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Job 9:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Job 9:7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.
Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 9:10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Job 9:11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.
Job 9:12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?

Introduction

In our last study we saw ourselves as Bildad likening Job to a rush and a tree, both of which Bildad is quick to point out God Himself destroys. The one is so temporary and the other appears to be so well grounded in the earth, yet they are both destroyed by God as the symbols of ‘the man who has forgotten God’.
When making some very positive comments about those who do know God, Bildad certainly did not have Job in mind. When Bildad told Job that all of “this is the joy of his way” and that God would not cast off a perfect man, and that “they that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nought”, Bildad, as the type of us while we are in self- righteous Babylon, was not thinking of his suffering friend, Job.
In the end, all of Bildad’s words did apply to suffering Job, just as they apply to all who are God’s elect and who must live by every word of God (Mat 4:4).

Job 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
Job 8:20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
Job 8:21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
Job 8:22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.

In this ninth chapter, Job now acknowledges the truth of Bildad’s words, but as we will see, he is still very confused about what God is doing in his life.

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

As the type of us at this confused point of our experience, Job does not see himself as “the dwelling place of the wicked” who must first “come to nought”. In his confusion, he condemns himself out of his own mouth for contending with his own Creator.

Job 9:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.

Job has no idea ‘how a man should be just with God’. It is Job who says, “If he will contend with Him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand”, yet God tells us this is exactly what Job is doing:

Job 40:1 Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

All the prophets of the Old Testament knew there was more in the plan of God than what they had been given to understand. Here is King David’s words expressing this same question Job asks:

Psa 143:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

God was in the process of letting mankind know that “the blood of bulls and goats” simply had no affect at all on “the things of the heavens themselves”, and that there was something more to be revealed concerning His work with mankind:

Isa 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

There is only one way any man “should be just with God:”

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

This is a doctrine which is completely unheard of by Job or any of his friends:

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Job is the type and shadow of us while we are being condemned by self- righteous Babylon. He does not see or understand what God is doing. It is all being do for our sakes:

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

This condemnation Job, as us, is feeling comes both from within us, while we are in this state of confusion, as well as from outward Babylonians who are all around us. That is who Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar foreshadow and typify. We all know that God is all- wise and all powerful, and that it is foolish to contend with Him, even as we continue to do so. In his confusion Job simply feels the condemnation of God, and like King David, he knows deep down that there is no reason in himself to be justified before God.
These next verses reflect the fact that even though we are “full of confusion”, we still are able to acknowledge who and what God is:

Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?

The answer to this question is the same here as it is where Paul poses the same question in the New Testament:

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Clay simply cannot resist the influence of the Potter who is shaping it. So “Who has resisted His will… Who hath hardened himself against Him, and has prospered”? Here is the answer to both Paul’s question and Job’s question:

2Ch 20:5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

When we ‘harden ourselves against God’ even that thought is really nothing more than a work of God who hardens us just as He reveals to us that it was He who had hardened Pharaoh’s heart, just before telling us that Pharaoh “hardened his heart…”

Exo 4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

If we indeed must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4), then Pharaoh is also a shadow of us at a certain time in our lives, and it is we who are given a hardened heart by God Himself, even though His words lead us into believing that we can harden our own hearts:

Exo 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

That verse is a perfect example of why we are never to attempt to so. What is the actual fact of this matter then? Can mankind do anything that is free from the influence of the will of God? The answer is a resounding, No! Mankind can do nothing that is free from the will of God, and mankind has no such thing as a “free will”.

Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Four times in one sentence our God uses the phrase “I will…” So now we can see clearly what Paul is telling us when he plainly states this incredible Truth:

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

“It is not of him that wills…” There is no room in any of these verses for Job’s and our self- righteous spirit which dare to contend with our own Creator, of whom we are clearly told in the very next verse:

Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

So when Job tells us this:

Job 6:10 Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.

He simply does not, in his deceived and confused state, understand who God is and what God is doing in his life.

Job 10:15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;

The Truth of the scriptures is that it is God who both hardens and deceives us.

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

It is God who makes us to err even though He does so via the agency of evil spirits:

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
1Sa 16:15 And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it [ the evil] unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

So then our very thoughts are given to us by God Himself, giving Him the power to work all things after the counsel of His own will:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Here now is what God does to us all, in the process of dragging us to Himself and in bringing us to accept the truth of all these biblical statements which expose us to our own helplessness:

Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.

We are all unbelievers before we are dragged to know our Lord. It is in God’s anger and in His wrath that He destroys every mountain within us which exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Isa 2:17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

In scriptural terms, we are both the heavens and the earth, and both must be shaken and cleansed within us:

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [ You and I, “the temple of God in heaven” 1Co 3:16 and Rev 15:8] with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself [“into” you and me], now to appear in the presence of God for us:
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

So this is what God must do as He is in the process of cleansing His own temple:

Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
Job 9:7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.

This is where Job is at this moment. “The sun” brings light and understanding. “The sin riseth not” tells us that Job is “full of confusion” and is still ‘in the dark’. God has commanded His Sun not to rise and He has ‘sealed up the stars’, so that there is not even any moonlight in the night. He is confused. He is tormented on his couch with visions and dreams.
Here is the New Testament account of this part of the book of Job:

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,

That is the perfect description of the confusion and the darkness that is dominating Job’s life as the symbol of this part of our own walk. This is all a necessary part of what the Lord is working as He destroys our “old… first man Adam”.
Job continues with what he does see and concedes:

Job 9:8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

Job knows that God rules in the heaven and in the earth. This is not in question. In scriptural terms, “the waves of the sea” are often the symbol for what God is doing to judge us and to bring us to Himself. King David puts it this way:

Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

All of this is reiterated in the New Testament:

Heb 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Heb 12:27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

The one thing Job knows is that God is working all things, including all the suffering he is now enduring. He continues extolling God’s majesty, even though he is confused about what God is doing.

Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.

What is this that Job is saying here? The first thing we need to understand is what Job is not saying. He certainly is not saying that the constellations of the heavens determine what takes place on this earth.
Let’s take note of a warning we are given in Deu 4. I have cut and pasted this from a letter on iswasandwillbe. com entitled Should Christians Try to Interpret the Stars? You can read the entire e- mail at the following URL: http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ Astrology. php

“Deu 4:19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

The Bible does mention the sun moon and stars as being for signs and for seasons:

Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Very few people today can even see the stars at night, and the need to study their placement in the physical heavens seems totally useless to most of us. But astronomers who give us our calendars, know better than that. The stars of the heavens are always in their proper places at the proper seasons of every year. The heavens really are like the parts of a giant clock which is so accurate that our astronomers actually use the heavens and their star clusters as the means by which our clocks on earth are adjusted and are set.
The book of Job even mentions some of the figures of the star clusters, or constellations, of the stars.

Job 9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Job 38:32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Job 38:33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?

“The sweet influences of Pleiades” is not a good translation of the Hebrew word ‘maadannah’, which actually means “bindings or fetters.” Here is Rotherham’s version:

Job 38:31 Canst thou bind the fetters of the Pleiades? Or, the bands of Orion, canst thou unloose?

This is the Concordant Version:

Job 38:31 Can you tie up the windings of the Pleiades? Or can you unloose the draw- cords of Orion?

The point is that God is simply asking Job if Job can maneuver the stars into their proper place? He is asking Job if he, Job can arrange and sustain the stars in their positions as God does continuously. God is not telling us that the stars influence our daily actions or any human events.”

“maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” (Job 9:9). Job’s point is that God’s greatness is beyond our ability to even comprehend, and that our ability to ‘justify ourselves with God’ is equally impossible.
Job’s words reveal that His understanding of God is limited only to things that can be seen, even as he knows that God is not visible to human eyes.

Job 9:10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.
Job 9:11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

“… He goes by me, and I see him not: He passes on also, but I perceive Him not“. Job knows that he cannot see God, and he certainly knows nothing yet of God’s Son through whom only we can “see God”.
There is a “Way” to ‘see and perceive’ God, but that “Way” would not be revealed for many long centuries until our Lord came to show us that “Way”.

Joh 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Christ went on to tell Thomaswhat He meant by saying “I am the way”.

Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

‘Knowing’ Christ is knowing and seeing His Father. Knowing God and His Son is defined as life eternal.

Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Job is who we are and as Thomas was before he was given the means to ‘see’ the Father. At that stage in our walk we think and are convinced that we know Christ, when the Truth is that we are not even intended to “know Christ after the flesh”, which is the only way any of the apostles could know Christ until after the day of Pentecost.

2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

But Job does not know or see or perceive who God is or what He is doing. It is for this reason that he continues His complaint, as he continues to “contend with his Creator”.

Job 9:12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?

Make no mistake “He takes away, who can hinder Him? who will say to Him, What do you?” is a direct reference and a complaint of the fact that God had taken from Job all he had ever worked for, all His children and all of His health and peace of mind.
Next week, if the Lord wills, we will see once again that Job knows that this is God’s wrath being poured out upon him. We will also see just how upset with God and His ways Job is, while as the type and shadow of us, he boldly and brashly accuses God of being unjust in His dealings with Job and with us. Job as us, accuses God of “multiplying my wounds without cause”, of “not suffering me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness”, of “destroying the perfect with the wicked”, and of “giving the earth into the hand of the wicked”. This is what we all do when we have been ‘brought to our wit’s end’ (Psa 107:27), and Job is just getting started telling God how evil He is and how good Job is.
This is what is in “the first man Adam” within each of us, at our own appointed time. Is there is wonder why our “old man” must be destroyed?:

Job 9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Job 9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?