27:1-28:28

I.    Job Again Declares His Innocence In spite of the Fact He Looks Like a Person Who is Being Judged. Job 27:1-23

A.   Job accuses God of being the cause of his problem (Please note how close he is to doing what Satan wants).

Then Job continued his discourse and said,

As God lives, who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

B.    Job Refuses to give up on the idea that he is righteous.

For as long as life is in me,
And the breath of God is in my nostrils,
My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,
Nor will amy tongue mutter deceit.
Far be it from me that I should declare you right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.
My heart does not reproach any of my days.

C.    He curses his enemy.  Of whom is he speaking?  A hypothetical enemy?  A spiritual enemy such as Satan? Or is he speaking of his friends?

May my enemy be as the wicked
And my opponent as the unjust.

D.    Job now describes the fate of the godless (just as his friends did on earlier occasions).  Again is he taking a jab at his friends or just speaking hypothetically?  Either way he shows that he knows the doctrine of the judgment of the just, but from the context (I. B.) he is certain that he does not fit this paradigm.  If you note the highlighted areas you will see that job is aware that his experience is like that of the wicked man, but he knows he is innocent.

For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off,
When God requires his life?
Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
I will instruct you in the power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you act foolishly?
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.
Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And their widows will not be able to weep.
Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
He may prepare it, but the just will wear it
And the innocent will divide the silver.
He has built his house like the spider's web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
He lies down rich, but never again;
He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.
Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,
For it whirls him away from his place.
For it will hurl at him without sparing;
He will surely try to flee from its power.
Men will clap their hands at him
And will hiss him from his place.

II.    Job Talks of the Difficulty of Finding Wisdom Job 28:1-28
 

A.    It is like the search for precious metals, but much harder.  Is this a statement of Job's frustration and resignation about his own failure or it the failure of his friends?  If it is the latter then is he claiming success for himself or failure for all?

Surely there is a mine for silver
And a place where they refine gold.
Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.

B.   Man's mining methods are described.  Notice the trouble and danger man endures for treasure.

Man puts an end to darkness,
And to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
He sinks a shaft far from habitation,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing to and fro far from men.
The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.
Its rocks are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
The path no bird of prey knows,
Nor has the falcon's eye caught sight of it.
The proud beasts have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.
He hews out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

C.     Wisdom is much more elusive.

1.    The Question Advanced

But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
 

2.    It is elusive in determining its value and location.

Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
The deep says, 'It is not in me';
And the sea says, 'It is not with me.'
Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of fine gold.
Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
 

3.    It is hidden to men, animals and evil spiritual powers!

Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
Abaddon and Death say, 'With our ears we have heard a report of it.'

4.    God knows where it is and has known from the creation because he ordained where it would exist!

God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
For He looks to the ends of the earth
And sees everything under the heavens.
When He imparted weight to the wind
And meted out the waters by measure,
When He set a limit for the rain
And a course for the thunderbolt,
Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.

5.    The limited but essential wisdom God has granted to men to know.

And to man He said,
'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.'

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It is interesting that what Job says in II. C. 5 is what God liked about Job in the prologue and brought him to in the end of the story.  Job knew all along what God wanted -- he wanted man to repent.  When Job finally did then the restoration began.  But, were his friends not telling him to repent?  Yes, they were telling him this, but they never revealed to him of what he should repent.  Job's suffering did not come because he had sinned before the suffering began.  Job did sin after the suffering began.  When we get to the speeches of God we will see the sins Job did for which he is called into account.