You know what's ironic? That for Job to agree that he has sinned and that his calamity is his just punishment would actually require him to sin. At least, that is what Job says. In Ch. 27, he insists that he will cling to his integrity. He could lie, certainly, and say, "Yes, I have done great wrong for which God is punishing me now," but Job knows that before this he was blameless and upright and that it was certainly nothing he had done then that gave him his troubles now. He says that as long as he draws breath and the spirit of God is in his nostrils (a hearkening back to when God breathed life into man at the creation), he will not let go of his integrity, he will not let go of what he knew to be true about his character. Job had not sinned to bring this horrible situation to come to pass. And so, for him, he would have to sin, to lie in order to confess what was not true.
At some point I would like to sit down and map out the progression these speeches have taken. More than just a "Bildad spoke here" or "Eliphaz blows a mighty wind here," but to look at the arguments and see how they evolve, or prove to be utterly false. We're nearing the end of the speeches. Zophar doesn't even speak in this round. Job has his say: quite a lot of it, actually. And then an entirely new character we haven't met before enters into the fray. What will be his response to all of this? (Though I admit, I am most eager for the Last of All to speak! What is His response??)
Tomorrow's Reading: Job 28:7-31:40
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