Day 34
Job 30:1-32:22
(30 | 31 | 32)
In chapter 29, Job went on about how people used to respect him. In chapter 30, he speaks about how people treat him now, after his apparent fall from grace. He laments the fact that God doesn't seem to be answering his cries for help. But in all this, and throughout chapter 31, he continues to insist he is innocent.
So at the start of chapter 32, Job's friends no longer want to attempt to answer him. Job maintains his innocence, they maintain his guilt. There are no concessions on either side. It's at this point we learn of another friend, a young man named Elihu. Elihu had stayed silent up to this point because he felt the older and wiser men should speak first. However Elihu realises that it is the Spirit that grants wisdom and understanding, not age. Since none of his elders have managed to answer Job's arguments, he feels compelled to speak. He describes that compulsion quite comprehensively without actually entering into an argument himself. Presumably, that comes in chapter 33.
Matthew 22:15-46
(22:15-46)
The whole episode about paying taxes to Caesar is very interesting. The Pharisees set out to try to trick him into saying something that can get him arrested. So they ask him if it's right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus takes a coin, and asks whose face it bears. The answer, of course, is Caesar's face. So, Jesus tells them "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's". If the coins bear Caesar's image, they're his; give him his dues. But since humanity is made in God's image, it belongs to him. So we need to give God his dues; we need to give him ourselves.
The Sadducees believe there is no resurrection, and so they, naturally, question Jesus on what happens after resurrection. They present him with the absurd hypothetical situation of a man who marries a woman, but dies before they can have children. The law demands in that situation that the man's brother must marry her and have children for him. Now, the man has six brothers. All seven of them end up marrying this woman and all seven manage to die before they can have children. So of the seven, whose wife is the woman at the resurrection. Jesus' answer is that there is no marriage at the resurrection - no one is married, and none are given in marriage. He then explains that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
The Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus again, this time by asking which of the commandments is greatest. Jesus says:
Jesus then turns the tables, and asks the Pharisees whose son they think the Christ is. They reply "David's". Which is fair enough, as he's referred to as the Son of David a fair amount. But Jesus counters by asking them how the Christ can be the son of David when David, prophesying through the Spirit, refers to the Christ as Lord; how can he be David's son if David calls him Lord? (This answers a question I had earlier on. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's in the line of David, but he isn't actually a son of David. I don't know if that makes sense outside of my own head, but I feel better.) This completely confounds the Pharisees, and none dare ask Jesus any more questions.
Psalm 18:16-24
(18:16-24)
David says that the LORD did indeed rescue him. But he says he was rescued because of his righteousness. He did not turn from any of the LORD's decrees, and is being duly rewarded by God.
Job 30:1-32:22
(30 | 31 | 32)
In chapter 29, Job went on about how people used to respect him. In chapter 30, he speaks about how people treat him now, after his apparent fall from grace. He laments the fact that God doesn't seem to be answering his cries for help. But in all this, and throughout chapter 31, he continues to insist he is innocent.
So at the start of chapter 32, Job's friends no longer want to attempt to answer him. Job maintains his innocence, they maintain his guilt. There are no concessions on either side. It's at this point we learn of another friend, a young man named Elihu. Elihu had stayed silent up to this point because he felt the older and wiser men should speak first. However Elihu realises that it is the Spirit that grants wisdom and understanding, not age. Since none of his elders have managed to answer Job's arguments, he feels compelled to speak. He describes that compulsion quite comprehensively without actually entering into an argument himself. Presumably, that comes in chapter 33.
Matthew 22:15-46
(22:15-46)
The whole episode about paying taxes to Caesar is very interesting. The Pharisees set out to try to trick him into saying something that can get him arrested. So they ask him if it's right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus takes a coin, and asks whose face it bears. The answer, of course, is Caesar's face. So, Jesus tells them "give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's". If the coins bear Caesar's image, they're his; give him his dues. But since humanity is made in God's image, it belongs to him. So we need to give God his dues; we need to give him ourselves.
The Sadducees believe there is no resurrection, and so they, naturally, question Jesus on what happens after resurrection. They present him with the absurd hypothetical situation of a man who marries a woman, but dies before they can have children. The law demands in that situation that the man's brother must marry her and have children for him. Now, the man has six brothers. All seven of them end up marrying this woman and all seven manage to die before they can have children. So of the seven, whose wife is the woman at the resurrection. Jesus' answer is that there is no marriage at the resurrection - no one is married, and none are given in marriage. He then explains that God is the God of the living, not the dead.
The Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus again, this time by asking which of the commandments is greatest. Jesus says:
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (22:37-40)
Jesus then turns the tables, and asks the Pharisees whose son they think the Christ is. They reply "David's". Which is fair enough, as he's referred to as the Son of David a fair amount. But Jesus counters by asking them how the Christ can be the son of David when David, prophesying through the Spirit, refers to the Christ as Lord; how can he be David's son if David calls him Lord? (This answers a question I had earlier on. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He's in the line of David, but he isn't actually a son of David. I don't know if that makes sense outside of my own head, but I feel better.) This completely confounds the Pharisees, and none dare ask Jesus any more questions.
Psalm 18:16-24
(18:16-24)
David says that the LORD did indeed rescue him. But he says he was rescued because of his righteousness. He did not turn from any of the LORD's decrees, and is being duly rewarded by God.
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