A congregational study of the Book of Job. By Pastor Jose Luis
Session Nine. Read Job Chapters 8-10
Bildad the younger friend of Job, narrower minded, less tactful than Eliphaz is frustrated with Job´s familiarity in speaking about God. Bildad considers like Eliphaz that Job´s suffering is just an expression of God strict retributive justice (8, 3-4). For Bildad humanity is divided in two groups: the wicked and the righteous. The wicked deserve punishment, then, for him, Job is a wicked man and is suffering the punishment reserved for the sinners. He needs to repent and confess that he is a sinner (8, 6-7 and 20). We go back to debate the nature of God again. Is God only retributive justice? That is the main question that they have to debate, a question that Luther debated also when he found that God´s justice is not only retribution, but also justification and salvation when reading the letter to the Romans:
21 But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3, 21-24)
This idea of justice as justification and salvation is not present in the speech of the friend of Job, but is drafted in Job´s idea of God when he affirms in 9,2:
how can a mortal be just before God? You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
And in 10, 12-13:
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.
But Job sees that the last word should come from God, and that God cannot be limited or measured by human standards. For this reason, Job feels that he is now facing only one destiny unless God decides to act differently 10, 20-22:
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
21 before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness.”
Do you remember a moment in your life when you believed like Job that you were facing only gloom chaos and darkness until God rescued you?Tell me your impressions. pastor@lcostampa.org