Job 3:22
Who rejoice at the tomb,
Who are thrilled to reach the grave.
This Sunday, the lesson was about Sampson. As a kid, we were told the story of Sampson and Delilah. The image I remember was of a young man looking for love and a wicked woman. In the end, Sampson took action that caused his death also known as suicide. Granted, he killed a bunch of his enemies in the process and righted his relationship with God, but he still wanted to die more than he wanted live.
At some point, I heard it was a sin to commit suicide. Hard not to believe that is so. But some where along the line was the thought that committing suicide kept you form going to heaven. There is a certain worldly logic to that, but God never lets the faithful slip from His grasp and surely there have been those believers who chose this outcome. I severely doubt Sampson impacted his eternal fate by committing suicide.
But moving beyond the influence of Sampson, there are and have been innumerable people whose bodies or attempts to lead happy lives have led to the desire for the pain to end. Many, many people comfort other with the idea that their loved ones are in a better place and the suffering is over. And this is the idea that Job discusses here, the welcome end.
The odd thing about this verse is that many of the versions did not contain the duplication of death in each stitch and were a single strain of thought. This is so not like Job, it is hard to believe it came up so much. In fact, only one rendered tomb. The others reinforce the nature of more joy. I obviously chose the poetic pattern and tomb, but how critical was that one source to my understanding?
Another odd feature of this verse is the nominal pattern of joy and gladness across the stiches, but without full consistency of which goes where. I actually used thrilled in place of gladness as it seems more intense and consistent with the finality of the situation. I actually almost deleted the who are from the second stitch but left it in as it is easier to delete than add back in from here.
And finally, I chose “reach” the grave as opposed to find a grave. Find gives me too much of the active digging and searching form the previous verse. Reach fits more with the end of a long journey successfully complete.
When I think of my mom’s last moments, I picture her suffering and ready to meet her savior. I look at her life and know that my sister and I bear the impact of many of my mom’s mistakes, but I also know that we know Christ because my mom prioritized that above all else. All of the mistakes we make in life, our sin, our iniquity, … it has all been washed away by the blood of Christ. God sees us as new creations, blameless and righteous. If God has forgiven us and our neighbor, who am I to judge my neighbor for being a sinner like me.
We expect to rejoice when we meet our savior. How can we not spend our lives trying to share this joyful outcome with others?