Day 321: Job 29-31 | 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 321. We are
9. 0:27continuing our trek through the book of
10. 0:29Job. We just crossed over the halfway
11. 0:32point yesterday. Okay. Job chapter 28 is
12. 0:37the halfway point is the center of the
13. 0:38kayazm. And so today we've got Job
14. 0:42chapters 29, 30, and 31. All three of
15. 0:46these chapters are known as Job's oath
16. 0:49of innocence. That's right. Job's oath
17. 0:53of innocence. If you haven't read
18. 0:56today's reading, you want to stop this
19. 0:59video, pause the audio, and go get the
20. 1:01reading done, then come back. I promise
21. 1:05we will wait for you. For everyone who's
22. 1:08already done the reading, uh I hope that
23. 1:10you enjoyed today's reading. I certainly
24. 1:13enjoyed today's reading. Obviously, it's
25. 1:15all Job. Okay, so and like every day,
26. 1:19I'm going to give you as much context as
27. 1:21I can, and then we'll dive into some
28. 1:22nerdy nuggets. My plan today is to give
29. 1:24you three nerdy nuggets and then leave
30. 1:27the episode off with a timeless truth.
31. 1:30So, uh, if you've done the reading, then
32. 1:33I want to dive right into context
33. 1:35because today's a context heavy day. I
34. 1:38got a lot of things to say now that
35. 1:40we're over the halfway point of the book
36. 1:41of Job. I feel like there are some
37. 1:43things that I probably should have said
38. 1:45sooner that I really need to say. And we
39. 1:48also just got to talk through what is
40. 1:50going on in chapters 29, 30, and 31. So
41. 1:53just let's put these three chapters in
42. 1:56context of the whole book. Okay, from
43. 1:58this point on, we are about to get three
44. 2:01monologues. Okay, three monologues that
45. 2:04is going to balance out the three
46. 2:06dialogues that we got from chapters 3 to
47. 2:10chapters 27. From Job chapter 3 all the
48. 2:13way to Job chapter 27, we get three sets
49. 2:16of dialogues. Okay? Uh remember Elephaz
50. 2:19will speak, then Job, then Bildad, then
51. 2:22Job, then Zofar, then Job. Okay? And
52. 2:24we're going to get that same
53. 2:27conversation cycle three times. So,
54. 2:29we've got three dialogues from chapters
55. 2:323 to 27. Then smack dab in the middle of
56. 2:35the book, we are going to get chapter
57. 2:3628, which is an interlude on how to find
58. 2:39wisdom and who uh gives wisdom from this
59. 2:43point on. Okay, from chapters 29 to 31,
60. 2:48we're going to get Job's monologue. And
61. 2:50then from chapter 32 to 37, we're gonna
62. 2:54get a monologue from a gentleman named
63. 2:57Elhoo. Okay, Elhoo. If you just want to
64. 3:01go ahead look at chapter 32, you're
65. 3:03going to see a new name there. And and
66. 3:06most people think maybe he was standing
67. 3:09there the whole time listening to Job
68. 3:11and his three friends talk just kind of
69. 3:12saying nothing. He is definitely the
70. 3:15wisest of these friends. He's going to
71. 3:17have their perspective though. So we get
72. 3:19him from uh chapter 32 all the way to
73. 3:22chapter 37. Okay. So, a lot of eloo and
74. 3:26then chapters 38 and 39, God finally is
75. 3:31going to talk. So, we're going to get a
76. 3:32monologue from Yahweh. Okay? So, Job's
77. 3:36going to give a monologue. That's
78. 3:37today's reading. The next two days on
79. 3:40this podcast is Eloh's monologue. And
80. 3:42then we're going to get to Yahweh's
81. 3:44monologue when we get to Job 38 and 39.
82. 3:47And then Job 40-42
83. 3:50is uh an epilogue. Okay? Okay, so we had
84. 3:53a prologue to the book which was
85. 3:55narrative and then we're going to get an
86. 3:57epilogue to the book which is also going
87. 3:59to be narrative and that kind of frames
88. 4:01the book. So if you want to think okay
89. 4:03how's the book of Job framed? It's
90. 4:04framed with three dialogues at the
91. 4:07beginning of the book, three monologues
92. 4:09towards the end of the book with a
93. 4:11center of the kayazm being chapter 28
94. 4:13which is the interlude on wisdom and
95. 4:16then narratives at the very very very
96. 4:18very end of the books or beginning and
97. 4:21end of the books. So the end and the
98. 4:24beginning match up. The meat to the
99. 4:27right and the left of the middle match
100. 4:28up. And then the kayazm in the middle
101. 4:31obviously doesn't match up. It's it is
102. 4:33smack dab in the middle uh for a reason.
103. 4:36It's the center of the kayazm. All
104. 4:37right. Hopefully that just gives you
105. 4:39context for the entire book and how the
106. 4:42book flows from a 30,000 ft perspective.
107. 4:45I'm going to offer a little bit more
108. 4:47context. Okay. Uh this is an oath of
109. 4:51innocence and these oaths of innocence
110. 4:54were actually pretty common in the
111. 4:55ancient world. There are lots of
112. 4:57examples of oaths of innocence. This is
113. 5:01an ancient legal device that has been
114. 5:04recorded in Israelite Babylonian and
115. 5:07Hittite records. It is basically an
116. 5:10informal legal oath that exists outside
117. 5:12of a court or the gates of the city that
118. 5:15are seen in scripture. It is not part of
119. 5:18a trial. It involves no witnesses, but
120. 5:21instead is a statement of innocence in
121. 5:23the form of a vow to the gods or God.
122. 5:27This is the heart of Job's claim uh and
123. 5:30vow to to the Lord that we actually
124. 5:32already saw. Remember in Job chapter 27
125. 5:35verses 2-4, we kind of got a small
126. 5:38version of this oath of innocence. But
127. 5:41this is a actual legal device. All
128. 5:44right? this an ancient legal device that
129. 5:47Job is just is like I I have no I have
130. 5:51no other option but to plead my case in
131. 5:55this formal way. I I I know that I'm
132. 5:58innocent and we got to get to the bottom
133. 6:00of of what's happening. Okay, last bit
134. 6:03of context. Just kind of wrapping a
135. 6:06couple of things up, some some loose
136. 6:08ends. I should have probably said this
137. 6:09on day one. So, I I should have said
138. 6:11this when we were in Job chapter 1 back
139. 6:13on day 312. All right. Like nine days
140. 6:17ago, but I'm saying it now. The land of
141. 6:19us. Okay. Where's US? That would have
142. 6:22been the equivalent of us as Americans
143. 6:25saying like Timbuktu. Timbuktu is a real
144. 6:28place, but when we say Timbuktu, we
145. 6:30don't really mean it literally. We just
146. 6:32kind of mean like middle of nowhere,
147. 6:34right? Like, oh gosh, like I had to
148. 6:37drive to Timbuktu. It's a figure of
149. 6:39speech and I think that's just good for
150. 6:42people to know like us would have been
151. 6:46borderline figure of speech and so that
152. 6:48doesn't mean that the story of Job isn't
153. 6:51historically true. It just kind of
154. 6:52frames it for us to maybe realize
155. 6:55there's some literary license there's
156. 6:59some literary creativity. So only
157. 7:02because when we think is a person like
158. 7:05Job even possible to exist that is super
159. 7:08super blameless. Well Romans is going to
160. 7:10say for all of sin have fallen short of
161. 7:11the glory of God. Now again the the
162. 7:14point okay of Job's blamelessness is
163. 7:17essentially that he doesn't deserve
164. 7:19what's happening to him. It's not really
165. 7:20to to showcase his blamelessness as much
166. 7:23as to showcase how unfair and unjust
167. 7:27treatment he's receiving. Okay. very
168. 7:29very very very very last bit of context.
169. 7:32Okay, I already warned you it's a
170. 7:33context every day is that what tends to
171. 7:37happen, you know, when we look at the
172. 7:39Satan. Okay, so Job is going to have a
173. 7:43creature that is known as the Satan. Uh
174. 7:46first of all, the Satan is allowed into
175. 7:49God's divine counsel into God's divine
176. 7:51court. So it doesn't seem like uh the
177. 7:54Satan is like not invited or not allowed
178. 7:57to be there. It seems like the Satan
179. 8:00figure has an important role actually.
180. 8:03Second, Satan is never used as a name
181. 8:08for the serpent in Genesis 3. Never.
182. 8:13Okay. So, uh I think that there's a
183. 8:15misconception that Satan is like some
184. 8:19name or like a nickname or like a proper
185. 8:22name that we refer to uh the embodiment
186. 8:25of evil, you know, that we like the
187. 8:28devil, but that's not true. Okay, so
188. 8:31that's that. Next, it's the Satan. So,
189. 8:34there's other places in the Hebrew Bible
190. 8:36that are going to use that language, and
191. 8:38it simply means the opposer. Okay, the
192. 8:40accuser. First Kings 11 is going to be
193. 8:42one of those places. And Numbers chapter
194. 8:4422:2 is going to be another one of those
195. 8:47places where humans are going to be
196. 8:50referred to as the Satan because they
197. 8:52are standing in opposition against other
198. 8:54humans. Okay, so that's just interesting
199. 8:56to know. Here's something that Tim
200. 8:58Mackey from the Bible Project kind of
201. 9:01asks. This is a question. Is the Satan
202. 9:04figure wrong? Like nowhere in the text
203. 9:07itself does it say that he hates Job,
204. 9:10that he hates God or that he's fallen.
205. 9:14Everything about this actually would
206. 9:16suggest that the Satan character has
207. 9:20Yahweh's best interest at heart. That
208. 9:23essentially Yahweh has a proverbs and
209. 9:27and also like a Deuteronomy perspective
210. 9:29like right the the righteous get
211. 9:31blessed. And Satan kind of challenges
212. 9:33that or the Satan sorry the Satan
213. 9:36challenges that and says is that a good
214. 9:38policy for ruling the earth like is he
215. 9:42really righteous or is it not smart for
216. 9:46him to be righteous uh because you
217. 9:49reward righteousness and the Satan
218. 9:52brings up a great point. It's like, is
219. 9:54is Job actually righteous? And the
220. 9:57suffering that he has to endure proves
221. 9:59beyond a shadow of a doubt that we
222. 10:01thought you were righteous, but now we
223. 10:03know you're righteous. Because it's easy
224. 10:05to be righteous if there's stuff you get
225. 10:07out of it. It's It's kind of hard during
226. 10:13this to get anything or receive
227. 10:15anything. It's kind of like sometimes in
228. 10:17church I get a little uncomfortable when
229. 10:19when we only get people to give based on
230. 10:23motivating them or inspiring them to
231. 10:25believe that if they do give they'll get
232. 10:27something. I do believe that seowing
233. 10:31like results in reaping. I do I do
234. 10:34believe that. But however we have to be
235. 10:38careful not to train people to think
236. 10:41that you know by giving they are just
237. 10:45automatically going to receive. I do
238. 10:47think it's important to communicate to
239. 10:49Christians. Sometimes I give just
240. 10:53because it's the right thing to do. I
241. 10:55give because the Bible teaches me to do
242. 10:57it and I don't do it in order to get. If
243. 11:01I get things that's fantastic. That's a
244. 11:04cherry on top. But that's not my primary
245. 11:07motivating factor. I think sometimes we
246. 11:09can bring in revelation that we get
247. 11:12later on in the Bible and then we can
248. 11:14read that into the book of Job. But if
249. 11:16we just look at Job by itself without
250. 11:19any additional information, I don't know
251. 11:22that we would come to the conclusion
252. 11:24that the Satan character has bad
253. 11:26motives. And that's an idea that, you
254. 11:29know, that's a question. I'm not saying
255. 11:33that's where I land. I'm just saying
256. 11:34it's a good question to ask. Does the
257. 11:37text in and of itself with no additional
258. 11:39outside information outside of the book
259. 11:42of Job lend you to believe that the
260. 11:45Satan character has like bad motives or
261. 11:48evil motives? It kind of sounds like the
262. 11:50Satan character is just thinking about
263. 11:55how easy it is to take advantage of God
264. 11:57if this is his policy. Okay, so that is
265. 12:01context. All right, now let's get into
266. 12:03some nerdy nuggets. Okay, in order to
267. 12:04even understand Job's oath of innocence
268. 12:08and his friend's belief that he's not
269. 12:10innocent, you kind of have to understand
270. 12:12these three levers or this pyramid.
271. 12:16Okay, at the top of the pyramid is God's
272. 12:18justice. God is just. Okay. The second
273. 12:22piece to this puzzle is God's policy
274. 12:26then of strict reward or retribution
275. 12:30theology. Okay. If he's just, then the
276. 12:32only just way to operate the universe is
277. 12:36by a strict policy of retribution and
278. 12:41reward. Okay? So, this is that God is
279. 12:44just. This down here, this part of the
280. 12:47triangle is God's policy of running the
281. 12:49world. And then this over here is Job's
282. 12:52innocence or guilt. And so this creates
283. 12:55a triangle. Now, I remember one time I
284. 12:57went to a mechanic and uh there was a
285. 12:58sign that says you can only have two out
286. 13:01of three. And it kind of had a list of
287. 13:03three things. And it was excellence,
288. 13:06speed, price. They're like, if it's
289. 13:09going to be fast and cheap, it's
290. 13:10probably not going to be excellent. If
291. 13:12it's going to be fast and excellent,
292. 13:14it's going to be expensive. If it's
293. 13:16going to be cheap and excellent, it's
294. 13:18going to take a long time. Okay, so the
295. 13:21same triangle exists between fast,
296. 13:23cheap, and excellent. Fast, cheap, and
297. 13:25excellent. Okay, do you want quality? Do
298. 13:27you want speed? Or do you want the right
299. 13:30price? You can't have all three. And so
300. 13:32what you begin to do is it's like when
301. 13:35you toggle speed and cheap, excellence
302. 13:38immediately toggles off if you toggle
303. 13:39those two on. So what you begin to see
304. 13:42with Job and his friends is that the
305. 13:44moment they toggle on God is just and
306. 13:48Job is innocent. Okay, that's how Job is
307. 13:50going to toggle it. God's or Yeah. No,
308. 13:54sorry. This is Job's toggle. God runs
309. 13:57the universe on a strict retribution
310. 13:59policy and I'm innocent. Therefore, he
311. 14:01concludes God's not just. The friends
312. 14:03then are claiming no, God is just and he
313. 14:06runs the world on a strict retribution
314. 14:08policy which then means Job must not be
315. 14:10innocent. So based on what they toggle
316. 14:13on, there's an automatic toggle off
317. 14:15here. The whole book of Job is actually
318. 14:17getting us to try to understand the one
319. 14:20factor that nobody's willing to toggle
320. 14:23off is that God runs the world by a
321. 14:25strict retribution or reward policy.
322. 14:28That's the toggle. If we toggle that
323. 14:30off, then we can have God being just and
324. 14:35Job being innocent. And that is honestly
325. 14:38what's going to happen. Which means the
326. 14:39book of Job is not just about how to
327. 14:42handle suffering, but it's about
328. 14:44understanding the kind of world we live
329. 14:46in. And has God established the entire
330. 14:49universe to operate according to a
331. 14:53strict retribution and reward policy.
332. 14:56That's like asking, "Has God created the
333. 14:59earth to operate according to a policy
334. 15:02of gravity?" And the answer to that
335. 15:04question is yes. Gravity is a law. It
336. 15:07It's like it if you try to defy it,
337. 15:10you're you're you're going to be up a
338. 15:12creek without a paddle. Well, you're
339. 15:13probably going to be down the creek cuz
340. 15:15gravity still work still works. But you
341. 15:16get what I'm saying. Okay. So on that
342. 15:19toggle of Job, Job's innocence, God's
343. 15:23justice, and a strict policy of divine
344. 15:28retribution and reward system. I want us
345. 15:31to go ahead and zoom in on Job's
346. 15:33innocence because that's what these
347. 15:34three chapters are all about. Okay, so
348. 15:36three nerdy nuggets. Okay, that was all
349. 15:38context. My gosh, that was almost the
350. 15:41entire episode just on context. Three
351. 15:42nuggets. Three nerdy nuggets. We're
352. 15:44going to fly through them. Family, the
353. 15:46wait is over. My brand new book,
354. 15:49Crushing Chaos, is out now and available
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367. 16:24if there's any chaos in your personal
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375. 16:42to the episode. Job chapter 29 is all
376. 16:45about a positive confession of his past
377. 16:48life. How how awesome his past life was,
378. 16:51how blessed he was, but also how
379. 16:54innocent he was. And then chapter 30,
380. 16:56Job chapter 30 is a confession of his
381. 16:58current suffering. He moves from the
382. 17:01past into but what is my status right
383. 17:04now. So you could do a good compare and
384. 17:06contrast between chapter 29 and 30 and
385. 17:0830. And then chapter 31 is we get a
386. 17:11negative confession. These are a series
387. 17:14of self-imposed curses. Essentially, Job
388. 17:17is saying, "If I'm guilty, then God now
389. 17:21has license to make my life even worse."
390. 17:24Okay, so let's kind of dive into these.
391. 17:26Job 30 is really self-explanatory. So,
392. 17:28I'm only going to really take any kind
393. 17:30of time to deal with Job chapter 29,
394. 17:33which is his positive confession of what
395. 17:34his life used to be like, and then Job
396. 17:3631, which is a negative confession or a
397. 17:40series of self-imposed curses. Job
398. 17:42chapter 29, starting in verse 12. Okay?
399. 17:46Job is going to tell us that he
400. 17:48delivered the poor, that he caused the
401. 17:50widow's heart to sing, that I was eyes
402. 17:52to the blind, I was father to the needy,
403. 17:54I broke the fangs of injustice. Okay,
404. 17:57Job's a hero. Now, this is the irony is
405. 18:01that all the things that Job is going to
406. 18:03say about himself are all in direct
407. 18:06opposition to the things that Elephaz
408. 18:09accused him of in chapter 22. This is
409. 18:12what Job 22 6-9 says. You demanded
410. 18:16security from your relatives for no
411. 18:17reason. You stripped people of their
412. 18:19clothing, leave them them naked. You
413. 18:21gave no water to the weary, and you
414. 18:23withheld food from the hungry. Though
415. 18:25you were a powerful man owning land, an
416. 18:28honor man living on it, and you sent
417. 18:31widows away emptyhanded and broke the
418. 18:35strength of the father uh of the
419. 18:38fatherless. So Job in Job chapter 22,
420. 18:41obviously Elephass says all that and
421. 18:43it's almost like Job tucks it all away
422. 18:45and he responds to it here in Job
423. 18:48chapter 29. Okay, so this is Job just
424. 18:51describing his past life but also how
425. 18:53blameless his past life was and how
426. 18:56blessed he was in direct proportion to
427. 18:59how blameless he was. Okay, Job 30,
428. 19:03self-explanatory, but then Job 31. Okay.
429. 19:07Job 31:es 1-4 and:es 9-12, Job proves he
430. 19:13also claims and proves that he's
431. 19:15innocent of sexual immorality. Then Job
432. 19:1731:es 5-8, he proves that he's uh
433. 19:20innocent of dishonesty. He's also
434. 19:22innocent in his social dealings. That's
435. 19:25Job 31 13-23.
436. 19:28Uh and then he's innocent of how he uses
437. 19:31his wealth. That's Job 31 24-2.
438. 19:36And then he's innocent of idolatry,
439. 19:38which is Job 31 26-30.
440. 19:41Oh, sorry, 26-28.
441. 19:43And then he's also innocent of being
442. 19:45vindictive. That's Job 31 29-30. And
443. 19:50then Job is also innocent of hiding sin.
444. 19:53Okay? Uh concealing sin. That's Job 31
445. 19:5733-34.
446. 19:59And last, he is innocent of
447. 20:01exploitation. That's Job 31 38-4. In
448. 20:06other words, he's innocent of all
449. 20:08things. So if he is innocent of these
450. 20:11and so God will not judge him for them,
451. 20:15then why has God judged him in the first
452. 20:19place? Okay, so this is an oath of
453. 20:23innocence. The point, okay, of chapter
454. 20:2631 is that if he isn't guilty, that's
455. 20:30the point. I'm not guilty. So by
456. 20:32imposing these self curses, he is
457. 20:34effectively swearing by God that he is
458. 20:37innocent. If God doesn't make his
459. 20:38suffering worse, then he is not guilty
460. 20:41of any of these things. Let's move right
461. 20:46into our timeless truth. I think that it
462. 20:49is, you know, since the dawn of time,
463. 20:51people have been wondering why do bad
464. 20:53things happen to good people. And my
465. 20:55challenge today is that you and I aren't
466. 20:58even as blameless as Joe. Like Job
467. 21:02complains and if you just read the level
468. 21:05of innocence that he has in these three
469. 21:08chapters, you realize, man, I'm not even
470. 21:12coming anywhere close to Job's
471. 21:14righteousness. I should probably not
472. 21:16complain when bad things happen to me.
473. 21:18Okay? Not only is is Job coming to the
474. 21:21awareness that God is holy other than
475. 21:24him, I want us to realize we're holy
476. 21:26other than Job. like this is a very very
477. 21:30very righteous man. I don't want that to
478. 21:32get lost kind of in the sauce. And we
479. 21:36kind of sometimes have this bizarre
480. 21:38sense of entitlement to God's goodness
481. 21:41and his grace, but we're not even as
482. 21:43righteous as Job. And so Job's just
483. 21:47righteousness and innocence alone, I
484. 21:50hope, inspires you to not complain, but
485. 21:54also inspires you to live a fruitful
486. 21:56life, to live a wise life, to live the
487. 22:00kind of life that is even halfway as
488. 22:04blameless as Job. All right, tomorrow
489. 22:07we've got day 3:22. We're going to be
490. 22:10looking at Job chapters 32
491. 22:1333. It's going to be fantastic. Just two
492. 22:16chapters tomorrow. We've got 4 days left
493. 22:19in the book of Job. I'm proud of you,
494. 22:21especially if you're on a streak. I love
495. 22:23you. I'll see you tomorrow. Peace.
496. 22:26Thanks so much for joining us on the
497. 22:27Bible podcast. If this episode was
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