Job (Understanding the Bible Commentary | UBC)

by Gerald H. Wilson

Publisher:

Baker

, 2012

Overview

Job delves into questions as old as humanity and as contemporary as today’s headlines. How does God’s justice work? How are we to understand suffering? More importantly, how are we to respond to it? Through careful analysis and explanation of Job’s dialogue, Wilson sheds light on its core message: a call to faithfully persevere by entrusting the answers to God.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The book finally counsels that maintaining a faithful relationship with God is the only adequate refuge in a world where suffering and injustice remain unavoidable realities.” (Page 5)

“The Satan raises this question in his discussions with God: Is it possible to hold on to faith in God without receiving benefit?” (Page 12)

“The dialogue states the issue in its most extreme form: Is it possible to endure, holding on to God, even if one dies without being acknowledged as righteous?” (Page 12)

“The ‘storm’ cannot be taken universally as a sign of judgment, however, since fierce storm imagery describes the presence of God in a variety of circumstances (Exod. 19:16–24; 2 Kgs. 2:1, 11; Ps. 29). At the most, one can say that the ‘storm’ cloaks the fierce otherness of the presence of God in his fullness in the midst of the world of human experience—a presence that causes all who see it to tremble and to cry with the psalmist: ‘Glory!’ (Ps. 29:9).” (Page 424)

“Both Ecclesiastes and Job, after their devastating critiques of naïve retributive thinking, counsel readers that the only way forward is to remain in a deep relationship of absolute dependence on God (what Israel calls ‘fear of God’), acknowledging his sovereign freedom and admitting, along with Job, that knowing this God transcends (but does not remove!) the questions and doubts that diligent sages uncover in their searching.” (Page 4)

Product Details

• Title: Job
• Author: Gerald H. Wilson
• Series: Understanding the Bible Commentary Series
• Publisher: Baker
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Pages: 512
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Job › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9781441251817, 9781565632196, 9780801048111, 1441251812, 1565632192, 0801048117
• Resource ID: LLS:BAKERUBOT18JOB
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-08-30T23:52:05Z

About Gerald H. Wilson

Gerald H. Wilson received his PhD from Yale University, and he was a professor of Old Testament and biblical Hebrew at Azusa Pacific University. He wrote The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter and numerous articles for journals, encyclopedias, and reviews.