Two Bits Media of Kansas City: The Book of Job

Updated: August 6, 2007

The Bible Commentary

[C]2006-07 by Richard L Zorek
Job 1:1: "There was a man in the Land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." This does not mean that he was absolutely sinless. It means that he was a God-fearing man who sought to do what was right before the Lord. Job's awareness of his own sins is acknowledged by the fact that he sacrificed animals to the Lord as atonement for his sins in chapter 1. "Uz" probably refers to a place in or near Edom, the territory to the southeast of the Dead sea, in what is now the southern part of the Kingdom of Jordan. The exact location is less important for literary appreciation of the book than the fact that it is non-Israelite terroritory. By making Job a foreigner, the author hints that the story will treat a theme of universal interest.
Job 1:2: And there were born unto hum sevens sons and three daughters Job is a family man.
Job 1: 6: One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. God is not threatened when satan appears among the "angels" (or some translations use "sons of God") at heaven's council. Without an invitation, Satan intrudes upon heavens council meeting. Satan, however, comes to disrupt, not to learn. Howso with many Bible critics.

Job 1: 7: The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Rather than banishing him from heaven, God calls him into accountability. Satan's confession is of a vagabond spirit, pacing the earth with frustration of a caged lion and preying upon unsuspecting victims. In stark contrast to God's orderly and meaningful nature, Satan epitomizez the ultimate of evil, when alienation, aimlessness, and anxiety--the essence of hell--obsess the soul.

Job 1:8: Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” God called Job blameless and upright, and said no one else on earth measured up to him. Notice that God drew Satan's attention to Job, essentially provoking or inititiating Satan's attack on Job. One thing to note about this conversation is that Job did not know it happened. We are given an insight into an event that happened outside of Job's experience.

Job 1:10: Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about a;ll that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his blameless substance The contest posed between Satan and God was no trivial exercise. Satan's accusation that Job loved God only because "you have put a hedge around him," stands as an attack on God's character. It implies that God is not worthy of love in himself; faithful people like Job followed him only because they are "bribed" to do so.
Job 1:15: when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!” In all of the Saints wars with the wicked, Satan is the commander in cheif, it is his work they do and his lusts they fulfill. The Sabeans plundered Job, but went on Satans errand. The Sabaens were probably north Arabian nomadic maurauders.

Job 1:21 And he said: “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” These words are usually associated with a graveside service. But that really wasn't the spirit in which Job delievered the comments. On a day when Satan had wiped out all that he had on earth, Job worshipped God and thanked him for his blessings. Tragedy reveals the inner spirit of a man. The drive for parallelism so characterictic of Hebrew and other Semitc poetry has created a logical absurdity, but one fraught with poetic beauty. We do not literally retrun to our mothers womb, but since we are born from the womb, the poet gives the same name to the place where we find our end.
Job 2:3: Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.” God accepted responsibility for Satan's attack on Job: "you incited me against him."
Job 2:4: So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. "Skin for skin" is a proverb of the east that has been variously interpreted. Most likely it means that Job has only been tested at only the superficial level and, therefore, has a superficial, response. His philosophy was (and is) that men are basically self-centered creatures. When you attack them directly, they will give way, and they will give up their faith, their religion, anything, to save their own possessions. Now that argument has been fully answered. God has allowed Satan to test Job, and, though he lost his family and all his wealth, Job remained steadfast in his integrity, refusing to charge God with wrong. It is really a very sobering thing to realize that the tests that come into our life are aimed at getting us to curse God to his face, to tell him that he is wrong, that he does not keep his promises, that he is not the kind of a God that we have been told he is. If you take note of your own life you will recognize that, when under pressure, the thing you want more than anything else is to cry out in protest to God that he is not keeping his promises. That is where Satan always aims. He has the same philosophy and the same objective today: he wants us to curse God, as he wanted Job to curse God. The book of Job shows us that there are reasons and purposes in these trials and sufferings that we do not see. Job could not see what was going on behind the scenes, and neither can we. And yet God knows, and God is working out an object. He has a purpose for it, and it is a proper and right purpose that will end up manifesting more fully the love and compassion of his heart. The test of every trial is always to this end. But Satan asks for a change in the rules because, in effect, he says to God, "You didn't go far enough. You put a boundary about Job and said I couldn't touch his body. That's the problem. It's true that a man may give up his possessions, but one thing he will never give up is his health. You let me get at him, let me destroy his health, and he will give up his integrity and his faith."
Self centeredness dominates all of Satans thinking. He cannot believe that the loss of possessions and family really matters if the person himself is untouched. Therefore, he uses self-centeredness, the only motive he knows, as an excuse for his failure and as a way to advance his next challenge to God.
Job 2:5: But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse you to his face. Satans tactic is to probe and probe until he finds the fatal flaw in a person's character that leads to sin. In Jesus' temptation Satan personalized his probe to appeal to Jesus specific needs at that time and place. So it is always. Most people are selectively strong or weak in character. This time God moves the boundaries closer. He says, "You can touch him." In fact, when Satan uses the phrase, "touch his bone and his flesh," he asks for access to the total humanity of Job. We still use that phrase today, flesh and bone, to speak of the totality of our humanity -- not only our physical body, but our emotional life as well, our conscious and subconscious thinking and reacting. And not only our soul, but our spirit as well. Satan is asking for access to this man Job, to touch him body, soul and spirit -- and he proceeds in that order. That constitutes the argument and basic assault recorded in the rest of the book of Job. Satan knows what he is after. He knows that if he can get at Job in every part of his being, he thinks that he can shake Job's faith and cause him to turn from his trust and confidence in God, and curse him to his face.

Job 2:7: So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Satan smote Job, not God. The actual tests take less than two of the forty-two chapters of the Book of Job, less than five percent. If God does not waste words then he spent forty chapters hoping ro reveal reveal something. Because he knew Job's heart and he wanted to purify this "blameless and upright" man. God was not naive; he knew exactly what Satan would do and he never had to apologize to Job for letting Satan get to him. God actually set up the test to do something with Job's attitude. The affliction that Satan strikes Job with is often translated "painful boils." But in Hebrew, it is a single word (Shekhim) that should be more properly translated as "bad (skin) inflamation." Jobs disease has been diagnosed as anything from leprosy to elephantias It should be noted that Satan still has no avenue of attack in the character of Job. His point of entry is physical. Most likely, Job carried in his body the weakness for the disease elephantias (or leprosy). Once his immune system was broken down, he immediately became a candidate for the disease.

Here in these first two we are given a viewpoint of Job and his suffering, one that Job himself is not permitted to have. We are given this because we too are not permitted this viewpoint in times of trial. We do not know what is going on behind the scenes in our lives, with our pressures and trials. We do not know what has transpired between Satan and God about us, but we are given this reassurance that something does happen, and that we are being subjected to a test. This is very important to realize.

Job 2:8: And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes Scraping and sitting in ashes are mourning rituals. They may have been thought appropriate for someone stricken with certain diseaes as well as bereavement. Some of the rules laid down by Leviticus for person suffering with skin diseases are related to the beahaviour of mourners (Lev 13:45).
Job 2:9: Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” She is clearly suggesting suicide: "It would be better for you to take your life than to go on like this." So poor Job, bound by physical pain, sits in humility with a disfigured body, and suffers from a sense of emotional abandonment by his mate.
Job 2:10: You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. In this great sentence he again reasserts the sovereignty of God: "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" Job's wife had the philosophy that life ought to be pleasant and if it was not, there was no use living it. That philosophy is widespread in our own day, and a mounting suicide rate testifies to the universal acceptance of it. The reason we are here is not necessarily to have a good time. There are meaningful objectives to be attained in life, even when it all turns sour. When the pressure comes, when living is no longer fun, life is still worth living. A philosophy that wants to abandon everything as soon as things become unpleasant is a shallow, mistaken, distorted view of life. "Disgraceful" is the normal meaning of the Hebrew word. Nearly all translation render it as "foolish." But Job judges her counsel to be folly not wickedness. The text also goes out of the way to stress that Job did not "sin with his lips." He did not give voice or outrage or anger to what he might have felt about God. This stress that his thoughts were irrelevant to his piety.
Job 2:11: Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. The major attack on the faith of Job comes not through his physical trials, but through an attack on his spiritual relationship with God himself. And it comes through the hands of well-meaning friends. That is the irony of this. Here are misguided but sincere friends who want to help, and hope they are helping, but actually they are an instrument of Satan to assault the castle of Job's faith, and almost cause it to collapse.
Job 2:13: So they sat down with him upon the ground sven days and seven nights and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great We rightly disaparage Job's friends for their insensitive response to his suffering. But these 7 days were the most eloquent moments they spent with him.
Job 3:1: After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day Ironically, this is after we have been told that Job had been cautious in his speech.

Job 3:3: Let the day perish wherin I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child concieved The night istself is represented as speaking, being the only witness present at the moment of conception. CS Lewis confesses in "A Grief observed", that his prayer is more a "yell" than a thought after he and his dying wife had come to the end of all their hopes and found them false.
Job 3:12: Why did the knees advance to greet me? Or why the breasts that I should suck? This phrase could refer to the knees of the midwife on whom the newly born infant was placed; or to the knees of the mother, where the infant would be held for nursing (as described in some ancient texts), or to the knees of the father, who by this ceremony would accept paternity of the child.
Job 3:23: Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? The word "hedged" is an ironic echo of the Hebrew word used by the Accuser in Job 1:10 when he admonishes Yahweh for having secured Job's loyalty by "sheltering him from harm." One cannot escape the impression that Job senses he is the victim of divine forces, though he knows nothing of the epsiode in heaven.
Job 3:25: For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. Job was motivated by fear or distrust of God. Job 31:23 says "For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things" . And Job 31-2-3 "For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong?". Job admitted that he was careful to obey God's expectations of him because he dreaded God's response if he failed. Fear is a result of self-centeredness, a concern for what will happen to me. Job only saw the danger to himself if he failed to please God. God had called Job blameless and upright, yet the man had serious attitude problems. For example, he initially feigned humility with his friends, but turned out to be arrogant and unrepentant (see 6:24-30; 13:1-2, 23; 29:7-25). Job accused God of abusing him and denying him justice! He could not admit that God might have a valid reason for allowing these things to happen to him. Instead, he accused God of injustice Job was self-righteous and refused to consider his friends' accusations of sin. "I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live" (27:5-6). (Also Job 9:21; 10:7; 12:4; 16:17; 23:10-12; 31:1, 5-11; 32:1-2.) His friends believed God was punishing Job for some hidden sin. Instead, God was testing Job to reveal hidden sin. Job reveals his true motive for serving God and offering those sacrifices: to prevent bad things from happening to him. This is very simply the underlying motive for much practical religion around the world: to avoid problems and have a good life. This is why he he wishes he had never been born: because he doesn't see any way out of his predicament. He has tried serving God so that he could avoid trouble and it didn't work. No he despairs life as he sees no other alternative.
Job 4:3: Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands" To comfort mourners with pious exhortations was a duty of leadership (Job 29:25).
Job 4:8: Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same Religon that can be summed up in an equation requires more faith in the formula than it does in God. Eliphaz's primary equation reads "Sin equals suffering" and the opposite "righteousness equals prosperity." Once a proposition like this is adopted, all human behavior is analyzed accordingly.

Job 4:10: The roaring lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken The author of Job was able to deploy five different words for lion in this passage, while the English translator has to make due with one.
Job 4:12: Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof Possibly a night vision by Eliphaz.
Job 4:17: Shall a mortal man be more than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?"In the face of God's purity, mere man cannot be pure.
Job 4:18: Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly Job says God puts no trust in his servants or angels.
Job 5:2: For wrath killed the foolish man, and envy the slayeth the silly one The word wrath, from the Hebrew, is "vexation." A wise man would only show wrath in the face of gross injustice.
Job 5:19: he shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee Proverbial expressions and poetry are often built on arbitrarily chosen pairs of ascending numbers in Biblical Hebrew and other Canaanite languages.

Job 6:9-10: Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would not harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare: for I have not concealed the words of the holy one If God would kill me, it would be a comfort. God owes Job at lest this much. Two conflicting motives reside in our human nature. We have a will to live, and, at the same time, a wish to die. A tenacious will to live dominate the healthy personality. On the other extreme, who has not ai at one time or another "I wish I could die?"

Job 6:11: What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? The question is absurd, as CS Lewis notes that Jobn knows that "death ends the dialogue."
Job 6:19: The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sabea waited for them Tema and Sabea are two oases in northwest Arabia.
Job 6:21: For now ye are no thing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid Possibly the real truth about his friends reactons. They saw what was happening to Job and were themselves afraid.
Job 6:26: Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?" Do you think mere words will help? they are as wind.....
Job 7:1: Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of an hireling? Job now observes that he is not the only sufferer, for man in general was born to a short and hard life. He does not claim to be innocent as he admits he is human and subject to error. His question is why, why should God care so much? It would be fairer if God let man alone, for there is no sin that puny man could posssibly commit that could threaten or harm God in any way.
Job 7:2: As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work Job compares his experience with that of a slave.

Job 7:7-8: "Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave —what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. There are heights and depths in the Infinite that can never be measured in the finite.
Job 7:11: Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of mys spirt; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul Job launches out on his most violent attack on God. Job dares to doubt the justice of God. God is not threatend. God does not retaliate. He knows that Job speaks from intolerable suffering, cries from unshakeable faith, and tests the limits of honest doubt.
Job 7:12: Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? He chides Goid for acting as if he were a threat to Him.
Job 7:14: Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions Job claims that God scares him with dreams and terrifies him with visions.
Job 7:15: So that my sould chooseth strangling, and eath rather than my life The translation is based on a slight emendation of the Hebrew text, which, as it stands, yields "better than my bones."

Job 7:16: I loathe it; I would not live alway; let me alone; for my days are vanity. "Let me alone" is the cry of utter frustration.
Job 7:17-18: What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? Job makes a parody of Psalm 8:4-5. He digs at God for magnifying the insignifcance of man by constantly watching him, visiting him, and testing him.
Job 7:19: How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle He pleads for God to turn away His face and leave him alone so that he can strangle on his spit.
Job 7:20: If I have sinned, what have I done?" This is every sufferers question, saint or sinner. Who dares to speak to God this way? Only a man of faith who knows God personally.
Job 7:21: And why dost thou not pardon my trangression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be Job asks, "If it because of sin, why don't you take it away?. It's possible that this can be interpreted as kind of a childish response "you will be sorry when I am gone."
Job 8:4: "If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression" Bildad was claiming that the children died because they sinned...which is cruel.

Job 8:8: For I enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. Bildad cites as authority the widsom of the ancients. Bildad traces his ideas back to traditon, in contrast to Eliphaz who drew largely from his own personal experience. Without tradition a society lacks continuity and stability. Education, has the responsibility to transmit cultural heritage from gerneration to generation.
Job 8:10: Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?" Bildad acknowledged that the wisdom of the elders did not come from momentary feelings but from observations passed down through generations.

Job 8:16: He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden Some translations add the qualifier "He is like a self watered plant! in the sunshine"

Job 9:1: Then Job answered and said Job begins his response to Bildad.
Job 9:2: I kmow it is so of a truth: but how should a man be just with God? Job agrees that God deems the wicked to suffer and deems the righteous to prosper. But he is angry because God does not determine justly who is wicked and who is righteous. Job gives the impression of a man who has stepped back from his inner anguish and outer anger to take a reasoned look at the doctrines of God's justice and man's righteousness. Can Job survive the logic of his despair? Cutting cynicism is detected in the question "How can a man be righteous before God?"

Job 9:3: If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand If man chose to accuse God, God would refuse to answer one of a thousand accusations. In the Hebrew it could also mean that if God chose to quarrel with man, man would be unable to answer.
Job 9:4: He is wise in heart, and mighty in srength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? God is shrewd and powerful.

Job 9:11: Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passseth on also, but I perceive him not Human minds cannot see him, human minds cannot perceive him.
Job 9:12: Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder Him? who will say unto him, What doest thou Human will cannot hinder him and human reason cannot question him.

Job 10:2: I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me Job challenges God for the apparent contradictions in His behavior.
Job 10:3: Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked/ Job accuses God of enjoying oppression, despising creation, and exalting the wicked.
Job 10:13: And these things thou hast hid in thine heart: I know that it is with thee Perhaps Job means that God has kept track of His benefactions to men mentioned in the preceding verses, or he might be referring to all the little things he has done wrong.
Job 10:20-21: Are not my days few? cease then ans let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death Having once known the care of God, Job cannot accept the fact that he is now the target for destruction. Therefore, he calls God to one last show of consistency.

Job 11:8-9: It is as high as heaven: what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader then who can hinder? Too bad Zophar has to turn insipired truth into another weapon against Job. Ironically, he says the same thing that God will say to Job later.

Job 11:12: For a vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass' colt Zophar falls victim to his own verbiage. His agitation ignites verbal violence that flares up and becomes a careless curse. Not only does he denounce Job as an "empty headed ass" but in contemporary language he declares that wisdom will elude Job "till hell freezes over."

Job 12:5: He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease. An old proverb is cited "A disaster is despised in the thought of the one who is at ease." Until we suffer, we can never share the pain of all those who suffer, nor understand that attitude of disdain with which healthy and uncomfortable people treat the sufferer. Handicapped people are doubly affected by this attitude. "Normal" people avoid them, talk down to them, and assume their handicap cripples the total personality.

Job 12:6: The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that proboke God are scure; into who hand God bringeth abundantly They are confident of their ill-gotten prosperity.

Job 12:7: But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee Even the beasts of the field know that God wields tyrannical power over everything.

Job 13:4: But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value In anger Job calls them liars and charge that they are worthless doctors.

Job 13:5: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." God has absolute priority. I live only to serve Him, and it is a sin to put oneself at the center of things." It is not easy to trust in the Lord when He is destroying our hopes and undercutting our stands, but the alternative is terrifying.
Job 13:6: Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips Here begins the second part of Job's speech. The word translated "pleadings" is a typical court room term.
Job 13:13-15: "Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may. Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands? Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face" . By examining the context of this statement, you will see that Job was expecting God to assault him and he wanted to defend himself against God's alleged injustice. Job is saying that he wants the opportunity to justify himself, regardless of what God might do to him in response. The word used in this verse is not the typical Hebrew word for hope or trust. This word primarily means to remain or delay; to expect, hope or wait. The emphasis is on the delay itself, not on any faith that causes him to wait. And the original text does not say "hope in him," so Job is not saying he has confidence that God will do what is right. One alternate translation is, "He will surely slay me; I have no hope — yet I will defend my ways to his face." Another alternate translation is, "Behold, he will kill me; I will not wait, but I will justify my ways to his face." Job is not saying he has faith that God will do the right thing; basically he is saying that even if God does such an evil thing as destroy him, he will defend himself before him. The assertion gives Job the confidence and boldness to repeat his demand for an audience with God to present his case. He only aks that God speak to him and specify his sins.

Job 13:26: For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to posess the iniquities of my youth Job probes into his past. complaining that it is unfair for God to penalize him for the errors, failures, and rebellion of his youth.

Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one Job means that God wants to hold him to a standard of perfection, when he is but an imperfect mortal. The impure often can be made pure, through prescribed ritual actions, but nothing can make man immortal or perfect. Furthermore, God could have made man perfect, if He had chosen to do so.

Job accused God of trailing him to see if he was going to fail. He claimed God was tallying his sins and not forgetting or forgiving them. He said God was putting them all in a bag and saving them for judgement.
Job 15:18: Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it Eliphaz cites tradition as the authority, back when wisdom was undiluted.
Job 15:20: The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of his years is hidden to the oppresssor. Eliphaz decsribes the punishment of the wicked man as something internal. The wicked man is punished, above all, with anxiety.
Job 15:33: He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree The normal olive tree does shed its blossom in spring in an impressive display, but very few of the blossoms produce fruit. The parable must mean that the wicked are not blessed with profuse progeny.
Job 16:2: I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all They brought him a lot of talk, but no comfort. In fact...miserable comfort.
Job 16:4-5: I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should relieve your grief Job alludes to the superficiality of his friends attempt to console him. Job means to say that if the friends were the sufferers and the comforter, he would do a better Job.
Job 16:9: He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. Job described his suffering as an attack on himself by warriors and wild beasts.
Job 16:11: "God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over to the hands of the wicked." Job never blames satan for his problems. He understands the role of Satan very well. Satan loves to get blame for it.
Job 18:8: For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and his own counsel shall cats him down Here begins a little poem made up of variations on the image of trapping.
Job 19:7: Behold I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgement. "Wrong" is also translated "violence," which seems to be the Bibles equivlaence of our "Help! Murder!"
Job 19:21: Have pity on me, have pity on me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me Hebrew, unlike English, uses the expression "touched by God" to mean something bad, and possibly fatal. The root that underlies words meaning "touch" also underlies the word "plague."

Job 19:25: For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth The Hebrew word for "redeemer" is goel, which also means "advocate," or, more archaicallly "blood avenger".
Job 21:2: Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on Bitter sarcasm.
Job 21:7: Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Job raises the question of why do things go well for the wicked?
Job 22:24: Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks Though mentioned several times in the Bible as a source of gold, the site of Ophir has never been identified.
Job 23:2: "Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning". Job's complaint is against God, and God's hand continues to be heavy on Job in spite of Job's suffering.

Job 23:3-5, 8- 10 "If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say.... But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" Job is frustrated that he cannot go where God is to confront him. He wants to stand face-to-face with God and hear God's explanation for his suffering. He complains that he does not know where to find God, but God knows where to find him, presumably to inflict suffering on him. Then Job speaks from his self-righteousness, that when God has done his worst on him, he will still be righteous. In other words, even God cannot make him sin!
Job 23:17: Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face Since I am still alive, God has plenty more opportunities to torment me.
Job 24:12: Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them Why does he look without intervening while the oppressed and exploited suffer?
Job 25:5: Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight Not even the sun and moon are pure in his sight.
Job 25:6: How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? Man is less than the worms in God sight.
Job 26:6: Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering Original Hebrew says "Abbadon", which is another word for hell. The word means perishing.
Job 26:7: He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing "Nothing" is also translated "chaos."
Job 26:9: He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. The sky is pictured as God's throne.
Job 27:15: Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep The plural of "widows" fits the social reality, since polygamy was common, especially among the wealthy.
Job 28:16-19: It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold This passage employs no fewer than four different words for gold, whereas English only has one, posing a problem for the translator.
Job 29:18-19: Then I said I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch Job expected to die. Suffering short circuits long range planning. Sand is commonly used in hyperbolic similes expressing the concept of innumerability.
Job 29:25: I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in their army, as one that comforteth the mourners It would appear from a number of passages in Job that comforting mourners was a special responsibility of a dignitary.
Job 30:12: Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction The bastard childen of the outlaws grow up away from civilization and run free, spreading chaos.
Job 31:10: Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her This is often interpreted as a metaphor for sexual exploitation. But grinding is often mentioned in the Bible as an image of servitude, as in Lamentations 5:13. There really isn't much difference, as a slave woman would be used for both heavy work and sex.
Job 31:12: For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase "it"=adultery.
Job 31:21: If I have lifted my hand up against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate "The gate" is equivalent to "the street" or "town square," the site of judicial and commercial activity.
Job 31:27: And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand to kiss ones hand while looking at someone or to waft a kiss in his direction is a sign of adoration.

Job 31:34: Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? This passage creates the impression that in Job's world, merely keeping to onseelf is a kind of wrongdoing, or at least arouses suspicion of wrongdoing.

Job 32:9: Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment The Hebrew text translated literally means "Elders are not wise, and the old do not understand judgment."

Job 32:12: Yea, I attended unto you, and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words Elihu is the only one of the disputants to refer to Job by name.

Job 32:19: Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles. Like a tightly sealed leather wine jar swollen with gas produced by fermentation. The image of flatulence reinforces the impression of Elihu as brash and uncultivated.

Job 34:36: My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men The friends turn out to be friends of the sorrow producer rather than the victim.

Job 35:11: Who teacheth us more than the beats of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven It is a commonplace of ancient wisdom literature that men can learn the profound lessons of life by observing nature.

Job 36:13: But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath; they cry not when they bindeth them They do not cry out to God for help.

Job 36:15: He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression. The suffering of the sufferer is intended to purify him and induce him to change his ways.
Job 38:2-3: Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me" When God reenters the scene, His first words set the tone for his response to Job: Job considered himself so wise that he presumed to criticize God. Now God replies, "Job, if you're as smart as you claim, answer these questions."

Job 38:4-5: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!" Man talks about the origin of the universe as though he were some expert, but man doesnt even know where he was when it was created. Where were you? Did you notice God's sarcasm: "Surely you know"?

Job 42:2: I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee Many people have written books attempting to defend God's reputation when God saw no need for self defense. God offered no point by point explanation.