Lessons From the Book of Job

n this lesson, we will learn some fascinatingthings from one of the oldest books in the

Bible—the book of Job. This ancient book tellsthe story of a man who obeyed God, yet stillsuffered many things. We will learn why suf-fering is a necessary part of life. The book ofJob will also teach us many other excitingtruths about God’s plan for mankind!

JOB’S BACKGROUND

Job lived before Israel became a large nation.He was married and had seven sons and threedaughters. Although the Bible doesn’t revealthe exact time of Job’s life, there is indicationthat he lived around the same time as Jacob.Job was a very wealthy man—at a time whenwealth was not measured by money, but bylivestock. Job had seven thousand sheep, threethousand camels, five hundred oxen, and fivehundred donkeys! Can you imagine a farmwith this many animals on it?

Turn to the first verse in the book of Job tosee how the Bible describes him: “There was aman in the land of ________, whose name was__________; and that man was ____________and ______________, and one who feared_______ and shunned evil.” Truly, Job was aman who lived God’s way of life. He under-

stood the law of cause and effect, and knew itwas bad to do evil.

SATAN APPROACHES GOD

We have learned in previous lessons that Satanwas once the righteous angel named Lucifer.However, he rebelled against God because hedid not agree with God’s way of life. Eversince then, Satan has brought evil and disobe-dience into the world. God has given Satanrulership over the earth for the first 6,000 yearsof mankind’s existence—until Jesus Christcomes and replaces him as earth’s ruler.

The first chapter of Job gives a fascinatingglimpse into exactly how Satan rules the earthtoday, and how much power he has. Job 1:6explains that Satan came before God’s thronein heaven and talked to Him. Verse 8 says,“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you con-sidered My servant Job, that there is none likehim on the earth, a blameless and upright man,one who fears God and shuns evil?’”

Have you ever considered that God talksdirectly to Satan? Even though Satan rebelled,God is still the ultimate Ruler of the universe.God gives Satan his power. If God did not wantSatan to have any authority, then He wouldtake it away. Satan has the power to influence

I

Lessons From theBook of Job

1 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSONIllustrations by Paula Rondeau

all human beings—from the time they areborn—to do things their own way, rather thandoing what God says.

However, God does work with a very fewpeople during this 6,000-year period. He showsthem the right way to live and provides themwith extra strength to be able to overcomeSatan. Eventually, God will give this chance toevery human being who has ever lived—including those who have already died. He willbring them back to life and give them their firstand only chance to obey Him!

SATAN CHALLENGES GOD

When God asked Satan to consider Job’s right-eousness, Satan immediately challenged God.Satan claimed that theonly reason Job obeyedGod was because Hecontinually protectedJob and all his belong-ings. Satan thought thatJob’s motives wereselfish—that he wasonly obeying Godbecause he was gettingsomething in return. SoSatan challenged God toallow him to take awayall of Job’s possessions,and see how he wouldreact.

This exchange isfound in Job 1:9-11. Fillin the blanks of God’sresponse to this request,found in verse 12: “And

the LORD said to _________, ‘Behold, all that[Job] has is in your ____________, only do notlay a hand on his person [life].’ So Satan wentout from the presence of the LORD.” God grant-ed Satan’s request! Did you notice that Satan didnot have the power to do this on his own? Eventhough Satan does not obey God, he cannot dothings that God does not allow. Satan had to askfor permission before he could bring harm toJob. This shows that God has ultimate powerover everything—including the protection ofyour life!

With God’s permission to test Job, Satan leftGod’s presence and went back to the earth to goafter Job’s possessions.

One day, while Job was at home, he sawone of his servants running toward him. The

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servant came to Job and told him that theSabeans had taken all of his oxen and donkeys,and had killed the rest of the servants whowere with them. While this servant was speak-ing, another servant ran to Job and told himthat fire had come from the sky and burned allof Job’s sheep and all the other servants whowere watching them. At that moment, anotherservant came running to Job and told him thatthe Chaldeans had taken all of Job’s camels

and killed the rest of the servants who werewatching over them. In one day, Job had lostall of his wealth—all of his oxen, donkeys,sheep and camels, and all but three of his ser-vants!

However, it got much worse! Job’s ten chil-dren were celebrating the birthday of the oldestson (an act that God views as evil). A servantcame running to Job and told him that a greatwind (possibly a tornado) came upon the house

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where his sons and daughters were and killed allten of them!

Job was devastated! Within just a few min-utes, he had lost almost everything—includingall of his children! His wife was the only familymember to survive.

How would you have reacted if this hadhappened to you? Would you have felt that allthis was unfair, especially since you obeyedGod? Would you have felt that God wasn’tprotecting you? Would you blame God for allthat happened? Many would, but Job wasdifferent.

JOB WORSHIPS GOD

After hearing all of the bad news, Job stood upand tore his clothes and shaved his head,which was a sign of mourning. Job then fell tohis knees and talked to God. Turn to Job 1:21and fill in the blanks with what Job said toGod: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,and naked shall I return there. The_____________ gave, and the__________________ has taken __________;________________ be the name of the LORD.”(Note that the phrase “shall I return there”actually means “shall I go to the grave.”) Thenext verse says, “In all this Job did not sin norcharge God with wrong.”

Incredible! After losing everything, Job wasstill able to recognize that it is God’s right togive to humans, and it is God’s right to takeaway! Many people fail to acknowledge Godwhen times are good. However, when some-thing goes wrong, it is common for such peopleto question why God would allow such a thingto happen. These people do not “bless” God dur-

ing the hard times, choosing instead to blameHim when things go wrong.

However, Job was different. He recognizedthat God had complete control over his life at alltimes—during the good and the bad.

JOB’S HEALTH IS ATTACKED

Shortly after taking away all of Job’s posses-sions and his children, Satan returned to heav-en and spoke with God again. God asked Satanif he had noticed that Job still did not curseHim, even though much grief had come uponhim. Satan argued that the only reason he didnot curse God is because he still had his health.In Satan’s mind, if he were able to take awayJob’s good health, then surely the pain he wasin would cause him to curse God. God waswilling to allow Satan to bring physical pain toJob, to see if he would curse him. The onlycondition that God had was that Satan was notallowed to kill Job.

Although this may not seem like somethingthat a loving God would do, by the end of thelesson, you will understand why God wouldallow Satan to do such things. Even though Jobalways obeyed God, he still had lessons tolearn. We will soon see how God, in His wis-dom, was able to teach Job these lessons.

With God’s permission, Satan rushed backto earth and struck Job with boils from head totoe. This was incredibly painful for Job. Yet,he still did not curse God. Even Job’s wife saidthat it would be better for him to curse God anddie rather than live with such immense pain.Job responded by saying that she spoke fool-ishly because she was willing to accept goodfrom God, but not trials.

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JOB VISITED BY HIS FRIENDS

When Job’s three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, andZophar—heard of his trial, they came to visithim. When they arrived, they did not recognizeJob because of all the boils on his body. Theytore their clothes as a sign of mourning. They satwith Job for seven days and seven nights with-out saying a word to him. They did not want tospeak to him, because they could see that he wasin much grief.

Finally, after thinking about his situationfor seven days, Job opened his mouth andspoke. Turn to Job 3:1 and write what Job didwhen he spoke. __________________________________________________________________________________________________

Job wished that he had not been born. Hereasoned that his trial was so great that itwould be better for him to be dead. The entirechapter of Job 3 shows that Job desired to die.However, not once did Job curse God. He stillrecognized that it was God who decides whomto protect and for whom to allow trials. But atthis point, Job was in so much grief that he didnot want to continue living.

Many of the next chapters in the book of Jobare an exchange between Job and his threefriends. Job’s friends were convinced that hemust have committed a big sin in order to deserveso much suffering. They reasoned that Godallows people to suffer as a form of punishmentfor sin, and that the larger the sin, the greater thesuffering. All three of Job’s friends urged him toconfess his sins to God and to repent, so that Godwould stop punishing him. We will see that thisreasoning is faulty. However, let’s first look at

what Job’s friends said, so that we can understandwhy their reasoning is faulty.

ELIPHAZ SAYS THAT JOB HAS SINNED

Eliphaz was the first to speak. Turn to Job 4:7-8and fill in the blanks. “Remember now, whoever ___________________ being innocent? Orwhere were the upright ever ___________________? Even as I have seen, Those whoplow [do] ___________ and _________ trouble__________ the same.” Eliphaz concludes thatthe innocent do not perish, and that the uprightare not cut off. He points out the principle that aman reaps what he sows. This same principle isfound in the New Testament. In the space below,write down Galatians 6:7. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Eliphaz concluded that since Job was reap-ing a great amount of suffering, he must havecommitted a great sin. We will soon understandthat Eliphaz missed the point of this principle.

BILDAD AND ZOPHAR ADVISE JOB TO REPENT

Next, Bildad spoke to Job. He told Job that if hewas truly righteous and without sin, God wouldsurely hear his prayer and restore his prosperity(Job 8:5-6). Bildad also concluded that sincethis was not happening, Job must have commit-ted a large sin.

In Job 11:14-15, Zophar tells Job that if hewere to put his sin far away from him, God

would surely heal him and allow him toprosper.

For many chapters, Job and his friends talkedback and forth. His friends were convinced thathe had to repent of his sins. However, Job becameincreasingly frustrated with them. Job knew that

he had always obeyed God and kept His com-mandments. In Job 6:29, he proclaimed that his“righteousness still stands.” Job knew that he alsopossessed wisdom and that many people recog-nized this. He knew that even in the days of hissuffering, he would not curse his Creator.

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Even if he had committed a sin, he thoughtthat surely it was not big enough to merit all ofthis suffering.

JOB ANSWERS HIS FRIENDS

Job’s frustration finally showed. He accused hisfriends of being liars because they reasoned thathis sin had brought on his suffering. He accusedthem of thinking that they were wiser than himand told them that he was not inferior to them(Job 12:3).

Job contrasted himself to that of a wickedperson. In Job 21, he asked, “Why do the wickedlive and become old, yes, become mighty inpower?...Their houses are safe from fear, neitheris the rod of God upon them...their childrendance. They sing to the tambourine and harp,and rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spendtheir days in wealth, and in a moment go downto the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart fromus, for we do not desire the knowledge of Yourways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serveHim? And what profit do we have if we pray toHim?’” (vs. 7, 9, 11-15.)

Job then speaks of his own situation. Turn toJob 23:10-12 and fill in the blanks: “But He[God] knows the way that I take; When He has________ me, I shall come forth as ________.My foot has ________ _______ to His steps; Ihave kept His ______ and not turned aside. Ihave not departed from the__________________ of His lips; I have_________________ the words of His mouthmore than my necessary ________.” Also fill inthe blanks of Job 27:6: “My____________________ I hold fast, and willnot let it go; My _________ shall not reproach

[dishonor] me as long as I live.”Job felt that those who do wicked acts are

not being punished, while he, who committedonly righteousness, was being punished. Thelast two passages show that Job did not try tohide the fact that he was righteous.

Now that you have seen how Job reacted tohis friends, can you see what is wrong with hisattitude? Another one of Job’s friends came tosee him, and although he was much youngerthan Job and the other three, he could quicklysee what was wrong with Job’s attitude.

This friend’s name was Elihu. After listeningto Job for some time, he became angry at Jobbecause he could see that he was justifying him-self rather than God!

JOB’S PROBLEM REVEALED

Turn to Job 32 to 36 to see the fascinating thingsthat Elihu said to Job. Use these chapters toanswer the questions below:

1) Did Elihu first try to learn from what theolder, more experienced men had to say? (Job32:6-7) ________________________________2) According to Elihu, who gives understandingto humans? (Job 32:8) ____________________3) Did Elihu acknowledge that humans are cre-ated by God and are merely formed out of clay(or dust)? (Job 33:4, 6) ____________________3) Did Elihu accuse Job of unrighteousnessbecause he proclaimed that he was withouttransgression but still had to suffer? (Job 33:8-12) ___________________________________4) Did Elihu say that it is important to realizethat God is greater then man? (Job 33:12)______________________________________

5) Can God commit a wicked act? (Job 34:10-12) ___________________________________6) Who did Elihu say that the righteousness ofhumans is ascribed [directed] to? (Job 36:3)______________________________________

This is the vital dimension that Job and hisfriends were missing. They were not attributingJob’s righteousness to God! Although Job didobey God and possessed great knowledge of HisWay, Job began to think that he should beacknowledged for this. This is known as self-righteousness. He forgot that it is God who givesall understanding to humans, and people must notthink that they are better than others because Godhas chosen to give them more understanding.

Once someone denies the true Source of therighteousness that is in them, then that personhas turned to human righteousness. Turn toIsaiah 64:6 and write what God compareshuman righteousness to: __________________________________________________________________________________________________

What does the Bible compare God’s right-eousness to? (Psalm 36:6) _________________________________________________________________________________________________

If we become self-righteous, then, accordingto God’s Word, that righteousness amounts tofilthy rags. However, if we seek after God’srighteousness, then we are seeking after a treas-ure that is compared to a great mountain.

Hundreds of years after Job’s time, anotherservant of God spoke of God’s righteousnesswith proper understanding. Turn to Psalm 23 tosee what King David had to say about right-eousness. Verse 3 says, “He restores my soul;He ____________ me in the paths of________________________ for His name’s

sake.” King David understood that God leads usin the paths of righteousness for His sake—notfor ours. God chooses those in the world that Hewants to have understanding of His way. OnceHe chooses such people, He will work withthem through the power of His Holy Spirit sothat they can walk in the paths of righteousness(which simply means to choose right). He doesnot do this to bring glory to any specific humanbeing, but rather to glorify His way of life!

A LESSON FOR US

This is an important lesson for us today—especially at a time when so many around us donot understand God’s Way. God has set youapart from the world because you are the son ordaughter of a member of God’s Church. Bydoing this, God has given you understandingthat others in the world do not have.

For example, you understand that it iswrong to keep Christmas. This is probablysomething that is very noticeable to yourfriends and teachers at school. However, if youare asked questions about your beliefs, it isimportant that you do not feel that you aresuperior to others because you have this under-standing. Remember, you understand certainthings about God’s way of life because Hechose to work with you and give you thisunderstanding. However, we must be sure thatwe continue to view God’s truth as somethingvery special.

GOD SPEAKS TO JOB

After Elihu was done speaking to Job, God start-ed to speak to him. By this point, Job had begun

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to see his wrong attitude. However, God alsohad strong words for Job, because He wantedJob to understand that no one is as righteous oras powerful as God. It is important for us tounderstand this, especially when we considerwhat happened to Satan.

Satan forgot that God is the most powerfulBeing in the universe. He rebelled against God.This has caused Satan to be miserable ever since.

It is out of love that God wants us to under-stand that He is the most powerful Being in theuniverse. If we forget this, then we will start torely on ourselves to figure out what is right andwhat is wrong. God—who knows everything—knows that human beings do not have the abili-ty to figure this out. Without God in our lives,we would be miserable—just as can be seenwith people in the world, who do not have God’sknowledge.

So God challenged Job. In Job 38:3, Godtold Job to “prepare yourself like a man; I willquestion you, and you shall answer Me.” Canyou imagine what Job must have been thinkingat this point? The Creator of the entire universewas speaking directly to him—telling him to beprepared to answer the questions that He wasabout to ask!

God starts by asking Job where he was whenHe laid the foundations of the earth. Then Heasked Job who it was that determined the meas-urements of the earth. God says to Job, “surelyyou know, since you proclaim to be so right-eous.” God did this to make the point to Job thathe was not yet alive when God created the earthand determined its measurements.

God continued asking Job such questionsfor four chapters. This must have felt like aneternity to Job. With each question, Job real-

ized more and more that he had the wrong atti-tude. He realized that he was merely a humanbeing, who was granted by God a chance tolive. It was God who put the spirit in man inJob, and it was God’s Spirit that worked withJob’s spirit to give him understanding of God’sway of life. Job began to clearly understandthat there was nothing that he did that led to hisrighteousness. It was all done by God workingwith him!

These four chapters can help us appreciateall that God does for us and for His creation.God asks Job many times if it is he who per-forms such tasks as causing the sun to rise inthe morning (38:12), or directing the path of abolt of lightening (38:25). Search throughchapters 38 to 41, and in the blanks belowwrite out three things that only God has theability to do.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

JOB REPENTS

After God was done speaking, Job acknowl-edged that God was right. He told God that heabhorred [despised] himself. He came to seehimself for what he really was. This is exactlywhat God had planned. He knew that althoughJob was righteous, he was also self-righteous.He knew that Job needed to become humble andrecognize where all his knowledge and wisdomcame from.

Recall that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar con-cluded that God was punishing Job because hehad committed a large sin. This made God angry

toward these three men because they incorrectlyaccused Job and had misrepresented God’s pur-pose for allowing Job to suffer.

God told these three men to offer a burntoffering and to ask Job to pray for them. Thefriends did ask Job, and he prayed for them.

JOB’S WEALTH RESTORED

Eventually, Job’s wealth was restored. In fact,Job received twice as much as he had before!Turn to Job 42:12 and fill in the number of eachtype of animal God blessed Job with.

__________ Sheep__________ Camels__________ (yoke of) Oxen__________ Donkeys

Job also had seven more sons and three moredaughters. He lived to be 140 years old, whichmeans that he was able to see children, grand-children, great-grandchildren, and even great-great-grandchildren! Job’s self-righteousnesshad stood in the way of true happiness.However, Job did find true happiness once hewas able to humbly acknowledge the trueSource of his righteousness.

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BIBLE MEMORY:

Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2005

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WORD PUZZLE

1.Repent 2.Lucifer 3.Born 4.Eliphaz 5.Elihu, self-righteous 6.Job 7.God, twice

1. Job’s three friends urged him to __ __ __ __ __ __ in order to end his suffering.

2. Before Satan sinned, he was known as __ __ __ __ __ __ __ .

3. After being afflicted with boils, Job cursed the day he was __ __ __ __ .

4. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ was the first of Job’s three friends to speak to him.

5. Job’s younger friend named __ __ __ __ __ explained to Job that he was

__ __ __ __ - __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ .

6. After God spoke to him, __ __ __ said that he abhorred himself.

7. After Job saw himself for what he was, __ __ __ blessed him with __ __ __ __ __ as many possessions as he had before

Directions: Answer the questions below. Match the numbered letters with the blanks below. This will reveal theonly description of Job found in the New Testament (Old King James Version). This shows which attribute of Jobwas most remembered thousands of years after his life.

9 1

10 13

16

7 4 5

3 2

11 8 15

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

14

12 6

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ (James 5:11).

Name the first three kings of Israel.Name the king who reigned in Israel when it split into two nations.Which nation took Israel into captivity?Which nation took Judah into captivity?