DANIEL CHAPTER ONE

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 23:

- He has nothing to lose!
- Do we have anything to lose?
- It’s just a question of life or death?
- For Job, it was really a question of life or death!
- But the Hebrews didn’t!
- But mankind has never cared!
- Only individuals!
- Only faithful servants of Yah.weh!
- And it is a question of life or death!
- And they don’t care!
- Thus Yah.weh won’t care!
- Only for those who care!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 23:

- And he wants God to listen to him!
- Do we want Yah.weh to listen to us?
- What are we doing for that?
- Something real or nothing?
- There is no other possible way!
- He would do anything to speak to God personally!
- Do we do anything to speak to Yah.weh personally?
- He would TAKE NOTE!
- Do we take note?
- And he knows God would listen to him!
- And he knows that God will acquit him!
- He knows he is TESTED, and he knows that he will come out AS PURE GOLD!
- Do we know we are tested?
- Do we act as someone who is tested?
- Do we want to come out as pure gold?
- There is no other way!
- Only life or death!
- He knows he has kept following God’s way without deviating!
- Do we follow Yah.weh without deviating?
- There is no other way!
- He has treasured up God’s sayings!
- Do we treasure up Yah.weh’s sayings?
- There is no other way!
- But not being able to speak to God makes him anxious and afraid!
- If we can’t speak to Yah.weh, does it make us anxious and afraid?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 24:

- Job sees the poor treated badly!
- It is not different today!
- And it is not going to change before Yah.weh’s intervention!
- And the wicked are doing their business without any trouble!
- It is the same today!
- But Job knows that sooner or later they will pay the price for their bad actions!
- Yah.weh will do that!
- It is not always possible to escape!
- When they die they will be forgotten forever!
- What about us?
- God lets them become confident and secure!
- But he is watching them!
- Yes, Yah.weh keeps watching till his intervention!
- Then everything will be written!
- Job will always be confident in God!
- What about us?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 26:

- Job says that the three individuals are good to nothing!
- He is asking who inspired them!
- Certainly not God!
- God is Almighty!
- He stretches out the northern sky over empty space!
- SUSPENDING THE EARTH UPON NOTHING!
- It is so different from the different theories of the time!
- It looks like the medical measures the Hebrews received from Yah.weh to avoid diseases at the time!
- So different from what the peoples around used to do!
- But he is the creator of everything!
- So he knows what to do at the difference of men!
- And who can understand his mighty thunder?
- There are so many examples in the Bible which show the difference between Yah.weh and the rest!
- But men have never cared!
- They always think they know better, meaning they know nothing!
- We can see the results today!
- And the more time passes, the clearer it is!
-Except for those who don’t want to see!
- They can keep sleeping!
- For them everything is written!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 27:

- As long as his breath is within him and spirit from God is in his nostrils, HIS LIPS WILL NOT SPEAK UNRIGHTEOUSNESS!
- It is incredible to see how people are so impolite today!
- Impoliteness is everywhere!
- People insult others for nothing!
- How is it possible to respect them!
- How do you want them to respect you?
- Such people don’t respect anyone!
- They don’t even respect themselves!
- How do you want youngsters to respect others if adults don’t do it?
- They keep going so far, it is insane!
- And nobody says anything!
- How do you want Yah.weh to respect us?
- Human beings are worthless!
- And it is getting worse and worse!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 27:

- HIS INTEGRITY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANYTHING!
- Does INTEGRITY mean anything today?
- It belongs to another world!
- And it should be so precious!
- Yah.weh is a God of INTEGRITY!
- And those who want to be approved by him must show INTEGRITY!
- No INTEGRITY, no future promised land!
- What an empty world with empty people!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 27:

- He doesn’t care if everybody is against him!
- He will keep being faithful!
- The wicked ones will pay the price of their wickedness!
- No one can escape God!
- This world is going down faster and faster!
- No one can stop this process except Yah.weh!
- Men are good to nothing!
- They put this world on fire and they can’t stop it!
- It’s just a question of time!
- Yah.weh is waiting for the right time to put an end to this dead end!
- No one can escape Yah.weh and no one will escape him!
- It has always been so and it will always be so!
- Men are rats in a labyrinth!
- They think they are important but they are nothing!
- They are only pawns!
- Soon everything will be clear for everybody!
- But then it will be too late!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 28:

- Man digs for wealth!
- But it is not the same story for WISDOM!
- You can’t buy WISDOM!
- The fear of God – that is wisdom!
- And to turn away from bad is understanding!
- Job can only stay close to God!
- He is a magnet to him!
- But it is not something natural for men!
- We must learn so Yah.weh can be a magnet for us!
- We can visualize the image of a magnet attracting metal!
- Now even better if we visualize a gigantic magnet and its power!
-Now even better if we visualize a sun attracting and maintaining planets in all the solar systems of the universe!
- Now even better if we visualize the black holes maintaining the universe stable!
- And they only represent about 1% of all normal matter!
Are there 40 quintillion black holes in our universe?
- A quintillion is 10^18!
- Or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.
There are 40 quintillion black holes in the cosmos, according to new estimates. That's more black holes than previously thought. This calculation suggests that these black holes constitute about 1% of all normal matter.
- He can’t live without him!
- He doesn’t matter what happens!
- But it is another story with man!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 29:

- Watch over= to supervise someone or something; to take care of someone or something.
- Job would like to go back to the past!
- He wants his relationship to God!
- He speaks about God’s relationship!
- He speaks about God being with him!
- And he wants his past life back to him!
- For him, there is no better life!
- He just wants his normal life, nothing more!
- Thinking of the past after a catastrophe, when you have lost everything, is something normal!
- But there is a time to look forward!
- There is a time to rebuild everything!
- Of course, it takes time!
- But there is no other choice!
- Otherwise we may be trapped forever in the past!
- Of course, there will always be side effects!
- But there is nothing better than reconstruction and action!
- Then it is necessary to learn how to live with the ghosts of the past!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 30:

- Once again, God is his only reference!
- He only knows him!
- So he thinks God is responsible for his bad situation!
- But he keeps crying to God for his help!
- Even if he doesn’t understand what’s on, he knows his situation can only improve with God’s help!
- And thinking that God is against him is unbearable for him!
- If God doesn’t help him, he will die!
- He doesn’t see any other option!
- Even if Job doesn’t have all the elements, he has a clear vision of the situation, taking into account the elements he has!
- Another part of his personality we should copy!
- As usual, even if the majority does it, we must not let others do the job for us, that is think for us!
- Because when Jesus comes back, he won’t tolerate those who don’t do their part of the job!
- It won’t be possible to say, it’s not my fault, it’s somebody’s fault!
- Remember what happened to Adam when he rejected the fault on Eve saying it is the fault of the woman you gave me!
- He died!
- Remember Lot’s wife!
- She chose and she died!
- Remember the Hebrews, they opposed Yah.weh and they died!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 31:

- Definition of inheritance: It is a process which involves the passing on of material property from one generation to another, usually within the family, generally from older parents (donors) to their adult children (heirs), which is completed after the death of the older generation.
- Job speaks about a relationship between members of the same family!
- And when we listen to Job, he speaks about God like his father!
- And it doesn’t matter how he feels, he keeps speaking the same way!
- That’s his reality, there is no other reality for him!
- What is our reality?
- How do we see Yah.weh?
- Do we see him as a Father?
- If not, we have a problem!
- Because if we don’t see him as a Father, he won’t see us as a son!
- And if he doesn’t see us as a son, why should he care about us?
- So imagine when the time comes for him to exterminate this world, what will happen with us?
- No son, nothing!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 31:

- Job’s questions show he feels bad because the link is broken and Job doesn’t understand why!
- What about us?
- What about our link with Yah.weh?
- Does it matter or not?
- Do we pay attention to it?
- Do we try to improve it?
- Do we know how to do that?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 31:

- But he is sure that God will find him not guilty!
- What about us?
- Do we really try to be better or to act better?
- Is it important for us what Yah.weh thinks about us?
- He doesn’t know what to think!
- He is in the fog!
- Are we in the fog?
- We shouldn’t!
- In this case, there is no way or he can’t see any way!
- Do we see any way?
- Their relationship is based on confidence!
- Is our relationship based on confidence?
- But he is ready to defend himself!
- Are we ready to defend ourselves?
- And he keeps asking for God’s answer!
- Do we keep asking for Yah.weh’s answer?
- Of course, he is ready to defend himself!
- What about us?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Job

God and Job / Job and God

Job 38-40:

- Job has spoken and now he doesn’t want to say anything more!
- He is probably tired of defending himself!
- He knows he is nothing compared to God!
- But he knows he is not guilty!
- And yes, there is a time to speak and a time to shut his mouth!
- Can we think about situations where we don’t think it is necessary to defend oneself?
- Those who are against Job because of his attitude should read these verses again and again!
- Think about what Job has lived!
- He has been screaming for help to Yah.weh!
- And Yah.weh couldn’t answer because of what was on between him and the devil!
- And now he doesn’t want to speak anymore!
- Now let’s have a look at Job 40:7!
“Now (-na in Hebrew, it is here attached to the verb azr meaning belt you) brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.”
- See that Job doesn’t want to speak to Yah.weh anymore!
- And Yah.weh tells Job “I will question you”!
- BUT THERE IS SOMETHING A LOT MORE POWERFUL!
- EVEN IF THE MAJORITY OF TRANSLATIONS DON’T SAY IT!
- THUS MANY WON’T GET IT!
- AND THEY WILL KEEP SPEAKING BAD ABOUT JOB’S ATTITUDE!
- BUT YAH.WEH’S ATTITUDE TOWARD JOB IS ALWAYS CLEAR!
- AND FOR THAT, WE MUST HAVE A LOOK AT THE HEBREW WORD “NA”!

 

[JLG]

1)
What is the biblical meaning of the na?
pray, now, please
nā' Definition
I (we) pray, now, please.
used in entreaty or exhortation.

 

[JLG]

2)
https://skipmoen.com/2011/05/na-na-na-na/

Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, Joshua 2:12 NASB

 

[JLG]

3)
Please – So far everything about Rahab is just a little strange. It’s almost as if the narrator left out all the nitty-gritty details on purpose. Perhaps the storyteller is crafting this episode so that we, the readers, have to enter into the narrative in order to understand it. That seems to be the case with this tiny addition to the Hebrew text – the particle na.

 

[JLG]

4)
The particle na is often not even translated. It is simply two consonants (Nun-Aleph) attached to a verb, in this case, as a suffix to shava, “to make an oath.” With na attached to the verb, the meaning shifts from a demand to a request, from “Swear an oath” to “Please, swear an oath.” Rather than compelling action, the supplicant invites a response. The reciprocity is left hanging.

 

[JLG]

5)
Na is sometimes attached to verbs expressing God’s actions. Those rare occasions are quite remarkable. But this isn’t the word used for God’s covenant promises. When God makes a covenant, the verb is karat, “to cut” a covenant. The first time the verb shava appears is in the story of Abimelech and Abraham (Genesis 21:22).[1] The first time we find this verb with God as the subject is Genesis 22:16 where God declares His blessing on Abraham following the attempted sacrifice of Isaac. Twenty-five times God swears an oath concerning the inheritance of the land. None include the particle na. None are conditioned upon the acceptance of the other party.

 

[JLG]

6)
But that is not the case here. Rahab’s request for a binding agreement can only take effect if the two spies concur. Rahab asks. She does not demand, even though hesed contains the reciprocal expectation. Hidden in Rahab’s use of na is an indication of humility. Na demonstrates Rahab’s character, the same character we find in other women who are outsiders. Hagar demonstrates incredible obedience by returning to the abusive Sarah. Ruth shows her intense loyalty in her statement to Naomi. The Canaanite woman shows her humility in her reply to Yeshua. Rahab is in good company. She doesn’t barter her deliverance even though she might have called on the hesed protocol. Instead, she begs. This woman who is outside the fold, whose moral character may be suspect, who represents the enemy, beseeches the spies for mercy. We should take note that she does not include herself in her request. She begs for others. She is the intercessor for the life of those she loves. We can only stand in awe of her devotion, courage and faithfulness. Perhaps Rahab, the woman of ill-repute, is a good deal closer to God’s heart than we imagined. Perhaps Rahab teaches us what it means to be humble.