Job 29:18: “Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply [my] days as the sand.”

Christians can be so one dimensional.  That is what I just love studying the works and writings of the ancient rabbis and sages.  They have the ability to see a world in Scripture that we Christians just refuse to see because we will just not step out of our box.

I mean really what does Job 29:18 mean, I shall die in my nest.  Die in my nest? Does anyone die in their nest? One dies in their home or dwelling place.  I know the usual and sure kill explanation is that this is poetry and it is just a metaphor.  Ok, I will buy that but suppose it is not a metaphor, suppose it is using something to illustrate a fact?  We might be missing a blessing here.

A nest is a place where eggs are laid, usually by a bird. A bird builds a nest. In English we carry this over as a cute metaphor.  We say a pregnant woman is building her nest or a gold digger is feathering her nest.  Yet, just because this is an English metaphor does not necessarily mean it is a metaphor in the ancient Hebrew language. Maybe the writer is referring to an actual nest  by a bird.

The word nest is just that qen, which is a nest of a bird. It has been used for a chamber like the chambers in Noah’s ark or what we call stalls. Job is saying he will die in his stall, I am not sure that fits as well as if he used the word beth or home. Let us assume that Job is making a reference to a nest.

He concludes by saying that he will multiply his days as the sand. Have  you seen an ocean beach lately, that is a lot of grains of sand or a lot of days.  Even a sandbox has a whole lot of grains of sand. Even if  you scoop up some sand in the palm of your hand, you will still be talking an awful lot of days. The word for sand is kachol.  The ka is a preposition like or as.  It is like the sand.  The word chol however does not mean sand it means the swirling of the sand. Ever watch pictures of the wind blowing on the desert and it starts to swirl the sand around?  That is the word chol.  It is actually a word for a form of dancing in the Bible.  David chol before the ark of the covenant.  This is not the carefully choreographed dance you see on the phony movies of David.  This is simply a dance of twirling around in a circle.  

The Order of the Whirling Dervishes is a branch of the Sufi tradition of Islam.  Sufism is a way of life practicing love and service attempting to abandon one’s ego and false self to reach a spiritual maturity or perfection.  One ritual of Sufism is practiced by  the Order of the Whirling Dervishes who spin themselves in a circle.  A fundamental scientific condition of our existence is to revolve. Everything that exist is comprised of revolving  electrons, protons and neutrons in atoms.  This revolving of the Dervishes is an attempt to harmonize themselves with all things in nature.  Children in ancient times would worship God by spinning themselves around in a circle. The swirling action was often considered a sign of life or life in formation.

So Job is referencing something other than particles of sand.  He is speaking of the swirling whirling nature of sand. What does that have to do with the length of one’s days.  The ancient Egyptians at this time had a legend of the Bennu.  A Bennu was a bird that would die in a show of flames and combustion and fall to earth in a heap of ashes. In modern language he would crash and burn. But then the ashes would begin to swirl around and in the midst of this swirling of the ashes of the Bennu  there would arise a reborn Bennu to start a new life a new beginning.  Centuries later the Greeks would build their own legend on this and call their regenerated bird a Phoenix.

I think it is possible that Job is making a reference here to the Bennu saying that like the Bennu that dies in his nest, he will arise again, be regenerated into a new Bennu.  In fact the Jewish Bible actually renders the word chol in this verse as the Phoenix. Job was actually predicting his restoration. Is it possible that Job actually believed he would be restored and have a new beginning?  I think so, if not in this world he knew for certain he would have a new beginning in the world to come.

Do you ever feel  like the Bennu or Phoenix, your whole life goes down in flames, you crash and burn and all that is left is a pile of ashes?  That is what Job felt like but even in his worst moment he knew he would one day have a new beginning, if not in this world then in the world to come.  If your life has crashed and burned and you are sitting in a pile of ashes then look up, the wind of God is coming to begin to chol or swirl those ashes, lift your hands to heaven and praise and worship the God you love and he will renew, he will regenerate you and like the Bennu or Phoenix you will have a new beginning from the very ashes left where you crashed and burned.

If you haven’t crashed and burned then why not find yourself a secluded spot and being to spin around like you did as a child, look up to heaven and sing your praise to Him. I guarantee you will feel the joy of a new beginning even if you are not looking for one.