Job #7: A Wise Interlude (Job 28)

Job 28 Study

This Sunday we’ll be reading Job 28 in our study of that book. We’ll also be observing Communion – so be prepared with bread and wine, or juice…or any symbolic form of sustenance.

Job 28 marks a shift in the focus of the book. We stated last time that the case which the Challenger brought against God (that real righteousness doesn’t exist because it comes with a reward, thus making people mercenaries in their pursuit of goodness) was lost when Job confessed a determination to pursue righteousness regardless of reward or cost. Chapter 28 comes in like an interlude. It doesn’t appear to be Job, nor any of his friends doing the talking, and we’re left to assume it is the narrator, bridging us to the next section with a poem.

• What is the subject matter of the poem?

• What does that tell us about how things will resolve from here?

• What was the main concern and point of emphasis for Job and his friends (think of the triangle we showed)?

• How does that differ from the point of this poem?

I really like this chapter and because of its overall context, the message behind it is profound. Hopefully it will inspire some good discussion in the Q/A at the end of the service.

Click here for a pdf version of the PowerPoint slideshow for this teaching.