◄ Job 36:11 ►
If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.
Study Bible
If they obey and serve Him
This phrase emphasizes the importance of obedience and service to God, a recurring theme throughout the Bible. In the context of Job, Elihu is speaking about the consequences of human actions in relation to divine justice. Obedience to God is a central tenet in the Old Testament, seen in the covenant relationship between God and Israel (Deuteronomy 11:13-15). Serving God is also highlighted in the New Testament, where Jesus speaks of serving God rather than wealth (Matthew 6:24). The call to obedience and service is a call to align one's life with God's will, reflecting a heart transformed by faith.

then they end their days in prosperity
Prosperity in the biblical sense often refers to more than just material wealth; it includes spiritual well-being and peace. In the historical context of Job, prosperity was seen as a sign of God's favor. This aligns with the wisdom literature's general principle that righteousness leads to blessing (Proverbs 3:1-2). However, the book of Job challenges the simplistic equation of righteousness with prosperity, as Job's suffering occurs despite his righteousness. This phrase can also be seen as a foreshadowing of the ultimate prosperity found in eternal life through Christ, who offers spiritual riches beyond earthly wealth (Ephesians 1:3).

and their years in happiness
Happiness, or joy, in the biblical context is often linked to a right relationship with God. The Hebrew concept of "shalom" encompasses peace, completeness, and contentment, which are aspects of true happiness. In the cultural context of the Ancient Near East, long life and happiness were seen as blessings from God (Psalm 128:1-2). The New Testament expands on this by teaching that true joy is found in Christ, regardless of circumstances (Philippians 4:4). This phrase points to the ultimate fulfillment of joy in the presence of God, as seen in the promise of eternal life with Him (Revelation 21:4).

Persons / Places / Events
1. Job
A man of great faith and patience, Job is the central figure in the Book of Job. He undergoes severe trials and suffering but remains steadfast in his faith.

2. Elihu
A young man who speaks to Job and his friends in the latter part of the book. Elihu offers a perspective that emphasizes God's justice and sovereignty.

3. Uz
The land where Job lived, often associated with the region east of Israel. It serves as the setting for the events of the Book of Job.

4. God
The sovereign Creator who allows Job's trials to test his faith and ultimately restores him.

5. Suffering and Restoration
The overarching theme of the Book of Job, where Job's faith is tested through suffering, leading to a deeper understanding of God's nature and eventual restoration.
Teaching Points
Obedience Leads to Blessing
The verse emphasizes the principle that obedience to God results in prosperity and happiness. This is a recurring theme throughout Scripture, encouraging believers to live in accordance with God's will.

Service to God
Serving God is not just about following rules but involves a heart posture of worship and dedication. True service is an expression of love and reverence for God.

Understanding Prosperity
Biblical prosperity is not solely material wealth but includes spiritual well-being and fulfillment. It is important to align our understanding of prosperity with God's perspective.

Endurance Through Trials
Like Job, believers may face trials, but enduring with faith and obedience can lead to eventual restoration and blessing.

God's Sovereignty and Justice
Elihu's speech reminds us of God's ultimate control and fairness. Trusting in His justice can provide comfort during difficult times.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the promise in Job 36:11 compare to the blessings and curses outlined in Deuteronomy 28?

2. In what ways can we serve God in our daily lives, and how does this service lead to spiritual prosperity?

3. How can we reconcile the promise of prosperity in Job 36:11 with the reality of suffering and trials in the Christian life?

4. What does true happiness look like from a biblical perspective, and how can we pursue it through obedience to God?

5. How does understanding God's sovereignty and justice help us trust Him more during times of suffering or uncertainty?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Deuteronomy 28
This chapter outlines the blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, similar to the promise of prosperity and happiness in Job 36:11.

Psalm 1
Describes the blessedness of the man who delights in the law of the Lord, paralleling the promise of prosperity for those who obey God.

Isaiah 1:19
Offers a similar promise of blessing for obedience, reinforcing the theme of divine reward for those who serve God faithfully.
Sermons
The Perfectness of the Divine WaysR. Green Job 36:5-17
People
Elihu, Job
Places
Uz
Topics
Accomplish, Complete, Contentment, Ear, Full, Gives, Hearken, Listen, Obey, Pleasantness, Pleasure, Pleasures, Prosperity, Rest, Serve, Spend, Voice
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 36:8-13

     6169   godlessness

Job 36:10-12

     6734   repentance, importance

Library
Whether by his Passion Christ Merited to be Exalted?
Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not merit to be exalted on account of His Passion. For eminence of rank belongs to God alone, just as knowledge of truth, according to Ps. 112:4: "The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens." But Christ as man had the knowledge of all truth, not on account of any preceding merit, but from the very union of God and man, according to Jn. 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of the only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Christ Acquired his Judiciary Power by his Merits?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ did not acquire His judiciary power by His merits. For judiciary power flows from the royal dignity: according to Prov. 20:8: "The king that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look." But it was without merits that Christ acquired royal power, for it is His due as God's Only-begotten Son: thus it is written (Lk. 1:32): "The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David His father, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Christ Will Judge under the Form of his Humanity?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ will not judge under the form of His humanity. For judgment requires authority in the judge. Now Christ has authority over the quick and the dead as God, for thus is He the Lord and Creator of all. Therefore He will judge under the form of His Godhead. Objection 2: Further, invincible power is requisite in a judge; wherefore it is written (Eccles. 7:6): "Seek not to be made a judge, unless thou have strength enough to extirpate iniquities." Now invincible power …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Old Law was from God?
Objection 1: It would seem that the Old Law was not from God. For it is written (Dt. 32:4): "The works of God are perfect." But the Law was imperfect, as stated above [2060](A[1]). Therefore the Old Law was not from God. Objection 2: Further, it is written (Eccles. 3:14): "I have learned that all the works which God hath made continue for ever." But the Old Law does not continue for ever: since the Apostle says (Heb. 7:18): "There is indeed a setting aside of the former commandment, because of the …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Man Can Know that He Has Grace?
Objection 1: It would seem that man can know that he has grace. For grace by its physical reality is in the soul. Now the soul has most certain knowledge of those things that are in it by their physical reality, as appears from Augustine (Gen. ad lit. xii, 31). Hence grace may be known most certainly by one who has grace. Objection 2: Further, as knowledge is a gift of God, so is grace. But whoever receives knowledge from God, knows that he has knowledge, according to Wis. 7:17: The Lord "hath given …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether the Judicial Power Corresponds to Voluntary Poverty?
Objection 1: It would seem that the judicial power does not correspond to voluntary poverty. For it was promised to none but the twelve apostles (Mat. 19:28): "You shall sit on twelve seats, judging," etc. Since then those who are voluntarily poor are not all apostles, it would seem that the judicial power is not competent to all. Objection 2: Further, to offer sacrifice to God of one's own body is more than to do so of outward things. Now martyrs and also virgins offer sacrifice to God of their …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Hypocrisy is the Same as Dissimulation?
Objection 1: It seems that hypocrisy is not the same as dissimulation. For dissimulation consists in lying by deeds. But there may be hypocrisy in showing outwardly what one does inwardly, according to Mat. 6:2, "When thou dost an alms-deed sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do." Therefore hypocrisy is not the same as dissimulation. Objection 2: Further, Gregory says (Moral. xxxi, 7): "Some there are who wear the habit of holiness, yet are unable to attain the merit of perfection. …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Great Teacher
Teaching was the great business of the life of Christ during the days of his public ministry. He was sent to teach and to preach. The speaker in the book of Job was thinking of this Great Teacher when he asked--"Who teacheth like him?" Job xxxvi: 22. And it was he who was in the Psalmist's mind when he spoke of the "good, and upright Lord" who would teach sinners, if they were meek, how to walk in his ways. Ps. xxv: 8-9. And he is the Redeemer, of whom the prophet Isaiah was telling when he said--He …
Richard Newton—The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young

"That which was from the Beginning,"
1 John i. 1.--"That which was from the beginning," &c. Things are commended sometimes, because they are ancient, especially doctrines in religion, because truth is before error, and falsehood is but an aberration from truth and therefore there is so much plea and contention among men, about antiquity, as if it were the sufficient rule of verity. But the abuse is, that men go not far enough backward in the steps of antiquity, that is, to the most ancient rule, and profession, and practice of truth …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Whether Hypocrisy is Always a Mortal Sin?
Objection 1: It seems that hypocrisy is always a mortal sin. For Jerome says on Is. 16:14: "Of the two evils it is less to sin openly than to simulate holiness": and a gloss on Job 1:21 [*St. Augustine on Ps. 63:7], "As it hath pleased the Lord," etc., says that "pretended justice is no justice, but a twofold sin": and again a gloss on Lam. 4:6, "The iniquity . . . of my people is made greater than the sin of Sodom," says: "He deplores the sins of the soul that falls into hypocrisy, which is a greater …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether those to whom Christ's Birth was Made Known were Suitably Chosen?
Objection 1: It would seem that those to whom Christ's birth was made known were not suitably chosen. For our Lord (Mat. 10:5) commanded His disciples, "Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles," so that He might be made known to the Jews before the Gentiles. Therefore it seems that much less should Christ's birth have been at once revealed to the Gentiles who "came from the east," as stated Mat. 2:1. Objection 2: Further, the revelation of Divine truth should be made especially to the friends of God, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Divine Grace.
GRACE, LOYE, AND MERCY. I FIND that the goodness of God to his people is diversely expressed in his word, sometimes by the word grace, sometimes by the word love, and sometimes by the word mercy. When it is expressed by that word grace, then it is to show that what he doeth is of his princely will, his royal bounty, and sovereign pleasure. When it is expressed by that word love, then it is to show us that his affection was and is in what he doeth, and that he doeth what he doeth for us with complacency …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

Messiah's Easy Yoke
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. T hough the influence of education and example, may dispose us to acknowledge the Gospel to be a revelation from God; it can only be rightly understood, or duly prized, by those persons who feel themselves in the circumstances of distress, which it is designed to relieve. No Israelite would think of fleeing to a city of refuge (Joshua 20:2. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor.
To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. Gregory to Theoctista, &c. With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Greatness of the Soul,
AND UNSPEAKABLENESS 0F THE LOSS THEREOF; WITH THE CAUSES OF THE LOSING IT. FIRST PREACHED AT PINNER'S HALL and now ENLARGED AND PUBLISHED FOR GOOD. By JOHN BUNYAN, London: Printed for Benjamin Alsop, at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry, 1682 Faithfully reprinted from the Author's First Edition. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Our curiosity is naturally excited to discover what a poor, unlettered mechanic, whose book-learning had been limited to the contents of one volume, could by possibility know …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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