Job 1:1-4:21 - my first attempt

Good evening folks,

Gosh, it gets later by the minute! Well, let's see if I can complete this by midnight.

So here we are: we've finished Genesis and we move on to... Job. Yes, that's where we're going next since we're reading the Bible chronologically. So let me give you some background and we'll jump into this great read. Now, some brief notes about the book itself:

1) No one is really sure who wrote it.
2) Although the One Year Bible people have suggested that this book comes next in order, no one knows for sure when it was actually written. The big thing has to do with how developed the theology of this book is, in comparison to the theological competency that Israel would have had in that time and place.

So much for that... But what I can tell you is that the book of Job is a work of poetry, a part of the Hebrew Tanak/Scriptures called the Kethuvim, which includes eleven books: The poetic books are Psalms, Proverbs and Job; the five scrolls are Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, and Esther; and the other historical books of Ezra-Nehemiah, Daniel and 1/2 Chronicles). The book of Job seeks to deal with the question that I hear so much as a pastor, "Why do bad things happen to good people? Is God punishing people when bad stuff happens to them?" and the like. There will be much we can learn as we explore this text that will aid us in exploring the question - even though I don't know what the answer to it actually is.

Well, I need to devote time and energy to this that I do not currently have... it's been a long day. So I'll get to my thoughts on the passage in the morning. Until then, the peace of Christ be with you.

In Him,
Pastor Nathan