26-Esther 8 – Job 24
Jun. 20, 2009
We will begin this week with the ending of the Book of Esther in Chapter 8. Last week we studied the events in the life of Esther and her Uncle Mordecai in the Persian capitol of Susa. We found out that the Lord had placed Esther at the right place at just the right time to deliver the Jewish people from extermination by the hand of the wicked man Haman. We will pick up the story this week after Haman’s deception had been found out and he had been executed for his crime on his own gallows. Here in Chapter 8 Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman to Queen Esther and had Mordecai brought before him. Esther told the king who Mordecai was to her and Ahasuerus gave to Mordecai his signet ring and promoted him to Haman’s old job. Mordecai became administrator over the kingdom of Persia and Esther transferred all that was Haman’s to Mordecai. She then begged the king for the freedom of her people. The edict written by Haman was law and could not be revoked, but now Mordecai possessed the authority to write his own edicts in the king’s name. Mordecai wrote an edict that made it law for the Jews to be able to defend themselves from their enemies. He sent the decree to all the provinces of Persia from India to Ethiopia to ready the Jews for their defense. Mordecai then left the palace in royal robes and wherever the law went it became a day of celebration for the Jewish people. Many people became Jews at this time in fear of what was to happen to their enemies. When the thirteenth day of the month of Adar came the Jewish people were ready. The text says they had gained mastery over their enemies and those who hated them. The Jewish people fell on their enemies and killed five hundred men in Susa alone. Queen Esther requested that the edict of Mordecai be extended through the fourteenth day of Adar, and that the sons of Haman also be hanged. The king agreed and the sons of Haman were hung on the gallows along with an additional three hundred men killed in Susa. In all seventy five thousand enemies of the Jews were killed. The people did not plunder the goods of the dead. On the fifteenth day of Adar the people rested and made it a day of celebration. Mordecai recorded the events and instituted a new holiday for the Jewish people on the thirteenth and fifteenth day of Adar every year. This holiday is known as the Feast of Purim and it is still observed today. Mordecai was advanced by Ahasuerus to second in the kingdom and spent his days seeking the welfare of his people. This ends the Book of Esther. We will now begin the Book of Job. The events in the Book of Job took place during the time of the patriarchs in Abraham’s day. The fact that Job lived for two hundred years, he was the priest of his home, nothing in the book refers to the Law of Moses, and his wealth was measured in livestock placed this date as correct. The author is unknown, except that it could not have been Job because he was unaware of the events that caused his trouble. The book was written many years after the events that were described in it. Tradition says the author was Moses because Midian was near the land of Uz, but people as far as Solomon have been suggested as the author. The book opens with the description of a wealthy man named Job who lived in the city of Uz. Job feared the Lord and lived an obedient life. Job’s children were not like their father and were sinful in their ways. Job would offer burnt offerings to the Lord weekly to atone for his family’s sin. The scene of the book then shifts to heaven and the throne of God. The Book of Job gives us one of the rare glimpses in the Bible of heaven and what goes on there. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, is shown coming before God along with a group of angels. It seems that God used this meeting to teach Satan and the angels some truth about Himself and the humans He created. We see here that Satan has been roaming about the Earth. Further insight on Satan’s activities can be gained in the Book of 1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” And also in the Gospel of Luke 22:31“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” Satan tried to do a similar thing as he did in the garden to Eve. When God asked him about the man Job, Satan told God the only reason Job feared Him was because a hedge of protection was placed around him. Satan seems to want to cast doubt to the other angels about God’s words. God allowed Job’s protection to be removed and gave Satan permission to strike all that belonged to Job, except Job himself, to prove the man would still worship and not curse God. Satan then left the presence of God and made quick work to strike at all that Job had. In a series of three events Job’s livestock, servants, and children were taken from him. Job did not react the way Satan had expected him to react, but tore his clothes, shaved his head, and worshipped the Lord. Job said these words in Chapter 1:21“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all this tragedy, Job did not blame or curse God. After some unspecified time Satan again came before God at His throne. The Lord asked Satan the same questions as before about Job. Satan would not accept defeat, and even after Job proved him wrong, he told God that Job would surely curse Him if his health was taken away. God also agreed to this challenge and allowed Satan to take away Job’s health, but not his life. Satan went from the presence of God and struck Job with a case of boils over his entire body. Job was reduced to scraping his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat on a heap of ashes. His wife came to him and viewed her husband as foolish for keeping his attitude of praise towards the Lord. She told him to “Curse God and die.” Job rebuked her and still would not curse the Lord. Three of Job’s friends heard of his distress and came to comfort him. They sat in silence with Job for seven days waiting for him to speak. Job’s first words after the seven days, in Chapter 2, were to curse the day he was born. Job could not understand why these things had come upon him. During his lament he went from cursing his birth, to wishing he had been stillborn, to finally hoping his life would be taken from him in death. Where in the beginning God removed his hedge of protection from Job, he now believed in Chapter 3:23 “Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?” This verse means, why would God give life to a man who He has placed in prison? Job’s friends were no help to him. In Chapter 4 Eliphaz spoke to Job on the premise that he must have committed some sin for God to cause him such turmoil. He told Job he should be honored that the Lord chose to chastise him and not take his life. Eliphaz was using human logic that says the innocent do not suffer. The Book of Isaiah 55:8-9 says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” We cannot attribute what we think is right and just as what God thinks. Eliphaz pleaded with Job to go to God and confess his sin. He believed that if Job would do this he would be restored. Job could not do what his friend asked. He had done nothing to cause his torment. He told his friend in Chapter 6:10 “But it is still my consolation, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.” He again told his friend that he was not lying and he had nothing to confess. Job had come to the point where he viewed his life as futile. He wanted to be left alone to die. Another of his friends, Bildad, spoke to Job in Chapter 8. Bildad also believed that Job was being punished for his sins and the sins of his family. He simplistically believed that God rewards good and punishes evil. Bildad had no knowledge of the dialog that had taken place in heaven between Satan and Almighty God. He did rightly predict Job’s outcome though in Chapter 8:7 “Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.” He also wanted Job to repent and be restored. Job answered Bildad in Chapter 9 and said he understood what he meant. Job then questioned Bildad on who could answer to God? It is God who makes and controls all things, and if He says I am guilty, I am guilty, and there is nothing I can do. He says in Chapter 10 that he will complain bitterly from his soul and asks God why these things have come upon me? He asked God why He had made him only to destroy him. Job again asked God to let him die. The last of Job’s three friends, Zophar, rebuked him in Chapter 11 for what he perceived as arrogance on Job’s part. He also thought that if Job would stop complaining and admit to his sinful ways his trouble would be over. Job told his friends in Chapter 12 that he is as intelligent as they are and that he, a just and blameless man has become a joke to his friends. Job told them they didn’t know God and in the end of the chapter he told them of the power of his God. He also told his friends, in Chapter 13 that he had listened to what they had to say and that he was not inferior to them. Job said he no longer wanted to hear them but he would speak directly to God and argue his case. He told his friends that all they spoke were lies and their advice is nothing but ashes. He knew if he would be given the chance to state his case before God he would be vindicated. Job then spoke on the finality of death in Chapter 14. He said that man is short lived like a flower that blooms, and then withers and dies. He also said that life flees like a shadow. He realized man’s days are numbered by God and limits on man’s life are set. Job asks God a question in Chapter 14:14 “If a man dies, will he live again?” We know the answer to this question if we have accepted God’s son Jesus as our savior. We will receive eternal life with Him. Eliphaz responds to Job in Chapter 15 and told him his words are just a bunch of wind. He said that he condemns himself by what he speaks. He accuses Job of thinking he knows more than any other and that he should listen to their council. Eliphaz then gave Job some of the wisdom he had gained from his life. He told Job how he had seen the arrogant punished. Job then told his friends, in Chapter 16, that they were no comfort to him. He said it was easy to speak as they did when they were not suffering for any reason themselves. He told them that God had shattered him and his name had become a byword and he had no hope. Bildad then spoke again in Chapter 18. He asked Job how long he would continue to make up excuses for his trouble. Bildad wanted Job to show some understanding before he would continue to speak and help him. Bildad then went on and described the wicked to Job. Because Job had not believed his words and taken his council, he was including him with the wicked. Job felt insulted by his so called friends and wanted to know why they did not believe his words. He cried out that his own friends were persecuting him worse than God Himself. Psalm 55:12-14 written by David give us an idea of the betrayal Job must have felt from his friend’s attitude towards him. “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, Then I could bear it; Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, Then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my familiar friend;We who had sweet fellowship together Walked in the house of God in the throng.”And also verse 16-18a “As for me, I shall call upon God, And the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice.He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me” Job had reached his end and believed everyone was against him. He did though; in his distress speak with great wisdom in Chapter 19:23-27 where he uttered these famous words “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! “That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever! “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.“Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God;Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” Job revealed in these few verses the future work of Jesus Christ during His first and second comings to Earth. Job’s friend Zophar had heard enough and accused Job of being one of the wicked and that their time is always short. His friends continued to prove they did not understand the workings of their creator. Job responded and said that God would deal with the wicked in His own way and that they only pretend to know God’s will. Job’s friend Eliphaz again accused Job of causing his own trouble and exhorted him to realize his transgressions and repent. Job replied, in Chapter 23 that he longs for God. He could not understand why he was in this condition and could no longer feel God’s presence in his life. He wanted to know why he had not been given the opportunity to present his case before Him. He still had not departed from following God’s words. It seemed to Job that God was ignoring the wrongs that were taking place in the world. He did not understand why God had continued to let his so called friends speak lies to him, and why he had been left in this condition. This ends our study for this week in the Book of Job. We will finish up the book next week and begin looking through the Book of Psalms.