Destitute

Job 20:19-23 – For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build. “Surely he will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure. Nothing is left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure. In the midst of his plenty, distress will overtake him; the full force of misery will come upon him. When he has filled his belly, God will vent his burning anger against him and rain down his blows on him.

Deuteronomy 15:11 – There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Zephaniah 1:18 – Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath.” In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.

Numbers 11:19-20 – You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

Application:

• ·         Even in the best of societies under the most enlightened laws, the uncertainties of life and the variations among citizens result in some people becoming poor.
• ·         In the day of God’s judgment, material wealth cannot buy deliverance from punishment.
• ·         The Israelites failed to demonstrate proper gratitude to the Lord, who was in their midst and who was their constant source of good.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Linger In His Mouth

Job 20:11-18 – The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie with him in the dust. “Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, though he cannot bear to let it go and lets it linger in his mouth, yet his food will turn sour in his stomach; it will become the venom of serpents within him. He will spit out the riches he swallowed; God will make his stomach vomit them up. He will suck the poison of serpents; the fangs of an adder will kill him. He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

Numbers 11:19-20 – You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

Psalm 36:8 – They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.

Application:

• ·         The principal issue was not meat at all, but a failure to demonstrate proper gratitude to the Lord, who was in their midst and who was their constant source of good.
• ·         The vivid imagery of Psalm 36:8, depicting God’s control over, and gift of, the waters from heaven, which feed the rivers and streams of earth to give life and health wherever they flow, is the source of the symbol of “the river of the water of life” that flows from the temple of God.
• ·         “What he toiled for…he will not enjoy” was a common theme in wisdom literature.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Give Back His Wealth

Job 20:3-10,18 – I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply. “Surely you know how it has been from of old, ever since mankind was placed on the earth, that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’ Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night. The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more. His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth…What he toiled for he must give back uneaten; he will not enjoy the profit from his trading.

Amos 2:7-8 – They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.

Application:

• ·         “What he toiled for…he will not enjoy” was a common theme in wisdom literature.
• ·         To care for the “poor…oppressed” and to protect them from injustice were clearly commanded by Israel’s law; also, throughout the ancient Near East, kings were supposed to defend such people.
• ·         Israelites who broke the laws protecting the powerless brazenly used their wrongly gotten gains even in places supposed to be holy.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Greatly Disturbed

Job 20:1-2 – Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer because I am greatly disturbed.

Job 15:35 – They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

Job 18:21 – Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Psalm 42:5 – Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Application:

• ·         Once initiated, sinful thoughts develop quickly into evil acts.
• ·         Having no intimate knowledge of God is synonymous with being wicked.
• ·         “Praise Him” for His saving help.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Judgment

Job 19:29 – “If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,’ you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.”

Psalm 1:5 – Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Psalm 58:11 – Then people will say, “Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

Ecclesiastes 3:17 – I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

Ecclesiastes 11:9 – You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Application:

• ·         “Will not stand in the judgment” means will not be able to withstand God’s wrath when He judges.
• ·         When God has judged the unjust “gods”, all people will see that right ultimately triumphs under God’s just rule.
• ·         God’s true judgments are the answer to cynicism about human injustices. “The past” is not meaningless, and God will override the perverse judgments of people. No one will escape divine judgment.
• ·         The prospect of divine praise or blame makes every detail of life significant rather than meaningless.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Hound

Job 19:25-29 – I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! “If you say, ‘How we will hound him, since the root of the trouble lies in him,’ you should fear the sword yourselves; for wrath will bring punishment by the sword, and then you will know that there is judgment.”

Psalm 63:1 – You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

Application:

• ·         “Dry and parched land” was a metaphor for his situation of need, in which he does not taste “the richest of foods” supplied by the “river whose streams make glad the city of God”
• ·         The Hebrew for “hound” is translated “pursue”.
• ·         Job senses that the ravages of his disease will eventually bring about his death.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

I Will See God

Job 19:25-27 – I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Job 42:5 – My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

Application:

• ·         Job is absolutely certain that death is not the end of existence and that someday he will stand in the presence of his divine “redeemer” and see Him with his own eyes.
• ·         The Christian will know the Lord to the fullest extent possible for a finite being, similar to the way the Lord knows the Christian—fully and infinitely. This will not be true until the Lord returns or the believer sees Him “face to face” at death.
• ·         In other contexts Job desires a “vindicator” as an advocate in heaven who would plead with God on his behalf, but here the “redeemer” seems to be none other than God Himself. Job expresses confidence that ultimately God will vindicate His faithful servants in the face of all false accusations.
• ·         Job—and his three friends and Elihu—had only heard about God, but now Job has seen God with the eyes of faith and spiritual understanding. He can therefore accept God’s ways with him—which include suffering.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV