Day 43, Job 36-42, Psalms 1-20

Today we finish up the Book of Job and begin Psalms. Remember when I said I thought Psalms would be boring? WELL I WAS RIGHT! But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let's deal with our troubled pal Job.

Elihu's speech continues until chapter 37, and he basically sticks with his original premise: that God is beyond human comprehension and we just have to suck it up and accept that. In chapter 38 God himself appears from "out of the tempest" (Job 38:1) and launches into a long speech that essentially says, "What the fuck do you know, Job?" Except it's more poetic than that, with God explaining the wonders of running the universe: "In all your life," he asks Job, "have you ever called up the dawn or assigned the morning its place? Have you taught it to grasp the fringes of the earth and shake the Dog-star from the sky, to bring up the horizon in relief as clay under a seal, until all things stand out like the folds of a cloak, when the light of the Dog-star is dimmed and the stars of the Navigator's Line go out one by one?" (Job 39:12-14). You've got to hand it to whoever wrote this book, that's a neat line! And there are plenty more where it came from. Job is floored by God's speech, and only responds briefly in chapter 40: "What reply can I give you, I who carry no weight?" (Job 40:4). God then continues to discuss how cool he is, and ultimately Job apologizes for questioning him at all, saying, "I have spoken of things which I have not understood...[and] therefore I yield, repenting in dust and ashes" (Job 42:3-6). I for one was a little annoyed that Job had to apologize after going through ALL THAT CRAP but I guess the moral of the story is DON'T ASK QUESTIONS OR CHALLENGE THE WAY THE UNIVERSE WORKS BECAUSE YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND.

That's a little disappointing!

Anyway, chapter 42 concludes with a brief epilogue, written in prose. After his apology, Job is rewarded mightily by God, who gives him back everything he had before and MORE. He has ten more children, and his daughters are mentioned to be named Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch. The footnotes let us know that these names translate to "dove," "cinnamon," and "horn of eye cosmetics." Well, okay Job. Whatever floats your boat.

The thing that always bothered me about this story is that the ending suggests that Job's original children were simply replaceable by new ones, one of whom has a cat's name. Cinnamon? Really? I guess the historical context should factor into how we view it, but I can't help being annoyed.

ANYWAY, enough of that. It's time to get started on Psalms!

The psalms, or "praises," are a compilation of one hundred and fifty -- yes, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY -- poems, divided into five books. According to some scholar who was cited on Wikipedia, they "express virtually the full range of Israel's religious faith." Traditionally they are ascribed to David, although modern historians have deduced that some of them probably predate him and some are younger. My study bible describes Psalms as the "prayer book of the second temple" because during that period, it was used in liturgy. The Second Temple period, for those of you unaware, is the time spanning from the end of the Babylonian exile (520 BCE) to the fall of the temple in 70 CE. So Jesus probably knew these tunes, as did Simon bar Kochbah, Josephus, and all your other favorite characters from Antiquity. Awesome!

Today we embarked on the first book, which consists of the first 41 psalms. These are typically regarded as the oldest, and all but a few are directly attributed to David. Rather unfortunately, they are NOT INTERESTING AT ALL. There's no sex, violence, or ridiculous series of events to enjoy, like the better books of the bible. Just dumb poems about how swell God is, and they DON'T EVEN RHYME. Psalms is okay, I guess, but it ain't "Casey at the Bat."

The one thing I can think to share is a line from Psalm 11 that kind of amused me: "The Lord weighs just and unjust, and he hates all who love violence. He will rain fiery coals and brimstone on the wicked; scorching winds will be the portion they drink" (Psalms 11:5-6). Geez, God, for someone who hates violence, that's a pretty violent thing to do!!! As we young folks on the internet are wont to say, LOL!!!

That's it for today. I'm tired. But don't worry, because I will devise some way to make Psalms interesting. Give me a day, all right?!!