As i began to write this blog, a few years ago, I wrote some posts about the Book of Job. I would like to continue on that theme.
Some time. .
Job
Said Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite :
(King James:) “By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
(Youngs literal Translation:) “Because of the multitude of oppressions They cause to cry out, They cry because of the arm of the mighty. And none said, `Where [is] God my maker? Giving songs in the night, Teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, Yea, than the fowl of the heavens He maketh us wiser.’ “
Painting by Arthur Ackland Hunt
.. or watches?
(“The Septuagint”: ) “They that are oppressed of a multitude will be ready to cry out; they will call for help because of the arm of many. But none said, Where is God that made me, who appoints the night-watches; who makes me to differ from the four-footed beasts of the earth, and from the birds of the sky?“
He has calmed the sea with his might, and by his wisdom the whale has been overthrown. And the barriers of heaven fear him, and by a command he has slain the apostate dragon. (Book of Job chapter 26:12 – 13 – english translation of the Greek, Septuagint Bible)
Medieval Dragon-slayer
After the terrible calamity having fallen upon Job, and after he’s been heard uttering terrible, dark words, Eliphaz say something. Chapter 4 and 5 in the Book of Job contents Eliphaz first word in answer to Job. Eliphaz have a revelation:
” Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice..” (Book of Job 4:12 – 16)
Eliphaz knew that even angels must sometimes be told something, by their Creator:
“Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly” (Book of Job 4:18)
How right isn’t he, Eliphaz, after all ! Even the apostle Paul made some reference to his words:
“He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.” (Book of Job 5:13, compare 1 Cor. 3:19)
How skilled a theologian, he is, this Eliphaz ! He will end up the winner in this discussion, don’t you think so? Yes.
After having been smitten by Satan, who acts by the permission of the Most High, (Book of Job, chapter 1 and 2) Job have some reason to lament. This he does by describing a kind of seven-fold darkness, in the third chapter of the Book of Job:
“Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. ” (Book of Job chapter 3: 3 – 7)
So he lamented, prayed and pondered initially, while his three friends listened. Where not the prophets of old, the prophets of the Bible, sometimes, in similar manner, caused to lament, to thoroughly study the “seven-fold darkness” that suddenly fell upon them ?
Haven’t you read Jeremiah, or Zephaniah, the prophet of Christ: ” The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.” Book of Zephaniah chapter 1:14-16) ?
The Book of Job (after all it’s a Book that tells us something about that GOD COMES in time !) speaks about darkness.
What is the meaning of darkness? It is somehow the theme of the Book of Job. It is what he and his three friends start to discuss. Is this darkness testifying against this servant of the Lord – Job – or is it not.
Who can follow them through that discussion?
