Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Message
  What this book is all about has been the subject of considerable debate. Many people think God gave it to us to provide His answer to the age-old problem of suffering. In particular, many believe it is in the Bible to help us...
• Outline
  I. Prologue chs. 1-2A. Job's character 1:1-5B. Job's calamities 1:6-2:101. The first test 1:6-222. The second test 2:1-10C. Job's comforters 2:11-13II. The dialogue concerning the basis of the divine-human relationship 3:1-42...
• I. PROLOGUE chs. 1--2
  The writer composed the prologue and epilogue of this book in prose narrative and the main body (3:1-42:6) in poetry. The prologue and epilogue form a frame around the main emphasis of the revelation, the poetic section, and ...
• 1. Job's discourse on God's wisdom ch. 28
  Because the speech in this chapter is more soliloquy than dialogue some scholars have concluded that someone other than Job spoke it: Zophar, Bildad, or God. One writer argued for its being a speech by none of the characters,...
• F. Elihu's Speeches chs. 32-37
  Many critical scholars believe that a later editor inserted chapters 32-37 in the text of Job.135Most conservatives believe there is ample external and internal evidence indicating that this section of chapters fits into the ...
• 2. Elihu's first speech 32:6-33:33
  Before Elihu began presenting his views (ch. 33), he first had to gain the attention of his elders and to explain why he wanted to speak (32:6-22)....
• Elihu's reasons for speaking 32:6-22
  Elihu began by voicing his respect for Job's three friends (vv. 6-10). They were older than he, and for this reason he said he had refrained from speaking until now. However he had become convinced that advancing age does not...
• Elihu's first response to Job ch. 33
  This whole speech is an attempt to explain to Job why God was not responding to him. Elihu was very wordy, which he admitted in 32:18. In summary, he told Job that God was not silent, as Job had charged, but that He was speak...
• 4. Elihu's third speech ch. 35
  We could chart the differences in Elihu's first three speeches this way.Elihu's SpeechJob's question that Elihu answeredJob's charge that Elihu refutedFirstWhy doesn't God respond to me?God is insensitive (ch. 33).SecondWhy d...
• Bibliography
  Andersen, Francis I. Job. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series. Leicester, Eng. and Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1976.Archer, Gleason L., Jr. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Revised ed. Chicago: Moody...
• C. Instructive Contrasts chs. 28-29
  Most of the proverbs in this section are couplets, and most of them set forth a truth by means of a contrast.28:2 When wickedness abounds in a land there is usually a high rate of turnover in the leadership (v. 2a). The North...
• 1. An oracle against Aram 1:3-5
  1:3 The expression "for three transgressions [Heb. pesha'im, rebellions, i.e., against the universal Sovereign; cf. Gen. 9:5-17] and for four"is one of Amos' trademarks (cf. vv. 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6). It means for numerous...