Job 23 - Introduction

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

1-2 I still rebel and complain against God;

I cannot keep from groaning.

3 How I wish I knew where to find him,

and knew how to go where he is.

4 I would state my case before him,

and present all the arguments in my favor.

5 I want to know what he would say,

and how he would answer me.

6 Would God use all his strength against me?

No, he would listen as I spoke.

7 I am honest; I could reason with God;

he would declare me innocent once and for all.

8 I have searched in the East, but God is not there;

and I have not found him when I searched in the West.

9 God has been at work in the North,

and he has traveled to the South,
but still I have not seen him.

10 Yet God knows every step I take;

if he tests me he will find me pure.

11 I follow faithfully the road he chooses,

and I never wander to either side.

12 I always do what God commands;

I follow his will, not my own desires.

13 He never changes. No one can oppose him,

or keep him from doing what he wants to do.

14 He will fulfill what he has planned for me;

that plan is only one of the many he has,

15 and I tremble with fear before him.
16-17 Almighty God has destroyed my courage.

It is God, not the darkness, that makes me afraid

even though the dark blinds my eyes.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 23:1-17

467.

This chapter is completely devoted to what subject?

468.

Do we live in a moral or amoral world? Prove your answer.

469.

Do we, like Job, tend to judge the whole world by the activities of our little world? Discuss.

470.

There is a major distinction between Job and his friends, as suggested in verse three. What is it?

471.

A courtroom scene is suggested in verse four. Cf. Job 9:13-21 and Job 13:18 a. What is to be tried?

472.

Job is confident of the outcome of a trial before God. What could it be?

473.

There is a powerful verb image used in verse seven. What is it?

474.

Isn-'t it a futile effort to look for God in geographical areas? Or is this the meaning of verses eight and nine? Discuss.

475.

What are the two possible meanings to verse ten? Which do you prefer? Why?

476.

Show how Job 23:11 is a denial of Job 22:6-9.

477.

Job really loved the words of God. How does he indicate this?

478.

Why use the description of God as found in Job 23:13? What is the point?

479.

Is fatalism suggested in Job 23:14? Discuss the meaning.

480.

What kind of fear or terror is right and what kind is wrong. Discuss.

481.

What are the emphatic words in Job 23:16? What is meant?

482.

There is darkness. What is it as suggested in Job 23:17?

2.

Many other cases of unequal treatment show God's unconcern. (Job 24:1-25)

a.

The wicked and their victims (Job 24:1-12)