Category Archives: Job

Reading Job as Literature

Posted on October 18, 2016 by rjs5

I am preparing to lead a short Bible study on the book of Job using the recent book How to Read Job by John Walton and Tremper Longman III as a guide. The book of Job provides an excellent forum … Continue reading →

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How To Read Job

Posted on February 9, 2016 by rjs5

Several years ago I posted a long series on the book of Job (See here for the posts) using the commentaries written by John Walton (Job (The NIV Application Commentary)) and Tremper Longman III (Job (Baker Commentary on the Old … Continue reading →

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That is Wisdom!

Posted on October 27, 2015 by rjs5

The last passage considered by Walter Moberly in his excellent book Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture is Job 28 read in context with Job 1-2. We looked at this chapter earlier when working through the … Continue reading →

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The God of the Whirlwind

Posted on April 22, 2014 by rjs5

Ronald Osborn (Death Before the Fall) finds the cosmic theodicy provided by C. S. Lewis as an effort to think through the problem of death and suffering in creation both thought-provoking and insufficient. The conflict with rebellious non-human powers is … Continue reading →

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God Blesses Job … New Children to Replace Those Lost?

Posted on October 8, 2013 by rjs5

This post wraps up a nearly year long trek through the book of Job. Along the way we have followed two recent commentaries – Job (The NIV Application Commentary) by John Walton and Job (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament … Continue reading →

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Job and the Question of Suffering

Posted on October 3, 2013 by rjs5

The book of Job is not a theodicy, it does not offer an explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil. The book does not justify God and in Ch. 38-41 God does not offer a … Continue reading →

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God’s Creation … Chaos Creatures and What is “Good”?

Posted on October 1, 2013 by rjs5

Over the last three or four years I have known six, make that seven, friends or acquaintances who have died of cancers (only a little less than the previous two or three decades of my life). While most of the … Continue reading →

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And Then God Instructs (or Rebukes?)… Job and Us

Posted on September 26, 2013 by rjs5

In the last post we began to look at the climax of the book of Job in Chapters 38-41, when Yahweh answers Job. Many commentators seem to view this as a rebuke -a diatribe against Job who has incurred God’s … Continue reading →

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And Then God Speaks … About Creation

Posted on September 24, 2013 by rjs5

The climax of the book of Job comes when Yahweh answers Job, or more accurately instructs Job, from the whirlwind in Chapters 38-41. This long series of posts, and the careful interaction with recent commentaries by John Walton (Job (The … Continue reading →

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Remember, God Doesn’t Need You

Posted on August 22, 2013 by rjs5

And now Elihu Speaks. Chapters 32-37 contain an interesting interlude in the progression of arguments in the book of Job. A heretofore unmentioned character, Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite speaks. Some claim that this section is a late addition … Continue reading →

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