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Job
Chapter
21
{Chapters
15-21: The Second Debate}
{Chapters 20-21: Second Debate with Zophar - Job's Response to Zophar's Second Tirade}
{Verses
1-16: Prosperity or Lack There of is Not the Issue in Job's Suffering}
1-2~~So
Job replied and said, 2~~
"Listen
carefully to my words.
Let
this be the consolation you give me
{these so called friends were there supposedly to console Job in his
suffering}.
3~~Bear with me while I speak.
And after I have spoken, mock on.
4~~Is
my complaint directed to man?
{in other words - 'what have I done to the poor?'}
Why should 'I not be impatient'/'my spirit be troubled'?
5~~Look at me and be astonished.
Clap your hand over your mouth.
6~~When
I remember I am terrified . . .
trembling
seizes my body.
{Job
Has His Day in Court}
7~~Why
do the wicked live on (?) . . .
growing
old and increasing in power?
{meaning that Job is saying to Zophar why are YOU still healthy
and strong?}
8~~The
see their children established around them . . .
their
offspring before their eyes.
9~~Their
homes are safe and free from fear . . .
the
rod of God/'Elowahh is not upon them.
10~~Their bulls never fail to breed.
Their
cows calve and do not miscarry
{examples of prosperity in an agricultural economy}.
11~~They
send forth their little children as a flock . . .
their
little ones dance about.
12~~They
sing to the music of the tambourine and the harp . . .
they
make merry to the sound of the flute.
13~~They
spend their years in prosperity,
and
go down to the grave in peace.
14~~Yet
they {the evil prosperous men}
say
to God/'El, "Leave us alone . . .
we
have 'no desire to know Bible Doctrine'
{idiom: literally 'no desire to know the knowledge of Your Ways'
(which today is revealed through His Written Word)}.
15~~Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
What would we gain by praying to Him?
16~~But
{says Job}
their
prosperity is not in their own hands.
So
I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked
{probably looking right at Zophar when he says this! Notice he does
not get violent or lose his temper - he just cuts him to pieces with
the Truth of the Word!}.
{Verses
17-21: Job's Dissertation on the 4 Generation Curse}
17-19~~Yet
how often is the lamp of the evil one snuffed out
How
often does calamity come upon him {the evil one}(?) . . .19~~
the
fate that God/'Elowahh allots in His anger
{an anthropopathism - a human characteristic that God does not
possess (God does not get angry) that is used to express
punitive discipline}. 18~~
How
often are they like straw before the wind (?) . . .
like
chaff swept away by a gale?
{Note: Verses 18 and 19 are reversed from what is in the KJV, but the meaning does not change.}
It
is said, He {God} stores up punishment for his sons
{the 4 generation curse - only passed on if each generation has
culpability Zophar's sons are probably as evil and self-righteous as
Zophar is}.
Let him repay the man himself so he will know it.
20~~Let his own eyes see his destruction.
Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21~~For
what does he care about the family he leaves behind
when
his allotted months come to an end?
{means
that this is the beginning of the 4 generation curse in
Zophar's family when a man is evil, he teaches it to his children and
they to their children only doctrine will break up the cycle - as Job
will state.}
{Verses
22-26: Conditions of Life do not matter - Which was the
Good one? Both end up in the grave. How do we as Humans
JUDGE?? We do not have the Facts!}
22~~Can
anyone teach knowledge to God/'El (?) . . .
since
He judges even the highest?
23~~One
man dies in full vigor . . .
completely
secure and at ease.
24~~His
body well nourished
{idiom: 'his breasts are full of milk'}.
His bones rich with marrow.
25~~Another man dies in bitterness of soul.
Never having enjoyed anything good to eat.
26~~Side
by side, they lie in the dust
and
the worms cover them both.
{Verses
27-33: Job Says Zophar is Out of Touch with Reality -
In the Devil's World, the Wicked Do Prosper}
27~~Behold,
I know your thoughts . . .
the
schemes by which you would wrong me.
28~~For
you {Zophar} say,
"Where
now is the great man's house(?) . . .
the
tents where the wicked man lived?
29-30~~Have you never questioned those who travel?
Have you paid no regard to their accounts (?) . . . 30~~
that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity (?) . . .
that he is delivered from the day of wrath?
31~~Who denounces his conduct/way to his face?
Who repays him for what he has done?
32~~He
is carried to the grave,
and
a watch is kept over his tomb
{idiom referring to some wicked men DO die wealthy - happens all
the time}.
33~~The soil of the valley is sweet unto him.
All men follow after him,
and a countless throng goes before him.
{Wicked
Prosper Along with Those Who Are Spiritually Maturity
Prosperity is NOT necessarily a 'Sign' from God}
34~~How
then can you {Zophar} console me
with
your nonsense?
Nothing
is left of your answers but treachery {ma`al}
{means that nothing in Chapter 20 describes Job at all - it is all the
lies of Zophar}."
{Note: Zophar will now be silenced. Apparently 'treachery' did it for Zophar.}
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