Day 185: OT Job C18-28; How do We Know We are not Walking in Darkness?

Day 185: OT Job C18–28; How do We Know We are not Walking in Darkness?

How do We Know We are not Walking in Darkness?

Where does one find True Wisdom and a Place of Understanding?

“…and they have not known the light. If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light.”

“They have violently robbed the fatherless, and stripped the poor common people.

Out of the cities they have made men to groan, and the soul of the wounded hath cried out, and God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged.”

NOTE: Not sure what the phrase “God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged;” remove two double ‘not-un;’ God doth suffer it to pass the revenged; it hurts God to see the innocent be hurt yet his compassion is there to comfort us?

How do I know that I am not walking in darkness thinking it is the light? Especially when I can’t comprehend all parts of the Bible? Isn’t it written in English my native language of understanding?

Yet I see the foretelling of the Son of Man being born of a Virgin!

“Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean? Behold even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is rottenness, and the son of man who is a worm?”

True Wisdom Comes Only From God:

“But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights… High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places…

Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?

It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not… God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven. Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure. When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it. And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding.”

More of the ongoing dialogue between Job and his three friends Eliphaz, Baldad, and Sophar is found in the Bible Notes below… Seek the wisdom and understanding of God and know that you are walking in the light! Amen! Alleluia!

Bible Notes:

Day 185: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective;

Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Job, Chapters 18–28: How do We Know We are not Walking in Darkness?

This book takes its name from its chief character, Job. After he had lost his riches, his children, and his health, three of his friends carried on a debate with him, trying to show him that his afflictions were punishment for his sins. But Job rightly proclaimed his innocence, though he seeks vainly for an explanation of his sufferings. Finally God intervened, showing Job the folly of questioning divine providence, but at the same time praising Job for not accepting the false solution offered by his friends.

Job Chapter 18: The Second Speech of Baldad; Job’s Fury Reproved; The Wicked Always Suffer.

The Second Speech of Baldad:

THEN Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

Job’s Fury Reproved:

How long will you throw out words? Understand first, and so let us speak.

Thou that destroyed thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee?

The Wicked Always Suffer:

Shall the light of the wicked be extinguished, and the flame of his fire not shine?

Let his strength be wasted with famine, and let hunger invade his ribs. Let it devour the beauty of his skin, let the firstborn death consume his arms.

Let the memory of him perish from the earth, and let not his name be removed in the streets.

His seed shall not subsist, not his offspring among his people, nor any remnants in his country.

These then are tabernacles of the wicked, and this the place of him that knoweth not God.

Note: These are an example of 30 bad things that happen to the wicked according to Baldad.

Job Chapter 19: Job’s second Reply to Baldad; The Cruelty of Job’s Friends; God’s Punishments; Job Forsaken by Brethren and Kinsman; Job’s Hope in a Redeemer.

Job’s second Reply to Baldad:

THEN Job answered, and said:

The Cruelty of Job’s Friends:

How long do you afflict my soul, and break me in pieces with words? Behold, these ten times you confound me, and are not afraid to oppress me. For I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me. But you set yourselves up against me, and reprove me with my reproaches, At least now, understand that God hath not afflicted me with an equal judgment, and compassed me with his scourges.

God’s Punishments:

Behold I shall cry suffering violence, and no one will hear… He hath hedged in my path round about, and I cannot pass, and in my way he hath set darkness…He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am lost, and he hath taken away my hope, as from a tree that is plucked up. His wrath is kindled against me, and he hath counted me as his enemy.

Job Forsaken by Brethren and Kinsman:

He hath put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances like strangers have departed from me. My kinsman have forsaken me, and they that knew me, have forgotten me.

My wife hath abhorred my breath, and I entreated the children of my womb. Even fools despise me, and when I was gone from them, they spoke against me.

…whom I loved most is turned against me.

The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.

Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

Why do you persecute me as God, and glut yourselves with my flesh?

Job’s Hope in a Redeemer:

Who will grant me that my words may be written? Who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone? For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God. Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this is my hope laid up in my bosom.

When then do you say now: Let us persecute him, and let us find occasion of word against him? Flee then from the face of the sword, for the sword is the revenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is a judgment.

Job Chapter 20: The Second Speech of Sophar; The Joy of the Wicked is Short-Lived; God’s Wrath Against Evildoers.

The Second Speech of Sophar:

THEN Sophar the Naamathite answered, and said:

The Joy of the Wicked is Short-Lived:

…I will hear and the spirit of my understanding shall answer for me.

This I know from the beginning, since man was placed upon this earth, that the praise of the wicked is short, and they joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.

His children shall be oppressed with want, and his hands shall render to him his sorrow.

His bones shall be filled with the vices of his youth, and they shall sleep with him in the dust.

For when evil be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue. He will spare it, and not leave it, and will hide it in his throat. His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him. The riches which he hath swallowed, he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly. He shall suck the head of the asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him. (Let him not see the streams of the river, the brooks of honey and of butter.)

He shall be punished for all that he did, and yet shall not be consumed: according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.

God’s Wrath Against Evildoers:

The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. The offspring of his house shall be exposed, he shall be pulled down in the day of God’s wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the inheritance of his doings from the Lord.

Job Chapter 21: Job’s Second Reply to Sophar; Job Asks for a Hearing; The Wicked Often Prosper; All Sins are not Punished Immediately; Evildoers Often Honored Even After Death.

Job’s Second Reply to Sophar:

THEN Job answered, and said:

Job Asks for a Hearing:

Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance. Suffer me, and I will speak, and after, if you please, laugh at my words. Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled? Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth. As for me, when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

The Wicked Often Prosper:

Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?

Their houses are secure and peaceful, and the rod of God in not upon them.

They take the timbrel, and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell, who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what doth it profit us if we pray to him?

All Sins are not Punished Immediately:

God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know. His eyes shall see his own destruction and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?

Shall anyone teach God knowledge, who judgeth those that are high?

One man dieth strong, and hale, rich, and happy. His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches, and yet they shall sleep together in the dust, and worms shall cover them.

Evildoers Often Honored Even After Death.

Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.

Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath. Who shall reprove his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done? He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.

How then do you comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shown to be repugnant to truth?

Job Chapter 22: The Third Speech of Eliphaz; Job Being Punished for His Crimes; Job’s Dishonesty. Harshness, and Cruelty; Prosperity Will Follow Job’s Repentance.

The Third Speech of Eliphaz:

THEN Eliphaz the Themanite answered, and said:

Job Being Punished for His Crimes:

Can man be compared with God, even though he were of perfect knowledge? What doth it profit God if thou be just? Or what dost thou give him if thy way be unspotted? Shall he reprove thee for fear, and come with thee into judgment, and not for thy manifold wickedness, and thy infinite iniquities?

Job’s Dishonesty, Harshness, and Cruelty:

For thou hast taken away the pledge of thy brethren without cause… Therefore art thou surrounded with snares, and sudden fear troubleth thee…Dost thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars? And thou sayst: What doth God know?

The clouds are his covert, and he doth not consider our things, and he walketh about the poles of heaven… Who said to God: Depart from us: and looked upon the Almighty as if he could do nothing…

The just shall see, and shall rejoice, and the innocent shall laugh them to scorn. Is not their exaltation cut down, and hath not fire devoured the remnants of them?

Scorn—open or unqualified contempt; disdain—an object of derision or contempt—a derisive or contemptuous action or speech—to reject, refuse, or ignore with contempt or disdain—to mock; jeer.

Prosperity Will Follow Job’s Repentance:

Submit thyself then to him, and be at peace: and thereby thou shalt have the best fruits. Receive the law of his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart.

If thou wilt return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, and shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle. He shall give for earth flint, and for flint torrents of gold.

And the Almighty shall be against thy enemies, and silver shall be heaped together for thee. Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face to God. Thou shalt pray to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay vows. Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall come to thee, and light shall shine in thy ways.

For he that hath been humbled shall be in glory: and he that shall bow down his eyes, he shall be saved. The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands.

Job Chapter 23: Job’s Third Reply to Eliphaz; Job Longs to be Judged by God; God Knows Job’s Innocence.

Job’s Third Reply to Eliphaz:

THEN Job answered, and said:

Job Longs to be Judged by God:

Now also my words are in bitterness, and the hand of my scourge is more grievous than my mourning,

That I might know the words that he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

Let him propose equity against me, and let my judgment come to victory.

God Knows Job’s Innocence:

But he knoweth my way, and has tried me as gold that passeth through the fire. My foot hath followed his steps, I have kept his way, and have not declined from it. I have not departed from the commandments of his lips, and the words of his mouth I have hid in my bosom.

For he is alone, and no man can turn away from his thought: and whatsoever his soul hath desired, that hath he done. And when he shall have fulfilled his will in me, many other like things are also at hand with him.

And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him I am made pensive with fear. God hath softened my heart, and the Almighty hath troubled me. For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.

Job Chapter 24: God Knows that the Innocent Suffer; The Wicked are not Punished.

God Knows that the Innocent Suffer:

Times are not hid from the Almighty: but they that know him, know not his days.

They reap the field that is not their own, and gather the vintage of his vineyard whom by violence they have oppressed.

They have violently robbed the fatherless, and stripped the poor common people.

Out of the cities they have made men to groan, and the soul of the wounded hath cried out, and God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged.

NOTE: Not sure what the phrase “God doth not suffer it to pass unrevenged;” remove two double ‘not-un;’ God doth suffer it to pass the revenged; it hurts God to see the innocent be hurt yet his compassion is there to comfort us?

The Wicked are not Punished:

They have been rebellious to the light, they have not known his ways, neither have they returned by his paths.

The murderer riseth at the very break of day, he killeth the needy, and the poor man: but in the night he will be as a thief.

The eye of the adulterer observeth darkness, saying: No eye shall see me: and he will cover his face.

…and they have not known the light. If the morning suddenly appear, it is to them the shadow of death: and they walk in darkness as if it were in light.

Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness; let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree.

For he hath fed the barren that beareth not, and to the widow he hath done no good.

He hath pulled down the strong by his might: and when he standeth up, he shall not trust to his life.

God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride: but his eyes are upon his ways.

And if it be not so, who can convince me that I have lied, and set my words before God?

Job Chapter 25: The Third Speech of Baldad; No Man can be Just Before God.

The Third Speech of Baldad:

THEN Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

No Man can be Just Before God:

Power and terror are with him, who maketh peace in his high places. Is there any numbering of his soldiers? And upon whom shall not his light arise? Can man be justified compared with God, or he that is born of a woman appear clean? Behold even the moon doth not shine, and the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is rottenness, and the son of man who is a worm?

Note: The Foretelling of the Son of Man being born of a Virgin!

Job Chapter 26: Job’s Third Reply to Baldad; Job Scoffs at Baldad; The Power of God is Everywhere Manifest.

Job’s Third Reply to Baldad:

THEN Job answered, and said:

Job Scoffs at Baldad:

To whom hast thou given counsel? Perhaps to him that hath no wisdom. And thou hast shown thy very great prudence. Whom hast thou desired to teach? Was it not him that made life?

Prudence—the quality or fact of being prudent, or wise in practical affairs, as by providing for the future—caution with regard to practical matters; discretion—regard for one’s own interests—provident care in the management of resources; economy; frugality.

The Power of God is Everywhere Manifest:

He stretched out the north over the empty space, and hangeth the earth upon nothing… He withholdeth the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud over it. He hath set bounds about the waters, till light and darkness come to an end… By his power the seas are suddenly gathered together, and his wisdom has struck the proud one.

His spirit hath adorned the heavens, and his obstetic hand brought forth the winding serpent. Lo, these things are said in part of his ways: and seeing we have heard scarce a little drop of his word, who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?

Obstetic—of or relating to the care and treatment of women in childbirth and during the period before and after delivery—of or relating to childbirth or obstetrics.

Job Chapter 27: Job’s Final Reply to His Three Friends; The Hypocrite is Without Hope; The Fate of the Wicked.

Job’s Final Reply to His Three Friends:

Job also added, taking up his parable, and said: As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath brought my soul to bitterness, as long as breath remaineth in me, and the spirit of God in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, neither shall my tongue contrive lying. God forbid that I should judge you to be just: till I die I will not depart from my innocence. My justification, which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake: for my heart doth not reprehend me in all my life.

Parable—a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson—a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like.

Allegorical—Allegory—a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another—a symbolical narrative:

The Hypocrite is Without Hope:

Let my enemy be as the ungodly, and my adversary as the wicked one. For what is the hope of the hypocrite if through covetousness he take by violence, and God deliver not his soul? Will God hear his cry, when distress shall come upon him? Or can he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times?

The Fate of the Wicked:

I will teach you by the hand of God, what the Almighty hath, and I will not conceal it. Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?

This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the inheritance of the violent, which they shall receive of the Almighty. If his sons be multiplied, they shall be for the sword, and his grandsons shall not be filled with bread.

Job Chapter 28: Man’s Knowledge and Industry; True Wisdom Comes Only From God.

Man’s Knowledge and Industry:

He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death…

True Wisdom Comes Only From God:

But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights… High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places…

Whence then cometh wisdom? And where is the place of understanding?

It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not… God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven. Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure. When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it. And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding.