You Can Read the Bible

In yesterday’s reading Job went on the offensive, though not against his human friends. He accuses God of neglect, asking, “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know Him never see His days? Some move landmarks, they seize flocks…they thrust the poor off the road… Meanwhile like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game…they lie all night naked, without clothing…hungry, they carry sheaves…

Now after an opening retort from Bildad, Job’s friends are silent today. But what Bildad says in his very brief statement is provocative: “Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in [God’s] eyes; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm?”

Consider whether Bildad’s witness is credible: “How can a man…who is a maggot…be right before God?” Remember that Bildad and his companions are representing the wisdom of the ancient world – it may or may not represent the LORD’s wisdom. Remember that Job keeps pushing the question of God’s justice before them even as they demand validation through Job’s confession of hidden iniquity. Remember what Job knows; what his friends know; and what you know, from the initial chapters.

Listen then as Job is again aggressive: he “will teach you concerning the hand of God,” before whom the underworld stands naked; who stills the sea and shatters the forces of chaos. He knows the cosmos bows to Him, he knows what becomes of the wicked in God’s courts and he, Job, knows that he stands in righteousness, “and will not let it go.”

He also knows where wisdom can be found and will share the secret with his friends, and with us. In a passage that could stand on its own outside of the story, chapter 28 settles around the question, “Where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.” Meditate on this investigation and consider its inspired worth. Who, and only who, knows the way to wisdom?

Our verse for this week is Luke 16:13: No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Job 25 through 30. Now let’s read it!

Job 25 - 30

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, "Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places. Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise? How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean? Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight; How much less man, who is a worm, and the son of man, who is a worm!" Then Job answered, "How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength! How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came out of you? "The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them. He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it. He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab. By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent. Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?" Job again took up his parable, and said, "As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter (for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils); surely my lips will not speak unrighteousness, neither will my tongue utter deceit. Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart will not reproach me so long as I live. "Let my enemy be as the wicked. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times? I will teach you about the hand of God. I will not conceal that which is with the Almighty. Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain? "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty. If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring will not be satisfied with bread. Those who remain of him will be buried in death. His widows will make no lamentation. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver. He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes. He lies down rich, but he will not do so again. He opens his eyes, and he is not. Terrors overtake him like waters. A storm steals him away in the night. The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place. For it hurls at him, and does not spare, as he flees away from his hand. Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him out of his place. "Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted out of the ore. Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth. As for the earth, out of it comes bread. Underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. Sapphires come from its rocks. It has dust of gold. That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon's eye seen it. The proud animals have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed by there. He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels among the rocks. His eye sees every precious thing. He binds the streams that they don't trickle. The thing that is hidden he brings out to light. "But where will wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Man doesn't know its price, and it isn't found in the land of the living. The deep says, 'It isn't in me.' The sea says, 'It isn't with me.' It can't be gotten for gold, neither will silver be weighed for its price. It can't be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. Gold and glass can't equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention will be made of coral or of crystal. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia will not equal it. It won't be valued with pure gold. Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the birds of the sky. Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.' "God understands its way, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole sky. He establishes the force of the wind. Yes, he measures out the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yes, and searched it out. To man he said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.'" Job again took up his parable, and said, "Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was in my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it commended me, because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn't know. I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth. Then I said, 'I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand. My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.' "Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. After my words they didn't speak again. My speech fell on them. They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn't reject the light of my face. I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners. "But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs. Of what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished? They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation. They pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food. They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief, so that they live in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks. They bray among the bushes. They are gathered together under the nettles. They are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land. "Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them. They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don't hesitate to spit in my face. For he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me. On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet. They cast their ways of destruction up against me. They mar my path. They promote my destruction without anyone's help. As through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin. Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud. "Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me. In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. My garment is disfigured by great force. It binds me about as the collar of my tunic. He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes. I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me. You have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me. You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm. For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living. "However doesn't one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? Didn't I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn't my soul grieved for the needy? When I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came. My heart is troubled, and doesn't rest. Days of affliction have come on me. I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches. My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat. Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

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