April 25, 2023

Job Chapter 1

1:1-3 → In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

So at the time of writing this, April 25, 2023, I tried to calculate the net-worth of Job’s fortune, excluding his slaves. So he had:
- 7,000 Sheep ⇒ Average Price of 1 Sheep is $225 ⇒ Total Sheep price is $1,575,000
- 3,000 Camels ⇒ Average Price of 1 Camel is $5500 ⇒ Total Sheep price is $16,500,000
- 500 Oxen ⇒ Average Price of 1 Ox is $1000 ⇒ Total Sheep price is $500,000
- 500 Donkeys ⇒ Average Price of 1 Donkey is $1200 ⇒ Total Sheep price is $600,000
- The total price comes to ⇒ $19,175,000 and this is not adjusted to inflation
- Assuming an inflation rate of 2.5% per year, assuming Job lived 1000 years BC and we calculate up until now. The adjusted value would be $1.15 trillion. (not exactly sure)

1:8 → Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

Satan didn’t even mention Job, God brought Job up. Ofc God knew Satan noticed Job and he’s prolly Got a thought out lesson for the Angels and Us
Here we can also see what makes God happy and prideful of:
1. Blameless
2. Upright
3. Fears God - fear upsetting / angering God
4. Shuns (persistently avoid) Evil

1:9 → “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied.

This sounds like, Job only fears God cause Job had so much to lose
This is also very disrespectful towards God. God said that the person is blameless, but Satan is arguing as if God isn’t all knowing. Thinking that God only sees the external and not what’s within the heart. So may be Satan doesn’t really know God as he should or may be that’s just how he is cynical (not believing that something purely good exists)

1:10 → “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.

God protects everything and everyone that belongs to a saint. Based on the context Job’s children aren’t like Job (cause God only spoke of him) tho they are protected from Evil because of their father and may not be necessarily for the sake of them.
These could be signs of blessings from God
1. Hedge / Fence around a person and his family
2. Protection over all property
3. Success of the person’s works and projects
4. Noticeably big proportion of blessings

1:11 → But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

This sounds like Satan saying, “Look God, here’s something you haven’t seen…” and it’s incredible how God doesn’t react mad or angry. He doesn’t even confront this. He just walks by past this and cuts to the main point.
Satan has learn that no one is really good and so he is very cynical. He has also learnt that people tend to be close to God for possession of property or some other thing. And he’s learnt that once people aren’t given what they came to get they’re not friendly anymore. In fact Satan has seen and learnt this so much that he thinks God is wrong.

1:12 → The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

So God doesn’t tell Satan that He knew that that’s not the case. God’s seen that Satan believed his experience more than God’s own words so he had to show him. Cause he had to teach Satan in a language he understands. May be God deals with us like this too. We believe our emotions, knowledge, experiments or experiences so instead of arguing with us, he lowers himself down to that level of understanding and teaches the lesson he wants.
Turns out that along with property and flock, human life could be controlled by Satan too. But only when permission is given to him.

1:13-17 → One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

The destruction of cattle and flock is very meaningful to a devout christian. Because some of these cattle are used as sacrifice for sin. So it’s almost like saying, “Look, I have taken and killed all the tools you used to clean up your sin and get right with God. Now that you don’t have anything to atone for your sins, you’re left separated from God and seen sinful by God.”
Then it’s also another meaning, Satan basically took all his wealth in an instant. And since there was no one like Job that was blessed with these many animals, when they all perish, Job is also the man who been cursed the most. So it kind of shows that when you’ve gained noticeably a lot, your loss will also be noticeable by many.
Here it is a work of the devil to disguise certain horrible situations as from God. As the people said that the fire was from God when in fact it was the work of the devil. That way it’s defeating to Christians. Cause if it’s from God, there really isn’t any escape. And you won’t ask God to stop it sometimes. You’d just leave the problem and just say “If God did it, then I can’t really fight it, he prolly has a plan and reason why he did it” So you leave the problem undealt with.
Satan also just needs 1 opening to destroy our entire lives
Here we can also compare Satan’s attack to that of God’s during Moses

1:18-19 → While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

Here there’s a pattern to the attacks Satan used:
1. The attacks were almost instantaneous, nothing is as destructive as a synchronized attack on all fronts. This way there’s no time to recover and gain strength. But most of all the problems present them selves as bigger than any faith or God you have ever believed
2. There were people that survived to tell the story. So I guess the mere perishment of things aren’t as painful as to listen in detail, with your own ears, about their perishments. Because Job hasn’t seen the site of the casualty yet, it creates a brief moment where there’s a possibility that Job can overthink and over imagine the gruesomeness of the situation and react even more broken than necessary.
3. The target was nowhere near the battle, may be that hurts more than just being there. May be the thought of “If I was there, I could’ve made a difference” is a more hurtful thought
4. The devil knows what to attack to get to you
Here are the attacks
1. Attack 1: Destroy all farming animals
2. Attack 2: Destroy all trade animals
3. Attack 3: Destroy all transportation animals
4. Attack 4: Destroy all family and servants
So what I’m thinking is that you lost the people that you cherish the most, but to make matters worse you don’t have your camels to get to them fast, on top of that you won’t even be able to fix any of this cause you have no financial support. And on top of that you can’t even work to bring any good out of this. So all of this is to make Job feel ISOLATED. From his family, servants and God. And be ATTACHED to the grief.

1:20-22 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

This is what makes Job so different. He must’ve known that even in extreme isolation, God will be there.
When he expressed his deep sorrow, he did it in front of God, to God. And he did it in a way of almost saying, “even though all of my property and family was yours and that it was you who gave me all of this, I’m broken by the loss of it all. But I shouldn’t indulge in the belief that I lost what was mine but instead should be thankful for the blessing of being trusted to foresee all your property.”
It is a sin to charge God with wrong doing. God is blameless. He doesn’t do bad. He is all good. So to say that God had done something bad, judging by the temporary picture (instead of judging in eternal time scale), is to accuse his of what he is not.
And in all these attacks Satan wanted to present a problem so big that it covers God. Because faith in God is something we don’t feel. It’s not a feeling. It just is a state of mind or soul. But loss, pain and sorrow are something to be felt so close to our hearts. Pain could also be much more powerful than faith sometimes. So no wonder Satan wanted to use pain to replace faith.
We can see how powerful faith is compared to pain. A small enough faith can move a mountain hits hard now, cause it did in Job’s case.
We need to seek God first and then all other things follow. And Job really understood that.
Things come and go, the only constant in this world is change. BUT there’s another constant that doesn’t change; God!

Some extra notes

This chapter shows a conversation hidden from anyone. So God could be having conversations like these about our lives too. Almost to the point that none of what happens in life is meaningless.
So when things happen it is fair to assume that God allowed it to happen and that It happened for a good enough reason.
It’s also fair to assume that God protects your belongings, property and family alike.
But most of all it’s good to not blame God for what wrong happened in your life. And should always trust that he is good always, even when he feels bad.
Relationships with God aren’t always rainbows and sunshine, they’re loss and grief too.
The reasons for my struggles are for me to love and trust God more so that I won’t live for the things I’ll lose one day.
Job didn’t fail the test, and that’s what a good relationship with God gets you.
Happy days don’t teach us faith and trust. They’re the prizes of having faith and trust.
The boxing match is done in the training room before the ring. Job had a heart that could conquer the temptations way before the temptations happened.
Imagine an alternative end to the story, If Job lost. He would have gained grief and lost God.

Questions

Q: Who wrote the book? Like how did they know of the convo that happened up in heaven?

A: No one knows for sure

1:6 - Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

Q: Why are angels called SONS OF GOD?

A: Because angels are servants of God’s will. As they are obedient to carry his will and purpose. Much like how children/sons of parents are.

Q: So does this mean like angels gather round in front of God and report to him?

Q: If God being so good kills people (because people have bad in them), how could Satan stand in front of God without Dying?

1:7 - The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Q: Why did God ask this? Like what’s the point? It’s definitely not cause he doesn’t know. What’s the point he’s trying to prove?

A: He’s prolly setting up the stage, to prove that Satan did really look everywhere. So that when God says, “there’s none like Job” the point is made solid.