Job II has finished reading Job

I hereby divest myself of the name dubbed me several years ago. I can longer bear the name of Job II. I have neither suffered as much as Job nor questioned God as much as job. I have suffered greatly, yes. I have questioned God as to why this is my lot, yes. Like Job, I have been judged and condemned by friends and family for that which I have not done, and judged and condemned by the Lord for things I have done. Like Job, I have accepted that we all deserve much more than the hard life some of us were given. But I can no longer be labeled a close second to Job. I am merely Job’s echo, a late afternoon shadow.

May the Lord rescue me from my accuser. I rest on your grace and mercy, Lord, and look for restoration, like Job.

Glass? In the Bible?

Job 28 (King James Version)

12But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?

13Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

14The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

15It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.

16It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

17The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

18No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.

19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

Did you catch that? In verse 17. The “crystal”. Glass. Imagine that. Anyone who knows me knows I love glass. I read somewhere that glass used to be almost as valuable as gold, and here in this book that I’ve read over and over completely missing this, glass is being compared with precious jewels and metals.

See? The Bible has the answer everything.

Imagine

Imagine if you were a eunech and your name was Carcas?

Esther 1:10
On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas-

You find the funniest things in the Bible sometimes.

I Vote for Nehemiah!

What makes a good leader?

Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.

Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.

Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.
— Nehemiah 5:14-19 (New International Version)

I vote for Nehemiah!

Was it really that bad?

“When I heard this, I rent my undergarment and my mantle,
I pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.”
Ezra 9:3

What was so bad that it caused a Jewish priest to do this?

“Now, O our God, what can we say after this? For we have
forsaken Your commands which You have commanded by Your
servants the prophets, saying, The land which you are entering
to possess is an unclean land with the pollutions of the peoples
of the lands, through their abominations which have filled it from
one end to the other with their filthiness.”
Ezra 9:10-11

Hmmm, sounds very serious. What exactly did these people
do?

“AFTERWARD, THE officials came to me and said, The Israelites and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, but have committed the abominations of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For they have taken as wives some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Indeed, the officials and chief men have been foremost in this wicked act and direct violation [of God's will].”
Ezra 9:1-2

They inermarried? That’s it? What is so awful about intermarriage?

“You shall not make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son nor shall you take his daughter for your son, for they will turn away your sons from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and He will destroy you quickly.”
Duet 7:3-4

This is starting to sound familiar.

“You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.”
Exodus 20:3

Perhaps Ezra wasn’t exaggerating then.

“I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted to the heavens.”
Ezra 5b-6

Love this

II Chronicles 21bThe Levites and priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with instruments of much volume to the Lord.

Wonder what that sounded like. Amazing.