Gift of the Giver (3)
You have granted me life and goodness; and Your care has guarded my spirit. Job 10:12 NASB
Care – Be very careful with this one. “It has been said of this verb, which occurs more than three hundred times in the ot; ‘There is probably no other Hebrew verb that has caused translators as much trouble as pqd’’[1] You’ll recall the principle occurrence of this terrifying verb: Exodus 34:7. “who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” In that verse, the verb pāqad is translated “visiting,” as if God extracts recompense for the iniquity of the fathers from the children and grandchildren. A translation like this creates an image of a vengeful God. It has terrorized hundreds of believers and leads to the theology of generational curses. What a mistake!
Just how tragic that mistake is can be seen in this verse where the same Hebrew verb is translated “care.” The God of Exodus 34:6-7 is the God who begins His self-description with compassion, mercy, and connection. It is inconceivable that this same God, one verse later, describes Himself as the One Who condemns innocents on the basis of ancestors. This verse in Job corrects all that nonsense. God is the overseer, not the avenging angel.
Speiser considers the root meaning to be “attend to with care” or “take note.” It is impossible to prove whether this is the actual origin, but the fact that at least half of the occurrences involve positive action by a superior in relation to his subordinates strongly suggests that such action is a vital part of the meaning of the word, an idea that is supported by the fact that the LXX most frequently translates it by episkeptō or a similar word.[2]
Let’s make the connection in this verse explicit. God grants us animation. He causes us to live. In so doing, He creates in us the absolute essential of ḥesed, the connectedness that makes us human. And when He does this, He cares about us. He watches over us. He visits us. He takes responsibility for us. As Job suggests, He guards us (the verb is šāmar, “to keep, to guard, to protect”). The fact that Job connects pāqad with šāmar is extremely important. God’s oversight is not a distant, heavenly view of human living. He doesn’t watch from Aquinas’ high tower. He is up close and personal, involved, immanent, ubiquitous. If anything, this verse undermines all claims that God resides in the heavens, far removed from the world of men. This is the anti-transcendent verse, and as such it should make us stop and reconsider all the disastrous consequences of the Platonic deist God. If there’s one message that summarizes the Bible, it is this: God cares.
Topical Index: pāqad, šāmar, visit, oversee, care, Job 10:12
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 731). Chicago: Moody Press.
LXX The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament in Greek
[2] Ibid.
