Topical Bible: Prayer of Job

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◄ Prayer of Job ►

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The Prayer of Job is a significant aspect of the biblical narrative found in the Book of Job, a poetic and philosophical text in the Old Testament. Job, a man described as "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1), undergoes severe trials and tribulations, losing his wealth, children, and health. Throughout his suffering, Job engages in a profound dialogue with God, which includes prayers, laments, and expressions of faith.

Context and Background

The Book of Job is set in the land of Uz and is considered one of the wisdom books of the Bible. It addresses the themes of suffering, divine justice, and human righteousness. Job's trials begin when Satan challenges God, suggesting that Job's piety is due to his prosperity. God permits Satan to test Job, leading to his immense suffering.

Job's Initial Response

In the initial stages of his suffering, Job's response is one of worship and submission. After losing his possessions and children, Job declares, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). This response highlights Job's unwavering faith and acknowledgment of God's sovereignty.

Job's Lament and Prayer for Understanding

As his suffering intensifies, Job's prayers become more complex, reflecting his inner turmoil and desire for understanding. In Job 3, he laments his birth, expressing a deep sense of despair. Job's prayers are characterized by a raw honesty, as he questions the reasons for his suffering and seeks answers from God. In Job 10:2, he pleads, "I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me."

Dialogue with Friends and Continued Prayer

Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, visit him, offering explanations for his suffering based on traditional wisdom that equates suffering with sin. Job, however, maintains his innocence and continues to direct his prayers to God, seeking vindication and understanding. In Job 13:15, he expresses his steadfast hope, saying, "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face."

Job's Prayer for Mediation

Job longs for a mediator between himself and God, expressing a desire for someone to bridge the gap and plead his case. In Job 9:33, he laments, "Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both." This yearning foreshadows the New Testament revelation of Christ as the ultimate mediator.

God's Response and Job's Final Prayer

In the latter chapters of the book, God responds to Job out of a whirlwind, challenging Job's understanding of divine wisdom and the created order. Job's final prayer is one of repentance and humility. In Job 42:5-6, he confesses, "My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes."

Restoration and Intercessory Prayer

After Job's repentance, God restores his fortunes, granting him twice as much as he had before. Job's role as an intercessor is highlighted when God instructs him to pray for his friends, who had spoken wrongly about God. In Job 42:10, it is recorded, "After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions."

The Prayer of Job, with its depth and complexity, serves as a profound exploration of faith, suffering, and the human condition. It underscores the importance of maintaining faith in God's wisdom and justice, even amidst life's most challenging trials.

Nave's Topical Index

Job 30:20
I cry to you, and you do not hear me: I stand up, and you regard me not.
Nave's Topical Index

Job 42:12
So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
Nave's Topical Index

Library

Abraham, the Man of Prayer
... Almighty God knew His servant Job as a man of prayer, and He could afford to send
these friends of Job to him to pray in order to carry out and fulfill His ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/bounds/prayer and praying men/iii abraham the man of.htm

Job --Groping
... PART II. SOME BIBLE TYPES OF PRAYER VII. JOB"GROPING. "Lord, teach us to
pray.""Luke 11:1. "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! ...
//christianbookshelf.org/whyte/lord teach us to pray/vii jobgroping.htm

Meditations to Stir us up to Morning Prayer.
... when Eliphaz supposed that Job had cast off the fear of God, and that God had cast
Job out of his favour, he chargeth him that he restrained prayer before God ...
/.../bayly/the practice of piety/meditations to stir us up.htm

Prayer
... Thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.' Job 15:4. A
man that has left off prayer, is fit for any wickedness. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/watson/the ten commandments/4 6 prayer.htm

Intercessory Prayer
... "The Lord turned again the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends."
Intercessory prayer was the omen of his returning greatness. ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 7 1861/intercessory prayer.htm

The Pleading Note in Prayer
... We all understand the exclamation of the patriarch Job quite well""O that one ... Prayer,
in its most comprehensive sense embraces many states of the mind, and ...
/.../whyte/lord teach us to pray/xviii the pleading note in.htm

Prayer and Trouble
... But are these not to be recognised in prayer? Are they to be excluded from God's
disciplinary processes? Job did not do so. Hear him in those familiar words. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/bounds/the essentials of prayer/v prayer and trouble.htm

A Prayer to be Said for the Sick by them who visit Him.
... thy sick servant, unto thy eternal grace and mercy, in that prayer, which Christ ...
the holy Scripture; as"the three first chapters of the book of Job; the 14th ...
//christianbookshelf.org/bayly/the practice of piety/a prayer to be said.htm

Why Job was So Great a Sufferer.
... of his prayer arose from this circumstance, that it was not improper for him to
ask forgiveness in prayer, when he really bestowed forgiveness himself. Job xvi ...
/.../augustine/anti-pelagian writings/25 hence the force of.htm

Prayer.
... and failure, which forces men to believe that there is One who heareth prayer, forces
them ... I can plead with God like poor Job of old, even though in wild words ...
//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/westminster sermons/sermon iv prayer.htm