Job 40-42 and Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 8-10

Job 40 – Now God asks Job for some reply. And Job is brought low. “See, I am of small worth; what can I answer You? I clap my hand to my mouth” (40:4).

And God responds to him: “Gird your loins like a man; I will ask, and you will inform Me. Will you prove me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” (40:7-9).

The powers of man are second only to those of God. He can grow food, keep the brook from rushing and rest in the shade of plants.

Job 41 – God continues – So if you cannot tame Leviathan, how can you stand up against God. The strengths of Leviathan are reviewed at length.

Job 42 – Job then replies to his God. “I know that You can do everything, that nothing you propose is impossible for You. . . . I spoke without understanding” (42:2-3).  But the main thing is now Job can say, “I see you with my eyes; therefore, I recant and relent, being but dust and ashes” (42:5-6).

After Job relents, the Lord expresses His anger at the three “friends” and tells them they must offer sacrifice. God’s anger against Job is gone, and He restores Job’s prosperity – gives him “twice” what he had before.

 “So Job died old and contented” (42:17).

Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

8 – Ignatius urges everyone to “[a]bjure all factions, for they are the beginning of evils” (103). Maintain unity by following your bishop “as Jesus Christ followed the Father” (103). “Make sure that no step affecting the church is ever taken by anyone without the bishop’s sanction” (103).

They should not go to a Eucharistic celebration if it is not led by a bishop or a person authorized by him. “Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is present, we have the catholic Church” (103).

All the celebrations of the church – baptisms and agape meals – must have the sanction of the bishop. “This is the way to make certain of the soundness and validity of anything you do” (103).

9 – Ignatius prays that it is not to late to get things back in order. It all seems to him to depend on submitting in all things to the bishops.

He thanks them for their support of him. “Absent or present, I have had your love; and may God reward you for it. Do but endure all things for His sake, and you will attain to Him in the end” (103).

10 – He praises them for welcoming the men who have been accompanying him (Ignatius) on his trip to Rome. “My life is a humble offering for you; and so are these chains of mine, for which you never showed the least contempt or shame. Neither will Jesus Christ in His perfect loyalty show Himself ashamed of you” (103).

Job Introduction through 1 and Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 4-6

Introduction: The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary (Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1971), notes that while this book is typically classed as “wisdom literature,” the “wisdom” here is mostly from the mouths of the three of Job’s friends and is not much respected. The thoughts of Job form a kind of anti-wisdom writing.

The “wisdom literature” tradition was not just Jewish. There are examples of similar stories in many different cultures – similar in the sense that a man is plagued with great suffering and tries to reconcile his suffering with the idea represented by his god. There were wisdom writers all around and in fact the three “friends” here are foreigners. Eliphaz is from Teman in Edom. Bildad is a “Shuite” and Zophar a “Naamahite.”

Some think that the beginning and ending of the Book of Job are an ancient folk story that leads in to a long poetic analysis. There is no allusion in the story to any historical events. The writing is placed between the 6^th and 3^rd c. BC.

The Hebrew text of Job is “the most corrupt of all biblical documents” (239). The original has been continually worked over and revised. The 3^rd cycle, in particular, is “confused and incomplete” (239). And Elihu’s arguments largely repeat what has been said by the three, and was likely added by someone who thought the thinking of the friends needed to be put more clearly or bluntly.

The Job of the folktale is the faithful and submissive believer. The poetic hero is a rebel in some sense. “The poem is hostile to the notion of the final reward of the suffering righteous; the prose epilogue endorses it” (240).

It is not easy to articulate any simple theme. The poetic portions, the lack of consistently rational argument, make it difficult to pin down. Generally it is agreed that the author is dealing with the problem of innocent suffering – is there any meaning to it? We are told that Job is innocent, but he represents the “intense inward agony, the agony of all humanity in those tortured hours when they feel themselves the victims of a meaningless and evil universe, when faith is swallowed up in the abyss of doubt and God seems to have vanished” (240). At the end, when he encounters God, he seems to return to a sense of peace that the God he knows is somehow beyond “human reckoning” and who must simply be adored. It is through “repentance” that Job finds restoration.

Job is “after a fashion, an oriental beatnik . . . remote and uncouth in his garb and visage. He is an angry man, an insubordinate campaigner against conventional doctrine” (241).

Good observation: “In our own generation, we too, like Job, are living precariously between the times. ‘Where is God?’ sensitive men are asking in this critical interim. Deep down they have lost the support of the old gods of culture, history, and progress. No God created in the image of man can satisfy their hunger. No version of religion that equates it simply with human wishes and ambitions or with the cult of individual happiness and success can meet their need. For our generation has known the wreckage of human hopes and has tasted the bitterness of doubt and despair. Job speaks to our situation because it speaks of the God who is found, through the night of man’s doubt and sorrow, at the center of the storm, even as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is found by needy men amid the darkness of the cross of Calvary” (241).

Job 1 – “There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil” (1:1).

Job is a man of wealth and piety living in the East. But one day, “the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them”  (1:6).  God asks Satan if he has noticed his servant Job – how faithful he is and true. Satan responds that Job has integrity only because he has so much – but if he were to lose everything he HAS, he would curse God.

So God gives Satan power over Job’s possessions. So in turn, Job loses all he has – first his oxen, then his sheep and finally all of his children - seven sons and three daughters. In response, “Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, ‘I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!’ In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God (1:20-22).

It is good that the story here is “literature” and not “history” because we are exploring an idea here, not real people. It would be hard for readers to accept that a “real” man would have the degree of purity and integrity that Job is presented as having, or that God would make such a “deal” with Satan, but a “story” can posit this and we can then focus on the underlying reality.

The Epistles of Ignatius [Letter to the Magnesians]

A good deal of Ignatius' letters involve his concern over the need to establish a sense of respect for the leaders of the church - the deacons, presbyters and especially the bishops. I am not an expert in this area, and it is clear that early Quakers believed at some point during this time, the church community went off into what they commonly called "apostasy". I am not sure I agree with this. I tend to think they were trying very hard to prevent the faithful from falling into apostasy, and that they way to do that was to establish a line of authority that maintained faithful instruction, faithful living, and a link back to Christ through a succession method they believed he would have approved of. I would be interested to hear what others think.

4 – “What is comes to is that we ought not just to have the name of Christians, but to be so in reality; not like some persons who will address a man as bishop, but in practice take no notice of him. I do not see how people of that kind can be acting in good conscience, seeing that the meetings they hold can have no sort of valid authority” (71-72). The footnote here says that the “services of the dissident faction, being held without the presence or sanction of the bishop, were considered irregular and invalid” (74).

5 – Ignatius says there are “two alternatives before us. They are life and death; and every one of us will have to go to his own particular place. There are two different coinages, so to speak, in circulation, God’s and the world’s, each with its own distinctive marking. Unbelievers carry the stamp of the world; while the faithful in love bear the stamp of God the Father, through Jesus Christ. Unless we are ready and willing to die in conformity with His Passion, His life is not in us” (72).

6 – Whatever divisions were going on in the community of the Magnesians is uncertain, but it is clear that Ignatius’ primary concern is with the continuing unity of the church. “[L]et  me urge on you the need for godly unanimity in everything you do. Let the bishop preside in the place of God, and his clergy in place of the Apostolic conclave” (72).  A footnote here says that the practice of churches (at least in this region) to give the bishop a seat “on a dais at the centre of a semicircle of his clergy (an arrangement coped from the position of judge and assessors in the lawcourts) . . . suggest a comparison with the Apostles on the twelve thrones around the Throne of God; the earthly hierarchy being thus a type of the heavenly” (72). This image will be repeated in other letters.

Might note here too that the outward structures of the early church were not imposed by the Empire but simply incorporated by Christians themselves – their way of understanding how one organized things.

Genesis 48-50 Letters of Ignatius [Magnesians 1-3]

Genesis 48 – Soon after promising his father that he will return his body to their lands in Canaan, Joseph visits his dying father. Jacob tells his son about the promise God made to him at Luz; and he says “’I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are. But any children born to you in the future will be your own, and they will inherit land within the territories of their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh” (48:5-6).

He blesses the boys, apparently making some uncustomary switch of hands – blessing the younger boy Ephraim with his right hand and the older boy with his left. Once again, the “worldly” traditions are ignored by God and his agents.

Joseph is upset that the hands are not on the heads as custom dictates, but “his father refused. ‘I know, my son; I know,’ he replied. ‘Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations’” (48:19).

Then Jacob reassures Joseph that one day they will return to Canaan and that he (through his sons) will be given “an extra portion” (48:22) of the land there.

Genesis 49 – Finally Jacobs calls all his sons together so he can bless them and prophesy about their futures:

Reuben the first-born is “first in rank and . . .power” but because he is “unruly as a flood” and has defiled Jacob’s “marriage couch” he will no longer be first (49:3-4).

Simeon and Levi, “two of a kind” whose “weapons are instruments of violence,” will have their anger cursed; they will be scattered among the descendants of Jacob, dispersed throughout Israel (49:5-7).

Judah, Jacob’s “young lion” will “grasp [his] enemies by the neck” will keep hold of the “ruler’s staff . . . until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor” (49:8-10).

Zebulun “will settle by the seashore and . . .be a harbor for ships” (49:13).

Issachar is a “sturdy donkey resting between two saddlepacks.” When he learns how good the countryside is, he’ll start to work very hard (49:14).

Dan will “govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.” He will be a “snake beside the road” that bites horses’ hooves so their riders are thrown off (49:16-17).

Gad “will be attacked by marauding bands” but will attach them when they retreat (49:19).

Asher will “dine on rich foods and produce food fit for kings” (49:20).

Naphtali “is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns” (49:21).

Joseph is “the foal of a wild donkey” – he was attacked savagely but “his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel” (49:22-24). May all the blessings of God rest on his head (49:25-26).

Benjamin is “a ravenous wolf, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening” (49:27).

After giving his blessings, Jacob “joined his ancestors in death” (49:33).

Genesis 50 – Joseph has his father’s body embalmed and he is mourned for seventy days. When the period of mourning is over, Joseph approaches Pharaoh to beg that he be permitted to take his father to Canaan to bury him. Pharaoh agrees.

Joseph goes with his whole family and many of Pharaoh’s officials. They hold a “great and solemn memorial service” (50:10) and bury him “in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre . .  the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial city from Ephron the Hittite” (50:12).

Then they return to Egypt. Joseph’s brothers become worried that their brother will somehow now start to take revenge on them for their past sins. They send him a message saying “Before your father died, he instructed us to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin” (50:16-17).

Joseph breaks down and weeps when he reads their letter. Then they come and bow down again before him. He says, “’Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children’” (50:19-21).

They all continue to live in Egypt. Joseph lives to be 110 years old. Before he dies, he reassures his brothers that God will come and lead them back, and he asks that they remember to bring his bones with them when they return. The Egyptians embalm him when he dies and place his body in a coffin.

The Epistles of Ignatius [Letter to the Magnesians]

Introduction: Magnesia-on-the-Maeander was 15 miles from Ephesus. The bishop of this church, Damas, along with several other people, also came to see Ignatius when he was in Smyrna. As in all of his letters, Ignatius focuses a lot of his attention on issues of authority in the early church, encouraging all Christians to obey their bishops. The bishop of Magnesia was apparently very young; Ignatius is concerned that some may try to justify NOT accepting his authority for this reason.

Page references are from Penguin Books’ Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers (1987).

1 – Ignatius praises the “disciplined way of life” the Magnesians are known for, and he prays “for their corporate as well as their spiritual unity—for both of these are the gifts of Jesus Christ, our never-failing Life. May they be one in their faith, and one in the love which transcends all other virtues; but chiefest of all may their be one with Jesus and the Father, since it is only by enduring in Him all the prince of this world’s indignities, . . . that we can come to the presence of God” (71).

2 – He notes the privilege he felt at the visit of their bishop Damas and two other “clergy” from the church and a deacon.

3 – He urges his readers not to take advantage of bishop Damas’ lack of years, but to show him every possible respect, having regard to the power God has conferred on him. He states that “propriety requires an obedience from you that is more than mere lip-service. It is not a question of imposing upon a particular bishop who is there before your eyes, but upon One who is unseen; and in such a case it is not flesh and blood we have to reckon with, but God, who is aware of all our secrets” (71).