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Beyond Suffering: Discovering the Message of Job
Rich with personal experience and examples drawn from the lives of great men, Layton Talbert s exploration of the book of Job deals with the depths of human suffering and the heights of God s supreme purpose. Dr. Talbert s thorough research, detailed examination of each speaker s perspective, and countless cross-references make Beyond Suffering an essential resource for any biblical scholar"
378 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2007
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February 20, 2017
If you’re studying Job, read this book. If you’re suffering and confused, read this book. If you want a bigger view of your God – read this book.
I am studying Job this year, with a Bible study group from my church, and I’ve been working through book after book of commentary and application. I think this is number seven or eight; I’m losing track. In any case, this one easily rises to the top.
Talbert brings light to some of the toughest aspects of the book and urges you to look beyond surface explanations. He (gently) pries your fingers off a pair of verses we love to quote, buried deep in the debates between Job and his friends, and helps put them in a more precise context. In fact, he urges from the beginning that serious readers take all of the book Job seriously – not just the cymbal crashes at the beginning and the end.
“If we are accustomed to ignoring the bulk of this book except as an occasional source for useful quotations and proof tests, how do we know we are accurately understanding the portions where we do pay attention?” he writes.
The book of Job forces us to look beyond pat spiritual answers. It asks questions from the deepest wells of human agony. It demands we acknowledge facts that don’t fit our neat outline for how life ought to work.
“Either God is good but not omnipotent since He wasn’t able to prevent suffering, or God is omnipotent but not so good after all since He permitted something so painful and unfair. Since both options are expressly unbiblical, we are faced with a choice: 1) ignore what the Bible says about God and reevaluate Him on the basis of our limited experience, knowledge, and understanding or 2) accept God’s self-description and reevaluate our circumstances in the light of the Bible’s depiction of reality.”
A page or two later, Talbert makes sure you don’t miss the fact that God “is responsible for what happened to Job. We may as well get used to the discomfort; this is not the last time the book of Job will bulldoze our tidy theological formulas.”
Working at length through each of Job’s friend’s arguments, Talbert emphasizes a point that I’ve found most commentators agree on: They were speaking things that were true about God and His work in the world – but they were limiting Him to working only in a way they expected or had experienced before. They were applying what they had seen in the past to a situation about which they had only the barest surface facts.
He also addresses, repeatedly, the questions that arise out of Job’s cries of anguish. At the end of the book, God reprimands Job for accusing Him of unfairness. And Talbert cautions against crying out in a way that impugns God’s righteousness. But he leaves room for agony, for reaching out to the only One who can help.
“Expressions of grief may not fit some people’s sanitized ideas of a what a Christian ‘ought’ to think and feel. But when catastrophe strikes like lightning, ripping ragged holes in the lives of previously serene saints, God has preserved a record of the grief of godly saints for our consolation. Angst is not unbelief and questions are not sinful; they are human and shared by some of the best of God’s people.”
There is so much hope in Job: his expanding hope in eternity, even though he can hardly grasp the barest idea of it, as his life on earth fades; his friends’ endless repetition of a fact we all need – God always forgives, there is always restoration for those who turn to Him.
But the ultimate hope is the view of God that emerges, introduced by Elihu and echoed by God Himself: One so infinite and so wise and so good and so powerful that we can’t even grasp the tiniest fraction of Him.
“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” (Job 26:14, NKJV)
In the end, when God speaks, He doesn’t really answer Job’s questions at all. Instead, he asks dozens of His own.
“He did not explain everything to Job in order to make the point that He does not have to explain everything to us. The only appropriate response to our sovereign Savior is submission – not blind, servile submissions but trusting, loyal submission because He has earned our trust and love by a thousand mercies.”
Ultimately, Job rests in his relationship with the Creator of the universe. And that is our ultimate hope as well. Suffering often remains mysterious. Questions are left unanswered.
“We may not always see the signs of God’s goodness in our immediate circumstances, but what we see is not all there is.” And, what might be even more hopeful, “This life is not ‘the end.’”
Talbert closes with a chapter on theological humility and I almost skipped saying anything about the rest of the book to talk about it. It’s that good. But the better thing would be for you to read it (and the rest of the book preceding) yourself.
“Even when we speak truth that is corroborated by clear revelation, we must confess with Job that we are speaking about things bigger than we understand, truths beyond our capacity to fully comprehend. We do not know as much as we may think we know, and only an infinitesimal fraction of what there is to know.”
C.S. Lewis makes a similar point. Talbert quotes him, from “Mere Christianity.”
“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect. … Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. … The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”
I have found hope and calm in this complicated ancient book, and Talbert has helped me do that. I may be done with my supplemental reading for this book, for this year, but I’ll be back. How could I not?
“Even what we know of Him are the mere edges of infinity, the bare boundaries of eternity.”
I am studying Job this year, with a Bible study group from my church, and I’ve been working through book after book of commentary and application. I think this is number seven or eight; I’m losing track. In any case, this one easily rises to the top.
Talbert brings light to some of the toughest aspects of the book and urges you to look beyond surface explanations. He (gently) pries your fingers off a pair of verses we love to quote, buried deep in the debates between Job and his friends, and helps put them in a more precise context. In fact, he urges from the beginning that serious readers take all of the book Job seriously – not just the cymbal crashes at the beginning and the end.
“If we are accustomed to ignoring the bulk of this book except as an occasional source for useful quotations and proof tests, how do we know we are accurately understanding the portions where we do pay attention?” he writes.
The book of Job forces us to look beyond pat spiritual answers. It asks questions from the deepest wells of human agony. It demands we acknowledge facts that don’t fit our neat outline for how life ought to work.
“Either God is good but not omnipotent since He wasn’t able to prevent suffering, or God is omnipotent but not so good after all since He permitted something so painful and unfair. Since both options are expressly unbiblical, we are faced with a choice: 1) ignore what the Bible says about God and reevaluate Him on the basis of our limited experience, knowledge, and understanding or 2) accept God’s self-description and reevaluate our circumstances in the light of the Bible’s depiction of reality.”
A page or two later, Talbert makes sure you don’t miss the fact that God “is responsible for what happened to Job. We may as well get used to the discomfort; this is not the last time the book of Job will bulldoze our tidy theological formulas.”
Working at length through each of Job’s friend’s arguments, Talbert emphasizes a point that I’ve found most commentators agree on: They were speaking things that were true about God and His work in the world – but they were limiting Him to working only in a way they expected or had experienced before. They were applying what they had seen in the past to a situation about which they had only the barest surface facts.
He also addresses, repeatedly, the questions that arise out of Job’s cries of anguish. At the end of the book, God reprimands Job for accusing Him of unfairness. And Talbert cautions against crying out in a way that impugns God’s righteousness. But he leaves room for agony, for reaching out to the only One who can help.
“Expressions of grief may not fit some people’s sanitized ideas of a what a Christian ‘ought’ to think and feel. But when catastrophe strikes like lightning, ripping ragged holes in the lives of previously serene saints, God has preserved a record of the grief of godly saints for our consolation. Angst is not unbelief and questions are not sinful; they are human and shared by some of the best of God’s people.”
There is so much hope in Job: his expanding hope in eternity, even though he can hardly grasp the barest idea of it, as his life on earth fades; his friends’ endless repetition of a fact we all need – God always forgives, there is always restoration for those who turn to Him.
But the ultimate hope is the view of God that emerges, introduced by Elihu and echoed by God Himself: One so infinite and so wise and so good and so powerful that we can’t even grasp the tiniest fraction of Him.
“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him!” (Job 26:14, NKJV)
In the end, when God speaks, He doesn’t really answer Job’s questions at all. Instead, he asks dozens of His own.
“He did not explain everything to Job in order to make the point that He does not have to explain everything to us. The only appropriate response to our sovereign Savior is submission – not blind, servile submissions but trusting, loyal submission because He has earned our trust and love by a thousand mercies.”
Ultimately, Job rests in his relationship with the Creator of the universe. And that is our ultimate hope as well. Suffering often remains mysterious. Questions are left unanswered.
“We may not always see the signs of God’s goodness in our immediate circumstances, but what we see is not all there is.” And, what might be even more hopeful, “This life is not ‘the end.’”
Talbert closes with a chapter on theological humility and I almost skipped saying anything about the rest of the book to talk about it. It’s that good. But the better thing would be for you to read it (and the rest of the book preceding) yourself.
“Even when we speak truth that is corroborated by clear revelation, we must confess with Job that we are speaking about things bigger than we understand, truths beyond our capacity to fully comprehend. We do not know as much as we may think we know, and only an infinitesimal fraction of what there is to know.”
C.S. Lewis makes a similar point. Talbert quotes him, from “Mere Christianity.”
“Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd. It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect. … Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. … The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”
I have found hope and calm in this complicated ancient book, and Talbert has helped me do that. I may be done with my supplemental reading for this book, for this year, but I’ll be back. How could I not?
“Even what we know of Him are the mere edges of infinity, the bare boundaries of eternity.”
February 14, 2024
Layton Talbert was one of my favorite seminary professors, and reading this book reminded me how much he shaped the way I do theology.
In Beyond Suffering, he provides a devotional commentary on the book of Job. It's perfectly suited to read alongside the book of Job in your devotions. Talbert argues that the book of Job is primarily about God, not Job. There are no answers to the "why" of suffering. Rather, suffering leads us to the question of how we relate with God. Talbert helpfully walks through the debates that make up the majority of the book. I particularly appreciated his treatment of Elihu's speech (chs. 14-15).
One critique: There are 100 pages of endnotes. Normally, I read every note, but here it was a bit of an overkill. Lots of extended quotations saying the same thing Talbert just said in the text. Many of these quotations and rabbit trails should have been left on the cutting room floor.
In Beyond Suffering, he provides a devotional commentary on the book of Job. It's perfectly suited to read alongside the book of Job in your devotions. Talbert argues that the book of Job is primarily about God, not Job. There are no answers to the "why" of suffering. Rather, suffering leads us to the question of how we relate with God. Talbert helpfully walks through the debates that make up the majority of the book. I particularly appreciated his treatment of Elihu's speech (chs. 14-15).
One critique: There are 100 pages of endnotes. Normally, I read every note, but here it was a bit of an overkill. Lots of extended quotations saying the same thing Talbert just said in the text. Many of these quotations and rabbit trails should have been left on the cutting room floor.
February 11, 2019
"Here is the core of comfort in the message of Job: beyond suffering, past our pain and loss, is a God Who is not only all-knowing and omnipotent, sovereign and free to do as He chooses but also always good and just, loving and wise, purposeful and perfect in all that He chooses to do or to allow—and intimately aware of all its effects on us."
"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
(Job 42:5-6)
Great commentary—scholarly, readable, hermeneutically-sound, and practical. It is certainly a commentary I will return to again to study the book of Job. Although it is natural to think of suffering when we think of the book of Job, Dr. Talbert makes it clear that the book goes beyond suffering directly to God. What Job learned about God, and what we can learn about God through Job's experience, is astounding. Thankful for the book of Job. In awe of the God it reveals to us.
"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
(Job 42:5-6)
Great commentary—scholarly, readable, hermeneutically-sound, and practical. It is certainly a commentary I will return to again to study the book of Job. Although it is natural to think of suffering when we think of the book of Job, Dr. Talbert makes it clear that the book goes beyond suffering directly to God. What Job learned about God, and what we can learn about God through Job's experience, is astounding. Thankful for the book of Job. In awe of the God it reveals to us.
July 16, 2021
I read fifty books a year. I'll be shocked if this isn't the best book I read this year. It is beyond excellent; it is outstanding. I came to the book at the end of a several long year study of Job and the broader subject of suffering in the Bible. It is good that I did. If I had come to it first I might not have ever read another book on the subject. It is organized, detailed, logical, practical, well-written, and eminently scriptural. At the end, you feel as if at long last you understand the book of Job. More importantly, you feel like you know God better, how God works, why He works that way, and what He expects of you. It is this last sentence that proves the book is such a gold mine. It opens up the pages of God's revelation and pours out on us a staggering wealth of riches. As with even the best of authors, I quibbled with him from time to time, but the sheer number of thought-provoking paragraphs was delightful. And revelatory.
Apparently, Mr. Talbert has written one other book. Would somebody tell the man to keep writing please? If this book is representative of what he can produce I will buy/read/study/use every book he writes.
More please.
Apparently, Mr. Talbert has written one other book. Would somebody tell the man to keep writing please? If this book is representative of what he can produce I will buy/read/study/use every book he writes.
More please.
November 29, 2022
This is, by far, one of the best and most helpful books I’ve read in a very long time. After reading it, I can say that I better understand the different sections of Job, how they fit together, and what God intends for me to take away from this portion of Scripture.
Talbert does a masterful job logically and systematically explaining both the text and the theology of Job. It is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand the message and overall flow of Job. It is accessible enough for anyone to read and understand, but comprehensive enough for deep study, should you choose to do so (as evidenced by almost 100 pages of endnotes).
Talbert does a masterful job logically and systematically explaining both the text and the theology of Job. It is a must read for anyone who wants to better understand the message and overall flow of Job. It is accessible enough for anyone to read and understand, but comprehensive enough for deep study, should you choose to do so (as evidenced by almost 100 pages of endnotes).
January 25, 2012
"The story of Job reads like theater electrified to life by painful personal experience." This is a very thorough, biblical, yet warmly caring study on the book of Job. As the wife of a chronically ill husband, I found this to be of great comfort and it is on my "re-read" list for 2012.
March 15, 2015
Very well written and researched. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to understand better the book of Job and be challenged spiritually.
May 15, 2021
There is much to be commended about this book.
Anyone studying Job or preaching through it ought to consult Talbert first. One gets the feeling he has sifted through most, if not all, major works on Job up to the time of writing. That's a lot of heavy lifting already done for you.
While not an exhaustive commentary, it is probably the most accessible. Talbert does repeat himself a little bit here and there but he is very clear.
My only real complaint is his conclusion in the appendix on the nature of Leviathan. Talbert argues it was a crocodile. I wish he had been willing to be open to other possibilities, namely an extinct creature that fits the description. But to each his own, and one day we'll find out.
Anyone studying Job or preaching through it ought to consult Talbert first. One gets the feeling he has sifted through most, if not all, major works on Job up to the time of writing. That's a lot of heavy lifting already done for you.
While not an exhaustive commentary, it is probably the most accessible. Talbert does repeat himself a little bit here and there but he is very clear.
My only real complaint is his conclusion in the appendix on the nature of Leviathan. Talbert argues it was a crocodile. I wish he had been willing to be open to other possibilities, namely an extinct creature that fits the description. But to each his own, and one day we'll find out.
April 18, 2025
A great pastoral reading and commentary on the book of Job. My actual rating would be closer to 4.5 stars but I think rounding up emphasizes the book's strong points. The negative aspects would be my disagreement with Talbert's assessment of certain passages, but this is nothing severe. The main strength of the book is Talbert's exploration of suffering throughout as people come to the book of Job in search of catharsis. This biblical book is meant to help us grieve, mourn, and come to God in authentic prayer, even when what we have to say to Him is harsh. Job gives us the opportunity to speak out of the bitterness of our souls to our God who wants to listen to us.
March 19, 2022
One of the very best of the several Job commentaries I've read. I wish I had a commentary like this for every book of the Bible.
August 3, 2022
This book was immensely helpful as I prepared a lesson on the book of Job. It’s a deep dive so it takes time, but very worth it in the end.
December 29, 2023
Excellent book dealing with the reality of suffering
Read
February 6, 2024Another well written book by Layton Tablert that is a must read.
September 2, 2025
This book is like a long drink of cool water.
October 30, 2019
This book is incredible. It is worth your time.
I've been reading along and then there are spots where the author says things a little differently, and these spots stop me dead in my tracks. I've actually written Wow! beside some paragraphs.
Don't miss this one.
I've been reading along and then there are spots where the author says things a little differently, and these spots stop me dead in my tracks. I've actually written Wow! beside some paragraphs.
Don't miss this one.
January 10, 2014
Este es el mejor comentario que he leído de Job. Es teológicamente profundo y devocionalmente sencillo. Tiene buenísimas aplicaciones sobre sufrimiento y descubre el hermoso plan de Dios atrás de el.
October 28, 2013
Highly recommended for anyone working through the book of Job. Very readable and simple, practical applications abound. Talbert brings Job into focus easily and makes a study through Job very engaging.
Read
August 21, 20120149
April 24, 2017
An excellent study of the book of Job from a literary perspective, with emphasis on practical application of its truth in the realms of personal understanding as well as counseling those enduring suffering.
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