Carefully Examining the Text

Tommy Peeler
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To know God and to make Him known through the teaching of the Scriptures

  1. 3D AGO

    Job 12:13-25

    12:13-25 God reverses people’s fortunes (I Sam.2:1-10; Ps. 113:5-8) and does so in the life and death of Jesus (Luke 1:46-56).  Job has stressed the sovereignty of God in bringing disaster upon the greatest of men. But the sovereign one stepped into history in the person of Jesus and man have insulted, rejected, and murdered the King and the LORD.    12:13 All these terms for wisdom, strength, counsel, and power are used of the ideal Messianic ruler from the stem of Jesse in Isa. 11:2. Isaiah 11:1-5 paints a beautiful picture of the ruler from David’s line who was to come.   12:14 The word for rebuilt in the LXX is also used in John 2:20. The context is that Jesus prophesied of His resurrection (John 2:19-22). There what Jesus rebuilds cannot be destroyed.   12:14 Jesus opens a door that cannot be shut and shuts a door that cannot be open (Rev. 3:7). The same terms in the LXX of Job 12:14 are used in Rev. 3:7.  12:17-21 Mary’s prayer in Luke 1 shows that in the very act of God sending Jesus into the world He “brought down rulers from their thrones, and He has exalted those who were humble” (Luke 1:52).  12:19 The word used for captives in the LXX, priests are led away captive, is used of those that Jesus set free in Luke 4:18. By enduring the pain and anguish of the cross Jesus set free the captives.   12:20 Jesus was silent before Pilate (Matt. 27:12-14; Mk. 15:4-5; Jn. 19:9-10) and Herod (Lk. 23:9). The most eloquent of men was speechless.   12:22 As God brings darkness out of light so at the cross, darkness engulfed the land in the brightest moments of the day (Matt. 27:45; Mk. 15:33; Lk.23:44-45).  12:22 These two terms used for the darkness and deep darkness here were used in 10:21-22 to describe the darkness of Sheol. It is Jesus through His resurrection who gives the ultimate victory over Sheol (Acts 2:27-31).  12:25 While He is made to grope in the darkness, through these events of His death and resurrection, the light of the world (John 1:4; 8:12) transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to light (Col. 1:12-14).  Think of how Christ, the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords (Rev. 19:16), experienced Job 12, especially vs. 17-21, in the events surrounding the cross. Job complained that God humbles the great, wise, and noble and robs them of all their dignity. In Jesus God became a man and humbles Himself (Phil. 2:7-8) to become a subject of mockery and reproach upon the cross (Matt. 27:38-44; Mk. 15:27-32; Lk. 23:35-39). They truly poured contempt on Him He was stripped and goes barefooted (I assume) to the cross. By experiencing the cross, Jesus gives a whole new meaning to suffering and shame (II Cor. 8:9; Heb. 12:1-2). He makes it possible for the captives to be set free from their prisons (Luke 4:18). In the cross God utterly confounds human wisdom- (I Cor. 1:18-2:5).

    21 min

  2. MAR 18

    Job 12:1-12

    12:4 I am a joke to my friends- The LXX omits lines a and b of verse 4. His friends should have provided support, but he is a laughingstock to them. This same word sechoq can mean laughter (8:21) or laughingstock in Jer. 20:7; Lam. 1:7; 3:14; Ps. 31:11-12; 35:15; 41:9; 69:10-12. While generally it is the wicked who mock the righteous, Ps. 52:5-7 is an occasion for the righteous mocking the wicked.  The word friends had been used in the book in the description of these three men coming to Job in 2:11 and in a description of how they disappointed Job (6:14 27). Usually, in the Psalms the mistreatment comes at the hands of enemies. It particularly hurts to be mistreated by friends as Job 16:20; Ps 38:11; 88:18 show.  The one who called on God and He answered him- Ps. 99:6 mentions Moses, Aaron, and Samuel among those who called upon the LORD and He answered. Job had often called on God and God had answered though that is not the case in the present (9:16; 27:9; 30:20-21). The just and blameless man who is a joke- The just or righteous (9:14-15, 20; 10:15) and the blameless (1:1, 8; 2:3; 8:20; 9:20, 21,22) are important words throughout the book. Now Job, though innocent has become the subject of their ridicule (Ps.69:10-12). The contrast between who Job really is and how he is viewed by his friends and society is stark.  12:5 He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, The NKJV differs strongly several other versions here.[1] Those at ease are referred to in Ps. 123:4; Isa. 32:9, 11; Jer. 3:26; Lam. 1:15; Amos 6:1; and Zeph. 3:13. These passages seem to refer to those who are blessed presently but who look down upon or are indifferent to the suffering of those who are beneath them.  As prepared for those whose feet slip- The idea of unsteady or faltering feet or steps is found in Job 4:4; Ps. 18:36; 37:31; 73:2; Prov. 25:19. The innocent are sometimes pictured with firm footing (Ps. 26:1; 37:31) and the feet of the wicked are on shaky ground (Prov. 25:19). The step that slips may be a deliberate rejection of God’s path in Prov. 4:10-12, 26-27.   12:6 The tents of the destroyers prosper,- Job talked about God ignoring or even promoting the wickedness of the foolish in 9:23-24 and looking favorably on the schemes of the wicked in 10:3. And those who provoke God are secure- This same root word translated secure was used by Zophar. Zophar said that if Job turned to God, he would be secure (11:18). While Eliphaz (5:24); Bildad (8:6), and Zophar (11:15-19) have promised peace and safety to those who follow God, Job knows plenty who live in defiance of God and are secure.  Whom God brings into their power- Is God the subject (as in the KJV, NASB, NKJV, CSB) or the object (NET, ESV, NIV) here? The ESV has “he carries his god in his hand.” On the other hand, the CSB has “God holds them in His hands.” Is this a picture of how the wicked provoke God or is it a picture or how the wicked are in God’s hand and yet He still blesses them? We can compare Gen. 31:29; Micah 2:1; Neh. 5:5; Hab. 1:11 and suggest the overall meaning is that their power is their god.  In Job 21:7-16 Job will expand on the theme of the prosperity of the wicked that he hits upon here in 12:4-6. [1] The NET Bible argues the first word could be translated lamp or torch that yields no satisfactory meaning and argue for the word misfortune or calamity.

    23 min

  3. MAR 9

    Job 11

    11:7 Can you discover the depths of God? These questions of Zophar expect a negative reply. The same Hebrew word is behind the word discover in both parts of the sentence.  The NASB preserves that idea by translating this with the same English word. It is often translated find and is used in Job 28:12 when the question where is wisdom found used. The word depths is from a Hebrew word (cheqer) used 12 times in the OT, 7 of those cases from the book of Job (5:9; 8:8; 9:10; 34:24; 36:26; 38:16). The word is particularly significant in Job 5:9 and 9:10 for both Eliphaz and Job acknowledged that God does things beyond searching out. Psalm 145:3 also uses the term. (I Cor. 2:10) Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? The word limits (taklith) describes the boundaries, the farthest reaches of something (Neh.3:21; Job 26:10; 28:3; Ps.139:22).  We cannot search the heart of the highest men (Prov. 25:3), how much less can we search the heart of God? Human beings cannot reach the outer limits of the physical universe, who can reach the outer limits of God? God’s presence dwarfs the physical world that He created (Isa. 40:12).   11:8 They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Isa. 7:11; 55:8-9; Ps.103:11. Job used this word for do (paal) in 7:20 asking what he had done to God to deserve his suffering. Bildad uses the same word to ask Job what he has done that leads him to think he understands God.  Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Lam. 2:13 The height of the heavens is contrasted with the depth of Sheol (Ps. 135:6; 139:8; Amos 9:2). In 10:13 Job used the same word know to affirm that he knew what was in God’s heart.   11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth- Eph. 3:18. The earth and sea are mentioned together in Hag. 2:6. And broader than the sea This section remind us of Psalms 103, 139; Isaiah 40:12-17, and even the LORD’s speeches in Job 38-41. The friends say many things that are good and right, but they draw the wrong conclusions from those truths. “A human being has a difficult time comprehending God’s ways, for he observes them only in part. He lacks the full picture that is necessary to understand how a particular occurrence fits within God’s plan.”[1] How is Zophar using this statement on God limitless nature? He especially applies it to God’s knowledge to separate the righteous from the wicked, the guilty from the innocent in vs. 10-11. Prov. 25:3; 30:4 Is Zophar implying that he has searched deeper and higher than Job has? Does he think that he had figured God out? How does he know that God has overlooked some of Job’s sins?   [1] Hartley, 197.

    24 min

  4. FEB 26

    Job 10:8-22

    10:8 Your hands fashioned me and made me altogether,-  Job 31:15; Ps. 119:73 The word hands is the same word used in vs. 7. The God whose hands formed Job is the same God from whose hands there is no deliverance. The verb fashioned is used of the making of an idol in Hos. 8:4. Jer. 44:19. God’s hands fashioned us and in rebellion man’s hands fashion gods (idols).  And would You destroy me?- The word destroy is used of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish in Jonah 1:17. More importantly to this study is that this is the word the LORD used in 2:3. Little does Job know that God Himself has used this same word of Job’s destruction and the LORD has stated that his suffering is without cause. The LORD is pained by the pain that Job has endured.  Job has trouble recognizing that the One who made him with such intimate care was now going to swallow Him alive. “Would the potter take his most delicate and intricate creation and smash it into fragments like a defective pot?"  Job assumes that the Creator of mankind should be good and that His purposes for man are to bless him, but that is not what he is experiencing presently.   10:9 Remember now,- 7:7. When God remembers He acts on behalf of the one remembered (Gen. 8:1: Ex.2:23-25). Remember is in Ps. 20:3; 25:6; 79:8; Lam. 5:1 a call to God to show mercy.  that You have made me as clay,- Isaiah 64:8-9 the fact that LORD is the potter and His people are the clay is a call for God to have mercy upon them. The fact that man is made of clay shows his weakness and his dependence on God. Man’s weakness is often a basis for God showing mercy unto us (Ps. 103:14), but the LORD seems to have no mercy on Job.  Isa. 45:9-10; Jer. 18:5-10; Rom. 9:20-21 use this same image of God as Potter and man as the clay.  These three texts just mentioned stress God’s sovereign rights and man’s inability to call God to account.

    20 min

  5. FEB 19

    Job 10:1-7

    Job 10 10:1 I loathe my own life- This uses a different Hebrew word for loathes than is used in 9:21. 10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;- He is addressing God. With all he has said about the impossibility of receiving a fair trial before God, He is still the One to whom Job turns. Let me know why You contend with me- Contend is a form of the Hebrew rib, a word often used in a legal context (Job 9:3; 13:8, 19; 33:13; 40:2). It seems that a plaintiff was obligated to make known the charges against the defendant and Job has not been given that right. Job is genuinely confused and disoriented by this whole process and longs to know the why.  10:3 Is it right for You indeed to oppress, - The word translated right in the NASB is a word used repeatedly in the creation account in Gen. 1 . Is it good for God to act as He has toward Job? The verb oppress is used 35 times in the OT. It describes the horrors God’s people suffered at the hand of the Assyrians (Isa. 52:4) and the Babylonians (Jer. 50:33).  God brings justice for those who are oppressed (Ps. 103:6; 146:7). Proverbs 14:31 says, “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker.” The one who oppresses men ultimately insults God.  What is striking about this use of the verb in Job 10 is that it is God doing the oppressing. It is God who delivers the oppressed. This is the only time in the OT that God is the subject of the verb oppressed.  To reject the labor of Your hands,- The phrase work/ works of Your (His) hand/ hands is used in Ps. 138:8; Job 14:15; 34:19 speaking of man as the object of God’s care. But here instead of God showing compassion, God is rejecting, repudiating what His hands have made.  And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked? The verb look favorably  is a rare word in the OT used in Ps. 94:1 where the author begs the God of vengeance to shine forth. In Ps. 50:2-3 God has shone forth to bring fire on his adversaries. In Job 10:3 Job laments that instead of God showing His vengeance to the wicked, He is showing His favor. The two words translated schemes of the wicked here are translated counsel of the wicked in Ps. 1:1. In that Psalm the man who avoids the counsel of the wicked is blessed.    10:4 Have You eyes of flesh? God is Spirit and not flesh in II Chron. 32:7-8; Isa. 31:3 /Or do You see as a man sees?- Here he emphasizes that God does not see the same way man sees (I Sam. 16:7; Job 26:6; 28:24; 31:4; 34:21; Prov. 16:2; 21:2).   10:5 And Your days as the days of a mortal, Or Your years as a man’s years- In 36:26 Job says of God that “the number of His years is unsearchable.” Ps. 90:1-12; 102:27.  10:6 That You should seek for my guilt- The word seek is often used to describe God being the object of man’s seeking (Job 5:8; I Chron. 16:10, 11; II Chron. 7:14; 11:16; 15:4, 15; 20:4).  And search are my sin? The word search is also used with God being the object of our search in I Chron. 10:14; 15:13; 16:11; 22:19; II Chron.12:14; 14:4, 7; 15: 2,1 2; 16:12. Here it is God searching out our sin.    10:7 And there is no deliverance from Your hand- Often this word for deliverance is used in a context speaking of God as the One who gives deliverance (Gen. 32:11; Ex. 3:8; 6:6; I Sam. 10:18; 17:37). While God is usually the One who brings deliverance, here He is the One from whom deliverance is sought.

    19 min

  6. FEB 9

    Job 9:13-35

    Jesus’ Fulfillment of Job 9:14-35  Job is not stating a prediction of the Messiah but is expressing a longing, a desire. Job was longing for an umpire who could somehow go between himself and God and lead to Job receiving a fair trial and being pronounced innocent before God.  The word for umpire in the NASB was translated mediator in the LXX. In the NT this word is used of the work of Jesus in I Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24. This is particularly tied to what was accomplished by the death of Jesus in several of these passages. Job as an innocent man (9:15, 20-21) longed for a mediator that he could get a fair trial before such a holy God. Jesus’ work as mediator goes far beyond what Job expected. It is not only innocent people who can stand before God, but guilty people, guilty people who have turned to Him for forgiveness. Rom. 4:5 tells us that God “justifies the ungodly.” These same three Greek words translated “justifies the ungodly” are used in the same order in the LXX of Ex. 23:7 to warn judges not to kill the innocent or righteous because God “will not acquit the guilty.” The reason God can now justify the ungodly is because Christ died for the ungodly in Rom. 5:6.   In Jesus we have One who is both God and man and can serve in the way that Job 9:32-33; 16:19-21; 19:23-27 describe. The deity of Jesus is stressed in the New Testament (John 1:1-3; 8:58; Phil. 2:5-8; Titus 2:13). The humanity of Jesus is also stressed (John 1:14; I Tim. 2:5-6; I John 4:1-3; II John 7). While Job lamented “He is not a man as I am,” Paul proclaimed Jesus as the “man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5; Acts 17:31).  The deity/ humanity of Jesus qualifies Him as a faithful and merciful high priest Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-16; 5:7-10. Jesus would live and die to bridge the gap between God and man.  Job complained that God mocks the despair of the innocent (Job 9:23), but in Jesus’ death man mocks the pain and suffering of God (Matt. 20:19; 27:29, 31, 41; Mk. 10:34) (The Greek word in the LXX in Job 9:23 is not the same as used in these NT passages).    In Job 9 Job proclaimed his innocence (9:15, 20, 21) and stated that his wounds were without cause (9:17). Job had done nothing to earn them his suffering. His suffering showed (to Job) that God made no distinction between the blameless and the guilty (9:22-24). Job’s innocence does not compare to Jesus’ innocence (II Cor. 5:21; I Peter 2:22). While Job will complain in the bitterness of his soul (10:1), Jesus offered no complaint or protest (Isa. 53:6-7).  Job feared that even though He was innocent the words of his mouth would be used against him (9:20). Unjust judges condemned Jesus by words from His own mouth (Matt. 26:64-66; Lk. 22:70-71).   Job 9:30-31 In the Bible story it is we who have plunged ourselves in the pit and soiled our clothes and it is God who washes us and makes us clean. God far from mocking the despair of the innocent (9:23) enters into this world of sin and suffering to redeem us. Jesus weeps with us and for us (John 11:35; Luke 19:41-44; Heb. 5:7).   Job lamented the brevity of life in Job 9:25-26. Job’s life was so full of pain that he could say he despised his life (9:21, 27-28). Jesus answered this lament via His resurrection. He gives eternal life (John 11:23-26; I Cor. 15:50-58; I Thess. 4:13-18). The pain that Job feared would One day pass away and be no more (Rev. 21:4).

    21 min

  7. JAN 29

    Job 9:1-13

    Carefully Examining the Text

    24 min

  8. JAN 19

    Job 8

    What does Bildad say that is right? 1.He says God does not pervert justice. If this were not true, there would be no moral order to the universe. There would be no hope that righteousness would ultimately prevail. Thankfully, God’s throne is built on righteousness and justice (Ps. 33:5; 89:14; 97:2; 99:4). These qualities are what God expects of His rulers (II Sam. 8:18; I Kings 10:9; Jer. 22:15-16) and His people generally (Isa. 5:7; Amos 5:24). Sin and suffering are connected Biblically. The blessings of the covenant in Lev. 26:6-13; Deut.28:1-14 and the curses of the covenant in Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 28:15-68 illustrate the link between blessing and righteousness and sin and suffering. Much of the story of Israel’s history recorded from Joshua- II Kings demonstrates the working out of those principles.  But what does this mean to Bildad? Does he mean that a righteous person will not suffer? Ecclesiastes 3:16-17; 7:15; 8:14 show that this is no true. It is the very fact that things do not always work out in this life that drives us to a life beyond this one where wrongs are righted and the wicked and righteous are given the results of the different paths they have pursued.    2. He says that the godless will perish. He says that the confidence of the wicked is placed in things as fragile as spider’s web The fundamental question of life is Where is our confidence? On whom do we rely? On whom do we depend? Isaiah 36-37 deals with the days Assyria was attacking Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah. Sennacherib asks Hezekiah why he is rebelling against him. Where is your confidence? Word “confidence” (36:4), “rely” (36:5, 6, 6, 9), “trust” (36:7, 15) are all from the same Hebrew root word. The word is used 8 times in Isaiah 36. It is used as a verb except in 36:4 where it is translated with the noun confidence. The question that the king of Assyria asks is a fundamental question in the book of Isaiah and to the Bible as a whole and it is the foundational question of our lives. To put our place in the wrong place means that we will inevitably be clothed with shame.    3. There will an ultimate separation of the righteous and the wicked in eternity 8:18 Ultimately that the statement that it place does not know it anymore will be God’s pronouncement on the wicked (Matt. 7:13-14, 23; 25:12). 8:21 In God’s presence our mouths will be filled with laughter.    Job 8 and Jesus Bildad says that God does not reject the blameless in 8:20. He anticipates those who will cry to Jesus, “He trusts in God. Let God deliver him” in Matt. 27:43. “Job has a lesser Calvary, and each person has his own. But when we know of God’s rejection of Jesus, our dereliction can never be as dark as Job’s again”[1] It is through the suffering of God’s perfect servant, Jesus, that God ultimately showed His justice and righteousness (Rom. 3:21-26). Job’s battle foreshadows the even greater battle and the more intense suffering that God’s servant, Jesus, would endure.    [1] Anderson, 142-143.

    20 min
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To know God and to make Him known through the teaching of the Scriptures

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  • Creator
    Tommy Peeler
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    193
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © 2026 Carefully Examining the Text
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