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Andrew,
Thank you for this thought-provoking post.
For those who don’t have Hebrew Bible software, I have found this scripture4all website fantastic for giving you a free Hebrew-English literal interlinear translation of whichever chapter of the Old Testament you wanted to check from the index (where my link goes).
This opens up claims like those made by Andrew for checking (albeit in a limited way) by the average thoughtful non-expert.
In this case, checking out Job 42 on that website confirms Andrew’s comments about ‘to me’ rather than ‘of me’.
The Accordance Bible software does likewise.
And to a less technical comment, Andrew’s post serves as a real warning to all of us blogging here and elsewhere…
We must be people of prayer and not just endless debating about theology!
<i>Rather than being just a book about the problem of evil, Job contains a sharp and scary message for would-be theologians. These people actually infuriate God with their endless discussions if they are not men and women of prayer (Job 42:7). Perhaps, at least in part, the message of the book of Job is a word of strengthening to people who pray.</i>
Andrew, the blogging world (and as you observe, the theological world) is full of people who “spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” My goodness it makes me mad sometimes. Thanks for your pointy poke on the subject.
My only fear is that having made the observation, you will miss a daily prayer time or something, feel convicted, and stop blogging as quickly (or as slowly
) as you started. Please don’t! We need people like you who will show us how to do passionate, prayerful theology in the service of the Lord Jesus.
Thanks again.
I didn’t want to include too many details of the Hebrew in the post. But for those interested, here they are…
I did a word search of the verb dbr followed by the preposition ‘el. There are 272 occurrences in the MT. Leaving aside the two references in Job 42:7 and 8, with a quick search I could only find 2 or 3 verses which demanded a different translation other than the regular - ‘to’. With these statistics in its favour the translation ‘to’ should at least be considered.
Also,if you know the language, have a look at the Hebrew of Job 42:7,8,9. Notice the way it describes the way God will accept Job’s prayer in verse 8. ‘My servant Job will pray for you, for I will lift up his face not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken to me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
God seems to be accepting Job’s trust in him.
It is also very beneficial to look at the works of those who have preceded us. I think these quotes from John Owen (1616-1683) fit nicely into this discussion.
I suppose ... this may be fixed on as a common principle of Christianity; namely, that constant and fervent prayer for the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, is such an indispensable means for ... attaining the knowledge of the mind of God in the Scripture, as that without it all others will not [avail]
And from the preface of his 7 volume commentary on Hebrews
I must now say, that, after all my searching and reading, prayer and assiduous meditation have been my only resort, and by far the most useful means of light and assistance. By these have my thoughts been freed from many an entanglement
Hi Andrew,
This post reminded me of something I heard John Piper say once in a sermon on Psalm 23. He drew attention to the shift in the Psalm from speaking of God in the 3rd person (‘the LORD is my shepherd’, ‘He restores my soul’ etc ...) to 2nd person (‘I will fear no evil, for you are with me’ etc…) then back to 3rd person in the last verse.
He just made the simple observation that our theology (words about God) should always lead naturally into prayer (words to God)
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