Sept 15

Who could we possibly compare Job to (prior to his suffering) ? Not only was he the wealthiest, best thought of, most respected man of his time- we find in today's reading that he was also one of the most giving and compassionate men ever. He looked after the poor, he was the champion of the downtrodden and oppressed, he was always fair with his servants...Everyone respected him and waited to hear what he had to say. The only human example I can even come up with is Oprah. (Disclaimer- I am neither a fan or a follower and I know that she mixes a lot of religions and calls it Christianity but is not a follower of Christ the Living God). Imagine if she lost her empire. Everything. She is a bum on the streets of Chicago begging beside other smelly bums. At one time, her money and efforts had fought for these homeless people....and now she was among them. Begging. Do they come to her in comfort and thank her for her past efforts? Take her in and protect her? No they mock her, reject her and insult her. Gail, Steadman and Obama settle in ring side seats to endlessly philosophize about her troubles and never lift a finger to help. TV networks and talk shows she once owned now broadcast footage of her in her humbled state. That's what we have here in the this in the story of Job. But even more so, because he was a truly righteous, God fearing and upirght man. Every day the depth of his anguish becomes more real to me and is like a 'punch in the gut'.


On a side note, in today's reading, I was curious about what it meant in about 'cutting Rahab into pieces' in Job 26:12. I was relieved to find out that it was not refering to Rahab the prositute who hid the spies. It actually has a different spelling in Hebrew and refers to storms and evil forces. It's used several times in scripture- several of which we have already read. Apparently I didn't notice it before.

Today's reading was long...it is easy to skim it. I would encourage you to read Job 28 again. Soak in the beauty of the verse  leading up to the last familiar verse: "The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understand". Great stuff.