Daily Scripture Reading Job 7:5 - 8:15

Humans tend to interpret all events based on our knowledge of life and history. Furthermore, we often assume we know everything that needs to be known in order to understand what is happening in the world around us. If we are not aware that something is happening, we assume it is not happening.

The story of Job illustrates the foolishness of always interpreting events based on what we know. When Job assessed his life and the calamity that befell him, he assumed there was no good reason for him to be suffering as he was suffering. Job failed to account for the possibility that his calamity was the result of a dialogue that had occurred in heaven, a dialogue that Job had no way of knowing about.

The sixth and seventh chapters of Job are what I call the 4th section of Job. In this section, Job accused Eliphaz, his so-called friend, of not being a true friend because Eliphaz had declared that Job was suffering because he had sinned. Job challenged Eliphaz to give an example of his supposed sin. The following verses continue Job’s description of the agony of his life.

Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt;

My skin scabs over and flows out again.

Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

And come to an end without hope.

Job 7:7 ¶ “Remember that my life is but wind;

My eye will not again see good.

Think about the pessimistic nature of the second line of verse 7. Job was without hope. He believed his life would never again be pleasant.

Job 7:8 The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer;

Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.

Job 7:9 A cloud vanishes, and it is gone,

So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.

Job 7:10 He will not return again to his house,

Nor will his place recognize him anymore.

Job 7:11 ¶ “Indeed I will not hold back my mouth;

I will speak in the distress of my spirit;

I will muse on the bitterness of my soul.

Job 7:12 Am I the sea or the sea monster,

That You set a guard over me?

Look at the pronoun “You”. One of the challenges of understanding the Bible is following the pronouns. Up to this point in Job’s dialogue, he was speaking to Eliphaz and his friends. Beginning with verse 12, Job was speaking to Yahweh.

The first two chapters of Job talk about Job’s blamelessness and the fact that he did not sin with his lips when calamity struck him. However, at this point, Job was being a little disrespectful towards Yahweh.

Job 7:13 If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me;

My couch will ease my bitter musing,’

Job 7:14 Then You frighten me with dreams

And terrify me by visions,

Job 7:15 So that my soul would choose suffocation,

Death rather than my pains.

Job 7:16 I have rejected everything; I will not live forever.

Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

Job actually told Yahweh to leave him alone. That is quite a switch from when Job said to his wife, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept calamity?” (see Job 2:10).

Job 7:17 What is man that You magnify him,

And that You set Your heart on him,

Job 7:18 That You examine him every morning

And test him every moment?

Job’s point in verses 17-18 was that man is nothing compared to God; therefore, Job wanted to know why God cares what man does. Why does God bother examining the actions and hearts of living things that are so tiny and insignificant compared to God?

The answer to this is found in Romans 9:20 where Paul wrote, “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?”

It is common for humans to question God and complain about the lot in life that God gave us. However, since we exist because of God, and since we are nothing compared to God, we have no right to question God’s actions or decisions.

Job 7:19 Will You never turn Your gaze away from me,

Nor let me alone until I swallow my spit?

Job 7:20 Have I sinned? What have I done to You,

O watcher of men?

Why have You set me as Your target,

So that I am a burden to myself?

It is understandable that Job was asking these questions. However, Job was not taking into the account that he did not see everything that God sees. Job was afflicted because Satan was trying to prove a point to Yahweh. Job should have been willing to be God’s servant, even if he didn’t understand why God was allowing the calamity into his life.

Likewise, when we face trials and tribulations, we need to allow for the possibility that God is using our times of distress to accomplish something we will never know about.

Job 7:21 Why then do You not forgive my transgression

And take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust;

And You will seek me earnestly, but I will not be.”

Job 8:1 ¶ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

Chapter 8 begins the fifth section of Job.

In this section, Bildad expressed his thoughts about the sudden downturn in Job’s life.

Job 8:2 “How long will you say these things,

And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

Job 8:3 Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?

There were rhetorical questions, and Bildad was right, God does not pervert justice. Isaiah 30:18 says, “For Yahweh is a God of justice;”

Job 8:4 If your sons sinned against Him,

Then He sent them into the power of their transgression.

Bildad implied that Job’s sons were killed because they had sinned.

Job 8:5 If you would seek God earnestly

And plead for the grace of the Almighty,

Job 8:6 If you are pure and upright,

Indeed now He would rouse Himself for you

And make your righteous abode at peace.

Bildad falsely claimed that if Job repented, then life would be good again.

Job 8:7 Though your beginning was insignificant,

Yet your end will increase greatly.

Job 8:8 ¶ “Please ask of past generations,

And establish the things searched out by their fathers.

Job 8:9 For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are but a shadow.

Job 8:10 Will they not instruct you and tell you,

And bring forth words from their hearts?

Job 8:11 ¶ “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?

Can the rushes grow without water?

Job 8:12 While it is still green and not cut down,

Yet it dries up before any other plant.

Job 8:13 So are the paths of all who forget God;

And the hope of the godless will perish,

According to Bildad, just as a papyrus dries up when it is removed from water, so too anyone who forgets God will suffer.

Job 8:14 Whose confidence is fragile,

And whose trust a spider’s web.

Job 8:15 He relies on his house, but it does not stand;

He holds fast to it, but it is not established.

Humans tend to interpret all events based on our knowledge of life and history. Furthermore, we often assume we know everything that needs to be known in order to understand what is happening in the world around us. The story of Job illustrates the foolishness of always interpreting events based on what we know.

When Job assessed his life and the calamity that befell him, he assumed there was no good reason for him to be suffering as he was suffering. Job failed to account for the fact that his calamity was the result of a dialogue that had occurred in heaven. Yahweh allowed Job to suffer so that he could prove to Satan that Job would stay loyal to Yahweh no matter what. Job was starting to fail that test, which meant perhaps Satan was right about Job.

Are you willing to remain loyal to God, even when your pain and suffering go on for weeks, months, or years?

What is an occasion in your life when you forgot to consider the possibility that God might have been working in ways that you knew nothing about?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”