Not making a runner
When Jonah got a task to do from God he was afraid for his own well-being and tried to avoid the task. Jeremiah did not mind complaining sometimes. While Moses more than once questioned what he was supposed to do if it would bring out the best, and even one time forgot to mention that it was God doing what he seemed to do. Moses had an awful difficult task and we can imagine it was not always easy to not to loose his temper, like he did. For him it must have been difficult to see how people who got so many blessings and were liberated from slavery still forgot the Most High who had taken care of them. How was it possible that they came to worship a golden calf? Moses could have pulled out his hairs at times. But he had to recognise that he did not succeed in the plans God had laid out in front of him. Joshua (Yahshua) lead the people God had chosen to the promised land.
An other Yashua or Yahushua (Jeshua > Jesus) was taking the step further. In him we can find the only prophet who managed to keep to all the instructions of God and never disputed them.
This man from Nazareth did not mind that people spit on him or called him dirty names. Jeshua said himself that people could even be forgiven for blaspheming him but no one would be forgiven for blaspheming Him that send him: Yah (Yah is the spirit). Yahuwah or Jehovah is His Father, he wanted everybody to get to know. Jesus took it on him to go around and walk for miles telling the Good News God had in store for every body who wanted to hear.
Jesus was tempted. He encountered many adversaries of God, the Satans of this world. But he never fell in their trap, except when it became all too awfully. For Jesus it was too disgusting that people could dishonour the temple of his Father. That one time he totally lost his temper and threw the shopkeepers and money-changers out of the House of God. They went too far and it had become to much for Christ Jesus to bear that his Fathers worship place was so defiled.
Jesus wanted to clean the place of His Father, because he loved His Father so much that he found this totally unworthy. Go, our Father wants to help to clean out our hearts until their is nothing left that is offensive, and He had given the people a place were they could come close to Him. But God had seen that such a place not always brought the solution. Many Temples or Houses of God, Buildings for God, or church-buildings, became misused for other ends.
God therefore erected an other temple. He did not require any more burnt offerings or money offerings or contributions. In His only begotten son He had found the one who did not mind doing everything God wanted to be done by him. This man from Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, did not show any hesitation like so many other prophets. In Jesus God had found a humble man who at all times had a heart that wanted do anything to Obey! Jesus was never ashamed of Him who guided him or of His Word which should be known all over the world.
Even in the weakest moment of his life he called out to His Father and told him that he was afraid but did not mind going on in case His Father wanted him to go to face the dreadful death. Jesus had the ascertainment of gains and losses. He trusted His Father. Even in case God wanted that His son would give his life, Jesus was willing to go on the ‘offerings-table’ like Isaac (Yitsḥaq ) giving all his heart. Perhaps Jesus did not see any absolute necessity for his suffering more than the sinner suffered in order to pay man’s ransom price.
Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice
“And Yitsḥaq spoke to Aḇraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “See, the fire and the wood! But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Aḇraham said, “My son, Elohim does provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” And the two of them went together. And they came to the place which Elohim had commanded him, and Aḇraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Yitsḥaq his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Aḇraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, but the Messenger of יהוה called to him from the heavens and said, “Aḇraham , Aḇraham !” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor touch him. For now I know that you fear Elohim, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” And Aḇraham lifted his eyes and looked and saw behind him a ram caught in a bush by its horns, and Aḇraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Aḇraham called the name of the place, ‘יהוה Yireh,’ as it is said to this day, “On the mountain יהוה provides.” And the Messenger of יהוה called to Aḇraham a second time from the heavens, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares יהוה , because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I shall certainly bless you, and I shall certainly increase your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies. “And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
(Genesis 22:7-18 The Scriptures 1998+)
“let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven. ” (Matthew 6:10 The Scriptures 1998+)
“saying, “Father, if it be Your counsel, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My desire, but let Yours be done.” ” (Luke 22:42 The Scriptures 1998+)
For Jesus the Will of his Father was Holy and like by King David in his vowels. Also to his disciples he said that his food was that he should be doing the will of the One having sent him so that he could and should finish His work. When looking with undivided attention to the Originator and Perfecter of our faith — יהושע Jesus — who, because of the joy being set before him, endured a wooden stake of torture, blood and death, having disregarded the shame we now can be sure he has come to sit down at the right hand of the throne of his Father יהוה Jehovah, the Only One God.
“I have delighted to do Your pleasure, O my Elohim, And Your Torah is within my heart1.” Footnote: 1Ps. 37:31, Ps. 119:11, Isa. 51:7, Heb. 10:7-9.” (Psalms 40:8 The Scriptures 1998+)
“יהושע said to them, “My food is to do the desire of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. ” (John 4:34 The Scriptures 1998+)
“looking to the Princely Leader and Perfecter of our belief, יהושע, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the stake, having despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim.
(Hebrews 12:2 The Scriptures 1998+)
Jesus was taught by God. Jesus made many words of God clear and explained how we should study and understand the Word of His Father to whom we also had to pray to receive guidance and daily bread.
As followers of Christ Jesus we should be pupils from him who are searching for others who can see this truth because it is very hard to live surrounded by those who refuse to listen and want nothing more than for us to run down the broad path with everyone else. As Jesus went in the only one direction to take, we also should choose the right path. Though Christ Jesus could stay blameless, we, being aware of our sinful nature, should try to stay with the least of sins. And when we did something wrong we should regret it and come to God to ask for forgiveness. We should first show remorse for what we did wrong and then try to make it good again.
As Jesus trusted His Father we should give the full trust in his hands and accept Jesus as mediator. But we also should accept that by the offer of Jesus we all now can come directly to Jesus his and our Father and we should know Jehovah and that the things he asks from us are always for the good of us and the best for this world.
Impalement of Christ like the depiction of a tropaeum, carried by god Aeneas. This fresco was found in Pompeii.
We should remember that the Father of Jesus is the Elohim Hashem Yah, The Only One God and there is no other God of gods, only the ever existing Jehovah created. Jehovah was the “Yah” (“Ja”) or the “Yes ” (“Ja”), the Being; without Him no life was or is possible. Yahweh and His Spirit, His Thinking are one and the same not separate. The one placed by the Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary is the “Yah shua” the Jeshua who was given this set apart spirit and was guided by “Yah”, the being of and from God. In all his ways Jesus took the guidance of God His Spirit in him up and was completely observant to Him. We also should try to listen to this Holy Spirit and follow His guidance.
Jesus did everything to please his Father and as such he earned it to be placed higher than ordinary people and than the angels, though at first he was lower than them.
“For, let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah יהושע, who, being in the form of Elohim, did not regard equality with Elohim a matter to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and came to be in the likeness of men. And having been found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, death even of a stake. Elohim, therefore, has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name which is above every name, ” (Philippians 2:5-9 The Scriptures 1998+)
“how Elohim did anoint יהושע of Natsareth with the Set-apart Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for Elohim was with Him. ” (Acts 10:38 The Scriptures 1998+)
“For there is one Elohim,1 and one Mediator between Elohim and men, the Man Messiah יהושע, Foornote: 11 Cor. 8:6, Eph. 4:6, Mk. 12:29-34. who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be witnessed in its own seasons, ” (1 Timothy 2:5-6 The Scriptures 1998+)
“By this the love of Elohim was manifested in us, that Elohim has sent His only brought-forth Son into the world, in order that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved Elohim, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning offering for our sins. ” (1 John 4:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+)
“which He wrought in the Messiah when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and mastery, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all, to the assembly, ” (Ephesians 1:20-22 The Scriptures 1998+)
When Jesus was dying, He hung helpless upon the tree. He entrusted Himself into the hands of His Father. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lukas 23:46).
Some can argue that it was something terrible the Creator and Father of Jesus asked from His son. You could argue that the death of the cross was not necessary as our ransom price. But the Father required this extreme obedience as a test, and the loyalty of our dear Redeemer was fully attested.
Jesus asking the cup to be taken away did not want to escape death. The cup was the shame and ignominy of arrest as a law-breaker, a public trial and conviction, and subsequent crucifixion as a malefactor. As any normal man would do, Jesus was not sure that he could stand this or would be able to fulfil the request His Father had made. He not doubted the Father but himself. He did not want to fail in order to be missing the ability to save so many lives. Jesus was exceeding fearful of himself, fearful lest he should make a misstep and thus spoil the entire plan of God which he had so obediently undertaken and thus far so loyally performed. Though God’s measure is not our measure Jesus did not mind to live according God’s measures and to die as a blasphemer or murderer.
Jesus did not want to attempt neither to follow his own ideas nor to exercise his own will. For him it was important that the Will of His Father was fulfilled and as such that was offered to humankind the salvation from the thread and death brought by the 1° Adam. He wanted to come to God as the 2° Adam and opening the way for the New Creation, and as such being the First Born of that New Creation.
In case we do want to be as followers of Christ taken up in the community of Christians we should have the same gospelfaith as Christ Jesus. Like Jesus trusted his Father we should trust him and Him who had send him. As Jesus told us to pray to the Father we should trust that Father as well.
We are coming close to the 14th of Nisan when we shall remember the Last Meal Jesus took with his disciples and offered his body, his flesh and blood, for all humankind. We are not saved merely because we believe that Jesus Christ died for us on the Cross, but because we trust in him who died and in Him whom had send him on this world.
It is the personal touch between Christ and ourselves that causes His life to pass into our nature, making us sound and healthy, as well as secure and safe.
The blood of the dear Redeemer is to be continually invoked for the cleansing of the slightest defilement of conscience, that thus the wedding garment of our Lord’s imputed righteousness may not become stained, but that the slightest spot being removed, we may have it “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”
What does the ‘Cross‘ or the Wooden Stake mean to you and me?
Does it not mean that there our lord gave himself absolutely to the Father’s will? Never in any way did he make himself the origin and fountain of his action, but was ever the empty channel through which God poured Himself. “He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” It seemed as if he went down lower and lower, on rung after rung of the ladder until he reached Hades, giving up everything only to follow the Will of God; but out of the lowest depths God raised him to the Eternal Throne.
The spirit of the earth is polluted and this is why the set apart spirit is for new.
When we have chosen to follow Christ Jesus, but get some bad moments, what do we do than? As we begin to suffer as Jesus did (for doing the right things, for righteousness sake) are we than willing to be strong enough to continue the right path? Are we than stable enough to stay erect and go through the storm?
“For to this you were called, because Messiah also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps,1 Footnote: 11 Cor. 11:1, 1 John 2:6.” (1 Peter 2:21 The Scriptures 1998+)
When we walk here on this earth and are confronted with the adversaries of God shall we be able to find our strength in the way Jesus was faithful and compassionate and always kept trusting his Father. Are we willing to have the same trust in Jesus and his Father? When we call upon Him in our need do we than also dare to say that “Your will shall happen.” Do we want to take heart, and place our trust in Him who knows what is the best for us?
As Christ Jesus we may not despise the discipline of the Only One God יהוה Father of Jesus but also of us. so when we are tested or are reproved we can think of the suffering of that only begotten son who died at the wooden stake.
“For consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and faint in your lives. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the appeal which speaks to you as to sons, “My son, do not despise the discipline of יהוה, nor faint when you are reproved by Him, for whom יהוה loves, He disciplines, and flogs every son whom He receives.”1 Footnote: 1Prov. 3:11-12. If you endure discipline, Elohim is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become sharers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ” (Hebrews 12:3-8 The Scriptures 1998+)
Without Jesus we are nowhere. Than we could not be saved and would not have such a marvellous prospect.
Therefore we may be thankful that Jesus was following the Will of his Father and could keep to all commandments of his Father. In remembrance of what he did for us we shall come together to take a close look at his life and the reasons he gave it (this life) up, not running away for those who wanted to have him killed.
The Memorial for the year 2012 will be on Thursday, April 5, after sundown, when we take in remembrance the Fast of the Firstborn, the Passover Offering commemorating by our recitation of the “Order of the Passover Offering”, and the Lamb of God being brought on the slaughter-table.
For the Memorial Service on April the 5th there will be a service in Dutch and one in English in in Kessel-Lo, an English service in Mons.
On Sunday April the 8th we shall come together in Paris to have a hole day of memorial of Jesus offering himself and a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Service will be bilingual French-English.
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Related articles
- Abraham’s Faith Proved – Not Tested
- A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
- Jesus Christ, His Sacrifice
- Day of remembrance coming near
- The Truth Shall Make You Free: From Death to Immortality
- Impaled until death overtook him
- Did Jesus die on a Cross or Stake (Stauros)
- The Cross and Crucifixion
- Did Jesus die on a cross?
- Why did Jesus have to die
- The Stauros of the New Testament: Cross or Stake?
- Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
- Why 20 Nations Are Defending the Crucifix in Europe
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In Dutch:
- Voorbereidingstijd tot een herinneringsmoment
- Rond het Paasmaal
- Achtergelaten aan een paal tot in de dood
- Zweeds theoloog vindt in historische geschriften dat Jezus niet aan een kruis stierf
- Bedenking rond Onveranderlijkheid
- Een gedicht voor Pasen
- Waarom vast houden aan het kruisbeeld
- Niet goddelijkheid van Christus toch
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Related articles
- ” I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” (tvaraj2inspirations.wordpress.com)
Since most of the people attending the Feast of the Tabernacles came from different areas outside of Jerusalem, they would not have known about Jesus. But in the crowd were Jews from Jerusalem who knew that the elders of the Temple were seeking to kill Him. The ordinary Jews, who were not priests or scholars, note that Jesus spoke boldly and with authority. - “I do not accept human praise … (tvaraj2inspirations.wordpress.com)
Jesus tells the gathering, “But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.” (John 5:32) Here Jesus tells them that they have heard the testimony of John the Baptist about him. - Some Forgotten Sayings of Jesus[pbuh] (islamgreatreligion.wordpress.com)
Jesus, at the end of his mission, made it clear that God is not only his father, but father of all, and God of all, and even his own God whom he worshipped throughout his earthly career.
+Jesus did not have power to raise himself up. God had to raise him up, as the author of Acts says.Jesus prayed to God: God prays to no one. Jesus prayed, saying:
“Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mark 14:32)
- Who Do You Say That He Is?- Apologetic Article (withapology.wordpress.com)
Yahshua didn’t preexist as a man, but as the authority of the very words Yahweh spoke. To carry the metaphor all the way, the Holy Spirit as it were would be the breath of Yahweh that empowers voice to speak.
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Who do we say that Yahshua is? He is the builder of Yahweh’s design, the enabler of Yahweh’s plan for Humanity. Yahweh to the world will be known as Creator and Yahshua is the reconciler bringing the world, the whole wide world back to Yahweh by allowing us to be remade in His image and purified back to our original pristinely uncursed design. To the believers however Yahweh is our papa, to which we cry Abba father and Yahshua is our close friend mentor that shows us the way to salvation. That’s who Yahshua says that he is. To say differently is to give power to the Lawless one, and to give way to an arrogance that says, He is who I say he is. - Sermon: Sunday, March 18, 2012: Fourth Sunday of Lent (byproclamation.wordpress.com)
The snake, the cross, and the loaf of bread are each and all symbols of both life and death. The snake, the cross, and the loaf of bread are there to remind us of our absolute need to confess and God’s absolute commitment to our healing and wholeness. - God’s Last Sermon (klarionkall.wordpress.com)
Jesus Christ God’s last sermon, message, to this world, Jesus is the message that needs to be heralded. That’s 33.5 years of preaching, 33.5 years of teaching, 33.5 years of getting across a point! - The Soul confronted with Death (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
Therefore let us not being corrupted, be thirsting from the ‘spring of the water of life’ Jesus Christ the Messiah without cost. Hoping to be by the ones having been written in the Scroll of Life of the Lamb of God.
Fragments from the Book of Job #6: chapters 38-42
In his concluding speech in chapter 31, Job did demand that God appear before him, and in a sense, it is somewhat surprising for Elihu to appear instead. But can a man command God to appear? Do we have the right or authority to demand the Most High to appear before us?
Job’s concluding remarks in chapter 31 could unlikely in some way compel the Almighty Elohimto appear.
Image via Wikipedia
Elihu came in between the discussion because he found lots of things said to Job but also about God were not right. He had found that multiple words against God were uttered, charging God of doing nothing about wickedness or even using evil things to vindicate. Though we can find some kind of truth and authority in the words from Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, they grated on the nerves of Elihu and angered God. It was not because God kept His silence that He did not listen or did not care, nor lost control over nation or man (Job 34:29-30). Also Elihu had the wrong idea about God working with His people. This sometimes arrogant looking person ends up offering a similar argument to that of the three friends: God is greater than man (Job 33:12) and thus he must have intended to warn or rebuke Job (Job 33: 14–30). He even hopes that Job’s trials will continue either until he recants or, if he does not recant, until he dies (Job 34:36-37) and states Job’s complaint that godliness avails a man nothing (Job 35:1-4). He also declared that God is too lofty to be affected either by godliness or ungodliness, which only affect other people (Job 35:5-8 ). An other fault brought forwards to those who are unlucky is that unanswered prayers would be because of the lack of faith of those who pray and to the emptiness of the prayer (Job 35:-16). Elihu at moments continued to attack Job in the line of the other three older friends (e.g., Job 34: 10-37; 35:16). He also suggested that Job had not recognized and maybe even had ignored the ways in which God had spoken to him (Job 33:14). The continual appeal for Job by the four friends to simply repent of whatever evil he has done is an obvious misdiagnosis, in light of the prologue (chapters 1-2) and on the other elements Job brought forward to plea for his justice, recapitulated by Elihu at the opening of his speech (Job 33:6, 9; 34:5-9).
Elihu, who sometimes handled as if he were thinking to be like a prophet, shed already a further light on the matter that the creator of the universe cannot be unjust (Job 32:18–20; 34:10-28). Perhaps we may be called men of understanding, but there are a lot of things we do not understand and who are to complex to grasp and to get over with. Often we can’t make God out because He is beyond us. We sometimes can’t get His meaning or miss the point of what He says and does. The Spirit God seems difficult to grasp, but He is not so incomprehensible as we think. We just should concentrate more on the essentials of Him.
In the Book of Job we got an idea in what ways evil come to this earth and how evil people suffer as well (Job 15:14-16, 20-35). Failure comes to many. In the many speeches from chapters 3 to 37 we heard the flawless logic but wounding thrusts of those who insisted on the traditional theology that it was indisputable that God is almighty, perfectly just and that no human can be pure in Gods sight. On the other hand we have to face the problem of godly, just people who suffer. In this Book from the Book of Books the author can give us some encouragement by showing us that our suffering provides an occasion like no other for exemplifying what true godliness is for human beings. As in the other books of the Bible we can get a picture of righteous people who suffer ‘unjust’ but, though they have to fight against certain thoughts, still continue to go strong for their beloved Creator and His creation.
Job being answered by God - from Byzantine manuscript - Megisti Lavra Monastery,Codex B. 100, 12th century
When we started this study of the Book of Job we mentioned the accuser of God. Satan, the adversary who brought a radical assault on God and godly people. When God called up the name of Job before the accuser and testified to his righteous, the Almighty is called a fool and His followers even more fools. Is it not that humans prefer to love the gifts of the Creator then the Creator Himself? It is up to men to proof that he not tries to pleases God merely for the sake of his benefits. Job did good things he told us, but not in the hope to get something in return. Are you “religious” and “good” because it pays? Do you want something in return for the good things you do?
That is an other subject tackled in the Book of Job. Which position do we as humans want to take in our life here on earth? How do we want to place ourselves against other people. How do we want to face the One from who we get all this around us? Job faced toward God with anguish, puzzlement, anger and bitter complaints. How do we want to look at our Creator? And when we do not hear our answers, at first, answered how can we cope with that seemingly silent Authority? but are we sure that this God, ruler of the universe, is really silent? We should know that He has given His Words to be with us every day. Most of the answers we have to know are handed over to us. We just have to grasp them. It is to us to take them at hand and to read them, to be able to hear them. So we cannot say God does not give the answers to us. He has given them already to all those who want to have them.
Only we do have to understand that we can not desire to get to know God thoroughly. Longing to know God is very good. But to read Him like a book is not possible. It is not so easy to have God taped in full. We cannot expect hat at the end of our life we shall know everything about God. It would be foolish wisdom to think that. We shall not be able to control everything, because that belongs to God. But He is willing to share parts of His knowledge with us. He is willing to give wisdom to His creatures. However Job’s experience makes bitterly clear to him that his friends “wisdom” cannot fathom the truth of his situation. No, the wisdom we can get does not bring the answers we would like to hear or see. Sometimes it can frustrate us. It can make us hungry. Wisdom and truth is discerned through hearing, just as the quality of food is discerned through tasting (Job 34:3). We better listen today to the Wisdom of God to get some ray of understanding some things and be satisfied with what we already can get for answers at the moment. Patience is a good virtue. We should be pleased already that we can receive enough wisdom to comprehend those difficult creatures around us. And as we saw from the different answers of Job friends we do not always have to go by age, or by popularity. We always should remember that from these creaturely things, we as humans cannot learn all of God’s ways. And who are we mere human beings to to talk back to God? Does any object that is created riposte to its maker or will what is formed say to him who formed it, “why did you make me this way?” (Isaiah 29:16,45:9; Romans 9:20) “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?” (Romans 9:20 ASV)
Who in the world do we think we are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mould it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?”
For us it is perhaps best to recognise who is the Superior and not to deny God above (Job 31:28 ), recognising also the fact that our time on earth is also just a temporarily situation, and that the man who responds submissively to God’s dealings with him will regain health and joy (Job 33:25-28 ) Yes the Book of Job sheds also a light on what we might expect after death. When we die we shall all land up in the grave, the oppressors and the oppressed, they all shall perish and we shall not be able to take anything of our wealth or fame into our grave, the place of departure (Job 27:15-23; Psalm 164:4 Isaiah 38:18). For the wealthy as well as the poor, the happy as the sufferers it shall be be as the animals (Ecclesiastes 3:19-20) When God does not look at them any more, or His face is veiled, they shall be troubled; when He takes away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust. “Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; Thou {1} takest away their breath, they die, And return to their dust. {1) Or gatherest in}” (Psalms 104:29 ASV) “and the dust returneth to the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7 ASV) Let us take Paul’s words into our hearth: “We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this {1} world, nor of the rulers of this {1} world, who are coming to nought: {1) Or age; and so in verses 7, 8; but not in verse 12}” (1 Corinthians 2:6 ASV)
Job will pass the supreme test of all true godliness, namely, to live by the wisdom God had given him, having the fear of the Most High Jehovah God and to depart from evil (Job 28:28 ), and acknowledging the limits of human wisdom. Are we prepared to be satisfied with the brain we got and with what it can cope?
Elihu repeatedly stated that the purpose of God’s speaking to a person in the way he described is to keep “his soul from the pit” (also Job 33:18, 22, 24, 28, 30). Thus he implies that Job’s suffering may be a corrective of his overall path rather than simply punishment for some hidden sin. Though God does not five a warning finger to Elihu we can find God answer in the rest of the Bible. God response to Job will include some vocabulary and references that are similar to portions of Elihu Barachel (meaning either “may God bless” or “God has blessed”) his speeches, but He does not commend either Elihu’s suggested reasons for Job’s suffering or his anger against Job.
The Holy Spirit = Power of God
Elihu had played on the words “spirit” and “breath” in his early speeches (see also Job 33:4; 34:14) in the way most likely to evoke Job’s earlier plea (Job 27:2–3) as he asserted his own right to speak. But he rightly let us know that God is the Spirit, and it is His breath, the live in Him that brings us His Words. It is this breath or Holy “Spirit” which is the “power” that can enlighten us.
“For he (God) needeth not further to consider a man, That he should go before God in judgment.” (Job 34:23 ASV) So God Almighty will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgement with God. Let us look at these words of the Lord of lords where He asks what evil or iniquity people have seen in Him that they have gone far from Him, and have walked after what is false, worthless idols, worthlessness, vanity, and are become vain or become themselves nothings?
“thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” (Jeremiah 2:5 ASV)
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapters 38-41
Job 38:1 And after Elius had ceased from speaking, the Lord spoke to Job through the whirlwind and clouds, [saying],
Job 38:2 Who is this that hides counsel from me, and confines words in [his] heart, and thinks to conceal [them] from me?
Job 38:3 Gird thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.
Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I founded the earth? tell me now, if thou hast knowledge,
Job 38:5 who set the measures of it, if thou knowest? or who stretched a line upon it?
Job 38:6 On what are its rings fastened? and who is he that laid the corner-stone upon it?
Job 38:7 When the stars were made, all my angels praised me with a loud voice.
Job 38:8 And I shut up the sea with gates, when it rushed out, coming forth out its mother’s womb.
Job 38:9 And I made a cloud its clothing, and swathed it in mist.
Job 38:10 And I set bounds to it, surrounding it with bars and gates.
Job 38:11 And I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, but thou shalt not go beyond, but thy waves shall be confined within thee.
Job 38:12 Or did I order the morning light in thy time; and [did] the morning star [then first] see his appointed place;
Job 38:13 to lay hold of the extremities of the earth, to cast out the ungodly out of it?
Job 38:14 Or didst thou take clay of the ground, and form a living creature, and set it with the power of speech upon the earth?
Job 38:15 And hast thou removed light from the ungodly, and crushed the arm of the proud?
Job 38:16 Or hast thou gone to the source of the sea, and walked in the tracks of the deep?
Job 38:17 And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee?
Job 38:18 And hast thou been instructed in the breadth of the [whole earth] under heaven? tell me now, what is the extent of it?
Job 38:19 And in what kind of a land does the light dwell? and of what kind is the place of darkness?
Job 38:20 If thou couldest bring me to their [utmost] boundaries, and if also thou knowest their paths;
Job 38:21 I know then that thou wert born at that time, and the number of thy years is great.
Job 38:22 But hast thou gone to the treasures of snow? and hast thou seen the treasures of hail?
Job 38:23 And is there a store [of them], for thee against the time of [thine] enemies, for the day of wars and battle?
Job 38:24 And whence proceeds the frost? or [whence] is the south wind dispersed over the [whole world] under heaven?
Job 38:25 And who prepared a course for the violent rain, and a way for the thunders;
Job 38:26 to rain upon the land where [there is] no man, the wilderness, where there is not a man in it; so as to feed the untrodden and uninhabited [land],
Job 38:27 and cause it to send forth a crop of green herbs?
Job 38:28 Who is the rain’s father? and who has generated the drops of dew?
Job 38:29 And out of whose womb comes the ice? and who has produced the frost in the sky,
Job 38:30 which descends like flowing water? who has terrified the face of the ungodly?
Job 38:31 And dost thou understand the band of Pleias, and hast thou opened the barrier of Orion?
Job 38:32 Or wilt thou reveal Mazuroth in his season, and the evening star with his rays? Wilt thou guide them?
Job 38:33 And knowest thou the changes of heaven, or the events which take place together under heaven?
Job 38:34 And wilt thou call a cloud with thy voice, and will it obey thee with a violent shower of much rain?
Job 38:35 And wilt thou send lightnings, and they shall go? and shall they say to thee, What is [thy pleasure]?
Job 38:36 And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?
Job 38:37 And who is he that numbers the clouds in wisdom, and has bowed the heaven [down] to the earth?
Job 38:38 For it is spread out as dusty earth, and I have cemented it as one hewn stone to another.
Job 38:39 And wilt thou hunt a prey for the lions? and satisfy the desires of the serpents?
Job 38:40 For they fear in their lairs, and lying in wait couch in the woods.
Job 38:41 And who has prepared food for the raven? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.
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Job 39:1 [Say] if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] thou hast marked the calving of the hinds:
Job 39:2 and [if] thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] thou hast relieved their pangs:
Job 39:3 and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs?
Job 39:4 Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.
Job 39:5 And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?
Job 39:6 whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.
Job 39:7 He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.
Job 39:8 He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.
Job 39:9 And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger?
Job 39:10 And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?
Job 39:11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?
Job 39:12 And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring [it] in [to] thy threshing-floor?
Job 39:13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],
Job 39:14 for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
Job 39:15 and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.
Job 39:16 She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labours in vain without fear.
Job 39:17 For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.
Job 39:18 In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.
Job 39:19 Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?
Job 39:20 And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?
Job 39:21 He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
Job 39:22 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.
Job 39:23 The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:
Job 39:24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.
Job 39:25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.
Job 39:26 And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?
Job 39:27 And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,
Job 39:28 on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?
Job 39:29 Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.
Job 39:30 And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.
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Job 40:1 (39:31) And the Lord God answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2 (39:32) Will [any one] pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer.
Job 40:3 (39:33) And Job answered and said to the Lord,
Job 40:4 (39:34) Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these [arguments]? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5 (39:35) I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.
Job 40:6 (40:1) And the Lord yet again answered and spoke to Job out of the cloud, [saying],
Job 40:7 (40:2) Nay, gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.
Job 40:8 (40:3) Do not set aside my judgment: and dost thou think that I have dealt with thee in any other way, than that thou mightest appear to be righteous?
Job 40:9 (40:4) Hast thou an arm like the Lord’s? or dost thou thunder with a voice like his?
Job 40:10 (40:5) Assume now a lofty bearing and power; and clothe thyself with glory and honour.
Job 40:11 (40:6) And send forth messengers with wrath; and lay low every haughty one.
Job 40:12 (40:7) Bring down also the proud man; and consume at once the ungodly.
Job 40:13 (40:8) And hide them together in the earth; and fill their faces with shame.
Job 40:14 (40:9) [Then] will I confess that thy right hand can save [thee].
Job 40:15 (40:10) But now look at the wild beasts with thee; they eat grass like oxen.
Job 40:16 (40:11) Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
Job 40:17 (40:12) He sets up his tail like a cypress; and his nerves are wrapped together.
Job 40:18 (40:13) His sides are sides of brass; and his backbone is [as] cast iron.
Job 40:19 (40:14) This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.
Job 40:20 (40:15) And when he has gone up to a steep mountain, he causes joy to the quadrupeds in the deep.
Job 40:21 (40:16) He lies under trees of every kind, by the papyrus, and reed, and bulrush.
Job 40:22 (40:17) And the great trees make a shadow over him with their branches, and [so do] the bushes of the field.
Job 40:23 (40:18) If there should be a flood, he will not perceive it; he trust that Jordan will rush up into his mouth.
Job 40:24 (40:19) [Yet one] shall take him in his sight; [one] shall catch [him] with a cord, and pierce his nose.
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Job 41:1 (40:20) But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
Job 41:2 (40:21) Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
Job 41:3 (40:22) Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
Job 41:4 (40:23) And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant?
Job 41:5 (40:24) And wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
Job 41:6 (40:25) And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
Job 41:7 (40:26) And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither [shall they carry] his head in fishing-vessels.
Job 41:8 (40:27) But thou shalt lay thy hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
Job 41:9 (41:0) Hast thou not seen him? and hast thou not wondered at the things said [of him]?
Job 41:10 (41:1) Dost thou not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
Job 41:11 (41:2) Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
Job 41:12 (41:3) I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
Job 41:13 (41:4) Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
Job 41:14 (41:5) Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
Job 41:15 (41:6) His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
Job 41:16 (41:7) One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air cannot come between them.
Job 41:17 (41:8) They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and cannot be separated.
Job 41:18 (41:9) At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
Job 41:19 (41:10) Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
Job 41:20 (41:11) Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
Job 41:21 (41:12) His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
Job 41:22 (41:13) And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
Job 41:23 (41:14) The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
Job 41:24 (41:15) His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
Job 41:25 (41:16) And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
Job 41:26 (41:17) If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
Job 41:27 (41:18) For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
Job 41:28 (41:19) The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
Job 41:29 (41:20) Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
Job 41:30 (41:21) His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
Job 41:31 (41:22) He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
Job 41:32 (41:23) and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
Job 41:33 (41:24) There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
Job 41:34 (41:25) He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
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Job 42:1 Then Job answered and said to the Lord,
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do all things, and nothing is impossible with thee.
Job 42:3 For who is he that hides counsel from thee? or who keeps back his words, and thinks to hide them from thee? and who will tell me what I knew not, great and wonderful things which I understood not?
Job 42:4 But hear me, O Lord, that I also may speak: and I will ask thee, and do thou teach me.
Job 42:5 I have heard the report of thee by the ear before; but now mine eye has seen thee.
Job 42:6 Wherefore I have counted myself vile, and have fainted: and I esteem myself dust and ashes.
Job 42:7 And it came to pass after the Lord had spoken all these words to Job, [that] the Lord said to Eliphaz the Thaemanite, Thou hast sinned, and thy two friends: for ye have not said anything true before me, as my servant Job [has].
Job 42:8 Now then take seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and he shall offer a burnt-offering for you. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will only accept him: for but his sake, I would have destroyed you, for ye have not spoken the truth against my servant Job.
Job 42:9 So Eliphaz the Thaemanite, and Baldad the Sauchite, and Sophar the Minaean, went and did as the Lord commanded them: and he pardoned their sin for the sake of Job.
Job 42:10 And the Lord prospered Job: and when he prayed also for his friends, he forgave them [their] sin: and the Lord gave Job twice as much, even the double of what he had before.
Job 42:11 And all his brethren and his sisters heard all that had happened to him, and they came to him, and [so did] all that had known him from the first: and they ate and drank with him, and comforted him, and wondered at all that the Lord had brought upon him: and each one gave him a lamb, and four drachms’ weight of gold, even of unstamped [gold].
Job 42:12 And the Lord blessed the latter end of Job, [more] than the beginning: and his cattle were fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, a thousand she-asses of the pastures.
Job 42:13 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
Job 42:14 And he called the first Day, and the second Casia, and the third Amalthaea’s horn.
Job 42:15 And there were not found in comparison with the daughters of Job, fairer [women] than they in all the world: and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren.
Job 42:16 And Job lived after [his] affliction a hundred and seventy years: and all the years he lived were two hundred and forty: and Job saw his sons and his sons’ sons, the fourth generation.
Job 42:17 And Job died, an old man and full of days: (42:17A) and it is written that he will rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. (42:17B) This man is described in the Syriac book [as] living in the land of Ausis, on the borders of Idumea and Arabia: and his name before was Jobab; (42:17C) and having taken an Arabian wife, he begot a son whose name was Ennon. And he himself was the son of his father Zare, one of the sons of Esau, and of his mother Bosorrha, so that he was the fifth from Abraam. (42:17D) And these were the kings who reigned in Edom, which country he also ruled over: first, Balac, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dennaba: but after Balac, Jobab, who is called Job, and after him Asom, who was governor out of the country of Thaeman: and after him Adad, the son of Barad, who destroyed Madiam in the plain of Moab; and the name of his city was Gethaim. (42:17E) And [his] friends who came to him were Eliphaz, of the children of Esau, king of the Thaemanites, Baldad sovereign of the Sauchaeans, Sophar king of the Minaeans.
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Continues: Fragments from the Book of Job #7 Epilogue
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“For He will not lay upon man more than right, that he should enter into judgment with God.” (Job 34:23 KJ21)
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Note:
The Holy Spirit is the Author of Scripture; therefore the Word of God is inseparable from the Spirit of God. God is Spirit and the Holy spirit is not on other entity, it is the Power of God itself. The Scriptures introduce the reader to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit applies the truths of the Word to the hearts of the reader. Scripture must be interpreted in the immediate context of personal prayer. The Bible promises over and over that when we seek God, he will be found. The same is true if we seek his power. The “knowledge of God” is an essential feature of Christian attainment, according to the apostolic standard. Those “who know not God” are among those whom vengeance is to overtake (2 Thessalonians 1: 8). Knowledge of God is the basis of sonship to God. Without it, we cannot enter the divine family. How can we love and serve a being whom we do not know? Knowledge is the foundation of all. It is the rock upon which everlasting life itself is built. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, The Only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 27: 3).
Prayer is the medium that brings individuals into contact with the same Spirit who inspired the writers of the Bible. To hear what the Spirit of the Only One God is saying through the Word you must encounter God through prayer. Prayer is the means that we must use to understand the Word of God. Without the assistance of the Holy Spirit in prayer, our Bible study will be in vain. Let us ask for the Spirit to speak to us through the Word.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Fragments from the Book of Job #5: chapters 32-37
We can imagine that people get scared when they hear certain preachers talking as the three friends of Job. As the wife of a Southern Baptist pastor writes in her blog that one pastor saying that all the troubles which befell Job were his fault because he spoke forth fear into his life. That alleviated some of her fears somewhat. Though we would recommend starting to read the full Book of Job it is true that you don’t hear much in church or otherwise about the book of Job other than a passing comment or reference here or there. Studying Job brings forward that there is much more than that character of a righteous man blamed to be unrighteous and being rightly penalised by God.
Last chapter we saw that Job succumbed to the same self pity we all succumb to at times.
Job - Blake
When things are going good in their lives, rarely do people give God the credit for it, but as soon as trouble comes along, the first one to get the blame is God. Even worse, there are ministers out there telling people its O.K. to get angry with God. (Stop Blaming God) There are also a lot of preachers trying to convince people that it is God who brings punishment to the wicked today. Many have to come out that came out of that false system of thinking. Job’s friends did not see that it was the accuser and adversary of God (satan) was trying to drive a wedge between God and His beloved. If Job proved to be righteous only because “it pays” then Satan (any adversary) wins his bet with God. As the friends certain pastors say rightly God is almighty and just. They also preach that because no human is entirely innocent in God’s eyes and therefore have to suffer as suffering, according to them, must be a retribution for some sin. It has come so bad that today we even find pastors who say certain violent action and bringing pain to others is justified because the others deserve it. (Antichrist and The Most Hated Family in America in crisis) These doom preachers are right when they say that the Holy God shows us, that He completely is in state to bring the destruction over this whole world because of the sin. The Bible tells us of this tremendous fact in Genesis 6:12-13 when God, looking on the earth, saw that it was evil: for the way of all flesh had become evil on the earth. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come; the earth is full of their violent doings, and now I will put an end to them with the earth. “And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:12-13 ASV) God brought the deluge over the earth, but that was the first and last turn that God would do that. Lots of doom thinkers make people frightened. Often they try to get the people of their congregation in their ban with cursings to the outer world and with “If you had more faith”. We should recognise the false teachers at the words and actions they take. Teachers or preachers their sayings we always do have to compare them with the Words of God which we can find in the Book of Books, the Bible. Compare where the Holy Scriptures disagrees. In a time when so many people are striving for an explanation of why their lives turn out a certain way, or why things (good or bad) happen to them, the expressions “it’s all part of God’s plan,” “everything happens for the best,” or “it just wasn’t meant to be,” and so on, have became a little tiresome. In “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” perhaps Rabbi Harold S. Kushner can offer you a refreshing point of view that differs from those who think everything occurs on earth because God wants it that way, and at the same time provides a surprising comfort in the fact that events actually can, and do, take place for no reason at all. Rabbi Kushner tries to reconcile a common Judeo-Christian view of God and causality with a perspective of life that holds a place for randomness and happenstance. He tries to proof that things happen in life that God has nothing to do with, and there is a way to find peace in accepting this. Also for him as for us not everything that takes place in the world has a purpose or comes from God. God, in Kushner’s view, created the world and provides the foundation of moral principle. But according some thoughts God would not quite be in control of the world He created. He hopes for our good and He sympathizes, as it were, with us in our pain, but He is powerless to do anything about it according this Jewish writer. But the One who created is in control but allows people a lot of freedom. Aish.com, a division of Aish HaTorah, an apolitical network of Jewish educational centres in 35 branches on five continents remarks: “As to why a God Who had the power to create the entire universe in the first place would create one that He is powerless to control, Kushner basically shrugs his shoulders and contents himself with noting that the world is relatively good for most people most of the time. We might designate this theory as “randomness plus God.”" (Why Harold Kushner is wrong) Fro them Harold Kushner’s approach to suffering is profoundly un-Jewish and provides no solace to those in pain. Unable to understand why a good God would allow individuals to suffer, Kushner ends by neatly defining the question away. He cannot even conceive of the possibility of any understanding, and so concludes that we have no answers because there are no answers. But God has provided those who want to listen and who want to find insight and wisdom, the possibilities to find the answers in the Holy Scriptures. “By arguing that much of what happens is beyond God’s control, Kushner effectively severs the connection between God and the world and thereby empties physical existence of all meaning.” dixit Aish.
When bad things happen to good people who do you blame? What, if anything, keeps you from accepting painful situations or losses in your life?
A lot of people do not see that the Book of Job also gives a picture of who God is and of what He wants from us. They also quote a lot from the friends their words but forget how in Job and Elihu’s replies we get a rectification and the solution to the whole problem in the answer of the Elohim, Jehovah God.
In chapters 29-31 of the Book of Job (Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31) Job also present us a picture of some of the commandments to which we better keep to live in conformity with the Will of God or Gods Law. Those Commandments of God or Mitzvah (Hebrew: מצוה “commandment”, [mitsˈva], Biblical: Miṣwah; plural mitzvot [mitsˈvot]; Biblical: Miṣwoth from צוה ṣiwwah “command”) were brought to humankind through the ages that God ministered His People. In Judaism they refer to the 613 Mitzvot (Hebrew: תרי”ג מצוות: Taryag Mitzvot, “613 commandments”; Biblical Hebrew: Miṣwoth) or 613 commandments given in the Torah. Job brought some statements and principles of law, ethics, and spiritual practice contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses forwards to proof that he tried honestly to fullfill Gods wishes.
When the friendship of God was with Job, he argued, (Job 29:4) that the Almighty was yet with him. He had the idea that God had deserted him, like Jesus also asked God why He had abandoned him. Strangely Job does not see that God was all the time with him. No matter what happens, when we stay with God, He shall always stay around us. Though we do not hear Him, He shall keep an eye onto us. God is often seemingly hidden, but His silence, His deafness, His blindness is all part of His plan to strengthen our relationship with Him. It can be hard when God does not reveal Himself in visible proofs. But it makes stronger faith. We have to be careful that we do not project our human limitation upon God so that we could better understand our problems. We have limits, but the Only One God has no limits as a spirit. “The God is Pneuma, and those worshipping Him must of necessity worship spiritually and in harmony with Truth.”” (John 4:24 MHM)
Sometimes we are too busy to attend to all the details in our life, but Jehovah God never loses track of the details.
Also the friendship in the community is being questioned. You can compare the situation of Job and his friends as to what you expect of your “brethren”. How do we react when something goes wrong with somebody of the ecclesia? And when one of the brothers or sisters is taken in any wrongdoing, how do you want to put such a one right in a spirit of love; keeping watch on yourself, for fear that you yourself may be tested. Are you also willing to take on yourselves one another’s troubles, and so keep the law of Christ. “Brothers, if anyone is overcome by some mistake those who are spiritual should gently and meekly readjust such a person. However, watch yourselves so you are never tempted. Continue to carry the heavy burdens of one another and in this manner fulfil Christ’s Law.” (Galatians 6:1-2 MHM)
Job had moments of doubt and we also can feel that we are standing alone in the turbulent storm. All the thorns from the problems can hurt us deep and cause anger against the others and worse, against God for His seeming abandonment in His hiddenness. But from the next chapters and other Books from the Old and New Testament we shall see that God does not turn a deaf ear and a blind eye. God does see and hear in the camps of the evil ones, and not only that, but He assures us that He is there in the middle of the evil. He does not forsake those sons and daughters of His as it seems, for He sets the joy before them, and will send an accompanying angel to bear them up in the extreme. He wants us to “Look up”, but if we are so deep in the pit in the evil camp with our eyes permanently cast down, alas we find, miraculously, and mercifully that He is there with us. He is not hidden, and He whispers, “Look up, look up for I am here with you”. When Job refused to give up on God, despite the pleadings of all his accusers, he won the contest with them, and was privileged to see what he would have missed had he succumbed to their suggestions. How do you look up to God. Can you keep trusting God and have a positive perspective? What might you think in a similar situation? Where do you place God in your life and where was God for you when it hurt the most?
Job demanded an audience with God in which he was sure he would be vindicated. Enter Elihu on the scene who sets Job straight before the entrance of God himself. When Job finally gets his audience with God it doesn’t go like he planned at all. He comes away humbled and repentant for his selfish behaviour. He is accepted by God still however, which speaks to eternal security of the believer. His three friends are a different matter however. It says God’s anger burned toward them. (see Jot’s writing on Job)
Job, who consciously lived his life as if it were open before and in service to the God of heaven and earth and kept to the regulation of community, (one of the Laws or Deuteronomic code) brought forwards all the good deeds he had done. We also have to do such good things. Delivering or taking care of the poor and the fatherless (Job 31:16–23); giving widows heart to sing for joy; no stealing or coveting; putting on righteousness; helping the blind, the lame and the needy; even helping animals, providing them with food (Job 31:31) searching out causes; putting the unrighteous on their place; giving counsel or advice; not having looked at the elements of the earth to worship them (Job 31:24-28) because we have to abstain from any pagan worship and our worship of God must remain pure. Not erecting sacred stones or adoring the richness of the earth (gold, silver, money, wealth), not making for yourself an idol. Keeping to purity and respecting rules which regulate marriage.
We should try to get to know the regulations of the Most High, but just keeping to them because we are afraid He might harm us is not the good reason to hold vast to the commandments. God wants from us that we do come out of our own free will, and that we love Him for what He really is. It is not by the disasters in the world or the many problems on earth that the greatness of the Creator is shown.
Does not God and His son gave to those who came with a request? We all can use this earth in loan from the Creator but so we want to share of it with others? do some of us not keep their property from him who would for a time make use of it. You have knowledge that it was said, “Have love for your neighbour, and hate for him who is against you”. But Jesus said to us: “Have love for those who are against you, and make prayer for those who are cruel to you; So that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven; for his sun gives light to the evil and to the good, and he sends rain on the upright man and on the sinner. For if you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? do not the tax-farmers the same? And if you say, Good day, to your brothers only, what do you do more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same?” (Matthew 5:42-47 BBE). “Instead, all of you continue to show loving concern for your enemies. And continue doing good-continue lending money without expecting anything to be paid back. If you do your reward will be considerable, for you will become the Most High’s offspring, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” (Luke 6:35 MHM)
We should know that “Jehovah is good to all; And his tender mercies are over all his works.” (Psalms 145:9 ASV)
We can also notice that Job recited a blessing for each enjoyment, but also blessings and curses for those who keep and break the law (Deuteronomic code in Deuteronomy Chapters 12-26).
Job preferred to curse the day he was born rather than God.
If we read in between the lines we can see that it is with profound courage and compassion that sufferers survive the inhuman dignities placed upon them by captors, and torturers and they need to remember that it is easier to receive the pain and moan with it, than it is to be the source of the inhuman behaviour, for there is no escaping the human consciousness that makes inhumanity possible. So, in that sense, human captors or persecutors and torturers are always worse off than their prisoners, or those who they torment. In a way we can’t escape that not such liked events intrude with such force that we are compelled to deal with our faith in the context of what is taking place in our lives. Suffering is one such event. It challenges us to confront the ultimate questions of who we are and what is the significance of our lives. Suffering is a painful invitation to deepen our faith and make it a real part of our lives.
We also get the question of “what makes “happy“, “healthy”, “wealthy” and “wise“.
Now we have heard the speeches of Jobs friends and his replies. Does the hair-rising, mystical spiritual experience of Eliphaz sound reliable to you? (Job 4:12-16) Can we be righteous as against God and be blameless against our Maker?
When we hear what happens in some churches and see how preachers rage on television do you not question if “correct” theology (all the right words) and/or quoting just some phrases out of context can ever be “bad” theology?
Elihu said i am young and ye are very old
Today we listen to Elius or Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite who was young in years. He had kept silent all the time because the others were older and therefore he did not dare to speak up against them. He was fearful, not daring to tell them what he knew. (Job 32:6). There is a great lesson for us all here. It is not necessarily the case that old age brings wisdom. Wisdom is a result of experience. We should not keep to our pride and think because we have a certain age we also would have the wisdom. If we want to listen to advice or hear wisdom we should look for a trustworthy man person, who has had many testings in his or her life and stuck to his or her faith throughout, rather than one who has reached a great age or got a lot of wealth. It is clear from this book that old age does not always bring wisdom and understanding, but in this latter part of the book we are brought to our senses by this younger man who has the answers and who is able to help Job see his life in perspective. Let us not ignore the potential for wisdom to come from our younger members. And the wisdom does not always come from the most popular nor from the most liked one. The wisdom does not always flatter. We must recognise that there are certain preachers who want to be popular and even get huge churches full of people, because they know how to present their “show”. they know exactly what the people want to hear and give it to them in such a way that the people are pleased to hear such talking. But Elihu made it clear that what he had to say would not be emotional, or spoken with prejudice. He would not flatter, nor would he show respect to persons. He knew that God would condemn those who did. Though he also could find his thoughts “darkened”, and that is also what we all have to be aware of, certain things we can know for sure, others not, in certain things we can have wisdom, in others not. At certain point we even can find some haughtiness in his speaking. With a certain arrogance he boast that he has so much to say he can’t keep him straight. (Job 32: 18-22) Do we notice a taste of a braggart? In case we know something more then an other we should be pleased that we can be blessed as such. Let us therefore always be humble enough and listen in first instance to the One and Only God Almighty.
Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapter 32
Job 32:1 And his three friends also ceased any longer to answer Job: for Job was righteous before them.
Job 32:2 Then Elius the son of Barachiel, the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, of the country of Ausis, was angered: and he was very angry with Job, because he justified himself before the Lord.
Job 32:3 And he was also very angry with [his] three friends, because they were not able to return answers to Job, yet set him down for an ungodly man.
Job 32:4 But Elius had forborne to give an answer to Job, because they were older than he.
Job 32:5 And Elius saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men; and he was angered in his wrath.
Job 32:6 And Elius the Buzite the son of Barachiel answered and said, I am younger in age, and ye are elder, wherefore I kept silence, fearing to declare to you my own knowledge.
Job 32:7 And I said, It is not time that speaks, though in many years [men] know wisdom:
Job 32:8 but there is a spirit in mortals; and the inspiration of the Almighty is that which teaches.
Job 32:9 The long-lived are not wise [as such]; neither do the aged know judgment.
Job 32:10 Wherefore I said, Hear me, and I will tell you what I know.
Job 32:11 Hearken to my words; for I will speak in your hearing, until ye shall have tried [the matter] with words:
Job 32:12 and I shall understand as far as you; and, behold, there was no one of you that answered Job his words in argument,
Job 32:13 lest ye should say, We have found that we have added wisdom to the Lord.
Job 32:14 And ye have commissioned a man to speak such words.
Job 32:15 They were afraid, they answered no longer; they gave up their speaking.
Job 32:16 I waited, (for I had not spoken,) because they stood still, they answered not.
Job 32:17 And Elius continued, and said, I will again speak,
Job 32:18 for I am full of words, for the spirit of my belly destroys me.
Job 32:19 And my belly is as a skin of sweet wine, bound up [and] ready to burst; or as a brazier’s labouring bellows.
Job 32:20 I will speak, that I may open my lips and relieve myself.
Job 32:21 For truly I will not be awed because of man, nor indeed will I be confounded before a mortal.
Job 32:22 For I know not how to respect persons: and if otherwise, even the moths would eat me.
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Job 33:1 Howbeit hear, Job, my words, and hearken to my speech.
Job 33:2 For behold, I have opened my mouth, and my tongue has spoken.
Job 33:3 My heart [shall be found] pure by [my] words; and the understanding of my lips shall meditate purity.
Job 33:4 The Divine Spirit is that which formed me, and the breath of the Almighty that which teaches me.
Job 33:5 If thou canst, give me an answer: wait therefore; stand against me, and I [will stand] against thee.
Job 33:6 Thou art formed out of the clay as also I: we have been formed out of the same [substance].
Job 33:7 My fear shall not terrify thee, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Job 33:8 But thou hast said in mine ears, (I have heard the voice of thy words;) because thou sayest, I am pure, not having sinned;
Job 33:9 I am blameless, for I have not transgressed.
Job 33:10 Yet he has discovered a charge against me, and he has reckoned me as an adversary.
Job 33:11 And he has put my foot in the stocks, and has watched all my ways.
Job 33:12 For how sayest thou, I am righteous, yet he has not hearkened to me? for he that is above mortals is eternal.
Job 33:13 But thou sayest, Why has he not heard every word of my cause?
Job 33:14 For when the Lord speaks once, or a second time,
Job 33:15 [sending] a dream, or in the meditation of the night; (as when a dreadful alarm happens to fall upon men, in slumberings on the bed:)
Job 33:16 then opens he the understanding of men: he scares them with such fearful visions:
Job 33:17 to turn a man from unrighteousness, and he delivers his body from a fall.
Job 33:18 He spares also his soul from death, and [suffers] him not to fall in war.
Job 33:19 And again, he chastens him with sickness on his bed, and the multitude of his bones is benumbed.
Job 33:20 And he shall not be able to take any food, though his soul shall desire meat;
Job 33:21 until his flesh shall be consumed, and he shall shew his bones bare.
Job 33:22 His soul also draws nigh to death, and his life is in Hades (the grave).
Job 33:23 Though there should be a thousand messengers of death, not one of them shall wound him: if he should purpose in his heart to turn to the Lord, and declare to man his fault, and shew his folly;
Job 33:24 he will support him, that he should not perish, and will restore his body as [fresh] plaster upon a wall; and he will fill his bones with morrow.
Job 33:25 And he will make his flesh tender as that of a babe, and he will restore him among men in [his] full strength.
Job 33:26 And he shall pray to the Lord, and his prayer shall be accepted of him; he shall enter with a cheerful countenance, with a full expression [of praise]: for he will render to men [their] due.
Job 33:27 Even then a man shall blame himself, saying, What kind of things have I done? and he has not punished me according to the full amount of my sins.
Job 33:28 Deliver my soul, that it may not go to destruction, and my life shall see the light.
Job 33:29 Behold, all these things, the Mighty One works in a threefold manner with a man.
Job 33:30 And he has delivered my soul from death, that my life may praise him in the light.
Job 33:31 Hearken, Job, and hear me: be silent, and I will speak.
Job 33:32 If thou hast words, answer me: speak, for I desire thee to be justified.
Job 33:33 If not, do thou hear me: be silent, and I will teach thee.
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Job 34:1 And Elius continued, and said,
Job 34:2 Hear me, ye wise men; hearken, ye that have knowledge.
Job 34:3 For the ear tries words, and the mouth tastes meat.
Job 34:4 Let us choose judgment to ourselves: let us know amount ourselves what is right.
Job 34:5 For Job has said, I am righteous: the Lord has removed my judgment.
Job 34:6 And he has erred in my judgment: my wound is severe without unrighteousness [of mine].
Job 34:7 What man is as Job, drinking scorning like water?
Job 34:8 [saying], I have not sinned, nor committed ungodliness, nor had fellowship with workers of iniquity, to go with the ungodly.
Job 34:9 For thou shouldest not say, There shall be no visitation of a man, whereas [there is] a visitation on him from the Lord.
Job 34:10 Wherefore hear me, ye that are wise in heart: far be it from me to sin before the Lord, and to pervert righteousness before the almighty.
Job 34:11 Yea, he renders to a man accordingly as each of them does, and in a man’s path he will find him.
Job 34:12 And thinkest thou that the Lord will do wrong, or will the Almighty who made the earth wrest judgment?
Job 34:13 And who is he that made [the whole world] under heaven, and all things therein?
Job 34:14 For if he would confine, and restrain his spirit with himself;
Job 34:15 all flesh would die together, and every mortal would return to the earth, whence also he was formed.
Job 34:16 Take heed lest he rebuke [thee]: hear this, hearken to the voice of words.
Job 34:17 Behold then the one that hates iniquities, and that destroys the wicked, who is for ever just.
Job 34:18 [He is] ungodly that says to a king, Thou art a transgressor, [that says] to princes, O most ungodly one.
Job 34:19 [Such a one] as would not reverence the face of an honourable man, neither knows how to give honour to the great, so as that their persons should be respected.
Job 34:20 But it shall turn out vanity to them, to cry and beseech a man; for they dealt unlawfully, the poor being turned aside [from their right].
Job 34:21 For he surveys the works of men, and nothing of what they do has escaped him.
Job 34:22 Neither shall there be a place for the workers of iniquity to hide themselves.
Job 34:23 For he will not lay upon a man more [than right].
Job 34:24 For the Lord looks down upon all men, who comprehends unsearchable things, glorious also and excellent things without number.
Job 34:25 Who discovers their works, and will bring night about [upon them], and they shall be brought low.
Job 34:26 And he quite destroys the ungodly, for they are seen before him.
Job 34:27 Because they turned aside from the law of God, and did not regard his ordinances,
Job 34:28 so as to bring before him the cry of the needy; for he will hear the cry of the poor.
Job 34:29 And he will give quiet, and who will condemn? and he will hide his face, and who shall see him? whether [it be done] against a nation, or against a man also:
Job 34:30 causing a hypocrite to be king, because of the waywardness of the people.
Job 34:31 For [there is] one that says to the Mighty One, I have received [blessings]; I will not take a pledge:
Job 34:32 I will see apart from myself: do thou shew me if I have done unrighteousness; I will not do [so] any more.
Job 34:33 Will he take vengeance for it on thee, whereas thou wilt put [it] far [from thee]? for thou shalt choose, and not I; and what thou knowest, speak thou.
Job 34:34 Because the wise in heart shall say this, and a wise man listens to my word.
Job 34:35 But Job has not spoken with understanding, his words are not [uttered] with knowledge.
Job 34:36 Howbeit do thou learn, Job: no longer make answer as the foolish:
Job 34:37 that we add not to our sins: for iniquity will be reckoned against us, if [we] speak many words before the Lord.
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Job 35:1 And Elius resumed and said,
Job 35:2 What is this that thou thinkest to be according to right? who art thou that thou hast said, I am righteous before the Lord?
Job 35:3 I will answer thee, and thy three friends.
Job 35:4 Look up to the sky and see; and consider the clouds, how high [they are] above thee.
Job 35:5 If thou hast sinned, what wilt thou do?
Job 35:6 and if too thou hast transgressed much, what canst thou perform?
Job 35:7 And suppose thou art righteous, what wilt thou give him? or what shall he receive of thy hand?
Job 35:8 Thy ungodliness [may affect] a man who is like to thee; or thy righteousness a son of man.
Job 35:9 They that are oppressed of a multitude will be ready to cry out; they will call for help because of the arm of many.
Job 35:10 But none said, Where is God that made me, who appoints the night-watches;
Job 35:11 who makes me to differ from the four-footed beasts of the earth, and from the birds of the sky?
Job 35:12 There they shall cry, and none shall hearken, even because of the insolence of wicked men.
Job 35:13 For the Lord desires not to look on error, for he is the Almighty One.
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Job 36:1 And Elius further continued, and said,
Job 36:2 Wait form me yet a little while, that I may teach thee: for there is yet speech in me.
Job 36:3 Having fetched my knowledge from afar, and according to my works,
Job 36:4 I will speak just things truly, and thou shalt not unjustly receive unjust words.
Job 36:5 But know that the Lord will not cast off an innocent man: being mighty in strength of wisdom,
Job 36:6 he will not by any means save alive the ungodly: and he will grant the judgment of the poor.
Job 36:7 He will not turn away his eyes from the righteous, but [they shall be] with kings on the throne: and he will establish them in triumph, and they shall be exalted.
Job 36:8 But they that are bound in fetters shall be holden in cords of poverty.
Job 36:9 And he shall recount to them their works, and their transgressions, for such will act with violence.
Job 36:10 But he will hearken to the righteous: and he has said that they shall turn from unrighteousness.
Job 36:11 If they should hear and serve [him], they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in honour.
Job 36:12 But he preserves not the ungodly; because they are not willing to know the Lord, and because when reproved they were disobedient.
Job 36:13 And the hypocrites in heart will array wrath [against themselves]; they will not cry, because he has bound them.
Job 36:14 Therefore let their soul die in youth, and their life be wounded by messengers [of death].
Job 36:15 Because they afflicted the weak and helpless: and he will vindicate the judgment of the meek.
Job 36:16 And he has also enticed thee out of the mouth of the enemy:
Job 36:17 [there is] a deep gulf [and] a rushing stream beneath it, and thy table came down full of fatness. Judgment shall not fail from the righteous;
Job 36:18 but there shall be wrath upon the ungodly, by reason of the ungodliness of the bribes which they received for iniquities.
Job 36:19 Let not [thy] mind willingly turn thee aside from the petition of the feeble that are in distress.
Job 36:20 And draw not forth all the mighty [men] by night, so that the people should go up instead of them.
Job 36:21 But take heed lest thou do that which is wrong: for of this thou has made choice because of poverty.
Job 36:22 Behold, the Mighty One shall prevail by his strength: for who is powerful as he is?
Job 36:23 And who is he that examines his works? or who can say, he has wrought injustice?
Job 36:24 Remember that his works are great [beyond] those which men have attempted.
Job 36:25 Every man has seen in himself, how many mortals are wounded.
Job 36:26 Behold, the Mighty One is great, and we shall not know [him]: the number of his years is even infinite.
Job 36:27 And the drops of rain are numbered by him, and shall be poured out in rain to form a cloud.
Job 36:28 The ancient [heavens] shall flow, and the clouds overshadow innumerable mortals: (36:28A) he has fixed a time to cattle, and they know the order of rest. (36:28B) [Yet] by all these things thy understanding is not astonished, neither is thy mind disturbed in [thy] body.
Job 36:29 And though one should understand the outspreadings of the clouds, [or] the measure of his tabernacle;
Job 36:30 behold he will stretch his bow against him, and he covers the bottom of the sea.
Job 36:31 For by them he will judge the nations: he will give food to him that has strength.
Job 36:32 He has hidden the light in [his] hands, and given charge concerning it to the interposing [cloud].
Job 36:33 The Lord will declare concerning this [to] his friend: [but there is] a portion also for unrighteousness.
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Job 37:1 At this also my heart is troubled, and moved out of its place.
Job 37:2 Hear thou a report by the anger of the Lord’s wrath, and a discourse shall come out of his mouth.
Job 37:3 His dominion is under the whole heaven, and his light is at the extremities of the earth.
Job 37:4 After him shall be a cry with a [loud] voice; he shall thunder with the voice of his excellency, yet he shall not cause men to pass away, for one shall hear his voice.
Job 37:5 The Mighty One shall thunder wonderfully with his voice: for he has done great things which we knew not;
Job 37:6 commanding the snow, Be thou upon the earth, and the stormy rain, and the storm of the showers of his might.
Job 37:7 He seals up the hand of every man, that every man may know his own weakness.
Job 37:8 And the wild beasts come in under the covert, and rest in [their] lair.
Job 37:9 Troubles come on out of the secret chambers, and cold from the mountain-tops.
Job 37:10 And from the breath of the Mighty One he will send frost; and he guides the water in whatever way he pleases.
Job 37:11 And [if] a cloud obscures [what is] precious [to him], his light will disperse the cloud.
Job 37:12 And he will carry round the encircling [clouds] by his governance, to [perform] their works: whatsoever he shall command them,
Job 37:13 this has been appointed by him on the earth, whether for correction, [or] for his land, or if he shall find him [an object] for mercy.
Job 37:14 Hearken to this, O Job: stand still, and be admonished of the power of the Lord.
Job 37:15 We know that god has disposed his works, having made light out of darkness.
Job 37:16 And he knows the divisions of the clouds, and the signal overthrows of the ungodly.
Job 37:17 But thy robe is warm, and there is quiet upon the land.
Job 37:18 Wilt thou establish with him [foundations] for the ancient [heavens? they are] strong as a molten mirror.
Job 37:19 Wherefore teach me, what shall we say to him? and let us cease from saying much.
Job 37:20 Have I a book or a scribe my me, that I may stand and put man to silence?
Job 37:21 But the light is not visible to all: it shines afar off in the heavens, as that which is from him in the clouds.
Job 37:22 From the [north] come the clouds shining like gold: in these great are the glory and honour of the Almighty;
Job 37:23 and we do not find another his equal in strength: [as for] him that judges justly, dost thou not think that he listens?
Job 37:24 Wherefore men shall fear him; and the wise also in heart shall fear him.
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Continues: Fragments from the Book of Job #6: chapters 38-42
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- The Role And Character Of Elihu In The Book Of Job
Perhaps no other biblical character has been characterized by scholars in such radically different ways as Elihu. Concerning wisdom, Elihu is described as either an “exceeding wise” man or a “buffoon”; concerning his motivation, he is seen as anything from a divinely-inspired “man of God” to the “person assumed or adopted by Satan” to attack Job; concerning his contribution to the Book of Job, he is considered to be “irrelevant” or “integral.
… many scholars believe that the Elihu speeches as we have them now were not part of the original Book of Job.
reasons for rejecting the authenticity:- Elihu is mentioned nowhere in the Book of Job outside of his speeches in Job 32-37
- the style of the Elihu speeches is different from the style used in the other parts of the book.
- Job’s challenge in chapter 31 calls for God, not Elihu, to make an appearance.
- Elihu’s speeches supposedly contribute nothing to the Book of Job. (but as you can read Elihu does have something significant to add)
… many scholars reject these arguments as unconvincing and strongly believe the Elihu speeches to be an original part of Job.
Fragments from the Book of Job #3: chapters 21-26
Job and his friends agreed that God is omnipotent, omniscient, has all the wisdom and strength, is just, and perfectly good. They could bring forwards that an omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence and has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence. God can just say anything and it will happen.
The deceived and the deceiver are His, no matter what happens and how the mighty may think they can rule the earth, they shall find their end as anybody else. Perhaps even worse, because the world can turn against them. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build, he can have get to a point where those oppressed turn against him. Zophar argued that neither the wicked man (Job 20: 12–19) nor his offspring (Job 20: 10) will enjoy the benefits of what he has acquired, because he has gained it through the oppression of others (Job 20:19–21). Now Job is going to argue not only that the wicked prosper and their offspring flourish (Job 21: 7–8), but also that their lives often appear unhindered by any of the signs of judgment that the friends so confidently describe Job 21:9–13). Furthermore, Job points out that the evidence for what he is claiming is not even concealed by the wicked themselves, who choose to follow their pursuits with open indifference to and even proclaimed defiance against the Lord (Job 21:14–16).
When bad people at their time on earth managed to do evil things you can wonder how from those bad things could come good things. ( Job 14:4 ) “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” Job describes human life as hard and short, a theme already declared to the friends in 7:1–10, and uses this question and answer to point out that no mortal is able to work outside of the limits that God has set (see also 14:5). The light of the sinner shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine any more. The steps of his strength shall have become short, and by his design destruction shall overtake him. The oh so mighty shall also be overcome by fears on every side, which shall go after him at every step. His strength shall be made feeble for need of food, and destruction shall be waiting for his falling footstep. Like all people he shall have to face the other side of life, being sent away from the light into the dark; forced out of the world. At his fate those of the west are shocked, and those of the east are overcome with fear. Truly, these are the houses of the sinner, and this is the place of him who has no knowledge of God. Yes we may be sure, nobody can escape death. Under the earth his roots are dry, and over it his branch is cut off. His memory is gone from the earth, and in the open country there is no knowledge of his name. (Job 18:5-21)
In Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20 we read that Eliphaz, who gives his third and last speech (Job 22:1-30), revisited the central questions of his first response (see 4:17–21): if God does not trust fully even his heavenly servants (15:15), how can Job, as a mere man (Job 15: 14), continue to protest his innocence (Job 15:16)? Though Job is a unblemished person Eliphaz portrays the wicked man to implicate Job. The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel seems to be small. The wicked shall get a sound of fear in his ears; in time of peace destruction will come on him. For him there shall come a time that there shall not be any hope of coming safe out of the dark, and his fate will be the dead. Then he may be certain that the day of trouble shall be ready for him. Though many may think he is not frightened, he also shall greatly be in fear of that what shall come over him, the gloomy moments with trouble and pain.
We may be sure any adversary of God, every one who stretches his hand out against God, and lifts his heart up against the Ruler of all, shall one day have to face the consequences of it. (Job 15:21-25)
Job Speaks with His Friends (Job 2:1-13) - Doré's English Bible 1866
From the text we may see that Job his friends have failed as comforters (16:2–5), even though comfort was their original purpose for coming to him (see 2:11). Their condemnation leaves death as Job’s only hope, but to long for death is to give up on any possibility of vindication and is no hope at all (17:10–16). We, no matter what happens have received the hope of the Blessed Tidings. In case we believe in the Good Tidings and in the beautiful prospects God has promised we do not have to worry, because man can do us not as much as he thinks and cannot bring death over us. We also have to realise as Job that God alone is our hope for vindication. This was not clear to Job at first ( 16:21 distinguishes the “witness” from God but became more clear later; cf. 19:25.)
Sometimes it may look that the graveyard is ready for us. (Job 17:1) Believing that God has giving a solution and trusting in his son and that things are destined to occur (Luke 21:7), knowing that we as animals have a time for birth and a time to die or to be caught and destroyed. So let us be as the living be conscious that death will come to us, but that the dead are not conscious of anything, and they no longer have a reward, because there is no memory of them, so the evildoers shall have to face the same nothingness. Their love and their hate and their envy shall than be ended; and they have no longer a part for ever in anything which is done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 3:19; 9:5-6; 2 Peter 2:12)
Last time Job concluded with the wish that his belief in God’s vindication of him would be inscribed in rock as a permanent witness (Job 19: 23–27) and with a warning to his friends against continuing to pursue him with such anger and certainty that they are right, lest they fall under the very sort of judgement they assume has fallen on Job (Job 19: 28–29). Job now gives his last reply to his friends (Job 27:1-31:40) with a protestation of innocence (Job 27:1-23) and a pronouncement concerning wisdom (Job 28:1-28) and a panorama of his life (Job 29:1-31:40).
Do we want to listen the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself? Do we know that our Redeemer lives?
Job had almost stumbled, how is it with us? do we not often have such bad moments that we are envious for the others ones’, the ones who do not believe and seem to have it so much better than us? Did our steps not nearly slipped as did Jobs and King David’s? (Psalm 73:2-3). Have we not such moments that we have the same as those examples in the Old Testament, being envious of the arrogant when we see the prosperity of the wicked?
In addition to the argument that a person’s circumstances are not necessarily a transparent indicator of blessing or judgement, there is an additional warning embedded in Job’s description: many people are fooled by the external circumstances of the evil man (who is the subject of this description, see Job 31: 30-34) into following him in life and honouring him in death.
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapter 21
Job 21:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 21:2 Hear ye, hear ye my words, that I may not have this consolation from you.
Job 21:3 Raise me, and I will speak; then ye shall not laugh me to scorn.
Job 21:4 What! is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry?
Job 21:5 Look upon me, and wonder, laying your hand upon your cheek.
Job 21:6 For even when I remember, I am alarmed, and pains seize my flesh.
Job 21:7 Wherefore do the ungodly live, and grow old even in wealth?
Job 21:8 Their seed is according to [their] desire, and their children are in [their] sight.
Job 21:9 Their houses are prosperous, neither [have they] any where [cause for] fear, neither is there a scourge from the Lord upon them.
Job 21:10 Their cow does not cast her calf, and their [beast] with young is safe, and does not miscarry.
Job 21:11 And they remain as an unfailing flock, and their children play before [them], taking up the psaltery and harp;
Job 21:12 and they rejoice at the voice of a song.
Job 21:13 And they spend their days in wealth, and fall asleep in the rest of the grave.
Job 21:14 Yet [such a man] says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire not to know thy ways.
Job 21:15 What is the Mighty One, that we should serve him? and what profit is there that we should approach him?
Job 21:16 For their good things were in [their] hands, but he regards not the works of the ungodly.
Job 21:17 Nevertheless, the lamp of the ungodly also shall be put out, and destruction shall come upon them, and pangs of vengeance shall seize them.
Job 21:18 And they shall be as chaff before the wind, or as dust which the storm has taken up.
Job 21:19 Let his substance fail [to supply] his children: [God] shall recompense him, and he shall know it.
Job 21:20 Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him not be saved by the Lord.
Job 21:21 For his desire is in his house with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off.
Job 21:22 Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? and does not he judge murders?
Job 21:23 One shall die in his perfect strength, and wholly at ease and prosperous;
Job 21:24 and his inwards are full of fat, and his marrow is diffused [throughout him].
Job 21:25 And another dies in bitterness of soul, not eating any good thing.
Job 21:26 But they lie down in the earth together, and corruption covers them.
Job 21:27 So I know you, that ye presumptuously attack me:
Job 21:28 so that ye will say, Where is the house of the prince? and where is the covering of the tabernacles of the ungodly?
Job 21:29 Ask those that go by the way, and do not disown their tokens.
Job 21:30 For the wicked hastens to the day of destruction: they shall be led away for the day of his vengeance.
Job 21:31 Who will tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done [it]? who shall recompense him?
Job 21:32 And he has been led away to the tombs, and he has watched over the heaps.
Job 21:33 The stones of the valley have been sweet to him, and every man shall depart after him, and [there are] innumerable [ones] before him.
Job 21:34 How then do ye comfort me in vain? whereas I have no rest from your molestation.
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Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Job 22:2 Is it not the Lord that teaches understanding and knowledge?
Job 22:3 For what matters it to the Lord, if thou wert blameless in [thy] works? or is it profitable that thou shouldest perfect thy way?
Job 22:4 Wilt thou maintain and plead thine own cause? and will he enter into judgment with thee?
Job 22:5 Is not thy wickedness abundant, and thy sins innumerable?
Job 22:6 And thou hast taken security of thy brethren for nothing, and hast taken away the clothing of the naked.
Job 22:7 Neither hast thou given water to the thirsty to drink, but hast taken away the morsel of the hungry.
Job 22:8 And thou hast accepted the persons of some; and thou hast established those [that were already settled] on the earth.
Job 22:9 But thou hast sent widows away empty, and has afflicted orphans.
Job 22:10 Therefore snares have compassed thee, and disastrous war has troubled thee.
Job 22:11 The light has proved darkness to thee, and water has covered thee on thy lying down.
Job 22:12 Does not he that dwells in the high places observe? and has he not brought down the proud?
Job 22:13 And thou has said, What does the Mighty One know? does he judge in the dark?
Job 22:14 A cloud is his hiding-place, and he shall not be seen; and he passes through the circle of heaven.
Job 22:15 Wilt thou [not] mark the old way, which righteous men have trodden?
Job 22:16 who were seized before their time: their foundations [are as] an overflowing stream.
Job 22:17 Who say, What will the Lord do to us? or what will the Almighty bring upon us?
Job 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel for the wicked is far from him.
Job 22:19 The righteous have seen [it], and laughed, and the blameless one has derided [them].
Job 22:20 Verily their substance has been utterly destroyed, and the fire shall devour what is left of their [property].
Job 22:21 Be firm, I pray thee, if thou canst endure; then thy fruit shall prosper.
Job 22:22 And receive a declaration from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
Job 22:23 And if thou shalt turn and humble thyself before the Lord, thou hast [thus] removed unrighteousness far from thy habitation.
Job 22:24 Thou shalt lay up for thyself [treasure] in a heap on the rock; and Sophir [shall be] as the rock of the torrent.
Job 22:25 So the Almighty shall be thy helper from enemies, and he shall bring thee forth pure as silver that has been tried by fire.
Job 22:26 Then shalt thou have boldness before the Lord, looking up cheerfully to heaven.
Job 22:27 And he shall hear thee when thou prayest to him, and he shall grant thee [power] to pay thy vows.
Job 22:28 And he shall establish to thee again a habitation of righteousness and there shall be light upon thy paths.
Job 22:29 Because thou hast humbled thyself; and thou shalt say, [Man] has behaved proudly, but he shall save him that is of lowly eyes.
Job 22:30 He shall deliver the innocent, and do thou save thyself by thy pure hands.
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Job 23:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 23:2 Yea, I know that pleading is out of my reach; and his hand has been made heavy upon my groaning.
Job 23:3 Who would then know that I might find him, and come to an end [of the matter]?
Job 23:4 And I would plead my own cause, and he would fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 23:5 And I would know the remedies which he would speak to me, and I would perceive what he would tell me.
Job 23:6 Though he should come on me in [his] great strength, then he would not threaten me;
Job 23:7 for truth and reproof are from him; and he would bring forth my judgment to an end.
Job 23:8 For if I shall go first, and exist no longer, still what do I know [concerning] the latter end?
Job 23:9 When he wrought on the left hand, then I observed [it] not: his right hand shall encompass me but I shall not see [it].
Job 23:10 For he knows already my way; and he has tried me as gold.
Job 23:11 And I will go forth according to his commandments, for I have kept his ways; and I shall not turn aside from his commandments,
Job 23:12 neither shall I transgress; but I have hid his words in my bosom.
Job 23:13 And if too he has thus judged, who is he that has contradicted, for he has both willed [a thing] and done it.
Job 23:14 <>
Job 23:15 (23:14) Therefore am I troubled at him; and when I was reproved, I thought of him. (23:15) Therefore let me take good heed before him: I will consider, and be afraid of him.
Job 23:16 But the Lord has softened my heart, and the Almighty has troubled me.
Job 23:17 For I knew not that darkness would come upon me, and thick darkness has covered [me] before my face.
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Job 24:1 But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord,
Job 24:2 while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?
Job 24:3 They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow’s ox for a pledge.
Job 24:4 They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.
Job 24:5 And they have departed like asses in the field, having gone forth on my account according to their own order: his bread is sweet to [his] little ones.
Job 24:6 They have reaped a field that was not their own before the time: the poor have laboured in the vineyards of the ungodly without pay and without food.
Job 24:7 They have caused many naked to sleep without clothes, and they have taken away the covering of their body.
Job 24:8 They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.
Job 24:9 They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.
Job 24:10 And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
Job 24:11 They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known the righteous way.
Job 24:12 Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
Job 24:13 Why then has he not visited these? forasmuch as they were upon the earth, and took no notice, and they knew not the way of righteousness, neither have they walked in their [appointed] paths?
Job 24:14 But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:
Job 24:15 and the eye of the adulterer has watched [for] the darkness, saying, Eye shall not perceive me, and he puts a covering on his face.
Job 24:16 In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.
Job 24:17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death, for [each] will be conscious of the terror of the shadow of death.
Job 24:18 He is swift on the face of the water: let his portion be cursed on the earth; and let their plants be laid bare.
Job 24:19 [Let them be] withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the sheaves of the fatherless.
Job 24:20 Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapour of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.
Job 24:21 For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
Job 24:22 And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless: therefore when he has arisen, [a man] will not feel secure of his own life.
Job 24:23 When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.
Job 24:24 For his exaltation has hurt many; but he has withered as mallows in the heat, or as an ear of corn falling off of itself from the stalk.
Job 24:25 But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my words of no account?
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Job 25:1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered and said,
Job 25:2 What beginning or fear is his—even he that makes all things in the highest?
Job 25:3 For let none think that there is a respite for robbers: and upon whom will there not come a snare from him?
Job 25:4 For how shall a mortal be just before the Lord? or who that is born of a woman shall purify himself?
Job 25:5 If he gives an order to the moon, then it shines not; and the stars are not pure before him.
Job 25:6 But alas! man is corruption, and the son of man a worm.
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Job 26:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 26:2 To whom dost thou attach thyself, or whom art thou going to assist? is it not he that [has] much strength, and [he] who has a strong arm?
Job 26:3 To whom hast thou given counsel? is it not to him who has all wisdom? whom wilt thou follow? is it not one who has the greatest power?
Job 26:4 To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose breath is it that has come forth from thee?
Job 26:5 Shall giants be born from under the water and the inhabitants thereof?
Job 26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction has no covering.
Job 26:7 He stretches out the north wind upon nothing, and he upon nothing hangs the earth;
Job 26:8 binding water in his clouds, and the cloud is not rent under it.
Job 26:9 He keeps back the face of his throne, stretching out his cloud upon it.
Job 26:10 He has encompassed the face of the water by an appointed ordinance, until the end of light and darkness.
Job 26:11 The pillars of heaven are prostrate and astonished at his rebuke.
Job 26:12 He has calmed the sea with [his] might, and by [his] wisdom the whale has been overthrown.
Job 26:13 And the barriers of heaven fear him, and by a command he has slain the apostate dragon.
Job 26:14 Behold, these are parts of his way; and we will hearken to him at the least intimation of his word: but the strength of his thunder who knows, when he shall employ [it]?
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Continues: Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20
Etymologically the name Job could be related to the Hebrew word for “enemy,” with reference to either Job’s attitude to God or his response to suffering. The name might also be a contracted form of “Where is my father?”
In Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12 we could find the blameless and upright man in character, blessed in family and possessions, whose life embodied the fear of God both for himself and on behalf of his family (1:1–5). But then the adversaries and Job’s three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) who came to offer sympathy and comfort, were trying to put the wrong doings from Job at the cause of his problems. These friends represent an oversimplified “orthodoxy,” based on a misreading of the wisdom tradition to the effect that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of applying this message to Job, urging him to identify his sin and repent of it. In so doing, these friends serve as a mirror for all readers who might be inclined to say similar things to people in distress.
An early engraving by Blake for the Book of Job
The book tries to to explain evil and placing the Universal deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient in it. Throughout the dialogue, Job tries to maintain that he is in the right while also arguing God’s character back to him in lament about why his righteousness and justice do not appear to be borne out in events on earth.
In the previous chapters a light is also shed on the wrong idea that there would be some after life. Job is aware that when we die it is finished and we become put in the ground not being able to do anything. We could look at death as Job describes it, namely as rest from the toil of life. ( Job 3:13–19) When we die we come into a state as if we sleep or as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light (Job 3:16). All cease from troubling, and there the weary can come at rest and be freed from each other and equal in the same position, to become dust. For man, when he is dead, perishes, and consumes away, what becomes of him? So man after he is asleep rises not, he shall not wake till the heavens be no more, nor rise out of his sleep. (Job 14:10-12) Therefore Job longs at a certain moment to be cut off of all his problems. so that he could rest from his suffering, knowing that he had not denied God (6:10). Job found his life unbearable on account of the empty comfort offered by his friends (6:14–30) and what he describes as the continued watchfulness of God (7:11–21).
Eliphaz wonders if Mortal Man can be in the Right before God. Jobs friends are arguing precisely that a righteous person can be in the right before God.
The friends assume that both Job’s circumstances and his response to them are indications that he is in the wrong before God and needs to acknowledge and repent of his sin. However, Job will insist not only that he is not guilty of some hidden iniquity but that it is God who ultimately has allowed and governed his circumstances. So he does not curse God’s name or accuse God of injustice but rather seeks an explanation or an account of his wrong doing.
Bildad wonders how it can be that when a man were blameless, he could show himself to be right before the God of justice (see 9:2)? And if shame and disaster are the fate of the wicked, how is it that the wicked so often appear to prosper in relative safety (see 12:6; 21:7)?
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Coverdale Bible
1535 by Miles Coverdale
Job Chapter 12
Job 12:2 Then (no doute) ye are the men alone, and wysdome shal perish with you.
Job 12:3 But I haue vnderstodinge as well as ye, and am no lesse then ye. Yee who knoweth not these thinges?
Job 12:4 Thus he that calleth vpo God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neghboure: the godly & innocent man is laughed to scorne.
Job 12:5 Godlynesse is a light despysed in ye hertes of the rich, & is set for them to stomble vpon.
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth and prosperite, & they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwel without care: yee God geueth all thinges richely with his honde.
Matthew’s Bible
1549 by John Rogers
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth & prosperite, and they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwell without care: ye God geueth all thinges rychely with hys hande.
Job 12:13 Ye with God is wysdome and strength, it is he that hath councell and forknowlege.
Job 12:14 If he breake downe a thinge, who can set it vp agayne? If he shut a thing, who wyll open it?
Job 12:15 Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp: Yf he let them go, they destroye the earth.
Job 12:16 With hym is strength and wysdome: he knoweth bothe the disceyuer & hym that is disceyued.
Job 12:17 He caryeth awaye the wyse men, as it were a spoyle, and bringeth the iudges out of their wyttes.
Job 12:18 He lowseth the gyrdle of kynges, and gyrdeth theyr loynes with a bonde.
Job 12:19 He ledeth awaye the Preastes in to captyuyte, and turneth the myghtye vpsyde downe.
Job 12:20 He taketh the verite from out of the mouth, & disapoynteth the aged of their wysdome.
Job 12:21 He poureth out confusyon vpon Princes, and comforteth them that haue bene oppressed.
Job 12:22 Loke what lyeth hyd in darcknesse, he declareth it openly: and the very shadowe of death bringet he to lyght.
Job 12:23 He bothe increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: He maketh them to multiplye and driueth them awaye.
Job 12:24 He chaungeth the herte of the Princes and Kynges of the earth and disapoynteth them: so that they go wandringe out of the waye,
Job 12:25 & grope in the darcke without light, stackeringe to and fro lyke droncken men.
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapters 13-20
Job 13:1 Behold, mine eye has seen these things, and mine ear has heard [them].
Job 13:2 And I know all that ye too know; and I have not less understanding than you.
Job 13:3 Nevertheless I will speak to the Lord, and I will reason before him, if he will.
…
Job 13:6 But hear ye the reasoning of my mouth, and attend to the judgment of my lips.
Job 13:7 Do ye not speak before the Lord, and utter deceit before him?
Job 13:8 Or will ye draw back? nay do, ye yourselves be judges.
Job 13:9 For [it were] well if he would thoroughly search you: for though doing all things [in your power] ye should attach yourselves to him,
Job 13:10 he will not reprove you at all the less: but if moreover ye should secretly respect persons,
Job 13:11 shall not his whirlpool sweep you round, and terror from him fall upon you?
Job 13:12 And your glorying shall prove in the end to you like ashes, and your body [like a body] of clay.
…
Job 13:15 Though the Mighty One should lay hand upon me, forasmuch as he has begun, verily I will speak, and plead before him.
Job 13:16 And this shall turn to me for salvation; for fraud shall have no entrance before him.
Job 13:17 Hear, hear ye my words, for I will declare in your hearing.
Job 13:18 Behold, I am near my judgment: I know that I shall appear evidently just.
Job 13:19 For who is he that shall plead with me, that I should now be silent, and expire?
Job 13:20 But grant me two things: then I will not hide myself from thy face.
Job 13:21 Withhold [thine] hand from me: and let not thy fear terrify me.
Job 13:22 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: or thou shalt speak, and I will give thee an answer.
Job 13:23 How many are my sins and my transgressions? teach me what they are.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thyself from me, and deemest me thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou be startled [at me], as [at] a leaf shaken by the wind? or wilt thou set thyself against me as against grass borne upon the breeze?
Job 13:26 for thou hast written evil things against me, and thou hast compassed me with the sins of my youth.
Job 13:27 And thou hast placed my foot in the stocks; and thou hast watched all my works, and hast penetrated my heels.
Job 13:28 [I am as] that which waxes old like a bottle, or like a moth-eaten garment.
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Job 14:1 For a mortal born of a woman [is] short lived, and full of wrath.
Job 14:2 Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed; and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.
Job 14:3 Hast thou not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment before thee?
Job 14:4 For who shall be pure from uncleanness? not even one;
Job 14:5 if even his life should be [but] one day upon the earth: and his months are numbered by him: thou hast appointed [him] for a time, and he shall by no means exceed [it].
Job 14:6 Depart from him, that he may be quiet, and take pleasure in his life, [though] as a hireling.
Job 14:7 For there is hope for a tree, even if it should be cut down, [that] it shall blossom again, and its branch shall not fail.
Job 14:8 For though its root should grow old in the earth, and its stem die in the rock;
Job 14:9 it will blossom from the scent of water, and will produce a crop, as one newly planted.
Job 14:10 But a man that has died is utterly gone; and when a mortal has fallen, he is no more.
Job 14:11 For the sea wastes in [length of] time, and a river fails and is dried up.
Job 14:12 And man that has lain down [in death] shall certainly not rise again till the heaven be dissolved, and they shall not awake from their sleep.
Job 14:13 For oh that thou hadst kept me in the grave, and hadst hidden me until thy wrath should cease, and thou shouldest set me a time in which thou wouldest remember me!
Job 14:14 For if a man should die, shall he live [again], having accomplished the days of his life? I will wait till I exist again?
Job 14:15 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: but do not thou reject the work of thine hands.
Job 14:16 But thou hast numbered my devices: and not one of my sins shall escape thee?
Job 14:17 An thou hast sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have been guilty of any transgression unawares.
Job 14:18 And verily a mountain falling will utterly be destroyed, and a rock shall be worn out of its place.
Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones, and waters falling headlong [overflow] a heap of the earth: and thou destroyest the hope of man.
Job 14:20 Thou drivest him to an end, and he is gone: thou settest thy face against him, and sendest him away;
Job 14:21 and though his children be multiplied, he knows [it] not; and if they be few, he is not aware.
Job 14:22 But his flesh is in pain, and his soul mourns.
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Job 15:1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Job 15:2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
Job 15:3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
Job 15:4 Hast not thou moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
Job 15:5 Thou art guilty by the words of thy mouth, neither hast thou discerned the words of the mighty.
Job 15:6 Let thine own mouth, and not me, reprove thee: and thy lips shall testify against thee.
Job 15:7 What! art thou the first man that was born? or wert thou established before the hills?
Job 15:8 Or hast thou heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used thee as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to thee?
Job 15:9 For what knowest thou, that, we know not? or what understandest thou, which we do not also?
Job 15:10 Truly among us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than thy father.
Job 15:11 Thou hast been scourged for [but] few of thy sins: thou hast spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Job 15:12 What has thine heart dared? or what have thine eyes [aimed at],
Job 15:13 that thou hast vented [thy] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [thy] mouth?
Job 15:14 For who, being a mortal, [is such] that he shall be blameless? or, [who that is] born of a woman, that he should be just?
Job 15:15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
Job 15:16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
Job 15:17 But I will tell thee, hearken to me; I will tell thee now what I have seen;
Job 15:18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
Job 15:19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
Job 15:20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
Job 15:21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
Job 15:22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
Job 15:23 And he has been appointed to be food for vultures; and he knows within himself that he is doomed to be a carcass: and a dark day shall carry him away as with a whirlwind.
Job 15:24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Job 15:25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
Job 15:26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
Job 15:27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
Job 15:28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
Job 15:29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
Job 15:30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
Job 15:31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
Job 15:32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
Job 15:33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
Job 15:34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
Job 15:35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
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Job 16:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: poor comforters are ye all.
Job 16:3 What! is there any reason in vain words? or what will hinder thee from answering?
Job 16:4 I also will speak as ye [do]: if indeed your soul were in my [soul’s] stead, (16:5) then would I insult you with words, and I would shake my head at you.
Job 16:5 (16:6) And would there were strength in my mouth, and I would not spare the movement of my lips.
Job 16:6 (16:7) For if I should speak, I shall not feel the pain of my wound: and if I should be silent, how shall I be wounded the less?
Job 16:7 (16:8) But now he has made me weary, and a worn-out fool; and thou hast laid hold of me.
Job 16:8 (16:9) My falsehood has become a testimony, and has risen up against me: it has confronted me to my face.
Job 16:9 (16:10) In his anger he has cast me down; he has gnashed his teeth upon me: the weapons of his robbers have fallen upon me.
Job 16:10 (16:11) He has attacked me with the keen glances of his eyes; with his sharp [spear] he has smitten me [down] upon my knees; and they have run upon me with one accord.
Job 16:11 (16:12) For the Lord has delivered me into the hands of unrighteous men, and thrown me upon the ungodly.
Job 16:12 (16:13) When I was at peace he distracted me: he took me by the hair of the head, and plucked it out: he set me up as a mark.
Job 16:13 (16:14) They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing [me] they poured out my gall upon the ground.
Job 16:14 (16:15) They overthrew me with fall upon fall: they ran upon me in [their] might.
Job 16:15 (16:16) They sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and my strength has been spent on the ground.
Job 16:16 (16:17) My belly has been parched with wailing, and darkness is on my eyelids.
Job 16:17 (16:18) Yet there was no injustice in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
Job 16:18 (16:19) Earth, cover not over the blood of my flesh, and let my cry have no place.
Job 16:19 (16:20) And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
Job 16:20 (16:21) Let my supplication come to the Lord, and let mine eye weep before him.
Job 16:21 (16:22) Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even [as] the son of man with his neighbor!
Job 16:22 (16:23) But my years are numbered and [their end] come, and I shall go by the way by which I shall not return.
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Job 17:1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
Job 17:2 Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
Job 17:3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them.
Job 17:5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
Job 17:6 But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
Job 17:7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
Job 17:8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
Job 17:9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
Job 17:10 Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
Job 17:11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
Job 17:12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13 For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness.
Job 17:14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
Job 17:15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
Job 17:16 Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?
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Job 18:1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered and said,
Job 18:2 How long wilt thou continue? forbear, that we also may speak.
Job 18:3 For wherefore have we been silent before thee like brutes?
Job 18:4 Anger has possessed thee: for what if thou shouldest die; would [the earth] under heaven be desolate? or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?
Job 18:5 But the light of the ungodly shall be quenched, and their flame shall not go up.
Job 18:6 His light [shall be] darkness in [his] habitation, and his lamp shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 Let the meanest of men spoil his goods, and let his counsel deceive [him].
Job 18:8 His foot also has been caught in a snare, [and] let it be entangled in a net.
Job 18:9 And let snares come upon him: he shall strengthen those that thirst for his destruction.
Job 18:10 His snare is hid in the earth, and that which shall take him is by the path.
Job 18:11 Let pains destroy him round about, and let many [enemies] come about him,
Job 18:12 [vex him] with distressing hunger: and a signal destruction has been prepared for him.
Job 18:13 Let the soles of his feet be devoured: and death shall consume his beauty.
Job 18:14 And let health be utterly banished from his tabernacle, and let distress seize upon him with a charge from the king.
Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle in his night: his excellency shall be sown with brimstone.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up from beneath, and his crop shall fall away from above.
Job 18:17 Let his memorial perish out of the earth, and his name shall be publicly cast out.
Job 18:18 Let [one] drive him from light into darkness.
Job 18:19 He shall not be known among his people, nor his house preserved on the earth.
Job 18:20 But strangers shall dwell in his possessions: the last groaned for him, and wonder seized the first.
Job 18:21 These are the houses of the unrighteous, and this is the place of them that know not the Lord.
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Job 19:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.
Job 19:3 Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.
Job 19:4 Yea verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) (19:4A) in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unreasonable.
Job 19:5 But alas! for ye magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach.
Job 19:6 Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me.
Job 19:7 Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgment.
Job 19:8 I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face.
Job 19:9 And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head.
Job 19:10 He has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.
Job 19:11 And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy.
Job 19:12 His troops also came upon me with one accord, liars in wait compassed my ways.
Job 19:13 My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognized strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless.
Job 19:14 My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me.
Job 19:15 [As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them.
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him].
Job 19:17 And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines.
Job 19:18 But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me.
Job 19:19 They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.
Job 19:20 My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.
Job 19:21 Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.
Job 19:22 Wherefore do ye persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job 19:23 For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book forever,
Job 19:24 with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks!
Job 19:25 For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me,
Job 19:26 [and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord;
Job 19:27 which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom.
Job 19:28 But if ye shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in him?
Job 19:29 Do ye also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.
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Job 20:1 Then Sophar the Minaean answered and said,
Job 20:2 I did not suppose that thou wouldest answer thus: neither do ye understand more than I.
Job 20:3 I will hear my shameful reproach; and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
Job 20:4 Hast thou [not] known these things of old, from the time that man was set upon the earth?
Job 20:5 But the mirth of the ungodly is a signal downfall, and the joy of transgressors is destruction:
Job 20:6 although his gifts should go up to heaven, and his sacrifice reach the clouds.
Job 20:7 For when he shall seem to be now established, then he shall utterly perish: and they that knew him shall say, Where is he?
Job 20:8 Like a dream that has fled away, he shall not be found; and he has fled like a vision of the night.
Job 20:9 The eye has looked upon him, but shall not [see him] again; and his place shall no longer perceive him.
Job 20:10 Let [his] inferiors destroy his children, and let his hands kindle the fire of sorrow.
Job 20:11 His bones have been filled with [vigour of] his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, [though] he will hide it under his tongue;
Job 20:13 though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat:
Job 20:14 yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.
Job 20:15 [His] wealth unjustly collected shall be vomited up; a messenger [of] [wrath] shall drag him out of his house.
Job 20:16 And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent’s tongue slay him.
Job 20:17 Let him not see the milk of the pastures, nor the supplies of honey and butter.
Job 20:18 He has laboured unprofitably and in vain, [for] wealth of which he shall not taste: [it is] as a lean thing, unfit for food, which he cannot swallow.
Job 20:19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built [it] not.
Job 20:20 There is no security to his possessions; he shall not be saved by his desire.
Job 20:21 There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish.
Job 20:22 But when he shall seem to be just satisfied, he shall be straitened; and all distress shall come upon him.
Job 20:23 If by any means he would fill his belly, let [God] send upon him the fury of wrath; let him bring a torrent of pains upon him.
Job 20:24 And he shall by no means escape from the power of the sword; let the brazen bow wound him.
Job 20:25 And let the arrow pierce through his body; and let the stars be against his dwelling-place: let terrors come upon him.
Job 20:26 And let all darkness wait for him: a fire that burns not out shall consume him; and let a stranger plague his house.
Job 20:27 And let the heaven reveal his iniquities, and the earth rise up against him.
Job 20:28 Let destruction bring his house to an end; let a day of wrath come upon him.
Job 20:29 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of his goods [appointed him] by the all-seeing [God].
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° Hades, the underground, Sjeool/Sheol = the grave or the place of : break down, corrupt, decompose, disintegrate, fester, foul, mold, molder, perish, putrefy, rot, spoil, a place where Jesus also went for three days.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 9 so far )Bad things no punishment from God
All those bad things which come over this world is it
whether or not punishment from God?
This world is hit regularly by disasters. Today we can see enough signs that we have come in the End Times as described in the Holy Scriptures.
In such a way coming difficulties over us are already notified in the Sacred Writings this not yet means that the one who has let this write down is also the responsible of what comes over us.
Chernobyl disaster - Image via Wikipedia
God has created men, but this creation has turned itself against its maker. For this wrong the designer has not hangerd himself in that extent that He destroyed His Creation. On the contrary He has out of His goodness given that men the chance to take care of this world and of himself. He received the allowance to do it as he wanted it, he got a free wil. With the consequence that that man has made of it not many soups. One attempt after the other layman failed. With traps, falling down and standing up again, man stayed laymen and did not seem to learn from his experiences. Man wanted to repeat the many things his predecessor did even when it was done wrong. He did always the same mistakes. At the sideline God looked and followed closely and came in to help where it really was necessarily . For the rest, He wanted to let go the man his own course.
That freedom that the man has gotten he took not always in thanks. Regularly he went even so far to reproach God and to make Him guilty for particular things for which the man actually was responsible himself. Only how eager does not want the man to find a scapegoat. To give some one else the debt for the wrong things done or overcome to oneself is the easiest thing. Man preferred to give the guilt to somebody else and therefore created someone else like the figures of a Devil, Fallen Angel, Satan and a Lucifer. Each adversary of God became now the responsible person himself but got portrayed on a kind of super specimen, a sort ghost, the devil, a fallen angel. That ‘person’ seemed to be the ‘bogeyman’ they remained to accuse the Creator for punishing them.
Every time as man got something awful over him he became angry and pointed still with the finger to God. Even through not religiously. For in disaster men suddenly get to know God and hurry to accuse this God once more.
Only is that true that God is the one who is responsible for all those bad things which come over humanity? Is He really the responsible for the lot of sorrow that comes over us?
We don’t think so. We believe not in a pitiless relentless God that enjoys the pains of others or delights in suffering men. As each parent wants to be good for his children so does God. As every parent who sees that his beloved children have done something wrong he perhaps reprimands them but does not want to harm them. A good parent does not find joy in the pain of his children. God loves to take care of His children and fully loves them and therefore wants to give them as many as possible good things, not wanting bad things coming over them. God is a soothing Father and is not on eager to see His children to furnish with suffering. But He has given them well freedom to go their own course. And in that they must carry the consequences of their own choices.
If there is a vehicle which runs over some one, this would not be a punishment from God for that victim. It also would not be the fault of the car, but is one consequence of either carelessness of the driver or through a mistake of one of the two or more concerned.
Also by a mud stream or landslide, when several men or taken with the flood on its devastating path, it would not be something that is part of God’s actions, but mostly it lies at the neighbours self that the region has been deforested and that men took away the possibility for the roots to hold the ground together.
This are only two examples, but one can find many more like this to show that the cause of lots of problems does not lie by God but comes from men himself. Many things that come over man are the boomerang that comes back at him. lt are the results from misdeeds man has done. lt then comes from his or other men’s step in the wrong place and for which they now get the bill.
We our self are responsible for the acts that we bring into effect. We have to bear the responsibility our self. Our attitude towards nature and fellow man shall be a deciding factor for what happens next to this nature or to the inhabitants. Our actions in this nature are going to be decisive for what is going to happen next. For this many persons close their eyes and are not interested in what shall happen in the far future. It does not seem to concern them, why should they bother? When we go about uncareful with the natural sources it can well be that we use them up and that they shall all be gone for for our descendants. They no longer shall be able to make use of those basic products because our fault, not theirs and not as penalty from God. Many animals we so massacred , many plants have disappeared because of men’s actions. We have so many thoughtless deeds and go so rash with mother earth. So we all have to face this earth and the foolishness of its inhabitants. We go around so impetuous with mother nature and this shall have its repercussions on the next generations. We cannot remain to do this just with impunity.
Each for himself will have to constitute which way he or she on wants to go. Everybody shall have to carry then the responsibility also for him or herself. It goes not up to give the debt on someone else.
We are guest, vassal or liege on this earth. We got it in loan from the Creator. It is not Him who taps us on the fingers when we do something wrong. It is usual the repercussion of our actions. The consequences of our acts. Therefore is it so important that we should be very conscious of what we all do and of the consequences that that can have not only for ourselves but also for others. For what we do ourself not always has consequences just for ourself. It can have also consequences for others.
Therefore must we make work of it so that everybody shall come to live more according to rules that are in line with the Will of God. In such a way that those who are not willing to choose for God will get by the striving from others to be able to live as well in a better world, more in accordance with the Will of God.
In case more men treat nature respectful and go around carefully with basis materials there will on that straight also happen less misfortunes or less disasters, so less harm and pain shall come over men, and they also will not accuse God undeservedly of a punishments act. In this fast evolving society we cannot go along further unthoughtful as men did so often. We may not miss the fast train. It becomes high time that we consider good what we want but also what we can do and really work out who is responsible when somewhat goes wrong.
20 feet debris spreads over small Japanese valley from the sea to the hillsides above, 2011 earthquake
We will therefore however may not look next to what happened in history. We shall have to face it that several times the man himself is the cause is of his misfortune. Other things also do come over him. And it surely is not always originating by men. Nature disasters just can happen. But one must not go to live in flood areas, or lay swamps dry to establish oneself there. The man must ask the question what he can and shall do with nature. How he can go around with it but also how he can foresee to it that he and those after him shall be able to make further use of it. The environment matters to every inhabitant of this planet. And one may not think only for his own spot. One must also work out how we can go around with our life and what the consequences may be for them that also live further away.
For everything the man wants to do he will have to think deeply and must consider good what the consequences or risks can be of his acts. As he will be able to save himself and many others a lot of sorrow. As well there will then later be less reason for God to come forwards with punishments. For yes, there will certainly punishment distributed, also by God. Only it is not yet the time for it here in this age in Gods Plan.
Now God let the man court. Man can still go his own way but since the coming of Jesus (Yeshua) this Nazarene man comes up as the Saviour, the Christ, the Messiah. God has accepted his kiss offering and must have no other offerings anymore. As He demands then no offerings any more each dead person is there one too much for Him.
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How we can go around with our responsibility and why that is so important you can read further in the articles below :
Japan’s nuclear disaster reason to think twice
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In Dutch you can find:
Wij zijn zelf verantwoordelijk
Nucleaire ramp in Japan doet mensen twee maal nadenken
Energie met vergiftigd geschenk
Nemen van Risico door de maatschappij
Read also: Seems no future in suffering
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Related articles
- Bad things no punishment from God (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
- Fragments from the Book of Job #7 Epilogue (christadelphians.wordpress.com)
- Greatest Pain (ericmsavage.com)
Don’t ever think that you aren’t a good christian because you are going through a difficult time. Sometimes Gods greatest people go through the lowest of lows. Before God can raise you up higher, He has to humble you lower.
Sometimes our most painful experiences are our greatest gifts in life.
There is a purpose in everything- even pain. God has you in His hand and He’s never going to allow you to go through something that He knows He can’t bring you out of better than you were before- in His eyes, not your definition of “better”
