Job 1:5 When the days of the feasting had run their course Job would send word and sanctify his children. Rising early in the morning, he made wholly burnt sacrificial offerings one for each of the children for Job thought:

Perhaps my children have sinned by blaspheming God in their thoughts.

This is what Job always did.

Verse 5 of Chapter 1 of Job gives us actions to back up the claim that Job revered God. In this verse, we find that Job would communicate with his kids, that he would sanctify them, and make wholly burnt sacrificial offerings for them. He did this because he felt “Perhaps my children have sinned by blaspheming God in their thoughts.”

The New King James version (among others) simply says he would send and sanctify. It begs the question, what would he send? Several other versions say that he would send word. When using send word, there’s a body of work that portrays this to mean that he sent word to his kids that he was going to do what was needed to sanctify them or purify them in the eyes of God.

As they did not have the sons of Levi to serve as priests, it was up to the family leader to lead the religious actions of the family and be the “priest” on their behalf. I’m not sure how Melchizedek the King of Salem became the priest of God Most High during Abram’s time and the rescue of Lot, but I am sure that a father interceding on his children’s behalf is a well-supported Biblical principle. And therefore, if he was going to do the work for them, maybe Job was just letting them know so they did not have to do it for themselves.

Alternately, I wonder if the correct term to use in the place of send is not “send word”, but “prayed”. This to me makes a ton more sense and renders the phrase “Job would pray and sanctify his children…”. It would take away the concept of communicating with his kids, but reenforce the concept of interceding on behalf of his family.

I have yet to understand the punctuation that would render the best understanding, especially since Hebrew of the day did not use punctuation at all. But I feel that the sanctifying was accomplished by the offerings made. One version of this verse had that Job offered burnt offerings. I could not wrap my head around the blandness in such a translation.

One of the terms I liked among all the others was the sacrificial nature of the offerings. An offering that costs nothing is not an offering at all.

The terms around wholly burnt made me think this was a two-word phrase in Hebrew that really just means burnt in English, but maybe burnt in English wasn’t enough to get the message across. Especially considering that the Levites would eat of the offerings to be made at the temple in the future.

Job was consistent in his behavior because he did this after each round of feasting and he did this always. I like the picture of him doing this everyday and his family eating together every night. I like eating with my kids every night and feel life is better each day when I get up early and pray before doing anything else. It just feels right.

The last thought of this piece is to comment on the introduction of Job and his focus on blaspheming God. I use blaspheme rather than curse as if seems more appropriate when dealing with God and a little more out of the ordinary at that. Job questions God later and questions how what he thought he knew does not seem to fit with what happened. This questioning of God by Job shows that we are right to question and learn and seek to understand. Just because we thought it, does not mean we were right. Job will push and push to understand, but through it all, He stands fast in acknowledging the authority of God and denying the temptation to sin by blasphemy. Having a core value like this and sticking with it is what having a core value is all about.

Note that I read another political party’s platform yesterday and was astounded by how incompatible some of their stances were with what I believe and what I think can actually happen in the world without Christ. Some sounded really good. Somehow, I think I will not find one that lines up with what I believe the Bible tell us to do. I really do not want to be in politics, but it sure would be nice if there was a Bible party that I could support. I have my core values that I got from the Bible and I strive to keep them like just Job did his. I think God gave me the Holy Spiriti so that I may cling to these core values no matter what happens on the earth around me.  I pray you have that too.