88. Why Do The Righteous Suffer?

It Would Be Nice To Know

Why do the righteous suffer?  There are about as many answers to this question as there are people with opinions.  Philosophers will deduce, argue, surmise and come up with opinions that one can accept or reject as one is inclined to.  Theologians will find their favourite Bible verses to prove their arguments; sensible or otherwise.

Why do the righteous suffer?  Because they were careless or did something foolish.  This is often true, but because that answer isn't deep, philosophical or theological we will bypass that one.

Why do the righteous suffer?  It is a method of teaching patience.  In some cases, it works, but because it is not always successful that cannot be the complete answer.  Besides which, we all know somebody who should be made to suffer if it would create more patience in that person.  Why, then, isn't that person suffering?

Why do the righteous suffer?  A simple answer is, suffering brings us closer to Christ.  This would be a great answer if it was true 100% of the time.  However, since it isn't always the case, that answer is not sufficient.  Job is portrayed, as a shining example, because he was one of those who did not lose his faith.  There are many cases where Christians completely lose their faith because of sociological, physical or material setbacks; those things that we might call "unanswered prayers".

Why do the righteous suffer?  Because life happens!  The righteous suffer, so do the wicked.  What happens to one is liable to happen to anyone.  There is no distinction.  The sense is, that as certainly as man is born, so sure is it that he will have trouble. It follows from the condition of our being, as certainly as ... sparks will ascend.  Based on Job 5:7 in Barnes Com.  This sounds as though Jehovah is not normally involved with an individual's situation.  Christ intimated as much when he said, For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Mat. 5:45. Christ was not speaking only of the weather; His is a generic statement which says, righteous or unrighteous - you get what you get. 

Let Us Not Blame Jehovah

Job, in contrast to his friends, stated his point of view concisely, One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. ... And another dies with bitter soul, and never eats with pleasure. They lie down together in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. Job 21:23-26.  This is not a comforting point of view but it is a lot more realistic than a lot of things we have heard from the pulpit.

Jehovah can, and will, take direct actions for people when He chooses to.  However, as a general rule "mother nature" will do whatever she will do; people's lives will be lost or destroyed, but in most cases, none of these things can be blamed on Jehovah; He simply was not involved.

Many Christians get much comfort from believing that Jehovah is in control of the very minutest aspect of their lives.  So, whether it is logical, or not, they attribute everything that happens in their lives to the plans of a higher power.  If one follows through with this logic one must end up with the following conclusion.

• It is Jehovah who sends mudslides which bury whole villages; 
• He sends tornadoes and earthquakes which kill thousands of people.  
• He allows droughts so that many people will starve to death.  

Is this the "God of Love" that the Bible tells us about?  No, that is a picture of a heinous God!  Therefore we cannot accept that Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is in charge of everything that happens in the world.

If we do not want to accept that "mother nature" is in charge of what happens Saint Paul gave us another option.  In 2 Cor. 4:4 he tells us that Satan is the god of this world.  Killing and maiming millions of humans certainly fits his profile.  Why must we insist that Jehovah is in complete control of everything when so many experiences completely belie that theory?

Theologians insist that Satan could harass Job only so far as Jehovah would allow.  On the surface of the story, it seems to read that way, but the story can also be read like this.  Jehovah says to Satan, In view of the contest you are proposing, there are a few rules that must be in place.  This is not to say that Jehovah would universally limit Satan, but He did limit him for this contest, to keep it fair.

1. In the first round, according to the rules, Satan could destroy everything Job owned, but his health he could not touch.  
2. In the second round Satan was given permission to take Job's health, but, according to the rules of the contest, he was not allowed to kill him.

Theology took a wrong turn when it began telling us that there is only one God and that He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent.  This, they do, in spite of the fact that many of the books in the Bible distinctly teach that there are many Gods and that the Gods have limitations.

I substantiated that theory, based on the Bible, in several posts I wrote in 2012.  If you are interested in reading more about this topic go to:

http://wwwthinkagai.blogspot.com/2012/05/the-ot-teaching-about-various-gods.html 

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87. Satan Among the Sons of God

A Few Twists In Job

1. Some Bible scholars believe that Job is the oldest book in the Bible.  
2. Some students place Ur on the northern shore of Persian Gulf; not far from Abraham's birthplace. 
3. If Moses wrote the Books of Moses we are forced to believe that when the writer of Job refers to God he was not thinking of Jehovah in the same sense as Moses and the later Israelites did.  Jehovah was not known, by name, to humans until He introduced Himself to Moses at the burning bush. Exodus 3:14.

However, when Satan came to present himself to God at the general meeting, Job 2, the writer uses the name Jehovah for God.  This is a strong indication that this book was probably written after the Israelites had settled in the Promised Land and certainly after the author heard the story of "The burning bush".

If we admit that the following scene is simply the writer's way of setting the background of the story, the technical problems look after themselves.  However, those who insist that the Book of Job happened exactly as it is recorded, encounter a few huge theological problems in the first two chapters.

Huge Problems

1.  Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. 1:6.  Most Bible commentators, perhaps without much thought, tell us that, in this case, God's sons, means angels.

It is interesting that of eight different translations of the Bible that were checked, in this regard, only three leave it as the sons of God.   One of them has a footnote, which says sons of God means angels. Five of the translations use the word, angels in the text, but as a footnote, they say that in the Hebrew language it reads, sons of God. 

This is a good example of how easily Bible translators can shape or reshape theology, simply by changing a few seemingly innocent words, but words that carry a world of theological significance!

All the versions, and indeed all the critics, are puzzled with the phrase sons of God; ... beney haelohim, literally, sons of the God. ... if we give not the literal translation of the Hebrew, we may give what(ever) translation we please. Clarke's Bible commentary. 

This, it seems, is done much too often.  Bible teachers have been taught a "certain truth" and they will repeat it without even wondering if it is actually true!  Let us at least do our own thinking; the Lord has also blessed each one of us with a mind!

The following quotes are from a post I did on July 18, 2012:

One of the errors that the church is forced to uphold because she believes that there is only one God, is that Satan is an angel.  When Satan, one of the gods, took up arms against Jehovah, the war in heaven took place.  That war is recorded in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 and in The Revelation.

A story about the war in heaven makes absolutely no sense if we insist on believing that God is Omnipotent and that Satan is merely an angel.  There could be no meaningful contest between two contestants so unequally matched.  The image that presents itself to the mind is that of a professional wrestler in the ring, trying to defend his title against a newborn baby. 

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; Isa. 14:13.  If Satan is just an angel how is it that he has a throne?  Michael and Gabriel do not have thrones.  Only potentates have thrones.  Nowhere does the Bible teach that Satan is an angel.  That is merely a supposition the church has handed us because she believes there is only one God.

Satan also said, I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north. Isa. 14:13.  Who is on the mount of assembly?  Common theology has placed God there.   

• Billy Graham even suggested that the reason there are no stars in the north is because that is where God’s throne is.  
• Considering that, according to church theology, Jehovah is omnipresent, is His confinement to a throne in the Northern hemisphere logical? 
• Is Jehovah closer to the Northern hemisphere than He is to the Southern hemisphere?             

2. Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Job 1:7.  Satan, seemingly, did not think that it was a redundant question because he gave the Lord a straightforward answer.  

The Lord asked him another question, Have you considered my servant Job. Job 2:2.  Again, Satan answered the question, as if it was a reasonable question for Jehovah to ask because Jehovah did not know.  

3. Furthermore, Satan suggested that Job worshipped the Lord for selfish reasons and that they (Jehovah and Satan) should have ‘a little contest’ to see if he (Satan) was right.  The Lord must have thought that this "contest thing" was a good idea.  From reading the story, it seems that the Lord also did not know the outcome of that contest!

If we are not comfortable with the ideas that Satan is one of the sons of the Gods and that Jehovah is less than omniscient (all-knowing), we are in a position where we are forced to accept the idea that the setting in the book of Job is a literary device only and therefore the book of Job must be viewed as a philosophical book, not a historical one.

For more on the topic of Jehovah's characteristics might I suggest:                                              http://wwwthinkagai.blogspot.com/2012/05/the-ot-teaching-about-various-gods.html

86. The Books of Poetry: Introduction

Don't Be So Technical

The books we are going to study next are called the books of poetry.  The word "poetry" is, of course, used in its broadest sense. The five books in this group deal with philosophical, psychological and theological observations, and how these relate to a person's emotional experiences.

Because these books treat of the emotional, not the historical or technical, aspect of humanity, it is important not to take literally those things which are meant to be similes, metaphors, figures of speech, hyperbolas, etc.  These tools, and many others fill up the writer's tool bag so that the reader will become interested in the presented material and hopefully the reader's life will be enriched by the subject matter proffered.

An example of this kind of "poetry" is found in Job 6:6, Can that which has no taste be eaten without salt?  Of course, it can!  Still, the answer the writer would expect is, no, it can not, because it does not taste good.

We know that there are two distinct types of people when it relates to how they see given facts.  There are those who see the technical, mechanical side of things.  To them, everything must be logical and the given facts must mean what they say.  They read the Bible and believe that, when possible, it must be accepted as it is written.  This outlook leads to a shallow appreciation of the books of poetry.

There are also the creative people, the artists, those who are not as involved with facts; they rather ask the question, "what does it mean to me"?  They delve into the poetic books and gather a goldmine of spiritual truths; things that encourage, guide, lead to worship.  For them, these books can be a very emotional experience.

Unfortunately, for me, I belong to the first category.  For example, I notice that even when I read the Jewish hymns, the Psalms, or any other book of poetry in the Bible, I get involved with questions about the logistics of any given phrase.  I can get hung up with the question, how can this be when in another psalm the exact opposite was stated.  

Because these are emotional writings, written from the depths of the writer's soul, it is imperative to read them, not as a how-to book, but rather as, how will the reading of this help me to more fully worship Jehovah; how will my meditation help me live my Christian life more fully in tune with Christ's plan for me?  Because I tend to see the technical aspects of a statement I miss out on many of the spiritual truths found in the biblical books of poetry.

If a Bible teacher were to do a very detailed study and presentation of the five books of poetry, it is easy to see that it would take many years of that teacher's life.  I have no intention of going that route and so I will pick out only a few of the thoughts presented; some of those which have caught my eye in each one of the books.

The Book of Job

"Job" is pronounced with a long "o" as in "home".

The purpose of the book is to answer the question, Why do good people suffer? This is done by presenting a series of debates.  

Many Bible students insist that the Book of Job is actual history.  However, if one carefully looks at the things presented as facts it becomes quite clear that it is a fable, written to teach a basic spiritual or philosophical truth.   

Notice some of the illogical facts presented if this book is history.  

Before his problems came on him, Job had seven sons and three daughters. Job 1:2.  It is interesting that after his first ten children died He had also seven sons and three daughters. 42:13.  If he did have ten children again after his first ten died it is certainly more than probable that there would not again be exactly seven sons and three daughters.

His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys. 1:3.  However, after his ordeal was over He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. Job 42:12. His possessions were all exactly double to what he had before.  The chances of that happening are infinitely small - except in a fiction book?  

Bible scholars explain the similarity this way.  These exact double numbers may be the nearest "rounded up" or "rounded down" numbers and the writer was trying to keep the numbers to an even thousand.  This reasoning sounds so illogical and shallow.  

If, in the first place he had seven thousand sheep, what is the likelihood that in the second setting he would not have had, perhaps, eleven or twelve thousand, rather than fourteen thousand?  Even if the exact double happened in one or two cases, it is unbelievable that it would have happened in the case of every kind of animal he possessed.

Notice another set of improbabilities:
1. there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. ... I alone have escaped to tell you.” 

2. While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep ... and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 

3. While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, ... I alone have escaped to tell you.”  

4. While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking ... and ... there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.” Job 1:13-14.

In each of the four cases the speaker says, I alone have escaped to tell you.  Four out of four - unlikely!

In the last three cases, we are told that while the messenger was still speaking the next messenger came to bring bad news.  The law of averages would not look kindly on that happening - except in a fable, perhaps, written for the purpose of answering a philosophical question.

85. The Fallout of the Banquet

Scene 10

Murder Reversed

In the twelfth month, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same.  Adar is the twelfth month on the Jewish calendar and it corresponds to the 2nd half of February and first half of March for us westerners.

when the king's command and his order came to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them; this is the plan that Haman had concocted.

though it was turned around, so that the Jews had rule over the ones who hated them. The Jews gathered themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes), in order to lay hand on any who sought their harm. This statement tells us that the Jews did not go around killing the non-Jews but rather that they 'huddled" together for protection from any who sought their harm. 

And yet ...

no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell on all people. And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants and the governors and officers of the king helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell on them. Esther 9:1-3.  All the legal power was in the hands of Mordecai, the Jewish prime minister of Persia; if the local leaders would not have done their duty to protect the Jews, it was in Mordecai's hand to mete out punishment to the Persian lieutenants as he saw fit.

Even so, according to the Book of Esther, in Shushan the palace the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men plus some others who are specifically named. 9:6.

Xerxes to Esther: The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? They killed seventy-five thousand of their foes. 9:14-16

Xerxes to Esther: What is your petition, that it may be granted you? Or what further request do you have? And it shall be done. 9:13-14.  Either the history of this book cannot be trusted or else the king must have been insane.  More than 75,000 of the national populace had just been massacred by the Jews and he said to the Jewish queen, what more should we do for sport tomorrow.

Let's Do It Again

Esther to Xerxes: let it be granted to the Jews in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the wooden gallows. 9:12.  So on the 14th of Adar, the Jews again killed three hundred men at Shushan. 9:15.  Self-preservation is one thing but asking for a second day in which to do some more "getting even" is just going too far.  This is not the picture we have of the righteous Queen Esther.

Because the Jews in the other cities had not heard the news that they were allowed to kill again on the 14th day of the month Adar, they made it a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and a day of sending portions to one another. Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews to establish among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, as the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions to one another, and gifts to the poor. 9:20-22.

the order of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim. And it was written in the book. 9:32. This was the origin of the Feast of Purim!

Note: A number of posts ago I showed how the Bible is divided so that it resembles a library with each type of literature standing on its own shelf.  We have now finished studying the books of history, which is the second shelf in the old section of the library.  We will be starting with the third shelf which is The Books of Poetry.  To see the post I am referring to, see:

http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.com/2014/10/38-old-testament-library.html

84. The Banquet

Scene 7

The Truth Comes Out

The king and Haman came to the banquet of Esther the queen. 

Xerxes to the Queen: What is your petition, Queen Esther, that it may be granted you? And what is your request? And it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. 

Esther: If we had been sold as slaves, I would have kept quiet.  But we are sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish. 

Xerxes: Who is he, and where is the one who dares presume in his heart to do so? 

Esther: The man who is our adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. 

Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. The king ... in his wrath went into the palace garden.  Haman knew the king well enough to see that evil was determined against him by the king.  Haman stood up to beg for his life from Esther the queen.  The king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet.

Haman had fallen on the bed on which Esther was.  They were in the banquet hall, not in the queen's bedroom.  Ancient custom was that people would lounge while they were eating and in the Hebrew text the word is not, "bed" but "couch".

 Xerxes, on returning to the hall: Will he also force the queen before me in the house? 

It is true that the king accuses Haman of attempted rape, but Bible commentators agree that this was simply an exaggeration, spoken in anger.

Haman was much too concerned about what the king would do to him to try and rape the queen at that time.  He was pleading for mercy from the queen and he would not have done anything to upset her at such a time.

As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.  The Hebrew text says, the face of Haman they hooded; probably much as modern-day convicts are "hooded" just before they face the firing squad.  The guards which were present knew immediately the intent of the king's statement.  Haman was deemed to no longer be worthy to behold the king's face.

Harbonah, to the king: Also look! the wooden gallows fifty cubits high which Haman made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, stands in the house of Haman.  

Probably not in the house but rather in the courtyard.

Xerxes: Hang him on it! 

Scene 8

The Death of Haman

They hanged Haman on the wooden gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. And the king's wrath lay down (was appeased). 7:1-10.

Instead of the word, tree, in 2:23, the Hebrew text has the word, wood.   It is commonly agreed that the word, gallows, with the meaning we attach to it, should not be used here because the Persians did not hang criminals by the neck; rather they crucified them, as Christ was also crucified.   That is why it is important to use the word, wood, as the Hebrew Bible has it, rather than gallows.  The CEV uses the word, tower.

Scene 9

A major Change of Plans

On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.  And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. 

Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

Esther, with tears, to Xerxes: Please put a stop to the evil plot of Haman, which he had plotted against the Jews. ... For how can I bear to see the evil that shall come on my people? Or how can I endure to see the slaughter of my kindred?

Xerxes: You write for the Jews as you wish, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring.  The Persian rule is that even I cannot undo a law that has been sealed with my ring.  However, you may write a rule that counters the first rule so that the Jews may protect themselves on that day.

The scribes wrote in all the varied languages of the Persian kingdom and the letters were sealed, and again sent by "pony express".

The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province, and in every city where the king's command and his order came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day.  They now had permission to protect themselves on what would otherwise have been a fatal day for the Jewish race.  This was such a notorious event that the Jews still celebrate that holiday annually.

And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell on them. Est 8:1-17. They pretended to be Jews so that the Jews would not kill them on that appointed day.