Week 5, Part 1—Job 35-42

We have three more days in the book of Job, then we are on to Exodus. Today we begin with the second half of Elihu’s speech.

He finishes his speech by continuing to scold Job—old habits die hard. My favorite verse in his speech is Job 36:18, “Beware that wrath does not entice you to scoffing, and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.” I could camp out on that verse for a week!

Elihu continues by spending 1 ½ chapters praising the greatness of God and reminding us that God is in charge of the weather.

Then God speaks. Out of a tornado. He tells Job to put on his “big boy pants” (my interpretation of Job 38:3) and answers Job’s demands, but not in the way Job expects. “Where were you when I placed the stars?” God asks. “Have you walked on the recesses of the ocean?” “When did you create the storehouses of snow?” God also questions Job on the lives and habits of lions, ravens, goats, donkeys, oxen, ostriches, horses, and hawks.

Job realizes that in the face of Almighty God, he has nothing to say.

God then continues questioning Job, speaking about the Behemoth, which could be a dinosaur, and the Leviathan, which is something between a fire-breathing Loch Ness monster and a water-dwelling dragon.

Job comes to terms with the fact that God is in control, even though he never learns why any of his suffering occurred. Job is restored, his foolish friends are forgiven, “and Job died, and old man and full of days,” (Job 42:17) which is the Bible’s way of saying that he lived happily ever after.

Coming soon…Exodus!