The Unexpounded “Why?” (Job 42:11-17)

After more than four years, more than 100,000 words and 69 blog posts/chapters (this being the 70^th), we have come to the end of the remarkable Old Testament book of Job. (And the title of this blog, “Conversations from the Ash Heap”?  I really need to change that sometime J) 

I have alluded to this before, but when Chuck Swindoll announced that that particular Sunday would be the last of his sermon series on the book of Job, the congregation stood and applauded.  They did it good naturedly of course with a lot of respect and love for their pastor. So I am sure there may be some out there in Internetland standing and applauding as we come to the end of this series (and some may even be muttering, “Jeepers, its about time he gets off maggots and misery!”).

In the first portion of this last chapter we learned that Job was healed and his “captivity was turned” (his misfortunes were reversed) and that he was given double of what he had before.

Job has passed the test. He didn’t pray for his friends in order to get off the ash heap – he simply obeyed (unaware of the consequences of his prayer), and he was healed and restored because of his faith. And God didn’t reward him with a double portion because of some divinely mandated mathematical formula – God poured out His blessings out of love and grace.  Gerald H. Wilson says in his commentary on Job that “the restoration, in a sense, resets the clock back to the pre-test situation.”

42:11    “Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold.”

Verse 11 begins with “Then…”  Job needed “when” friends – people that would have stuck it out with him and his wife “when” Job’s world fell apart in chapters one and two. Instead, he found himself surrounded by “then” people – those that came running in after things began looking up.

Hartley translates “those who had known him before” as “former close friends.”  Keil and Delitzsch write, “Prosperity now brought those together again whom calamity had frightened away; for the love of men is scarcely anything but a number of coarse or delicate shades of selfishness...Now they all come and rejoice at Job's prosperity…in order to bask therein. He, however, does not thrust them back…they are his guests again…and now their tongues, that were halting thus far, are all at once become eloquent: they mingle congratulations and comfort with their expressions of sorrow at his past misfortune. It is now an easy matter that no longer demands their faith.”

“…for the love of men is scarcely anything but a number of coarse or delicate shades of selfishness…”  That’s a statement that cuts you to the very core.

The pain of Job’s isolation is over.  The willingness of Job to welcome back those that had so maliciously accused and abandoned him gives us another glimpse into the breadth of this man’s character.

42:12 The LORD blessed the latter {days} of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. 

Barnes notes that this new-found prosperity of Job’s did not happen all at once, but was accumulated throughout the remaining 140 years of his life. But Adam Clarke thinks that the opposite happened: that Job’s wealth increased rapidly as each friend and family member brought him something.

13 He had seven sons and three daughters.  14 He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.  15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 

God knew that without children, all of Job’s wealth and life would be meaningless.  Trapp writes, “Wealth would not be comfortable to Job unless he had children to leave it to.”  We are not sure why they are singled out, but our hero’s daughters received a special place of honor. And there names were not without significance:  Jemimah meant “Turtledove” or “Day-bright,” Keziah meant “Cinnamon” or “Cassia,” (a fragrant scent), and Keren-Happuch meant “A Jar of Eye Paint” or “Horn of Beauty” (the idea was that she was so beautiful that she needed no cosmetics).

They were women of unparalleled beauty and grace.

42:16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations.

The number 140 plays a prominent role in Genesis – Abraham was 140 when Isaac married, Jacob was 140 when he returned to Canaan, and the sum of the squares of the numbers 1-7 equals 140! (Does anyone find that fascinating besides me? :>)) 

And it could be that, as his material wealth was doubled, so the remaining years of his life were also doubled. Some conjecture that at the start of this trial Job was 70 years old and he lived another 140 years after that (2 X 70) to the ripe old age of 210! 

42:17    And Job died, an old man and full of days.

Remember the sense of gloom and despair that surrounded these cries of Job in chapters three and ten?  “Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?” (3:11) “I wish I had been carried from the womb to the tomb!” (10:19).

But now weigh those thoughts against the last verse of this book…” Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.” (NLT)  The word “full” in verse 17 is literally “sated” or “stuffed.”  Job died “stuffed with days.”  Isn’t that a fitting way to end this book?  Job, who for so long endured unimaginable physical, emotional and spiritual pain, died totally satisfied with life – he was stuffed with days! The narrative of Job comes to an end not in suffering, but in satisfaction. 

Job persevered through untold adversity.  Putting one foot in front of another when you have no idea where the path is going takes faith, stamina and great endurance.  God may be saying to you, in your seemingly hopeless situation, “Stick it out!  Don’t give up!“ Here is James 5:11 from The Message, “What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.”

Epilogue:  “We all have Job’s God”

We are never told that Job was ever told about the contest that took place in chapters one and two. But I am sure Job did eventually find out about those heavenly courtroom scenes, the questions that God put to Satan, and the double-dare that Satan threw back at Jehovah.  Maybe Job and his wife, after he began to feel better, stopped by Barnes and Noble at the local mall whereupon Mrs. Job remarked, “Hey look honey!  This new best seller…why it’s the story about your trial!  Let’s get a copy!"

Actually, I think one of the first things that Job did when he got out of the hospital was that he went to each of his employee’s families and cried with them and assured them that he would take care of all of their needs.

Job was sick.  His family was gone and his life lay in ruins.    It was there on the dusty, dirty plains of Uz where the “Why?” was never expounded. It was there that the Divine Mystery was so roughly handled by the Eliphaz crowd of Job’s day.  And yet out of this wreckage Jehovah appeared and brought total healing and satisfaction to Job.  Job’s restoration touched every facet of his life – he was healed physically, emotionally, socially, but most importantly he was healed spiritually.  It was the sense of the presence of God – the Presence that his heart so agonizingly craved – that finally brought a sense of “OK, I don’t need to know the why…I just need to know Him!”

As Keil and Delitzsch put it, “He bows beneath the enshrouded mystery.”

I obviously still have a lot of questions about some of the issues that are presented to us in this book.  But despite those questions I have come away with a greater sense of the majesty and the terrible beauty of God.  In the midst of chaos, heartbreak and darkness, God isn’t alarmed and His plan for us is still on course.  I need to know that.  When life gets difficult and you can hardly see through the tears, I need to know that.    

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “We are not all like Job, but we all have Job’s God. Though we have neither risen to Job’s wealth, nor will, probably, ever sink to Job’s poverty, yet there is the same God above us if we be high, and the same God with his everlasting arms beneath us if we be brought low; and what the Lord did for Job he will do for us, not precisely in the same form, but in the same spirit, and with like design.”

May 3, 2014

Restoration Times Two! (Job 42:7-10)

Because Corrie ten Boom’s family had been hiding Jews during WWII to keep them safe from the Nazis, the entire family was sent to the concentration camps.  Corrie and her sister Betsie found themselves in one of the darkest of those camps – Ravensbruck.  Betsie died in that awful place, but Corrie was released due to a “clerical error.”

After the war she returned to Germany to declare God’s forgiveness and grace.  The following story is an excerpt from the book “Tramp for the Lord” found in a sermon by John Leffler on https://sermons.logos.com

Writes Corrie, “It was 1947, and I’d come from Holland to a defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. It was the truth that they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander’s mind, I liked to think that that’s where forgiven sins were thrown.  ‘When we confess our sins,’ I said, ‘God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that says, ’NO FISHING ALLOWED.’

The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a cap with skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush—the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister’s frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! That place was Ravensbruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard—one of the most cruel guards.

Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!" And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course—how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remembered him. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze…

"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there." No, he did not remember me. "But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein,"—again the hand came out—"will you forgive me?"

And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again been forgiven—and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

In a similar fashion, Job is now asked to enter into a very short, yet difficult phase of his trial.

Job 42:7-9,   “It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.  8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you {according to your} folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.’  9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite {and} Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.”

Being called before an earthly judge is frightening enough, but being called before the Judge of the Universe? After Job’s repentance, God immediately summoned Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to the bench.  “My wrath,” said God, “is kindled against you three!”   The Message puts verse 7 this way, “After GOD had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, "I’ve had it with you and your two friends. I’m fed up! You haven’t been honest either with me or about me—not the way my friend Job has.”

(Hartley remarks that the absence of any mention of Elihu at this point is puzzling.)

“You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has” is a rather remarkable statement.  To me, this just doesn’t seem to square with what Job had passionately accused God of doing (and some pretty horrible actions at that).  Remember these words from chapter 19?

19:6 Know then that God has wronged me and has closed His net around me.  7 Behold, I cry, "Violence!' but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.  8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths.  9 He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head.  10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree.  11 He has also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy.”

And yet…“You have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has.”   

Barnes writes, “It is to be remembered…that there was a great difference in the circumstances of Job and the three friends — circumstances modifying the degrees of blameworthiness chargeable to each. Job…expressed himself with irreverence and impatience…but this was done in the agony of mental and bodily suffering, and when provoked by the severe and improper charges of hypocrisy brought by his friends. What (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) said, on the contrary, was unprovoked. It was—when they were free from suffering, and when they were urged to it by no severity of trial. It was, moreover, when every consideration required them to express the language of condolence, and to comfort a suffering friend.”

Matthew Henry writes, “... (this story reminds us that) we cannot judge of men and their sentiments by looking in their faces or purses.”

Did you catch the title of honor ascribed by God to Job four times in verses 7-8?   Four times it’s “My servant Job!”  How reassuring and comforting those three words repeated four times in such a short speech must have been to Job.

42:10 “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold.”

Job wasn’t healed when he repented, he was healed when he stepped out in faith and prayed for his “friends!”  To set aside his feelings of anger and outrage toward his three closest associates, to pray FOR Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar perhaps had been one of the most difficult chapters of Job’s trial. 

The KJV translates it “God turned the captivity of Job…”  Unforgiveness, bitterness, a desire for revenge holds us in a horrible captivity.  And as appalling as the open, running sores were that scarred his body, they would pale in comparison to the repugnant sore of the soul that festers due to a lack of forgiveness.

Job obeyed…and GOD HEALED HIM!  The noble sheik of Uz stepped out in faith, and, as the cutting accusations of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar still echoed in his heart, prayed FOR his friends!

Corrie continues her story, “For I had to do it—I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.

But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart! "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then. But even then, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:  Perhaps you feel as though you are trapped in your own “ash heap” experience and need to have your captivity turned.  Perhaps you yearn for your own “Restoration Times Two.”

Forgiveness may be the key that is needed to open the door into a renewed freedom in your spirit.

To hear Corrie’s first hand account of the above story, click on the below "YouTube" link:

Corrie Forgives Her Enemy

Of Things Too Wonderful For Me (Job 42:1-6)

“Nothing can keep the purposes of God from being manifest. His true strength can wait its time until the best minute has come.  No miracle?  No intervention by God? Remember – that is only a commentary on the past.  The future is wide open with possibility!”  (Robert L. Wise in his book “When There Is No Miracle”)

Job was on the precipice of a reversal of fortunes.

Following a divine PowerPoint presentation on the intricate design of the two primordial monsters Behemoth and Leviathan, Job responded to God with the following, “Then Job answered the LORD and said, ‘I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’” (42:1-2) Keil and Delitzsch write, “Those strange but wondrous monsters are a proof to him that God is able to put everything into operation, and that the plans according to which He acts are beyond the reach of human comprehension.”  

I like that.  “…the plans according to which He acts are beyond the reach of human comprehension.” The apostle Paul echoed that same sentiment when he wrote this in Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..."

God's ultimate plan for Job wasn't maggots and misery; God's plan was to do far more abundantly beyond all that he could possibly ask or even dream about!  And God's plan for you isn't some inconsequential, drab and mundane existence...His plan for you is to share His dream, His passion and His life!

Job’s declaration of faith is worth repeating, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted.” The striking thing about that statement?  He says this, not when he is delivered and healed, but when he is still engulfed in tragedy! 

Notice how these various versions put that verse:

BBE:  I see that You are able to do every thing, and to give effect to all Your designs.

Darby:  I know that Thou canst do everything, and that Thou canst be hindered in no thought of Thine.

Message:  I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset Your plans.

There are two words we should pay close attention to in this section.  The first is the word “purpose.” A few years ago there was a phenomenal best-selling book by Rick Warren titled “The Purpose Driven Life.”  We desperately need to know that there is meaning to our lives – that there is a divine intention, plan and goal. Concerning this word “purpose” found here, Jamison/Faucet/Brown write in their commentary, “The word is designedly chosen to express that, while to Job’s finite view, God’s plans seem bad, to the All-wise One they continue unhindered in their development, and will at last be seen to be as good as they are infinitely wise.

Next, do you see that word “thwart?”  Its kind of a funny word and it essentially means “to oppose successfully; prevent from accomplishing a purpose; to frustrate or baffle.”  From the vantage point of earth, Job’s life-plan (his purpose) seemed to have been thwarted – successfully opposed and frustrated.  But from the vantage point of heaven, it was right on course!  In previous chapters, while Job surveyed the seemingly disorganized and meaningless pattern on the backside of the tapestry of his life (the wreckage, tragedy and sickness that engulfed him), it must have seemed to him that a beautiful tapestry could never possibly be woven out of his life. In his view, the Divine Weaver appeared to be inept.

Prior to chapter 38, it seemed that God’s purpose for Job had been thwarted and that the Managing Director of the Universe had sorely mismanaged Job’s life.

But that is no longer his view. 

“I am convinced,” Job now says out of the wreckage surrounding him, “You can do anything and everything.  Nothing and no one can upset your plans!”

42:3 “”Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?'” "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

Note how these versions put that verse:

Amplified:  You said to me, “Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel by words without knowledge? Therefore I now see I have rashly uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Message:  You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’ I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head.

Job repeats what God had asked him earlier (“Who is this that hides council [by words] without knowledge”).    He then humbly acknowledges, “I, I am the one, I have declared that which I did not understand; I have babbled on about things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…”

Hartley says this, “In taking this path Job confirms that humility is essential for a vital relationship with God.  With this concession Job demonstrates that he serves God for himself alone and not for any personal gain or benefit, not even his own justification.  Yahweh's confidence in his servant in the face of the Satan's challenge has been completely vindicated.”

42:4 “Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask you, and you instruct me.' 

Job again repeats what God had asked him at the beginning of chapters 38 and 40.

42:5 “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees you…”

Theory has turned into reality; the hypothesis and conjecture of seminary have met head on with a supernatural whirlwind.  

“I heard of You…but NOW my eye sees YOU!”

Remember Job’s cry in chapter 19?  "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.  Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!” (25-27). One writer states, “Job's deepest longing has been fulfilled. The vision of Yahweh overwhelms him, filling him with a sense of wonder and awe and reducing all his complaints to insignificance.  In appearing to his servant, Yahweh vindicates Job's integrity!”

Job’s complaints were not insignificant, but upon seeing God, they were reduced to insignificance!  Tragedy and destruction blew his world apart.  But in God’s presence things changed.

42; 6 “Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes."

“That lawsuit I had filed against God in the preceding chapters?” Job says, “Well, I retract it. And not only do I retract my lawsuit….I repent.”

And notice those final words in verse 6, “…in dust and ashes.”  He had been sitting for so long on dust and ashes, but now he finally repents IN dust and ashes!

Do you see what is happening here?  Absolutely nothing has changed at Ashheap Village and yet so much has changed on the inside of Job:  his Ash Heap home is still the same old Ash Heap home; his non-comforting, accusatory friends are still non-comforting and accusatory; he is still penniless; his children are still in their graves; and his body is still racked with pain and disease

But now….my eye sees YOU and EVERYTHING is different!!!

When repentance and brokenness sweep over someone’s heart, the view from the inside changes: the house we hated doesn’t seem to be quite so drab and dilapidated; the spouse we have been incessantly irritated with suddenly seems much more loving (and lovable); the couch that seemed so horribly faded and out of date now doesn’t seem so dated; that old rusty truck doesn’t seem to be quite so old and rusty; and even the squabbling among the kids takes on a sweeter tone.

More often than not, change doesn’t need to happen “out there”…change needs to happen “in here” (in the heart). In the end, Job doesn’t blame God or the Chaldean bandits or the Weather Channel or his wife or the Three Comforters.

He repents.

“…the plans according to which He acts are beyond the reach of human comprehension.” This insight Job has gained through a deep and dark valley of tears. In the end he simply repents and leaves the details to a God Who has prepared “things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

Steve Green’s song “I Repent” serves as a fitting conclusion to this portion of Job: "I Repent"