RETRIBUTIVE PUNISHMENT Lesson 7 for November 12, 2016

Retributive punishment is a proportionate punishment as a response to an evil deed. Job’s friends believed and defended that God was punishing Job because an awful deed or a hidden sin. God carried out retributive punishment several times in the Bible. Nevertheless, why was Bildad and Zophar reasoning wrong? Retributive punishment according to Bildad. Job 8. Retributive punishment according to Zophar. Job 11. Retributive punishment according to God: The Flood. Gn. 6:5-8. Sodom and Gomorrah. Gn. 19:24-25. Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Nm. 16:1-33. The second death. 2P. 3:5-7.

BILDAD’S SPEECH SIN THE BREVITY OF LIFE TRUSTING VANITY “When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” (Job 8:4 NIV) Which were the main points of Bildad’s speech (Job 8)? SIN THE BREVITY OF LIFE TRUSTING VANITY “When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” (v. 4) “For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.” (v. 9) “What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web.” (v. 14) “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14) “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (Jeremiah 17:5) All that Bildad said was based on the Bible. Then why was he wrong?

BILDAD’S SPEECH “When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.” (Job 8:4 NIV) Bildad was right about God’s character and how He relate to us… but he was missing a very important point. He talked about divine justice but forgot about mercy and grace (Luke 11:42). He was lacking compassion. He told a father who had just lost his children, “They deserved it”! Even if Job’s children had sinned, their father was interceding on their behalf and he sanctified them (Job 1:5). Didn’t Job trust divine mercy and forgiveness?

ZOPHAR’S SPEECH “Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.” (Job 11:5-6 NIV) Zophar got indignant about Job’s words, so he defended God: GOD IS WISE GOD IS KIND GOD IS OMNISCIENT God should reveal His wisdom to Job (v. 5-6) God has punished you less than you deserve (v. 6) No one can know as much as God does (v. 7-9) “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” (Job 38:4) “The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.” (Psalm 118:18) “Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:14) Zophar was as based on the Bible as Bildad was. Then why was Zophar wrong too?

THE FLOOD “So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:7) The Flood is a clear example of retributive punishment to sin, since “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5). Both Job and his friends knew about the Flood. Nevertheless, Job’s friends overlooked that God saved Noah because he “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis 6:8). Ezekiel compared Job to Noah (Ezekiel 14:14). God has mercy upon those who come close to Him even in the midst of widespread evil.

SODOM AND GOMORRAH “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.” (Genesis 19:24) Sodom and Gomorrah is another example of divine retributive punishment Job and his friends knew about. God was willing to forgive those cities if He found ten upright people in them (Genesis 18:23-32). God didn’t find those ten people, but He saved Lot and his family. Justice was tempered with mercy again. The two examples we studied prove that God does justice and that He punishes sin. Nevertheless, Job’s friends argued wrongly because they were blaming God of a punishment that was being inflicting by Satan.

KORAH, DATHAN AND ABIRAM “But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.” (Numbers 16:30) Job’s friends were right about God’s promises. The Bible is full of promises of blessing and prosperity for God’s people if they obey Him. There are also examples of punishment that God inflicted to specific people because of their rebellion (Nadab and Abihu; Korah, Dathan and Abiram; Uzzah; Gehazi; Sennacherib’s army; Ananias and Sapphira…). There’s a common point in all those cases: God is the one deciding who and how He punishes. Unlike Job’s friends tried to, we cannot judge who deserves the blessings or the punishments.

THE SECOND DEATH “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:7) The greatest example of retributive punishment will take place at the End Time, when the wicked will be destroyed. The Bible calls that “the second death” (Revelation 20:6). Then, God will destroy EVERYONE who didn’t want to repent from their sins. Now we cannot judge every suffering as a retributive punishment from God (although it rarely happened that way). We can be sure that no matter why we are facing certain circumstances, God loves us so much that He gave His Only Son to destroy evil and to end with suffering forever.

“Job’s professed friends were miserable comforters, making his case more bitter and unbearable, and Job was not guilty as they supposed… Most pitiable is the condition of one who is suffering under remorse; he is as one stunned, staggering, sinking into the dust. And many who suppose themselves to be righteous, become exasperating comforters; they deal harshly with these souls. In manifesting this hardness of heart in offending and oppressing, they are doing the very same work which Satan delights in doing. The tried, tempted soul cannot see anything clearly. The mind is confused; he knows not just what steps to take. Oh, then, let no word be spoken to cause deeper pain!” E.G.W. (Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, cp.14, p. 350)