Sinners in the Hands of

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things;  no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  Job 42:1-2  NIV

Thwarted – In the end . . . God.  But, of course, we should have known that since “in the beginning God” sets the stage for the entire Bible.  In the end, it’s all about God.  Job just reminds us, halfway through the journey, that it was never about us.  “No purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

יָ֖דַעְתִּי (כתיב יָדַעְתִּ) כִּי־כֹ֣ל תּוּכָ֑ל וְלֹא־יִבָּצֵ֖ר מִמְּךָ֣ מְזִמָּֽה

As you can see, we have a qere/ketiv in this verse.  The verse is written as “I know” but it is read as “I knew.”  Chabad reflects this in its translation:

“I knew that You can do everything and no design is restrained from You.”

But as you can see, the NIV does not recognize this traditional reading.  In fact, the NIV glosses the real verbal conjugation as “I know,” first person singular present when the verbal form is actually a second person singular present, that is, “You know.”  Even the translation by Chabad does not express the second person verbal construction although it does move the verb to a past tense.  The verse should be read, “You know that You can do everything,” but this would not express any change in Job’s thinking.  To say that God know that He can do everything is essentially a theological tautology.  So, tradition changes the way it’s read.  And English Bibles tend to ignore the issue completely.

The same qere/ketiv shows up in Psalm 140:13.  In fact, this is the only other place in the Tanach where the reading is “I know” while the text is “You know.”  And once again the traditional reading shift the meaning to a personal insight of David.  Interestingly, in both cases the verb is the first word in the sentence, indicating that it is the focal point of the thought.  And in both cases, the idea is that all the time God knew what He was doing and what He was going to do, but Job and David both had to come to the realization that God’s actions were personal for them.

Now let’s look at the rest of the vocabulary.

The verb, basar, translated here as “thwarted,” means “to gather, restrain, cut off, fence” or “fortify.”  But note the comment by Oswalt: “Of the seventy-three occurrences of bāṣar and its derivatives, all but eight have to do with fortification (or inaccessibility). Of these eight, seven have to do with the grape harvest. In Jer 6:9; 49:9 and Ob 5 it is indicated that when God in judgment gathers the harvest from Israel his vineyard, there will not even be gleanings left (contra Deut 24:21).”^[1]  It’s interesting that context here changes the usual meaning.  The negative statement implies that nothing can be fortified against God’s plans.  The imagery of a fortified city places the metaphor within the ancient Middle East.  Perhaps that helps us avoid thinking about the term as prevention.

Purpose – mĕzimmâ from zāmam.

The singular form mĕzimmâ, however, receives the consistently positive meaning of “discretion” the five times it appears. This use occurs in Prov 1:4; 5:2; 8:12, where it is linked with “knowledge” and “prudence.” In Prov 2:11; 3:21 “discretion,” like her sisters, “understanding” and “sound wisdom,” guards one’s life from harm. Hence, within Proverbs 1–8 “discretion” ranks as one of the key terms for wisdom employed by the author.^[2]

What do we conclude?  Does Job proclaim that God’s plans are unalterable, or does he describe God’s ability to discern between one thing and another?  Christians tend to think of this verse in terms of immutability, but perhaps the ancient vocabulary changes that.  What if Job is really saying that God’s freedom to decide cannot be cut off or restrained?  That’s quite different, isn’t it?  Plans might change, but the power to change them can’t be overthrown.  God is in charge—even if He changes His mind.

Topical Index: basar, thwarted, mĕzimmâ, purpose, Job 42:1-2

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 270 בַּסַר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 123). Moody Press.

^[2] Wolf, H. (1999). 556 זָמַם. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 244). Moody Press.