Scripture Text (NRSV)
42:1 Then Job answered the LORD:
42:2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours
can be thwarted.
42:3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I
have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me,
which I did not know.
42:4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to
me.'
42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees
you;
42:6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
42:10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for
his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
42:11 Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who
had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they
showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD
had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a
gold ring.
42:12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning;
and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand
yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys.
42:13 He also had seven sons and three daughters.
42:14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third
Keren-happuch.
42:15 In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's
daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their
brothers.
42:16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his
children, and his children's children, four generations.
42:17 And Job died, old and full of days.
Comments:
In these verses we read of Job's period of prolonged suffering coming
to an end. Though the end of the book sees Job's fortunes restored to
an even greater level than before his string of adversities, the
overarching message of the book is that the righteous are not always
prosperous.
Out of a whirlwind, God speaks to Job of matters beyond his
understanding. Into the whirlwind, Job replies to God. His suffering
remains an unanswered mystery, but Job moves forward. Twice Job quotes
God's words, and twice Job's replies make clear that he has gone to
the heart of their meaning. It is not that Job did not possess faith
before, as the opening verse of this book makes clear. There has,
however, been transformation -- in the whirlwind, Job has now seen
what had been hearsay. The encounter with God transforms him. He now
sees with new eyes of faith.
The daughters are named but not the sons. How interesting.
Sally in GA
What Pops out at me, Job prayed for his friends-then was restored.
Concern and Justice for others first...then blessing on you.
Clerically Blonde on West Ohio
I'm just glad he didn't name his sheep.
I'm just glad he had the theophany 'out of the whirlwind' is what I
shared with the people to whom I brought my message. I cherish the
encounters I have. Perhaps they are not theophanies or just
coincidences, but I feel they are how God continues to change and
shape me.
Shalom
Bammamma
Some might get caught up in the "Happily Ever After" syndrome which I
find to be unfulfilling if not theologically undesireable in the
context of the Job story. Does later good fortune make up for the
grief and the loss Job experiences? I would curse God as his wife
suggests if God was so capricious to take life from us with the
suggestion that another life could replace the one lost. It just does
not work that way for the human psyche. If fact, the restoration does
not need to happen for the most important message to be conveyed. I am
preaching on "The Purpose-Filled Life." Job lived a purpose-filled
life even in the midst of loss and badgering from wife and friends. He
purpose was, as Paul suggested, to praise God and to give thanks in
all circumstance even when life dumps big time upon you. Amen? TN Mack
Yes, isn't it ironic that while this story of Job and Job's
righteousness and bad things happening to him was to reveal show the
flaw in believing that bad things happen to bad people and that good
things happen and are given to good people. The writters just could
not help themselves it seems - they had to give back much wealth,
goods and family to Job. Even without the return of prosperity, this
is a great story for Job experienced God and was transformed from
weeping to singing. I think it preaches.
Special note!! the Girl CHildren "were given an inheritance along with
their brothers" This is also and enlightening text. I do not remember
reading it before!! Lots of gracious, loving, just text here if you
can get past the "they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all
the evil that the LORD had brought upon him;" In James it says that
evil and good water can not come out of the same stream, so how can
evil and good come of of a Good God?!! jmj in mt
Dear friend,
With the rest of my week taken up, I have prepared a rough draft for
my sermon a couple of days early. Job is portrayed with Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder and some other issues. I think it answers some of the
problematic pertaining to the "happy ending". See what you think. You
can send comments here or to bagpiper@rfci.net. You can find it at: http://www.rfci.net/bagpiper/20031026.htm
Grace and peace, Mike in Sunshine
vs.14 - The Greek for "Keziah" is Cassia, and it is a kind of spice,
like cinnamon. My daughter's name is Cassia. We chose it because it
has a nice sound, and because of it's spiritual and feminist
significance: the daughters are named and not the sons, and the
daughters had an inheritance with the sons (and they were very
beautiful).
DGinNYC
Having daughters and no sons, I appreciate the mention of an
inheritance for the daughters along with their brothers. However, it
is a shame that not many individual rights were usually afford women
in the Hebrew faith. Prophets championed the cause of widows and
children, but that implied that women were only considered in context
of having had a husband at one time or being someone's daughter. That
takes away some from my desire to seize this almost parenthetical
remark as a springboard for a major emphasis for a sermon. I can
understand why those caught up in womanist liberation theology often
turn to religions other than our Judeo-Christian faith upon which to
make a case for the liberation of womankind. Even for the Christian
church, we have made it difficult for woman to find a way to respond
to the call of God to join the ranks of the clergy (seemingly
impossible for some denominations, especially the Catholic Church).
The writer of Job throws a crumb in the direction of liberation, but
the cause needs the whole loaf. TN Mack
Dear friends,
What is central to this passage? God, Job, the daughters? I appreciate
and wonder too why the reference to daughters was mentioned. It seems
the story of Job's happy ending could have ended without this being
included. Could it be that a characteristic of Job was important?
Maybe God wanted us to see through Job that we coud again grow in
grace expanding our own previous boundaries of grace and even go
beyond that of the culture after unjust suffering.
We can certainly take the reference to the daughters and champion
women's right but we will also have to do that only for the beautiful
ones if we give equal weight to the whole reference. Otherwise we make
it into something unintended by God.
This is just one more radical thought along the way to delivering a
sermon.
Grace and peace, Mike in Sunshine
Mike, Mike, Mike!! All God Children are beautiful. jmj in MT
The restoration of Job's fortunes seems to be connected to him praying
for his friends. But the connection is also in the friends response to
prayer. We don't normally think well of these friends because they
thought they understood why Job was suffering, and they gave
long-winded lectures to him. But they were doing the best they could.
They were just repeating what they had been taught. And before they
even opened their mouths, they did sit on the ground with Job for
seven days and seven nights, without saying a word. (you try that!)
After Job prayed for them, they all came back to Job, ate with him and
brought him gifts of money and gold rings. He must have used some of
that money to buy more livestock, which then doubled what he had
before. This is a clear example of how God works through the
generosity and love of people.
A stewardship theme here? DGinNYC
jmj in MT, jmj in MT, jmj in MT...we can't take just the parts of the
text we like. God made a big deal out of their beauty. If we want to
stretch it beyond the physical I am okay with that. We can find that
kind of theology in songs from the 60 and 70's (now I am dating
myself)but much is said about their beauty. Stange how the three
former dead daughters did not get mentioned.
Mike in Sunshine
I really liked what Tom in TN had to say in a forum. Here it is:
If you count up the livestock at the end of the story, you see that
God gives back double for all the animals lost at the beginning. Not
so with children. Job lost ten children and was given ten more after
his trials. Why not twenty? Years ago a dear friend of mine, Mayford
Brooks, pointed this out to me and explained it so- Possessions come
and go and are gone, but your children are your children forever, even
if they've gone before you. So, Job does end up with twenty children,
twice what he was originally blessed with. This story may comfort
someone you know who has lost a child. It did me, when I needed it and
Mayford(who now lives in the presence of God with my son and
daughter)shared it with me. tom in TN(USA)
Thank you Tom! Mark in WI
