Restoration
Job 42:10-17
I know it’s not Advent anymore; we’re on to the 12 days of Christmas, but I liked the idea of talking about Job’s epilogue on Christmas Day.
Job 42:10: And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. (NRSV)
Once Job does something for someone else, God restores him. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. When we do stuff for others, it helps us, too. God doubles Job’s fortune from what it was at the beginning of the book. Verse 11 tells us that Job’s brothers and sisters and friends all came to Job’s house to eat with him, to express their sympathy for how God had treated him, and to bring him gifts.
Job 42:11: Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. (NRSV)
Does this strike anyone else as strange? Where were all those people when Job’s life sucked? If he had all these other people who felt bad for him, where were they when he was on the ash heap? They are definitely late to the party.
To drive home the point that Job’s fortune was doubled, we are given specific numbers of the same livestock and servants that we saw at the beginning of the book, and lo and behold, there are indeed twice as many of each.
The number of kids did not increase, but it was restored to the original number (10) in the original genders (7 sons and 3 daughters). In an unusual but welcome change from the previous lineage, we are given the names of the daughters … and the daughters only. I don’t think it’s very OT to know more about the daughters than the sons. We are also told that Job gives his daughters the same inheritance he gives his sons.
I wonder if this is noted because it speaks to Job’s shift. Certainly, daughters would not have mattered in OT rules and regulations, except to the extent that they could bring trouble to the house. To have treated them as equal to sons would show a new understanding in Job. Perhaps we can take it as evidence that Job sees his children as people this go ‘round, rather than as chances to mess up.
It’s clear, then, that the wrongs have been made right, at least most of them. We don’t hear a word, though, about Job’s sores. I’d expect something about God healing Job or bringing Job to health again or something like that, but we get crickets. The first round of calamities is expressly remedied; the second, not even given a passing glance. Is Job still oozy and scabby? I assume God heals Job, but we don’t know for sure. We do know, though, that people aren’t afraid to be around him and that he goes on to live a very full life.
Job at the beginning of the book seems like a loner who is scared to death that something bad might happen. Job at the end of the book seems like a totally different person. Is this some kind of weird Scrooge transformation, where people stayed away from Job because of his righteousness and its accompanying curmudgeon-liness? But then, there on the ash heap of his lament and the storm of God’s presence, Job’s heart grew three sizes and suddenly he was the one hosting the party and loving people and they all lived happily ever after?
It’s odd, pushing Job into Christmas, but it’s happening in my head.
At any rate, Job is finally done with the ashes, restored to his previous position and then some. He isn’t called great this time, though, which could be another indication that Job is over his concern for his reputation and his righteousness. He lives a good life, 140 years of it, and sees generations of grandkids. It appears that his priorities have shifted along with his perspective.
I can’t think about Job without thinking of a phoenix, rising to his glory and then bursting into flames. After the flames, ashes. Ashes and ashes and and ashes until God shows up to spark a new cycle for Job, one of a better and different glory, perhaps. God can make a womb of our ashes, and we can await a new birth, just as we do at Christmas every year.
Restoration.
Doubled fortunes.
A new creation.
Merry Christmas.