Author Archives: Jefferson Vann
proverbs of ashes
Job 13 Job told his attending friends that their maxims were proverbs of ashes. They look good on paper, but that is all they are good for. Reality is seldom as simple as a choice between a or b. Reality … Continue reading
down and out
Job 12 Job reminds his friends that he had been known as a wise man too, before his calamity came. His response to their insistence that he repent for the sin that obviously brought this disaster upon himself is to … Continue reading
outward appearance
Job 11 Zophar is guilty of only seeing what has happened to Job and assuming that it proved that Job has acted foolishly and brought this tragedy upon himself. He urges Job to repent. Job lived in ignorant times, and … Continue reading
truth collides with truth
Job 9-10 Job affirms that Bildad is right in saying that God is just. But he is also convinced that he has a right relationship with God, so nothing he had done brought this calamity upon him. Truth collides with … Continue reading
Posted in dependence upon God, Job, plan of God, relationship with God
Tagged Job 10, Job 9
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sign or substance?
Job 8 Bildad uses an excellent argument, which would no doubt have been very successful except for the fact that Job was innocent. Bildad compares Job’s previous fortune to that of a Papyrus plant, which grows quickly and looms above … Continue reading
a burdensome weight
Job 6-7 From the ESV Study Bible: “The opening line of v. 17 (What is man, that you make so much of him) echoes the thought of Ps. 8:4 (“what is man that you are mindful of him”). However, where … Continue reading
Posted in dependence upon God, discernment, Job, perseverance, wisdom
Tagged Job 6, Job 7
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impatient and dismayed
Job 4-5 Eliphaz accuses Job of being impatient and dismayed. The world that Eliphaz knows about is one in which everything happens according to set rules. He cannot imagine a scenario in which a person who is truly righteous is … Continue reading
trapped
Job 3 Job had only one thing left. He had his life, and he cursed the day of his birth. Life had been precious to him, and now he saw it as a prison. Seeing how much people suffer, … Continue reading
from bad to worse
Job 2 Job’s victory over his circumstances (and the devil behind them) is seen in the fact that God still boasts of his integrity as he did before calamity struck. So, Satan pleads for more control. The LORD gives him … Continue reading
catastrophe
Job 1 A major test of a person’s character comes with catastrophe. It brings out the worst in some people, the best in others. Job is one of those people whose pure hearts shines through when struck by darkness all … Continue reading