THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Job: The Great Lesson Of Submitting To God

Part IV: The Rewards Of Submitting To God Even After Sinful Failure

(Job 42:7-17)

I. Introduction

A. The problem of suffering by the righteous is likely one of the biggest theological problems known to man.

B. After Job, the most righteous man on earth in his era, lost all he had, though he did not curse God to His face as Satan had charged that he would (Job 1:11; 2:5 with 1:20-22 and 2:10), Job still sinned in Job 2:11-42:6.

C. Nevertheless, when confronted by God about his sin of critiquing the Lord without adequate understanding of God's knowledge and power, Job had repented in Job 40:3-5 and Job 42:1-6.

D. God thus reversed Job's suffering greatly to bless him, a lesson in itself in Job 42:7-17 (with James 5:11):

II. The Rewards Of Submitting To God Even After Sinful Failure, Job 42:7-17.

A. Commenting on the life of Job, James 5:11 ESV in the New Testament recalls Job's steadfastness through suffering, noting that in the end, the Lord is "compassionate and merciful."

B. God's compassion and mercy were demonstrated when Job repented of his unrighteous demand that God explain his suffering, and of his disrespectful words about God when he was under great suffering. We view that expression of the Lord's goodness in Job 42:7-17 (as follows):

1. God reversed the dishonor Job had suffered in his relationship with his three friends, Job 42:7-9:

a. Job's three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had visited him in his suffering to mourn with Job and to comfort him (Job 2:11), but the severity of his sufferings had shocked them (Job 2:12-13) and led to their trying to convince Job in a long dialogue that he must have committed a grievous sin to explain his suffering. Thus, these three friends had "cruelly indicted innocent Job," Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 774.

b. When Job repented of his unjust demands of God and of wrongly criticizing Him, the Lord also reversed this dishonoring injustice committed against Job by his friends: (1) they were to offer a large offering of seven bulls and seven rams to atone for their sin of speaking proud words unlike Job who had repented of his proud words, Job 42:7-8a, c. (2) These three men were now to have Job pray for them that God might forgive them, Job 42:8b,c. (3) In the dialogue between Job and his three friends, Job had "longed for a mediator between himself and God" (Job 16:19-21), but now God had made Job the mediator between Job's friends and the Lord, Ibid., p. 775. (4) God thus rectified the proud judgmental criticism of Job's friends by putting their welfare in the hands of Job who was to plead for them, restoring Job's honor!

2. God reversed the losses Job had faced in his possessions and in his relationship with family, Job 42:10-17:

a. Once Job had prayed for his friends and God had heeded his intercession and forgiven them, the Lord reversed Job's suffering in relation to his family, causing his relatives to be restored to him, Job 42:10-11.

b. God also blessed Job's latter days more than the days before his suffering in regard to his possessions, Job 42:12-17: (1) Job ended up with twice as many sheep (14,000 versus the former 7,000), camels (6,000 versus the former 3,000), yoke of oxen (1,000 versus the former 500) and female donkeys (1,000 versus the former 500), Job 42:12; 1:3. (2) Job gained seven sons and three daughters, the same number he had as before, but since Job expected to see his deceased children in the resurrection (Job 19:26), God had also doubled the number of his children! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Job 42:12-13) (3) Job's three younger daughters were the most beautiful women in the land, and he gave them an inheritance along with their brothers, an unusual act at the time, Job 42:15, Ibid., ftn. to Job 42:15. (4) Job lived 140 years after he had suffered (Job 42:16a), presumably twice as long as he had lived up to the time he had suffered (70), Ibid., Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 776. (5) Job lived to see his grandchildren to the fourth generation, and then he finally died, being old and having lived a long life, a signal of God's blessing, Job 42:16b-17.

Lesson: When Job repented of his sinful words about God that were spoken in his great suffering, the Lord demonstrated His great compassion and mercy not only by forgiving Job, but also by reversing the dishonor and loss of possessions he had experienced in his suffering.

Application: (1) Whenever we sin, may we ALWAYS confess our sin to the Lord, for we believers serve a God Who is compassionate and merciful, and who restores us, 1 John 1:9 with James 5:11. (2) May we recall from the life of Job that all of our human relationships and earthly possessions are gifts from God that He supplies as He wills, that we might always live in obedience and submission to Him as our first priority in life!