Damascus and Syria

    I do not claim to be an expert on the Middle East or even on prophecy.  I've read the Bible cover to cover at least 20 or more times though and have seen people every time there is a conflict in the Middle East talk about the end times.  It happened last times rockets fell on Israel and when we attacked Iraq.  In a way it is good since it shows that we are trying to fit what the Bible says into our news today.  But, over time I think it makes people insensitive to the signs around them.  Like the little boy that cried wolf, when there really is trouble nobody believed him.

    The Bible makes several references of Damascus and the place where many people died within the last week by chemical weapons.  Most of these references have to do about a time long since past when Israel was carried off into captivity by the Assyrians.  I would point out to you that these Israelites never returned back to their homeland.  The Assyrians ruled in an area now within the boundaries of modern day Iraq.

    One reference is in Isaiah 17:1-3 an oracle against Damascus "Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, And it will become a fallen ruin. The cities of Aroer are forsaken; They will be for flocks to lie down in, And there will be no one to frighten them. the fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, and sovereignty from Damascus and the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel, Declares the Lord of hosts."

     I have heard people say that because Damascus is referred to as a place of fallen ruin and that they don't believe this has happened before that perhaps it is in reference to a chemical weapon attack or nuclear attack.  I don't think this is necessarily the case and a case in point where the boy has called wolf when no wolf is there.  This is a reference to Damascus being emptied out by the Assyrians, nothing more and nothing less.

    Some related verses that a student of prophecy should consider is verses such as Jeremiah 49:23-24; Zech 9:1 and Micah 1:6.  Does that then mean that the war in Syria is irrelevant to end times.  No, it does not.  Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rsie against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs."

     And for years now we have heard of wars and rumors of wars.  Our country is in some ways tired of wars since being in Afghanistan and Iraq for so long.  We have seen famines and earthquakes.  We have seen horrible things such as 9/11 and other tragedies.  We have seen false prophets rise up as it says in Matt 24:11 and we have seen many people's love grow cold Mathew 24:12.  We have seen many if not most of the signs that Jesus talked about.  This is cause us to consider the times that we are in the end days.

    But, to say that these things have happened so that one day or a particular day Jesus will return is foolish.  We don't know when he will return.  I think it will be soon, but I could very well be wrong.  Jesus said that "The Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will." matthew 24:44.  Our job as christians is not to predict, but to be ready.  We are to be alert and also to be ready and busy until he returns.  Are you busy doing His work? 

more on Job

     When I was in college, I studied the Bible a lot on my own.  I noticed one day that the king of Judah named Jehoiachin was said to be eighteen years old in 2 Kings 24:8 and was said to be eight years old in 2 Chronicles 36:9.  This troubled me a great deal that there was a inconsistence and I asked my pastor about it at the time Dr.Austin.  Dr.Austin did not seem all that surprised, but commented that there were several more places like it that dates and numbers were inconsistent.  I had a time dealing with this as before I didn't believe in scribal errors and wondered if this was true what else might not be true.

      If reading this troubles you, you might be in the same place I was back then.  One person told me one day when we talked about how the Bible was inspired by God that God used man to deliver his message, but he didn't fax it down.  The whole process of the compiling of scripture and writing appears to have been at times a messy process.  There was writing and rewriting that went on.  In the end, I concluded that while some numbers may be incorrect, God is great enough to use imperfect man to convey the truths he meant to convey. 

     Nowhere does that appear more evident that the book of Job.  It appears to have suffered from writing and rewriting.  We don't even know who the author was or when it was written.  It appears very different from most of the other books of the Old Testament.  I have come to the conclusion that most likely this was a verbal tale told for hundreds and possibly thousands of years before it was written down by someone.  Parts of chapters 1 and 2 may be more Jewish folklore than actual factual events.  But, does that mean the truths God wanted to convey are  not there, no it doesn't.  Again, it is proof that God is able to tell his story faithfully over time.

      Job appears to have lived during the time period of Abraham or before.  There is no mention of the law, the temple or any festivals or temple worship practices.  The act of worship that is conveyed tells me that it was most likely very early on.  The fact that Job is referred to as blameless can only mean that he was a person of faith much like Abraham was.  You see this mentioned about Abram when it says in Genesis 15:6 "Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness."

     I have wrestled with whether or not Job was an actual person or not.  There are two places where Job is mentioned in other parts of scripture in Ezekiel 14:14-20 and James 5:11.  I will let you look those up if you want to.  It seems clear that the Ezekiel and James both thought he was a real person.  If he was, his world was as different from  yours and mine as someone who lives in Jupiter is from ours today.  He lived in the very early part of human history, yet his doubts and thoughts are something many of us can relate to today.

     One other area that I have wrestled with and am not finished wrestling with is the last 8 verses of the book.  Chapters 1-2 and these verses at the end of the book are the only verses not written in poetry.  It may be that they were added later.  It does help to convey the setting of the story and makes the story more clear.  But, I have wondered does the last few verses of Job sanitize the story and somehow detract from it?  You and I know people who live godly lives and never see their fortunes restored.  At least not on this earth.  Even if God did not decide to bless Job again, it would have been okay.  For God has the sovereign right to do what he wants.  Before Job had his fortunes restored he said these words:

"I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?  There I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

    That's a pretty great lesson that Job mentions and one that we should keep in mind also.  That God can do all things.  Jesus said this in Mark 9:23 "All things are possible to him who believes." among other places.  Sometimes our God is reduced and too small and as a result our faith is small.  Also, it is important to remember to that there is nothing that can thwart the purposes of God.  God will accomplish his will whether because of mankind or despite us. 

Questions about Job

     I want to start off by saying that what I am going to say about Job and my questions about Job is in no way a criticism or saying that I don't believe that God's Word is the inspired Word of God.  I do believe that God's word is inspired and that God speaks to us through his word.  Job was one of those books early on in my christian walk that I was interested in.  It was the first book that I taught a bible study on as teenager.  I think it has a lot to say to us about suffering and God's presence in the midst of suffering.  But, I also have some quetions in mind when I look at this book.
      I noticed in looking at my study notes about this book that it says that there are some sections in Job that are regarded as additions that were added later than the original.  Among those are the preface and conclusion, chapter 28, chapters 32-37 and some or all of the Lord's discourses.  That makes us a pretty large section of the book.  One of my questions about the book is the first two chapters.  Since God didn't tell Job about his discourse with Satan in chapters 1-2, I wonder to myself how the writer knew about that and who the writer was?  I understand from my study that Job is considered a part of the wisdom books and many consider this to have been written around the time of Solomon or during the exile.  Job is considered to be written in poetry, so we can't think of the discourses as something that these people said word for word verbatim.  It conveys the general idea of what they said in poetic form.
        This post is a little different because these are questions that I have and I don't have solid answers for them yet.  I am going to be examining the questions in more detail in the future.  There is a possibility that some questions I may never have answers for and I realize that.  One other issue I have is that Job is described as blameless.  I wonder what that means since we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  It appears to me that Job lived before the time of Abraham.  I wonder what his understand of God was and his promises.  When it says that he was blameless does that mean simply that he was a man of faith who believed in God?  What does the word blameless really mean?  Especially since our good deeds are like filthy rags in God's sight?
       The other question I have also has to do with chapters 1-2.  Satan comes with the angels to present himself before God in chapters 1-2.  I wonder if this is something that happens often or if this was a one time event.  It seems clear that Satan is an accuser and that he does this to some extent to all of us.  I thought it was interesting that God himself points out Job to Satan. 
     It says at the end of the book that Job's later days were greater than his first and that he had 7 sons and 3 daughters and he saw four generations.  Okay, so did God resurrect the children who had died early in the book?  Does it somehow justify what happened earlier that now Job is rich again?  Would the story really be any different if Job had died some years later having regained none of his wealth?  What's the moral of the story there that his wealth was restored.