Job

The book of Job is the oldest complete book of the whole Bible.  It was written between 2300-2000 Bc shortly after the flood occurred in the days of Noah.  The indication that Job was a man who lived in the East places it probably after the Tower of Babel in which Genesis 11 says men moved Eastward.  However, this is completely uncertain and there is a very strong possibility that the book of Job was written before the flood.  This comes when considers the speculation that no systems of human government are found in the book of Job.  Human government did not exist until the time of Abraham.  Either Job was written before the land start splitting apart 4300 years ago as is mentioned in  Genesis 10:25 or it was written during the time that the land was starting to split apart.  Nevertheless, Job deals with a man who starts off rich by the name of Job.  One day it says that the angels went to present themselves before God and among them Satan presented himself to God to ask God for permission to put Job to the test and to see whether his faith is due to the blessings of God or whether Job will stand up and praise God even in the midst of adversity.  The passage is not refering to the charactar Satan as we often think of him.  In fact, the pronunciation and meaning is completely different than what it seems to say in our translations.  The word actually translates to be a messenger who challenges God and who serves as a judge of the people, much like the prosecuting judge who is trying to bring people's sin out in the open and to destroy their lives so that they may never dwell in the regained Heavenly garden of Eden.  God allows Satan to test Job first by having him lose his house, his livestock and his children.  The first three chapters of Job insist that throughout the first seesions of the trial, Job did not sin at all by accusing the Lord of wrongdoing.  Job's wife tries to persuade him to curse God but Job does not.  As time passes, Satan asks for permission to bring disease upon Job and to see how he reacts to God in such a case.  Job eventually becomes angry and starts questioning God and Job even curses the day in which he was born though it is never recorded that he cursed God.  As Job is going through this trial, his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar criticize him telling him that he has obviously done something to provoke God unto anger.  Often times people go through struggles that indeed lead them to question God in many ways.  The church as a whole pretty much looks down on the people who would even dare to question God about anything.  One quote that I remember from one of dear mentors- my high school Bible teacher Lane Stallings is the following- "Many people say they would not even contemplate the thought of questioning God.  However, if they truly sincerely mean that then I must wonder whether or not they are truly Christians because one of the joys about being a Christian is questioning God.  I know from my own personal experience of questioning God that he has responded to me every time I needed an answer for him.  It wasn't always the answer I liked at the time, but once I got through the fire and looked back at the situation, I thanked God with all my heart because the answers he gave me in the midst of that fire help me to grow in my faith and to be assured even more of how much he really does love me."  Job's friends  pretty much turn their backs on him and point the blame for Job's condition straight at Job himself and down him for questioning God.  In doing such, they fail to empathize with the struggle that Job is going much like we as Christians often do.    One thing I find ironic about satan's appeal to God is the fact that he insisted that Job would not be serving God if he was placed in a trial of adversity.  It seems so odd that Satan would say this in light of the fact that in our present day no one reconciles with God until they are put in the midst of adversity.  And a person who has everything and makes a commitment to God you can bet will keep that commitment because they had everything but still felt the need for something.  I think Satan's proposition in this matter was more along the lines that Job was serving the God of fertility more than he was the one true God.  It can be adequately stated that many people within the realms of the church today espeically in the prosperity message and Word-Faith movements respectively are serving the God of fertility more than they are the one true God.  Though Job questioned God and asked God to take his life, he was able to maintain a sense of faith throughout the trial.  This is clearly seen when one reads his word in chapter 19, verse 25.  In the fortieth chapter of Job, it is recorded that God speaks to Job out of the storm and answers him about his complaint.  God reminds Job of his awesome power and does rebuke Job for his inability to hold faith but commends Job on the fact that when faith seemed like the last thing to hold on to, Job held onto the faith of a mustard seed and that faith helped him to endure throughout the whole trial.  When all that was left was to believe Job stood up to the test and God commended him for such and blessed him with a double portion of all that he had previously had in his life.  In his rebuke of Job, God tells Job to look at two creatures- the Behemoth and the Leviathin.  Liberal Scholars often say that these creatures are a hippopotamus and a crocodile.  However, the description does not fit either one as strongly as it would fit that they are both dinosaurs.  Inductively based on the passage, it sounds far more like dinosaurs than it does any other creature.  Evolutionists do not like this scenario at all because it would put a bullet right through their theory.if this could be proven true.    yet many things that of which scientists take credit for are originally spoken of in the Bible such as the fact that all land on earth once comprised one continent called Pangea.  This idea was originally written in Genesis 10:25.  This seems absurd to many but that is only because they have programmed themselves to think in terms of the principle of uniformitarianism which is used by scientists and is their excuse for not giving consideration to outside supernatural factors.  However, there has to be an outside supernatural power somewhere along the way.  Thus, the principle of Uniformitarianism folds in this matter.  For more info on this check my page on Evolution versus Creation.  In telling Job to look at the creatures that he can not contend with, God is making the basic point that if you can not outwrestle the creatures that I created, then why should you try and outwrestle me.  After his rebuke of Job, God rebukes Job's three former friends and requires sacrifices from each of them in order that they may pay homage to God for their lack of sympathy and empathy in the situation in which Job was in.