Good Evening Yamon Ki Yesepar;
Job 40:1-2: Moreover, the Lord answer Job, and said: ‘Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it.’ ”
We always say that Job went through his suffering but never sinned. That is not quite right. Job did do something wrong, he asked God. “Why?” There was a belief in ancient times that still carries over to today. The logic is this:
Suffering is due to sin
Job is suffering
Therefore Job is a sinner.
Well the Book of Job just blows apart the presupposition that suffering is due to sin, because Job was righteous.
If you ever took a philosophy class in college your professor no doubt told you the story of the final exam given in an Ivy League school. The professor walked into class and put one word on the blackboard “Why.” All the students spent the whole class hour writing on the word “why,” except one student who wrote four words on his paper, placed it on the professor’s desk and walk out. There was only one “A” given on the test. It was, of course, the student who wrote the four words: “I don’t know why.”
When my brother was learning the Amana language in New Guinea in preparation to translate the Bible into that language, he found that he could not get the people to give him an Amana word for “why.” He noticed the men put blood on their bows before going out to hunt. So the next time they prepared to hunt, my brother asked: “—— did you put blood on your bows.” He was hoping they would understand he was asking “why” and they would fill in the blank. They replied; “Yes, we put blood on the bows.” Later when visiting a neighboring village he was talking with the chief about his problem and told the story of the blood on bows. The chief laughed and said; “Andy, did it ever occur to you that they do not have a word for ‘why.’ In fact if they knew you were asking why they would be insulted. “What, you think we are stupid, we don’t have a reason for doing what we do?’
“Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct Him?” The word contend is “cherov” which is in an imperative form and means to dry up. Shall he who tells the Almighty to dry up instruct Him.” Well, maybe that is not a correct translation but it does come close for the word has the idea of waste, ruin, worthless. In other words, Job was telling God that his suffering was a waste, worthless, of no value. The word instruct is really a guess at what the next two words really mean. It’s meaning is uncertain. The words are yisor mokich. Literally, a reprover he who reproves. See why the meaning is difficult. Yisor has the idea of turning to oneself. The root is samek, beth,, beth. The samek represents a shelter and the beth represents your heart, thus this turning to oneself literally means “let him find shelter in his own heart.” Mokich is in a Hiphil form and carries the idea of proving or showing.
To paraphrase what God is saying to Job is: “Job, if you can ask the Almighty (Shaddai), why, when you can’t even understand or comprehend all the things I listed in the previous chapter, then show me you can find shelter in your own heart. Otherwise, you will have to just trust Me.” As my old Hebrew professor like to put it: “Job, I can explain to you why, but you would never understand it, so just trust me.”
Like the Amana people my brother questioned. If they knew he was asking why, they would be insulted. So to with God. When Job asked God why, he was really insulting God. “What, you think I don’t know what I doing. I am allowing you to suffer cherov, for no reason. You think I don’t love you, that I am not in control?”
You know, I am beginning to realize that I am just too dog gone human to really understand the mind of God. As you can tell from my devotionals, I really spend a lot of time trying to figure out things. But, you know, there are some things you just can’t figure out. I’ve stopped asking Him why when I go through a dark valley. Now, I just simply say: “Ok, Lord, I will trust you. I will trust that you love me and are in control, but remember, 100 years from now, You and I have an appointment on some street corner in Heaven and then you can explain it to me.”
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