The Other Side of the Coin

But he said to her, “You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips.  Job 2:10 NASB Actually accept – The Hebrew combination here is gam plus qābal.  Two things need to be mentioned.  First…

Double Sin

Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he [m]blame God.  Job 1:22 NASB Blame – “Job did not sin,” says the text.  The word is ḥāṭāʾ, occurring 580 times in the Tanakh.  It is a description of missing the mark, the same idea that appears in the Greek word for sin.  Without too much…

A Bridge Too Far (2)

You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place.  Psalm 88:18  NASB  You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign.  This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction.  Therefore, even if “they”…

God the Problem (2)

They have surrounded me like water all day long;  they have encircled me altogether.  Psalm 88:17  NASB   They – Suddenly, a change.  Through seventeen verses the psalmist has decried God’s absence.  His lament holds Godresponsible for the sorry state of his life, for the nearly impossible burden he must carry, for the approach of death.  But now,…

Painful Days – A Reflection

Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am wretched.  Heal me, for my limbs are stricken.  Psalm 6:2  Robert Alter My limbs – On the 30th of April of this year, I wrote a piece about the excruciating pain I was experiencing in my left knee.  I asked for your prayers (thank you).  I wrote…

Insult and Injury

Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.  Job 1:22  NASB 1995 Nor did he blame –  But the Hebrew isn’t quite what we think of when we read these words in English.  We think of “blame” as assigning responsibility or finding fault.  So, in our Western theology, if God is…

A Bridge Too Far

You have removed lover and friend far from me; my acquaintances are in a hiding place.  Psalm 88:18  NASB   You have removed – A short excursus into enemy territory followed by an immediate return to the major theme: God is sovereign.  This poem describes whatever happens as under God’s control and direction.  Therefore, even if…

God the Problem

They have surrounded me like water all day long;  they have encircled me altogether.  Psalm 88:17  NASB   They – Suddenly, a change.  Through seventeen verses the psalmist has decried God’s absence.  His lament holds God responsible for the sorry state of his life, for the nearly impossible burden he must carry, for the approach of death.  But now,…

Neighborly

For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I…

Unconscious (Update)

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  Genesis 28:16  NASB I did not know it – lo yada’etti.  But how could he not know?  Isn’t God everywhere?  How could Jacob think for a moment that God wasn’t in the place where he…