Job 1:1-22

Job and His Family

1:1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.

Attack on Job’s Character

6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satanalso came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

Job Loses Children and Property

13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. Job 1:1-22, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from August 24, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 17, Year Two):

The Book of Job opens with a brief characterization of Job as a righteous man. He “was blameless (MT!, tām, ‘perfect’ AV/KJV) and upright (rw!y!, yāšār), one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job. 1:1). LeAnn Snow Flesher notes that these Hebrew words “will be found many times throughout the book to emphasize and thereby remind the reader that Job is indeed an upright (righteous) and blameless man.” She adds, “Often it is suggested that by making such a claim the individual, namely Job, has fallen into the sin of conceit and is being punished for his sin. However, the narrator, not Job, declares Job’s righteousness. If the ensuing discussion is to have any relevance, readers must be aware from the beginning that Job’s integrity has been established” (The IVP Woman’s Bible Commentary, 2002, p. 275 on Job 1-2).

Job has a family, “seven sons and three daughters” (v. 2), and a wealth of possessions. “He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east” (v. 3). The livestock total is 11,500 (counting each “yoke of oxen” as a pair). His family had regular celebrations: “His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them” (v. 4). Carol A Newsom takes note of the three daughters, who “seem to have a status within the family that is more prominent than what is typically assumed about the position of daughters in ancient Israel.” She adds, “Perhaps it is the author’s way of underscoring the exceptional nature of everything that has to do with Job. In describing the cycle of banquets held by the seven sons of Job, the narrator specifically mentions that the sons would invite their three sisters to join the festivities (1:5)” (Women’s Bible Commentary, Westminster John Knox Press, expanded ed., 1998, p. 139). Job himself may have had some misgivings about these “feasts,” for “when the feast days had run their course, [he] would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, ‘It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts’ ” (v. 5)

All of this serves as a backdrop for the scene in heaven where “the Satan” (NF!W9!H1, haššātān, ‘Satan’ NRSV text, ‘the Accuser’ NRSV note b; ‘the Adversary’ NJPS 1985, 1999) impugns Job’s character. The word “Satan” occurs fourteen times in the first two chapters of Job, always with the definite article in Hebrew, NF!W9!H1 (haššātān), and so “Satan” is usually considered a descriptive term rather than a proper name, as in the New Testament (e.g. Mt. 4:10). He appears in a heavenly council. “One day the heavenly beings [NRSV; ‘Heb. sons of God’ note a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and [the] Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6). According to Robert L. Alden,

‘The ‘sons of God’ are both plural and inferior to God. . . . Apparently, God has a council or cabinet (see 1 Kgs. 22:19; Jer. 23:18, 22; and Ps. 89:5-7 [6-8). These ‘holy ones’ (Ps. 89:5-7 [6-8) serve as messengers to do God’s bidding. Not every one of them is good because 1 Kgs. 22:20-23 speaks of a ‘spirit’ willing to be a ‘lying spirit in the mouth of all his [Ahab’s] prophets.’ The Satan was among them or perhaps even their leader. (Job, The New American Commentary, vol. 11, 1993, p. 53 on Job 1:6).

The LORD addresses the Satan: “Where have you come from?” (v. 7a). Does the question imply that the Satan is out of place? Mayer Gruber refers to the Satan as “the Accuser,” that is, as “one of the divine beings [who] functions as a kind of prosecuting attorney” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, p. 1506 on Job 1:6). That may be his role here, for he challenges Job’s integrity. After his response to the LORD’s question (v. 7b), the LORD presents a challenge. “Have you considered my servant Job?” he asks, and continues by repeating the narrator’s characterization of Job as a model of righteousness (v. 8, cf. v. 1). The Satan’s response asserts that Job is a good man for the wrong motives. Instead of being “good for goodness’ sake,” as they say, Job is good because of the rewards God gives him, his family, his great wealth, his respected position in the world. “But stretch out your hand now,” says the Satan, “and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” (v. 11). For whatever reason–one of the issues raised by the Book of Job–the LORD agrees. “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” (v. 12).

The first result is that in “one day” a series of messengers come reporting that Job has lost his oxen, his donkeys and the servants who were guarding them (vv. 14-15), his sheep and the servants who were guarding them (v. 16), his camels and the servants who were guarding them (v. 17), and, worst of all, his sons and daughters (vv. 18-19). “Within a few short hours,” says Flesher, “Job moves from being the wealthiest man in the land to abject poverty” (op. cit., on Job 1:13-19). Job’s immediate response is to tear his rob, shave his head, fall on the ground and worship (v. 20), “traditional acts of mourning” (Leong Seow, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Job 1:20). But he does not curse God, as the Satan had predicted (v. 11); rather he speaks a blessing: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (v. 21). Seow explains, “In this traditional saying (see also Eccl. 5:15; Sir. 40:1), the womb from which one comes is one’s mother; that to which one returns is probably a metaphor for the earth (cf. Gen. 3:19)” (op. cit., on v. 21, as his references show, though he erroneously refers to v. 22). “In all this,” says the narrator, “Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing” (v. 22).

Acts 8:26-40

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Cp Isa 53.7-8)

26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

so he does not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:26-40, NRSV)

On July 5, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to June 29, Year One), comments were repeated with editing and supplement from August 24, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 17, Year Two), when comments were repeated from June 30, 2005 (Thursday of the week of the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year One). The revised comments are repeated again here:

After Samaria, Philip’s next assignment–delivered by “an angel of the Lord”–lay to the south, toward Gaza. “Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza’” (Acts 8:26a). The phrase translated “to the south” (kata; meshmbrivan, kata mesēmbrian) means literally, “at midday,” or “at noon” (cf. NRSV text note e and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Acts 8:26). But due to the position of the sun at midday, the expression often means “to the south” (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3^rd ed., 2000, s.v. meshmbriva, mesēmbria [= mevsoV, mesos + hJmevra, hēmera], where this meaning is cited from Herodotus, Philo, Josephus and others). Luke explains parenthetically that “this is a wilderness road” (v. 26b).

When Philip followed this instruction, he came upon an Ethiopian returning home from Jerusalem (v. 27). The man is described as “an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury” (v. 27). “Although he had come to Jerusalem to worship,” says Christopher R. Matthews, “a eunuch could not have become a proselyte (Deut. 23:10),” but, adds, “the passage may envision fulfillment of Isa. 56:3-5” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Acts 8:27). According to Gaventa, “Candace [is] the title traditionally given to the queen of Meroe (a Nubian realm along the Upper Nile), making the eunuch’s position one of considerable power” (op. cit., on Acts 8:27). Gaventa also notes that the term

Ethiopian [Aijqivoy, Aithiops], in Luke’s world [refers to] anyone with dark skin, particularly persons from territories south of Egypt. Various ancient writers depict Ethiopia as the equivalent of the end of the world and its inhabitants as handsome people (e.g. Esth. 1:1 [kûš]; 8:9; Ezek. 29:10; Zeph. 3:10; Homer, Odyssey 1.22-23; Herodotus, History 3.17-20; Strabo, Geography17.2.1-3. (ibid.)

The Ethiopian “was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah” (v. 28). The Spirit directs Philip to join the Ethiopian in the chariot (v. 29). Philip asks about the reading (v. 30) and the Ethiopian asks for Philip’s guidance. “How can I [understand], unless someone guides me?” So Philip is invited into the chariot (v. 31). The passage read was the following:

Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter

and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

So he does not open his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him (hJ krivsiV aujtou: h[rqh, hē krisis autou ērthē LXX)

Who can describe his generation?

For his life (hJ zwh; aujtou:, hē zōē autou LXX) is taken away (airetai) from the earth (ajpo; th:V gh:V, apo tēs gēs LXX). (Acts 8:32-33, citing Isa. 53:7-8 LXX)

The Hebrew text, Hq0!lu FP!w4m09m9U rc@fom2 (mē‘ōtser ûmimmišpāt luqqāch, “By a perversion of justice he was taken away” NRSV, more literally, “From oppression and from justice he was taken”) is paraphrased a bit in the Septuagint. For the line, “his life is taken away from the earth” (Acts 58:33c), Isaiah has “For he was cut off (rz1gn9, nigzar) from the land of the living (Myy09H1 Cr@x@m2, mē’erets chayyîm)” (Isa. 53:8c NRSV).

The Ethiopian asks directly about the meaning of the passage. “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” (v. 34). It’s a question many would ask later, but Philip is clear: it refers to Jesus. “Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus” (v. 35). Gaventa notes a similar instance “where Jesus explains ‘things about himself’ from scripture” (op. cit., on Acts 8:35, citing Lk. 24:27). The eunuch’s request for baptism (v. 36) implies a response of faith and acceptance of the gospel message (made explicit in two or three ways by the addition of verse 37 in several later manuscripts and some second and third century church fathers; cf. NRSV text note a). This passage is significant as one of the clearest applications of Isaiah chapter 53 as a reference to Jesus in the New Testament. Compare the use of Isaiah 53:1 in John 12:38 and Romans 10:16; Isaiah 53:3 in Acts 13:47; Isaiah 53:4 in Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4-6 in 1 Peter 2:24-25; Isaiah 53:9 in 1 Peter 2:24-25; Isaiah 53:12 in Luke 22:37; cf. Hebrews 9:28 and 1 Peter 2:24-25.

Loveday Alexander comments on the significance of this event:

Later tradition identified the eunuch as the first Gentile convert, and the founder of the Ethiopian church (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 2.1.13), but this does not seem quite to fit Luke’s plot, with its elaborate buildup to the conversion of Cornelius in ch. 10. Luke lays more stress on the eunuch’s links with Judaism: this is a man who has been to worship in the Jerusalem temple (v. 27) and is reading the prophet Isaiah (v. 28). Given the existence of a well-documented Jewish community; at Elephantine (Aswan), Jewish influence south of Egypt is not implausible. Ancient readers would certainly imagine this character as an African: Ethiopia, in ancient geography, was the equivalent of Nubia, today’s Sudan, rather than the modern Ethiopia. Readers who knew their Bibles might also pick up prophetic resonances, in which the Ethiopians (Heb. ‘Cushites’) figure among the most distant peoples from who God will gather a remnant to worship in Jerusalem (e. g. Isa. 11:11; Zeph. 3:9-10). (Loveday Alexander, The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001, p. 1039, on Acts 8:26-40)

Christopher R. Matthews suggests that “Since in the ancient Mediterranean world Ethiopia was often considered to be located at the ‘ends of the earth’ (e.g. Odyssey 1.22-23; Herodotus 3:25), this conversion proleptically fulfills the prediction of 1:8” (op. cit. on v. 38; cf. the citation from Gaventa, above).

John 6:16-27

Jesus Walks on the Water (Mt 14.22-33; Mk 6.45-52)

16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

The Bread from Heaven

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:16-27, NRSV)

On February 2, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), comments were repeated from January 3, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, ref. for Jan. 3, Year Two), when they were repeated from March 20, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year One), when comments were repeated then with revision and supplement from March 8, 2005, two years ago (Tuesday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year One) from January 3, 2006 (Tuesday in the week of the First Sunday after Christmas, references listed for Jan 3), on January 28, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), and from August 24, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 17, Year Two). The revised comments are repeated again here. For comments on Mark’s version of the Walking on the Water and the Healings at Gennesaret, see the comments for January 26, 2007 (Friday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), and the related (linked) file Walking on the Water.

It is often noted that the feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle described in all four Gospels. In three it is followed by the walking on the water (Mk. 6:30-44 and 45-52; Mt. 14:13-21 and 22-33; Jn. 6:1-15 and 16-21). After Luke’s account of the feeding (9:10-17), he omits a series of events that are recorded in Mark (6:45-8:26; cf. Mt. 14:22-16:12). Luke apparently had an abundance of material, perhaps a “first draft” before he began to use Mark as a source (as some believe). Raymond E. Brown comments on the meaning of the narratives about Jesus’ walking on the water:

In the Marcan-Matthean version where Jesus calms the sea and gets into the boat, this miracle story takes on the aspect of a nature miracle in which the disciples are rescued. However, in John, where such elements are missing, the substance of the miracle is significantly different. (We take for granted that the evangelist does intend to portray a miracle . . .). The most plausible explanation is that John treats the scene as a divine epiphany centered on the expression ego eimi [“I am”] in vs. 20. . . . [which the fourth evangelist has made] a leitmotiv of the Gospel. (The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible 29A, 1966, on Jn. 6:16-21).

John does report that “a strong wind was blowing” (Jn. 6:19b). According to Mark the disciples “were straining at the oars against an adverse wind” (Mk. 6:48), and Matthew puts it this way: “by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them” (Mt. 14:24). John’s limited reference to a strong wind is not followed by a report that it subsided; it is only the sight of the approaching Jesus that leaves them “terrified” (Jn. 6:19). Mark reports that when Jesus got into the boat, “the wind ceased” (Mk. 6:51; cf. Mt. 14:32). Only Matthew reports Peter’s attempt to come to Jesus on the water (Mt. 14:28-32).

Brown also suggests possible “Passover symbolism” in this walking on the sea. “The Passover Haggadah, the liturgical narrative recited at the Passover meal, as it is preserved for us from a slightly later period, closely associates the crossing of the sea and the gift of the manna” (ibid., p. 255).

In Mark, it appears that the crowd met the boat with the disciples and Jesus (Mk. 6:53-54). In Matthew, it is “the people of that place” (Gennesaret) who recognize Jesus (Mt. 14:34). In John the crowd seems a little more confused. They saw “only one boat” and also “that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples” (Jn 6:22). This, of course, precedes the Walking on the Water. And the people catch up with Jesus in Capernaum (Jn. 6:24) rather than Gennesaret. The towns appear to be about five miles apart (by the scale of Map 13, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001). The crowd is careful to observe Jesus’ movements and to catch up with him (Jn. 6:22-24), but Jesus is disappointed. He tells them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26). And he admonishes them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal” (v. 27). As he did with water in discussion with the woman of Samaria, Jesus emphasizes spiritual bread rather than physical (cf. Jn. 4:13-14). With these verses (6:26-27, with no parallels in the other Gospels), Jesus introduces his discourse on the Bread of Life (6:26-59).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net