Job’s Christmas Sermon

Fresh Read preaches again.

Thus ends our time with Job.  Next is Fresh Read - 2008!

Job’s Christmas Present

We found a sermon titled “Christmas at Uz” which described the last chapter of Job where his loved ones come and there is an exchange of gifts, as a kind of Yule celebration.  That is interesting, but it seems better to compare those places where Job called out for “someone” to help, and see if he did not find the reply in Bethlehem.

Job 9:32-35; Job 16:19-22 and Job 19:23-27 are three such passages.  Job looked in one for an Arbitrator, in another for an Witness in heaven and in the third for his Redeemer.

If we take the bigger Christmas story, which is the Incarnation of the Son of God into the man Jesus of Nazareth, we find that the scriptures give him these roles.  As Arbitrator, he stands between God and humanity as the g0-between.  As Witness, he is our Advocate and pleads for us in the courts of heaven.  As Redeemer, he has paid the price for our liberty.

Merry Christmas Job.

Conquering Leviathan

Job 41:1-8  - ESV
     “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
        or press down his tongue with a cord?
    [2] Can you put a rope in his nose
        or pierce his jaw with a hook?
    [3] Will he make many pleas to you?
        Will he speak to you soft words?
    [4] Will he make a covenant with you
        to take him for your servant forever?
    [5] Will you play with him as with a bird,
        or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
    [6] Will traders bargain over him?
        Will they divide him up among the merchants?
    [7] Can you fill his skin with harpoons
        or his head with fishing spears?
    [8] Lay your hands on him;
        remember the battle—you will not do it again!

    Now then, Job fell silent before this question.  How to fight the sea monster Leviathan, and how it is hinted can anyone fight the entangling power of evil in the world?  Job can not overcome his own portion of evil.  Is he then going to capture Leviathan with a fish hook?  Will he spear him with harpoons?

   Leviathan was taken on by another Champion.  Not with harpoon.  Not by denying the existence of entangling evil in the world.  The war on Leviathan was begun in a feed trough in Bethlehem.  Power was confronted with weakness.  And Power sought to consume the Child in the form of Herod’s atrocity and in the form of Roman injustice.  but the Child, if we believe the Gospel story, has won.

This is not something you will find among the Christmas cards you receive this year, but it is part of the story.

FRESH READ

Behemoth & Leviathan

These two un-cuddly creatures present a classic case for the need to read the text.  If you read the history of how B and L have been treated in mythology, in prophetic speculation, and in western literature in general, there would be no way to decide what they represent in Job.

We prefer to read the text, knowing that there is some unknown external history, but also seeing what Job does with the critters.

There are two beasts that follow the previous speech where a number of wild animals are mentioned.  So it could be that these are merely poetic descriptions of existing creatures such as the hippo and the crocodile.

Yet there is something more imposing about them, and they are treated separately and more extensively.  Why should these two beasts get special treatment.  Could they be symbolic or mythic?

Or is it a description of dinosaurs?

The text starts with Job 40:7-14, which raises the questions whether Job is able to bring down the mighty - so that he has the ability also to seek an answer from God.  The beasts seem to be illustrations of the Lord’s power to overcome what man can not overcome.

Then again, we have records of the ancients hunting hippos and alligators.

We, for now, tend to think that the two beasts are the hippo and the crocodile, kicked up a notch poetically, so that they can also represent the power of evil.  Behemoth, a bulk that can not be withstood, and Leviathan, with armor and twisting coils that envelop.

Is his sneezing fire or the mist he blows out caught in the sunlight? Is that smoke or just hot breath blowing from his nostrils?  (41:18 ff.)  Either way, he is unassailable to us, but a mere creature to the Almighty.

Leviathan was previously mentioned in Job’s first speech (3:8).  So we come full circle in this answer.

The first speech by the Lord (Ch 38-39) show the extensive knowledge of the Lord.  The second seems to show his power -even over unconquerable force.

Fresh Read

God Speaks - Job 38-39

The Almighty took Job on a rhetorical tour of the created order (38:4-15), the forces of creation (38:16-3 and a menagerie of animals (38:39-39:30).  He arrived in a whirlwind, and spoke in front of all the speakers, but to Job.

Some are disturbed that the philosophical questions are not answered:  What is the answer to the problem of evil?  Is Job a saint or a sinner?  Are Job’s friends right or wrong? 

But if the anguish of Job was that God had abandoned him, is the consolation of Job that God gives him an answer?.  The time where God stood at a distance is over.

The answer is not to the What? When? Where? and Why? questions, but to the Who? question.

What is with Elihu? Job 32-37

Here are some ways the commentators read Elihu:

• Gassy windbag who says nothing new
• the only friend with insight, leads us into the “God Speeches”
• Does not fit Job outline, must have been added by a pious editor
• Gives us dramatic pause with long speeches, causing a restless anticipation for what will follow.
• Summarizes what has been said to this point.
• Offers the “human estimate” of Job - to be followed by “God’s estimate”.
• Sort of like John the Baptist, in 37:22 and 33:23, points us to Christ.
• Adds the idea of the benefit of suffering for the believer (33:12-22)

Fresh Read is still reading the Elihu speeches afresh. However, we find this verse interesting - does he not indict himself with his criticism of Job?

 Job 32:17-20 ESV
    I also will answer with my share;
        I also will declare my opinion.
    [18] For I am full of words;
        the spirit within me constrains me.
    [19] Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
        like new wineskins ready to burst.
    [20] I must speak, that I may find relief;
        I must open my lips and answer.

   

     
 

   

Job’s Check List - Job 31

In Job’s defense against his 3 friends, he give this last statement of self-defense.  This is in the form of an oath against himself if he is guilty of any of the grievances he mentions.  Many take the form of “if I ever X then may Y happen to me”.  In v. 35 he “signs off”, figuratively, on this self-defense.

The list of sins or grievances in perhaps not what we might expect.  Here they are by one method of listing - one could list more if some of the sins were subdivided.

• Lust (v. 1-3)
• Dishonesty (v. 5-7)
• Adultery (v. 8-12)
• Oppression (v. 13-15)
• Lack of Compassion (v. 16-23)
• Greed (v. 24-25)
• Idolatry (v. 26-2
• Vindictiveness (v. 29-30)
• Stinginess (v. 31-32)
• Hypocrisy (v. 32-34)
• Exploitation (v. 38-40)

 Is there anything surprising on this list? 

Compassion and justice is a strong theme in wisdom literature - even in Proverbs, where sometimes poverty is blamed on foolish choices, it is also blamed on oppression, and justice and compassion for the poor is commended.

How bold is Job to “sign off” on this list.   Would you be so bold?

FR

Fresh Read Preaches - Job 28

 job28sermon.doc

Job 28 and “the fear of the Lord”

The expression “the fear of the Lord” and related statements are very common in the OT, well over 400 uses by one resource.  The Hebrew word ranges from “terror” to “respect” to “reverence.”  It seems as if the “fear of the Lord” is a catch phrase that means something like “reverence”.  Though that single translation does not exhaust the word. 

the poem on Wisdom in Job 28 ends with this statement

 And he said to man,

‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,

and to shun evil is understanding.’

(NIV)

Wisdom is not a category of information - such that I can learn wisdom sayings as I might find them in Biblical or Extra-biblical wisdom literature.  Wisdom is defined here as “the fear of the Lord” which is almost the same as saying that wisdom is faith itself.

Wisdom is knowing who has the answers, and paying careful and respectful heed to the Lord.  One can neither learn the asnwers without knowing the source of the answers, nor can one know the source and ignore the answers.

FR

 

Job 28 - the “selah” of the book

If you read the scholars about the lyric poem on Wisdom found in Job 28, they are all over the map.  It came from somewhere else, they say, or it does not fit, or it interrupts the flow and so on.

It comes after the cycle of dialogues from the three friends, and just before Job’s 3 chapter summary self defense (ch 29-31).

It is beautiful poetry, and as such, a challenge for the translators.

I particularly like the image of miners, hanging down from ropes in dark caverns, swinging back and forth as they search for rare gems.

It seems best, from here, to see chapter 28 as an interlude.  It is like the notes in the Psalms, “selah”.  People used to read those in churches, because it was embedded in the text of the King James Version.  However, when the psalms are laid out in poetic shape on the page, the “selah” usually goes to the side.  It marks, we believe, a time for the worshipper to reflect on what has just been said. Probably there is a musical interlude at that point. 

Observe the placement of the selas in Psalm 32 - they seem to follow poetic stanzas.

So Job 28 fits in the same way.  It is a little pause, before we press on toward the conclusion. 

And of course the point is clear - humanity is brilliant at finding treasures in the earth, through great effort and physical courage.  However, we have not been able to find wisdom.   This leads to the thought that God has to give that which we can not uncover for ourselves.

FRESH READ