Job chapter 2

After reading chater 2:

*On another day the Angels came again, to present themselves to Yahweh. Let's stop here for a minute. This week I discovered that the hebrew words  we see translated as "angels" in this book literally mean sons or children of God (Elohim). The Hebrew word "bene," from this passage, is translated in other places as sons or children. Not spiritual children...physical offspring. These so called Angels, literally translated, are the children of the gods. Not only that, Satan the adversary, is one of them.

*Yahweh again asks the adversary where he has been. He again says he was roaming back and forth through the earth. (The bible excels at repetition.) Yahweh again brings the perfection of Job to the adversary's attention, asking him to notice how Job maintained his integrity in spite of the adversary inciting Yahweh to ruin him without reason. Then the adversary ups the ante. He implies that men are so self centered they will endure any loss as long as they are not bodily afflicted. He dares Yahweh to really hurt Job physically, and see if Job refrains from cursing him then.

*Strangely enough, Yahweh takes the dare. He gives the adversary permission to do anything but kill Job. Doesn't christianity say God is omnicient? Wouldn't Yahweh already know what torture Job will be going through and how he will handle it? Is this an ethical bet? Also, how could a loving God sit by and  allow so much pain and suffering? Is it fair to Job? Well, so far, the bible hasn't actually said that Yahweh is completely omnicient, full of loving kindness, ethical or fair. I think I would be very angry if I believed that some  God was piling hurts on me to see if I would cave in.

*So, the adversary leaves Yahweh and gives Job sores, possibly boils,  all over his body. Job meekly sits among the ashes and scrapes the sores with a piece of broken pottery. Meanwhile, his wife says, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God (Elohim) and die!" The study bible and the online interlinear text both say that the word "curse"here in English  is actually the word "bless" in Hebrew (barek). From what I can tell, the book of Job is the only place this word was translated as "curse" in English. It was apparently an euphemism to say "bless God." In the same way, a southern american may facetiously say "bless your heart" and mean the opposite. I imagine the wife of Job, and the authors of Job, were superstitious enough to think that if they personally said or wrote the literal words "curse God," they might be found guilty of blasphemy themselves. It is interesting that the modern English writers have no such Qualms.

*Notice that the worst thing that could happen to Job in this story is physical death. There is no mention of an afterlife, or eternal punishment. So, really, if he felt like he was practically dead already, what more harm could a little cursing do? But apparently Job had enough life left in him  to rebuke his wife and call her a fool, which is an insult. Then he says, "Shall we except good from God (Elohim) and not trouble?" Here again, the translators have been somewhat dishonest. The Hebrew word translated "trouble" is hara, which literally means "evil." Yes, Job said we need to accept evil from the gods. It is made clear from examining this story that that is where evil comes from... If you believe in gods.

*Last, we are introduced to Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go comfort Job. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him and began to weep. They tore their clothes and sprinkled dust on their heads, a sign of grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights without saying a word. Those were some hardy people.

Job chapter 1, part 3

*Now that the adversary has permission to mess up Job's life, things start to happen. One day, all Job's kids were feasting and drinking at the oldest son's house. Then a messenger came to
Job and told him the Sabeans had attacked and carried off the oxen that were plowing (All 500 pairs of oxen at once?) and the donkeys that were grazing (All 500 donkeys at once?). They also killed all the servants and that messenger was the only one that had escaped. That appears to be a a lie, because another messenger comes and tells Job that fire from God (Elohim) fell from the sky and burned up the sheep (All 7,000 sheep at once?) and all the servants. That messenger was the only one who escaped. He looks like a liar too when another messenger comes and tells Job that three raiding parties of  Chaldeans carried off the camels (All 5,000 camels at once? ) and killed all the servants. He was the only one left. Wait. There was yet another messenger. He told Job that the house where all his children were feasting had been knocked down by a mighty desert wind. The children were all dead and the messenger was the sole survivor.

*So, in rapid succession, four sole surviving servants told Job he had lost all his livestock, servants, and children. But he still had the four servants, his land, and his wife. Job tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground in worship. He said these famous words, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; May Yahweh's name be praised." Job did not sin by charging God (Elohim) of wrongdoing. Is he human?

*I will assume that because the text emphasizes that Job did not accuse God, or the gods, of wrong doing, there must have been people complaining of just that when this passage was written. We are being given a foreshadowing of the main point: If you want to be considered devout, you don't become God's accuser or adversary, no matter how bad life gets.

Job chapter 1, part 2

*Now that the stage is set, we are told that the Angels, including Satan, came to present themselves before Yahweh. This is the first time we have encountered Satan. The English text uses a capital letter S to show that Satan is one of the Angels' names. However, literally translated, it would be a common noun, not a proper noun...ha-satan, " the accuser" or "the adversary." He is the accuser and adversary of mankind, not the adversary of Yahweh. It is a job description, not a name. Basically, he was like a prosecuting attorney for the state. Satan does not become a proper name, or a devil, until later in history. Notice, he comes into Yahweh's presence, speaks to him, and bargains with him. Is this what a "fallen" Angel does? Yahweh allows that? If Satan is evil, how can he be in Yahweh's presence? When was Satan supposed to have been cast out of heaven anyway? Speaking of heaven, where does this supernatural conference take place? Heaven is not mentioned.

*Believe it or not, we have met a satanic adversary before. In Numbers 22:22, the Angel of Yahweh that appears to  Balaam is le-satan, an adversary. Now, however, Yahweh asks the adversary of this story where he has been. He says he's been roaming back and forth through the earth. Then Yahweh asks the adversary if he has noticed how perfect Job is, and how he fears God and shuns evil. A quick reminder here: "God" in the English text is usually translated from the Canaanite/Hebrew word Elohim, which is a collective singular and could refer to a group or council of gods. "Lord" is translated from Yahweh, the specific Israelite God. Why does Yahweh say Job fears Elohim and not himself? If Elohim is another name for Yahweh, why does he speak of himself in the third person?

*Also, after a quick skim through the book of Job, I noticed that Yahweh, or lord, is only referred to in the beginning prose chapters and a few chapters at the end. The bulk of the poetic portion of the book uses the term Elohim, translated God. This is one reason why some biblical scholars think there were multiple authors and contributions to the text of the bible. They often compare and contrast the portions of text that emphasize either Yahweh or Elohim. The Elohim portions are assumed to be written at an earlier date, before the monotheistic worship of Yahweh. The Yahweh portions of this book could have been added at a later time, possibly by Israelite priests. We will visit this possibility again.

*Moving on. The adversary tells Yahweh that of course Job fears God (Elohim), because Yahweh has "put a hedge around him" and everything that belongs to him. (Have you ever heard a Christian pray for a "hedge of protection?") Yahweh has personally blessed everything Job has done. But, says the adversary, if Yahweh was to eliminate Job's wealth, surely Job would curse Yahweh to his face. Then Yahweh caves in and tells the adversary he can do anything he wants to Job's possessions, but he can't touch Job. Then the adversary left Yahweh's presence.

Deuteronomy chapter 10

After reading chapter 10:

*Now Moses tells about his chiseling of the second set of stone tablets and his construction of the ark. Even my study bible's footnotes admit that this sequence of events is different than that in Exodus 34-37. There, the ark is not made til after Moses brings the second set of tablets down from the mountain, and then it was made by Bezalel, not Moses. Also, the commands Yahweh gave Moses to put on the second set of the stone tablets in Exodus 34 are very different than the famous "Ten Commandments" mentioned in Deuteronomy. The ones in Deuteronomy say nothing about feasts, sacrifices, or cooking young goats in their mother's milk.

*Then we are told in an aside that the Levite's inheritance is the lord not land and they have the responsibility of caring for the ark with the commandments inside. After the aside, Moses stays on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights, again. Then God tells him to go lead the Israelites to the promised land. Again they are reminded to obey god's commands, for their own good. Again they are told everything belongs to God and God loves them in spite of their obvious flaws (why?).

*Verse 17 is in praise of Yahweh, the lord of lords and God of gods. This is an interesting verse. Does it mean the Israelites believed there were other gods besides Yahweh? If you look at an interlinear translation, you can see that the word "gods" is a form of Elohim, the same word translated as "God" (singular) a great many times in scriptures so far. The verse says God shows no partiality, but he obviously shows partiality to the Israelites. It says he accepts no bribes but we have seen that he expects many many sacrifices. We are told he loves the alien (foreigners) but he plans on destroying the Canaanites. Then the Israelites are told  to *love* aliens because they were aliens in Egypt. ???
Well, guess what, they are still aliens in Deuteronomy. They just think they own land that belongs to someone else.

*Lastly, they are told again to fear God and serve him.

I use the Bible Hub website for interlinear translation.

Exodus chapter 18

After reading chapter 18:

*Apparently, Moses had sent his wife and two sons back to Zipporah's father, Jethro, the priest of Midian. Jethro had received the news of the Israelites' exit from Egypt and was pleased. He took his daughter and grandsons back to Moses. When he arrived at the camp, Moses told him about everything that had happened. Jethro praised Yahweh and said that now he knew Yahweh was greater than all the other gods. A funny thing about the Hebrew word ha-elohim, translated as " other gods" in this passage. In almost every other passage in the Old Testament, it is translated as the singular God with a capital G. What if all those other passages should have been translated as gods, plural, instead? At any rate, it is obvious from verse 11 that other gods were believed to exist.

*Jethro, being a priest, brings a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God. Wait! This God is the hebrew word Elohim, a plural word usually translated as singular. Was Jethro sacrificing to "the gods" or to "God?" It doesn't say he was sacrificing to "the lord" which is how Yahweh is translated into English. Even more telling is the next line that says Jethro, Moses, Aaron, and the elders ate bread in the presence of God. God here is the same Hebrew word, ha-elohim, that was translated as "other gods" in verse 11. You can see this for yourself if you look up the text in an online interlinear version. I usually use Bible Hub. First do a search for the verse, then click on INT in the version selection bar.

*Why would translators choose to make the word mean gods in one instance and God in another? Is there any chance they were not willing to show that the early Hebrews believed in other gods as well as Yahweh?

*The next day, Moses began to act as a judge for the Israelites. He was bombarded with cases of disputes from morning to night. Jethro asked him why he was doing this. Moses replied that the people came to him to seek God's will. ( Elohim, not Yahweh.) Moses would judge the cases and inform the people of God's laws. (Ha-Elohim, not Yahweh.) Whose laws was Moses dispensing?

*Anyway, Jethro told Moses he was working too hard and micromanaging over a million people. He needed to delegate authority. He explained how to go about it and Moses took his advice. Capable men were made leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Moses only got the hard cases. Then Jethro returned to his own country.

Edited.