8.23.2006

Paul and Job

I haven't posted on this in a while, but I am still reading Scripture devotionally with an eye to other-testament connections. When I read Philippians 1:19 just now, both my New Geneva Study Bible and my Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament pointed me to the Greek translation of Job 13:16, which uses the same words: "This will turn out for my deliverance" in Philippians, where Paul refers to his imprisonment. Job 13:16a goes like this: "He also shall be my salvation." (Amazing that those are the exact same Greek words, isn't it? Context is key in translating.)

But what really struck me was Job's context. Here's the whole passage:

"Hold your peace with me, and let me speak,
Then let come on me what may!
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth,
And put my life in my hands?
15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
16 He also shall be my salvation,
For a hypocrite could not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to my speech,
And to my declaration with your ears.
18 See now, I have prepared my case,
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is he who will contend with me?
If now I hold my tongue, I perish."


I thought of Paul in prison, being interrogated, accused and put on trial for believing in Jesus as Christ. I almost think that Paul was thinking of this whole passage, feeling like Job, as he wrote Philippians 1. They also both speak of living in the flesh being in doubt.

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