Job 3:20
Why give light to the sufferer?
Why life to the bitter in spirit?
Two in a day. I am about 10 months in and on the 10th chapter, so it is looking like 32 months to go. My writing is only on the 3rd chapter, so I figured I could speed it up a little. So here goes.
On a totally unrelated note, my wife logged in to my facebook account to check something and I started getting notices again. Apparently if you do not go to facebook, they do not bother you. We’ll see how long they keep coming. I would quit all together, but my sister from far away posts funny stuff. I need an app that grabs only the stuff I want to see and blocks the rest. I might even pay for that.
The most individual option for stitch one was “Why does He give light”. It personified the fact that God gives the light. Not that it is not to be understood from the context, but it was a slightly different take from the others. “Why is light given” was the most popular wording. This has the opposite effect of not seeming to give God the credit or glory due here. The wording I chose ends up the least personal, but more “logical”. It seems the point.
“Sufferer” was chosen over “those in misery”, “hard worker”, and “wretched”. I do not get the hard worker view at all, but that came from the version I stopped using. I actually looked up wretched to make sure I knew what it meant, and it is emotional rather than logical or “factual”. Sufferer seemed more applicable to the man who was suffering as opposed to just unhappy or in misery over the perception of their circumstances.
I did chose to repeat “why” rather than add “and”. I know adding the and is traditional, but I do not like it, and I do not think the poet used it over and over and over. And is prose, at least in my mind.
“Bitter in spirit” was chosen over “embittered soul”, “the bitter of soul”, “the bitter in soul”, “deeply embittered”, and “men who gag on bile”. Soul was a little overkill for me , and spirit seemed better than just embittered. The gag on bile was very unpoetic and I am not happy that got left in.
This verse brings me to the concept of why should criminals get life without parole? I am pretty forgiving on an individual level, but I do not care much for killers and rapists. In general, I think the killer assumes their life is worth more than their victims. People who act out on that have no right to continuing life according to the Bible and should be stoned. I do not really understand it, but if a killer was stopped after one, crime would seem to go down. I have even less of an opinion of rapist and want them to never have another opportunity.
My answer is always that Christ died for the sinners and their sins are not more deserving of death than mine. I pray that any time these types of criminals are allowed to live, it is so that others can witness to them and save their souls.
Job is eventually healed from his suffering and returns to a rather great life. Light is not given to the sufferer so that he can focus on his suffering, but so that he can see beyond it. Life is given to the bitter of spirit so that they might find the solution to their bitterness. The answers seem simple and the questions seem strange, but the intent is for us to learn of God and how He uses our lives to mold us for His Glory.