Job 7
1 “Do not mortals have hard service on earth? Are not their days like those of hired laborers? 2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid, 3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. 4 When I lie down I think, 'How long before I get up?' The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. 5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering. 6 “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.
7 Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again. 8 The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. 9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. 10 He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard? 13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.
17 “What is mankind that you make so much of them, that you give them so much attention, 18 that you examine them every morning and test them every moment? 19 Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? 20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, you who see everything we do? Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? 21 Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”
Job 8
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2 “How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. 3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. 5 But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty, 6 if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state.
7 Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. 8 “Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned, 9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. 10 Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? 12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. 13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. 14 What they trust in is fragile ; what they rely on is a spider's web. 15 They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold.
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; 17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones. 18 But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.' 19 Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow.
20 “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers. 21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. 22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”
SNAPSHOT 18: Faster Than A Speeding Shuttle!
Job 7-8
Job 7
Job is still having a nice little personal lament. We are just slaves here on earth. Life is futile and miserable. I like this line because it is a window into Job's life: 6 “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle...” I guess weaver's shuttles were the sports cars of all shuttles. I had to look it up to see if it was a cart. It was not. Bummer. It is a big thread holder that allows a weaver to weave more quickly. I will attach a photo below.
In Verse 7, Job starts talking to God rather than his friend. Honestly, half of the prior stuff was probably directed at God. He tells God that his life is just an unhappy exhale. Very poetic! He will be gone in a blink. Since he just has a minute, he is going to cry out the bitterness in his soul.
Instead of asking God to see his pain, he does the opposite here. God, am I a monster that you have to guard me? What is man that you are so interested in us? Why do you give us so much attention? Why do you test us? Can you just look away and leave me alone? Forgive me and get over it!
This is the opposite of how I react. I always assume God has forgotten about me and ask for his attention. But Job is correct in assuming he has more than his fair share of attention. I am going to remember this as I go through hard things.
Job 8
I am NOT going to mentally rename Bildad the Shuhite because a bad word comes to mind for his place of origin.
Bildad tells Job he is a blow hard. Really, it is there.
He asks if Job really thinks God is perverting justice by punishing the innocent. Then, he went there: 4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
Oh, yes he did. He said that Job's family deserved to die. Wowsa! He tells Job, it is not too late for you to repent. He says that old people will tell you that you will perish without God. So, Bildad is playing the wise man card. You will be happy and prosperous if you will turn back to God.
I relate to Bildad to an extent. He is logical and generalizes ideas on past experience. He uses nature. He asks lots of questions and then uses them as a basis to draw logical conclusions. He uses sayings of the day to back up his arguments. Much of what he says is true, but it is incomplete or inapplicable. He is also blunt and says some spiritually aggressive things. He does not say anything that is not sometimes true, but he applies it without any compassion or discernment. This is a good reminder to temper knowledge with wisdom and compassion.