Job 22-42 Twenty Questions

1. What kind of slanderous charges does Eliphaz make against Job in chapter 22?

2. Is Eliphaz correct when he says in Job 22:21: “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you?”

3. How convinced is Job of his own righteousness?

4. What kind of injustices (economic and moral) does Job describe in chapter 24?

5. In Job 27:1-6, what is Job resolute about, and why?

6. What kind of things do people mine for in the depths of the earth, according to Job 28:1-11?

7. What wisdom does God impart to human beings (Job 28:28)?

8. In chapter 29, what does Job cite as evidence of his past righteousness?

9. In chapter 29, what does Job cite as evidence of his wisdom?

10. In chapter 30, how does Job describe his loss of respect?

11. In chapter 30, how does Job describe his physical symptoms and pains?

12. Job gives a stirring defense of his own righteousness as a summation of his argument in chapter 31.  What sins does Job assert he refrained from?

13. Sometimes people profess to “feeling like Job” because of their suffering.  On what grounds would you say that comparison is likely to be faulty?  Name at least two.

14. How does Elihu feel about his wisdom (Job 36:4)?

15. God reviews his dominion over earth, sky, and sea, including the weather, the constellations, and the behavior of wild animals.  Do any of these topics especially provoke a sense of awe and wonder within you?

16. What would you guess Behemoth and Leviathan are?

17. At the end of the book of Job, who is justified: Job or his friends?

18. Who would you say won the “wager” between God and Satan from the beginning of the book of Job?

19. Job receives back double in livestock for all that he had lost (Job 42:12-17), but the same number of children that he had before.  Do you find any significance to this?

20. How do you think Job would feel about the conclusion that “all’s well that ends well?”

Job 1-21 Twenty Questions

1. In chapter 1, on what basis does Satan claim that Job’s righteousness lies?

2. What does God allow Satan to do to Job?

3. In chapter 2, on what basis does Satan claim that Job’s righteousness now lies?

4. What does God extend permission for Satan to do to Job?

5. Make a list of the losses Job suffered.  How do you think you might have fared spiritually if you were in his shoes?

6. Did Job deserve what happened to him?  Why or why not?

7. In the worst season of your life, what friends of yours would you most want to see, and how would you hope that they would encourage you?

8. In chapter 3, Job basically wishes that he had never been born.  Is depression a sin or a sign of weakness in one’s relationship with the Lord?  Why or why not?

9. What is the crux of Eliphaz’s argument to Job in 4:7-8?

10. How confident is Eliphaz in his own wisdom (Job 5:27)?

11. What does Job reveal he is hoping for in 6:8-10?

12. What appears to be Job’s view of life after death based on 7:6-10?

13. What is Bildad implicitly accusing Job of in chapter 8?

14. In chapters 9 and 10, does Job maintain his innocence or admit his wrongdoing?

15. In chapter 11, Zophar feels the need to defend God’s integrity and attack Job for his insistence on his own righteousness.  Do you think God needs human beings to defend Him?  Why or why not?

16. In Job 13, Job earnestly desires to make his case before the Almighty.  How does the expression in 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him,” summarize Job’s attitude?

17. Do you detect any change in Job’s thoughts about an afterlife in 14:7-17?

18. Why does Job feel that his friends are “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2)?

19. Does Job 19:23-27 indicate any evolution in Job’s thinking about life after death?

20. Job 21 seems to ponder the inverse question of the theme of this book (Why do the righteous suffer?) as Job asks, “Why do the wicked prosper?”  His friends have been staunchly maintaining that the opposite is true.  Why is it that we can’t tell the quality of someone’s inner spiritual life based upon their outer material prosperity?

Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther Twenty Questions

1. What king issued an edict allowing the Jews to return to Judah from their exile?

2. About how many Jews returned to Judah in this wave?

3. What act came first in the return of worship at the Temple?

4. Why were sounds of weeping and sounds of joy both expressed at the laying of the foundation of the second Temple?

5. Under what king was the work of rebuilding the Temple stopped?

6. What king reversed the work stoppage and allowed the second Temple to be completed?

7. What is Ezra’s work or job title most frequently referred to in Ezra 7?

8. What report caused Ezra’s grief in Ezra 9:3?

9. What was done about this situation (Ezra 10:11)?

10. If the Book of Ezra is chiefly about the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of the religion of Jerusalem, what is the subject of the Book of Nehemiah’s main building project?

11. What was Nehemiah’s role in the king’s court?

12. What are some examples of opposition that Nehemiah and the builders had to overcome in Nehemiah 4?

13. What kind of defensive measures did Nehemiah and the workers take to physically protect themselves from threats of attack?

14. What was Nehemiah’s opinion of charging interest?

15. How long did the wall rebuilding project take (Nehemiah 6:15)?

16. What holiday was re-celebrated for the first time in a long time in Nehemiah 8?

17. What did Queen Vashti do to get in trouble with the king?

18. What did the king’s advisors suggest should be done to replace the queen?

19. Why did it take bravery for Queen Esther to approach the king unsummoned?

20. Why was it poetic justice for Haman to be killed in the manner he was?

II Chronicles 21-36 Twenty Questions

1. With what physical disease did God afflict King Jehoram on account of his evil deeds?

2. Who took over Judah after King Ahaziah died?

3. Who rescued the child Joash from his murderous grandmother?

4. What role did the priest Jehoiada play in the restoration of the Davidic monarchy?

5. How did Joash raise money for the repair of the Temple?

6. What happened to Joash after Jehoiada died?

7. What is the meaning of the parable of the thistle and cedar in II Chronicles 25:18-19?

8. What caused the downfall of King Uzziah in II Chronicles 26:16?

9. How long did Uzziah suffer from leprosy?

10. To what was King Jotham’s power attributed to in II Chronicles 27:6?

11. In II Chronicles 28, how many prisoners and captives did the northern kingdom of Israel take out of the southern kingdom of Judah?

12. What ended up happening to the captives?

13. What evil things did King Ahaz do toward the end of his reign to try to turn his fortunes around?

14. How did King Hezekiah begin his reign?

15. What Jewish holiday did Hezekiah re-institute?

16. What is the Bible’s verdict on Hezekiah in II Chronicles 31:20-21?

17. This one may take a little cross-referencing: In II Chronicles 32:31, what miraculous event were the Babylonian envoys investigating?

18. What are some of the atrocious things that King Manasseh did in II Chronicles 33?

19. When the book of the Law was found in the Temple, to whom did the priest go to inquire of the Lord (II Chronicles 34:22)?

20. How does the Book of II Chronicles end?