Job 27

Job continues to answer his “friends”               verse 1 

Moreover Job continued his parable  and said 

Job maintains his innocence                               verse 2- 6 

As God lives – WHO has taken away my judgment

and the Almighty – WHO has vexed my soul

      all the while my breath is in me

                  and the spirit of God is in my nostrils

My lips shall not speak wickedness – nor my tongue utter deceit

God forbid that I should justify you

      till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me

My righteousness I hold fast – and will not let it go

my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live 

Job maintains that the godless have no hope    verse 7- 12 

Let mine enemy be as the wicked

and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous

      for what is the hope of the hypocrite

though he has gained

                              when God takes away his soul?

Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?

Will he delight himself in the Almighty?

Will he always call upon God?

I will teach you by the hand of God

            that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal

BEHOLD all you yourselves have seen it

            Why then are you thus altogether vain? 

Job states the inheritance of the wicked             verse 13- 15 

This is the portion of the wicked man with God

and the heritage of oppressors

                        which they shall receive of the Almighty

IF his children be multiplied – it is for the sword

            and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread

                        those that remain of him shall be buried in death

                                    and his widows shall not weep 

Job describes difference between rich and poor          verse 16- 23 

Though he heap up silver as the dust

and prepare raiment as the clay

                        he may prepare it – but the just shall put it on

                                    and the innocent shall divide the silver

            he builds his house as a moth

                        and as a booth that the keeper makes

The rich man shall lie down – BUT he shall not be gathered

            he opens his eyes – and he is not

                        terrors take hold on him as waters

                                    a tempest steals him away in the night

                                                the east wind carries him away

and he departs

                        and as a storm hurls him out of his place

For God shall cast upon him – and not spare

            he would fain flee out of his hand

Men shall clap their hands at him

and shall hiss him out of his place      

COMMENTARY: 

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers          

 : 3        All the while my breath is with me, and the spirit of God is in my Nostrils (7307 “spirit” [ruwach] means wind, breath, mind and Holy Spirit.)

DEVOTION:  The Holy Spirit was active in the Old Testament. HE was involved in the lives of those who were followers of God. HE would indwelt them and fill them for a time period. It seems that HE could leave individuals who were under HIS influence in the Old Testament. The New Testament teaches that once the Holy Spirit is given to an individual HE never leaves him. If a New Testament saint sins he can lose the filling of the Holy Spirit but not the indwelling.

Job knows that God gives each breath he takes. He knows that the Spirit of God is in his nostrils. The two words “breath” and “spirit” are two different Hebrew words that have the same meaning in many verses. 

Each breath that we take is coming from the LORD. HE sustains our being while we are here on this earth. Each breath is a gift from the LORD. HE can end our life anytime.

Job continues to tell his “friends” that the Holy Spirit is not in the individual who lives a wicked life. There is a difference between the wicked person and the follower of God, as far as, lifestyles are concerned. God doesn’t respond to the wicked. The first time someone repents and begins following the LORD is when prayers are answered. The prayers of the wicked are not going to be answered until they make a commitment to the LORD and then they become a saint.

Each of us is a sinner but those who follow the LORD are not living in sin. IF an individual who claims to be a follower of God starts living in sin there will be a chastening of the LORD present in his life. If there is no chastening there might be no spiritual life in the individual because whom the LORD loves HE chastens.

What Job was going through was not a chastening of the LORD.

It was a purging or pruning to help Job mature further in his relationship to the LORD. We are not sovereign over our lives, the LORD is. Each day we need to dedicate ourselves to the LORD and say thank you to HIM for all HIS blessings. Job was going through a real rough time in his life and yet he honored the Almighty. He was going to keep his integrity before the LORD.

Have we counted our daily blessings lately? IF we are going through a difficult time in our lives are we thanking the LORD? In everything we are to give thanks. It was hard for Job and it is hard for us. Remember that we can be thankful and still honestly go before the LORD with our questions about our present circumstances.

CHALLENGE: Thank the LORD for the present ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life. HE is the one who is our counselor. HE is the one teaching us what we need to learn while we are here on this earth. Listen to HIM speaking to you through the Word of God and your personal walk with the LORD. We are never ALONE!!!          

                                           DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers 

                        : 4        My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. (5766 “wickedness” [‘evel]                                            means perverseness, badness, malice, injustice, or wrong.)

DEVOTION:  Job has been hit hard by these three “friends”  and yet he comes away saying that he is not going to speak falsely about them or anyone. He has gone through more trials than I would ever want to be through and yet he kept his sense about him and looked to the LORD for direction.

The LORD allowed these three “friends” to come into his place of suffering and they said many things that were not true of Job and his relationship with the LORD. It would be hard for any of us to stand up to this test that was sent his way. He kept his cool and answered their false accusations with a calm spirit. He wanted to represent the LORD even during these great trials.

We have to do the same as HE allows trials in our lives. It is never right to speak wrongly about someone else. It is never right to use deceit when we speak about those who are giving us a hard time.

Our attitude has to represent Jesus Christ. HE was put on trial for something HE didn’t do but yet HE answered those who mistreated HIM with truthful answers that they couldn’t combat.

They took advantage of HIS love for those who HE came to the cross to die for. HE allowed things at the present time that would be taken care of later in the lives of those who mistreated HIM.

This was what was going to happen to these three “friends” at the end of the book. The LORD was going to deal with them for their actions. HE spoke to Job as well but these individuals were in the wrong.

CHALLENGE: Our attitude has to match Christ’s attitude when HE was falsely accused. We have to answer righteously.

_______________________________________________________________ 

                        : 8        For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul?                                        (2610 “hypocrite” [chaneph] means godless, a person who has no faith in God and does not                                         obey HIM, profane, irreligious, polluted, alienated from God, or impious.)

DEVOTION:  Job explains that those who are not followers of God will have be individuals who have no eternal hope. There future is dim. Their lives will end without the hope of heaven.

God only allows people to live as long as HE feels it is necessary for them to make a final decision regarding their eternal life. HE waits too long from our perspective regarding some people but that is the wrong attitude. While they are still here we need to try to reach them with the good news about the gift of salvation.

Most will not listen but we have to take every opportunity to share our faith with them. Somehow we have to convey to them that their present circumstances give them no hope in the future.

I know that I have met many people who say there is no hell. I have also met people who say that all their friends are in hell and so they want to join them. Others just don’t think that there is only one way to heaven. They think that good works will give them a place in heaven.

Wrong thinking is all around us each day and we need to correct those we love regarding wrong statements about the message of salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ.

Hope is what the world is looking for but will never find without Jesus Christ. Job realizes that he is a teacher of the truths of the Word of God. He tells those who will listen that he is willing to teach them.

CHALLENGE: Are we willing to listen to the LORD and change our behavior accordingly?

 

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers 

                        : 11      I will teach you by the hand of God, that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. (3582                               “conceal” [kachad] means to hide, to make disappear, to prevent something, including                                        oneself, form being seen or discovered, cover, or cover up.)

DEVOTION: Here is a promise from Job to make the hand of God known to those “friends” that were trying to tell him that what was happening was happening because of Job’s sin.

Now Job is going to teach them what is really happening during this time period of testing that he is going through that the LORD is allowing to challenge his faith.

We need to understand the Word of God during good times and during hard times. Here is Job going through a hard time that he didn’t think he deserved but it was real and he had questions.

God doesn’t always give us answers to our question of “WHY” this has happened to us but HE wants us to trust HIM during these times and HE might explain in the future but it is not necessarily true.

When we read the rest of the book of Job we see that the LORD didn’t answer him in a way he wanted to be answered. HE can do the same to us when we have questions regarding events in our life. We have to learn to trust NO MATTER WHAT!

This is not easy but life is not supposed to be easy. We are to live each day with the conviction that we are serving HIM no matter what happens and trust HIM to take care of us during the process.

Job went through more than I could take but he still trusted the LORD for the outcome. We need to do the same.

CHALLENGE: Many times in our life we will face challenges we don’t think we deserve but that is not true because we deserve hell for eternity and yet because of Christ we can have heaven!!

_____________________________________________________________________ 

                        : 23      Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place. (8319 “hiss” [sharaq]                                   means whistle, pipe, to make a sharp hissing sound, as if to show disapproval, mockery, or                               make a non-verbal communication as a signal to gather a group together for either positive                             or negative purposes)

DEVOTION:  Here we have unsaved men making fun of their fellow man that is going through a hard time. They will enjoy putting their neighbor down while he is falling. The clapping of the hands is a sign of scorn for those who are not going in the right direction economically or socially in the world.

The world can be really hard judges on their own worldly friends. They are going use every occasion to make fun of those who are going through a rough time. They are going to go along with the judgment they see these individual go through but don’t credit it to the LORD’S work but just to what happened in human history.

These individuals who clap and hiss are not followers of the LORD. They are not concerned with someone being obedient to the LORD. They are just looking for people who they can put down to make themselves look better.

We know of many individuals around us who enjoy gossiping about others to make themselves look good.  They will spread any news they receive whether it is true or false they do not care.

Again Job is talking about those who don’t know the LORD. Those who do are concerned about the souls of those who are being made fun of by the world.  Our concern is always to encourage people to walk with the LORD.

CHALLENGE:  Do you know someone today who could use a word of encouragement that might be facing people who only want to cause them grief? 

_______________________________________________________________

DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level) 

Will hypocrite call on God in times of trouble?      verse 9, 10 

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group) 

___________________________________________________________________

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

God the Father (First person of the Godhead) 

God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign)                          verse 2, 5, 8-11, 13, 22

God lives                                                                    verse 2

Almighty                                                                    verse 2, 10, 11, 13

Hand of God                                                              verse 11 

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter) 

Spirit of God                                                              verse 3 

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)    

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation) 

Job                                                                              verse 1- 23

            Parable

            Soul vexed by Almighty

            Integrity

            Teach by the hand of God

            Teach that which the Almighty will not

                        conceal     

  Enemy                                                                        verse 7

Oppressors                                                                 verse 13- 15

            Children multiplied

            Children not satisfied with bread

            Widows shall not weep

Rich man                                                                    verse 19, 20

            Terrors take hold       

          Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels) 

Wickedness                                                                verse 4

Deceit                                                                          verse 4

Wicked                                                                       verse 7, 13

Unrighteous                                                               verse 7

Hypocrite                                                                   verse 8

Vain                                                                            verse 12

Oppressor                                                                  verse 13 

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins) 

Justify                                                                         verse 5

Integrity                                                                     verse 5

Righteousness                                                            verse 6

No reproach of heart                                                verse 6

Hope                                                                           verse 8

Hears prayers of saints                                             verse 9, 10

Teach                                                                          verse 11

Just                                                                             verse 17

Innocent                                                                     verse 17 

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events) 

      Buried in death                                                          verse 15

____________________________________________________________

          DONATIONS:

Remember that all donations to Small Church Ministries are greatly appreciated. The treasurer will send a receipt, at the end of the year unless otherwise requested. Please be sure to make check out to “Small Church Ministries.” The address for the treasurer is P.O. Box 604, East Amherst, New York 14051. A second way to give to the ministry is through PayPal on the website: www.smallchurchministries.org.  Also, if you can support this ministry through your local church please use that method.  Thank you. All donations are tax deductible.

_______________________________________________________

QUOTES regarding passage

27:4 Job 13:7 has the same two synonyms for “wickedness” and “deceit” as we find here. But there Job charged his friends with speaking falsely, something that he here forbad himself to do. The lies he refused to tell are in the next verses. He vigorously repudiated his friends’ explanation for his suffering. (Alden, R. L. (1993). Job (Vol. 11, pp. 262–263). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

__________________________________________________________

27:7–12. Imprecating his enemies (did Job have in mind his fellows at the ash pile?), he then asked four questions that pointed to the hopeless condition of the godless person (‘awāl, “an unrighteous person”; cf. 18:21; 29:17; 31:3). When dying (when God takes away his life; cf. God as the source of life, 10:12), he will call on God, but since he prays only when in distress God will not answer him.

Job said he, in contrast with the wicked, could even instruct his compatriots about God’s ways (thus reversing what Eliphaz said in 22:22). Since they had seen evidences of God’s works, they were wrong to continue their false and empty (meaningless, heḇel, 7:16; 9:29, “in vain”; 21:34, “nonsense”; 35:16, “empty”) accusations, claiming God was punishing an innocent person. (Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 750). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

_________________________________________________________

Job teaches a lesson (Job 27:11–23). “I will teach you about the power of God” (27:11, NIV), says Job; and he describes God’s judgment of the wicked. On the day when God vindicates Job, this is what will happen to his enemies.

They will die, and their widows will not mourn for them, a terrible insult in the Eastern world. Their children will be slain by the sword or the plague; and if any survive, they will spend the rest of their lives begging for something to eat. The wicked will lie down rich and wake up poor. Their silver and expensive clothing will be gone. Their houses will be destroyed like cocoons (or spiders’ webs), or like the temporary shacks of the watchmen in the fields. The death of the wicked will not be peaceful. Terrors will come in at night like a flood and carry him away. Even if the wicked try to flee, the storm will follow them and destroy them.

You can recognize in this description many of the images that Job’s friends used in their “judgment” speeches against him. Job did this deliberately to remind them that they had better be careful what they say lest they declare their own punishment. “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matt. 7:1–2, NKJV).

Scripture records several instances where the judgment planned by an enemy was brought home to that enemy by the Lord. Pharaoh ordered the newborn Jewish boys to be drowned, and his own army was drowned in the Red Sea (Ex. 1:15–22; 14:23–31). Haman built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, but Haman and his sons were hanged there instead (Es. 7:10; 9:25). Daniel’s enemies tried to have him destroyed, but they and their families ended up in the lions’ den in the place of Daniel (Dan. 6:24). (See Prov. 11:8.)

Scholars do not agree on the interpretation of Job 27:23. The NASB reads, “Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him from his place,” and most translations agree with that; but the word men is not in the original text. It simply reads, “He claps his hands against him.” Who is “he”? Elmer B. Smick in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary suggests that it might be God, and that verse 23 should be connected with verse 13 where “God” is the subject of the sentence (vol. 4, p. 972). He translates verse 23, “He claps his hands against them and hisses at them from his dwelling [heaven].” Whether God or men, there is rejoicing at the destruction of the wicked. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Patient (pp. 104–106). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

___________________________________________________________

27:11 I will instruct you in the power of God. Job had pinpointed the issue between him and his friends. They disagreed on the outworking of God’s retribution. They agreed that God was powerful, wise, and sovereign. But because Job knew there was no cherished sin in his life that would bring upon him such intense suffering, Job was forced to conclude that the simplistic notion—that all suffering comes from sin and all righteousness is rewarded—was wrong. At the outset, Job himself probably believed as the comforters still did, but he had seen that his friends’ limitation of God’s action was drastically in need of revision; in fact, it was nonsense. Job’s comments here introduced his exposition on wisdom which follows in Job 28. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Job 27:11). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

_________________________________________________________

Ver. 11. I will teach you by the hand of God, &c.] They serve God, and speak truth, says one of the Jewish commentators; rather the works of God, and methods of his providence, with wicked men and hypocrites; the wisdom of God in his dispensations towards them; the reasons why he suffers them to live in outward prosperity and happiness, and what in the issue will be their case and circumstances; wherefore some render the words, I will teach you the hand of God, or of, or concerning the hand of God; and so Mr. Broughton, of God, his hand; not his works of nature which his hand had wrought, of which he had discoursed in the preceding chapter; but his works of providence, and those more mysterious ones relating to the afflictions of the godly, and the prosperity of the wicked. Job had been a teacher and instructor of others in the times of his prosperity, and his words had upheld, strengthened, and comforted many, ch. 4:3, 4 and he was not the less qualified for, nor the less capable of such an office now in his adversity, which had been a school to him, in which he had learned many useful lessons himself, and so was in a better capacity of teaching others. Thus some render the words, I will teach you, being in or under the hand of God; under his mighty hand, his afflicting, chastising hand, which had touched him, and pressed him sore, and yet had guided and instructed him in many things, and particularly relating to the subject he proposed to instruct his friends in; who, though they were men of knowledge, and in years, yet he apprehended needed instruction; and he undertook to give them some by the good hand of God upon him, through his help and assistance, and under the influences and teachings of his spirit. The Targum is, “I will teach you by the prophecy of God;” see Ezek. 1:3 and 3:14. that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal; meaning not the secret purposes and decress of God within himself, which cannot be known, unless he reveals them; rather secret truths, which are not obvious to everyone, the mysteries of the kingdom, the wisdom of God in a mystery, the knowledge of which the Lord vouchsafes to some of his people in a very peculiar manner; though the mysteries of Providence seem chiefly intended, which those that carefully observe attain to an understanding of, so as to be capable of instructing others; and indeed what is in reserve with God for men among his treasures, whether of grace or glory for his own peculiar people, or especially of wrath and vengeance for wicked men and hypocrites, may be here designed; and whatever knowledge men have of the mysteries of nature, providence, and grace, which may be profitable unto others, and make for the glory of God, should not be concealed from men, see ch. 6:10. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 406). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

__________________________________________________ 

FROM MY READING: 

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)

____________________________________________________

 We now have a Facebook page for Small Church Ministries – please invite others to join us on Facebook. Thank you. Look for the logo from the devotionals.

______________________________________