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Pete Jones
Site Admin
In: Virginia
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Saying the same thing twice is considered the calling card of ancient Hebrew rhetoric ancient Hebrew rhetoric.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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If you're being rhetorical, why should we believe you?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Chapter Four
| 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said |
It's not for me to give people lessons in ancient Hebrew rhetoric but one thing I know is you don't just launch some new character on your audience unheralded. Who in God's name is Eliphaz the Temanite? I was just checking to make sure when I came across this from the dim and distant Chapter Two
| 11. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. |
You could have said. Anyway what was it he said?
| 2. If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? 3. Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. |
Just to say this? Surely not...
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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This is first of the three watches of darkness. The three friends are the three watches, (is a 3 times 7 "model").
I am not sure if they are real or imagined, as we are in a world of darkness.
Anyway, hopefully each is going to reveal something. Lead to enlightenment.
It's probably going to be circular, and help him get the clock going?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Wiley wrote: | | The three friends are the three watches [to] help him get the clock going? |
He'll need to make sure the hours, the minutes and the seconds are correct
| Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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These three would seem to be the equivalent of an 'intervention', when mutual friends attend on someone they think is seriously unhinged but not suited to, say, being sectioned. Eliphaz speaks for them all, reminding him of former times:
| 4. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? |
But the weakness of the whole procedure is that Job is not suffering from a 'crack-up', something that a stern talking to and maybe some pills will cure. Job has lost everything. If the three amigos had arrived with a few prize specimens from their own flocks and a bit of cash to tide him over, they might have done some good.
But we shall have to see whether the penny drops.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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| 4. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? |
It seems to Wiley that Job is in darkness, alone, having lost everything. He is actually appraising "life" through these 3 friends, visions, whatever.
If Eliphatz is Elephant (Good Luck) then it's something like, you can create create the conditions for (uprightness) good luck, a happy long life, but at some point you will inevitably have bad luck.
It's a cycle.
Three and Seven are a lucky combination. Three on its own is not.
I suspect the three friends will not be sufficient, but they are surely necessary. It's a three-seven model.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| 7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? |
I wish the King James paid more attention to punctuation. Though I suspect I wouldn't be able to understand this in any case. But do go on.
| 8. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. |
You're lying. No-one has seen this.
| 9. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. |
Oh yeah? Says who? You wish.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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Job had first to deal with his unamed wife blaming him for losing everything, well, because he had, then along come his 3 friends. The first turns out to be a Buddhist who helpfully explains it in terms of karma, ie "what goes around, comes around".
It's standard fare for those that hold a cyclical view. Job's present life has been conditioned by his past karma, not just in his current life, but in his previous lives.
It's a bit like Boris Becker not paying his taxes, he sort of got away with it the first time with a stern warning, but second time he ended up in a dark place with no light, no friends, no gold or, for that matter, no camels.
Eliphaz the Temanite has simply stated the obvious.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Amazing. It's as if you were there.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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In my experience, bad motivation against the Road Runner inevitably has consequences, unrecognised genius, messianic idealistic zeal or handsome good looks is no defence against future bad karma.
I have now successfully spotted the underlying problem.
What is the solution?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Depends. If it's piles I find a solution of calamine in distilled water does the trick. But let's see what Eliphaz the Termite has to say
| 10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. |
So not them then.
| 11. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad. |
Ah, I see. He's referring to Job and the seven sons (and three daughters).
| 12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. |
A solution of honey and distilled water works for a build up of wax. But for Job's more extensive list of woes, we'll have to wait till tomorrow to find out what the secret formula is. Unless Wiley gets in first.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| 13. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, |
Dreams, yes, do go on.
| 14. Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. |
Nightmares, yes, do go on.
| 15. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: |
I don't want to hurry you..
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| 16. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, |
It took a little time but, at last, the McGuffin:
| 17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? |
I think these are rhetorical questions.
| 18. Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: |
Have I lost the plot? Whose angels? The idea of angels being charged with folly is, I would have thought, a contradiction in terms.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Unless these kinds of angels are meant
| The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. Peroration of Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration speech, 1861. | |
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