period of the book of Job comes immediately after Genesis) acted as a priest like Noah (Genesis 8:20) and therefore had the typical theology of that time that sacrifice functions as an expiation?
Interesting question. I would say there was a difference. Noah brought a sacrifice AFTER God had kept his word, so his was a sacrifice of thanksgiving. In contrast, Job brought sacrifices out of fear. He had no peace and no confidence that his kids were safe unless he did something. Perhaps he thought he needed to earn favor or bribe God. In truth, we are not saved by the blood of bulls and goats, but faith counts. Noah trusted and Job didn’t. Noah’s sacrifice, like Abel’s was in response to something God had done, which is the essence of faith.
I’m sure if you dig even deeper, you will find all sorts of signposts to Jesus in Noah’s sacrifice that are missing in Job’s.
I will do it! if you have something already written to read let me know!
One last thing, you say that the sacrifice of Noah, like that of Abel is in response to something that God had done, which is the essence of faith …
I agree with you in saying that Job was afraid when he made sacrifices for his children, but can’t we say the same thing about Job? … it is for all that he possessed: sheep, camels, slaves, money, etc. (gifts that he recognized that they came from God) that led him to make sacrifices…
I’ve remember hearing that the book of Job was found in the poems section of the Bible and therefore should be considered a story and not a real person. The moral of the story: it rains equally on the just and the unjust.
Before chapter 42, Did Job say anything good? For example Job 19:25 and 28:28. Was he guided by the Spirit of God or does he say wrong things?
Sincerely I think your words are not different from Job’s friend who were rebuked by God. Put yourself in the Man’s shoes and I’m sure you’ll see things from a different perspective. Job went through hell
You misread me. I feel for Job – he lost his kids! But I do agree with everything Elihu said.
You *never* answered this question from a while back and I’m still curious:
I get that Daniel and Joseph are those few “blameless” people, but I have to ask, how? How was it possible under the condemnation of the law (except Joseph who wasn’t under the law)? Did Daniel and Joseph have a greater understanding of grace? I mean, if you really study Daniel and who he is, you have to be impressed with how God’s grace worked in the man’s life. How do you come from being humiliated and stripped of your Jewish identity as a 15 year old and then transition to being a faultless government leader who, after 70 years of serving in the most corrupt place on Earth, managed to have a blameless testimony (Daniel 6: 4) ? What was it that God did in Daniel’s life that kept him from sinning like David with Bathsheba or Samson with Delilah? You could ask the same with Joseph; Joseph was tempted after he was betrayed by his own brothers and had no Bible or Holy Spirit to guide him. How did he have a pure record? I mean, there has to be some significance to this, right?
I guess in a cast of thousands we shouldn’t be surprised that one or two men proved to be decent and honorable. Perhaps we should be surprised that more were not.
In that sense, I’d have to say yes. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that if God was able to do that in their lives under an inferior covenant (though Joseph lived before old covenant though) with the condemnation of the law (at least with Daniel), shouldn’t it be expected they really only paint a picture or a glimpse of what God can do with somebody today as far as purity is concerned? If Old Testament saints could keep their way pure by taking heed to the Word (Psalm 119:9 to 10) and hiding in in their hearts (Psalm 119:11), how much more glorious should it be for us? If God could make Daniel ten times better (Daniel 1:20) and give his three friends the grace to not bow down even under threat of death or Joseph the ability to withstand sexual temptation day by day, why is it that we aren’t seeking believers at least match, if not really exceed that standard of moral excellence today? Would you agree in that sense?
I don’t really understand your question.
Sorry for the misunderstanding, here is what I mean:
Neither Joseph nor Daniel attended Sunday school, neither had the privilege of attending Sunday services, neither there were any gospel crusades in his time. They were alone, far away from his family most of his youth, so how did/could they say NO to flesh under the Law? Why did Joseph succeed against Potiphar’s wife who tempted him day by day with no real support contrast to sexual temptation today? Or Daniel live a pure life in exceedingly wicked Babylon? And with all the above privileges we have, some are still unable to conquer flesh?
You don’t need to go to Sunday school to experience the grace of God.
Indeed, this is true. It is still important to not forsake the assembling of the brethren though. So, I guess where I’m getting at is that why do we today with all the advantages today in contrast to them still fail? Why did Joseph succeed against persistent sexual temptation and today we don’t when we have the Word and he didn’t? And yes, Mike, I do indeed accept your correction. Joseph lived before the Law and Daniel didn’t technically live in that same time zone but there was still the fact they had a continual remembrance of sins even though he might not have had made animal sacrifices to my knowledge.
Not answering your question directly, but addressing a very important component. You make the assumption Daniel was under ‘Law’. He was not. There was no temple, no tabanacle. They were in a country, and that country was under another god. Yes they were maintaining several customs example the dietary Laws. And yes they were serving God. Their righteousness did not come from the sacrificial rituals, but via faith, just like Abraham, and Lot. That is, their righteousness was not dependant on what they did. They were under Grace! And that’s why the fiery furnace couldn’t touch them!
I still haven’t received a satisfactory answer to my question. Granted, the Bible catalogues how the Lord was with Joseph and his Presence was the key to Joseph’s keen resistance to temptation (same with Daniel in Babylon since the Spirit empowered him and his three friends to live virtuous lives in a Babylonian culture of sadistic pleasure and outright obscene sexual promiscuity, I mean literally, it’s like if your kids were taken to Las Vegas by themselves for their entire lives and hoping they turned out all right). But why do we, with all the advantages and grace available to us that Joseph and Daniel, as unregenerate men didn’t have, do we still fail and lack in sexual purity and general character? Even as it pertains to the Law, we still have rather outstanding characters like Samuel (1 Samuel 12:3) or Josiah, probably the most godly king Israel had (2 Kings 23:25). Why are we still failing? Any input on this would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Haha😂😂😂👊now I know
“Before he met the Lord Job was a whiner who falsely blamed God for his troubles;”
— I’m not familiar with your blog — but I guess at this point you somehow got a bit carried away with your own interpretation, and hope you might appreciate a corrective.
Your interpretation above doesn’t match with the way God opens this book and pronounces His verdict on Job’s life: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8)
Surely any interpretation of Job’s character that follows this ought to take it into account, no?
Welcome to E2R. Every one of the ten little known facts above is backed up by scripture, but if you’d like to offer an alternative take I’d be happy to hear it.
It may interest you to learn that I have written about Job more than any other Old Testament character. I love the man and think his story is one of the most misunderstood stories in the Bible. I have written on the passage you mentioned. It’s an absolute gem that reveals more about the grace of God than the state of mind of a man dealing with incredible pain. If you’re interested, you can find two dozen articles on Job addressing all those wonderful scriptures in the Archives > Scripture Index. Thanks.
Hey Paul, I have to ask this question once more again all though this is a super old threat. Why is it with all the advantages we have as saints, we are not walking in the level of purity Daniel or Joseph did? Doesn’t the Bible say that we should not even have a “hint of immorality named among us” as is fitting and proper among saints in Ephesians? To me what Daniel did is like taking your kids to Las Vegas with no parental supervision and hoping they turn out OK. Why do we, with all the advantages and grace available to us that Joseph and Daniel, as unregenerate men didn’t have, do we still fail and lack in sexual purity specifically and general character? Even as it pertains to the Law, we still have rather outstanding characters like Samuel (1 Samuel 12:3) or Josiah, probably the most godly king Israel had (2 Kings 23:25). Why are we still failing? I would really appreciate some insight on this if you can.
I’m not sure who is failing, but since you have asked me this question several times, I’m tempted to conclude that you or someone you know is struggling with sexual purity. I talk about how to overcome sin here and here. I hope this helps.