Wednesday, December 21, 2016

THE TRIAL OF JOB (3)

                   JOB CURSES HIS BIRTH



Bildad, resting his authority on tradition, suggests that Job is a hypocrite. He too, takes the inferential approach and says that since trouble has come, Job must have sinned. "If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee" (8:6). Zophar, who is a moralist, rests his authority on the belief that living a moral life brings blessings. Zophar condemns Job for verbosity, presumption, and sinfulness, concluding that Job is getting less than what he deserves: "Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth" (11:6)  

3 After seven days Job cried out and cursed the day he had been born, 2 saying:

3 “Let the day I was born be destroyed,
    and the night it was said, ‘A boy is born!’
4 Let that day turn to darkness.
    Don’t let God care about it.
    Don’t let light shine on it.
5 Let darkness and gloom have that day.
    Let a cloud hide it.
    Let thick darkness cover its light.
6 Let thick darkness capture that night.
    Don’t count it among the days of the year
    or put it in any of the months.
7 Let that night be empty,
    with no shout of joy to be heard.
8 Let those who curse days curse that day.
    Let them prepare to wake up the sea monster Leviathan.
9 Let that day’s morning stars never appear;
    let it wait for daylight that never comes.
    Don’t let it see the first light of dawn,
10 because it allowed me to be born
    and did not hide trouble from my eyes.

3:2-26 With a curse (vv.3-13) and lament (vv.14-26), Job pours out a torrent of pain and bitterness, seeing himself as the object of God’s anger. He longs for inner rest. He does not curse God, as Satan had wanted him to do; he does, however, curse his conception and birth. This outburst could also be read as an appeal for concern and sympathy from his friends.

11 “Why didn’t I die as soon as I was born?
    Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me,
    and my mother’s breasts feed me?
13 If they had not been there,
    I would be lying dead in peace;
    I would be asleep and at rest
14 with kings and wise men of the earth
    who built places for themselves that are now ruined.
15 I would be asleep with rulers
    who filled their houses with gold and silver.
16 Why was I not buried like a child born dead,
    like a baby who never saw the light of day?
17 In the grave the wicked stop making trouble,
    and the weary workers are at rest.
18 In the grave there is rest for the captives
    who no longer hear the shout of the slave driver.
19 People great and small are in the grave,
    and the slave is freed from his master.
20 “Why is light given to those in misery?
    Why is life given to those who are so unhappy?
21 They want to die, but death does not come.
    They search for death more than for hidden treasure.
22 They are very happy
    when they get to the grave.
23 They cannot see where they are going.
    God has hidden the road ahead.
24 I make sad sounds as I eat;
    my groans pour out like water.
25 Everything I feared and dreaded
    has happened to me.
26 I have no peace or quietness.
    I have no rest, only trouble.”

3:25 Know and understand that fear shows lack of faith in God and His promises. It is unnecessary to construe that Job's fears were responsible for producing his dilemma. The preceding narrative makes clear that Satan’s initiative brought the tragedy about, not Job’s uncertainties or fears (1:6-12,2:1-7). Job does, however, acknowledge his human fears, a common disposition of our humanity. His fears do not reflect on his understanding of God’s nature, but on his knowledge of life’s unpredictability.


Job’s tragic circumstances challenge and contradict everything he has always believed about God as a rewarder of the good. Life has gone crazy for Job, and he has been locked up in the padded cell of his own mind.

Wrestling with God
Job can only assume God is persecuting him hiding from him. He lashes out at God in pain and anguish. "If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target?" Job complains (Job 7:20).

We should not mistake Job’s terrible discouragement, his lashing out at God, for disbelief. God’s existence is not in question. Job knows that somewhere in the universe God must be alive. "Though he slays me, yet will I hope in him," Job cries out in despairing belief (Job 13:15). Still trusting in God as his Advocate, Job insists, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25).

Meanwhile, Job’s friends are shocked at his outbursts against God. Surely, the comforters think, the fire of God is about to burn up this man. They are afraid to admit that no cause-and-effect reason exists for Job’s painful trial. That would imply they live in a senseless world. How could God be just and strike Job unjustly?

Blame the victim
Their answer? Job obviously must have sinned grievously against God. Yes, that’s it — Job’s sins are the cause of his suffering. God is off the hook. The friends put forth the old "if you are suffering you must be sinning" answer to suffering. It is blame-the-victim time. Although at first the came to console Job, they end up attacking him relentlessly as a hideous sinner.

Eliphaz pontificates: "Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?" (Job 22:5). He and the other two friends completely misread Job’s spiritual condition and God’s purpose. They, too, try to find the perpetrator of the crime — the cause of Job’s dreadful suffering. But they accuse the wrong person — innocent Job. 

Part of what the friends say about the relationship of sin and cursing, virtue and reward is true. Sin does have consequences — we do reap what we sow (Psalm 1; Galatians 6:7). But Job’s friends misapply their remarks in Job’s case. They take a general principle and nail it to a specific person — Job — and the specific trial he is undergoing. They will soon be stunned to realize how wrong they are (Job 42:7-8).
                                                         ….to be cont’d

In Christ,

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts


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