The Splendor of Job

[Dr. Shane]

For those that enjoy studying literature, Job is an awesome piece that is even admired by nonbelievers.

Quote:

1. After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.

2. And Job answered and said:

3. Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived.

4. Let that day be darkness; Let not God from above seek for it, Neither let the light shine upon it.

5. Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.

6. As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it: Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not come into the number of the months.

7. Lo, let that night be barren; Let no joyful voice come therein.

8. Let them curse it that curse the day, Who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

9. Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark: Let it look for light, but have none; Neither let it behold the eyelids of the morning:

10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hid trouble from mine eyes.

11. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?

12. Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck?

13. For now should I have lain down and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest,

14. With kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up waste places for themselves;

15. Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver:

16. Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light.

17. There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary are at rest.

18. There the prisoners are at ease together; They hear not the voice of the taskmaster.

19. The small and the great are there: And the servant is free from his master.

20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul;

21. Who long for death, but it cometh not, And dig for it more than for hid treasures;

22. Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad, when they can find the grave?

23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, And whom God hath hedged in?

24. For my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groanings are poured out like water.

25. For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me.

26. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; But trouble cometh.

[Dr. Shane]

As I read through this passage I think of those dying of terminal diseases like cancer and how they must feel. Now Job could have just said cursed be the day I was born but the passage takes that thought and extends it in a fantastic literary style that almost makes one wonder how much was actually spoken by Job and how much was written by the author of the book.

[Look Alive!]

If Job had lived today, people would have condemned him as being "whiny", "self-pitying" and given over to "drama". At that point, no one would have listened to anything he had to say, since those are probably three of the most "erasing" judgments anyone can make on a person.

Thankfully, Job lived during a time when people took one another seriously and did not so quickly laugh them off or dismiss them for expressing pain or unhappiness.

Looks like God didn't write off Job either. Perhaps there is a lesson here for the rest of us?

[Dr. Shane]

I don't see that Job got any sympathy in the story. Job was not only afflicted, but alone. While many in simular situations today have the comfort of family and friends, I be many feel much like Job did. "Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bare me?"

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi LA,

Quote:

If Job had lived today, people would have condemned him as being "whiny", "self-pitying" and given over to "drama".

His friends did not help him much either, they said that he was to blame for his problems! That is pretty insensitive for them to do. Even his wife was not of much support; but can you blame her, she lost her children there too. She was just reacting the best she knew how.

I don't think that many would do that to Job today. Consider what he went through. He lost everything he had including his children who he loved so much that he offered sacrifices for them just in case they sinned against God.

Norman

[Look Alive!]

His friends did not help him much either, they said that he was to blame for his problems! That is pretty insensitive for them to do.

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi Look Alive,

Quote:

And yet when all was said and done and finished, the Lord admonished those false comforters, "You have not spoken of ME what is RIGHT, like My servant Job has." That just floors me!!

God also said, "Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?"

God understood Job, that is evident and He knew something that Job didn't. Satan was causing these problems. So God had nothing bad to say about Job. He knew that He was a perfect and upright man and spoke that of God which was right.

Today we have hindsight and know that if a friend is sick we can't turn on them as Job's friend's did. We know that Satan is behind sickness. It would be rather evil to turn on a helpless, truly needed friend today after knowing that the attack comes from Satan.

Although some are not aware of this so they might do as you have said.

Norman

[Look Alive!]

Today we have hindsight and know that if a friend is sick we can't turn on them as Job's friend's did. We know that Satan is behind sickness. It would be rather evil to turn on a helpless, truly needed friend today after knowing that the attack comes from Satan.