Job 6:27

You would cast lots, even over an orphan,

   And haggle over your companion.

(Written 3/21, Posted  4/2 )

I grew up with a friend who was Jewish because his mother was Jewish, but his father was not, and the father and my friend lived as if they were not. In college, I had a roommate was Jewish because he was Jewish. Despite these concrete examples, I grew up with a notional stereotype of Jews that is as applicable to any one group of people as another. This verse is that stereotype. That they would argue over price for anything. Having a little more worldly experience, I find it odd that our American culture is so negative about haggling. To not haggle is to not get a good deal on both sides.

Cast lots has a “seek God” aspect to it that was maybe not as prevalent as one might hope. Castling lots over an orphan does not seem very godly and more of an insult. One source reaches down to casting lots for the belongings of the orphan (which would seem to be almost nothing). The King James and New King James use “overwhelm” rather than “cast lots”, so they either got it wrong or went with the general negative. I belatedly added the “, even” to help with the negativity. “Fatherless” could have also been used for “orphan”. My most divergent sources had almost the same thing, so I went with it.

“Haggle” could have been “bargain” or “barter”, but “haggle” seemed a better fit. Once again, the King James and New King James were at odds with “undermine” or “dig a pit”, which seemed to miss the point with severe negativity. In place of “companion”, sources had “friends” or “neighbor’s property”.

Some subtle differences include “bargain over your friend”, “barter away your friend”, “undermine your friend”, “dig a pit for your friend”, “haggle for your companion”, and “drive a bargain over your friend”. One aspect is that you bargain so hard with your friends you lose them as friends, another that you bargain away even something that is not yours, you bargain in such a way as to put your friends in a losing spot, and so on. I left my result a little vague to allow for some flexibility in how ruthless Job’s friends treated their companion (him).

One of the things I do with my baseball cards is trade them for others. The hardest part for me generally is finding something that the other person has that I want. Once that is over, trying to find a equitable balance of value is not as “hard”, but often boils down to: Will I feel dumb down the road if I find out something I should have known”, like whether some guy is hurt or quickly on the rise.

I have on a stained shirt I bought for $5. It was a bargain because it was made of quality materials, and I did not care if it looked good so much as would not shrink. I recently gave away a nice shirt I paid way more than $5 for, but it shrunk so much even my kids could not wear it. One was a good deal, one was not.  The story here is that people are not deals. We do not put a dollar value on orphans or our friends. People are valuable because God made them and loves them and wants to save them. We are not to see people as how much value they can add to our lives, but how much we can add to theirs. It is a simple exchange of self for selflessness. With my last name, I have a soft spot for casting lots, but does anyone still trust that God will talk to them through a single roll of the dice?