20240705

hand of correction

Job 27:1-23 (JDV)

Job 27:1 Job added to his discourse, and said:
Job 27:2 As God lives, who has deprived me of justice, and the Almighty who has made my throat bitter,
Job 27:3 as long as my breathing is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,
Job 27:4 my lips will not speak unjustly, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Job 27:5 I will never affirm that you are right. I will maintain my integrity until I die.
Job 27:6 I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go. My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!
Job 27:7 May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.
Job 27:8 Because what hope does the godless person have when he is cut off, when God silences his throat?
Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes on him?
Job 27:10 Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God always?
Job 27:11 I will teach you about God’s power. I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.
Job 27:12 All of you have seen this for yourselves, why do you keep up this empty talk?
Job 27:13 This is a wicked man’s lot from God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
Job 27:14 Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword; his descendants will never have enough food.
Job 27:15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague, yet their widows will not weep for them.
Job 27:16 Though he piles up silver like dust and heaps up fine clothing like clay —
Job 27:17 he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide up his silver.
Job 27:18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon or a shelter set up by a watchman.
Job 27:19 He lies down wealthy but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, it is gone.
Job 27:20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; a storm wind sweeps him away at night.
Job 27:21 An east wind picks him up, and he is gone; it carries him away from his place.
Job 27:22 It blasts at him without mercy, while he flees desperately from its force.
Job 27:23 It claps its hands at him and scoffs at him from its place.

hand of correction

We have to be careful that we do not read Job as if he is now agreeing with his therapists. He has all along argued that his misfortune was not God’s doing. What he says now sounds a lot like what his therapists have been saying, except Job is arguing that people can live their whole lives in peace and riches before they see judgment. Job offers to teach his therapists about the hand of God. God’s hand corrects the wicked, but it may be a lifetime before that correction comes. That is no problem from God’s perspective, since he is immortal. Job is arguing that we cannot tell if a person is suffering whether it is God’s judgment or some other cause.

LORD, when bad things happen, help us to trust you, but not to blame you.