Dinosaurs, Humility, and Retribution – Job 40-42

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #164 and today we’ll read Job chapters 40-42 together.   Dinosaurs, humility, and retribution.  God’s majesty is endless.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Job Chapter 40

The Lord answered Job:

Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who argues with God give an answer.

Then Job answered the Lord:

I am so insignificant. How can I answer you?

I place my hand over my mouth.

I have spoken once, and I will not reply;

twice, but now I can add nothing.

Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

Get ready to answer me like a man;

When I question you, you will inform me.

Would you really challenge my justice?

Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?

Do you have an arm like God’s?

Can you thunder with a voice like his?

Adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,

and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

Pour out your raging anger;

look on every proud person and humiliate him.

Look on every proud person and humble him;

trample the wicked where they stand.

Hide them together in the dust;

imprison them in the grave.

Then I will confess to you

that your own right hand can deliver you.

Can Anyone Capture Him?

Look at Behemoth,

which I made along with you.

He eats grass like cattle.

Look at the strength of his back

and the power in the muscles of his belly.

He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;

the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.

His bones are bronze tubes;

his limbs are like iron rods.

He is the foremost of God’s works;

only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

The hills yield food for him,

while all sorts of wild animals play there.

He lies under the lotus plants,

hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.

Lotus plants cover him with their shade;

the willows by the brook surround him.

Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;

he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.

Can anyone capture him while he looks on,

or pierce his nose with snares?

Job Chapter 41

Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook

or tie his tongue down with a rope?

Can you put a cord through his nose

or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Will he beg you for mercy

or speak softly to you?

Will he make a covenant with you

so that you can take him as a slave forever?

Can you play with him like a bird

or put him on a leash for your girls?

Will traders bargain for him

or divide him among the merchants?

Can you fill his hide with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

Lay a hand on him.

You will remember the battle

and never repeat it!

Any hope of capturing him proves false.

Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?

No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan;

who then can stand against me?

Who confronted me, that I should repay him?

Everything under heaven belongs to me.

I cannot be silent about his limbs,

his power, and his graceful proportions.

Who can strip off his outer covering?

Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?

Who can open his jaws,

surrounded by those terrifying teeth?

His pride is in his rows of scales,

closely sealed together.

One scale is so close to another

that no air can pass between them.

They are joined to one another,

so closely connected they cannot be separated.

His snorting flashes with light,

while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

Flaming torches shoot from his mouth;

fiery sparks fly out!

Smoke billows from his nostrils

as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.

His breath sets coals ablaze,

and flames pour out of his mouth.

Strength resides in his neck,

and dismay dances before him.

No Equal on Earth

The folds of his flesh are joined together,

solid as metal and immovable.

His heart is as hard as a rock,

as hard as a lower millstone!

When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified;

they withdraw because of his thrashing.

The sword that reaches him will have no effect,

nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.

He regards iron as straw,

and bronze as rotten wood.

No arrow can make him flee;

slingstones become like stubble to him.

A club is regarded as stubble,

and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.

His undersides are jagged potsherds,

spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.

He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;

he makes the sea like an ointment jar.

He leaves a shining wake behind him;

one would think the deep had gray hair!

He has no equal on earth —

a creature devoid of fear!

He surveys everything that is haughty;

he is king over all the proud beasts.

Job Chapter 42

Job Replies to the Lord

Then Job replied to the Lord:

I know that you can do anything

and no plan of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?”

Surely I spoke about things I did not understand,

things too wondrous for me to know.

You said, “Listen now, and I will speak.

When I question you, you will inform me.”

I had heard reports about you,

but now my eyes have seen you.

Therefore, I reject my words and am sorry for them;

I am dust and ashes.

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. Then my servant Job will pray for you. I will surely accept his prayer and not deal with you as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” Then Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

God Restores Job

After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and doubled his previous possessions. All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to him and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the Lord had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold earring.

So the Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life more than the first. He owned fourteen thousand sheep and goats, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance with their brothers.

Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. Then Job died, old and full of days.

Close

Here we see a changed Job; reverence for his God pouring out from him from every side.  I suspect we will all be struck the same way when we come face to face with Him.  We cannot perceive of His majesty.  

Although unbidden at this point, Job received the affirmation from God that he had sought before when being falsely maligned by his friends.  However, there is no pride or condescension from Job.  He was far too distracted by his smallness in God’s presence to celebrate any kind of victory over his friends.  He of course acquiesced to God’s direction that he pray for his friends, but I bet it was a pretty solemn ceremony.  I also think we can assume that Job has a whole new gratitude for how God restores his wealth and family.

Okay, don’t laugh, but I am one of those who sees dinosaurs in this episode.  What else besides a brontosaurus has a tail like a cedar?  And Leviathan?  Is that a giant sea creature?  Gives you a whole new respect for ‘Nessie, huh?

Finally, you’ll notice one name missing from the requirement of burnt offerings.  How many of you read ahead to find that Elihu received no discipline?  What do you make of that?  I’d like to know your thoughts at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  And with that we complete one of the most interesting books of the Bible.  I hope you enjoyed it and more than that, I pray that you use these chapters over and over as you face your own suffering.  Let’s give praise to the One who is truly in control of our circumstances.  

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.