Reading for Today:

• Job 7:1 Chapter 7 1 Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? –8:22
• Psalms 92:8-15 8 But thou, O Jehovah, art on high for evermore. 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Jehovah, For, lo, thine enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10 But my horn hast thou exalted like `the horn of' the wild-ox: I am anointed with fresh oil. 11 Mine eye also hath seen `my desire' on mine enemies, Mine ears have heard `my desire' of the evil-doers that rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 They are planted in the house of Jehovah; They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and green: 15 To show that Jehovah is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
• Proverbs 22:17-21 17 Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thy heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, If they be established together upon thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I have made `them' known to thee this day, even to thee. 20 Have not I written unto thee excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, 21 To make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, That thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?
• Romans 9:1-15 Chapter 9 1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service `of God', and the promises; 5 whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. 6 But `it is' not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel: 7 neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed. 9 For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. 10 And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, `even' by our father Isaac-- 11 for `the children' being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, 12 it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

Notes:

Job 7:1 Chapter 7 1 Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? 9 till I swallow my saliva. This strange statement was an Arabic proverb, indicating a brief moment. Job was asking for a moment “to catch his breath,” or in the case of the proverb, “swallow his saliva.”

Job 8:3 3 Doth God pervert justice? Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness? Almighty pervert justice. Bildad took Job’s claims for innocence and applied them to his simplistic notion of retribution. He concluded that Job was accusing God of injustice when God must be meting out justice to Job. Job tried to avoid outright accusations of this sort, but the evidence led Bildad to this conclusion because he had no knowledge of the heavenly facts.

Psalms 92:10 10 But my horn hast thou exalted like `the horn of' the wild-ox: I am anointed with fresh oil. my horn…anointed with fresh oil. This figure is based on a practice of making an animal’s horns gleam by rubbing oil on them. Thus God, in effect, had invigorated the psalmist (Pss. 23:5; 133:2).

Romans 9:4 4 who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service `of God', and the promises; Israelites. The descendants of Abraham through Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel (Gen. 32:28). adoption. Not in the sense of providing salvation to every person born a Jew (8:15–23; 9:6), but sovereignly selecting an entire nation to receive His special calling, covenant, and blessing and to serve as His witness nation (Ex. 4:22; 19:6; Hos. 11:1; Is. 46:3, 4). glory. The glory cloud (Shekinah) that pictured God’s presence in the Old Testament (Ex. 16:10; 24:16, 17; 29:42, 43; Lev. 9:23). His glory was supremely present in the Holy of Holies in both the tabernacle and the temple, which served as the throne room of Yahweh, Israel’s King (Ex. 25:22; 40:34; 1 Kin. 8:11). covenants. A covenant is a legally binding promise, agreement, or contract. Three times in the New Testament the word “covenants” is used in the plural (Gal. 4:24; Eph. 2:12). All but one of God’s covenants with man are eternal and unilateral—that is, God promised to accomplish something based on His own character and not on the response or actions of the promised beneficiary. The 6 biblical covenants include: 1) the covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:8–17); 2) the covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3); 3) the covenant of law given through Moses at Sinai (Ex. 19–31; Deut. 29; 30); 4) the priestly covenant (Num.25:10–13); 5) the covenant of an eternal kingdom through David’s greatest Son (2 Sam. 7:8–16); and 6) the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 37:26; Heb. 8:6–13). All but the Mosaic Covenant are eternal and unilateral. It is neither, since Israel’s sin abrogated it and it has been replaced by the New Covenant (Heb. 8:7–13).

DAY 8: Describe what Job was going through?

In Job 7:1 Chapter 7 1 Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? , he said, “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth?” He felt like a slave under tyranny of his master, longing for relief and reward (vv. 1, 2); he was sleepless (v. 3, 4); he was loathsome because of worms and scabs, dried filth and new running sores (v. 5); he was like a weaver’s shuttle, tossed back and forth (v. 6); he was like a breath or cloud that comes and goes on its way to death (vv. 7–10). In this discourse, Job attempted to reconcile in his own mind what God was doing.

Job’s Living Death

1. Painful boils from head to toe (2:7,13; 30:17)

2. Severe itching/irritation (2:7,8)

3. Great grief (2:13)

4. Lost appetite (3:24; 6:6,7)

5. Agonizing discomfort (3:24)

6. Insomnia (7:4)

7. Worm- and dust-infested flesh (7:5)

8. Continual oozing of boils (7:5)

9. Hallucinations (7:14)

10. Decaying skin (13:28)

11. Shriveled up (16:8; 17:7; 19:20)

12. Severe halitosis (19:17)

13. Teeth fell out (19:20)

14. Relentless pain (30:17)

15. Skin turned black (30:30)

16. Raging fever (30:30)

17. Dramatic weight loss (33:21)

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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