ch.25 - Bildad responds for the third time

25:4 Bildad questions Job's status before God. Whilst He described Job as just and good Job 1:8 Bildad questions whether man - and by implication Job - can be just.

ch.26 -Job responds

He asked how he has been helped by his friends. The implication again is that he has not been helped.

ch.27 - Job continues

27:2-6 So Job maintains his claims to integrity.
27:11-23 And Job asserts that he will instruct his friends according to God's words.

25 So Bildad did not know that Abraham was justified by faith - Did Job live before Abraham? Or was Bildad saying that Job did not believe God's promises - for that is why Abraham was justified - He believed God (Romans 4:21)

26:8-13 Job seems to be describing the things that God created before saying that they are only part (26:14) of His work.

27:5 But Job will not plead for his friends. He is convinced that their reasoning is false - though later he would pray for them (42:8)

25:5 One wonders what Bildad meant when he said the stars are not pure in God's sight. There is no Scripture language which supports this idea. Bildad is using his own words and ideas and imposing them on God. We should be careful that our own 'shorthand' does not get in the way of our understanding of God, or worse still, how we present our understanding to others.

26:12 So this is why Job is speaking of God's work - so that he can assert that God will 'smite through' his friends!

27:2 This assertion that God has taken away his judgement is one of the many words of Job which Elihu (34:5) throws back at him.

JOB 25. In this 3rd. cycle of speeches Job had clearly silenced his friends. Bildad’s speech was only 5 short verses, and we note that Zophar choose not to address Job the third time.

Job 26:7. This verse not only shows us how close Job was to the creator, it also proves the theory of creation. How could the earth just hang in space, other than being part of creation.

25:6  Whatever Bildad meant about the stars he wishes to make a comparison with Job. If the inanimate creation if not ‘pure’ then you certainly cannot be pure’ seems to be what Bildad is saying. He uses a word which Scripture does not use when speaking of man to make his point. He is moving outside Biblical language and so leaves himself open to being misunderstood.

26:5  ‘dead things’ is ‘Rephaim’ < 07496> and is not simply speaking of dead things. It is a word which has religious overtones of false worship, probably associated with giants.

27:4  Not only does Job claim to be righteous. He says he will never say anything wrong. What a claim!

26:2 The question ‘how hast thou helped …?’ is a rhetorical question. Job does not wait for a response. He proceeds to tell Bildad about God creative power. Striking really when this is the issue God raises with Job when He finally speaks Job 38:4

25:4 Man cannot be just by his own actions. He can be justified, however, by God. Gen 15:6 shows that Abraham was justified by faith. That is he believed that God would keep His word about the promised child. Likewise any man, even though he is a child of Adam, can be just before God – but not by his own merits. It is God that justifies Rom 8:33

26:5-14 Job now provides a number of elements of God’s activities as an indication that Eliphaz does not understand how God works. Job will be confronted with the same sort of challenge from God at the end of the book.

26:4 In asking ‘whose spirit came from thee’ Job is questioning that authority of Bildad’s competence to comment.

2:1 measuring line in his hand Ezekiel 40:3 Revelation 21:16
2:4 towns without walls Ezekiel 38:11
2:6 spread you abroad Deuteronomy 28:64
2:8 apple of his eye Deuteronomy 32:10
2:10 I will dwell in the midst of thee Ezekiel 37:27
2:12 And the Lord shall inherit Judah Deuteronomy 32:9

2:1 The measuring line picks up the words and ideas of Ezekiel in his description of the temple. Highly relevant given that during the days of Zechariah a temple was being built.
A question that should recur over and over again in the prophets after the exile is 'How did the people who received the message understand what they heard?' Did they see what they were involved in as the fulfilment of the earlier prophecies?

3:2 The Lord rebuke thee Jude 9
3:2 plucked out of the fire Jude 23
3:3 filthy garments Isaiah 64:6 Jude 23
3:5 mitre [heb diadem] Ezekiel 21:26
3:7 shall walk with me Revelation 3:4
3:9 seven eyes Revelation 5:6
3:10 under ... vine ... fig tree Micah 4:4

3:5 mitre picking up the restorations element of Ezekiel 21:26 and 3:10 under ... vine ... fig tree picking up language of the kingdom from Micah 4:4 and the description of the kingdom in the days of Solomon

2:12 And shall choose Jerusalem quotes Isaiah 14:1. Isaiah 14 speaks of the destruction of Babylon. Zechariah is speaking after Babylon has been destroyed. The people would, therefore, have seen in the return from Babylon a fulfilment of Isaiah 14.

3:1 The 'Satan' of this verse is (Ezra 4:1) the adversaries of Judah. This passage in Zechariah has an historical basis - it is the events recorded in Ezra.

2:12 'and shall choose Jerusalem' quotes Isaiah 14:1 - further encouragement about the overthrow of Babylon.

3:2 'hath chosen Jerusalem' quotes again Isaiah 14:1. Not only were the words of Isaiah going to be fulfilled. They had actually been fulfilled in the days of the returning exiles. The returning exiles may well have viewed the overthrow of Babylon as a natural event, after all Assyria had fallen. Zechariah is at great pains to show them that in fact their liberation was a direct fulfilment of Scripture. It is so easy for us to be complacent about the way that God is working in the world today. We should realise that He is always working out His purpose --and we can see it happening if we are willing.

Zech 2:1. This chapter is the final vision dealing with the prosperity for Judah and Jerusalem. In the first vision,(1:7-17) the prophet saw how through His Divine army God would redeem Israel. In the 2nd.(1:18-21) Zechariah was shown how the Gentiles would be overthrown. He is now shown that Jerusalem’s down treading is limited.  v.4 ”Jerusalem shall be inhabited.”

Zech 2:8. “The apple of His eye.” This is God’s eye, or as it should be the pupil, it is the tenderest part of the eye, and the eye is the most tender part of the body, the member of our body which we guard and protect more than any other part; We have all had a speck of dust in our eye at one time or another and know how it felt. It is the one part of the body that feels the slightest injury. What the prophet is saying is: No one can touch the people of God without paying a high price or cost.

Zech 3:1 The theme of the visions now changes to that of purification, and we begin in this chapter with a New High Priest, whose qualifications and nature are revealed to us in this chapter.

Zech 3:8. A branch has no beginning what we can see. With God as his Father, the new High Priest is a sprout of God. Here the BRANCH is revealed as a servant, but after this series of night visions is concluded we see the BRANCH revealed as a king. Zech 6:12. 

2:4 In speaking of Jerusalem being 'without walls' Zechariah is drawing of the language of Ezekiel who spoke to these same men and women when they were in captivity (Eze 38:11) giving them a message of hope.

3:8 The 'branch' would take the hearers back to, amongst other places Jer 23:5 where Jeremiah was speaking of the time after Israel would return from Babylon - so Zechariah is telling the people that the words of Jeremiah are being fulfilled in their own days.

2:4 In speaking of Jerusalem being ‘without walls’ his words must have seemed rather unrealistic to those returning exiles who eventually had to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem because of the opposition of their adversaries during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah..

3:10 In telling the people that there was coming a time when they would sit ‘under the vine and under the fig tree’ Zechariah is reminding them of what it was like in the days of Solomon – 1Kin 4:25– and what Micah had said it would be like when the kingdom was re-established upon earth – Mic 4:4.

3:1 The showing of ‘Joshua’ to Zechariah forces the immediate fulfilment of this prophecy.

2:6  ‘I have spread you abroad’ quotes Deut 28:64. The prophet is saying that the curses of Deuteronomy will be reversed.

Joshua, the high priest, is representative of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is the BRANCH of 3:8 (cf. Isa 11:1). The name Jesus is actually Joshua (yehoshua) which means Yahweh delivered. The one stone (3:9) describes Jesus as the foundation of salvation (Eph 2:20). Seven eyes rest upon this stone. The seven eyes represent the Spirit of the LORD (seven being the number of completion) (Rev 5:6). And so, the Spirit of the LORD rested on Jesus (Matt 3:16; John 3:34). The stone had the words saith the LORD of hosts inscribed upon it. This indicated that when Jesus spoke, His words were those of His Father (John 17:8). The LORD promised to remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Jesus died on the cross a sinless man. Because of His perfect obedience, His Father raised Him to everlasting life. He now became the way whereby humankind could be saved. On that day, iniquity was removed (Psa 2:7; Heb 1:1-5).

2:5 In saying that God will be a ‘wall’ the prophet is echoing the idea of Isa 26:1

These two chapters have messianic and kingdom on earth millenial applications. Christ overcame sin and had a change of raiment; faithful believers will also have a change of raiment - Zech 3:4;Luke 24:12,4;Mark 9:3;Rev 3:5.

As previously mentioned, Jesus is the chief corner stone and foundation of our salvation; He and the kingdom he will bring is the stone that will fill the earth when he returns -Zech 3:9;Dan 2:34-35,44-45;Eph 2:20-21;1Pet 2:4-6. Also in Zech 3:9 we have mention of 7 eyes on that one stone - Zech 4:10;Rev 5:6.

In the Jerusalem of the kingdom age the Lord and the lamb will be the temple - Zech 2:1-5;Rev 21:10-22;Eze 40:2-3.

2:4 The description of Jerusalem ‘without walls’ sets the scene for the children playing in the streets – Zech 8:5

Notice the use of Old Testament examples
1:5 The deliverance from Egypt
1:6 The uprising of Korah Dathan and Abiram
1:7 Sodom and Gomorra
1:9 The adversaries opposing Joshua at the time of the return from Babylon
1:11 Cain
1:11 Balaam
1:11 Corah [again]

So we see that New Testament writers, under the guidance of the spirit, see that Old Testament examples are relevant to ecclesial life today.

The two quotations from Zechariah 3 are from the time of the return from Babylon and the focus was on saving those who were faithful. The quotation from Amos 4:11, speaking of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, focuses on the way that God delivered the faithful. So Jude, when speaking of brethren and sisters being overtaken with error, encourages us to think about their salvation, not their destruction

V.25 The more we contemplate the vision which these words produce in our minds, the closer we are drawn to our Heavenly Father, and to His Son, who has made such a destiny possible for each one of us. May we include this among those true and lovely things  upon which Paul advises us to concentrate our thoughts.

V.19 Jude characterizes the heretics as persons who created divisions in the eccesia. In a few words Jude has put the godless men in their place. They follow the natural ways of man and there is no place in the ecclesia for them.

1:6         In speaking of those who ‘kept not their first estate’ Jude is speaking of Korah and company  - Num 16 – being unhappy with their position they sought to usurp Moses’  position.

4 Solutions to Ecclesial Problems

1. "building up yourselves (v.20)

2. "praying" (v.20)

3. "Keep yourselves in the love of God" (v.21)

4. "looking for the mercey" (v.21)

1:10       In saying that they ‘speak evil of those things they know not’  Jude is, using the example of Korah and company, highlighting the dangers of forming judgments without having all the fact to hand or when some of the facts are ignored in order to elevate oneself.

The letter of Jude is all about those who "left their own abode", or in other words "did not keep their proper domain" (v6). We have the example of Sodom and Gomorrah who wanted more than the "natural use of the woman" which God had provided (Rom 1:27). We have the example of Balaam who greedily wanted more than the words God gave him to say, and be paid for it. Cain, who could not bear to simply offer what God asked him to offer. Korah and his friends could not be content with their leading role in the service of God. And Israel having been saved from the land of Egypt were not content to be "a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" (Exo 19:6) but wanted to create their own God who allowed them to corupt their behaviour (Rom 1:22-25).

If ever we find ourselves contemplating attending other churches, we should ask ourselves: Who decided to serve God in a different way than He specified originally? Who is condoning homosexuality? Who has ministers who want to be paid for their words? Who is discontent with Jesus as their vicar, mediating for God as Moses did? Who wants to create a God who will allow them to sing and dance in euphoria, and do whatever they want in His worship? It should then be abundantly clear to us who Jude is talking about. May we keep our abode, however humble.