December 31, 2014
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Repairers
You shall be called the Repairer of the Breach (Isa 58:12)
To All Who Obey Him
[Part Three of Three]
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For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not exalt Himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by Him who said to Him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten [fathered] you"; as He says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."
In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (Heb 5:1–10 emphasis added)
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3.
There is nothing inherently evil about either a myth or a fictional story, both of which can (but don’t necessarily) serve as metaphorical representations of otherwise difficult concepts to express directly. Jesus, in John’s Gospel, told His disciples that He had only spoken to them in figures of speech [metaphorical language] (John 16:25); for human words address the things and thoughts of human persons, not the things and thoughts of God … audible vowels [oral vowels] represent breath passing by vocal cords with the position of the tongue, teeth, lips determining which vowel is being uttered. Consonants are interruptions of the vowel stream at specific locations; consonants are stops that tend toward silence. With the exception of liquids (lateral consonants and rhotics) and nasal occlusive consonants [where the mouth stops the vowel stream and redirects it through the nose as in consonants /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/], consonants produce silence, the death of sound, and it is difficult to begin an utterance with silence, the justification for fricatives (hissing sounds resulting from a small amount of air escaping from the mouth). Thus, human utterance by its very nature is dependent upon the breath that sustains physical life. No breath, no utterance. And if there is no utterance heard, there is no inner sound heard when thoughts occur for thoughts are in previously uttered words.
But the mind does more than think thoughts, with most of this “more” at a primitive level that is not stressed by modern mankind. Part of this “more” comes to a person in non-verbalized feelings, the groaning (used in a figurative sense) of the spirit within every person, with the spirit of the person [to pneuma tou ’anthropou] conveying to the mind basic fears, anxieties, phobias—things expressed by genetics and epigenetics.
What if the person has no language in which to think thoughts? The mind will invent/create a language, complete with all parts of speech. Human utterance will then occur even if this utterance cannot be understood by any other person; for the mind has to think in allophones even if these allophones are physically prevented from being vocalized.
Now, how are the thoughts of a dog expressed? We cannot really know, but by barks, growls, whimpers, and urination a dog “communicates” with other dogs and with people. Thus, the question, are a dog’s thoughts in barks, growls, and whimpers? From a human perspective, that doesn’t seem right for a dog’s face is expressive: sadness and joy can be seen on the face of a dog. So in what language if any does a dog “think” sad thoughts?
There is greater difference between man and God than there is between dog and man … does a dog project unto its handler [caregiver] its own characteristics? How would a person know? And how could a dog grasp the nuances of human intellect or imagination? How can a human person grasp the scope and sophistication of the mind of God? As a dog “understands” its handler? And I have returned to Christ Jesus being the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Human beings are not dogs to be trained by handlers to do work such as retrieving waterfowl or controlling a flock of sheep; work such as sniffing out drugs or IUDs; work such as personal protection; or work as simple as coming when called. Rather, human sons of God are to be trained as human children are trained—mind parents; respect peers; don’t play in the street; don’t grab the cat by its tail; sit and be still when company comes; don’t interrupt others when they are speaking.
Human parents do not expect infant offspring to do work for them. However, as a child grows, work is expected albeit simple chores such as picking up dirty clothing, making beds, sweeping floors. As the child matures, more work is expected from the young person; for historically in Western culture, adult persons are expected to make their way in this world through work individually performed. The work habits developed early in life inevitably become the work habits of the adult person. The young man whose father and grandfather were “workaholics” will, most likely, be a workaholic himself, and therefore successful in Western cultures. Yes, the entrepreneur who successfully begins a business and makes it prosper uses public roads and utilities, but the collective gives no more to the entrepreneur than is given to derelicts that live out of purloined shopping carts. It is the training and opportunities given to a child that ultimately determines whether the adult person supports him or herself or whether the collective supports the person … the poor will always exist, but it is unreasonable for the poor to expect to be comfortable in poverty. And the discomfort of poverty should motivate a person to become industrious to the limits of physical abilities.
A son of God has as his parents God the Father and Christ Jesus, neither of whom expects an infant son to do more work than to obey Christ Jesus … work is the expectation of the son who reaches his majority that brings with it receipt of a glorified body. However, learning to work, practicing working is the expectation of all sons of God past infancy—and the work to be performed is done in this world through manifesting love for God, neighbor, and brother.
Christ Jesus is the only source of eternal salvation, not one of many sources. But in Christ being the only source, what did the man Jesus tell His disciples, according to Matthew’s Gospel?
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Then He will say to those on His left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” Then He will answer them, saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matt 25:31–46)
As the only source of salvation, Christ Jesus doesn’t ask that the righteous utter His name in bastardized Hebrew, or that the righteous profess that Jesus is Lord and believe that the Father raised Jesus from death. Christ asks only that the righteous have love for neighbor and brother, manifested love—love that has ontological presence in this world. Christ asks that the righteous be the personification of the love that God the Father has for dead ones, love that has the Father raising the dead to life so that He will no longer be their God through ignorance that comes from lack of consciousness.
When the Father raises a person to life, the God of living ones—the God of Abraham—becomes the person’s God. The Father ceases to be the person’s God except as that person becomes the personification of Christ Jesus who was in His person the personification of the Father … when a person hears the voice of Jesus and hears the words that Jesus spoke, with Jesus only speaking the Father’s words, and when this person then seeks to imitate Christ Jesus, walking in this world as Jesus walked, the person becomes first the personification of Jesus the Nazarene, and secondly, the personification of the Father, the God of dead ones. The person voluntarily imitates the Father, thereby transforming worship from the projection of what hands do and mouths speak into living imitation. And this is what the Father could not create by fiat: a living entity voluntarily mimicking His acts, His deeds, His life. This is the most sincere form of love for Him; for the person who through conscious effort transforms him or herself into the personification of Christ Jesus, the personification of God the Father, conveys to the Father what the person thinks of the Father. This person has chosen to make God the Father the person’s God when liberated from the unconsciousness of being spiritually dead.
Such an act stands in stark opposition to what the Adversary did.
When a son of God lives by the words that Jesus spoke—the word that Jesus left with His disciples (John 12:48)—the son of God becomes in actuality a deity like the Father. But this is not what the Adversary wants known. This is not what Christianity teaches. And this is not possible in any schema that incorporates a closed godhead.
Any dogma supported by a closed canon is of the Adversary, who wants the issue of salvation settled through what Eliphaz the Temanite told Job:
Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: “Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before His Maker? Even in His servants He puts no trust, and His angels He charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' (Job 4:12–21)
Can a man—a clay vessel—be righteous before God? The spirit that spoke to Eliphaz said, No, not possible when God brings accusation against even His angels. But, yes, a man can be righteous when that clay vessel becomes the personification of Christ Jesus, whose righteousness came from believing God and becoming the personification of God, so much so that to see Christ Jesus was to see God.
To obey God is to permit the person’s inner self to rule the outer self, thereby “living” the words Jesus spoke, becoming “the word” [’o logos] of Jesus as Jesus was the Word [’o Logos] of the Father …
A wife’s attire reflects what is in her husband’s heart, her attire being unconsciously chosen so as to magnify what is pleasing to her husband—and this correspondence occurs regardless of the attire of the wife. If she wears jeans and sweatshirts, she reflects what is in her husband’s heart. If she wears cape dresses and covers, she reflects what is in her husband’s heart. If she dresses in business attire, again she reflects her husband’s heart. If she dresses like a streetwalker, she reflects what her husband hides from the world; for the wife—two being one flesh—unconsciously discloses secrets her husband otherwise successfully hides from co-workers and employers, friends and neighbors. The wife through how she dresses and behaves in public becomes the personification of her husband’s inner self, even in the case of the prophet Hosea, the most obvious exception to the preceding that a critic would cite.
Say to your brothers, "You are my people," and to your sisters, "You have received mercy." Plead with your mother, plead—for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband—that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.” Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.” And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.' I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares [YHWH]. (Hos 2:1–13)
Gomer, daughter of Diblaim, was a wife of whoredom, a wife of the sort that the Lord commanded Hosea to take (Hos 1:2), a wife typifying the idolatrous adultery of Israel. So she doesn’t work as an example of the wife reflecting what is in her husband’s heart. Rather, she functions as a shadow and copy of what was in Israel’s heart, which in turn function as a shadow and copy of what is in the heart of greater Christendom, spiritual Israel.
Jesus in the things He said and did reflected the spirit of the Father [again, pneuma Theou] that was in His heart (in His spirit [pneuma Christou]), thereby causing the man Jesus during His earthly ministry to be the visible personification of God the Father as a wife in her attire reflects what is in her husband’s heart. In a similar manner, the indwelling of Christ Jesus in the form of His spirit [again, pneuma Christou] in a human person born anew, should cause—and will cause—this human person to be the personification of Christ Jesus, thereby reflecting in the person’s behavior [his or her spiritual attire] the inner most desires of the person’s spiritual Head, Christ Jesus. Others should be able to see Christ in how this born anew person lives his or her life.
But there is a wrinkle in the above analogy: Jesus lived His life without sin, without transgressing the Commandments. But Jesus took upon Himself the sins of Israel and became the Passover Lamb of God when He entered Jerusalem on the 10th day of the first month—and in taking upon Himself the sins of Israel, He became the personification of Israel’s lawlessness; of Israel’s unbelief. Therefore, Christians are of two sorts, those who personify Jesus as Jesus personified God the Father, and those who personify Jesus as Jesus personified Israel’s unbelief at the time of His crucifixion at Calvary.
Are there really two sorts of Christians? There are. Christians of the first sort—Christians in the first personification of Jesus as Jesus was the personification of God—will keep the Commandments and will have love for God, neighbor, and brother. Christians of the second sort; Christians in the second personification, will openly manifest unbelief of God and will die for this unbelief, die as Jesus’ physical body died at Calvary.
Show us the Father—
Christians keeping the Commandments as Jesus kept the Commandments show to humanity God the Father. In themselves, such Christians become personified manifestations of the Father … in yourself; in you manifesting love for neighbor and brother; in you being willing to die for those who would persecute you, you become the personification of Christ Jesus and by extension, the personification of God the Father.
But if you, Christian, refuse to keep the Commandments; if you refused to keep the Sabbaths of God; if you practice idolatry, you become the open personification of unbelief, the personification of the sins of Israel that Jesus took upon Himself and that you as His disciple have taken upon yourself. And you will die for your unbelief in the lake of fire. You, Christian, will perish as if you were sheep slaughtered at the dedication of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron 7:5).
Paul wrote,
For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (Rom 2:11–13 emphasis added)
You, Christian, who claim you are not under the Law will nevertheless perish if you transgress the Law. You are not justified by the Law or by the works of the Law. Rather you are justified by becoming the personification of Christ Jesus in keeping the Law; in being a doer of the Law. For in keeping the Law, you, Christian, show that you wear the garment of Christ Jesus’ righteousness; the garment of grace. You are not cloaked in your own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Christ, who was the personification of God the Father.
Sadducees and Pharisees before and rabbinical Judaism today wore/wear their own righteousness, sought through blood sacrifice before and prayer today. They reject the righteousness of Christ Jesus. They cloak themselves in a garment inherited from Moses without understanding what Moses’ shining face represented … death reigned over humankind from Adam to Moses (Rom 5:14), not from Adam to Christ Jesus; for Moses bodily entered into the presence of the Theos of Abraham. And Moses atop Mount Sinai forms the shadow and type of the Elect—the already glorified inner selves of disciples—entering into the presence of the Theos of Christ Jesus via the indwelling of Christ.
The Theos of Christ Jesus is not the Theos of Abraham, the God of living ones (Matt 22:32), but rather, the God of dead ones, having twice raised the man Jesus from death, the first time when Jesus was raised from John’s baptism and the spirit of the Father [pneuma Theou] entered into Him in the bodily form of a dove, and the second time when the spirit of the Father bodily raised Jesus from death post Calvary: “If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit that dwells in you” (Rom 8:11).
But the dead, physical and spiritual, do not know their God; for again, the dead know nothing (Eccl 9:5). So the dead do not know the Father, or even know of the Father.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus prayed,
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. (John 17:1–8 emphasis added)
Elsewhere, Jesus in John’s Gospel said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:15–24)
The long term problem that natural Israel faced was its unbelief stemming from its inability to hear Moses and by extension, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the Theos of living ones, not the Theos of dead ones — Matt 22:32) … the biological descendants of Abraham had ears to hear and eyes to see, but the nation these biological descendants formed refused to hear the words of the Lord or to see their own idolatrous ways. The nation these biological descendants represented forms the shadow and copy of the spiritual nation of Israel, the nation to be circumcised of heart, a euphemistic expression for no longer being stubborn before God, insisting on worshiping Him how, when, and where the representatives of the people declare.
God is not democratic, and Christianity isn’t a representative democracy. God is theocratic. Christ Jesus didn’t speak His words during His earthly ministry, but spoke only the words of God the Father. Likewise, the God of Abraham—the God of living ones—didn’t speak His words to Abraham, but spoke the words He shared with the God of dead ones, these two forming one deity represented by the linguistic determinative <YHWH>; these two seen in John 1:1–3 and in Philippians 2:5–7, where Paul wrote,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:5–11 emphasis added)
There is one God, but this one deity isn’t/wasn’t the Theos of Abraham. This one deity was El Shaddai (from Gen 17:1), conversationally but inaccurately translated as God Almighty … <El> translated as God [singular] is unambiguous: El is “god” in the Ugarit, Canaanite language, what Abraham would have spoken. But <Shaddai> is a first person possessive plural that incorporates the sense of being strong and being a mountain dweller [as in dwelling in heaven], one able to interrupt the creation process as in, He said, “Enough,” to His world.
King David as psalmist wrote,
Praise Yah!
Praise YHWH, O my soul! (Ps 146:1)
Praise Yah!
Praise YHWH from the heavens;
praise Him in the heights! (Ps 148:1)
Praise Yah!
Sing to YHWH a new song,
His praise in the assembly of the godly! (Ps 149:1)
In the physical position of each thought-couplet, David placed the identifier <Yah>. But in the spiritual position, David placed the Tetragrammaton YHWH, the linguistic determinative for the conjoined deity that collectively represent the Theos of living ones whom Abraham knew, and the Theos of dead ones that Abraham did not know (because Abraham was not dead; was not baptized; but was not born of spirit either).
El Shaddai as a linguistic identifying expression would be analogous to David writing, Praise Yah [El], / Praise YHWH [Shaddai], the plural representing not a pluralis excellentiae naming noun, but a regular plural that Israel did not recognize as “plural.”
As addressed in the previous section, Moses, the presumed author of Exodus, records, “God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I am [YHWH]. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as [El Shaddai], but by my name [YHWH] I did not make myself known to them’” (Ex 6:2–3). However, the text of the Torah that endtime Christians have is a redaction of whatever was originally written, a redaction coming after Israel lost the Book of the Covenant only to find it again in the days of King Josiah—and a redaction made to regularize Holy Writ so that it could be translated from the partially alphabetized script in which Moses wrote into Imperial Hebrew, still a partially alphabetized Semitic script but one supported by being continually passed forward through an oral tradition.
In a reliable oral tradition pertaining to what vowels should be added to the inscribed consonant clusters in which Moses wrote, we wouldn’t find in Scripture this:
And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to [YHWH] your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to [YHWH] in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 23:21–23)
The Tetragrammaton YHWH was considered too sacred to pronounce—in actuality, it wasn’t pronounced because it was a linguistic determinative—so King Josiah would not have uttered what is attributed to him. He would not have said, “Keep the Passover to YHWH.” Rather, he would have used a substitute utterance for the Tetragrammaton. Therefore, what is recorded in the Book of Kings isn’t an actual utterance by King Josiah, but a synthesized [condensed but fictionalized] utterance of the sort common to redactions, done for efficient conveyance of vague or wordy communication.
The extent of redaction that occurred when proto-Hebrew was transcribed into Imperial Hebrew is seen in the prophecies of Ezekiel, but is also seen in a particularly important—to Christians—passage in Genesis … remember Moses presumably recorded the words of the God of Abraham, writing, I am [YHWH]. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as [El Shaddai], but by my name [YHWH] I did not make myself known to them (Ex 6:2–3).
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of [YHWH] called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, "[YHWH] will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of [YHWH] it shall be provided." And the angel of [YHWH] called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself I have sworn, declares [YHWH], because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice." (Gen 22:10–18)
Well, did or didn’t the Lord make Himself known to Abraham by the linguistic determinative YHWH? He either did, which would refute what Moses presumably wrote, or He didn’t, which would refute what is recorded in Genesis. Endtime disciples cannot have it both ways. Only the ignorant can ignore the reality of an Imperial Hebrew redaction of what Moses wrote, which now introduces the arbiter of what is Scripture, this arbiter being Christ Jesus, who spoke only the words of the Father.
But what exactly did the man Jesus speak?
The author of Luke’s Gospel says that what he writes is a redaction of what others have written and of witness testimony:
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1–4)
The author of Luke’s Gospel is not an eyewitness to things that happened, but someone who had closely followed what others had written; what others had preached; what others had witnessed. He wrote an uninspired synthesis of what was being taught within the greater Christian community; he wrote a redaction of what others had written.
Returning to <Shaddai>:
Shaddai by itself is used to represent God, with the Book of Job testifying to this usage. And it is in the Book of Job where what Paul wrote about all having known the Lord (Rom 1:18–21) can be seen in this reality’s weakness and strength: Eliphaz the Temanite told Job,
If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed. … Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: “Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? Even in His servants He puts no trust, and His angels He charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?” (Job 4:2–9, 12–21 emphasis added)
Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? … As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. But He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of [Shaddai]. For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good. (Job 5:1, 8–27)
Job’s friends gave him counsel without wisdom: Eliphaz the Temanite gave Job counsel without wisdom, but in Eliphaz’s counsel can be heard the words of Christian pastors saying that God gives rain in due season; He sets on high those who are lowly. He gives safety to those who mourn. He frustrates the crafty, the wicked — but is any of this true? Are the crafty, the deceitful, frustrated by God; or rather, do not the crafty prosper, becoming wealthy and more powerful in this world?
Is Shaddai the hope of the poor? Does Shaddai redeem those who fear Him from death during famine, or from the sword during war? Are the offspring of those who fear Shaddai as numerous as blades of grass in pastures? Christians want to believe this is the case; that the Believer who is redeemed from death and blessed is the one God reproves. But consider Job: who was afflicting Job? Not the Lord. The Adversary was afflicting a man perfect in all of his ways. Job wasn’t being discipline by the Lord, but being unjustly persecuted by the Adversary.
Perhaps most troubling in what Eliphaz told Job were the words of the spirit that came to him: Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? Even in His servants He puts no trust, and His angels He charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust … this spirit was not of God, but was of the Adversary—as were all of the words Eliphaz spoke, even when Christians want to agree with these words.
In a Christian being/becoming the personification of Christ Jesus, a mortal man can be “right” before God.
And about the counsel Eliphaz gave Job, Shaddai—the name by which Abraham knew the Lord, the God of heaven (how the Septuagint translated Shaddai in Psalm 91:1)—said,
After [YHWH] had spoken these words to Job, [YHWH] said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (Job 42:7–8)
What words of Job are most remembered?
Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let [Shaddai] answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; I would give Him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach Him. (Job 31:35–37 emphasis added)
The testimony of the Lord is that Job spoke correctly. And if Job spoke correctly, righteousness can be found dwelling in clay houses [fleshly bodies].
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."