There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. (v. 1)

Then he believed in the LORD; and He credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

The Book of Job is one of the most important books that explains why God made the world and how He trains His people. Some stupidly say that we only need to read the Gospels or the New Testament. The Bible was written over a few thousand years. You don’t open a book only to read the end. To understand a book, you must read the whole book. And the Bible is not just a book. It is the Book written by the Creator.

The Book of Job is one of the Wisdom books placed in the center of the Bible. As I mentioned before, the word truth in Hebrew is emet or emeth. It contains three letters – the first, the middle and the end of the Hebrew alphabet. Revelation was planned first although the first book is Genesis. And in the center, where the books of wisdom are, we find the wisdom of God. I hope this book receives proper attention in the future.

The Book of Job is often misquoted and misunderstood. People mention Job for his prosperity after much suffering. Had Job not received more wealth and children than before suffering, would it have made Job pitiful and God cruel? Job died as a happy and righteous man with or without his wealth and children because of what was revealed to Him.

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. (James 5:11)

It is God’s compassion and mercy that made Job endure. The Book is not about Job’s integrity or patience that earned God’s blessings.

It is believed that Job lived around the same time Abraham lived. From a moral point of view, Job was better than Abraham. But Job was merely blameless and upright while Abraham was righteous. Different words were used to describe these two men. This does not mean we should promote immorality. God brings repentant sinners close to Him while He humbles the self-righteous. I mentioned that Adam before the fall was blameless, but not righteous. Understanding this book will help us understand why Covenant Theology is wrong. Adam was never given a promise of eternal life upon his perfect obedience.

This chapter describes how God uses the devil to fulfill His purpose. God gave the devil the power to take away Job’s children and belongings. Wealth can deceive people because we think we need money to help others. Wealth was sometimes used to show God’s blessings in the Old Testament. But wealth makes people slip and fall. We look righteous before others if we have wealth. Christ was born into a poor family and lived without wealth. It is strange that many churches go after money and praise wealthy people. Theologians and ministers quote the Bible wrong and preach that wealth is proof of God’s blessings. Material wealth is not God’s blessing but a curse. And we read the reason through this book.

You indeed put them on slippery ground; You dropped them into ruin. (Psalm 73:18)

True wealth is the kingdom of God. You can’t buy this with money. Money is considered the most important by people living on the earth. Therefore, Christ described the kingdom this way:

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

However, money can’t buy the citizenship of the kingdom of God.

You there! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1)

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)