GOD’S COMFORT TO THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFERER

Introduction:
The book of Job has puzzled just about everyone. From scholars to theologians, pastors to playwrights, laymen and skeptics, the book of Job puzzles and perplexes its readers. Long dialogues packed with Ancient Near Eastern customs, imagery, and wisdom only add to the mystery surrounding the theological purpose of Job. The mysterious and confusing literature has left many wondering if a theological purpose can even be found in the book of Job. While I do not intend to write a final word on this subject, I do offer my reader bowling alley bumpers to keep their interpretation of Job from falling in the gutters.

What are the “bumpers” assisting a useful interpretation of Job? I believe they are found in the introduction and conclusion of this great theological work. The introduction to Job, chapters one and two, provide the reader with insight to Job’s circumstances which were hidden from Job. Chapter 42, the conclusion to this great scripture book, provides further understanding to the mysterious dialogues throughout the body of this book. Before I spell out the details found within Job’s intro and conclusion, let me state clearly what I believe to be the theological point of Job.

Main Assertion:
The book of Job teaches us that the righteous may suffer for no fault of their own, even entering dark places psychologically, yet the Lord will show Himself as merciful and compassionate. Stated another way, the Lord will comfort the righteous who persevere in the midst of great suffering.

Misleading Translations:
In order to arrive at the above, we must grasp a key mistake made by many of Job’s interpreters. This key mistake is found at the end of Job, chapter forty-two verses five and six. The English Standard Version, along with the majority of English versions, translates those verses as follows. “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (italics mine). Ah, there’s the word which has misdirected many interpreters over the centuries. Repent.

The common interpretation, and misapplication, of this verse teaches that Job’s suffering finally ended after Job repented from all the bad things he said about himself and about God in chapters three through forty-one. God was willing to restore Job only after he adjusted his attitude toward the situation, so the thought goes. But translating Job 42:6, following the ESV, as “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” poses a unique problem to the book as a whole. First off, the book of Job presents Job as a righteous sufferer.

Job’s Righteousness:
This is where the introduction to Job guides our interpretation. Job’s narrator repeated five times that Job is a righteous and blameless man (1:1, 5, 8, 22; 2:3, 10). God goes out of his way to repeat Job’s innocence. So, whatever our conclusions of Job may be, we ought not go against God’s estimation of Job. Even at the end of the book, after all of Job’s speeches, God upholds his estimation of Job. “I will surely accept [Job’s] prayer and not deal with you [Job’s friends] as your folly deserves. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has” (42:8). The Lord hears the prayers of the righteous, not the unrighteous. If God upholds Job as righteous by the end of this book, we ought to as well. And if we do, we are confronted with a problem.

If Job is truly righteous, as God’s estimation of Job forces us to believe, then from what exactly is Job repenting? And if he repents, is he still a righteous sufferer? I do not believe the book of Job is presenting us with catch twenty-two, “gotcha!” theology. God’s word is always more practical than empty nothings. So we must find another way to translate Job 42:6.

The Literary Beauty of Hebrew Poetry:
How, then, should we translate Job 42:6? The word translated “repent” has a wider range of meaning than a straightforward “repent from sin” definition. One aspect of the Hebrew language in general, and of Hebrew poetry in particular, is its unique way of getting readers to think deeply. Words are often used that have multiple meanings in order to force the reader to meditate on the passage, to mull it over in their minds again and again until it makes sense.

The concept of a multiple meaning behind a word can also be seen in Job 1:11. Satan enticed God to strike Job in hopes that Job would curse God and die. The Hebrew word for curse in that passage is the same Hebrew word for bless. More often than not the meaning is bless rather than curse. The same is repeated in 2:5, “stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” Job’s wife advises Job to “curse God and die” in 2:9. In each of these instances the Hebrew word for bless is used rather than a more common word for curse. The author of Job employs poetic license and expects his readers to understand that bless is used euphemistically. The Hebrew poets were true literary artists.

So, I repeat, we should not translate Job 42:6 as “I repent in dust and ashes.” Is that allowed? Are there other places where the Hebrew word for repent is not translated as repent? In fact, yes. In Genesis 6:6 God performs the same Hebrew verb found in Job 42:6, though the Genesis passage clearly does not teach God is guilty of a sin from which he must repent. In Genesis 6:6 our English Bibles often translate repent as regret. “And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (ESV).

Just as Job 2:5 employs a play on words, using the word bless to euphemistically mean curse, the word repent is another play on words. The English word comfort embodies one of the primary meanings of the Hebrew word repent. I believe comfort best fits the overall message of Job. We should translate Job 42:6 as, “I despise myself and am comforted concerning dust and ashes.” Now the question is, can any justification be found for my translation? I obviously believe there is. Enter in Job’s comforters.

Job’s “Comforters”:
Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, hear of Job’s suffering and travel to see their good friend Job. The purpose of their trip, we are told in Job 2:11, was to “show him sympathy and comfort him”. (Yes, that’s the same Hebrew word we read in 42:6). Their mission to comfort Job becomes the whole tension throughout the speeches of Job. Can anyone say anything to comfort Job!? Apparently, his friends could not. Job complains that his friends are “miserable comforters” in chapter 16 verse 2. Their wisdom and theological assertions failed to comfort the righteous sufferer named Job. Why? Why failed their attempted comfort? Perhaps another poetic play on words clears the issue.

The speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar reveal their true intentions. They did not go to comfort Job. No, they went to try and get Job to repent. Eliphaz questions Job, “Can mortal man be in the right before God?” (4:17). Bildad questions Job, “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” (8:3). Zophar instructs Job, “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear” (11:14-15). Job 22:21 best sums up the friend’s attempted comfort. “Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.” The so-called “comfort” from Job’s friends prove to be mere attempts to get Job to acknowledge his guilt and repent from whatever has caused his suffering. Miserable comforters indeed!

God—Compassionate and Merciful:
But God. God speaks to Job in a whirlwind (Job 38-41), but interestingly God does not attempt to get Job to repent. Rather, God’s whirlwind speeches display his power, his knowledge, his providential care, his total sovereignty over all creation, even over chaos, evil, and suffering. Job repeatedly hoped and pleaded for a meeting with God, even though he knew that meeting would not change his current situation. He simply desired a hearing with God. And so, after Job hears God’s speech, he is finally, at last, “comforted” despite his suffering which had not changed.

Just as Job sat on ashes, the symbol of his suffering and grief, in chapter two verse eight, so too at the end of this book, chapter forty-two verse six, Job sits upon dust and ashes. But now he is comforted. What his friends failed to do, God did.

The God Who Comforts Job:
When Jesus stated that the applicational thrust of Scripture is summed up in a love for God and a love for others, He provided a grid by which to weigh our interpretations of Scripture. Does my view hold to the test? Does translating Job 42:6 as I do above increase one’s love for God and for neighbor? Yes. First, it encourages a love for God because it shows God to be compassionate. God does respond to Job and shows Himself mighty and valiant and in control even in the midst of suffering and confusion from a human perspective. God deigns to reveal Himself to the righteous sufferer in a way that quiets the sufferer’s complaints and comforts them even in the midst of dust and ashes, that is, in the midst of great grief and suffering. God delights to make Himself known to those who are suffering in such a way that they are truly comforted and are able to press forward in life. Indeed, He is near to the brokenhearted.

This interpretation also encourages love towards our suffering neighbors. Job’s friends were rejected by God for not speaking rightly to Job about God. They viewed God as a vending machine that gives you what you choose, punishment for wickedness or rewards for righteousness. Instead of that response, we learn from Job that God allows the righteous to suffer, yet He will indeed bring comfort in the midst of that suffering. Like many in deep suffering, Job questioned whether or not God was listening to his prayers and pleas for intervention. This book teaches us that God does hear, He does speak, and He does act on behalf of His saints who cry out to Him. This means that we can bear with the groans of those who suffer, and hear all their bitter ravings, in a confident hope that God will comfort them. We can pray in eager expectation for God to do what only God can do, provide a whirlwind of comfort to those overcome by a whirlwind of grief.

Summary—The Theological Point of Job:
Again, the book of Job portrays God as one who is merciful and compassionate, able to comfort the righteous sufferer in the midst of great suffering. It is to God we direct the righteous sufferer, for God in Christ is the ultimate righteous sufferer.

From the above interpretation of Job, we can rightly see how this book points us to Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate righteous sufferer. The one who truly committed no sin, and yet suffered on a cross to bear the sins of many. Through the incarnate Son of God’s suffering and death, God displayed the depths of His mercy and compassion. A mercy and compassion that reaches out and down to the down and out. A mercy and compassion that not only extends towards righteous sufferers, but even to the unrighteous.

In a world over-stuffed with information, articles and books and podcasts and more, a concise look into the means by which pastors carry out their duties is a necessary travel stop for refreshment and encouragement. Rather than doing a deep dive into olympic pool of information in search for an answer on “how-to” pastor, I invite you to take a dip in the calm waters of this epistolary lake, and come out taking a deep breath of fresh air with the felt warmth of the sun on your skin. May you, pastor, be able to take a step away from the ocean of info, and follow this simple, brief, and clear summary of the Bible’s “how-to” do pastoral ministry. So, rather than simply adding to the mass of information, I hope this serves as a brief reminder that will you read from time to time, especially when you are in the thick of pastoral ministry and need quick and simple encouragement to keep pressing on. 

The biblical methods, I believe, by which a pastor may faithfully carry out his duties as a pastor, may be summed up with three phrases: lead in a single direction; obey a simple command ; and aim at a sanctifying goal. Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Lead in a Single Direction

“Follow me, as I follow Christ.” 

This should go without saying, but pastors must be Christians. A Christian is someone who, by God’s regenerating grace, follows Christ with whole-hearted devotion empowered by the Holy Spirit. This reality is true of every Christian. This means that, before ever becoming a pastor, the Christian who serves as pastor over a church is first and foremost a Christian. His identity is rooted “in Christ”, not “in pastoring.” Therefore, the foremost factor which drives a pastor out of bed in the morning is not the desire to pastor, but the desire to rejoice in the Lord and follow Jesus. 

Jesus Himself, in Luke 10:20, taught his disciples to not rejoice in their accomplishments, but rather in what God has accomplished for them in Christ. “Don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (CSB). Jesus’ disciples rejoice first and foremost in the salvation that has been freely granted them in Christ. This free salvation motivates Christians to follow Jesus with whole-hearted devotion. 

That salvation is what motivated the apostle Paul to lay down his rights and proclaim Christ to all men “so that they may be saved” (1 Cor 10:23-33). And it is in that context, the context of being captured by God’s salvation in Christ, that led Paul to pen these words, “Follow me as I follow Christ” (MEV). As an apostle and therefore leader of the 1st century churches, following Jesus was Paul’s entire life direction. Another way to put it, Paul could lead the church because he followed closely at the heels of Jesus. Which is why the first step, the first “method”, of pastoral ministry is to lead in a single direction. That direction is Christward. Every pastor must be a living example of what it means to follow Jesus with whole-hearted devotion. The pastor’s identity is, first and foremost, Christian. 

This identity means that the pastor must have a clear focus on his own progress in sanctification. This progress is exactly what Paul emphasized to young Timothy when instructing Timothy how to conduct himself as a pastor in Ephesus. Paul told Timothy, “Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” He also charged Timothy to “practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 4:12, 15-16, CSB). Paul, who, as we saw in the 1 Corinthians passage, laid aside his rights for the salvation of the churches, knew that his growth in godliness would have a direct impact on the outcome of the church. In other words, the apostle Paul knew that the primary method of a successful ministry was to lead in the single direction of growing in Christlikeness. And Paul passed this principle on to his apprentice Timothy. Lead in the single direction of following Christ, he told Timothy, “for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 

Additionaly, Jesus gave this same exhortation to the seven churches of Asia Minor. The apostle John sent a message from Jesus to those seven churches which has been recorded and passed down to us in the book of Revelation.  In Revelation chapters 2-3 we read Jesus’ exhortations to the “angels” of those churches, which I interpret as the pastors of those churches. If my interpretation is correct, Jesus’ exhortations are primarily directed to the pastors of those churches and not to the whole congregation. In effect, the fate of those churches depended upon whether or not their pastors would head Christ’s calls of repentance. In sum, the fate of those churched hinged on whether or not their pastors would lead in a single direction, the direction of whole-hearted devotion to Christ. 

Obey a Simple Command

“Feed my sheep.”

“If you can’t do, teach.” Have you ever heard that cliche? It carries with it the assumption that those who do not have the skill to do “actual” work can always settle for teaching others how to do the work. After all, no one expects Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, to be able to do the work of throwing a football 60 yards downfield. However, Reid can coach someone like the Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes to do so. Thus the phrase, “If you can’t do, teach.” 

I believe, however, that the “if you can’t do, teach” cliche belittles occupations whose primary function is teaching. For one thing, what does that communicate to those who work as teachers at every level of education, from elementary to post-graduate schools. For teachers, teaching is the “do-ing” of their jobs. Likewise, the same is true for pastors. 

The pastor is someone whose primary work is teaching. Take the Apostle Peter, for instance. After Peter denied his Lord three times, he was restored by Jesus who further commissioned Peter to teach. That teaching commission is recorded for us in John 21:15-17. 

“When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? ” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Feed my lambs,” he told him. A second time he asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? ” “Yes, Lord,” he said to him, “you know that I love you.” “Shepherd my sheep,” he told him. He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? ” Peter was grieved that he asked him the third time, “Do you love me? ” He said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” “Feed my sheep,” Jesus said. “(CSB)

Jesus restored Peter and commissioned him to the weighty task of “feeding” God’s sheep. Some may argue that these verses contain two commands, “feed” and “shepherd.” But since the command to shepherd the sheep is sandwiched between two commands to feed the sheep, I believe that what Jesus is saying is that feeding is the means by which one shepherds. A fed sheep is a shepherded sheep. So we have to ask, what does it mean to feed the sheep? I believe that feeding God’s sheep means teaching them the word of God. I believe Peter understood it this way, too.

In the book of Acts records snapshots of Peter fulfilling his commission to feed/shepherd Jesus’ sheep. What did that look like? It looked, primarily, like teaching. Teaching was Peter’s “doing.” In fact, when an opportunity came up for Peter to “do” something else, he refused. “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables… But we will dvote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2, 4). The ministry of the word, i.e. teaching, was the means by which Peter accomplished his call to shepherd and feed Jesus’ sheep.

The same “doing” was true for the Apostle Paul. As he wrote to the Corinthian church, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 1:17). Teaching and preaching was the primary means by which Paul accomplished his work. Not only did Paul see teaching as the means by which he would accomplish his ministry, but it is also the means by which he expected others to fulfill the pastoral ministry. For example, he charges Timothy, “Command and teach these things… give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching” (1 Timothy 4:11-13). 

So then, the second method from Scripture by which a pastor may fulfill the work of ministry is by obeying a simple command: feed my sheep. This now leads us to the final method of faithfully administering the duties of a pastor. 

Aim at a Sanctifying Goal

“Present everyone mature in Christ.” 

If the above two phrases are truly biblical phrases that capture the methods of faithful pastoral ministry, then what are the life and teaching of the pastor meant to accomplish? Put another way, we must answer the question, “so what?” What is the main purpose for which the pastor leads in a single direction and obeys a simple command? It cannot be to entertain the church, nor to organize the church, for those goals are too trivial and minimal. Instead, I believe the answer is summed up well by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 1:28, wherein Paul explains the purpose of his ministry. He writes, “We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” The goal behind all of Paul’s instruction was to present everyone mature in Christ. In simple terms, to help people grow into mature Christians. Mature christian living is the goal of pastoral ministry. This is why I summarize the final method for pastoral ministry with the phrase, “Aim at a sancticfying goal.” 

Just as the goal of the pastor’s own life is to mature as a Christian, or as I stated as the first method, to lead in a single direction, so too the pastor’s teaching must aim at helping Christians grow into mature disciples of Jesus Christ. That is the goal for which the pastor obeys the simple command to feed Christ’s sheep. Even Jesus commanded his apostles to aim at this sanctifying goal in the famous Great Commission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe evetyhing I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). 

Not only was this Jesus’ command, we also find that it was the apostolic practice. For example, the Apostle Paul aimed at this goal while living among the Ephesian Christians. “You know that I did not avoid proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching you publicly and from house to house. I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:20-21). All of Paul’s teaching, whether in public or private, was aimed at producing repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus. Even his teachings about marriage, singleness, and widowed were aimed “to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:35, ESV). So in everything, the pastor aims at the sanctifying goal of producing mature disciples of Jesus Christ.  

This sanctifying goal cannot be reached in isolation, however. As the old saying goes, it takes a village. Which is why the Apostle Paul, in a parallel passage to Colossians 1:28, teaches that the sanctifying goal will never be reached unless every member of the church works together to attain mature Christian living. 

“And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head — Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.” — Ephesians 4:11-16, CSB

So, pastor, may you fulfill your ministry as you lead in a single direction, obey a simple command, and aim at a sanctifying goal. May the Lord do so mightily in your midst. Amen.

“And Jesus was saying to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” – Mark 2:27, LSB

In Mark 2:23-28, Jesus applies the Scriptural accounts of an episode in King David’s life and the creation order to rebuke the Pharisees for prioritizing Sabbath regulations over people. It should strike us that Jesus referred to an episode in David’s life when he was persecuted rather than praised. The Pharisees reprimanded Jesus for allowing his disciples to do what is “unlawful” (v. 24). What was the unlawfulness? They profaned what should be considered holy – they worked on the Sabbath.

God did in fact bless the seventh day over the other days (see Genesis 2:3). Yet the Pharisees misunderstood the purpose for which God sanctified the Sabbath. To correct their misunderstanding, Jesus gives a scriptural account from King David’s life when David treated as common something that should have been regarded as sacred (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6). In 1 Samuel 21, David was fleeing from Saul. David and his men were on the run and hungry, and requested to eat bread. Yet the only bread available was the sacred bread reserved for the priests. The Pharisees, if consistent in their interpretation, would have reckoned this act unlawful.

If Jesus wanted, he could have appealed to the account in 2 Samuel 6 when King David wore a linen ephod, also a sacred item that was reserved for priests. On that occasion, David was praised by all Israel, save his wife Michal. Yet Jesus did not use that example. Instead, he used a time in David’s life when he was persecuted by those whose loyalty belonged to Saul rather than David, the Lord’s anointed. Like Israel’s king of old, King Jesus was persecuted by those who should have enthroned him. This Scriptural account would have struck the Pharisees in the heart, for they were behaving just like Saul and his cronies.

In his next Scriptural appeal, Jesus goes all the way back to Genesis. “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” After finishing all creation in six days, God declares it “very good.” But that wasn’t the last word. God finished all his work before the Sabbath, then sanctified the seventh day, a bonus day, a day in which God did zero work. This means mankind was created before the Sabbath, and as ruler of creation, mankind would also be ruler of the Sabbath. That day was given by God for mankind to enjoy all of God’s very good creation. In this way, Sabbath was made for mankind, it was a gift to him. The Pharisees reversed the order of creation, and thus they reversed the gift. They made Sabbath ruler over man, rather than man over the Sabbath.

The Son of Man restores all things back to creation order, and then some. What was the pre-fall principle? Mankind was placed at the center of all God’s good creation. In God’s goodness towards mankind, he crowned man as the Lord and ruler of all creation. As lord of creation, all of creation is for man, not man for creation. What a gift, what a glory, what an honor! See God’s love for mankind! But how often today do we subjugate ourselves to creation rather than subjugate creation to us? We dishonor the dignity for which we were made when policies are put in place that harm humans in the cause of “saving mother earth”. That’s putting the rest of creation over man, rather than man over the creation. 

This brings us to what I’m calling, “The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society.” That’s rather wordy, but it’s a seven word principle derived from a seven day creation that can apply to all of life, so I’m sticking with it. The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society instructs us to evaluate all of life by the mantra, “Sabbath for man, not man for Sabbath.” When you go to work, ask yourself, “How is my job for mankind?” Likewise, “How is mankind for my job?” The answer to the first question is good and right and pleasing to God. The answer to the second reverses the creation order, and thus distorts God’s good gift of creation. We should seek to undo and remove the answer to the second question. We must preserve and further the answer to the first question.

As a pastor, The Lord of Sabbath Principle for Society challenges me to answer the question, “How is my pastorate for the Church?” At the same time, this principle challenges me to avoid pastoring in such a way that would make the Church for the pastor. That reverses the gift of both church and pastoring. The same mantra should be knocking on the minds of parents, “How is my role as father or mother for my children?” Governing officials ought to be asking the same thing, “How is my office for the people of this nation?” In my American governmental system, I apply this principle by voting for those persons whose policies are for people rather than those who want people for their policies.

More can be said on this, but I think you get the idea. Hopefully the palindrome mantra “Sabbath for man not man for Sabbath” equips you to enjoy God’s good creation rather than be enslaved to it. But, in order for that to come true, we must all remember one final mantra: Man was made for God, not God for man. We will only experience the freedom of our rightful place over creation when we bow the knee to him who has the rightful place over us: Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.