The end of Job is at least as dramatic as the beginning.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is March 13, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called All’s Well That Ends Well. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Exodus 24, John 3, and Job 42.
Please open your Bibles to Job 42.
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of the book of Job. It was long but worth it and we’ve finally come to the dramatic conclusion.
Please follow along as I read Job 42:1–17,
1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
12 And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.
15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations.
17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Three things happen in this final chapter.
First, Job finally gets the chance to say something about the many questions God has been putting to him for four chapters. Job finally responds with the humility that he started with at the beginning but seems to have lost along the way: he acknowledges that now he knows first hand what he only knew in abstract theory before. Verse 5 is significant: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you…” This is a different kind of knowing than Job had before.
And the result is that he is humbled, he recognizes his lowly state as a creature and a sinner, and he sees the vast difference between God and himself. He says in verse 6, “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Don’t get the wrong idea here: it isn’t that Job is struggling with low self-esteem. It is rather that he now recognizes that God is holy and Job is not. This is very much like Isaiah’s confession in Isaiah chapter 6 when Isaiah says, “I am undone.”
Second, God deals with Job’s friends. God rebukes all three of them and part of the rebuke is that he only names Eliphaz. He just refers to Bildad and Zophar as “your two friends.” And God says, “My anger burns against you.” Does that sound familiar? We’ve heard that before. Remember, that’s the same thing that we read about Elihu in chapter 32:1–5, but I think everyone is going to take the burning of God’s anger a little more seriously.
Did you notice the solution for Job’s friends that God gave? He tells Eliphaz and company to ask Job to offer up an offering and to pray for them. God says to Eliphaz, “And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” This is a serious vindication for Job. It means that God agrees with him that he is in the right and his friends are in the wrong. God even calls their counsel “foolishness.” Let’s learn from their negative example: this is how not to do it!
Third and finally, the story ends with the restoration of Job’s fortunes. God rewarded his faith and faithfulness with twice as much riches and with 10 more children. His daughters are notably beautiful in all the land.
We should not read this and expect that this will always be the outcome of suffering. But it is significant that Job is even further vindicated by God. After the sad events of this book, he goes on to live a long and happy life.
One more thing: do you notice what is missing from this epilogue? There is no mention of Satan. Sure, Satan was instrumental in bringing about the suffering in Job’s life but he is such a minor character in the grand scheme of things that he doesn’t even get a mention here. That should help give us a sense of the relative importance of Satan in the world.
Any time we finish reading a book of the Bible, it’s good to stop for a little reflection. If you have a few minutes when this episode ends, stop and reflect what you’ve learned reading through the book of Job. You could ask questions like:
- What did you learn about God?
- What did you learn about salvation?
- How does this book help you to trust in God, even in severe suffering?
- What did you learn from Job’s example?
- Did you learn anything from Job’s friends about how not to counsel someone who is suffering?
Again, if you have a few minutes, write down your observations from the book. In the future, you’ll appreciate having these to come back to.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!