Job 8:1-10, 20-22

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

2 “How long will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

3 Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

4 If your children sinned against him,

he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

5 If you will seek God

and make supplication to the Almighty,

6 if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will rouse himself for you

and restore to you your rightful place.

7 Though your beginning was small,

your latter days will be very great.

8 “For inquire now of bygone generations,

and consider what their ancestors have found;

9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,

for our days on earth are but a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out of their understanding? (Job 8:1-10, NRSV)

20 “See, God will not reject a blameless person,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouts of joy.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.” (Job 8:20-22, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from August 31, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, Year Two):

Bildad, the second of Job’s friends to speak, dispenses with opening courtesies such as Eliphaz used. Eliphaz first asked, “If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?” (Job 4:1), but Bildad’s questions border on sarcasm. “How long will you say these things, / and the words of your mouth be a great wind?” (Job 8:2). “Does God pervert justice? / Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” (v. 3). Eliphaz responds to Job’s personal lament, which has not yet raised issues related to God’s justice in the world and his overbearing treatment of mere human beings (chap. 7). Bildad, at least, has apparently understood Job to be questioning God’s justice, for he asks, “Does God pervert justice? / Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” (v. 4). Leong Seow says that, “from this point forward many of the speeches will begin with a criticism of the previous speaker’s words (see 11:2-3; 12:2-3; 15:2-6; 16:2-3; 18:2-3; 19:2-3; 20:2-3; 21:2-3; 26:2-4), an expected element in a wisdom dialogue (cf. The ‘Babylonian Theodicy’ (ANET, 601-604), a poem whose theme is similar to that of the book of Job)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Job 8:2). What we have here may fit the literary form, but it is real and personal to Job. According to Mayer Gruber,

Job has already needlessly apologized in 6:3 for his rambling utterance (ch. 3), which was itself a perfectly reasonable response. Instead of comforting Job, Bildad insults him for having expressed his feelings. In 11:2-3 Zophar will do the same thing. Eliphaz will follow suit in 15:1. Bildad insists that God acts justly and if one is suffering, it must be because he has sinned. Nevertheless, Bildad urges Job to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. It is God, after all, who sustains the world. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, p. 1515 on Job 8:2).

Bildad applies the doctrine of retribution first to Job’s deceased children. “If your children sinned against him, / he delivered them into the power of their transgression” (v. 4); according to Seow, he thus “raises the possibility, already considered by Job (1:5), that his children had offended God” (op. cit., on vv. 3-4). But his direct advice to Job is to repent. “If you will seek God / and make supplication to the Almighty, / if you are pure and upright, / surely then he will rouse himself for you / and restore to you your rightful place” (vv. 5-6). Job’s “latter days” will then be greater than his “small” beginning (v. 7). We know from the Epilogue (42:7-17), that the last point will be true, but not as a result of the kind of “repentance” that Bildad calls for, though Job does say that he has misspoken (42:3); “therefore I despise myself, / and repent (yT9m4h1n9w4, w^enichamtî) in dust and ashes” (42:6; cf. 40:4-5). The term translated “repent” in 42:6 apparently means “regret” (1 Sam. 15:23), “(allow oneself to) be sorry” (Ps. 90:13; Judg. 21:8, 15), or “comfort, console oneself” (Gen. 24:67) (William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. Mhn, n-ch-m), though some see it as repenting of sin. The more common term for repenting of sin is bUw (šûv), which has many meanings, variations on the basic meaning “turn” or “return” (Holladay, s.v. bUw, šûv). The former term is frequently used of God when he changes his mind or “relents,” as in Jeremiah 18:8: “but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns (bw!v4, wešāv) from its evil, I will change my mind (yT9m4H1n9v4, wenichamtî) about the disaster that I intended to bring on it” (NRSV). For “I will change my mind,” the Authorized or King James version has “I will repent,” and Today’s New International Version has “I will relent.” In this instance the human turning from evil is expressed by the verb bUw (šûv), and the resulting change of God’s mind by the verb Mhn (n-ch-m, cf. Jer. 26:3). Two verses later, the LORD says, “But if it [i.e. ‘that nation (yOGh1, haggôy, v. 8)] does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind (yT9m4H1n9v4, w^enichamtî) about the good that I had intended to do to it” (Jer. 18:10). In Jeremiah 31:19 he puts these words in the mouth of Ephraim, “For after I had turned away (yb9Uw, šûvî) I repented (yT9m4H1n9, nichamtî) . . .” and suggests that it leads to the LORD’s mercy on Ephraim (v. 20). So, while the sense, “I repent of sin” is possible in Job 42:6, in the light of God’s overwhelming speech about his powers over the world, the LORD tells the friends of Job, “you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done” (v. 8), which would seem to clear Job of sinning in the strict sense. Adam Clarke explains Job’s meaning in using the word “repent” in v. 6:

I am deeply distressed on account of the imaginations of my heart, the words of my tongue, and the acts of my life. I roll myself in the dust and sprinkle ashes upon my head. Job is now sufficiently humbled at the feet of Jehovah; and having earnestly and piously prayed for instruction, the Lord, in a finishing speech, which appears to be contained in the first fourteen verses of chap. xi., perfects his teaching on the subject of the late controversy, which is concluded with, ‘When thou canst act like the Almighty,’ which is, in effect, what the questions and commands amount to in the preceding verses of that chapter, ‘then will I also confess unto thee, that thy own right hand can save thee.’ (Adam Clarke, Commentary, vol. III., p 192 on Job. 42:6)

So we may conclude that Bildad’s advice to repent, advice which is appropriate in many human situations, was inappropriate in this instance. But he continues: “If (Mx9, ’ îm) you [Job] are pure and upright, / surely then he [God] will rouse himself for you / and restore to you your rightful place” (Job 8:6). Although the particle Ul (lû) normally introduces the “contrary to fact condition,” there is some variation with the occasional use of Mx9 (’ îm) for Ul (lû) in that sense, which is surely Bildad’s meaning here. The statement is ironic as well, for the thrust of Bildad’s whole speech is that Job is anything but “pure and upright.” If he were, though he had a small beginning–Bildad thus refers to the one of whom God has said, “There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil” (1:8)–his “latter days will be very great” (8:7). This end result will be true as we learn from the Epilogue (42:10-17), but not for the reasons Bildad has in mind.

As Bildad continues to present what Seow calls “the orthodox view that God does not distort justice” (op. cit., on vv. 3-4), he attributes it to “the wisdom of bygone generations instead of we [who] know nothing, [which the narrator contrasts] with Job’s reliance on his own experience (6:4-7:30)” (ibid., on vv. 8-10). After a series of observations about nature, for example, papyrus reeds (vv. 11-13), the fragile spider’s house (i.e., web, vv. 14-15), roots which “twine around the stoneheap” (v. 16, cf. vv. 16-18), Bildad summarizes, “God will not reject a blameless person, / nor take the hand of evildoers” (v. 20). Assuming that Job takes Bildad’s advice, Bildad promises, “He [God] will yet fill your mouth with laughter, / and your lips with shouts of joy” (v. 21). “Those who hate you [Job] will be clothed with shame,” says Bildad, in conclusion, “and the tent of the wicked [presumably, the ‘wicked’ who ‘hate’ Job] will be no more” (v. 22).

Acts 10:17-33

17 Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate. 18 They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. 19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. 20 Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.” 21 So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?” 22 They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” 23 So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him. 24 The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. 26 But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; 28 and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?”

30 Cornelius replied, “Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. 31 He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.” (Acts 10::17-33, NRSV)

On July 12, 2007 (Wednesday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year One), comments were repeated from August 31, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, Year Two), when they were repeated from July 7, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 6, Year One); they are repeated again here with some editing and supplement:

As noted yesterday Cornelius acts on his vision, responding to the angel’s instructions. “When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa” (Acts 10:7-8). Peter, on the other hand, comes out of his trance uncertain for the moment about the meaning, “greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen” (v. 17a). But he soon learns more, for “suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate” (v. 17b). These messengers “called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there” (v. 18). Peter does not respond to this call, but rather to a word from the Spirit. “While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them’ ” (vv. 19-20). According to Christopher R. Matthews, “the Spirit’s message obliquely refers to Cornelius’s vision and is reminiscent of the coordinated visions of Ananias and Paul in ch. 9” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Acts 10:19-20).

“So Peter went down to the men,” says Luke, “and said, ‘I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?’ ” (v. 21). The messengers’ answer explains that Cornelius was directed to send for him. “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say” (v. 22). At that, Peter invites them in for the night (v. 23a). We note that the guest in Simon the Tanner’s house welcomes other guests!–surely with the Tanner’s permission. “Peter,” says Matthews, “is prepared to associate with Gentiles” (ibid., on v. 23).

“The next day,” we are told, Peter “got up and went with them [i.e., Cornelius’s messengers], and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him” (v. 23b). These who accompanied Peter to the house of Cornelius will serve as witnesses of this momentous occasion (cf. vv. 45-46). After a two-day journey, on “the following day, they came to Caesarea” (v. 24a). Given the preparation by his heavenly vision, “Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends” (v. 24b). Peter found Cornelius very receptive, in fact, “falling at his feet,” [he] worshiped him” (v. 25). Paul and Barnabas were later taken for Zeus and Hermes by the people of Lystra (Acts 14:11-13), but as one attracted to the religion of Judaism, including its monotheism, Cornelius would not make that mistake. Even so, Peter says, “Stand up; I am only a mortal” (v. 26). When they enter finding “that many had assembled (v. 27), Peter begins to realize (or to express his realization) of the meaning of his vision:

You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me? (Acts 10:28-29, NRSV)

If God has “cleansed” the Gentiles, who is Peter that he should call them unclean (v. 28, cf. v. 15). Cornelius in turn explains his vision. ““Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea’ ” (vv. 30-32). And he explains his response and the present gathering of people. “Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say” (v. 33). But what Peter has to say and its results are in tomorrow’s reading.

John 7:14-36

14 About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. 15 The Jews were astonished at it, saying, “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?” 16 Then Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. 17 Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. 22 Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? 24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Is This the Christ?

25 Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? 27 Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” 28 Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. 29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” 30 Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Officers Are Sent to Arrest Jesus

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. 33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” (John 7:14-36, NRSV)

On March 12, 2007 (Monday in the week of the Third Sunday of Lent, Year One), comments were repeated from August 31, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Sunday closest to August 24, 2006, Year Two) when they were combined and revised from comments on John 7:14-31 from January 30, 2005 (the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year One), comments that were repeated from February 28, 2005 (Monday of the week of the Third Sunday in Lent, Year One) and from February 4, 2006 (Saturday in the week of the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two). The revised combined comments are repeated again here.

John’s narrative of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, surprisingly brief as compared to the other Gospels, concludes with the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus walking on the sea, and the discussion on the bread of life in chapter six. Apart from the post-resurrection appearance in Galilee in the final chapter, beginning in chapter seven Jesus’ activities are all in or around Jerusalem (at Bethany, 11:1-44; 12:1-11; at Ephraim, 11:54). The public ministry of Jesus in Jerusalem is reported in connection with a series of Jewish festivals, often emphasizing their significance in pointing to Jesus as the Messiah (Christ). At Passover time, Jesus cleanses the temple (Jn. 2:13-22), and the conversation with Nicodemus follows (3:1-21). The healing of the lame man at the pool of Beth-zatha (5:1-18) was during “a festival of the Jews” (5:1). When he fed the five thousand, “the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near” (6:4). Festival of Booths themes (7:1) appear in the discussions of chapters seven (water) and eight (light). The festival of the Dedication (Hanukkah) (10:22) also involved lights. “Then they offered incense on the altar and lit the lamps on the lampstand, and these gave light to the temple” (1 Macc. 4:50). Healing the blind man (chap. 9), and the Pharisees’ question, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” (9:40) also relate to the lights of Booths and Hanukkah. In John’s account, Jesus’ crucifixion takes place on “the day of Preparation for the Passover” (19:14), so the Last Supper (chaps. 13-17), not called a “Passover” (cf. Mk. 14:12, 16; Mt. 26:18, 19; Lk. 22:8, 11, 13, 15), is not specifically tied to the Seder meal, unless a different calendar is being followed.

The fact that so much of John’s narrative takes place in Jerusalem may serve to explain the presence of extended heated debates with “the Jews” (Jn. 7:15, and throughout these debates), a term which probably means a small group of Jewish leaders located there. In today’s reading, discussion continues between Jesus and “the Jews,” that is, the group of Jewish leaders who were hostile to Jesus. They appear briefly at the time of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (Jn. 2:18, 20). The discussion, or rather, the rather hostile debating, begins in chapter five after the healing of the lame man–“the Jews started persecuting him because he was doing such things on the sabbath” (5:16), and “was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God” (v. 18)–and continues through that chapter. “The Jews” make an appearance, apparently in Galilee after the feeding of the 5000, in the discussion of Jesus claim to be “the bread of life” (6:35), and so the debate continues through chapter eleven with interruptions, mainly miracles (“signs”), which provoke further challenges and debates.

In chapter seven, though Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the Festival of Booths “as it were in secret” (Jn. 7:10), he begins to teach openly in the temple (v. 14). He continues the discussion of his relationship to the Father: “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me” (v. 16). A person of good will, “who resolves to do the will of God” will recognize that Jesus’ teaching is from God (vv. 17-18). Jesus condemns the Jews “because of their desire to kill him, ostensibly for healing on the sabbath (5:15-18), when the law enjoins circumcision even if the eighth day falls on a sabbath. If circumcision, why not healing?” (Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., NOAB, 3rd ed., on vv. 19-24). Controversy ensues. Some of the people, hearing that the leaders want to kill Jesus (v. 25), ask, “Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?” (v. 26). (Note the distinction made here between the people, Jewish people who are not believers in Jesus, and “the authorities,” that is, “the Jews–an important distinction for a proper understanding of John’s Gospel.) Jesus’ public assertion, “You know me, and you know where I am from. . . . I know him [the one who sent me], because I am from him [God], and he sent me” (vv. 28-29), leads to an attempt to arrest him, which failed because “his hour had not yet come” (v. 30). The crowd’s ambiguous, indecisive attitude toward Jesus (v. 31) alarms the leaders, who send temple police to arrest Jesus (v. 32), but these are stumped by Jesus’ enigmatic assertion: “You will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come” (v. 34). They don’t understand that he is going to “my Father’s house” (14:2), and so they speculate: “Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?” (7:35), providing another example of John’s sense of irony. By the time the Gospel was written and published, the Christian mission to convert the Gentiles (the “Greeks”) was well established, but these–the police?–are clueless about that. Here, as often throughout John’s Gospel, the central question is the identity of Jesus, and whether people will respond to him in faith, or become hostile and resist him. The intense encounters of Jesus with key Jewish leaders as described by John put the Christian claims about Jesus in bold relief–and we have responded accordingly–but they should not be misused to foster anti-Jewish attitudes. The New Testament describes sin as the condition of all human beings, and all human beings as equally in need of God’s redemption.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net