Devotional
Short Note to Job 16
Koot
van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)
Devotional
Short Note to Job 16: There are common Hebrew words and rare Hebrew words in
the Hebrew text which is are in different percentages in different books of the
Bible. Job has the highest number of rare words than any book in the Bible.
Even though it is high, one can assume that about 85% of Job can be understood
fairly well. It is the 15% rare words that confused the scholars. Scholars
placed themselves in jeopardy by buying into Rationalism of their generation
before and after. This disease of anthropo-centrism has done tremendous harm to
the Word of God. Most of these critics were actually not Hebrew scholars but
Arabic, like Wellhausen. The Rabbis of the Middle Ages suffered from the same
handicap. Arabic was the lingua franca after 8th century A.D. They
spoke and wrote their commentaries in Arabic and used Arabic as a convenience
to try to explain rare words in Job and the Bible. Rationalist scholars’
problem is that they rejected inspiration, rejected historicity, adopted
propaganda theories and thus with scissors and glue rearranged the strata of
the text to fit their assumed dating frame. The biblical chronology they
rejected and also the historical frame of the scriptures. So they allocated to
Job a late date sometimes into Hellenistic times. Cognate Semitic languages
available for comparison were only Aramaic and at times they were willing to
let Akkadian or Assyrian help them, but not all scholars did it. The most
popular way was Arabic. Even though the history of the text affirmed that Moses
was living and studying in Egypt, an assumption that would have developed,
should it be realistically true, that Egyptian Dictionaries and Grammars will
explain the difficult grammar and rare words of Job. But, sticking to their own
glasses they were wearing, just like Evolutionists stuck to the glasses of
Lyell to look at geology, they kept to their heart-hardened views of lateness,
they could not see light at the end of the tunnel and allocated the verses as
“corrupt” because they could not make sense of what was written. Nihilism is
born. No text, no meaning. No meaning, no message. No message, no hope. No
hope, only useless nothingness prevails. They start with man and end with man
with no answer where we came from, why are we here and where are we going? In
their world everything becomes a vicious circle. Job is here in Job 16
hospitalized, in a laying down position but through his tears he still looks up
to God. This is a man that sticks to the Word of God though the heavens may
fall. His relationship is secure since he pays attention to God’s sense for
detail. God knew He could trust him since He has measured his shoulders to
determine the size of the yoke he can carry.