John Mark Hicks

The Prologue (Job 1-2) and the Epilogue (Job 42:7-17) are the narrative frame for the poetic dialogues and monologues (Job 3-42:6) that are the heart of the book.  Though it is unfortunate that many only know the narrative frame (the story of Job) and ignore the central core of the book that is the real point […]

There are many uncertainties about the origin and composition of the book of Job. The author is anonymous. There are no clear indications of date.  Nevertheless, I here offer my own summation of what I think is the best understanding.  Following my summation, I provide a bullet point list of some of the significant data […]

This semester at Lipscomb I am teaching an intensive Bible Major class on Job and Ecclesiastes. I am excited about the class and literally am sitting on the edge of my seat to see what God does every class period with myself and sixteen students. Over the semester, I hope to blog a bit about […]

Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but–I hope–into a better shape. Estella to Pip, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, chap. 59 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I […]

Yesterday I posted two articles by my hand from the 1981 Gospel Advocate. These were my first atttempts, at the age of twenty-three, to write (even publicly speak of) the loss of my wife in 1980. Reading them again after so long–I don’t think I have read them or perhaps even thought of them in […]

To forgive God is, for many–if not most, a necessary bridge to praising him.  But it is a difficult idea to grab hold of–how does one forgive God? What does that mean? And, indeed, it sounds blasphemous….as if God has done something wrong that needs forgiveness.  And who are we to forgive God anyway? We are […]

My previous posts in this series have examined the mistakes of Eliphaz and Bildad in their first responses to Job’s laments. Now I turn my attention to Zophar (Job 11) and Job’s reaction to his “comfort” (Job 12-14). Zophar’s Counsel Zophar is seething. He can’t stand it.  Who does Job think he is that he […]

In my first post, I enumerated Eliphaz’s pastoral mistakes (Job 4-5) and Job’s response to his “friend.” In this post Bildad responds to Job’s rejection of Eliphaz’s counsel (Job 8 ) and Job reacts to Bildad (Job 9-10). Bildad’s “Counsel” Whatever God does is just. God destroyed your life. Therefore, you deserved it. With shocking pastoral insensitivity […]

Actually, I’m more interested in Job’s journey of faith than I am his “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2), but for the present I want to take a closer look at these “comforters.”  I have decided to do this as an exercise for my own spirituality over the next few weeks because sometimes, in the midst of my grief, […]

Was Job right? He was, I have no doubt, right about his feelings. His losses seemed to have no meaning from his vantage point. Sitting on the trash pile, thinking about his children, his wife, his isolation, his “miserable comforters,” and his future prospects, it would be well-nigh impossible for him to find meaning in […]