Day 312: Job 1-3 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
7. 0:15plan and join the journey
8. 0:24family. Welcome to day 312 here at the
9. 0:27Bible department. We are in a brand new
10. 0:28book of the Bible. WE'RE IN THE BOOK OF
11. 0:31JOB. I THINK THAT MOST PEOPLE are
12. 0:33familiar with the book of Job. However,
13. 0:36you're probably only familiar with like
14. 0:38the first two chapters, maybe three
15. 0:40chapters, and probably like the last
16. 0:43couple of chapters. Most people think
17. 0:45they're familiar with the book of Job,
18. 0:47but really they're only familiar with
19. 0:49the introduction and then the conclusion
20. 0:52of Job or as we like to say it here like
21. 0:56or in more academic settings, the
22. 0:58prologue of Job and the epilogue of Job.
23. 1:02But over the next 12 days, we are going
24. 1:04to be deep diving into the book of Job
25. 1:06just like we do every single book of the
26. 1:08Bible. And not only are you going to get
27. 1:11the setup for the book, which is a
28. 1:13conversation between Yahweh and the
29. 1:17Satan, not to be confused with Satan,
30. 1:19but the Satan. We'll get into a little
31. 1:21bit more on that later in the episode.
32. 1:24But we're also going to get the dialogue
33. 1:27which takes up most of the book of Job,
34. 1:29which is found in the middle. And that
35. 1:31dialogue is between Job and his three
36. 1:34friends, which eventually grows into
37. 1:37four friends. and then the dialogue
38. 1:39between Yahweh and Job. So, we're not
39. 1:41just going to look at the prologue and
40. 1:42the epilogue. We're going to look at the
41. 1:44entire book. And so, uh, we got almost
42. 1:48two full weeks in the book of Job. It's
43. 1:50going to be amazing. Buckle up and let's
44. 1:54dive in. Hey, if you have not done the
45. 1:56reading for the day, if you have not
46. 1:57read Job chapters 1, 2, and three, this
47. 2:00is a great place to stop the video,
48. 2:03pause the audio, go get the reading
49. 2:05done. I would say in terms of just
50. 2:09comparing content, this is the easiest
51. 2:12part of the book of Job. Okay, once we
52. 2:14hit tomorrow, it's going to get it's
53. 2:17going to get crazy just because it's a
54. 2:19ton of poetry. So, the reason that most
55. 2:22people have read the beginning of Job
56. 2:23and the end of Job is because those
57. 2:25sections of the book are narrative.
58. 2:28Okay? What's in the middle is dense
59. 2:32Hebrew poetry. So anyway, if you haven't
60. 2:35done the reading, go do the reading. For
61. 2:38everyone that's done the reading, like
62. 2:39every day, I'm going to give you context
63. 2:41clues. I'm going to give you as many
64. 2:43nerdy nuggets as I can. And then we're
65. 2:46going to leave off the episode with a
66. 2:48timeless truth. So let's dive into
67. 2:51context clues. All right, chapter 1,
68. 2:53verse one starts like this. In the land
69. 2:55of us, there lived a man whose name was
70. 2:59Job. Okay, so verse one in our context
71. 3:04just sounds like a historical story.
72. 3:07Okay, historical narrative. However,
73. 3:10this exact phrasing, in the land of Oz,
74. 3:12there lived a man whose name was Job. In
75. 3:14the cultural context in which this is
76. 3:16written, would kind of be like you or I
77. 3:18saying once upon a time in a land far
78. 3:21far away. Okay, there's a little bit of
79. 3:24a hint that the history isn't the point
80. 3:28here. Okay. Actually, in Hebrew, it the
81. 3:31exact wording, I've got it written down
82. 3:33in my notebook, would be a man there was
83. 3:36in the land of us. A man there was in
84. 3:39the land of us. Now, there are two other
85. 3:41moments in the Hebrew Bible that kind of
86. 3:44the story starts that way. And I'm going
87. 3:47to read both of them to you and we can
88. 3:49kind of see what they have in common.
89. 3:52The first moment where we get that
90. 3:55Hebrew pattern is 2 Samuel 12:1. Now,
91. 3:59this is the parable that Nathan tells
92. 4:01David about the stolen lamb. Remember,
93. 4:04to bring the king back to repentance, to
94. 4:06get him to confess that he had killed
95. 4:09Uriah, okay, and taken Uriah's wife. The
96. 4:12second moment where we get that Hebrew
97. 4:14pattern, okay, a man there was in the
98. 4:17land of us like that template is in 2
99. 4:20Kings chapter 14:9. And this is the
100. 4:23fable that Joash tells me of Judah. So
101. 4:28the only other two examples of this
102. 4:31beginning are a parable and a fable. No
103. 4:35exaggeration. Job essentially begins
104. 4:38like chapter 1 verse one with the Hebrew
105. 4:41equivalent or the ancient equivalent of
106. 4:45once upon a time. Now, I'm not saying
107. 4:47that Job wasn't a true historical
108. 4:49character or that this isn't actual
109. 4:52historical narrative. What I am saying
110. 4:54is that there's a literary device being
111. 4:56used here to help the reader understand
112. 5:00that it's not the historical context
113. 5:03that actually matters here. like the age
114. 5:05of Job, like the relationship that Job
115. 5:08has with his kids, like that's not the
116. 5:10thing that matters. The point here, like
117. 5:13a parable, like a fable, is the truth
118. 5:16that's buried within the story. Now, one
119. 5:19other kind of context clue or literary
120. 5:22clue, okay? Is that the entire book of
121. 5:25Job is a kayazm. That's right. We love a
122. 5:28good kayazm. So, the prologue is
123. 5:30chapters 1 and two. Job's complaint is
124. 5:33chapter three and then from chapters 4
125. 5:36to 27 are three dialogues. Okay. And
126. 5:40those dialogues are intricately
127. 5:43designed. Uh they actually go, Job,
128. 5:47Bill, Dad, Job, Zofar, Job. Okay? That's
129. 5:50Job's three friends. Okay, I'll say it
130. 5:52again. Elephas, Elephass is going to
131. 5:54speak. Job is going to speak. Bildad is
132. 5:56going to speak. Job is going to speak.
133. 5:57Zofar is going to speak. Job is going to
134. 5:59speak. Okay. So from chapter 4 to 27 you
135. 6:02are going to get uh three dialogues and
136. 6:06then chapter 28 you're going to get an
137. 6:09interlude and in that interlude you're
138. 6:11going to get a wisdom psalm. This is the
139. 6:12center of the kayazm and then what's
140. 6:15going to be mirrored with those three
141. 6:17dialogues are three monologues from
142. 6:20chapters 29 to chapters 41. And then
143. 6:23instead of Job's complaint, which is
144. 6:26going to be in chapter three, what's
145. 6:28mirrored with Job's complaint is
146. 6:30chapters 40. Chapter 42:es 1-6. That's
147. 6:33Job's confession. And then we're going
148. 6:35to get an epilogue. Chapter 42:es
149. 6:397-17. Like I said, most people have read
150. 6:42chapters 1, chapter 2, and probably
151. 6:45chapter 42, but we are actually going to
152. 6:49dive into the meat of the book, which is
153. 6:51all the stuff in the middle. All right.
154. 6:52So for context, let's wrap up our
155. 6:55context clues for the day. We don't get
156. 6:57history. We don't get an author. We
157. 6:59don't get an audience, but the context
158. 7:01is still important because this is a
159. 7:03literary genre. That's really, really,
160. 7:06really, really important. Also, I'll say
161. 7:07this that this kind of like theodysy or
162. 7:12the question about where is God in the
163. 7:14middle of suffering. I'd say most people
164. 7:16know about the book of Job because it's
165. 7:18a famous story. It's like a guy who
166. 7:20loses everything. He loses children. He
167. 7:22loses his wealth. He loses health. He
168. 7:25loses everything. Refuses to curse God.
169. 7:29But has a lot of questions about God's
170. 7:31character. Like everyone knows this
171. 7:34story because I think most of us are
172. 7:37probably wondering why do bad things
173. 7:40happen to good people? And I'm going to
174. 7:41steal my thunder here with our timeless
175. 7:44truth. And I I want us to all know like
176. 7:46when bad things happen, when like
177. 7:48unthinkable things happen, especially to
178. 7:51good people, to people like Job who are
179. 7:53blameless, upright, commendable, full of
180. 7:56character, godly people, it's easy to
181. 7:58go, "Ah, didn't Proverbs just teach us
182. 8:02that God rewards wise people with like
183. 8:06blessing and he punishes wicked people
184. 8:09with like the consequences of their
185. 8:11actions?" Ain't that what Proverbs just
186. 8:13told us? And what Job is doing is it's
187. 8:17balancing that perspective that Proverbs
188. 8:20is teaching us. And what you're going to
189. 8:23realize is that Job's three friends,
190. 8:25they have a perspective rooted in the
191. 8:28book of Proverbs. And what Job is
192. 8:31designed to do is to actually create
193. 8:34some nuance and some gray because
194. 8:37Proverbs is going to communicate very
195. 8:39black and white. Hey, if you train up a
196. 8:41child in the way they should go, when
197. 8:43they're old, they don't they won't
198. 8:44depart from it. Okay, but what happens
199. 8:46when you do train up a child in the way
200. 8:48that they should go and they get old and
201. 8:50they do depart? What happens then? And
202. 8:53so, Job's friends can't handle the
203. 8:56curveball because for them, if you're
204. 8:59blessed, that means God's rewarding you
205. 9:02for being wise. Well, Job is wise. Job's
206. 9:06blameless. He's righteous. He's godly,
207. 9:08full of character. but he's getting the
208. 9:12consequences of the wicked. How's that?
209. 9:14That's a mismatch in their worldview.
210. 9:17And so, Job is designed to help us to
211. 9:21grapple with or to understand or wrap
212. 9:24our minds around the nuance of life.
213. 9:27Sometimes life isn't as tedy as as as
214. 9:31tidy and neat. I created a word called
215. 9:34neat and tidy as we would want it to be.
216. 9:37So, in the middle of asking the
217. 9:39question, why do bad things happen to
218. 9:41good people? I actually want to
219. 9:42challenge us with a better question. Why
220. 9:44did the worst thing happen to the best
221. 9:46person? The question isn't why do bad
222. 9:49things happen to good people, but why
223. 9:50did the worst thing, the cross, the
224. 9:52crucifixion? Why did the worst thing
225. 9:54happen to the perfect person, the only
226. 9:57perfect person, Jesus Christ of
227. 9:59Nazareth? And so really when we start
228. 10:02asking questions about evil and
229. 10:04wickedness in the world and suffering
230. 10:08and why do evil things happen to good
231. 10:12godly people really that conversation is
232. 10:16a charact a conversation that's really
233. 10:18centered around the character and nature
234. 10:19of God. And so this theodysy as we
235. 10:23explore evil, which is what the book of
236. 10:26Job is trying to do, is actually way
237. 10:28more about theology than many of us even
238. 10:31realize. Family, the wait is over. My
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248. 11:00reading the Bible from an ancient
249. 11:02perspective, if you understand that the
250. 11:05beauty of scripture is actually knowing
251. 11:07it in context, then you'll love this
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259. 11:26should get a copy today. All right, back
260. 11:29to the episode because Job and his
261. 11:32friends are in an argument. Okay, and
262. 11:33this is our main nerdy nugget for the
263. 11:35day. They're in an argument and Job's
264. 11:38perspective is this. I'm innocent. And
265. 11:40since I'm innocent and God's just, I
266. 11:43don't understand how a just God who
267. 11:45rules the world by justice would let an
268. 11:48unjust thing happen to me. The friends,
269. 11:50their only natural conclusion is God is
270. 11:52just. God does rule the world with
271. 11:54justice. And since God is just and he
272. 11:57rules the world with justice, you must
273. 11:58have done something to deserve this
274. 12:00because God's just. And it would be
275. 12:02unjust for him to do this to you if
276. 12:05you're really righteous. like if you're
277. 12:07actually blameless. And so there's a lot
278. 12:10of things that the characters don't
279. 12:12know. That's what the prologue is
280. 12:14supposed to set us up for. There are two
281. 12:17big things that the characters do not
282. 12:20know. Okay. Number one, Job's friends
283. 12:23don't know that he's actually blameless.
284. 12:26We know that. And the text is going to
285. 12:28go out of its way to let us as the
286. 12:31audience know that even though the
287. 12:33characters in the action don't know
288. 12:36that. There's a second thing that we as
289. 12:39the audience knows that the narrator has
290. 12:42told us that Job and his friends don't
291. 12:45know that the actors in the action don't
292. 12:47know. And that's that there's been this
293. 12:50whole scene with the Satan. That's
294. 12:53right. Not Satan, but the Satan, which
295. 12:56in Hebrew means the accuser or the
296. 12:59prosecutor. By the way, here's a little
297. 13:01side note. When people are accusing the
298. 13:05brethren, like when we are accusing
299. 13:09church or like accusing church leaders,
300. 13:11we want to be careful cuz that's
301. 13:13literally what the Satan does. Remember,
302. 13:16Satan is not a name. The Satan is
303. 13:18actually a title. It'll be like saying,
304. 13:20you know, the editor or like the coach.
305. 13:24Okay, not a name, but a title, a role,
306. 13:28the Satan. It's like the accuser, the
307. 13:30prosecutor. So, there's this courtroom
308. 13:32scene where God is judge, judge of all
309. 13:35the earth, and he's talking to his
310. 13:38staff, and there's a prosecutor who's
311. 13:40like, "Hey, people only worship you
312. 13:42because you bless them." Like, they
313. 13:44actually don't love you. They love
314. 13:45themselves. like worshiping you is is a
315. 13:49is a cheat code to life. These people
316. 13:52don't love you. They're gold diggers.
317. 13:54So, of course, Yahweh is like, "All
318. 13:56right, I you're wrong. Okay, so take
319. 13:58everything away. Let's test Job." So,
320. 14:02what we as the audience know is that
321. 14:04there's this entire scene between God
322. 14:08and the Satan that Job is not aware of.
323. 14:12And Job can't be aware of it. If God is
324. 14:17found giving Job the answers to the
325. 14:19test, then that would be cheating. So,
326. 14:21Job can't know, and this really gets
327. 14:25into the heart of the book. Because
328. 14:27remember, the friends are like, "God's
329. 14:29just, and he rules the world with
330. 14:32justice. Therefore, his actions towards
331. 14:34you, homie, are just." Job is saying,
332. 14:38"Well, maybe God isn't just because I
333. 14:41promise you, I'm just. I'm righteous.
334. 14:45I'm blameless. I did nothing. I don't
335. 14:47know why this is happening to me. And
336. 14:50you know what? SOMEBODY LET ME TALK TO
337. 14:52GOD CUZ this isn't just. Now, what is
338. 14:56necessary in order to know what's just
339. 14:59and what's not just. I'll tell you
340. 15:01what's necessary. Full knowledge of
341. 15:04everything. That's right. Omniscience.
342. 15:08And so what the prologue is doing is
343. 15:10it's letting us know that we know
344. 15:13something that the characters don't
345. 15:14know. The prologue is setting us up to
346. 15:18find this conclusion, to discover this
347. 15:20conclusion. The characters don't know
348. 15:24everything. Neither Job or his friends
349. 15:26are omnisient, which is exactly what's
350. 15:30going to happen when God finally talks
351. 15:32to Job. He's not going to answer his
352. 15:34question about evil or suffering or
353. 15:37justice. He's actually just going to ask
354. 15:40him a set of questions that are going to
355. 15:42lead Job to the conclusion that he
356. 15:45doesn't know it all. That he doesn't
357. 15:47have enough information to even judge
358. 15:52whether or not God is just or not. And
359. 15:55that's wisdom. Wisdom is when you come
360. 15:59to the conclusion that you don't have
361. 16:01enough information to properly judge
362. 16:06anything really. Like even let's take
363. 16:09when you're offended. Often times when
364. 16:12I'm offended, I know what someone's done
365. 16:15and then I fill in the gaps. I tell
366. 16:17myself a story about why they did it.
367. 16:20So, not only am I observing their
368. 16:23actions or judging their actions, but
369. 16:26now I'm creating a narrative about their
370. 16:28motives, but the reality is that I don't
371. 16:31know their motives. But that sure
372. 16:33doesn't stop me from creating a story
373. 16:35about their motives, does it? It
374. 16:37doesn't. And so, what the book of Job is
375. 16:39actually getting you to do is to adopt
376. 16:42wisdom. Now, what did Proverbs teach us?
377. 16:45That the beginning of the of wisdom is
378. 16:47what? The fear of the Lord. that the
379. 16:49fear of the Lord should lead us to
380. 16:51humility to put ourselves in context of
381. 16:54who God is. Wisdom leads you to the
382. 16:57conclusion, he's infinite, I'm finite.
383. 17:00He's big, I'm small. He's awesome, I I'm
384. 17:03nothing. He's everything. He's
385. 17:06omnisient, I know nothing. That is
386. 17:10actually the humble conclusion that
387. 17:11wisdom leads to. Wisdom doesn't lead a
388. 17:14wise person to think they're smart.
389. 17:16Wisdom leads a wise person to realize
390. 17:17they know nothing in comparison to the
391. 17:20one who knows everything. And so, who am
392. 17:25I to ask the omnisient one who knows
393. 17:28everything why he's doing what he's
394. 17:31doing or why he put the universe
395. 17:33together the way that he did or what
396. 17:36justice even is? Think that a lot of us,
397. 17:39we really do want to define justice. We
398. 17:43want to define for ourselves what is
399. 17:47just and what is right and what's not
400. 17:48just AND AT A CERTAIN LEVEL we can we
401. 17:51can know what human justice is. But we
402. 17:55don't know enough. I I actually wrote it
403. 17:58the way that I want to say it. Wisdom is
404. 18:00coming to the humbling realization that
405. 18:03we simply don't have enough knowledge or
406. 18:07information to judge whether Yahweh is
407. 18:10ruling the cosmos. justly. We don't. And
408. 18:14that takes a lot of humility, doesn't
409. 18:15it? That's our timeless truth. We are
410. 18:18not omnisient. You're not omnisient. I'm
411. 18:21not omnisient. None of us are omnisient.
412. 18:23There's one who knows everything, and
413. 18:26his name is Yahweh. And therefore, he is
414. 18:30the only one who's adequately prepared,
415. 18:34designed, and positioned to judge. He
416. 18:38can judge you. He can judge me. He can
417. 18:39judge all of us. I may be able to judge
418. 18:42your actions, but I can never judge your
419. 18:45motives or your heart cuz I don't know
420. 18:47your motives and I don't know your
421. 18:49heart. It's funny. You can be married so
422. 18:51long where you think you can start to
423. 18:54assume the motives of the person that
424. 18:56you're married to. But humility begins
425. 18:58to say, "I'm married to a mystery. The
426. 19:01more I know about my wife, the more I
427. 19:02realize what I don't know about my
428. 19:05wife." And this book, this book of Job
429. 19:09is supposed to get you to the place
430. 19:10where you go, I know so much about God
431. 19:13that now I realize all the things I
432. 19:15don't know about God. And wisdom doesn't
433. 19:18puff up. Wisdom, unlike knowledge,
434. 19:21actually leads you to the humble
435. 19:23conclusion, I don't really know what I'm
436. 19:26talking about. And that is what the
437. 19:28prologue is actually designed to do. is
438. 19:30designed to give you and I as the
439. 19:32audience information that the players
440. 19:36don't even have, which is just a
441. 19:39microcosm of the reality that we all
442. 19:41live in. There's stuff that you don't
443. 19:43know and that I don't know. And the
444. 19:45whole point of the prologue is to set us
445. 19:48up to know something that Job and his
446. 19:50friends don't know. And then we're
447. 19:52looking at them for the rest of the
448. 19:54book. We're going to look at them, have
449. 19:55a conversation, and go, "Wait a second.
450. 19:59If they only knew these details, it
451. 20:02would make all the difference in the
452. 20:04world in the conclusion that they're
453. 20:05coming to. In the same way that we as
454. 20:07the audience have an understanding that
455. 20:09they don't have, and we're desperately
456. 20:11wanting to give them that understanding,
457. 20:14that's how God sees us. He sees us
458. 20:18interacting and God's like, "Only if
459. 20:20they knew." They're taking their best
460. 20:22stab at it. They're guessing. They're
461. 20:24wandering around in the dark. And wisdom
462. 20:27is there to actually lead them to the
463. 20:30conclusion that they don't know. Wisdom
464. 20:32is not there to give them the
465. 20:33information they don't know. Wisdom is
466. 20:36there to let them know that there is
467. 20:37information they don't know. And what
468. 20:39humility says is I I don't know, I'm
469. 20:43probably never going to know. And since
470. 20:45I don't know, and since I'm never going
471. 20:48to know, then I'm never going to
472. 20:50position myself in a place to judge God.
473. 20:54I'm just gonna assume that whatever he's
474. 20:56doing, that's justice. That's what the
475. 20:59prologue of Job is designed to do.
476. 21:02Tomorrow, we got day 313. We're going to
477. 21:05be looking at Job chapters 4, 5, and
478. 21:08six. Really, I'm excited about it
479. 21:11because I'm going to tease the fact or
480. 21:13maybe even teach the fact that this is a
481. 21:15garden story. That's right. There's a
482. 21:17lot of similarities between Job and
483. 21:19what's happening in the Garden of Eden
484. 21:22with Adam and Eve. Can't wait to dive
485. 21:24into it. I love you guys. I'm proud of
486. 21:26you. Especially if you're on a streak.
487. 21:28I'll see you right here tomorrow. Same
488. 21:30time, same place as we dive into Job
489. 21:32chapters 4-6 for day 313.
490. 21:3631 13 313. Let's go. See you tomorrow.
491. 21:41Peace.
492. 21:43Thanks so much for joining us on the
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