READING THE BOOK OF JOB

PART XII

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Job 32:1-37:24; 28:1-28

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We read that Elihu was livid.  We read that:

He fumed with rage against Job for thinking that he was right and God was wrong; and he was equally angry with the three friends for giving up the argument and thus admitting God had to be unjust.

–Job 32:2b-3, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Chapters of pneumatic platitudes ensue.  If one was paying attention during the speeches of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, one will recognize the themes.  For example, Job must have sinned, for why else would he be suffering?  God is just, so Job needs to confess his sins and reconcile with God.  This whole terrible situation is Job’s fault.  Or so says Elihu.

Chapter 28, sometimes regarded as being of independent origin and inserted into the book, shares vocabulary with chapter 37, which also refers to the sky.  So, chapter 28 is, according to The Jewish Study Bible, the conclusion of Elihu’s speeches.

Ironically, the last verse describes Job, not Elihu:

And [God] said to man,

“Wisdom?  It is fear of the Lord.

Understanding?–avoidance of evil.

–Job 28:28, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

We never read of Elihu again in the Book of Job.  Good riddance!

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 3, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE SEVENTH DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY TO THE FAR EAST

THE FEAST OF AMILIE JULIANE, COUNTESS OF SCHWARZBURG-RUDOLSTADT, GERMAN LUTHERAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL TAIT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

THE FEAST OF SAINT JAN FRANCISZEK MACHA, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1942

THE FEAST OF M. WOOLSEY STRYKER, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, EDUCATOR, AUTHOR, HYMNAL EDITOR, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR

THE FEAST OF SOPHIE KOULOMZIN, RUSSIAN-AMERICAN CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR

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READING THE BOOK OF JOB

PART I

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Job 1 and 2

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PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS

The introduction to the Book of Job in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014), describes this ancient text as a

complex and composite work.

That is an understatement.  For example, the flow of the story at the end of chapter 31 leads directly into chapter 38, but someone interjected chapters 32-37.  Furthermore, chapter 28 seems to belong to the Elihu material, also.  Even if chapter 28 does not belong to the Elihu cycle, it still comes out of left field relative to what surrounds it.

The Book of Job, which most likely dates to after the Babylonian Exile, fits into the regional literary motif of the pious sufferer.  More than one ancient text reflecting this motif exists.  So, once more, the Bible contains literature similar to writings from neighboring cultures.  This should surprise nobody; cultures influence each other, especially when they are near other.

I have no interest in dissecting the Book of Job line by line; rather, I stand back and look at the big picture.  I choose to focus on the forest and to zoom in on some trees.  Besides, this project is not the first time I have blogged regarding the Book of Job.  One hundred-nineteen lectionary-based posts at this weblog contain tags that link them to the Book of Job.  This project is, however, the first time I am blogging my way through the Book of Job from the first verse to the last one.

My translations and guides for this journey through the Book of Job are:

1. The Jerusalem Bible (1966).  This is my primary translation because J. R. R. Tolkien worked on the translation of this book in that version.
2. TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985, 1999), as contained in The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition (2014).
3. Robert Alter’s translation in The Hebrew Bible:  A Translation with Commentary (2019).
4. Samuel Terrien and Paul Scherer, writing in The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 3 (1954).
5. Carol A. Newsom, writing in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 4 (1996).

Now, without further ado, I turn to the Prologue of the Book of Job.

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GOD, HASATAN, AND JOB

The Book of Job opens with a prose prologue, just as it closes with a prose epilogue.  The prologue establishes the setting in the Transjordan, during the age of the patriarchs.  Yet the Book of Job mimics an archaic literary style and indicates familiarity with Second and Third Isaiah.

This story, told as a folktale, is not historical.  It, theological, is mostly poetic.  The Book of Job is, in the highest meaning of the word, a myth.  The Book of Job is not literally true, but it contains truth.  Part of the interpretive complexity of the book comes from nauseating gas bags (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) sounding like passages from the books of Psalms and Proverbs.  They are obnoxious pains in every part of human anatomy, but they do speak a truth on occasion despite themselves.

We read of the lavish lifestyle of Job and his family.  They are spectacularly wealthy.  Banquets that continue for day after day are commonplace.  The siblings live harmoniously with each other and their parents.  The story tells us that Job performs a priestly function on behalf of his offspring; he sacrifices in case any of them have sinned.  Job is a devout monotheist who cares deeply for his family.

We read also of the “sons of God”–in this case–angels, members of the heavenly court.  This is a rewritten vestige of pagan divine councils, commonplace in that part of the world in antiquity.  In this context we meet the Adversary, hasatan (the Satan), who had yet to transform into a rogue in Jewish theology and to become the archenemy of God in apocalyptic literature.

One may recall the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24.  The story about the talking donkey in 22:22-35 is intriguing, to say the least.  In that story, the donkey, sees the Adversary/the angel of YHWH standing in the road in 22:22-27.  Then Balaam sees the heavenly figure in 22:31. Balaam and the Adversary converse afterward.  Hasatan works for God in Numbers 22.

The Book of Job comes from a time in the history of theology when the Adversary/the Satan was a loyal servant of God.  The job of hasatan in Job 1 and 2 is to test the loyalty of the people of God, modeled here after a King of the Persian Empire, a man who employed loyalty testers throughout the realm.  The Book of Job comes from a transitional time in the doctrine of Satan; hasatan seems to derive too much satisfaction from his job.  Robert Alter points to the Satan’s

cynical mean-spiritedness.

Yet the Satan does nothing without divine permission.  He still works for God.

Hasatan continues to fulfill the role of accuser in Zechariah 3:1, also from the Persian period.  However, Zechariah 3 indicates a shift toward the Satan as rogue:

He showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of Yahweh, with Satan standing on his right to accuse him.  The angel of Yahweh said to Satan, “May Yahweh rebuke you, Satan, may Yahweh rebuke you, he who has made Jerusalem his very own.  Is not this man a brand snatched from the fire?”

–Zechariah 3:1-2, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

During the Persian period, the Satan came to resemble Ahriman, the evil one in Zoroastrianism.  One culture influenced another one.

The history of the doctrine is objective, documented, and not subject to dispute.  The question of the truth behind the doctrine is theological.  Truth with a capital T does exist regarding this matter.  I think I know what that truth is.  Whether I agree with God is a matter for God to say.

For the record, I think that Jewish theology, under Zoroastrian influence, finally got the doctrine right.

The Book of Job tells us that YHWH allows Job to suffer and innocents to die.  The Book of Job tells us that YHWH permits all this to happen as part of a wager with hasatan, the overzealous, cynical loyalty tester.  Job 1 and 2 portray YHWH negatively.  This is anthropomorphic understanding of YHWH.

Anthropomorphizing God is unavoidable; we mere mortals have our cultural perspectives and carry assumptions.  Yet me must, if we are spiritually honest, acknowledge that God is far greater and far more than we can imagine.

The Prologue to the Book of Job raises a question germane to each of us:  Why do we revere God, if we do?  Do we practice a quid pro quo faith life?

“Yes,” Satan said, “but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he?”

–Job 1:9, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

The omniscient narrative voice in the Book of Job does not ask why the righteous suffer.  No, it tells us why Job suffers.  The alleged friends think they know why Job suffers.  The titular character rejects their theory and knows who is ultimately responsible for his suffering–God.  The Book of Job does ask each of us why we are devout, assuming that one is pious, of course.  Is this faith relationship that one that mistakes God for a vending machine or a sugar daddy?  Or is this faith relationship one that survives crises and other hardships.

The ending of the prologue introduces us to three friends–Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.  One of my favorite puns tells me that Bildad the Shuhite was the shortest man in the Bible.  (I did not make up that joke.  I do groan at it, though.)  Seriously, though, the subsequent poetic chapters reveal that a famous question applies to the Book of Job.  That query is,

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I invite you, O reader, to remain beside me on this journey through the Book of Job.  We will hear from Job–the man himself–in the next installment.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 22, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF ROBERT SEAGRAVE, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANNA KOLESÁROVÁ, SLOVAK ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1944

THE FEAST OF DITLEF GEORGSON RISTAD, NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN TRANSLATOR, LITURGIST, AND EDUCATOR

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READING LAMENTATIONS, PART IV

Above:  Lamentations 3:10

Image in the Public Domain

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Lamentation 3:1-66

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Different voices fill Lamentations 3.  A new voice–that of Israel personified as the Man–speaks in verses 1-24, and perhaps through verse 39, as well.  An alternative view holds that the Poet speaks in verses 25-39.  Another new voice–that of the Community–speaks in verses 48-51.  Either Fair Zion or the Man speaks in verses 52-66.

Verses 1-20 depict deportation into exile.  They also depict God as a bad shepherd, in contrast to Psalm 23, Psalm 78, and Ezekiel 34.  Yet, starting with verse 25, we read an expression of hope in God.  Divine loyalty has not ended and divine mercies are not spent, we read.

For the Lord does not

Reject forever,

But first afflicts, then pardons

In His abundant kindness.

–Lamentations 3:31-32, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Comparing translations reveals shades of meaning in the original Hebrew text.  The Revised English Bible (1989) reads:

For rejection by the Lord

does not last forever.

He may punish, yet he will have compassion

in the fullness of his unfailing love….

When we turn to The New American Bible–Revised Edition (2011), we read:

For the Lord does not reject forever;

Though he brings grief, he takes pity,

according to the abundance of his mercy….

Much of the material in verses 25-39 sounds like speeches by Job’s alleged friends (Job 4, 8, 11, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 32-37):  Suffering is divine punishment for sin, and people should accept this punishment.  In the context of the Book of Job, this is a misplaced theology, not applicable to the titular character’s situation (Job 1:1-2:10; 42:7-9).  Also, the speeches of Job’s alleged friends read like the useless yet conventionally pious babblings they are, in narrative context.

The rest of the Book of Lamentations confesses sins, repents of those sins, begs for divine deliverance, expresses hope in God, and prays for divine judgment on the wicked nations.

I get theological whiplash from Lamentations 3.  The contrast between Lamentations 3 and the rage against God in Lamentations 2 is stark.  And who says that God does not willingly bring grief or affliction?  I recall many passages from Hebrew prophetic books in which God speaks and claims credit for causing grief and affliction.  I do not recall anyone forcing God to do that.  In some passages, however, God speaks of these divine actions as the consequences of human sins.

I approach theodicy cautiously.  I am also an intellectually honest monotheist.  I have no evil god to blame for anything, thereby letting the good god off the hook.  There is simply and solely God, who is ever in the dock, so to speak.   The major problem with human theodicy is that it easily degenerates into idiocy at best and heresy at worst.

Whenever someone professes not to believe in God, one way to handle the situation is to ask that individual to describe the God in whom he or she does not believe.  One may also want to ask how the other person defines belief in God.  In the creedal sense, to believe in God is to trust in God.  Yet many–or most–people probably understand belief in God to mean affirmation of the existence of God.

Idiotic theodicy produces a range of God-concepts abhorrent to me.  I suspect that many–or most–of those professed agnostics and atheists reject at least one of these God-concepts, too.  Many professed agnostics and atheists–a host of them refugees from conventional piety and abusive faith–may be closer to a healthy relationship with the God of the Universe than many conventionally devout Jews and Christians.  This matter lies far outside my purview; it resides in the purview of God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 19, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN DALBERG ACTON, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC HISTORIAN, PHILOSOPHER, AND SOCIAL CRITIC

THE FEAST OF ADELAIDE TEAGUE CASE, EPISCOPAL PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION, AND ADVOCATE FOR PEACE

THE FEAST OF MICHEL-RICHARD DELALANDE, FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF VERNARD ELLER, U.S. CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MINISTER AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM PIERSON MERRILL, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER

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READING JEREMIAH, PART III

Above:  Jeremiah

Image in the Public Domain

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Jeremiah 2:1-4:4

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Has any nation changed its gods

Even though they are no-gods?

But My people has exchanged its glory

For what can do no good.

–Jeremiah 2:11, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

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God had liberated the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.  Then the former slaves had quickly started grumbling.  No member of that generation had entered Canaan.  In Canaan, the Hebrews had practiced idolatry.  The practice of idolatry had continued through the time of Jeremiah.  The abandonment of the covenant, with the common good built into it, constituted infidelity to God.  The irony of self-serving religion was that it could “do no good,” as TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985) masterfully renders 2:11.

I like the translation of Jeremiah 2:11 in TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985).  The wordplay of “no-gods” and “no good” is wonderful.  “Do no good” is not a literal translation, though.  The New Revised Standard Version (1989) uses “does not profit,” not “do no good.”  The germane Hebrew verb is ya’al, or “to confer or gain profit of benefit.”  Ya’al also occurs in Jeremiah 2:8:

The priests never asked themselves, “Where is the LORD?”

The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me,

And the prophets prophesied by Baal

And followed what can do no good.

—TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

Ya’al sounds like “Baal,” as in Baal Peor, the Canaanite fertility and storm god.  The connotation of ya’al (profit) is almost entirely negative in the Hebrew Bible, and frequently occurs in the context of idolatry.  This verb occurs 23 times:  1 Samuel 12:21; Job 15:3; Job 21:15; Job 30:13; Job 35:3; Proverbs 10:2; Proverbs 11:4; Isaiah 30:5-6; Isaiah 44:9-10; Isaiah 47:12; Isaiah 48:17; Job 57:12; Jeremiah 2:8 and 11; Jeremiah 12:13; Jeremiah 16:19; Jeremiah 23:32; and Habakkuk 2:18.

The metaphor of the covenant as a marriage should be familiar to anyone who has read the Book of Hosea attentively.  That metaphor plays our in this portion of Jeremiah, too.  Idolatry is, metaphorically, infidelity to God.  And this infidelity entails economic injustice, hence the reference to “the blood of the innocent poor” (Jeremiah 2:34).  The metaphor of irreversible divorce (Jeremiah 3:105) draws from Deuteronomy 24:1-4, in which the husband may not take back his wife after she has remarried.  Can the sinful population return to YHWH?  (The Book of Jeremiah, with its layers of composition and authorship, is inconsistent in the answer to this question.)  The people, not YHWH, have broken the relationship.  Yes, we read in this part and other segments of the Book of Jeremiah, the sinful population can return if it will repent, we read.  It can return if it will turn its back to its sins and return to God, we read.  The text mixes metaphors.  The adulterous wife becomes rebellious children.  Yet the call to repent remains.

We know that the (northern) Kingdom of Israel and the (southern) Kingdom of Judah fell, however.  Knowing this adds melancholy to our understanding of these verses.  Nevertheless, we also know that the Babylonian Exile ended.  That detail should add some joy to the mix as we read Jeremiah 2:1-4:4.

To return to my opening theme, the irony of idolatry in the name of self-serving religion is that it is in vain.  The Law of Moses, with its ethical core, builds up the common good and teaches mutuality.  Whatever affects one person, affects others.  We are all responsible to and for each other as we stand together, completely dependent upon God.  Selfish gain, the sort that enriches some while impoverishing others, works against the common good and harms the one who benefits the one who benefits from that selfish gain.  This selfish gain turns into a liability in the long term.

God longs to heal our afflictions, even the ones we have inflicted on ourselves.  We must turn back toward God, however.  If we refuse to do so, we judge and condemn ourselves.  This truth applies on more than one level.  There is the individual level, of course.  Yet may we not forget that Jeremiah 2:1-4:4 addresses populations, not individuals or one person.  Sin is both collective and individual.  So are forgiveness and restoration.  We may feasibly apply this call to collective repentance to neighborhoods, families, congregations, denominations, societies, nation-states, et cetera.

God is the source of the best stuff, for lack of a better word.  Do we want the best stuff or inferior stuff?

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 7, 2021 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW TALBOT, RECOVERING ALCOHOLIC IN DUBLIN, IRELAND

THE FEAST OF SAINT ANTHONY MARY GIANELLI, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF SAINT ALPHONSUS

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK LUCIAN HOSMER, U.S. UNITARIAN HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF HUBERT LAFAYETTE SONE AND HIS WIFE, KATIE HELEN JACKSON SONE, U.S. METHODIST MISSIONARIES AND HUMANITARIANS IN CHNA, SINGAPORE, AND MALAYSIA

THE FEAST OF SEATTLE, FIRST NATIONS CHIEF, WAR LEADER, AND DIPLOMAT

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READING BARUCH AND THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH

Above:  Jackson Mine, Negaunee, Michigan, 1912

Image in the Public Domain

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PART III

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Baruch 3:9-4:4

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My recent Bible study and reading programs have brought me back to Job 28 twice in short order.  This has been serendipitous.  Job 28 was the model for much of Baruch 3:9-4:4.

Wisdom is inaccessible to human beings, Job 28 tells us.  Job 27 flows into Job 29.  Chapter 28 sits between for some reason.  Job 28 concludes with:

And [God] said to man,

“Wisdom?  It is fear of the Lord.

Understanding?–avoidance of evil.”

—The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Baruch 3:9-4:4 embraces the Deutronomic teaching that God punishes sins and rewards righteousness.  The text urges people to obey God’s commandments, to keep the Law of Moses.  This is a prominent motif in the Bible:  Love God; keep divine commandments.

How, then, should exiles–or just people living under occupation–live while they wait for divine deliverance?  They ought to keep God’s laws?  They must hold God in awe and avoid evil.  The beginning of evil is the false idea that one can do whatever one wants and God will not care.  Evil also falsely assumes that one can and must act on one’s power, given the assumption that God either does not exist or does not care.

To quote Anthony J. Saldarini:

We either acknowledge and obey God in harmony with the world or reject God with a disobedience that leads to chaos.

—The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VI (2001), 970

Without rejecting science and cultural tolerance, both of which are valuable, I take Saldarini’s point.  I take the point of the author of Baruch 3:9-4:4.  Divine wisdom is 

the book of the precepts of God.

–4:1

Monotheism is uncompromising.  It stakes its claim and rejects other deities.  Ethical monotheism proposes standard that may prove daunting to many people.  So be it.

As we stand firm, may we do so lovingly.  May we never be obnoxious as we assert the truth.  As we proclaim God, may we avoid erecting barriers to God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 20, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE TWENTY-SECOND DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT DOMINIC OF SILOS, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

THE FEAST OF BATES GILBERT BURT, EPISCOPAL PRIEST, HYMN WRITER, AND COMPOSER

THE FEAST OF D. ELTON TRUEBLOOD, U.S. QUAKER THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAL PIACZYNSKI, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940

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A broken clock is right twice a day.

Above:  St. Augustine of Hippo, by Ambito Lombardo

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year 2

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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O God, who in the glorious Transfiguration of thy only begotten Son,

hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers,

and who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud,

didst in a wonderful manner vouchsafe to make us co-heirs with the King of his glory,

and bring us to the enjoyment of the same;

through the same Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord,

who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit,

ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 134

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Job 28:1-28

Psalm 119:49-64

1 Corinthians 10:1-14

Matthew 15:14-29

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How should one interpret Job 28?  It does not flow from Chapter 27.  “He” (God) in 28:3 has no antecedent in Job 27.  And the identity of the speaker is uncertain.  Chapter 28 sits between Job 27 and Job 29, of the titular character.  Is the speaker Job, one of his alleged friends, or someone else?

The identity of the speaker is crucial.  To know who speaks in a particular passage of the Book of Job is to know how to read or hear that passage.  Job’s alleged friends are objectively wrong on many points within the Book of Job and within the full canon of Jewish scripture.  Yet they are right sometimes, too.  To quote a cliché, 

A note in The Jewish Study Bible hypothesizes that the speaker is Elihu, a character shoe-horned into the Book of Job between Job’s concluding argument to God (at the end of Chapter 31) and the beginning of God’s reply to job in Chapter 38.  The epilogue to the Book of Job names Eliphz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite (42:9) yet never Elihu.

[God] said to man,

“See!  Fear of the Lord is wisdom;

To shun evil is understanding.

–Job 28:28, TANAKH:  The Holy Scriptures (1985)

That verse is consistent with Psalm 119.

The trials you have had to bear are no more than people normally have.  You can trust God not to let you be tried beyond your strength, and with any trial he will give you a way out of it and the strength to bear it.

–1 Corinthians 10:13, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

I have heard a consistent misinterpretation of that verse for many years.  

To read “you” as singular is wrong.  1 Corinthians is a letter to a congregation, not an individual.  Individualistic assumptions of my Western culture may lead one to misread and mishear “you” as singular.  Reading the passage in a romance language helps to clear up the matter, too.

Aucune tentation ne vous est survenue qui n’ait été humaine; Dieu est est fidèle et ne permettra pas que vous soyez téntes au-delà de vos forces….

–1 Corinthiens 10:13a, Nouvelle Version Segond Révisée (1978)

Vous is plural, not formal singular, in this case.

Within the context of faith community, all the necessary spiritual resources exist.  The variety of spiritual gifts and the presence of God can fulfill each person’s spiritual needs.  Mutuality remains a theme.

Regarding Matthew 15:21-28, I refer you, O reader, to the category for Matthew 15.  Follow it to find my analysis of that story.

I prefer to focus on another aspect of the Gospel reading.  The dark side of human nature defiles one–makes one unclean–makes one “common,” as J. B. Phillips translated the Greek word.  The list in Matthew 19 is representative, not comprehensive.  One may ask what fornication, theft, perjury, and slander have in common.  They are ways to harm others–emotionally, legally, socially, economically, and physically.  They work against the model of mutuality in 1 Corinthians 10:13.

To tie up the readings with a figurative bow, mutuality fits with Job 28:28 and Psalm 119.  We should shun evil, individually and collectively.  And standing in awe of God (a better translation than “fearing God”) is wisdom.

As St. Augustine of Hippo wrote at length and more eloquently than I write, those who love God as they should can do whatever they want and still please God.  They want to live in faith community defined by mutuality.  These spiritual giants want to help, not harm.  They are in tune with God.

I make no pretense of being one of these spiritual giants.  I do, however, know in visceral, practical terms how mutuality works in a congregation.  I know how to give and receive.  Both are blessings from God.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 10, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE TWELFTH DAY OF ADVENT

THE FEAST OF KARL BARTH, SWISS REFORMED MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR; AND HIS SON, MARKUS BARTH, SWISS LUTHERAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF HOWELL ELVET LEWIS, WELSH CONGREGATIONALIST CLERGYMAN AND POET

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN ROBERTS, WELSH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND MARTYR, 1610

THE FEAST OF PAUL EBER, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF ROBERT MURRAY, CANADIAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER

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READING DANIEL

Above:  Susanna and the Elders

Image in the Public Domain

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PART XI

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Daniel 13:1-64

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Daniel and Susanna, according to study Bibles I consulted, hails from either the second or the first centuries B.C.E.  A standard description of Daniel 13 is that it is the oldest surviving detective story.  I prefer to think of it as the oldest surviving Perry Mason story.

The cast of named characters is:

1. Joakim, husband of Susanna;
2. Susanna, daughter of Hilkiah and wife of Joakim;
3. Hilkiah, father of Susanna; and
4. Daniel.

The story does not name the two wicked elders.

This is a story about the miscarriage of justice.  We read that the beautiful and pious Susanna, wife of the wealthy and pious Joakim, refused the sexual advances of the lecherous and homicidal elders, who had hidden in her garden.  The story describes the two elders as predators.  We also read of their perjury and of Susanna’s false conviction, followed by her sentence of death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:21-22).

This is also a story about justice.  We read of Susanna’s prayer (verses 42-43) and of God’s reply:  sending Daniel to rescue her.  We read of Daniel’s Perry Mason routine, by which he exposed the two elders’ lies with an arborial question:  

Now, if you really saw this woman, then tell us, under what tree did you see them together?”

–Verse 54, The Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha (1989)

We also read of the elders’ execution, in accordance with the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 19:16-21).  In the Law of Moses, the punishment for committing perjury to convict someone falsely is to suffer the fate one intended for the accused.

The suffering of the innocent and the pious is a major theme in the Book of Daniel.  We also read of God delivering such victims in Daniel 2 and 3.  Yet Daniel 10-12 wrestles with the realities of martyrdoms.

God delivers the innocent and the pious some of the time.  This tension is evident in the Book of Psalms.  Some of those texts sound like Elihu, as well as Job’s alleged friends:  Suffering results from sins, and God delivers the righteous.  Yet other Psalms come from the perspective of the suffering righteous.  The former position fills Proverbs, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiasticus/Sirach/the Wisdom of Ben Sira, too.  Ecclesiastes functions as a counter-argument to that excessive optimism.

Why does God deliver some of the righteous and not all of them?  I have no pat answer for such a challenging question.  In Revelation 6:9-11, even the martyrs in Heaven are not always happy.

We who struggle with this vexing question belong to an ancient tradition.  We are the current generation in a long train.  We have reasons to rejoice, at least; God delivers some of the innocent and the pious.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF JOHN KENNETH PFOHL, SR., U.S. MORAVIAN BISHOP; HIS WIFE, HARRIET ELIZABETH “BESSIE” WHITTINGTON PFOHL, U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN; AND THEIR SON, JAMES CHRISTIAN PFOHL, SR., U.S. MORAVIAN MUSICIAN

THE FEAST OF CASPAR FRIEDRICH NACHTENHOFER, GERMAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, LITURGIST, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF SAINT CLEMENT I, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF SAINT COLUMBAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK, ABBOT, AND MISSIONARY

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And [God] said to man,

Above:  Head of Job, by William Blake

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Trinity, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Worship (Evangelical and Reformed Church, 1947)

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O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by thy Holy Spirit,

that being made ever mindful of the end of all things,

and the day of just judgment,

we may be stirred up to holiness of living here,

and dwell with thee forever hereafter;

through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Worship (1947), 233

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Job 28

Psalm 119:161-176

Ephesians 2:1-10

Matthew 12:38-50

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Which literary (not historical) character speaks in Job 28?  Scholarly sources disagree.  The two candidates are Job and that idiot, Elihu.  Job 28 does not flow stylistically from Job 27, in which Job is the speaker.  The Elihu cycle is Job 32-37, of course, but Job 28 may consist of material that belongs there.  If Elihu is the speaker (as the notes in The Jewish Study Bible insist), this text proves the adage that a broken clock is right twice a day.

“Wisdom?  It is fear of the Lord.

Understanding?–avoidance of evil.”

–Job 28:28, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

To put it another way,

Then [God] said to human beings,

“Wisdom?–that is fear of the Lord;

Intelligence?–avoidance of evil.”

–Job 28:28, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

“Fear of the Lord” is a terrible and common translation.  “Fear” should be “awe.”

More interesting, though, is “intelligence” for “understanding” in The New Jerusalem Bible.  “Understanding” is the standard translation in English.  On the other hand, Nouvelle Version Segond Revisée (1978) renders Job 28:28 as:

Puis il dit à l’homme:

Voici la crainte du Seigneur, c’est la sagesse;

S’ecarter du mal, c’est l’intelligence.

We read in Psalm 119:174-176:

I long for your salvation, Yahweh,

And your law is my delight.

Long live my soul to praise you,

and let your ordinances help me.

If I should stray like a lost sheep,

seek your servant,

For I have not forgotten your commandments.

—Mitchell J. Dahood, S.J.

If we love God, we keep divine commandments.  If we love God, we do not ask for signs, faithlessly.  If we love God, we love one another, bearers of the image of God.  If we love God, we return to God after having sinned.  If we love God, we try to avoid evil.  If we love God, we embrace divine mercy for ourselves and all other recipients of it.  If we love God, we accept the present of salvation and the demands that gift makes on our lives.  Grace is free, not cheap.  If we love God, we stand in awe of God and act intelligently, with understanding, by grace.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 3, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

THE FEAST OF CAROLINE CHISHOLM, ENGLISH HUMANITARIAN AND SOCIAL REFORMER

THE FEAST OF ELIAS BOUDINOT, IV, U.S. STATESMAN, PHILANTHROPIST, AND WITNESS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE-LÉONIE PARADIS, FOUNDRESS OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MAURA AND TIMOTHY OF ANTINOE, MARTYRS, 286

THE FEAST OF SAINT TOMASSO ACERBIS, CAPUCHIN FRIAR

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Above:  Icon of the Entombment of Jesus

Image in the Public Domain

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For Holy Saturday, Year 1

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Lectionary from A Book of Worship for Free Churches (The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches in the United States, 1948)

Collect from The Book of Common Prayer (The Episcopal Church, 1928)

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Grant, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ,

so by continual mortifying our corrupt affectations we may be buried with him;

and that through the grave, and gate of thy death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection;

for his merits, who died, and was buried, and was buried, and rose again for us,

the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1928),161

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Job 33:23-30

Psalm 30

1 Peter 3:17-22

Mark 15:42-47

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Two interesting notes come to mind before I get to my main point.

1. 1 Peter 3:17-22 is why the Apostles’ Creed contains a reference to Christ’s descent to the dead.  The passage also gives us the Orthodox doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell.
2. Whenever reading from the Book of Job, one should be aware who is speaking.  The speaker in Job 33 is Elihu, a condescending idiot who, in the full context of the chapter, contradicts Job’s claim of innocence, backed up by the first two chapters.  Yet even idiots get some details right, by random change.  To quote a cliché, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

My main point is that this devotion is that we should never rush through Holy Saturday.  Easter will arrive on schedule, as it does every year.  In the gap between the Good Friday service and the Easter Vigil, sunrise service, or main service on Easter Sunday morning, we should allow Jesus to be dead, liturgically.  If we let Holy Saturday sit and have the power it should, Easter will mean more when it arrives.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 3, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF LUTHER D. REED, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER AND LITURGIST

THE FEAST OF SAINTS BURGENDOFARA AND SADALBERGA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESSES, AND THEIR RELATIVES

THE FEAST OF MARC SANGNIER, FOUNDER OF THE SILLON MOVEMENT

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARY OF EGYPT, HERMIT AND PENITENT

THE FEAST OF REGINALD HEBER, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CALCUTTA, AND HYMN WRITER

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[God] said to man,

Above:  The Wrath of Elihu, by William Blake

Image in the Public Domain

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For the Seventh Sunday of the Season of God the Father, Year 2, according to the U.S. Presbyterian lectionary of 1966-1970

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O God, who hast promised for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding:

pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things,

may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Worship–Provisional Services (1966), 128

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Job 28:12-28

James 3:1-13

Luke 12:22-34

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Reading the Book of Job with proper understanding requires paying close attention.  For example, as in the poetic portion, one needs to keep in mind who is speaking.  If one of the alleged friends is speaking, read the words with more than a few grains of salt, so to speak.

In Chapter 27, Job complained that God had deprived him of justice.  This was consistent with Chapters 1 and 2, in which God permitted “the Satan,” in the Book of Job, God’s loyalty tester–an employee–to test Job.  Two posts ago in this series, we read James 1:12-18, in which the author insisted that God does not tempt/test anyone.  In Job 1 and 2, God permitted the testing of Job.  Was this a distinction without a difference?

Elihu (alleged friend #4) replied with conventional piety in Chapter 28.  The alleged friends assumed that Job must have sinned, for they thought that God would not permit the innocent to suffer.  In Job 28, Elihu compared God to a miner and likened wisdom to silver.  The beautiful prose about the preciousness of wisdom, meant to condemn Job as a fool and a sinner, actually defined the titular character as a sage, ironically:

“See!  Fear of the Lord is wisdom;

To shun evil is understanding.”

Words matter.

The words of Elihu and other three alleged friends of Job were part of an intervention.  They meant well, but were wrong.

To mean well is insufficient.  Good results are the proof in the proverbial pudding.

May we seek to use our words for the glory of God and the spiritual benefit of others–to build them up, not to tear them down.  There is room for strong criticism, a practice in which Jesus engaged.  As we seek to use our words for good effect, may we succeed, by grace.  May we trust in God, on whom we rely entirely, and not imagine that we must deprive others to help ourselves.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, ANGLICAN SCHOLAR, BIBLE TRANSLATOR, AND BISHOP OF DURHAM; AND FENTON JOHN ANTHONY HORT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND SCHOLAR

THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN HENRY BATEMAN, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF JOHAN NORDAHL BRUN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN BISHOP, AUTHOR, AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND RENEWER OF THE CHURCH; AND HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM REED HUNTINGTON, U.S. ARCHITECT AND QUAKER PEACE ACTIVIST

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