OVERVIEW:
The continuation of God’s questions to Job; God’s great power reviewed; Job’s submission to God; Job’s prayer for his friends; God’s double blessing upon Job.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
As we completed chapter 38 yesterday, God was in the midst of answering Job’s questions with a series of questions that brought all of Job’s questions to a screeching halt! God’s questions had to do with creationism, and appear to be totally unrelated and disconnected from Job’s situation, until you realize that Job had gotten to the place that his focus had become directed solely onto his personal problems. God attempts to redirect Job’s focus to help him to see the “big picture”. Namely, to show Job that his problems aren’t as big as he thought! His problems are not the center of the universe; God is!
Having laid down a series of cosmological and naturalistic questions in chapter 38, God now asks Job questions about animals. In fact, from Job 38 to 41, God mentions 14 animals. Jeff Adams reminds us, “Seven is God’s number of completion, the number associated with his perfect works, just as in the seven days of creation. Two is the number of witness, or confirmation. We are considering a list of 14 animals for whatever reason. Could it be that God wants to confirm the perfection of His work to Job? Is there valuable truth to be learned from God’s zoo?”
Of particular interest are the two animals mentioned in chapters 40 and 41, “Behemoth” and “Leviathan”, respectively. A few things to consider, first of all, concerning “Behemoth”. The word “behemoth” is not a translation of a Hebrew word, but rather a “transliteration”. In other words, because the word has no English equivalent, it cannot be translated. So, when the translators came to this particular Hebrew word, it was simply given an English spelling and pronunciation. While some speculate that “behemoth” is an elephant, hippopotamus, or a water ox, the word simply means “beast” or “animal”. What’s interesting, however, is that it is a plural form of the word, and yet, all of the pronouns in the passage concerning this animal are singular. So, either God uses some really bad grammar or there’s something else going on here!
Can you think of any other place in the Bible where a single “animal”, is actually a composite of different “animals” (plural)? How about “the beast” (i.e. animal) in Revelation 13:1–2? We know, of course that “the beast” is the antichrist. Yet, “the beast” (singular) is actually described as a composite of several beasts (plural): the leopard, the bear, and the lion. When we see who “behemoth” actually is (the antichrist), we find that God is, in a sense, actually answering the question of Job’s suffering by pointing him to the source! The same spiritual power that was behind Job’s “tribulation”, will be the mastermind behind the worldwide “Tribulation” in the very near future! None other than Satan incarnate! Wow!
“Leviathan” in chapter 41 is likewise intriguing. He, too, is speculated by “scholars” to be some sort of animal or sea creature; either a whale, a crocodile, a sea monster, or perhaps even a mythological beast. Comparing scripture with scripture, however, it reveals a very interesting description of “leviathan”. Psalm 74:14 lets us know that whatever a “leviathan” is, it has more than one head! Isaiah 27:1 specifically identifies “leviathan” as a “serpent”. Can you think of any creature in the Bible that has more than one head, and is specifically identified as both a serpent and a dragon? How about Revelation 12:3?! It talks about a great “DRAGON, having seven heads”, and verse 9 of that same chapter says, “And the great DRAGON was cast out, that old SERPENT, called the DEVIL, and SATAN”! Once again, we see by comparing scripture with scripture, that God was, in fact, answering Job’s questions pointing him to the one who was responsible for his “tribulation”. Again, none other than Satan himself! Wow! What a book! What a God!
To summarize our study of Job, allow me to “borrow” from Jeff Adams’ summary in his commentary on this book of Job, previously mentioned, and highly recommended:
- Some questions will never be answered in this life, if ever; God owes us no explanations.
- Some believers suffer for no reason of their own making.
- We are but a small part of an immense spiritual war that has been raging since the fall of Lucifer; a war of which we have little understanding.
- Unless we exercise great caution and discernment, even our best intentions to minister to those who suffer can be easily seized by the enemy to use to his advantage in this spiritual war.
- An abundance of facts about God does not necessarily qualify anyone to understand God’s purposes, especially to diagnose His workings in the life of another.
- Our need is not just for more information about God; our need is to know God.
- When baffled and overwhelmed by trials that are not of our own creation, we should lift up our eyes to see the big picture of God’s plan for the universe. We should simply stand in awe of God’s great power, and simply let Him be God.
- All trials for righteousness’ sake ultimately lead to new beginnings.
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
- Through Job’s praying for his friends — Job 42:10 (Christ both modeled for us and instructed us to pray for those who falsely accuse us – Luke 6:28; 23:34)