Sermon Tone Analysis

Indictment #1 (Job 38:1-40:2)- Job presumed to have sufficient knowledge of the facts to bring God’s ways and character into question.

1.

The God who is wise and powerful enough to create is wise and powerful enough to manage my life too

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Did you shut in the sea?

Do you know how to command the dawn?

Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?

2. The God who is wise and powerful enough to control is wise and powerful enough to manage my life too.

God’s control over the animal kingdom

Job do you know how to provide food for lion cubs or baby birds?

(God’s compassion)

Job do you know why the ostrich was created with a lack of wisdom and understanding?

(God’s sovereignty)

If you don’t even understand the created world that you can see and touch, what makes you think that you have sufficient knowledge of the entire universe (visible and invisible), to bring God’s ways and character into question?

Answer #1 (Job 40:3-5)- Job concedes—no rebuttal, no self-defense.

Indictment #2 (Job 40:6-41:34)- Job defended his own righteousness at the expense of God’s righteousness

Will you even put me in the wrong?

Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Now Job never comes right out and says this about God, but he certainly implies it.

And even though it might not have been intentional on the part of Job, his defense of his own righteousness and his own sin marred definition of justice has diminished God’s own righteousness and justice by comparison.

My desire is for my adversary to write for me a formal indictment.

If God would just write down a list of my supposed sins I would carry it on my shoulder, bind it as a crown, give account of all my steps, approach God like a prince.

(By the way Job is getting exactly what he asked for.

Is he acting like a prince, and wearing the indictment on his head like a crown?

No. What was Job’s response?

“I am vile.”

Be careful what you ask for, especially when you are calling the character of God into question)

What is Job saying?

I am innocent.

None of God’s charges would stick.

My righteousness is intact.

What does that say about God’s righteousness?

God made a mistake, God is not just, God is not treating me in a righteous manner.

Job defended his own righteousness at the expense of God’s righteousness.

Now God is not bringing a list of sins against Job as a justification for the suffering that Job went through.

Job is partially right.

He didn’t do anything to deserve his suffering.

God is calling out Job on his response to that suffering.

Job failed in his trust of God.

Why did he fail in trusting God? Bad theology!

God is not agreeing with Job’s three friends that Job was some horrible sinner and he got what he deserved.

But God is correcting Job’s theology.

Job has called God’s righteousness into question.

How is God going to solve this problem?

Look at v. 9

What is God asking here?

Do you have an arm like God? What does He mean?

In the bible the arm is a symbol of strength.

Thunder also is a symbol of strength and majesty.

Why does God change the subject here?

God had just asked Job, “Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?”

And then in the next verse God asks Job, “Do you have an arm like God or can you thunder with a voice like Him?”

It makes sense when you follow the Lord’s argument.

Zuck made this statement,

“But any mortal’s alleged superiority to God’s justice must be accompanied by a similar superiority of power.”

So what is God saying?

OK Job, you want to call my righteousness and justice into question, then you better have the power to back it up.

Argument: We have no strength, we have no majesty- therefore, who are we to critique God’s righteousness and justice?

Job go ahead, I’ll wait:

Array yourself with majesty and splendor.

Put on glory and beauty.

Express your indignation by humbling the proud and judging the wicked.

Job show me your majesty and your strength, and then I will acknowledge that you are on the same level with me, I will confess that your own right hand can save you.

When you do that then you will be in a position to critique God’s management of the world.

Remember we must read this with a correct understanding of God’s emotion or we will come to a wrong interpretation of the text.

God is not challenging Job here- “If you think you can do better, give it a go!”

God is not complaining either- “This is harder than you think?”

We cannot read this text in any way that compromises the dignity of God.

Rather God is speaking here with irony to remind Job that he is infinitely out of his depth.

Exhibit A: Behemoth (40:15-24)

Here God directs Job’s attention to two magnificent creatures of God’s world.

Many people scratch their heads and wonder why in the world is God talking about strange creatures instead of answering Job’s question.

Well, you just have to follow God’s argument, because there is divine strategy in answering Job in this manner.

God has just asked Job to show off his strength and majesty.

Go ahead and try your hand at governing the world.

And to bring home just how unfit Job was for the task God invites him to start with two fellow creatures.

What God is doing is essentially throwing Job into the deep end, this is sink or swim, only instead of a pool God throws Job into an ocean with 50ft waves and hurricane like winds.

Go ahead Job show me your strength and your majesty.

God does this in a unique way with behemoth.

Up until this point God has been asking Job one question after the other.

But when He gets to behemoth, God just says “behold” “observe!”

God doesn’t ask Job a single question about behemoth.

Just commands Job to consider.

Job 40:15–24 (KJV 1900) — 15 Behold now behemoth, Which I made with thee; He eateth grass as an ox.

16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, And his force is in the navel of his belly.

(The idea here is that his power is in the muscles of his belly) 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: The sinews of his stones (thighs) are wrapped together.

18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; His bones are like bars of iron.

19 He is the chief (first) of the ways of God: He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, Where all the beasts of the field play.

21 He lieth under the shady trees (lotus plants), In the covert of the reed, and fens.

22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; The willows of the brook compass him about.

23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

(The idea here is that a raging river does not alarm it; behemoth is secure even if the Jordan should rush into its mouth) 24 He taketh it with his eyes: His nose pierceth through snares.

(Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?)

What was behemoth?

We don’t know.

“Behemoth” is a Hebrew plural (lit., “beasts”), though the pronouns and verbs that describe this beast are singular.

This is probably give it an intensive effect, letting us know that this was a beast of mammoth proportions.

This creature is essentially a land animal (it eats grass like an ox, 40:15), but it possesses aquatic features as well (it dwells both by and in the water, 40:21–23).

It was a creature with which Job must have been familiar or the point would be drained of impact.

Numerous suggestions of its identity have been offered: brontosaurus, water buffalo, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and elephant are among the chief proposals, the last two generally being the most widely preferred.