A congregational study of the Book of Job. By Pastor Jose Luis
Session Eighteen. Read Job Chapter 42
We´ve reached to the end of Job´s journey. After all his calamities Job opens his heart to God and declares: 4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” 42, 5-6.
Job comes to the conclusion that the knowledge of God is beyond our natural capacities of understanding and knowing; Job now relies on God´s own revelation. He is inviting God to show Godself to be his God. God answers expressing the divine judgement of the theologies of the friends of Job: 7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.”
Job spoke correctly and Job´s friends did not, they attributed to God a characteristic that did not manifest the real loving nature of God. They were preaching a retributive punishing divinity that does not correspond to the loving nature of God. Job´s speech of God is declared as correct and now Job has to be a priest offering sacrifice and prayer for the forgiveness of the sins of his friends.
The conclusion is: the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before (v. 10). The restoration of Job comes after he performs his priestly sacrifice and say his intercessory prayer as a confirmation that God received Job´s prayer and sacrifice and also accepted Job´s speech as correct. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days (v. 16-17).
A long and blessed life after a great tribulation in Job´s life. Have you ever experienced blessings after times of pain and sorrow in your life? As Christians, we are also a royal priesthood that offer a sacrifice of prayer for the world (1 Peter 2, 9), are you praying for your friends like Job did it, asking God to bless them and forgive their sins? Tell me your impressions. pastor@lcostampa.org