Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
We are about half of the way through Job on our look at 'Heart/hearts' verses in the Bible, in the midst of the argument and rebuttal between Job and his friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. In the third round, we pick up in a harangue by Eliphaz, accusing Job of all SORTS of low-down, mean and nasty things, and he sums up by saying if Job would just repent and turn back to God everything would be fine.
"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;..." -- Job 22:21-23a (Heart is the familiar Strong's H 3824 -Lebab)
Job responds that he wants to plead his case before God; he recognizes that
"...he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. that is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me." Job 23:13-16 ('Heart' here is the other familiar word, Strong's H 3820 - Leb)
Of course, Job (and his friends) still believe that God is directly responsible for all the evil...that he caused it, rather than just allowing it, and none of them consider for a moment that there may be a purpose beyond their experience.
Bildad makes the last response to Job in chapter 25, and Job sarcastically chews him out, basically saying that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Then Job launches into his final speech, which manages to assert his own integrity and state his longing for wisdom enough to comprehend why God acted as he did; then he reflects on how his life was before the disaster hit, and the good works that he did while he was wealthy and had influence, e.g.
"Whoever heard me spoke well of me, and those who saw me commended me, because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist him. The man who was dying blessed me; I made the widow's heart sing. I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban." -- Job 29 :11-14; (Heart is H 3820 again).
Then he laments his current state, and concludes by relating a list of evils, saying 'If I did these things, then I deserve this.'...
"If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled, then may others eat what I have sown, and my my crops be uprooted. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, then may my wife grind another man's grain, and may other men sleep with her." -- Job 31:7-10 ('Heart' is H 3820 in both instances).
Yeowch, y'all. That's harsh. But that's raw emotion. Job doesn't believe he has done anything to deserve what has happened to him. He continues,
"If I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep...then let my arm fall from my shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint." - Job 31:19-20,22
This is a new one; the word the NIV renders as 'heart' is Strong's H2504, Chalats - " châlâts, 'khaw-lawts'; from H2502 (in the sense of strength); only in the dual; the loins (as the seat of vigor):—loins, reins."
It's not the same word that was rendered 'reins' in the last study; I did a little perusal of other translations and found that the KJV renders it 'loins'; the latest edition of the NASB renders it 'body', and the AMP reads 'If his loins have not thanked me (for clothing them)...' I kinda get the idea that the thanking is not just for the quality of the garment but also for the fact that it literally covers up the individual's shame of being naked...as in, the part of the body that is covered is grateful. I suppose the NIV used 'heart' in the term of the inner man being grateful, like the NASB's use of 'body', to avoid the slightly crude imagery of the loins being grateful. Either way, it doesn't really conflict with Job's point.
Moving on...
"...if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in its splendor, so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage, then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high" -- Job 31:26-28; 'Heart' is once more H3820.
Job admired the sun and moon...God's handiwork...but he didn't worship them, as have many societies throughout the centuries.
Finally,
"...If I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt f the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside -- ...then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended. -- Job 31:33-34, 40.
Another interesting translation. The word translated 'heart' here does not appear anywhere else in the Old Testament. It is Strong's H2243, hob, apparently derived from H2245...'bosom' ,which is the word used in the Amplified. "Heart" is not a far stretch from 'bosom', but I wonder what was unique to the word 'bosom' that made it the only word that would do in that verse, since it is not used elsewhere?
We will finish Job in the next post; I want to hang here a minute and look at Job's refusal to 1) curse God or accuse him of wrongdoing, though he was very frustrated that God didn't explain himself and 2) admit to any wrongdoing...because he really and truly had no hidden sin in his life. His practice was regular confession and sacrifice; there really was nothing that should have brought judgment of this level against him.
But Job and his friends never even considered that the suffering wasn't some sort of judgment. 'Bad things happen to Bad People and Good things happen to Good People' was the basis of their assessment of Job's situation...and it was an error. Terrible things can and do happen to good people...look at Jesus, for crying out loud. But what happened to Jesus wasn't about Jesus at all... and what happened to Job really wasn't at all about Job.
Good points to keep in the back of the mind as we head into the conclusion.
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