kjv@Job:3:3@ Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
kjv@Job:3:4@ Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
kjv@Job:3:5@ Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
kjv@Job:3:6@ As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
kjv@Job:3:7@ Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
kjv@Job:3:8@ Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
kjv@Job:3:9@ Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
kjv@Job:3:10@ Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
kjv@Job:3:11@ Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
kjv@Job:3:12@ Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
kjv@Job:3:13@ For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
kjv@Job:3:14@ With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
kjv@Job:3:15@ Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
kjv@Job:3:16@ Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
kjv@Job:3:17@ There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
kjv@Job:3:18@ There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
kjv@Job:3:19@ The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
kjv@Job:3:20@ Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
kjv@Job:3:21@ Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
kjv@Job:3:22@ Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
kjv@Job:3:23@ Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
kjv@Job:3:24@ For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
kjv@Job:3:25@ For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
kjv@Job:3:26@ I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
The difficult part of this is that it all sounds so true. I would wonder though theses things being the case, how many of us ever would attain these high marks. The men declaring these things, had they? Job in all of his righteousness, had he? Do we? If not then surely we all should be judged in the same fashion as Job. Problem with the line of thought is that Job isn't being judged, he is being tested. Yes and no we really do these thing and we really don't; we all fall short. The sum of each of our righteousness is but filthy rags. For me to say that you are being tested and that I am not shows that I am more righteous than you is a complete falsehood.
A good start is made by the youngest man. He has respectfully kept his silence, he has attempted to keep matters of personality and titles out of the way, he heard all of the matter until the others had said all that they could think of to be said, seeing no resolution he begins to confess his objective thoughts. Though it was described as coming out of his wrath, it seems quiet calmly presented. It will be interesting to see if he is wise enough as a youth to keep these issues separated out.
As compassionate and polite as the young mans plea to Job seems to be, it seems to be built of a similar argument; that Job has something major to repent of and that he is adding to it by not repenting, God doesn't just do this without reason, without one deserving it so the theory goes. There is also the notion that by contending with the counselors that haven't this problem that Job is somehow contending with God. We start to see how many forms the same argument can take on.
I still wonder why the men are talking. They seem to be intent on answering an unanswerable question intellectually/satisfactorily. Why are they not praying? Why are they not reciting scripture? Why are they not singing? Why are they not seeking God's answer? Why are they not dressing wounds or seeking ointments or comfort or relief?
Perhaps one should not fixate merely on the prosperity. There is prosperity in other ways. Jesus said to sell it all and follow Him, to worry not about the morrow. Paul said that he learned to live prosperous in his poverty and lean in his times of prosperity. There is wealth in so much more such as in the relationships made just in doing God's word, there is a joy in His path, and fulfillment in His peace. And if bountiful material possession then more material possession to share. Prosperity is a state of being not a tally of possessions.
What do we think God receives from our hand? What doesn't He already have? What do we have that He has not given us? If we sin, what have we taken away from Him? If we do good, what benefit does HE receive? We sin, we hurt ourselves and others. We do good, we benefit ourselves and others. To do good is by Him. To do wrong is to not do the good by Him. When people think that they have done good works, what is it that they've actually done that is deserving of eternal reward?
Finally. Someone is speaking some sense not trying to find blame or find cause but, tries to find God. This could be worship, this could be song, this could be comfort and uplifting. Often, we get stuck in the narrow little chapters of our lives even as counselors focused on what we've done or what we need to be doing and neglect to see the enormously wide bigger picture. We see even in David's Psalms a frequent pity party (heart felt certainly but one sided no doubt) erupt in a liberating fountain of realizations of greater divine spiritual things.
The Lord is using the natural sciences as His textbook in this monologue underlining the depth of order and command He has set over nature. He asks the questions over and over "where were you when.." and "are you the one who has set this/that in order..". Until now this band of men have focused narrowly misery and sorrow, on wickedness and righteousness and judgement and how God might reward/punish either. It seems clear that the Lord is immediately establishing a dividing line between who man is and who God is. Beyond the theory and mental exercise, God is much wider and much deeper and much more in control than we will ever understand; nature itself being ample proof.
I make mention that Satan has been out of the storyline now since the second chapter. Everything from there has been four men trying to explain by their own understandings what had happened and why. Job was victorious initially by holding firm to the faith but with this victory is now left with the depression of the fallout. Now the Lord has His word.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
