The story is picking up speed. A great deal happens in these few chapter. Moses returns to Egypt, but on the way the Lord confronts him for not circumcising his son and his wife takes action to stay the Lord’s hand. God has remembered his covenant, and his people are to do the same in observing the rites of the covenant.

Then Moses meets up with Aaron and they speak with the elders of Israel about the Lord seeing their affliction. As one can imagine, the result of that announcement is worship. God has seen their pain and heard their groans. Their refuge is showing himself to be so.

But when Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh he isn’t on the same page with the Lord in regard to letting the people go and he actually makes life harder for the Israelites. Which in turn leads to the Israelites being a bit irritated with Moses & Aaron. But the Lord reaffirms his commitment to his covenant and to their deliverance.

Now, in this there are some phrases that can catch our attention, and one is that of the Lord saying he will harden Pharaoh’s heart (cf. 4:21). Carson adds some helpful comments:

“During the succeeding chapters, the form of expression varies: not only “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (7:3), but also “Pharaoh’s heart became hard” or “was hard” (7:13, 22; 8:19, etc.) and “he hardened his heart” (8:15, 32, etc.). No simple pattern is discernible in these references. On the one hand, we cannot say that the pattern works up from “Pharaoh hardened his heart” to “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” to “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (as if God’s hardening were nothing more than the divine judicial confirmation of a pattern the man had chosen for himself); on the other hand, we cannot say that the pattern simply works down from “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” to “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” to “Pharaoh hardened his heart” (as if Pharaoh’s self-imposed hardening was nothing more than the inevitable outworking of the divine decree).

Three observations may shed some light on these texts. (a) Granted the Bible’s storyline so far, the assumption is that Pharaoh is already a wicked person. In particular, he has enslaved the covenant people of God. God has not hardened a morally neutral man; he has pronounced judgment on a wicked man. Hell itself is a place where repentance is no longer possible. God’s hardening has the effect of imposing that sentence a little earlier than usual. (b) In all human actions, God is never completely passive: this is a theistic universe, such that “God hardens Pharaoh’s heart” and “Pharaoh hardened his own heart,” far from being disjunctive statements, are mutually complementary. (c) This is not the only passage where this sort of thing is said. See, for instance, 1 Kings 22; Ezekiel 14:9; and above all 2 Thessalonians 2:11–12: “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.””

(Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 1, p. 78). Crossway Books.)

But there is another aspect to this, and to all the plagues that we will come across: God is showing clearly that he is the Sovereign. In ancient Egypt the heart was the essence of a person. Pharaoh was considered a god - the incarnation of Ra and Horus. And it was believed that the hearts of those two gods were sovereign over everything. Yahweh will show very clearly that they are nothing but false gods with no power to stop the Almighty.

How does this text encourage your trust in the Lord?

How does knowing that God is sovereign give you comfort?

What does this tell you about your own heart? (cf. Proverbs 4:23, 28:14)

This morning we begin Exodus. The words of 1:8 loom large: Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (ESV). This sets the stage for the pain and heartache that the Israelites (the descendants of Jacob) will endure and experience. The oppression of God’s people is significant. From slavery and hard labor to murder of baby boys. We meet Moses, and then at the end of chapter 2 we read these words:

23 Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act (NLT).

The people of Israel were tired. They were burdened and groaning under all their were experiencing. But these words bring a glorious ray of hope.

God remembered - this is not stating that God finally recalled what he has previously done or said, but it carries with it the idea that God will no act to fulfill his promises. If we look back at Genesis 15:13,14 we read these words: 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions (ESV). The Exodus will fulfill that promise (though there is still much to happen).

Verse 25: 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew (ESV). You notice that the NLT adds “it was time to act.” Though that is true, the word “knew” here emphasizes something very important, and that is that God is not removed, distant, or aloof from his people. He knows them. He knows the labor and hardship and pain they are enduring. He hears their groans.

This is great news for all believers. God knows you. He hears your pain and groaning. It may be long-lasting, but he is not unaware and he is certainly our refuge. We see that most clearly in our Savior, who brought us out of much more than slavery to a foreign land, but rather slavery to sin.

This song by Anne Steele, redone by Sandra McCracken and Indelible Grace, is a wonderful summary of the comfort we have for our often weary souls.

1. Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,
For every pain I feel

2. But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline
Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust
And still my soul would cleave to Thee
Though prostrate in the dust

3. Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace,
Be deaf when I complain?
No still the ear of sovereign grace,
Attends the mourner's prayer
Oh may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there

4. Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet,
Thy mercy seat is open still,
Here let my soul retreat
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet

We’ve all made a month and we’ve finished our second book of the Bible today. In chapters 40-42 God speaks more and Job responds. God lays out his relationship with Behemoth and Leviathan - two massive beasts that we aren’t sure what they refer to, but it’s clear they are impressive creatures.

God has continued to assert that he is God, not Job or his friends (cf. Job 41:11). Thankfully we also know him through our acquaintance with all of Scripture as holy, just, righteous, merciful, gracious, compassionate, good, and so much more.

But we come to Job’s response in chapter 42:

Then Job answered the Lord and said::

2 “I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you make it known 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.” (ESV)

Job does not seek to justify himself - he repents. This is not a repentance that agrees with his “comforters” that he is evil, but one that repents of his guilt of demanding God provide him with everything he wanted (with an explanation of all that happened). That is God’s prerogative and Job sees that.

We must learn to see ourselves as we are - creatures. God is God and we are not. We must stop trying to run the universe and learn to rest in God’s wisdom and ways.

Today the Lord speaks. Job has been longing and pleading for a response from God and today it comes. But it doesn’t necessarily come in the manner in which Job had hoped. Job wished to question God about his own suffering and the Lord fires a barrage of rhetorical questions at Job.

Imagine being Job and these are the first words you hear:

2 Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?

3 Brace yourself like a man,

because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.

The questions that ensue ask whether Job was there at the creation or if he knew where the snow came from or where light dwells.

Then we come to chapter 40:2

2 Shall a faultfinder content with the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer it. (ESV)

Carson summarizes this all well:

“It is vital for the understanding of this book that we do not misunderstand this challenge. God is not withdrawing his initial estimate of Job (1:1, 8). Even under the most horrible barrage from Satan and from the three “miserable comforters,” Job has not weakened his fundamental integrity nor lost his basic loyalty to the Almighty. He has not followed the advice of his suffering wife to curse God and die; he has not followed the advice of his friends and simply assumed he was suffering for sins hitherto unrecognized and therefore turned to repentance. But he has come within a whisker of blaming God for his sufferings; or, better put, he has certainly insisted that he wants his day in court, that he wants to justify himself to God. Implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, Job has accused God of being unjust, or of being so removed that the just and the unjust seem to face the same ends. In his better moments Job steps back from the least restrained parts of his rhetoric, but he certainly feels, to say the least, that God owes him an explanation.

But now God is saying, in effect, that the person who wants to “contend” with God—to argue out some matter—must not begin by assuming that God is wrong or by accusing the Almighty of not getting things right. That has been the thrust of the rhetorical questions (chaps. 38–39): Job has neither the knowledge nor the power to be able to stand in judgment of God.”

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 2, p. 96). Crossway Books.

So Job answers:

4 I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?

I will cover my mouth with my hand.

5 I have said too much already.

I have nothing more to say.

This seems like a great step for Job, but the Lord will continue tomorrow with further challenges. Sometimes it takes learning a lesson multiple times to get it into the recesses of our heart and soul.

Chapter 35 is a rebuke of Job. Elihu is not tender in this. There is little doubt that Elihu is answering Job with strength and fervor. The main question is in the first four verses - but most clear in verse 3 and it is basically this - ‘What is the point of being good? If I suffer while being righteous…what does it matter?’ Underlying this is the thinking that the Lord ought to reward righteous living. Christopher Ash wrote: “Although at the start of the book Job firmly rejected this and showed that he worships God purely and simply because he is God and is worthy of his worship, it would seem that Job has faltered in this as his sufferings have continued. This short but dense speech by Elihu carries a sharp but necessary rebuke to Job and to any of us who fall into this trap, no matter how severe the suffering that prompts it.”

Ash is helpful in this. As he addressed verses 5-8 he wrote: “Elihu is not suggesting that God does not care how Job or anyone else behaves. “After all, he is counseling Job in God’s name to cease fighting with God and to submit to him”; so he clearly thinks our actions have moral and spiritual significance. He is saying that since we cannot affect the blessedness of God by our actions, there is no way we should expect to gain any kind of leverage with him. We cannot say to God, “If I stop sinning, I expect you’ll feel happier and reward me” or “I’m sure my good behavior has made your day better, so it seems to me that you owe me one in return.” So to ask what advantage I may expect to gain from my piety is the wrong question; it is a question that reveals I have not properly taken on board the transcendence of God and therefore his impassibility and immutability.”

Ash, C. (2014). Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 355). Crossway.

IN verses 9-16 Elihu sets up a hypothetical situationIn which the oppressed ‘cry out’ but they do so without faith. They cry out in anguish, but not really desiring the Lord. And in verses 14-16 he equates this with Job.

Here is the helpful conclusion from Ash in regard to this chapter and the point.

“So what is Elihu saying to Job? He is telling Job that as long as he keeps saying these outrageous and impious things about God, he cannot expect God to answer him. God will not answer his cries any more than he can be expected to answer the cries of other sufferers who do not cry to him from faith. In our soft and liberal cultures we find this offensive. And yet it is true. Elihu is giving Job “the wounds of a … faithful … friend” (Proverbs 27:6); he is telling Job what he needs to hear. In his rough and uncompromising way he is doing Job far more good than the soppy sympathy of one who dares compromise with the name of God. He is challenging head-on our natural and instinctive but sinful expectation that by our virtue we can put God in our debt and that in our painful cries we have a right to have God listen to us. Neither is true, for God is above and beyond us, unchangeable in his nature and consistent in his determination to listen only to the prayers of those who seek him because he is God, and not because of what they hope to gain from him.”

Ash, C. (2014). Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; pp. 356–357). Crossway.

Today we hear from a new voice. A younger man named Elihu finally speaks. It is likely he has been sitting there silently all along giving deference to those older than he. As D.A. Carson wrote “Elihu comes across as a rather bumptious individual who up to this point has only just barely restrained himself from speaking.” (It’s ok - I had to look up bumptious too - it means presumptuous, noisily self-assertive).

Yet, even though Elihu may come across a bit arrogant, his arguments take a different tact than those of the previous three “comforters” of Job. In chapter 33 he states that he believes Job has gone too far in insisting so fully on his own innocence that he in essence is charging God with wrong (33:8-12). He also does not believe that God is as distant as Job asserts. But instead of drawing hard and fast lines with regard to human suffering, Elihu actually leaves some mystery. And in the end, Elihu desires to see Job justified (33:32).

Then in chapter 34 you can hear his attitude a bit more. Yet, the arguments he makes, though strikingly close to those of the other men, are a bit different. And at the end of the book when God speaks, Elihu is not rebuked. The ‘comforters’ are, as is Job, but Elihu has no charge against him. His basic approach seems to be in the right, even if he is a bit less than winsome.

This was a memory verse I reviewed this morning (and reminded of as well by Carson): 29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29).

In the last two chapters of Job’s speech in this book (he will speak again but only in response to the Lord) he further recounts his suffering. But it moves a bit beyond that broad idea to laying out how he has been mistreated and lost his standing in the community. He is now mocked by those younger than him…and who would be considered fairly worthless young men (30:1). He is taunted and he lives in terror as his honor is gone. He states that he cried out for help, but evil came instead. He is troubled and restless.

Then in chapter 31 he recounts his his life of dignity and honor. He recounts how he was considered a man who was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil (1:1). He had made a covenant not to lustfully look upon a woman (31:1). He was a man who was well known for his generosity and righteousness. There weren’t secret complaints about Job. He dealt justly and graciously with those around him, and especially those in his charge. And even though he was wealthy he never trusted in it (31:24-28). And he never laughed at misfortune that he observed in others.

Job has continued to state and maintain that he is one of integrity and he is innocent (not worthy of this suffering). But yet he has no comfort. Job’s only hope for an answer to his questions lie with one who has to this point been silent.

• What do you do when God is silent?

• What comfort do you turn to?

We come to part of Job’s lengthy final speech. His three comforter’s are done. Bildad’s final speech was short and added little to nothing to the argument of the friends. As Job begins chapter 26 he is clearly not appreciative of the counsel of his friends and then he recounts the powerful deeds of God and ends this chapter with these words:

14 These are just the beginning of all that he does,

merely a whisper of his power.

Who, then, can comprehend the thunder of his power? i(NLT)

14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,

and how small a whisper do we hear of him!

But the thunder of his power who can understand? (ESV)

This reminds me of a song by Shane and Shane called “The Fringes” (which is a word used in the NIV of verse 14).

As we move into chapter 27 Job is holding fast to his integrity (vv. 5,6). However, he also comes dangerously close to charging the Lord with wrong in denying him his rights (vv. 1-4). Though with this Job does not imply that God is corrupt or unjust because God will deal with the wicked (vv. 7-23) - either in this life, but certainly in death.

As we move to chapter 28 we have a reflection on wisdom, and the rarity of it. It is hidden from the eyes of man (v. 21). Then we come to verse 28 and the end of God’s summary of it all:

28 And he said to man,

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is understanding.’ (ESV)

“Doubtless in the context of the book of Job this chapter accomplishes several things. It pricks the pretensions of the “comforters” who think themselves so wise. It demonstrates that despite his protests, Job is still profoundly God-centered in all his thinking. Even while he publicly raises questions about God’s fairness in his own case, Job insists that all wisdom finally rests in God. Moreover, because such wisdom is irretrievably tied to shunning evil, Job demonstrates by his poetic utterance that not only does he retain humility of mind before the Almighty, but his commitment to righteous living is profoundly tied to his faith in God’s wisdom, to his own sheer God-centeredness.”

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 2, p. 84). Crossway Books.

The dialogue in Job continues. We find Eliphaz rehashing the same argument that has been stated over and over - Job must secretly be wicked and his wickedness has been exposed because the righteous do not suffer (this is his understanding of suffering). His basic advice is this: “Get your act together and all will be good.” It’s a basically tit-for-tat type of theology; that God rewards only the good. There is no real sense of grace or mercy in this line of thinking.

Job responds a bit differently in chapter 23. He doesn’t focus on the same idea, but instead is wondering where God is. He charges him with being inaccessible. He still desires to lay out his case before the Lord (23:4). He believes that if he gained a hearing the Lord would listen (23:6). He is still convinced of his innocence, but at the same time he is still holding fast to his belief in the sovereignty of God (23:14). Again, for Job, the evidence of his life is that the righteous can surely suffer and the wicked can prosper. It doesn’t seem fair or right.

This is where it is critical for us to know more of Scripture and to know the end where all things will be made right. There will be a final day of justice. The wicked will not be left in their pleasures, but they will face judgment. And the righteous - those who by faith trust in the Lord - will be acquitted and will be with the Lord for all eternity. I love that the Bible does not shy away from the difficulties in this life and is not afraid to tackle the hard questions that we all ask at some time or another.

What is it that comforts you when you find yourself suffering but the wicked prospering?

In chapter 19 Job responds with even more intensity than we have seen so far. He does not let his ‘comforters’ off the hook for being miserable. He then makes a very bold statement. Look at verses 4-6:

4 Even if I have sinned,

that is my concern, not yours.

5 You think you’re better than I am,

using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.

6 But it is God who has wronged me,

capturing me in his net.

Job states clearly that God has wronged him. And Job lays out how that has been the case. He also describes his suffering in some pretty interesting ways: his breath isn’t welcomed by his wife, children despise him, etc…And yet we come to verses 25-27:

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

27 whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me! (ESV)

Job still trusts the Lord, in the midst of all that he has gone through. He won’t confess to sin that he hasn’t committed, but he also won’t turn away from his God.

This text reminds me of this version of “My Redeemer Lives” that I heard back in college:

But I also want to comment on Zophar’s speech (ch. 20) and Job’s response (ch. 21). Job essentially asks what many do: why is then that the wicked live in ease and prosper and die in peace? Where is the justice?

Here are D.A. Carson’s comments on this:

“Even allowing for Job’s exaggerations—after all, some wicked people do suffer temporal judgments—his point should not be dismissed. If the tallies of blessing and punishment are calculated solely on the basis of what takes place in this life, this is a grossly unfair world. Millions of relatively good people die in suffering, poverty, and degradation; millions of relatively evil people live full lives and die in their sleep. We can all tell the stories that demonstrate God’s justice in this life, but what about the rest of the stories?

The tit-for-tat morality system of Job’s three interlocutors cannot handle the millions of tough cases. Moreover, like them, Job does not want to impugn God’s justice, but facts are facts: it is not a virtue, even in the cause of defending God’s justice, to distort the truth and twist reality.

In the course of time it would become clearer that ultimate justice is meted out after death—and that the God of justice knows injustice himself, not only out of his omniscience, but out of his experience on a cross.”

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 2, p. 78). Crossway Books.

You can feel the intensity ramp up a good bit in today’s reading in Job. Chapter 15 is a fiery rebuke of Job by Eliphaz. Basically Eliphaz isn’t happy with Job’s stance or responses to the ‘comfort’ that he has been given. He doesn’t actually respond to any of Job’s arguments, but rehearses the question of authority and repeats (by implication) that Job must actually be wicked and all his previous prosperity was nothing but empty riches.

Unsurprisingly Job isn’t happy and his response makes that clear:

have heard all this before.

What miserable comforters you are!

Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?

What makes you keep on talking? (16:2,3).

He also states that he would ‘comfort’ quite differently if the roles were reversed (16:4, 5).

This makes me think about how we interact with others in regard to our belief. I find that too often theology is used not as a comfort but as a bludgeon. We should absolutely strive to know God more and more deeply, but that knowledge is not to puff us up, but it should rather humble us in regard to how little we know and how we are not God. There is mystery to the workings of God. We cannot answer all the questions that people pose. In fact yesterday as I was officiating a funeral I was asked the questions: Why him? Why now? And I can’t answer those definitively. All I can do is turn to the sovereignty of God and his character (which is very good to know and to fall back upon). But for many, it doesn’t seem like an answer and so we are tempted to speak for Providence and that is not a great idea.

I have known ‘miserable comforters’ and I am also sure that I have been one myself (much to my dread). Most of the time the words were well-intended, but they fell flat. Sometimes though, people just like to argue and be extremely dogmatic in their views or utter trite sayings without any reflections on the mystery of God or an attempt to apply theology to real-life situations. I think much of what this reading teaches us (and is causing me to reflect upon) is how much of a privilege it is to be in a position to speak God’s truth and provide comfort, and yet how careful I/we must be. May God give us grace to be those who minister His truth in both grace and truth.

Today Job speaks. He responds to his friends and he is not all that happy with them. Look at 13:4:

As for you, you smear me with lies.

As physicians, you are worthless quacks.

He clearly is not feeling the comfort. They have continued to insist that Job must have hidden evil and wickedness, and God certainly finds out evil and punishes it.

But Job will take the argument now in a different direction. He now expresses the desire to speak directly with God and to plead his innocence. Apparently he has a clear conscience. He has not appreciated that his friends have misrepresented God (cf. 13:7). They don’t have any evidence of wrongdoing on Job’s part, but ye they insist it must be true. So Job wants to go before the Almighty and plead his case, believing that before God he will be treated fairly. Yet even in this Job knows that God is God.

Look at 13:15, 16 (ESV):

Though he slay me, I will hope in him;

yet I will argue my ways to his face.

This will be my salvation,

that the godless shall not come before him.

Job expresses that even if he is killed (justly) he will hope in God. But he also knows that the godless cannot stand before God and he is confident in his innocence.

Listen to this from Christopher Ash:

“Job is about to do something hugely significant. It is worth pausing to ask why. After all, he knows it is dangerous. The System of his friends tells him he must be a secret sinner because he is suffering. He knows this is not true. The evidence of his eyes tells him that God is dangerous, random, and unpredictable. The faith in his heart tells him that God is righteous and that he, Job, is a believer who is in the right before God. Knowing The System is not true, and despite the evidence of randomness and danger, Job’s decision goes with Job’s faith. This is why he appeals to God.”

Ash, C. (2014). Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 167). Crossway.

This morning we hear from two more of Job’s friends: Bildad and Zophar. And sadly they both continue in the same vein of charging Job with wrongdoing (and Job’s children), because that is the only way they can make sense of the suffering of Job. Bildad uses some brilliant imagery (e.g. the security of leaning against a spider’s web), but the effect is still the same: you are suffering because you have done wrong.

There is at first the appearance of a change in Zophar. His response, once he tells Job he is just babbling on, is to ponder the depths of the mysteries of God. And that anticipates part of God’s response later in the book. But he doesn’t leave it at that and in the end continues to charge Job with sin.

In between these speeches we find Job’s response to Bildad (and to the whole situation). I want to focus on just a few verses: 8:32-35.

32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,

that we should come to trial together.

33 There is no arbiter between us,

who might lay his hand on us both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me,

and let not dread of him terrify me.

35 Then I would speak without fear of him,

for I am not so in myself.

Job recognizes that he can’t deal with God and he longs for another, an arbiter (or mediator) to intervene. Job expresses the need of humanity: that of One who will stand between sinful man (because though Job is ‘righteous’ he is no sinless) and the holy God. Reflect on 1 Timothy 2:5,6.

Sometimes following the thought and argument of Job is not all that easy. So if you are struggling, join the club. Job is in misery, and that is understandable. But Job’s friends (this time it is Eliphaz who has spoken) do not offer much by way of help. Eliphaz’s worldview is that the innocent prosper and if Job were innocent this would not be happening to him (but see Psalm 73). In chapter 6 Job rebukes his friends.

15 My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook

that overflows its banks in the spring

16 when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.

17 But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.

The brook vanishes in the heat.

18 The caravans turn aside to be refreshed,

but there is nothing to drink, so they die.

19 The caravans from Tema search for this water;

the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.

20 They count on it but are disappointed.

When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.

21 You, too, have given no help.

You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

It is that last line - they have seen it, and they are afraid. Eliphaz (and his friends) have no category for innocent suffering. They believed Job to be a righteous man, but now that he is suffering, rather than comforting him part of what they must do is prove he is unrighteous to protect their categories.

• Why do the ‘innocent’ suffer?

• How does Scripture answer that?

• How does Christ and his life address this?

It’s a cold and snowy morning outside - like winter ought to be (though it could be shorter in duration). This morning in our reading we begin the book of Job. Job is one of those books that is pretty difficult to date accurately, but most believe that the action of the story took place around the time of the patriarchs (around the time of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the like). Today the stage is set for the whole of the book. And this is a book that causes us to reflect on the concept of innocent suffering. Consider how Job is described in the very first verse. And look at 1:21, 22 and the way Job responded to the tragedy that befell him and his family. But then we move to chapter 2, and the difficulty is ramped up a bit.

Here are D.A. Carson’s reflections on chapter 2:

“It is one thing to endure with steadfast loyalty when the losses, however painful, are all external; it is quite another thing to endure when one loses one’s health (Job 2). Some reflections:

(1) We are still dealing with innocent suffering. God himself declares of Job, “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity” (2:3).

(2) Up to this point, God has proved Satan wrong: Job’s loyalty to God is not conditioned by crass, self-serving bartering. Here is a man who is upright and faithful when all his wealth and even all his children are stripped away from him. That is what makes Satan up the ante: “Let me take away his health,” Satan says in effect, “and he will surely curse you to your face” (2:4–5). So a new level of entirely innocent suffering is introduced, and the stage is set for the rest of the book.

(3) At this point believers must ask painful questions. Doesn’t this sound as if God is using Job in some fantastic experiment? Why should the poor chap have to lose his wealth, his family, his health, and (as we shall see) his reputation, merely to prove God right in a challenge God might well have ignored?

That question could call forth a very long book. I have no final, exhaustive answers. But some things should be borne in mind. (a) We belong to God. He may do with us as he wishes. There is something deep within us that rebels at being reminded of that elemental truth. But truth it is. Indeed, our rebellion in the face of it is a reminder of how much we still want to be at the center of the universe, with God serving us. That is the heart of all idolatry. (b) Suppose Job had known of the arrangement between God and Satan. A lesser man might have protested violently, but it is at least plausible to think that Job would have used such information to invest his suffering with profound significance, thus making it easier to endure. Indeed, he might have seen his suffering as bound up somehow in a larger cosmic struggle between good and evil. (c) Other factors to be borne in mind must await the conclusion of the book of Job—indeed, the conclusion of the Book, the Bible.

(4) So Job now faces painful and degrading physical breakdown, emotional abandonment by his wife, and the arrival of the three miserable comforters. Innocent suffering is immeasurably difficult to endure; it is still worse when every emotional support proves to be a broken reed.”

Today we finish Genesis. We have blessings by Jacob, Jacob’s death and burial back in Canaan, and then we come to Joseph’s brothers and the revealing of their fears and worry, perhaps even of lingering guilt on their part. They are seriously concerned that now that Jacob has died that Joseph will seek vengeance on them for what they did to him so many years earlier. They end up lying to Joseph by making up a command of Jacob for him to forgive his brothers. Joseph’s response is beautiful.

When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. 19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

• Why do you think that Joseph wept at this request from his siblings?

• What does Joseph’s response tell you about his view and belief in God?

Take some time and reflect and then read the following selection from D.A. Carson as he reflected on this passage:

“The profundity of this reasoning comes into focus as we reflect on what Joseph does not say. He does not say that during a momentary lapse on God’s part, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but that God, being a superb chess player, turned the game around and in due course made Joseph prime minister of Egypt. Still less does he say that God’s intention had been to send Joseph down to Egypt in a well-appointed chariot, but unfortunately Joseph’s brothers rather mucked up the divine plan, forcing God to respond with clever countermoves to bring about his own good purposes. Rather, in the one event—the selling of Joseph into slavery—there were two parties, and two quite different intentions. On the one hand, Joseph’s brothers acted, and their intentions were evil; on the other, God acted, and his intentions were good. Both acted to bring about this event, but while the evil in it must be traced back to the brothers and no farther, the good in it must be traced to God.

This is a common stance in Scripture. It generates many complex, philosophical discussions. But the basic notion is simple. God is sovereign, and invariably good; we are morally responsible, and frequently evil.”

Over the years I have really profited from D.A. Carson’s comments through the M’Cheyne Reading Plan, and his comments on Genesis 44 and the life of Judah are no exception.

“Up to this point in the narrative (Gen. 44), Judah has not appeared in a very good light. When Joseph’s brothers first declare their intention to kill him (Gen. 37:19–20), two of them offer alternatives. Reuben suggests that Joseph should simply be thrown into a pit from which he could not escape (37:21–22). This proposal had two advantages. First, murder could not then be directly ascribed to the brothers, and second, Reuben hoped to come back later, in secret, and rescue his kid brother. Reuben was devastated when his plan did not work out (37:29–30). The other brother with an independent proposal was Judah. He argued that there was no profit in mere murder. It would be better to sell Joseph into slavery (37:25–27)—and his view prevailed.

Judah reappears in the next chapter, sleeping with his daughter-in-law (Gen. 38), and, initially at least, deploying a double standard.

Yet here in Genesis 44, Judah cuts a more heroic figure. Joseph manipulates things to have Benjamin and his brothers arrested for theft, and insists that only Benjamin will have to remain in Egypt as a slave. Perhaps Joseph’s ploy was designed to test his older brothers to see if they still resented the youngest, if they were still so hard that they could throw one of their number into slavery and chuckle that at least they themselves were free. It is Judah who intervenes, and pleads, of all things, the special love his father has for Benjamin. He even refers to Jacob’s belief that Joseph was killed by wild animals (44:28), as if the sheer deceit and wickedness of it all had been preying on his mind for the previous quarter of a century. Judah explains how he himself promised to bring the boy back safely, and emotionally pleads, “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in the place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father” (44:33–34).

This is the high point in what we know of Judah’s pilgrimage. He offers his life in substitution for another. Perhaps in part he was motivated by a guilty conscience; if so, the genuine heroism grew out of genuine shame. He could not know that in less than two millennia, his most illustrious descendant, in no way prompted by shame but only by obedience to his heavenly Father and by love for guilty rebels, would offer himself as a substitute for them (Mark 14).”

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 1, p. 68). Crossway Books.

The account of Joseph in Egypt is a thrilling read and one with which many of us are quite acquainted. This is the stuff we love to read: how God cares for Joseph and the good guy seems to finally do so well. But this story isn’t mainly about Joseph, it’s about the providence of God.

Yet even with his belief in God throughout his predicament in prison, that belief did not stop him from acting and working to secure his own release. He told his story to the cupbearer (though he forgot about Joseph for two full years) and how he was unjustly a slave and unjustly imprisoned. Joseph trusted God’s providence, but still knew that what happened to him was wrong and he worked to right that wrong.

Trusting in the providence of God does not resign the believer to fatalism. As D.A. Carson wrote: “Robust biblical theism encourages us to trust the goodness of the sovereign, providential God, while confronting and opposing the evil that takes place in this fallen world.”

Do you tend towards fatalism when you think of the evil of this world? Or do you seek to faithfully confront it while still trusting in God’s ultimate sovereignty?

Westminster Confession of Faith V.1, 7 “Of Providence”

1. God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own wil, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.

7. As the providence of God does, in general, reach to all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it takes care of this church, and disposes all things to the good thereof.

Genesis is pretty full of shady characters; of people worse than morally flawed. It is full of sinners who commit some horrendous acts. But should that surprise us? No, not at all. The Bible deals with real life. It doesn’t hide the sins and flaws of its characters. Consider Genesis 38 and that whole story of Tamar and Judah’s sons, and then Judah himself. Judah does not act uprightly and the double-standard that we see toward the end of the chapter is glaring. Yet God uses these very imperfect people as he keeps his covenant promises.

Matthew 1:1-6: 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.

David is in the line of Judah and Perez…and Jesus is in that same line.

• What does this tell us about God and his grace?

• What does this tell us about God’s promises?

• What does this mean for ourselves and how God can work in us as flawed and sinful people?

And here we come today to the first real section that many of us are tempted to skim. Why the list of names? Why such painstaking detail?

This is the conclusion to the part of Esau through the book of Genesis. What we have is a tracing of his movement to Edom and why, his lineage and the structure (even of kings) that come from his line. It is the fulfillment of the promise of God to Rebekah when Esau and Jacob were born:

Two nations are in your womb,

and two people from within you shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger. (25:23 - ESV)

A new stage in the story is about to be introduced (the life of Joseph). This chapter serves as an ending to the story of Esau (not completely, but for now) and paves the way for the focus on Jacob’s sons.

Here is what Calvin wrote in his commentary on this chapter: “Though Esau was an alien from the Church in the sight of God; yet since he also, as a son of Isaac, was favoured with a temporal blessing, Moses celebrates his race, and inscribes a sufficiently lengthened catalogue of the people born from him. This commemoration, however, resembles an honourable sepulture. For although Esau, with his posterity, took the precedence; yet this dignity was like a bubble, which is comprised under the figure of the world, and which quickly perishes. As, therefore, it has been before said of other profane nations, so now Esau is exalted as on a lofty theatre. But since there is no permanent condition out of the kingdom of God, the splendour attributed to him is evanescent, and the whole of his pomp departs like the passing scene of the stage. The Holy Spirit designed, indeed, to testify that the prophecy which Isaac uttered concerning Esau was not vain; but he has no sooner shown its effect, than he turns away our eyes, as if he had cast a veil over it, that we may confine our attention to the race of Jacob.”

Calvin, J., & King, J. (2010). Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Vol. 2, p. 252). Logos Bible Software.