The Voice from the Whirlwind Interpreting the Book of Job

1
The Voice from the WhirlwindInterpreting the
Book of Job

• Session 4
• Shirley Fong

2
The Voice of Wisdom Psalm (Ch 28)

• vv 1-11 Gold, silver, iron, copper have their
  places
• Birds and animals cannot but man can find
  the
• ways to dig them out
• vv12-19 Where can wisdom be found?
• Wisdom appears inaccessible and nothing
  can
• be compared with it
• vv20-28 Where can wisdom be found?
• Only God understands the way to find it
• Fear the Lord and shun the evil is the key to
  find wisdom and understanding it.

3
The Voice from the Whirlwind/Storm

• Jobs understanding of the present of God
• 292-6 God watched over him in good days
• 3016-20 God distances him when he was
• in suffer
• The Lord answered and spoke to Job out of the
  storm/whirlwind 381, 406.
• What kind of impression do you have about
  whirlwind or storm?
• Why did God speak to Job out of the storm?

4
Jobs struggles

• 196b-20 2313-17 Job thought God had wronged
  him and terrified him
• 216-21 241-12 Why? Why have the wicked
  prospered and the poor being treated unfairly?
  Why didnt God do anything?
• Job brought his case before God and asked God to
  answer him 233-5 3135-37

5

• 38 1 God answered Job out of the storm
• 382 darken my counsel without knowledge.
• 383 Brace yourself and you shall answer me.
• 384-3838 Questions about cosmos
• 3839-3930 Questions about animal kingdom
• 401-2 God asked Job that how he could challenge
  the Almighty?
• 403-5 Jobs response to God

• 40 6 God spoke to Job out of the storm
• 407 Brace yourself and you shall answer me.
• 408-14 Do you challenge my justice?
• 4015-24 God used behemoth to challenge Job
• 411-34 God used leviathan to challenge Job
• 4110b-11 God asked that who could stand before
  Him
• 421-6 Jobs response to God

6
The speech of God

• What is the purpose of Gods speeches
• Did God answer Job? Remember Job still had no
  idea of the heavenly scene.
• Why did Job have a total change in his attitude?
  Did he find the answer? Where was the turning
  point?
• Was Job satisfy with Gods answer?
• What is the main purpose of suffering?

7
Christian life

• Formation ? Reformation
• ? Transformation (spiritual characters)
• Construction ? Deconstruction
• ? Reconstruction
• (theology/understanding of God)

8
Epilogue

• What is the purpose of Epilogue?
• Why did God ask Job to pray for his friends?
• What had happened in Jobs community?
• What kind of picture the Epilogue is trying to
  portrait? What is the purpose of it?
• If God did not give back anything to Job or
  remove his suffering at the end, then what do you
  think Jobs response will be? Why?

9
Reflection

• What is your initial respond to suffering? Have
  you gained new insights/perspectives after
  studying the Book of Job?
• What is/are the most important thing(s) in
  helping you to go through difficult stages of
  life?