Expedition 44

Doc Ryan takes a look at the role that the wife of Job plays in the book.     Did she leave Job because of all the sufferings?  Did she die?  Was there a second wife? We know that Job’s wealth and family were greatly restored and increased to him as we read in Job 42:12-13, “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.”     The traditional interpretation is that she is urging Job to curse God, The Hebrew verb barak occurs just over 325 times in the Old Testament, most frequently translated “to bless” in the sense of giving benefits. When Job’s wife said to “barak God and die” her words could be translated “give thanks to God, then die!” It could also mean to knel down, If this meaning of barak is applied, Job’s wife would have urged him to “kneel down before God, then die!”   What about the Testament of Job? The apocryphal Divrei Iyov shares the not only the name of job’s first wife Uzit, but also tells of Job’s second wife, Dinah daughter of Jacob, who bore him his sons and daughters when the Lord blessed him, at the end of the book of Job.

Perhaps you have always thought of the story of Job as difficult within the character of God. John Walton has shared that many readers have a very skewed perception of the character of God in Job. Most people look at this book and think that God is in a betting match with Satan, ruins a righteous mans life for no apparent (good) reason, and wipes out his family (also God following people) to make a point to the adversary; all with no explanation to man and in the end just gives a speech that we aren’t worthy of God’s explanations. I think there is more to this story. We serve a loving relational God who is both completely sovereign and dynamic. Join us as we explore some of the tough questions that we will be working through theologically and see how the character of God in job aligns well with the rest of scripture.

Doc Ryan and Matt  kick off a series on the Book of Job. We dive in with an introduction and discuss several key points of the book to include: -righteousness linked with Blessings -Policy of righteousness   -Suffering -God is wise -Trial -Accuser the satan - theodicy   -Divine Council -Authorship -Wisdom -Dead sea scrolls -open theism