Job 3:19

There the small and the great are equal

                The slave, now free, beside his master.

I really like this verse. It is a foundation for being humble. As we know, Job was the wealthiest man he knew, and while word choice is not clear on servants or slaves, he most certainly was the master. He is not throwing this out there as the small or the slave, but as the great and the master. Humility.

I took the lazy way out when doing this verse and did not copy all the versions when they repeated what I had written before. I do not like looking back at these and am thrown every time I see it. Only the poet used “humble” in place of small, and while it applies to the verse, I do not think it is the correct word to be used.

“Great” is not the opposite of “humble” and great was the main focus of the first stitch and was used in every version. I felt comfortable in using that word. My mental image is not of size nor of pride, but of someone who has achieved. Whether the result was from personal effort or, as in the case of Job, by being blessed by God and knowing it.

“Slave” is the word choice I use when appropriate as I have discussed sufficiently in past posts. “Master” was the obvious choice, but my favorite version used “Lord”. I do like the use of Lord in general, but when I think of “lord” I see it with a capital letter and the only Lord for me is Jesus. Obviously, death does not make us equal to Jesus, so I avoided Lord here as much as chose master.

The interesting topic is how to utilize “free” in the text. The first stitch uses “There…are equal”. I chose “now free”. Other options reviewed used “is free” or “is freed”. My “now free” came from the translating poet and seems to me to place the timing of the freedom correctly. “Is” does not seem to address the action, and “freed” makes it seem not yet complete. Maybe I am getting too detailed on this on.

Three things stick out in my mind at this point. One, we are all equal in having sinned, be it small and hidden or great and infamous. Two, we are all equal in slavery to sin as it dominates us but for the sacrifice of Christ. Three, we are all equal before God and should treat each other with humility because of this equality. The book I am reading has a group being equally poor to demonstrate their equality. We however can demonstrate our great riches in Christ and give and give and give love.