Job 11:1-11 “Devil’s Advocate”

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A devil’s advocate the advocatus diaboli is appointed officially within the Catholic church whenever the canonization (sainthood) of a candidate came up. The idea was to create an active debate in order to uncover any character flaws or misrepresentation of the evidence favoring canonization. Zophar the Naamathite, the third friend is seen here taking on this role and he refutes Job’s innocence as lies. He says,”My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes./ But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;(vv.4-5)

In vv.7-11 he presents his arguments.

“Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?/ It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?/ The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea./ If he cut off, and shut up…

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Job 10:9-18 “Why me?”

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“Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?“

Job here asks the most profound question a man may ask if he has a mind for it. Wherefore are you or me brought to this world? Macbeth speaks of life as a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. We need not be surprised by such an observation coming from Macbeth whose villainy found the weapon and also the force with which he could win a throne. Almost. But death of his comrade in crime naturally brings him to realize they were merely waking shadows in the make-believe world both were strutting about. They had their brief hour and in the end proved they were also very bad players. We have all seen it: a four year presidency of sound and fury but in the end what was the score? “Except…

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Job 10: 1-9 parables of Job

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Here we have Job using a parable which in the parlance of the Spirit is to instruct us the depths and riches we have in the eternal God. In a secular context one might think of the Socratic dialogue as nearest, and the Bible clearly declares no man may question God and wrest a meaningly truth by force of will or arguments.”Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?(Is.45:9). We find Abraham interceding with God with regards to the imminent judgment over Sodom. He asks,”And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Ge.18:17-33)

The word parable is derived from the Greek word parabole and rather than go into its etymology and other allied areas…

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Job 9: “Eternal God”

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I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?/ If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand./ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?

No better commentary can we find than this prayer of Moses in Psalm 90

It is not that we chose God but we have been foreknown in his Son. Truth in our inwards is right in our heart so what is truth but is home grown. is it not? How little do we know God’s unfathomable gifts? But Job is righteous since he knows the truth. Consequently Job though staggering under the repeated blows of sorrow cannot but admit,’I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?”

What does Moses say to this…

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Job 9: 1-9 Job’s Defense

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This section marks different in tone than the idea Job began with. He asks,’Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?(3:23). Here he is turning away from his premise to what he he knows all along that under the burden of calamities lay hidden.’ I know it is so of a truth.’ The Holy Spirit has structured the book as an allegory where the first eight chapters form a strophe, a section.

This chapter is replete with tags that we find in the chapter 38. Compare v.8 of this chapter with this,”Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?(38:31-32) .

Job asks.’Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?(7:12). How God answers him…

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Job 8:1-10 ‘ipso facto’

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“If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous (v.6)”.

Bildad the Shuhite begins with the divine nature as a Being that is pure and upright so had Job been pure and upright his calamity should never have visited him. Eliphaz and Bildad have taken their positions already and it is neither setting right Job’s confusion on the matter of righteousness is their point. Winning an argument is a matter of will worship. Logic or casuistry has its place in a school where young men were prepared for public service. God does not need a teacher in Rhetoric to defend His case.”For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:/But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound…

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Job 8: overview

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The Spirit in presenting the allegory uses arguments of each friend against Job alternating with Job’s defense. Eliphaz treats Jobs calamity using a proverb, ‘as you sow so shall you reap.’ The idea is that Job cannot escape the reaction to his actions. Job at the end defends his humanity and asks,”I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?/ And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.(7:21). In much words there is always letting a risk of being wrong. His error of judgment was to think death would have put an end to his misery. Consider his desperation in…

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Job 7: 5-11 ‘The Way of all flesh’

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What is the way of flesh? For all life forms death is the cessation of bodily functions. Rich or poor is no proof against death.

Here we have two verses: “For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity (Ec.3:19).” and the second,”Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish(Ps.49:12)”.

Yet they all have one breath and it is what gone out of the mouth of the Lord Almighty.

The breath of God garnished the heavens or seeded them so glory of the Word is made manifest. ‘Fiat Lux! This command is charged with faith.”By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them…

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Job 7:1-7 ‘Days of an hireling’

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Glory of God is revealed in the manner His Power and Wisdom have created the heaven and the earth; so much so even a speck of dust refracts sunlight to create a roseate dawn or starry skies that never fails to thrill us. That is Beauty which for the Japanese would imply some imperfection in it. Wabi-sabi is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It is similar to the constituents of table salt in which chlorine is a deadly gas and sodium is a corrosive metal. But how they are brought to bear on each other so there is that unmistakeable savor we shall understand God is beyond human conception and Truth is the only measure by which He makes sense to us. “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the…

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Job 6:6 “Savour”

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 “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” v.6

Soul is neither in the material part or in the spiritual shadow of life casting into the Land of the living. In a secular context we might define soul is betwixt and between the two realities where through our physical body ‘through a glass darkly’ we may look fore and aft. Job speaks of it in the following chapter, “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?/ As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:

So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me./ When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the…

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