1. Does Job consider his recent burdens to be too heavy to bear?
Yes, Job considers his burden so heavy that he desires God to just destroy him altogether: “(1) But Job answered and said, (2) Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! (3) For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. (4) For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. (5) Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? (6) Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? (7) The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. (8) Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! (9) Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! (10) Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One” (Job 6:1-10).
2. Does Job sound hopeless from what he is saying?
Yes: “(11) What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? (12) Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? (13) Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me” (Job 6:11-13)?
3. Was Job looking for pity from his friends?
Yes: “To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty” (Job 6:14).
4. Did Job believe his friends were dependable in his time of calamity?
No: “(15) My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; (16) Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: (17) What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. (18) The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. (19) The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.” (Job 6:15-19).
5. Did Job consider his friends capable of bravely standing beside him?
No: “(20) They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. (21) For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid” (Job 6:20-21).
6. Did Job want handouts from his friends?
No: “(22) Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance? (23) Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty” (Job 6:22-23)?
7. Does Job say he is willing to be taught?
Yes: “Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred” (Job 6:24).
8. Did Job want to hear the truth or just the arguments of his friends?
Job says he wants to hear the truth: “How forcible [vehement] are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove” (Job 6:25)?
9. Did Job feel that his friends were being overly critical of his words?
Yes: “(26) Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? (27) Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. (28) Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie” (Job 6:26-28).
10. Did Job think there was anything sinful that he had said?
No: “(29) Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. (30) Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things” (Job 6:29-30)?
11. Does Job complain about his life in chapter seven?
Yes: “(9) As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. (10) He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. (11) Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 7:9-11).
12. Who is Job addressing in chapter seven?
God: “(17) What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? (18) And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? (19) How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? (20) I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? (21) And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be” (Job 7:17-21).
13. Did anyone try to get Job to see he was complaining too much?
Yes: “(1) Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, (2) How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind” (Job 8:1-2)?
14. Did anyone point out to Job that God is a just judge?
Yes: “(3) Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? (4) If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression; (5) If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; (6) If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous” (Job 8:3-6).
His friend tried to establish that IF wrong was done, then the condition to resolve things is repentance (Luke 13:3; 5, I John 1:9, Revelation 2:5; 2:16; 2:22; 3:3; and 3:17-19).
15. Job had previously been told that things will get better for him (Job 5:17-27). Is he reminded of that in our current context?
Yes: “Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase” (Job 8:7).
16. What was Job told to enquire of?
“(8) For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (9) (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) (10) Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart” (Job 8:8-10)?
17. Would Job do well to forget God and just become a hypocrite?
No: “(13) So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: (14) Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web. (15) He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. (16) He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden. (17) His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones. (18) If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee” (Job 8:13-17).
18. Will God abandon a perfect man?
No: “(20) Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers: (21) Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. (22) They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought” (Job 8:20-22).
Of course, that does not mean that bad things will not happen to perfect men (James 1:2-3).
19. What is the difference in Job 1:1 and Job 9:2?
In Job 1:1 Job simply did the right things. In Job 9:2, he questions the possibility of doing the right things. He is essentially feeling that his difficulties are the Lord’s doing. Such is not the case (James 1:12-16).
Man can, as Job was in chapter 1, be just (Genesis 6:9, Psalms 37:12, Mark 6:20, and Hebrews 10:38).
This complaint is just like Solomon’s in Ecclesiastes 7:15. We would do well to understand that we are not chess pieces that God moves from good to bad. Our choices and the choices of others brings calamity into our lives.
20. Does Job know how great God is?
Yes: “(3) If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. (4) He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? (5) Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. (6) Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. (7) Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. (8) Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. (9) Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. (10) Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. (11) Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. (12) Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou? (13) If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him” (Job 9:3-13).
Yet, knowing he should not question God, what is he doing over and over again?
21. Why does Job think that God would not answer him if he called upon God?
“(16) If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. (17) For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause. (18) He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness” (Job 9:16-17).
22. Did Job trust his mouth to utter the right things?
No: “(19) If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? (20) If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. (21) Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life” (Job 9:19-21).
23. Did Job have the mindset that God had forsaken all the righteous people of the earth?
Yes: “(22) This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. (23) If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. (24) The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he” (Job 9:22-24)?
This old “why does God allow bad things to happen to good people” attitude stinks. We must have a better mindset, such as Job did in chapter one and two (Job 1:21-22 and Job 2:9-10).
Again, the righteous are never forsaken (Psalms 37:25), but that does not mean life is all rosy (II Corinthians 1:5-7). These things should not move us from God (Romans 8:35-39).
24. Did Job realize how short life in the flesh is?
Yes: “(25) Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. (26) They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey” (Job 9:25-26).
This should help him (Psalms 90:12).
25. Why couldn’t Job forget his complaints?
“(27) If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: (28) I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent” (Job 9:27-28).
26. Did Job feel he could cleanse himself?
No, remember that he had sores in his flesh is this is what he is discussing here, making reference to even his own clothes abhoring him: “(29) If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? (30) If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; (31) Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me” (Job 9:29-31).
27. Upon what condition does Job say he would talk to the Lord and not fear him?
“(32) For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. (33) Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. (34) Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me: (35) Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me” (Job 9:32-35).