Week-long Keggers with the Job Boys – Not!

(There is a whole lot of stuff packed into Job 1:4-5…hopefully I won’t get stuck in the weeds trying to dig out the spiritual applications.) :>)

Job 1:4a And his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day…
There is a wide divergence of opinions as to the timing and duration of these feasts or banquets or (probably more correctly) birthday parties. In His commentary Barnes says this, “In early times the birthday was observed with great solemnity and rejoicing.”

On one end of the spectrum there are those that say this was just one seven day feast at the end of the year. Marvin Pope says, “The feast was doubtless an annual affair, most likely the Feast of Ingathering at year’s end.”

And on the other end of the spectrum we have Keil & Delitzsch who believe that each of the brothers took one day of the week to host a banquet, but this feasting continued all 52 weeks of the year! The week long banqueting culminated on Sunday morning when Job gathered his family together to intercede for them (a foreshadowing of family life in the New Testament church?).

Others are somewhere in the middle – a one day social gathering at each of the boy’s home on his birthday (for a total of seven days of festivity in the year), or a week long feast at each home (for a total of 49 days of birthday celebration).

I lean toward the “week-long-birthday-party” scenario.

Job 1:4b …and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
The sisters (apparently unmarried) lived with mom and dad but were regularly invited to attend these get-togethers (this custom explains why, in verses 18-19, all of the children could be killed but not the parents).

This whole scene in verse four speaks to the intimacy of the extended family. John Hartley says “this…witnesses to the closeness and the affluence of Job’s family, not to the fact that his children were given to frivolity.” Job’s kids had the best that life could offer and were apparently industrious and hard-working. FI Anderson states, “There is no hint of drunkenness or license or laziness…these delightful family gatherings are part of the atmosphere of well-being that begins this story.”

These were not week-long keggers where the servants had to pick up all the empty beer cans after the party was over. No one had to be the “designated camel driver.” No one had to lock up the keys to the camels, fearful that someone might drive drunk and sideswipe a water buffalo. These celebrations were anything but that. Joyous? Yes! Did they drink a fair amount of wine? I suppose they did. But they were not week-long drinking binges.

Job 1:5a And it came about, when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings {according to} the number of them all…
At the end of the week Job gathered all ten of his children together. He then spent considerable effort in offering up a sacrifice for each one of them. Here we have the world’s richest guy (with an empire to run) taking time out of his busy schedule for the spiritual well-being of his family. Dads, whether you’re an employee or an employer, make sure you put a priority upon your family. A few minutes spent on your knees for your wife and kids can reap eternal rewards.

And something pretty cool about Job’s attitude in his praying is found in the middle of verse 5. It says that Job “would rise up early.” Sounds pretty mundane until you discover that the Hebrew word for “rise early” (shakam) comes from a root meaning “shoulder” (perhaps originally from the concept of breaking camp where both man and beast used their shoulders for lifting). So it came to mean “to incline the shoulder to a burden.” It implies effort and persistence. The bottom line? Job put his shoulder into his praying – and so should we.

Job 1:5b …for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
The family patriarch was keenly aware of the waywardness of the human heart. Several pages could be spent on this one word “curse” because in this first chapter it is translated in two completely opposite ways – both as “curse” and as “bless” (verse 21). Commentaries have a boat-load of discussion about this phrase. But it could be as simple as this: as “Aloha” means both hello and goodbye, this Hebrew word “baarak” could essentially mean the same thing. When we bless God we are saying “hello” to Him in our hearts – we open our spiritual home to Him. And when we curse God we are saying “goodbye” to Him in our hearts – we are saying, “You are no longer welcome here!” So when Job was concerned that his kids may have cursed God, he was apprehensive that they had said goodbye to God in their hearts – that they had dismissed or disregarded or disowned Him. Job was more concerned about the heart attitude of his children toward God than how many Porsche and BMW camels each of the sons had sitting in their driveway. So our priority should not be upon how much stuff we have in the garage – it should be upon the heart relationship of our loved ones to Jesus.

Job 1:5 ends with this: “Thus Job did continually.” The NLT puts it this way, “It was his regular practice.” The wealthiest cattleman of the east is seen faithfully lifting up his family in prayer. Let us be found faithful in the things that God has called us to do.

I love Terry Redlin’s paintings. The warm glow of an evening sunset, a home in the woods next to a small lake, geese making their autumnal voyage overhead. In the foreground grandpa, father and son stand next to the old pickup with several ducks bagged from the day’s hunt. The sounds of the geese, the smell of the woods – what a wonderful scene is presented in those paintings. That was the Job family on Pleasantville Lane – a picture of serenity, peace, intimacy, wonderful family memories and the sound of laughter from their children (and grand children?)

With these two verses the writer of Job finishes setting the scene for the awful events that are to soon follow…


NLT = New Living Translation