{"id":9619,"date":"2020-12-09T20:36:23","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T00:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/?p=9619"},"modified":"2025-09-29T23:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T03:59:54","slug":"bible-study-the-book-of-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/?p=9619","title":{"rendered":"Bible Study: The Book of Job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I believe the best debate in the world is the Book of Job. Therefore, those who dislike debates in general, are ignorant fools. They think they are the peacemaker, they are worse than the post-modernists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I already have an entry devoted to John Calvin's commentary on this. So this entry shall be my own OT study, my own notes on the book of Job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quoting Tim Keller in one of his FB <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTimKellerNYC%2Fposts%2F547964863351890\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posts<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Never describe the view of an opponent in a way he or she will not own. Rather describe their view so they say, \"I couldn't have put it better myself.\" Only then should you proceed to refute the view. If instead, you caricature your opponent-- you persuade no one.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows very clearly in Job, who retains all words of his friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe to study this comprehensively, I must master God's answer (if not also Elihu's), starting from chapter 38 first, then only, look back from the beginning of Job to understand their reasoning and folly, human wisdom vs. God's wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A good place to read quick summary: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.litcharts.com\/lit\/book-of-job\/summary\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.litcharts.com\/lit\/book-of-job\/summary<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>General Outline:<\/strong><br>Chapter 1: The fear of God in Job and his indirect victory against Satan's first test.<br>Chapter 2: Satan disregarded his defeat and forced God to change the rule of their game.<br>Chapter 3: Job cursed his birth<br><strong>First round debate<\/strong><br>Chapter 4-5: First friend's response. Eliphaz the Temanite<br>Chapter 6-7: Job challenges his friend on judging Job for lack of righteousness<br>Chapter 8: Second friend's response. Bildad the Shuhite: If you did well, there's no suffering<br>Chapter 9-10: Job contests that suffering is beyond logic. Seeks perfection earnestly<br>Chapter 11: Third friend's response. Zophar the Naamathite<br>Chapter 12-14: Job rebukes Zophar's content in just not sinning, blind faith and flattery to God<br><strong>Second round debate<\/strong><br>Chapter 15: Eliphaz's second response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephen Tong gave some rarity on Job's commentary that is probably not seen anywhere else:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dilemma of Job is where is man?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\uff03\u4eba\u7684\u7f6a\u662f\u4ec0\u9ebc\u2753\u4eba\u7684\u58ae\u843d\u662f\u4e0d\u662f\u4e8b\u5be6\u2753\u4eba\u5982\u4eca\u6240\u8655\u7684\u662f\u4e0d\u662f\u539f\u6709\u7684\u5730\u4f4d\u5462\u2753\uff08\u5e0c\u4f2f\u4f86\u66f8\u8981\u7406\u554f\u7b54 \u7b2c417\u554f\uff09\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mPHzQ9nP4gk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\uff03\u611b\u8b1b\u8a71\uff0c\u662f\u597d\u4e8b\u55ce\u2753\u70ba\u4f55\u4eba\u5f88\u96e3\u7368\u8655\u3001\u4e0d\u8b1b\u8a71\u2753\u966a\u4f34\u6975\u5176\u75db\u82e6\u7684\u597d\u53cb\uff0c\u6700\u597d\u7684\u5b89\u6170\u662f\u4ec0\u9ebc\u2753\uff08\u5e0c\u4f2f\u4f86\u66f8\u8981\u7406\u554f\u7b54 \u7b2c418\u554f\uff09\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wH2kmCp5mWo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\uff03\u4e0a\u5e1d\u5728\u300a\u7d04\u4f2f\u8a18\u300b\u5f70\u986f\u7684\u667a\u6167\uff0c\u5982\u4f55\u51f8\u986f\u4e16\u754c\u5b97\u6559\u7684\u819a\u6dfa\u8207\u611a\u6627\u2753\uff08\u5e0c\u4f2f\u4f86\u66f8\u8981\u7406\u554f\u7b54 \u7b2c419\u554f\uff09\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pwUXfdvYNCI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\uff03\u4e0a\u5e1d\u5c0d\u7d04\u4f2f\u8aaa\u7684\u8a71\uff0c\u5982\u4f55\u53eb\u7d04\u4f2f\u77e5\u9053\u81ea\u5df1\u7684\u7f6a\uff0c\u4e26\u4e14\u77e5\u9053\u4eba\u5df2\u7d93\u4e0d\u5728\u539f\u4f4d\uff0c\u5df2\u7d93\u58ae\u843d\u4e86\u2753\uff08\u5e0c\u4f2f\u4f86\u66f8\u8981\u7406\u554f\u7b54 \u7b2c420\u554f\uff09\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ACBE2nrTqvM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>God's challenge to Job in the last chapters was <strong>not to overwhelm<\/strong> Job of the details of the unanswerable, but to question Job <strong>why Job did not question<\/strong> those challenges of God as he should before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update 9\/29\/2025 Monday <\/strong>Stephen Tong once mentioned that the Job problem is not knowing how great God was. In his Creationism lecture series that I took, Tong directed God's questions to Job to a more fundamental problem, that God was judging Job according to the original state of Adam, <strong>which is to be perfect in all knowledge in limit set by God in the created world<\/strong>. So that Job knows, that he has lost all that perfection due to original sin. I looked for years and finally found it (googling \"animation video God and Job and time machine atheist\" and recognized the video \"God's God\" animation looks awfully familiar) this video after a prayer, which is an atheist's answers to God's question challenges to Job. An interesting twist, contrary to the poster's intent, this video was meant to illustrate that these questions are answerable (though not all correctly answered in the video) by Job, which proves the point of Tong, I'm saving this video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Book of Job\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QVgZqnsytJI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I believe the best debate in the world is the Book of Job. Therefore, those who dislike debates in general, are ignorant fools. They think they are the peacemaker, they are worse than the post-modernists. I already have an entry &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/?p=9619\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theologization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9619"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19366,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619\/revisions\/19366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nycphantom.com\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}