Job: The Finest Man in all the Earth

By Ray Sammons

Job is the story of a cosmic conflict between the God of the universe and Lucifer, one of God’s fallen angles.

Lucifer is calling God a liar, a phony, and an imposter but God defends His character.

Then, to make a point, God chooses Job as a human representative to prove to Lucifer that people worship God for who He is and not for what He does. But, Job isn’t told that he’s been chosen for this exercise.

Job lives through the loss of his wealth, family and health asking, “Why is this happening? I’ve done nothing wrong!” He prays and God does not answer, Job goes through this test with the answers held back.

Finally, when the test is over God talks to Job and afterwards Job’s life has ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ray Sammons
• Release date: May 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458191205

Ray Sammons

Retired

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Job

The Finest Man in all the Earth

By

Ray Sammons

Smashwords Edition

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Published by:

Ray Sammons on Smashwords

Job

The Finest Man in All the Earth

Copyright 2011 by Ray Sammons

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 - Cosmic Conference One

Chapter 2 - Raiders

Chapter 3 - Job on the Council

Chapter 4 - Four Year Conference

Chapter 5 - Loss of Things

Chapter 6 - Cosmic Conference Two

Chapter 7 - Boils

Chapter 8 - Three Friends

Chapter 9 - God Speaks

Chapter 10 - The Sacrifice

Chapter 11 - The Celebration Feast

Chapter 12 - Great Grandfather

INTRODUCTION

The writer of the Old Testament introduces Job as a businessman, He was, in fact, the richest cattleman in that entire area.

God introduces Job this way, He is the finest man in all the earth-- a good man who fears God and will have nothing to do with evil.

The purpose of this book is to examine Job’s life to find the qualities and characteristics that made him ‘the finest man in all the earth.’

To discover what made Job the finest man in all the earth I have tried to put him in tennis shoes and look at the everyday events in his life, to see him as others must have seen him.

Job was probably in his 60’s when the events in the book took place. I have put some every day events into his life to show the pulls and stresses he must have experienced.

The size of his business was a curiosity. Cattlemen usually record the numbers of mature animals they own, so I took the numbers given in the book of Job and expanded them into the number of animals needed to maintain those mature animals. I wanted to know the total number of animals he owned. Then, from my experience in the Middle East, estimates were made about the number of people required to care for those animals.

In addition he needed foremen, supervisors, department heads, and division chiefs to administer the servants that cared for the animals. Lastly I estimated the number of animals the land would support per acre and arrived at the number of acres of farmland and pastures required to feed the animals he owned and the people that worked for him.

To put Job’s business in perspective for us today I used some current values for the animals and land to determine the dollar value of his assets. Then I applied a low hourly wage to determine his monthly payroll. All of my figures are estimates, there is nothing magic about the final numbers, and you are free to use any values you think are appropriate.

Job was the biggest cattleman in Uz, he was visible in the community, he was on the city council, and a judge. Everyone knew Job or knew about him and nothing he did was un-noticed. His actions affected thousands of people. He was in the public eye and still he was the finest man in all the earth.

God selected Job, as his representative, to show Satan that men will worship God for who he is, not what he does.

Job lived his life one day at a time, just like we do. What made him the finest man in all the earth?

Chapter 1 Cosmic Conference One

In heaven the angels were assembling for a routine meeting with God. Atael, an angel, stood looking out over the thousands of assembling angels and turned to his friend and ask, Where’ve you been the past two assemblies?

I’ve been on earth helping Bapol with his human assignment, a fellow named Job. Job is having a conference in two weeks and Bapol needed help looking after his affairs, Enehaz replied with an I’m-glad-I’m-back look. Anything special happen while I was gone?

No, just our usual times of being with God when he talks with us.

Hey, would you look at that! Atael exclaimed pointing to Satan coming into the conference. He was slightly taller than the other angels and he looked magnificent as he swaggered toward the front. We’ve not seen him for a long time. … I wonder what he wants.

I don’t know why he comes at all; he never has anything good to say. Why does God allow him to come anyway?

He comes because God is just and fair...

What’s fair about his coming to interrupt our conferences? Enehaz interrupted.

You remember! It’s all part of his rebellion, when he and his followers were thrown out of heaven.

The room was filling as more angels from across the universe continued to gather for the conference. The conference was in a huge high domed room and soon there would be thousands and hundreds of thousands of angels from all over creation.

No I don’t remember. Why would God cast him out and then let him come back, Enehaz was perplexed.

Maybe you weren’t there when it happened. It amazed me how God could keep from destroying them all on the spot. I watched God deal with him and my heart overflowed with gratitude thinking about how fortunate I am to serve God; he is fair, just, righteous, and slow to become angry.

What happened?, Enehaz asked not paying any attention to the assembling angels.

"That’s the day Satan, his name was Lucifer then, decided he was as good as God. I’m sure he must have felt that way for a long time but he never said anything about it. You remember, those were the days when he was in charge over all of us. He was, and still is, the most beautiful of all of us. Just look at him now, it is disgusting the way he walks and tries to look important.

Well anyway, that day he told all of us to report directly to him and not to associate with God again. He wanted us to sit around and worship him like we do God. He tried to tell us God wanted it that way. He said when God called us we should say, ’I report to Lucifer, just like you want me to.’

Atael shifted his position so he could keep an eye on Satan as he worked his way through the gathering angels. I was amazed that a third of the angels went along with his crazy idea, and they knew it was wrong; we told them so! I don’t know yet what they thought he could give them that they didn’t already have. Lucifer didn’t have any power; God has all of the power. Lucifer only had authority when he was obedient to God. There wasn’t any logic to their decision, it was ridiculous!

What did God do when he found out?, Enehaz interrupted.

"He pronounced judgment on Lucifer on the spot, right then and there.

Lucifer immediately recognized his error, he knew he was wrong and that God was right – but it was too late. He’s cunning, I have to give him that, and he tried to get God to change his mind - I’ll never forget it. He scowled at God, pointed his finger at God’s face and yelled with a voice like thunder, ‘Liar ... you are not who you say you are ... you’re a phony ... you claim to be fair, and loving, and kind, and just! ... You’re only a power-hungry monster and you only use your power for yourself ... you never use it for us! Look at what you’ve done! Everything you’ve created will now know you are a phony!’ ... all of Lucifer’s followers were standing and flying around shouting and yelling the same thing.

Enehaz was giving Atael his full attention.

"I couldn’t believe my ears; no one should talk to God like that! NO ONE, EVER! Yet, there they were, yelling at God. I shuddered to think what God would do to them. God could have said the word or pointed his finger at them and they would have all been vaporized. I thought he’d do something like that. It seemed right to me.

"God was much more gracious and fair than I would have been. He motioned for them to be silent and then announced his great demonstration. He said, ‘So, you think I am unfair, and you think my judgment of sending you to a lake of fire for your disobedience is not in keeping with my character do you? You think I am power-hungry, do you?

‘To prove to you, and all of the angels, that I am who I say I am, I will create a demonstration of my justice and my love.’

After a long pause God continued.

‘On planet earth, I will create a special world, and in that world I will create a new race of beings -- I will call them humans. I will teach them about me and show them my character. As a race they will operate with limited knowledge of me. They will have a free will, just like you did; they will worship and obey me, just because of who I am.’

God paused again before continuing.

‘You will be free to try to persuade them to follow you instead of me. If you can prove there is no one in all the earth that will follow me - just for who I am, I will reconsider my punishment. But, if all of the humans will not follow you then you are justly punished. The humans that follow you will receive your same sentence, they will be cast into the lake of fire that I will create for you and your followers.’

I wish I’d been there to see that! Enehaz listened in amazement.

"It was an awesome day. You know the rest of the story. As soon as God had rearranged Earth and created those two humans Satan immediately started to change them into his followers.

"God told Adam and Eve, the first two humans, they could eat anything on earth; except they were not to eat of the one tree in the center of their garden. He told that that the day ate from that tree they would die. You remember how Satan entered into the body of the most beautiful snake in the world and stayed at that tree for months and years until one day he saw Eve looking at the fruit she was told not to eat. Satan recognized his chance and asked her a question, ‘Did God say you could eat any of the fruit in the entire world?’

‘Of course we can eat all the fruit we want in the entire world. Only we are not to touch or eat the fruit from this tree or we will die.’ Eve replied.

‘That is a lie.’ Satan hissed calmly and with confidence. ’God knows you won’t die. Instead you will become like God! You will gain knowledge, and learn new things, you will even be able to tell the difference between good and evil, just like God does’, Satan coaxed.

"She ate some fruit and then gave it to Adam. Immediately they had a dark and empty feeling in their hearts – they had disobeyed God. They lost their direct connection to God; they were dead to God.

Their disobedience gave them new desires and fears in their hearts and they didn’t have the power to control these new desires. They had experienced evil they now they were compelled to act evil. It became part of their nature and they couldn’t reverse it.

Atael continued, It’s a life and death struggle with Satan and he doesn’t miss any opportunity to persuade humans to follow him. He really doesn’t care what happens to them, he is looking out for himself, just like he always did.

Enehaz was puzzled, When I visit earth, I think most of all of those humans are following Satan. How is God going to make the demonstration work?

I was assigned to earth soon after it was formed. Atael continued. "When I came back from my first duty I asked that same question of our chief angel Gabriel. He said God the Father, Son, and Spirit have a very special plan to satisfy the Father’s demand of death for disobedience.

"It seems that at some point the Son will leave us and go to earth and become a human. He will live a perfect life and he will teach the humans about his father. Here is the wild part; the humans will hate the Son. Can you imagine?

"The plan, as I understand it, is this: the Son dies for sins he didn’t commit, the Father will accept his Son’s death as a replacement for the death of every humans. This will nullify the spiritual death that came from Eve’s decision to follow Satan. Any human that wants to follow God, now or in the future, can do so and no matter what they have done they will not die – their death sentence has been satisfied. Every human will continue to have the knowledge that Eve brought into the human race but they will have a new character.

"The Father will prove to the humans that the Son’s death is sufficient for them by raising the Son back to life.

I don’t understand all of this, and I don’t know when it will happen. It will prove God is fair, merciful, righteous, and all of the other things he claims to be. Satan doesn’t have a chance, never did, but God is going along with the demonstration just to prove that he really is who he claims to be

Enehaz had his back to the gathering angels and was intently listening; he was paying no attention to the hundreds of thousands of angels that were gathering, waiting for God to appear. I suppose I should’ve known all of that, or at least figured it out on my own.

The oooooohs and aaaaaaahs of millions of angels expressing their approval of God’s sudden appearance spun him around to see the magnificence of his God. Each time he saw God it gave him a warm, exhilarating feeling inside, the kind of feeling he wanted to last forever. Just to spend all of this time in God’s presence would be perfect. Nothing could be better.

Atael and Enehaz immediately joined in the spontaneous song that burst forth as God’s presence became known. Millions of angels harmoniously singing Holy, Holy, Holy!

During the singing Satan sat in the front row scowling, not making a sound.

After a long time the singing dwindled off to a low hum as the angels sat and worshipped the presence of their creator. Their joy knew no bounds.

When God spoke, his voice was heard every where, each angel heard his voice as if they sat on the front row, Satan, where have you come from?

Satan stood and turned left and right and shouted, From the earth where I have been watching everything that is going on. The humans you created for your demonstration have turned against you, they all are following me! The experiment is over, you lost!

Every angel present knew he was lying; but no one was surprised, Satan’s life was on the line and they knew he’d use any means he could to save himself. The thing that did surprise them was that he would lie to God, since God will not tolerate deception of any kind. It only made his case worse.

Really, is that a fact? Have you considered my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth - a good man who worships me and will have nothing to do with your evil.

"Yeah, right! He is your special case! He only follows you because you treat him so well. You have always protected him and his property and his home from all of my efforts. You prosper everything he does. You’ve made him rich and famous. No wonder he worships you.

Just let me take away his wealth and he will curse you to your face, you’ll see then that he is just like all of the others.

Satan, how long will it take before you learn, the whole of creation is not like you? Not everyone on the earth is following you! Just to show you that Job doesn’t worship me because of the things I have given him, I will let you do anything you like with his wealth, but don’t harm him physically.

OK, now you’ll see. But you cannot tell Job about this arrangement.

Alright, Satan, I will not tell him that he is my prime human example in this demonstration against your evil.

Satan turned and left the assembly, he wanted no part of their joy and worship.

Satan went to the assembly of his demon leaders and yelled. "I did it! We have permission to destroy Job’s wealth. It worked just like I said it would! We cannot harm Job personally but we can harm others. We will snuff out all of his employees, and all of his children, all of his grandchildren, and we will give his animals to our raiders. Then Job will curse God and we will go free!

Lezbros. Satan ordered, Have your man Si in Sheba raid Job’s oxen, take them all and take all of his donkeys too. Kill all of his servants, all of them!

Satan turned his attention to another of his demon leaders, Zokitarp., he commanded, "Have Gus the General of the Chaldeans raid Job’s camels and kill all of his servants.

"I will arrange for his sheep and all of his shepherds to be