Job 5:11

Who sets the humble on high,

   The afflicted are rescued.

I was reading a book that wraps up “the bestselling science fiction adventure of all time”. I am not sure who made up that statistic, but in the age of GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) I feel the culture saying that anything less than the absolute best is not worth mentioning. I really enjoyed this book as while I already read it, I remember absolutely nothing from the last time. It contains some very “wise sayings”, but they come from within a made-up religion just for the novel. Therefore the truth of these “wise sayings” is unquestionably questionable. I project that this is how I would feel reading another religion’s scripture. (The fake religion of scientology comes to mind  since it was made up by a science fiction author.)

The verse continues the worship aspect of the prior verses in the passage and sets God up on a pedestal where He can be glorified. No one else has the power to take an unworthy person and make them worthy. In what is a rare turn, I have selected the term “humble” from my poetic source over the otherwise unanimous option of “lowly”. Not to limit God, as He can set the “lowly” as high as He wants, but I prefer the focus on Him elevating the humble as a reward for following Him. I selected “sets …on high” over “raises” believing the impact needing to be significant enough to need the action of the divine.

The ”afflicted” was chosen over “those who mourn”, “the dejected”, “gloomy men”, and the “downcast”. I liked the aspect of having something to be down about over just being down. “Rescued” was chosen over “lifted to safety”, “exalted to safety”, “secured in victory”, and “raised to safety”. I did like the secured in victory phrase, but I felt rescued was more aligned with the afflicted and the context of the verse

I admit some misgiving about the acting noun in the first stitch without it in the second, but all of the sources agreed with this differentiation, and I had saw no real benefit in forcing the verse into a different format. But I just cannot move on without more review. Looking at context, this pattern is repeated in the overall passage and is just a poetic tool being used to engage the reader/hearer.

So once again, I am joyful at seeing something I had not noticed before as I work through these verses at this pace. I like the idea of the humble being lifted up, but I do not want to be humble just to be lifted up. I like the idea of the afflicted being rescued, and I know that I have been rescued from the final affliction of sin. by the Greatest of All Time.