Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • Defining the Terms

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Have I sinned? What have I done to You, Watcher of mankind?  Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?  Job 7:20  NASB Watcher of mankind – Does God watch over us?  That might seem a ridiculous question.  Of course He does.  Who could imagine otherwise?  He’s the…

  • The Smelter

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    What is man that You exalt him, and that You are concerned about him, that You examine him every morning and put him to the test every moment?  Job 7:17-18 NASB Put him to the test – Does God test you?  Is He so concerned about your current spiritual state that He deliberately lays obstacles before…

  • Death Wish Denied

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “Oh, that my request might come to pass, and that God would grant my hope! Oh, that God would decide to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off! But it is still my comfort, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”  Job 6:8-10 …

  • Could’a, Would’a, Should’a

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “Oh if only my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my disaster!  For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; for that reason my words have been rash.”  Job 6:2-3  NASB If only – The “do-over” Hebrew word.  lû “marks three degrees of personal desire or agreement:…

  • The Guaranteed Good Life

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”  Job 5:27 NASB   Know for yourself – Eliphaz outlines the good life.  Between verses 19 and 27 he tells Job that God won’t let the righteous experience troubles, won’t let famine overtake them, will protect them from the sword, won’t…

  • Eliphaz and Isaiah

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    For He inflicts pain, and [f]gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.  Job 5:18 NASB Wounds – Is Eliphaz anticipating Isaiah?  Why would I ask that?  Well, you remember this verse from the prophet: “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating disaster; I am the Lord who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7).  Of course, the NASB translation…

  • Measure for Measure

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.  He frustrates the schemes of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success.  Job 5:11-12  NASB Safety/ Success – Eliphaz articulates the Hebraic idea of divine justice.  It’s “measure for measure.”  You get what you give.  Centuries later…