Job 11:6

Tell you the secrets of wisdom,

   For their understanding is carried in double folds,

Then you would know, God is exacting,

   Less from you than your iniquity demands.

 

Someone thanked me for adding some wisdom to the discussion. I did not see it as wisdom as I only pointed out a detail, but it got me to thinking that wisdom is more than just knowing important conclusions. This verse today reinforced that in a major way.

“Secrets” was also “mysteries” one time. It sounded really good as an alternative, but the majority held sway.

The second stitch was very difficult. It seems the Hebrew used a well known example of double folds where they hid their important items within their robe to keep it from being stolen. With us not wearing robes and  few people using money belts, I struggled to find a way forward. It idea that is trying to be conveyed is that wisdom has many facets and is very valuable and it is hard to discern. In the end, I hoped that the string of words I used left a path to its many meanings open if not super apparent. One source used “sagacity” that I really liked, but figure was a little too obscure to help.

The final two stitches flow made it difficult to know where the third split from the fourth. I wanted to make the third short and the fourth long, but I knew that was not it. I wanted to keep the verb and amount together. In the end, I followed my favorite source.

“Exacting” was also “forgotten”, “overlooked”, and “punishing”. I did not clearly understand the overlooking translation, but exacting seemed firmly the idea.

While the source is not the best, Zophor is correct that Job is not getting all that his sin deserves. Sin deserves death, and once the ungodly figure out this death is not immediate in a physical circumstance, they tend to run out enough rope to hang themselves many times over. Zophor would love to learn to understand the mysteries of understanding that he believes Job does have in order to be smarter himself.

The biggest mystery of any wisdom is how you do not gain wisdom by simply hearing it or reading it. Gaining wisdom is a mental process combining knowledge, experience, time, and what can either be called luck or gifting from God. I knew that the lack of clarity in the discussion was about the detail of a action and not the action itself. The text did not make it clear and the mystery was what the author was trying to accomplish by making it obscure in the first place.

In my mind, the lesson was that the author was reinforcing the idea Christ had been teaching that sometimes the law of Moses resulted in conflicts that could only be resolved by understanding that the law was not perfect or even a path to perfection, but a pointer to what was perfection. Circumcision was work. It was prescribed for the eighth day. The Sabbath law called for no work on Sunday. Healing was work. A child could be circumcised on the Sabbath when it was the eighth day because logic said it could not be the ninth day. But Jesus was condemned for healing on the Sabbath because no law said you could not wait until the next day. But Jesus said healing was more important than not working and knowing God was enough to teach them how to prioritize doing good over following less important “rules”. As you may know, my love of bacon cheese burgers has driven me to look at the rules around meat and cheese and decide that beyond not applying to me as a Christian, many rules the Jews have established to follow the law fall short of my sense of acceptably following the intent of God.

God wants us to love others. These are not actions demanded by rules, but demanded by the love God has for us and the love He has provided for us to share. The old phrase, “Rules are meant to be broken.” is not about doing wrong, but about doing better. Knowing this is on the path to wisdom.

 

(Written 2/6, Posted 2/8, Job 236)