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 ...
• B. The First Cycle of Speeches between Job and His Three Friends chs. 4-14
  The two soliloquies of Job (chs. 3 and 29-31) enclose three cycles of dialogue between Job and his three friends. Each cycle consists of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar in that order interspersed with Job's reply to e...
• 1. Eliphaz's first speech chs. 4-5
  Eliphaz's first speech has a symmetrical introverted (chiastic) structure that emphasizes the central section."AOpening remark (4:2)BExhortation (4:3-6)CGod's dealings with men (4:7-11)DThe revelation of truth (4:12-21)C'God'...
• Eliphaz's view of suffering 4:7-11
  This is one of the clearest expressions of Eliphaz's view of why people suffer and his view of the basis for the divine human relationship (v. 7). He believed good people always win and the bad always lose. He was asserting t...
• Eliphaz's vision 4:12-21
  Eliphaz's authority was a vision (v. 12). It seems that his vision was not a revelation from God for the following reasons. He did not say that it was from the Lord. God normally identified revelations from Himself as such to...
• 3. Bildad's first speech ch. 8
  Bildad agreed with Eliphaz that God was paying Job back for some sin he had committed, and he believed God would show Job mercy if he confessed that sin. However, Bildad built his conclusions on a slightly different foundatio...
• The greatness of God 9:1-12
  Job began his response to Bildad by acknowledging that much of what his friends had said was true (v. 2). Many of Job's speeches began with sarcasm or irony. He then turned to a question that Eliphaz had raised earlier (4:17)...
• The fate of the wicked 15:17-35
  Perhaps Eliphaz wanted to scare Job into repenting with these words. As before, Eliphaz's authority was his own observations (v. 17; cf. 4:8). To this he added the wisdom of their ancestors (vv. 18-19; cf. 8:8). Probably vers...
• 3. Bildad's third speech ch. 25
  The brevity of this speech reflects the fact that Job's companions were running out of arguments. Job's responses were at least silencing them if not convincing them.Bildad seems to have abandoned the earlier theme of the wic...
• 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...
• Hezekiah's record of his crisis 38:9-22
  The bulk of this section is a psalm of lamentation and thanksgiving that Hezekiah composed after his recovery (vv. 10-20). This psalm is also chiastic in structure. It begins with reference to the gates of Sheol and sorrow at...
• The final purging of sin 9:11-28
  The writer now focused on the issue of sacrifice."The argument moves a stage further as the author turns specifically to what Christ has done. The sacrifices of the old covenant were ineffectual. But in strong contrast Christ...