Wisdom Literature

A Mediator at the Edge of the Pit | Job 33.22–30

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Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death.…
—Job 33:22–28 (NRSVUE; full passage)

This here is the entire Hebrew theology of salvation in just a few sentences. This is amazing. And it also points forward to Christ. The main theme of this book is not who suffers or why they suffer. It’s not even about how to suffer well. It is to say that that is the wrong question. The book declares that life itself will take you to the pit. You will feel the weight and sting of death. Whether God sends it or life does or our own sin does is not the point. Reality is that you will need a mediator. And further, this book presents this, not as Ecclesiastes does, as a lamentable and fearful thing, but rather as joyful good news. This book somehow has the audacity to declare that our need for a mediator is actually God’s love for us and is a reason to worship Him and humble ourselves.

God indeed does all these things, twice, three times, with mortals,…
—Job 33:29–30 (NRSVUE; full passage)

Again, see the note on the previous verse. But again, this declares that we suffer and experience the pit because God wants us to know life. I would go on to say that it’s precisely in the pit that we experience life because God himself is there. The pit is woven into the fabric of God’s nature and character. Death finds its home in God. Or rather, death finds its life in God.

For more on this theme, read: Dearly Departed | A Cocktail for All Souls’ Day.

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A Hilarious Reason Not to Gloat | Proverbs 24.17–18

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Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, lest the Lord see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from them.
—Proverbs 24:17–18

The logic of this is hilarious. Don’t be too happy when your enemies are being punished, or else God will stop punishing them! Maybe this is talking about justice? Or maybe it is the idea that the punishment of the wicked is in response to the suffering of the righteous, and so if you become happy when they are being punished, your suffering is therefore not continuing and there is no longer a need for the wicked to be punished? I don’t know. I am stretching a little.

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Creation’s Strange Celebration | Psalm 96.11–13

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Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.
—Psalm 96:11–13

All of creation is partying and celebrating because the Lord is coming to judge.

For more on this theme, read: Make Kingdomtide Great Again.

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Job Was Fluent in Sarcasm | Job 26.1–4

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Then Job answered:
“How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
How you have counseled one who has no wisdom
and given much good advice!
With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?”
—Job 26:1-4

Dang, Job can whip out some crazy sarcasm. I really didn’t know the ancient world could be so snarky.

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When God Is Your Anchor…and Enemy | Job 16.6-9

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I refrain, how much of it leaves me?
Surely now God has worn me out;
    he has made desolate all my company.
And he has shriveled me up,
    which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me,
    and it testifies to my face.
He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
    he has gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.”
—Job 16:6-9

When your existential anchor is your enemy, no words comfort, yours or anyone else’s. And maybe that’s one of the points here: “comfort” is not what we need or seek or offer in these moments. Perhaps it’s simply presence.

For more on comfort as presence within suffering, read: The Suffering of The Holy Spirit.

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Psalm 23: My Translation

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Scotland-Arbrouth-grass-header

For my Hebrew class last year, I was asked to write up a super literal translation of Psalm 23 (below), and then build off of that to create a much more dynamic, creative, contemporary translation. This was the result.

psalm23

A Psalm in the spirit of David.

The LORD is tending to me
I want for nothing
He has me lie down in pastures of fresh, new grass
Beside the waters of rest
He gently guides me
He brings the life back to my soul
He leads me into the grooves of life well-lived because of who he is.

And yet—
Though I truly die in the depth of darkness,
there is no evil that I fear,

You are truly there with me
Your staff and your support: they comfort me
You host before my face a table opposite all that stands against me.
You clean me with oil over top of my head.

Overflowing abundance is my cup.

Surely, goodness and steadfast faithfulness will chase me down
for the whole of my life’s days

This will be my story:
I will return into the dwelling place of the Lord and stay—
for lifetimes upon lifetimes.

______________________________________

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Faith & Grace Alone: Job & the New Perspective on Paul| Job 9

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

job-silohetteHow then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
—Job 9.14-15

Job says he is innocent, but he says he still needs mercy. What does this mean? Perhaps he does see not people in the simplistic way that we often do–or at least as simplistic as we see the ancient Israelites.

Just like in the Christian scheme, I’m starting to think that the ancient Israelites also thought that people were considered righteous only on account of graciously being in covenant with God. All the sacrifices, festivals, laws, etc. were more as signs that they were the people of God; they were not how people became part of that group in the first place. In other words, the sacrifices and laws were outward displays that they were fully righteous before God’s eyes; they weren’t the ways that they “earned” righteousness or forgiveness.
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In a sense, God CAN’T favor the righteous| Job 9.1-4

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

Then Job answered:

“Indeed I know that this is so;
but how can a mortal be just before God?
If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?
—Job 9.1-4

It seems here that Job is no longer clinging to his earlier idea that he is indeed righteous and pure. Instead, he is admitting that his friend is correct: he is sinful and has done wrong things. But, he also points out that God is not a God that would insist that every single little sin and wrong-doing be brought to mind and confessed before relating favorably towards someone.

Job is saying that people are too sinful for God to structure the world in such a way that the righteous are related to in one way and the wicked in another, because everyone belongs fully in that latter camp. There can only be two sets of rules if there are two teams playing the game.

He is in effect saying what Paul says in Romans 3, that all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, therefore there is no distinction among people. Ironically, then, Job’s defense here is not necessarily the he is righteous, but rather that he is far too messed up for his friends’ version of reality to be right.

Also of note, the rest of this chapter is more or less Job proclaiming the very things that God uses to rebuke him at the end of the book. Job really does seem to know this stuff.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

Job’s Friends are Right! Job’s Friends are Wrong.| Job 8.5-7,20-22

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,
if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.
Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
—Job 8:5-7

We mock Job’s friends, but what this guy says here is exactly what happens at the end of the book! Its practical, prophetic, and foreshadowing the end. We need to cut these guys a break.

“See, God will not reject a blameless person,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
—Job 8.20-22

Okay, though I defended this guy earlier, this here is BS.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

God, Social Justice, & Social Welfare | Job 5.15-16

/ Paul Burkhart / 3 Comments

But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
from the hand of the mighty.
So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.
—Job 5:15–16

I want to take this to all of my conservative friends. They are right that much of the life circumstances of the poor are often from the “sword” coming from their own mouth. But we also see here that their lot is not only attributed to “the sword of their mouth”, but also “the hand of the mighty”. And either way, regardless of the cause of their situation (and its persistence), the people of God are called to follow God’s lead in a commitment to pursue their freedom from these types of bondage–both within them and without. The good news is that this not only gives them hope, but it also shuts the mouth of injustice itself.

And this doesn’t seem to just be in individual ways, but even in systemic ones. Does it not follow, then, that Christian can (should?) in good conscience see their role as political beings as a means by which to accomplish these systemic ends? Perhaps it’s not just for individual Christians and Churches to “serve the poor”, but Christians utilizing political capital to mobilize government resources to follow God’s lead? Just asking.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

Fragments from a speech by Job| Selections of Job 6 & 7

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
—Job 6.4

What a beautiful, yet tragic series of lines.

“Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone wrong.
How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
—Job 6.24-25

It must not be easy to spend this time of sadness and pain, and also ask for teaching. Yes, he is asking for answers to the wrong questions. But it seems he’s still willing and wanting to listen.

“Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
The eye that beholds me will see me no more;
while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;
they return no more to their houses,
nor do their places know them any more.
—Job 7.7-10

Oh, if only he could know about Jesus. On another note, I wonder how this connects to his “my redeemer lives” section later on.

What are human beings, that you make so much of them,
that you set your mind on them,
visit them every morning,
test them every moment?
—Job 7.7-17-18

Well that’s interesting. Almost the same lines appear in Psalm 8, except there they are words of praise and worship of God. but here, they seem more like words of accusation, complaint and lament against God.

Why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
you will seek me, but I shall not be.”
—Job 7.7-17-18

But resurrection!

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

Job, God, & Satan (Can I get some help from the scholar’s out there?)| Job 1.6-7

/ Paul Burkhart / 4 Comments

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
—Job 1:6-7

Anyone out there know how the ancient Israelites would have received these words? I see no other parallel in the OT to something similar to this (maybe the Psalms about God’s combat with the other gods?). I find it so confusing.

The one thing I am confident of, though, is that the conflating that Christians often do with this stuff is out of line. The way that (especially Evangelicals) use these verses to set up a systematic theology of “Satan” is absurd and does damage to the texts. Also, there is no indication that this is the same entity that is the serpent in the garden, nor the “Morning Light”, nor the NT Beelzebul, nor the beast of Revelation. Heck, there’s no clear connection between this particular “Satan” and the NT “Satan”.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

God & Job | Job 2.11-13

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
—Job 2.11-13

We speak so harshly and sarcastically about these friends. But they really are amazing. And though their view is flawed, they represent the views on suffering that are still most common today. And they are sincerely felt and sincerely held. They are genuinely offering Job what they genuinely feel is the issue. They are being human. But right here, this is amazing. Who of us would do the same thing? As I’ve continued through the book, I’m seeing that we’ve greatly oversimplified and wrongly characterized the “advice” they give Job. Hopefully, in the days to come, we can explore this more through #Marginalia.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

God & Job | Job 1.8

/ Paul Burkhart / 2 Comments

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”
—Job 1.8

We so often forget that this whole thing was God’s idea, and he initiated it. He is the first one to drop Job’s name and suggest this scheme to Satan.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.

The Worship of Job; the Blame of God | Job 1.20-22

/ Paul Burkhart / 1 Comment

Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and theLord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
—Job 1.20-22

I mentioned this verse earlier in my post on a theology of angels. It’s one of the most concentrated, powerful, packed lines of Scripture in the Bible. Job suffers and he worships. He ascribes to God the actions of Satan and the text explicitly says he does not sin in doing so. He fully inhabits his mourning and it is sincere and it is real. And yet, just as sincere as is his mourning, his worship is as well.

See other Marginalia here. Read more about the series here.