Day 318: Job 20-21 | 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 318 here at the
9. 0:28Bible department. I'm so excited that we
10. 0:29get to walk through Job, chapters 20 to
11. 0:3221 together today. Just two chapters of
12. 0:36Job on the docket for today. If you
13. 0:39haven't done the reading, I want to
14. 0:41challenge you. Stop the uh video, pause
15. 0:44the audio, go get the reading done.
16. 0:46Solid, solid reading. And if I could be
17. 0:49transparent, honest, vulnerable, I would
18. 0:51actually admit that the more AND MORE
19. 0:53AND MORE I really walk through the book
20. 0:55of Job, the more I read it, especially
21. 0:59something about reading it this time
22. 1:00around, I begin to realize that a lot of
23. 1:03my internal dialogue sounds a lot like
24. 1:05Elephaz, Bill, Dad, and Zofar. And so,
25. 1:08this book has really challenged me. I
26. 1:10don't know if it's been challenging you.
27. 1:12uh it's been stretching me and and
28. 1:14honestly helping me to realize that a
29. 1:17lot of my understanding of the world, a
30. 1:19lot of my philosophy about about how the
31. 1:22world works is too simple, is a little
32. 1:26too black and white. And so the book's
33. 1:28been challenging me. I hope it's been
34. 1:29challenging you today. We got two what I
35. 1:32think are challenging chapters. not in
36. 1:35terms of they're complicated, but in
37. 1:37terms of I think the message that it has
38. 1:39for our soul and the challenge that it
39. 1:41it gives us to just think in a in a more
40. 1:45nuanced and a in a more complex way. So,
41. 1:48with no further ado, like every day,
42. 1:50we're going to uh look at context clues
43. 1:52than nerdy nuggets. I got five nerdy
44. 1:54nuggets for you today, and then we're
45. 1:56going to leave off the episode with a
46. 1:59timeless truth. So, I'm pumped. Let's
47. 2:01dive into our context clue. Just one big
48. 2:04context through nothing super profound
49. 2:06or complicated today. Job chapter 20 is
50. 2:09going to be Zofar's speech and then Job
51. 2:11chapter 21 is going to be Job's response
52. 2:15to Zofar. Okay. Now, I just want to
53. 2:17remind everybody that this speech and
54. 2:21then response by Job fits within the
55. 2:23larger context of cycle number two,
56. 2:27dialogue cycle number two. This started
57. 2:30in Job chapter 15. Okay. Okay. So, if I
58. 2:32could give you just a mini map of this
59. 2:35subsection. Elephas is going to speak in
60. 2:37Job 15 and then Job's going to respond
61. 2:40in Job 16 and 17. And then Bildad is
62. 2:43going to talk in Job 18. And then Job's
63. 2:46going to respond in Job 19. Obviously,
64. 2:49we looked at that yesterday. And then
65. 2:50today, Zofar is going to give a speech
66. 2:53in chapter 20. And then Job's going to
67. 2:54respond in chapter 21. So each cycle is
68. 2:58Elephas, Job, Buildad, Job, Zofar, Job.
69. 3:02Okay. So this is cycle number two and uh
70. 3:05we are looking at Zofar speech and then
71. 3:08Job's response. All right. Uh let's dive
72. 3:10into our nerdy nuggets for the day. I
73. 3:12got five for you. First, Zofar's entire
74. 3:16idea is essentially that God always
75. 3:20punishes the wicked. Okay? God always
76. 3:23punishes the wicked. And again, on the
77. 3:27surface, like not a bad idea. Job's
78. 3:30actually going to debunk that idea in a
79. 3:32pretty brilliant move, but that God
80. 3:35always punishes the wicked. I I actually
81. 3:38think if I went out uh right now, and I
82. 3:40just started telling people, God always
83. 3:43punishes the wicked, doesn't he? Right?
84. 3:45Doesn't God always punish the wicked?
85. 3:46Most people would say, "Yeah." And you
86. 3:49would be shocked that you're agreeing
87. 3:52with a a character in the Bible that is
88. 3:55not necessarily being framed as someone
89. 3:57with truth. And so Zofar is going to uh
90. 4:01make this argument that God always
91. 4:03punishes the wicked. And so I I I in my
92. 4:07own personal life have been challenged
93. 4:09by reading this because I'm realizing,
94. 4:12yeah, Job actually is going to debunk
95. 4:15this and it it's it's a legitimate
96. 4:17argument. Okay. So God always punishes
97. 4:19the wicked. Therefore, hey, this is the
98. 4:22crux of Zofar's argument. Therefore, Job
99. 4:25is wicked. Since God always punishes the
100. 4:29wicked, and Job's being punished, or it
101. 4:32certainly looks like this is punishment,
102. 4:34Job must be wicked. This is what I would
103. 4:37call easy theology. I'm not going to
104. 4:39lie, I have gotten caught in the trap of
105. 4:42easy theology. Okay? And what I began to
106. 4:45realize is that simple, not simple in
107. 4:47terms of just like plain or easy to
108. 4:49understand, but simple in terms of like
109. 4:51overly simplistic, simple and lazy
110. 4:54answers hurt people. Simple and lazy
111. 4:59answers will always end up hurting
112. 5:02people. You know, I can't tell you how
113. 5:05many funerals I've been to or I've
114. 5:07listened to people talk once tragedy
115. 5:09hits and pastors, ministers,
116. 5:12representatives of of God's church say
117. 5:15things that I think are really, really,
118. 5:16really hurtful. And lazy answers really
119. 5:20do hurt people. Job is not lazy. This is
120. 5:24the opposite of lazy. This is really,
121. 5:26really, really combing through tons of
122. 5:28complex uh phil philosophy in and
123. 5:31theology. And I think that it's worth
124. 5:33it. So Zofar's big argument. Okay, let's
125. 5:36go to uh chapter 20 uh for ourselves uh
126. 5:40is that God always punishes the wicked.
127. 5:42Okay, let's start out in verse one. My
128. 5:44troubled then Z so far the Neathite
129. 5:47replied, "My troubled thoughts prompt me
130. 5:50to answer because I am greatly
131. 5:52disturbed. I hear a rebuke that
132. 5:54dishonors me and my understanding
133. 5:56inspires me to reply." He's like, "Job,
134. 5:59the words that you're saying are just
135. 6:01like they're disrespectful. Like they're
136. 6:03they're just they're just like this is
137. 6:05this is this is a problem. Surely you
138. 6:08know how it has been of old ever since
139. 6:11mankind was placed on the earth." So
140. 6:13he's about to make a universal argument
141. 6:15like, "Dude, ever since mankind was
142. 6:17placed on the earth, that the mirth of
143. 6:20the wicked is brief." Okay, so we're
144. 6:23already into hey man, like the wicked
145. 6:26die. The joy of the godless lasts but a
146. 6:29moment. Though the pride of the godless
147. 6:31person reaches to the heavens in his
148. 6:33head, touches the clouds, he will perish
149. 6:36forever like his own dung. Okay. So the
150. 6:39life of the wicked is is the same value
151. 6:42of of their poop. That is just the point
152. 6:45of this wisdom literature is to kind of
153. 6:48sear mental images into your into your
154. 6:51mind. Those who have seen him will say
155. 6:54where is he? Like a dream he flies away.
156. 6:56No more to be found. Banished. Okay. So,
157. 6:59Zofar is going to give seven what I
158. 7:02would say like are pretty I guess
159. 7:04analogies uh for how the pride of the
160. 7:08wicked is brought down. Okay. So, in
161. 7:10chapter 20 6 and 7 it's going to be from
162. 7:13head in the clouds to being like his own
163. 7:15dung. Okay. From head in the clouds to
164. 7:17being like his own dung. I hope you can
165. 7:18see that justosition in verses 8-9.
166. 7:21Disappear like a dream or a nightmare.
167. 7:23Okay. Verse 10, children will seek help
168. 7:27from the poor. Okay, we can read verse
169. 7:2910 together. It says this, his children
170. 7:31must make amends to the poor. His own
171. 7:33hands must give back his wealth. And
172. 7:36then verse 11, the youthful vigor to
173. 7:39lying in the dust. Okay, the youthful
174. 7:42vigor that fills his bones will lie with
175. 7:44him in the dust, I think. Okay, number
176. 7:46one, two, three, that was number four.
177. 7:48And then verse 12 to 14 says that for
178. 7:52the wicked evil is sweet in the mouth
179. 7:54yet turned to snakes venom in the
180. 7:56stomach. And then the sixth analogy that
181. 7:59we get is in verse 15 uh swallows up
182. 8:03riches but then vomits them out. Okay,
183. 8:05that's an image for what happens to the
184. 8:08to wicked people. They swallow riches
185. 8:10but then they vomit them out. And then
186. 8:12lastly, the seventh analogy is that they
187. 8:16will eat the fruit of his toil. Verse
188. 8:1818, it says this, "What he toiled for,
189. 8:21he must give back uneaten. He will not
190. 8:24enjoy the profit from his trading."
191. 8:27Okay, so if you were to just think about
192. 8:30that, most of us would probably go,
193. 8:32"Yeah, that's exactly what it's like to
194. 8:34be a wicked godless person."
195. 8:37So again, it can be easy to kind of get
196. 8:40roped in to Elephaz, Billad, and Zofar's
197. 8:44arguments thinking that they're right,
198. 8:46but in all actuality, they are very,
199. 8:49very wrong. Okay, family, the wait is
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222. 9:48episode. Zofar uses powerful word
223. 9:51pictures to teach on how God humbles the
224. 9:54wicked. And there are seven ideas here
225. 9:56to be specific. And we went through all
226. 9:58seven. So, third nerdy nugget for you.
227. 10:01Job responds to direct accusations.
228. 10:04Okay, so I'll give you a little bit of a
229. 10:06mind map here. In this response, Job
230. 10:09isn't just going to respond to Zofar,
231. 10:11but he's also going to respond to all
232. 10:12the friends. Okay, so I'll kind of map
233. 10:14this out for you. In Job 21:2, he's
234. 10:18going to actually respond to what
235. 10:20Elephas said in chapter 15:1. So, I want
236. 10:23you to go ahead and compare Job 21:2 to
237. 10:27Job 15:1. Okay. Next, Job in chapter
238. 10:3221:7
239. 10:34is responding to Zofar's words in
240. 10:38chapter 20 11. So, uh, for our first
241. 10:42connection, I want you to write down Job
242. 10:4421:2 and Job 15:11 and compare those.
243. 10:48And then for the second one, I want you
244. 10:50to write down Job 21:7. And then the
245. 10:53corresponding response is to Job 20:1. I
246. 10:57want you to compare those. Okay? Then
247. 10:59third, we got chapter 21:8.
248. 11:02Chapter 21:8.
249. 11:04In Job 21:8, by the way, all of this is
250. 11:07coming from chapter 21. Okay? Job 21 is
251. 11:10where Job is going to respond. And I
252. 11:12just want you to know what he's
253. 11:14responding to. Okay? Job 21:8. He's
254. 11:17actually responding to what Billad said
255. 11:20in Job 18:1 19. Next, we have Job 21:9.
256. 11:27He's actually responding to what Elephaz
257. 11:29said in Job 15:4. And you can look up
258. 11:32both of those passages. Job 21:17.
259. 11:37Again, Job is responding to Bildad and
260. 11:40uh he's responding to Billad's words
261. 11:42from Job 18:5. And then Job chapter 21:1
262. 11:4619. Job is responding to Zofar and
263. 11:49Zofar's words could be found in Job
264. 11:5220:10. And then last, [snorts]
265. 11:54Job 21:28. Job is responding to two
266. 11:58friends, Elephaz in Job 15:34 and Zofar
267. 12:03in Job 20 26. So Job 21:2, Job 21:7, Job
268. 12:1121:8, Job 21:9, Job 21:17, Job 21:1 19,
269. 12:17Job 21:28.
270. 12:20These are seven examples of where Job is
271. 12:23responding to multiple friends, Elephaz,
272. 12:27Zofar, Bildad, and he's responding to
273. 12:29things that they have said in various
274. 12:32chapters. And there are seven of these
275. 12:34responses. And now you kind of have a
276. 12:36mind map for that. Okay. All right. Our
277. 12:39fourth nerdy nugget is that crux of
278. 12:41Job's argument is that actually, okay,
279. 12:45there are several examples of wicked
280. 12:48people flourishing. This is brilliant
281. 12:50because Job is brave enough and
282. 12:53courageous enough to admit this. Here's
283. 12:55my pet peeve in church. when we want to
284. 12:58hold on to what we think is like a
285. 13:01religious idea or a spiritual idea and
286. 13:04so we suppress the truth, we suppress
287. 13:06facts. It's almost like you ever talk to
288. 13:09like a religious person and like you
289. 13:11give them a legitimate argument for
290. 13:13something and it's like they just
291. 13:15pretend like the argument you gave
292. 13:17doesn't exist and then they
293. 13:18overspiritualize everything and they're
294. 13:19like, "Well, God's ways are higher than
295. 13:21our ways and his thoughts are higher
296. 13:22than our thoughts." So, you know,
297. 13:23there's no explanation for that. It's
298. 13:25like why? What? Wait, I So Job, you
299. 13:30know, the friend's argument says God
300. 13:32always punishes the wicked. Everybody
301. 13:33knows that because God is just. And then
302. 13:35Job's like, wait, BEFORE WE CONTINUE,
303. 13:39SOMETIMES THE WICKED like win. Like
304. 13:42there are ALL KINDS OF WICKED people who
305. 13:46are winning at life and like they're
306. 13:48they're fine. Wicked people sometimes
307. 13:51live long and healthy lives with many
308. 13:54children living without fear of
309. 13:55judgment. Uh this is you know Job 21:13
310. 14:00as he says they spend their days in
311. 14:03prosperity and in peace they go down to
312. 14:05sh. And then here's some uh examples.
313. 14:08Job 21 1718. How often is it that they
314. 14:12actually face the calamity you say? Next
315. 14:14the verses 19 to 21. How often do
316. 14:17children bear the punishment of their
317. 14:18wicked parents? Then 21:22, who gets to
318. 14:22tell God who to judge and who not to?
319. 14:26And then chapter 21 23-26, why is it
320. 14:29that poor and rich, wicked and
321. 14:31unrighteous, all face the same fate? Job
322. 14:34is pointing out that the universal facts
323. 14:36of their reward theology are by no means
324. 14:39universal. Yes, they can go on and on
325. 14:43and on and on about how the wicked do
326. 14:44not prosper. But you meet any random
327. 14:47stranger on the road and he will tell
328. 14:49you examples that contradict you. This
329. 14:52is the main argument of Job 21 27-33
330. 14:57in addition to all the other verses that
331. 14:58I just mentioned. And Job essentially
332. 15:00just has the gallb to go, "Yeah, I know
333. 15:03I know wicked people who who are doing
334. 15:05just fine." That doesn't mean that we
335. 15:08should be wicked. That doesn't mean that
336. 15:10living a godly life is isn't amazing. It
337. 15:13just means that our motive has to be
338. 15:15different. And it means that this
339. 15:16argument that you're trying to make, you
340. 15:18know, and by you, I mean Bill, Dad,
341. 15:20Elephaz, and and Zofar just falls apart.
342. 15:23This a straw man argument. And I think
343. 15:25sometimes, you know, I've heard leaders
344. 15:27use all kinds of bad reasoning to get
345. 15:30people to do good things. I've heard
346. 15:33people use scare tactics to get people
347. 15:35to tithe. And I'm like, I 100% believe
348. 15:37in tithing full-blown. I tithe. Been
349. 15:40tithing for a long time. But man, making
350. 15:43people scared of like being cursed cuz
351. 15:46they don't. I don't know if I could rock
352. 15:48with that. Like, you know, you're going
353. 15:51to be cursed. It's like, or promising
354. 15:53that people are going to be rewarded.
355. 15:55Man,
356. 15:57uh, that makes me nervous. I'm all about
357. 15:59people staying virgins until they're
358. 16:01married. Like, that's smart. It's wise.
359. 16:04But fear-mongering that creates purity
360. 16:07culture.
361. 16:09And then it's like you just tell people
362. 16:11facts. Hey, I know people who had sex
363. 16:15before marriage and they have amazing
364. 16:18marriages today. Like because you can't
365. 16:21just make the argument, if you have sex
366. 16:23before marriage, you're going to have a
367. 16:24terrible marriage. Like ah gosh, wow.
368. 16:27Okay. If you have sex before marriage,
369. 16:28you're going to displease the Lord. if
370. 16:30you have sex before marriage, you know,
371. 16:32there's all kinds of consequences that
372. 16:35will happen if you have sex before
373. 16:36marriage. But then we get into the
374. 16:39territory of just saying things that
375. 16:40aren't true. And I love that Job has the
376. 16:43courage to just say there are wicked
377. 16:45people prospering, guys. Like, I don't
378. 16:47know what to tell you. There are wicked
379. 16:48people prospering. And it takes a lot of
380. 16:50courage to say that. Okay. Fifth and
381. 16:53ultimately is where I think the book is
382. 16:55really going is that the fear of the
383. 16:58Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And
384. 17:00what does the fear of the Lord do? It
385. 17:02makes God big and us small which creates
386. 17:05humility. And what does humility always
387. 17:08confess? We don't know. We're not
388. 17:10omnisient. We don't know. We know in
389. 17:13part. We see in part. We prophesy in
390. 17:15part. I can't assume to know. I don't
391. 17:18know. And for whatever reason, a lot of
392. 17:21Christians are uncomfortable with the
393. 17:22words," I don't know. One of the things
394. 17:25I had to tell the youth leaders at our
395. 17:27church when I was a youth pastor is um
396. 17:30you can tell kids, "You don't know." If
397. 17:32there's ever a time where you don't know
398. 17:34something, just say to the young people,
399. 17:36"I don't know. I don't know." But you
400. 17:38know what? I can find out. I don't know.
401. 17:40Why do my gr especially when it comes to
402. 17:42suffering? I don't know. And you know
403. 17:43what? You don't know either. And none of
404. 17:45us know. We don't know why that person
405. 17:48died. There was a kid named uh Chavez
406. 17:50who ended up dying while while we were
407. 17:54uh while we were youth pastors. There's
408. 17:55a young young kid young kid uh drowned
409. 17:59and you know I didn't get up there and
410. 18:00say anything like well God just needed
411. 18:03another angel so he took Chavez. Like
412. 18:04that's ridiculous. That's a lazy answer
413. 18:07that actually produces more hurt. And
414. 18:09now I'm gonna run the risk of hurting
415. 18:11young people and and and now they're
416. 18:15going to be in their 30s still talking
417. 18:16about, yeah, I stopped going to church
418. 18:18cuz Pastor Manny said that, you know,
419. 18:20God needed another angel and that's why
420. 18:21God killed Chavez. Oh my gosh. Or you
421. 18:24just say, hey, we don't know. We don't
422. 18:26know. And I think there's this desire to
423. 18:29know why. And uh throughout the book,
424. 18:33what is clear is that God has no
425. 18:35intentions of telling us why, but he has
426. 18:37an intent on telling us who. And there
427. 18:39there's answers to the who question.
428. 18:41Maybe not the why question, but the who
429. 18:42question. Who is behind the attack or
430. 18:45the suffering? Satan. Who desperately
431. 18:48wants you to maintain your integrity and
432. 18:51continue to bless the Lord? Yahweh. Who
433. 18:54wants you to turn your back on God?
434. 18:56Satan. and who is present and with you
435. 19:00through all suffering, the person of
436. 19:02Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
437. 19:04[snorts] We can't always answer the why
438. 19:06question, but we certainly can answer
439. 19:08the who question. And who are we
440. 19:10becoming as we go through hard seasons
441. 19:12in life? I hope that we're coming
442. 19:15becoming more and more and more like our
443. 19:17father in heaven, like Jesus, and being
444. 19:21formed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
445. 19:23Here's our Thomas Truth for the day.
446. 19:25Easy answers make religious people
447. 19:27comfortable, but simultaneously
448. 19:30they make people who are searching for
449. 19:33God uncomfortable and create a barrier
450. 19:37that is going to be a hurdle that people
451. 19:39are going to have to jump over. And they
452. 19:41actually end up doing more damage and
453. 19:44harm than good. So here's what I would
454. 19:46say. If you don't have a good apologetic
455. 19:50argument for why there's suffering in
456. 19:52the world, I'd rather you say nothing
457. 19:55than say things that are going to have
458. 19:58to then be deconstructed by people 10
459. 20:01years from now, 15 years from now. And
460. 20:04that's not just true for Job, Elephaz,
461. 20:06Bildad, and Zofar. That's true for me.
462. 20:09That's true for you. Humility creates a
463. 20:12comfortability with being able to say we
464. 20:15don't know. All right, family. Tomorrow
465. 20:18we got day 3:19. We're going to be
466. 20:20looking at Job chapters 22, 23, and 24.
467. 20:24I hope the last couple of days haven't
468. 20:26ruined you. I know yesterday and today
469. 20:27we only had two chapters to read, but
470. 20:29tomorrow we're back up to three
471. 20:30chapters. I'll be right here waiting to
472. 20:33dive in to Job chapters 22 to 24 with
473. 20:36you tomorrow, same time, same place. If
474. 20:39you're on a streak, I'm proud of you. If
475. 20:41you're not, I love you. I'll see you
476. 20:42tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for
477. 20:45joining us on the Bible podcast. If this
478. 20:48episode was helpful, how about you leave
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483. 20:59see you right back here tomorrow.