伯一5 筵席的日子轮过了，约伯……清早起来，按着他们众人的数目献燔祭；因为约伯说，说不定我儿子犯罪，心中咒诅了神。约伯常常这样行。

　　　十13 然而你待我的这些事，早已藏在你心里；我知道这是你的意思。

　　约伯和他的朋友们可能是活在亚伯拉罕的时代。那时摩西五经尚未写成；他们必然在口头上从他们的先祖接受了一些神圣的启示。然而，他们从他们的先祖所接受的，最多只能达到在亚伯拉罕时代之启示的水平。因此，在他们关于神与人之关系的辩论中，没有一点迹象指明他们得着了超过有关神的审判，以及神因着人的燔祭而看中人的神圣启示。他们也没有说到任何话含示关于基督和神的灵的事。他们乃是在神圣启示的原始阶段（约伯记生命读经，二○四页）。

　　Job 1:5 And when the days of feasting ran their course, Job…would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their heart. Job did this continually.

　　10:13 But You have hidden these things in Your heart; I know that this is with You.

　　Job and his friends probably lived in the age of Abraham. At that time the Pentateuch of Moses was not yet written. Surely they had received some divine revelation from their forefathers verbally. However, what they had received of their forefathers could reach, at most, only the level of the revelation in the age of Abraham. Hence, in their debates concerning God’s relationship with man, there was no hint that indicates that they had received divine revelation beyond the matters of God’s judgment and God’s regard for man in his burnt offering. And they did not speak any word that implies anything concerning Christ and the Spirit of God. They were in the primitive stage of the divine revelation. (Life-study of Job, pp. 172-173)

　　约伯、他的三个朋友和以利户都说完话之后，我们看见神以神圣的揭示向约伯显现（伯三八4~四一34）。之后，圣经说到约伯在个人经历上得着神并厌恶自己（伯四二1~6）。我担心你们注意许多其他的事，可能看不见神向约伯显现的中心点。这中心点就是关乎神借着向约伯显现，在约伯身上所要作的事。

　　神向约伯显现，目的是要帮助约伯领悟，神是无限、追测不尽、无法追踪的。神问了约伯许多关于宇宙和动物的问题，为要叫他得着深刻的印象，就是神是无限的。神似乎在对他说，“约伯，你事实上并不认识我是谁。你没有看见我是无限的；此外，你也无法想像我要给你什么。约伯，我要把我自己给你，使我自己成为你的享受，好叫你成为我的一部分。我不满意你有你自己的纯全、完全和正直。我要你得着我。我的目的不是给你别的，乃是将我自己给你。”

　　我们要明白神向约伯显现的目的，就需要整本圣经，特别是新约。神要把祂自己给约伯，不是一件简单的事；这包含一个漫长的过程，开始于基督的成为肉体，并且包括祂的人性生活、在十字架上包罗万有的死、祂的复活和祂的升天。因为约伯是在神圣启示的原始阶段，神无法对他说到这一切的事；神若说这些事，约伯也不可能明白。这一切事要到二千年后，在新约里才得着清楚的解释和记录。甚至今天，许多信徒对这些事仍然没有正确地领悟。

　　约伯和他的朋友们都没有以上的神圣启示。神用各样灾难对付约伯，并剥夺他一切的所是，乃是要除去他在敬虔成就和获得上的自满，并除去一切障碍和遮蔽，使他被倒空，好进一步寻求神，并能领悟他人生中非常缺少一些东西。在约伯记末了，神终于进来，指明约伯在他人生中所缺少的乃是神自己。但直到约伯的时代，还没有像在新约那样积极、清楚并完全揭示的启示。因这缘故，约伯记事实上并没有一个完成的结束，这结束应当是：神在基督里完全给约伯得着，使约伯与神成为一，好叫他能享受神在基督里作他的分。这样的启示，只有在新约里才能完满地看到（约伯记生命读经，二○五至二○六、二一七页）。

　　参读：约伯记生命读经，第三十三篇。

　　After all the speaking of Job, his three friends, and Elihu, we have God’s appearing to Job with the divine unveilings (Job 38:4—41:34). This is followed by a word concerning Job’s gaining God in his personal experience and his abhorring of himself (42:1-6). I am concerned that, by paying attention to so many other things, you may not see the central point of God’s appearing to Job. This central point concerns what God intended to do to Job by His appearing to him.

　　God appeared to Job in order to help him to realize that God is unlimited, unsearchable, and untraceable. God asked Job many questions about the universe and about the animals to impress him with the fact that He is unlimited. God seemed to be saying to him, “Job, you actually do not know who I am. You do not realize that I am unlimited. Also, you cannot imagine what I intend to give you. Job, I intend to give you Myself, making Myself your enjoyment so that you can become a part of Me. I am not satisfied that you have your own integrity, perfection, and uprightness. I want you to have Me. My intention is to give you nothing other than Myself.”

　　To understand God’s intention in His appearing to Job, we need the entire Bible, especially the New Testament. For God to give Himself to Job was not a simple matter. This involved a long process beginning with Christ’s incarnation and including His human living, His all-inclusive death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension. Because Job was in the primitive stage of the divine revelation, God could not have spoken to him about all these things. It would have been impossible for Job to understand them. All these matters were clearly defined and recorded in the New Testament two thousand years later. Even today, many believers do not have the proper understanding of these things.

　　Job and his friends were devoid of all the above divine revelations. God’s dealing with Job in all the disasters and His stripping him of all that he was, were to take away his contentment in his godly attainments and obtainments and to remove all the barriers and coverings so that he could be emptied for some further seeking after God and could realize that he was very short of something in his human life. At the end of the book of Job, after all, God came in, indicating that what Job was short of in his human life was God Himself. But up to the age of Job, there was not a revelation like what is positively, clearly, and fully unveiled in the New Testament. For this reason, the book of Job does not actually have a completed ending, which should be God fully gained in Christ by Job to make him one with God that he might enjoy God as his portion in Christ. Such a revelation can be fully found only in the New Testament. (Life-study of Job, pp. 175-176, 185)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msg. 33