Thursday, August 21, 2014

Job

In the August Liahona there is an article on Job that gets the story utterly and completely wrong. Not the first part, but the ending and what we should get out of Job. Job's material goods are not at all what we should learn from Job; that may be, according to some texts, a later addition to the book, and hides the true important message of what Job can teach us.

Job 32 points out that Job was righteous in his own eyes; He was right that his friends were wrong to accuse him, but he had no right to accuse the Most High. God though did plead His case to Job; first by sending a young man who the spirit of God rested on that he could no longer remain silent at any of what Job or Job's friends were saying, and he had to speak what God had inspired him to say. God did not count Job as an enemy, and would respond to Job and answer his words.  God sends us visions from on High and speaks to our hearts.

Elihu explains that God seeks to keep us from pride and from the Pit, to redeem our souls and bring us again into His presence (thus over coming the effects of the Fall); Our resurrection is already sure, but we in the darkest of times can find joy in the presence of God and see His light. God will not withhold judgement or reward, though the wicked prosper and the righteous may suffer in this life, in a brief moment we all die and the Just Judge has care over us. There is no hiding from God and no lying to Him about what we have done, just as there is not to ourselves; we and He will know all that we have done. In this life we will be tried to the limit and we should not add rebellion to our sins because of it, our rightness or our wickedness harms or helps only us and those around us; they can never harm God and God will repay bringing us wisdom and justice in the end.

As Elihu explains a great storm arises, and thunder is heard, rain falls, the sky is darkened and a whirlwind appears resting before them and shining in light; and God answers Job out of the whirlwind. God explains to Job about the nature of our life on earth, about the ordinances of heaven, about His plan for us. He shows how He rules with His arm of power and strength and the divisions that God makes which define the world.  God has Job gird himself in garments of glory and splendor, takes him by the right hand; and speaks of how the ox has strength in its loins, powerful muscles, and sinews, and strong bones as of bronze or iron; just as God can and will do for us in our resurrection, and explains of the covenant that God has made with the Leviathan so mighty that God had to slay its mate and have it eternally chase its own tail as a symbol of eternity, such is the strength of the Leviathan, such is the power of God.

And Job then responds that though he had a knowledge of God and a hope of the resurrection, his understanding had been limited, and having heard God, he then sees God entering into God's presence as Elihu had promised and satisfied in the knowledge, and joy, that God had given him. That is what we should get out of Job; as at that is the true end to the story, everything else is superfluous commentary that speaks to precisely what the entire episode addresses; more hiding in plain sight than countering the real message and take away that we should get out of Job.

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