Lesson 10: Job Chapter 5

I. Introduction.
A. In chapter four, Eliphaz starts the first of his three homilies.
B. We see, first, that Eliphaz accuses Job of hypocrisy.
C. Eliphaz sees Job's suffering as a result of reaping and sowing.
D. Eliphaz declared his superiority over Job in spiritual matters because of his great spiritual vision.
E. Elihphaz has accused Job of equality with God.
F. Chapter five continues Eliphaz's homily.

II. Experience of God's ways.{ 5:1-5}
A. Eliphaz, as befits a man of his age and observation, gives the results of his experience among men .
B. In verse one Eliphaz is stating that Job's conduct is such that not one of the holy will notice him.
C. For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. vs.2
1. Wrath, as seen here, may betoken an ungoverned disposition.
a. Wrath may reveal a hasty, thoughtless character.
b. Wrath may indicate an impetuous, unbalanced character.
c. Wrath kills the silly person by destroying the best of feelings.
d. Wrath kills the silly one by stifling all sense of justice, right, caution, and honor.
2. Eliphaz insults Job and would have him believe that he was a malicious man whose vice had
caused him to be afflicted.
3. Envy is a regret of mind, or inward trouble at the prosperity of another.
a. The singular principle here is that this vice exhibits itself in a repining, a gnawing, a trouble in
the mind, that any man should prosper.
4. A silly person is one whose understanding is prejudiced, whose judgment is not free.
5. A silly person is governed by his passions. {emotions}
D. I have seen the foolish taking root. vs. 3
1. Wicked men may flourish in great outward prosperity.
2. They may actually take root.
a. They may withstand terrible storms.
3. Outward things {temporal possessions} are not good in and of themselves.
4. There is a great difference between the flourishing of a wise man and of a fool.
5. The enjoyment of outward good things is no evidence that a man is good.

III.Exhortation to seek God. vs. 6-11
A. Affliction cometh not forth of the dust. vs.6-7
1. The words of Eliphaz imply that a general state of man in this world is a state of trouble and affliction.
2. Suffering cannot be wholly evil.
a. A life without trouble would be one of the worst things for man.
b. The innocent often suffer.
c. It must be remembered that Jesus condescended to endure suffering.
3. It must be remembered that our present state is probationary in nature.{moral trial}
4. To a probationary state suffering is necessary, and indispensable.
5. God intends four things in affliction.
a. To teach us humility and a just sense of our own unworthiness.
b. To lead us to repentance for our past errors.
c. To wean us from over-fond love of this present world.
d. To try, improve, and perfect our virtues.
6. It is a very wrong and unjust conclusion to imagine that whoever is much afflicted must have been
very wicked.
B.. I would seek unto God. vs. 8-9.
1. Eliphaz viewed God as trustworthy.
2. Four things demonstrate the trustworthiness of God.
a. His love.
b. His truthfulness.
c. His ability to realize what we need.
d. His constancy.
3. Eliphaz regarded God as a wonder-working God.
a. God's works are great things. vs. 9.
b. God's works are unsearchable. vs. 9
c. God's works are marvelous. vs. 9
d. God's works are innumerable. vs. 9

IV. God's triumph over evil. vs. 12-16
A. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty. vs.12
1. The crafty here are those who are wickedly cunning.
2. However much art and subtility the wicked may lay in their plots, there is a God who both can and
frequently does disappoint and baffle them.
B. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. vs. 13
1. The wisdom of natural man is nothing but craft or wit to do wickedly.
2. Satan makes use of subtle crafty men, and uses them for his own purposes.
3. The crafty are full of hopes that their devices will succeed.
4. The crafty are troubled because their devices will not succeed.
5. Crafty men may devise strongly, but they do not have enough strength to accomplish their ends.
C. So the poor have hope. vs.16
1. Eliphaz takes the position of one who has special insight into Divine truth.
2. The chief fact before Eliphaz is that suffering is real.
3. To Eliphaz's way of thinking, suffering comes from God. { God is not responsible for everything He
permits.}
4. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.
5. Divine chastisement is conducive to happiness.
6 When is this chastisement conducuive to happiness?
a. When it induces thoughtfulness.
b. When it reminds us of our fraility.
c. When it induces more earnest prayer.
d. When it endears us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lesson 9: Job Chapter 4

I. Introduction
A. In our last lesson we examined the lament of Job. {ch. 3}
B. We saw Job cursing his day.
C. We saw Job wailing and desiring to die.
D. Job is indeed a very sick man.
1. He was suffering physically.
2. He was suffering mentally.
3. He was suffering spiritually.
E. We observed how powerful the effects of illness can be.
F. Now, in chapter four, we will examine the first of three speeches from Eliphaz.
G. It must be remembered that although Job's three friends approached the problem from different
angles, their principle was the same: all suffering is of a punitive rather than of an instructive nature.
1. It is based on God's justice rather than on His love.
2. This principle stipulated that Job's sufferings were for sin {undetected} and that his only hope for
relief was in a confession of his sin in order to obtain mercy.
I. Eliphaz's address falls into seven portions.
1. Reproach for Job's despair.{ch. 4:1-5}
2. God's favor to the righteous. {vs.6-11}
3. Vision of God's greatness and holiness. {vs.12-21}
4. Experience of God's ways. {ch.5:1-5}
5. Exhortation to Job to seek God. {vs. 6-11}
6. God's triumph over evil. {vs. 12-16}
7. The uses of affliction. {vs. 17-27}

II. Reproach for Job's despair. {ch.4:1-5}
A. Eliphaz is accusing Job of being a hypocrite.
B . Notice verse 4.
1. Job taught and instructed others in the way of righteousness.
2. Job's words upheld those who were falling.
3. Job's words strengthened those who were weak.
4. We need to see the true principles of responsibility that the believer shoulders.
a. The believer needs to communicate the knowledge of God to others.
b. The believer needs to comfort others.
C. In verse five the accusation of hypocrisy emerges.
1. The word faintest signifies an extraordinary fainting.
2. In other words, Job could talk the walk, but could not walk the talk.


III. God's favor to the righteous. {vs. 6-11}
A. verse 6.
1. Paraphrased, the verse could read, will not thy fear be thy confidence, and the righteousness of thy
ways thy hope?
2. Eliphaz is saying to Job, you have pretended much holiness and religion, fear and uprightness; why
are you so disquieted now that the hand of God is upon you?
B. Verse 7.
1. This verse speaks of a just and sure retribution at the hand of God.
2. In and of itself, this verse voices a universal truth.
3. The inference of secret hypocrisy, or of some outward transgression was unwarranted.
4. The big thing to see here is how Satan works around the periphery of truth.
C. Verses 8-9.
1. Eli speaks of himself as an observer of God's providence.
2. His statement of plowing and sowing is one result of his observations.
3. The statement given by Eliphaz is better known to us as the universal law of sowing and reaping.
4. Again, we see truth misapplied.
5. Eliphaz wrongly applied this truth to Job, concluding that his severe sufferings were the consequence
of his own individual sins.
6. It must be remembered that the basis of Eliphaz's argument stemmed from his belief that all
suffering is of a punitive nature.
7. Eliphaz maintained that the statute of requital is enforced in all cases rigorously and exactly.
a. The world is governed on the principle of minute recompense .
b. Sin is always followed by its equivalent of suffering in this present life.
D Verses 8-11 expound on Eliphaz's exposition of plowing and sowing.

IV. Vision of God's greatness and holiness {vs. 12-21}
A. Verses 12-16
1. Eliphaz now describes his vision of the greatness and holiness of God.
2. Bible scholars are divided as to whether or not the vision that Eliphaz had was of God.
3. Eliphaz's point in describing the vision was to question Job as to whether or not he ever had a spirit
pass before him.
4. Eliphaz wanted to know if Job's hair had ever stood on end as a result of the experience.
5. Since Job had never had such an experience, Eliphaz felt he was superior to Job in spiritual matters.
6. Therefore Job needs to humble himself and allow Eliphaz to declare the reasons for his misfortunes.
B. Verses 17
1. Eliphaz poses the question, "Shall a man be more pure than God?"
2. The assumption in this verse is that no man can be more pure and just than God.
a. God is most righteous, pure, and holy within Himself and in His administration.
b. God can do no wrong and no one ought to challenge Him.
c. The righteousness and holiness of God is so infinitely transcendent, that the holiness of the best of
men cannot compare with it.
d. Eliphaz disparages all human attainments and excellency before God in order to vindicate the ways
of God to man.
1) Eliphaz is attempting to prove that all God's laws are holy, just, and good.
2) Eliphaz is trying to repress pride and inculcate humility.
e. An impatient complainer under affliction, in effect, challenges the righteousness and holiness of
God.
3. From this vision, Eliphaz is insinuating that the virtue, or integrity of Job's life might not justify the
seeming impatience he displayed.
C. verse 18.
1. God only possesses in Himself all excellence.
2. Angels derive their being , and all its excellencies from God.
3. The holiness of an angel will appear as little better than a frailty if compared with the uncreated
holiness of God.
4. The subject teaches the folly of covetousness and ambition.
5. The subject teaches us to avoid pride or glory in man.
6. The angels were created in a possibility of everlasting blessedness, but not in actual possession of it.
a. This is evidenced by the actual fall of some of the angels.
D. Verse 19-21.
1. Notice here the description of the frailty of man.
2. If the frailty of man is so great what folly it is to be totally engrossed in the pursuits and pleasures of
this present life.
3. The frailty of man teaches the importance of being always prepared for a world where death and
sorrow are unknown.

Lesson 8 Job Chapter 3

I. Introduction.
A. Job is now a very ill person.
B. Job's three friends have arrived to give comfort.
C. For seven days no one says a word.
D. Starting in chapter three, Job begins to speak (known as Job's lament).
E. It be noted that Job's words reveal a change in mood or attitude.
1. Note chapter 1:21 and chapter 2:10 with the beginning of chapter 3:1-2.
F. In light of his subsequent attitude, it seems that Job's thoughts of God had much to do this change.
1. Previously, Job had viewed God as the beneficent ruler and disposer of events.
2. It appears as we go on through the discourse that allowed suspicions of God's justice and goodness to
intrude in his thoughts.
3. Job sees himself as in the hands of arbitrary power, suffering for what he had not done.
4. Job sees no way of escape, and therefore wishes for death.
G. The lament of Job falls into three strophes (stanzas).
1. Verses 1-10
2. Verses 11-19
3. verses 20-26

II. Strophe 1.
A. Job curses his day.
B. For a child of God to wish he had never been born indicates a complete eclipse of faith.
C. The peril of impulsive speech.
1. Good men sometimes give utterance to sentiments which are a departure from the spirit of religion.
2. Sometimes the the effect of heavy affliction on the mind can seem overwhelming.
D. Job's sufferings urged him to pry into the reasons of a miserable life.
1. Great suffering is often useful to the sufferer.
a. Sufferings help to purify the heart.
b. Suffering teaches man the evil of sin.
c. Suffering develops the virtues (patience, forbearance, etc.).
d. Suffering tests the character.
E. Suffering is often useful to the spectator.
1. It tends to awaken compassion.
2. It tends to stimulate benevolence.
3. It tends to excite gratitude.
F. Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane is our perfect example./
1. The intensity of His sufferings furnished the occasion for His total obedience to the will and
purpose of the Father.

III. Strophe 2.
A. Job exchanges cursing for wailing.
B. Job now declares his wish that he had died as soon as he was born, or that he had been left without
care or food.
C. Death is here described as a rest in which all have an equal share.
1. Job places all the dead in the condition of unconscious sleep.
D. There are numerous references in the Old Testament to show man in a conscious state after death.
E. In blurring the future, Job shows how far his soul has drifted from the truth of God.
F. Job's statement in chapter 19:25 {I know that my redeemer liveth} refutes his statements on death.

IV. Strophe 3.
A. The last portion of Job's address is rife with inquiries.
B. Job is longing for death because of his misery.
C. Reasons for living.
1. The sufferings may be the very means which are needful to develop the true state of the saint.
2. The sufferings may be the proper punishment of sin in the heart in which the individual is unaware.
3. Sufferings are needful to teach submission
D. In verses 24-26 Job turns from his longing after death to the reasons which make him desire it.
1. His anguish takes precedence over his hunger.
E. Job has lost the sense God's favor.
F. Job fears that God has forsaken him.
G. Job could not withstand the torturing doubt that God had given him over to hopeless misery.