PSALM 4

Job <1> 29:2-3,24 <2> 30:1,8-9,16-20,24-25,28 <3> 32:1-5 <4> 33:23-30 <5> 34:7-9,21-23 As was conjectured in PSALM 3 Job(intro.), perh. Job wasn't an Israelite (but below the capitalization is as if he was). <1> Job speaking: How I long for the months gone by, for the days when GOD (DEITY) watched over Me, when HIS Lamp shone upon My head, but not into my heart, & by HIS Light I walked through darkness! Used to be, when I smiled at them [people], they scarcely believed it; the light of My face was precious to them. <2> But now they mock Me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with My sheep dogs. A base & nameless brood, they were driven out of the land. And now their sons mock Me in song. I have become a byword among them. Now My life ebbs away; days of suffering grip Me. Night pierces My bones; My gnawing pain never rests. In HIS Great Power GOD (HE) becomes like clothing to Me (grasps My clothing); HE binds Me like the neck of My garment. HE throws Me into the mud, & I am reduced to ashes. I cry out to YOU, O GOD (X), but YOU do not answer. I stand up, but YOU merely look at Me. Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man (HE will not stretch out HIS Hand to the heap) when He cries for help in His distress. The pity party continues-- I thought we reaped what we sowed? Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not My soul grieved (burned-- see 2ndCor 11:29) for the poor? I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly (Israelite congregation) & cry for help. <3> So these 3 men [Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar-- later God rebukes them also] stopped answering Job, because He was righteous in His own eyes. He could not see & accept that he had a sin nature & had need of a redeemer. But young Elihu became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than GOD (the Majestic ONE). He also was angry with the 3 friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, & yet [so] had condemned Him. When he [Elihu] saw that the 3 men had nothing more to say, His anger was aroused. <4> Elihu speaking of O.T. "salvation"-- the personalization (but not the internalization) of God: Yet if there is an angel (a messenger) on His side as a mediator, to be gracious to Him, & say, 'Spare Him from going down to the pit (grave); I have found a ransom [price] for Him.' Then He prays to GOD (DEITY) & finds favor with HIM [he becomes his personal God; he shines upon him]; He sees GOD'S (HIS) Face & shouts for joy; He is restored by GOD (HIM) to His righteous state. Israelites were born righteous; lost righteousness could only be restore 1x-a-year, via the high priest. Righteousness having been restored: Then He comes to men & says, 'I sinned & perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. HE redeemed [bought] My soul (Me) from going down to the pit– today, when Christians sin & lose their righteousness, they can be restored immediately, via Jesus the High Priest (said restoration being to fellowship with him & other Christians), & I will live to enjoy the light now within Me-- which does not mean "within my heart".' GOD (The Mighty ONE) does allow all these things to [for] a man-- 2x, even 3x --to turn back His soul from going down to the pit, that the light of life may shine on Him– not yet into his heart. <5> Elihu "identifies" Job's errors: What man is like Job; He keeps company with evildoers; He associates with wicked men; for He says, 'It profits a man nothing when he tries to please GOD (the Majestic ONE).' See how this differs from N.T. times? The belief was that the "up there" distant majestic God remained "up there" when he became a personal mighty God-- & that this "up there" God takes no particular pleasure when he becomes personal. Job desperately needed a mediator-- a bridge into his heart. HIS Eyes are on the ways of men; HE sees [cares individually about] their every step– today Christians have HE loved Us before We loved HIM, There is no darker place, no deep shadow, where evildoers can hide. GOD (The Majestic ONE) has no need to examine men further, that they should come before HIM for judgment. Again from today's perspective: {1} God has no need to examine us; we benefit hugely if we examine ourselves; {2} non-Christians might see their need for eternal salvation; {3} Christians might find whether-or-not they are walking in the light as HE is in the light. We saw in PSALM 3 Job<3> that Job claimed he stood aloof from the counsel of the wicked; he associated with sinners (by way of keeping company with them); he falsely presumed that he could never be tempted in the course of such association (whereas Eliphaz held to the O.T. tradition of not-at-all associating with sinners, by way of strictly never keeping company with them). Point is, now in these N.T. times we can associate (fellowship) with sinners (for not only are all Christians sinners once-upon-a-time saved by grace, but also we all are imperfect sinners who hopefully will go to the throne of grace & confess). Not only can we reject the counsel of the wicked, but we are free to not judge one-another & fellowship, even with destructively-critical believers who have Mt. Everest-style-egos, by maintaining our solid connection with Jesus (the bridge), as guided by the Holy Spirit. As we conduct our lives "out there" among non-Christians we can be living testifiers, being "perhaps-the-only-Bible-they-ever-read"; as we gather, Christians can subjectively become the instruments whereby disharmony becomes unity (or at least objectively witness such). We can have not only a heart after God, as did David, & ignore a javelin-or-two, but we can repeatedly, reflexively, persistently do so if necessary, being as living water flowing past rocks-- if so be we are persistently relegated to the bench in 1 arena, we can "oh-well" & persist to "bloom/produce-where-planted" for the Lord-- not only not going on-the-run to some other church in Philistia, but also remaining in said arena so long as God wills (who does not change HIS Mind-- least not because of man's barbs).