Friday, October 23, 2009

Job 29

1 Job continued his discourse:

2 "How I long for the months gone by,
for the days when God watched over me,

3 when his lamp shone upon my head
and by his light I walked through darkness!

4 Oh, for the days when I was in my prime,
when God's intimate friendship blessed my house,

5 when the Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me,

6 when my path was drenched with cream
and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.

7 "When I went to the gate of the city
and took my seat in the public square,

8 the young men saw me and stepped aside
and the old men rose to their feet;

9 the chief men refrained from speaking
and covered their mouths with their hands;

10 the voices of the nobles were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

11 Whoever heard me spoke well of me,
and those who saw me commended me,

12 because I rescued the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to assist him.

13 The man who was dying blessed me;
I made the widow's heart sing.

14 I put on righteousness as my clothing;
justice was my robe and my turban.

15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.

16 I was a father to the needy;
I took up the case of the stranger.

17 I broke the fangs of the wicked
and snatched the victims from their teeth.

18 "I thought, 'I will die in my own house,
my days as numerous as the grains of sand.

19 My roots will reach to the water,
and the dew will lie all night on my branches.

20 My glory will remain fresh in me,
the bow ever new in my hand.'

21 "Men listened to me expectantly,
waiting in silence for my counsel.

22 After I had spoken, they spoke no more;
my words fell gently on their ears.

23 They waited for me as for showers
and drank in my words as the spring rain.

24 When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it;
the light of my face was precious to them.

25 I chose the way for them and sat as their chief;
I dwelt as a king among his troops;
I was like one who comforts mourners.

Side Notes:

vs. 6 Cream and olive oil were symbols of material prosperity in an agricultural society. Job's flocks and olive trees were so plentiful that everything seemed to overflow.

vs. 7ff In order to answer the charges against him, Job was walking a fine line between bragging about past accomplishments and recalling good deeds. Job's one weakness throughout his conversations is that he came dangerously close to pride. Pride is especially deceptive when we are doing right. But it separates us from God by making us think we're better than we really are. Then comes the tendency to trust our own opinions, which leads to other kinds of sin. While it is not wrong to recount past deeds, it is far better to recount God's blessings to us. This will help keep us from inadvertently falling into pride.

vs. 7-17 Because of this description of Job's work, many commentators believe that Job was a judge. In Job's day, a judge served as both a city councilman and a magistrate, helping to manage the community and settle disputes. In most cases, this was not a full-time position but a part-time post held on the basis of one's respect and standing in the area.

2 comments:

Feldman Family said...

Wow...sounds like Job lived a pretty good life before! He painted a beautiful picture of what life was like for him before all this happened to him. And I bet he didn't see how blessed he was before all this happened either. I think sometimes we walk through life not really knowing how good we have it until it gets taken away from us. Or sometimes I think we need to go through trials to be able to see all the ways God already has taken care of us and is still taking care of us. When we were in the hospital with Emmalee, all we would have to do is walk down the hallway and we would see someone who was doing way worse than we were...and staying at the Ronald McDonald House...well...we thought we had a pretty easy time compared to what some of those kids were going through...at least Emma was a baby and didn't really know what was happening to her...these little kids were old enough to know and really experience the pain of it all. We still thank God that He took Emmalee home with Him...not that we don't wish she was still here with us...but she would have had a long road ahead of her with many more surgeries...and she is much better off where she is now. We were just the ones left to heal :) I also liked verse 3, probably because it dealt with light and darkness, but it says:
"when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness!"
God's light does shine upon us...are we letting his light shine through us so that we are shining in the darkness and making a path for others to see?
Well I hope you all have a great weekend!

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Anna....how's the bed rest going? Hanging in there?!?

Betty and Britt...any prayer request on your end?

Mine would be to keep praying for baby girl and her family...I am just praying that God sends a Christian couple into their lives to show them God's love for them so they can start turning their lives around.

Anna said...

I have to agree with Ali on how sometimes we go through life not knowing how good things are for us until it gets taken away. It's very possible Job sort of took for granted all the great things in his life.

Reading Job's description and longing for his old life really gave me a good picture of how bad things happen to good people. How hard it must of been for Job, thinking of all the good things he'd done, and not being able to figure out why this was happening to him. As the side note said, he may have been coming close to bragging/being too prideful... but I felt more of a longing from the passage... a longing for life to be what it was...

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Bed rest is still going pretty well... at least as far as keeping baby inside and growing. 31 weeks tomorrow and looking forward to 32 when I may get to increase activity a bit. I do have to say it's been a long 6 weeks and I was really feeling emotional about it yesterday. God is great and I thank him for everyday that this baby continues to stay inside and grow. Thank you for your prayers!

I'll be keeping that little girl and her family in my prayers.