Day 26: God Responds to Job

Genesis 49:1-15 The dying Jacob pronounced a series of oracles regarding each of his children, from the oldest to the youngest. Reuben, the oldest, would not give rise to the greatest of tribes because of his affair with one of Jacob’s concubines (cf. Gn 35:22). The Tribes of Simeon and Levi, the second and third oldest, would be divided and scattered because of their warring spirit; however, the Tribe of Judah would rise to prominence. The oracles also alluded that the Messiah who would be included among the descendants of Judah. (CCC 436-439)


Ch 49:11-12 Washes his garments...of grapes: Some of the Church Fathers held that the oracle was speaking of Christ when it referred to one who 


“Washes his garments in wine

And his vesture in the blood of grapes.”


Ch 49:22-26 This oracle applied to the Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who would dwell in the middle of Palestine and would play an important role in the history of Israel. 


CH 49:24 Mighty One of Jacob: This is a reference to the one true God. (CCC 269)


Ch 49:29 Gathered to my people: This expression probably affirms that Jacob wanted to be buried among his ancestors, as he had requested earlier, but some have also taken it as an allusion to a belief in the afterlife. Belief in the resurrection of the dead would be introduced INCREMENTALLY in God’s Revelation to Israel and would find its fullest expression with the bodily RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. (CCC 1020-1041)


Ch 50:1-26 Joseph’s death concludes the Book of Genesis and sets the stage for the second book of the Pentateuch. Whereas Joseph had brought the Israelites into Egypt, Exodus will narrate their liberation from the oppression of the Egyptians. (CCC 302-310)


Job 41:1-34 Evil is symbolized by a beast of the sea, which cannot be defeated by human power alone. Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, through his Passion and Death on the Cross, paid the staggering debt of sin and conquered the evil of sin and the wiles of the Devil. Therefore, during the Easter Vigil, the Church prays:


“O truly necessary sin of Adam,

Destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault

That earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”

(CCC 412)


Ch 42:1-3 Job professed his complete trust in God and his recognition of God’s transcendence. Only through a CHILDLIKE TRUST and HUMBLE DISPOSITION can God be known. Through the observation of the created world, the human mind gets a small glimmer of the richness of the mind of God. (CCC 275, 299)


Ch 42:4-9 Though Job did not sin by questioning God, he should have, nevertheless, trusted more in God’s wisdom and love. Coming around to this idea, Job repented of his LACK OF TRUST.


Ch 42:10-17 Job is a TYPE OF CHRIST (TYPOLOGY!!) in both his pain and sorrows as well as in his subsequent recovery of his riches and joy. Both Job and his friends were called to repentance for misunderstanding the value and meaning of suffering. Finally, Job’s happiness and long life are symbols of everlasting life, which is the ultimate blessing that God bestows upon those who have faith amid their trials (cf. St. John Paul II, Savifici Doloris, 11)


Psalm 17 In professing his innocence, the psalmist sought God’s protection, the defeat of his enemies, and ultimately the vision of God’s face. To seek God’s face it the mark of a just person (cf. Ps 11), as he or she knows that perfect fulfillment is ONLY IN GOD. Shadow of your wings: In the Temple, winged cherubs were depicted above the Ark of the Covenant, which was a sign of God’s presence. I shall behold your face: From a Christian perspective we can see this is a reference to eternal life: the awakening is a metaphor for the resurrection of the body, wherein the just enjoy the BEATIFIC VISION forever in Heaven. (CCC 1023)

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)


(*Walking With God: A Journey Through The Bible by Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins)






Prayer by Fr. Mike: "Father in Heaven, we thank you so much. We give you praise and glory. We thank you for sharing your Word with us. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. We thank you for letting us journey with the Patriarchs, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, Rachel. We thank you for letting us be part of the story of Joseph and his tragedy, but also your triumph through tragedy. Lord God, we thank you for our friend Job. We thank you for what you have revealed in our journey with him and his pain and his suffering, what you reveal about yourself in our pain and in our suffering. And we thank you, Lord, for always reminding us that we can trust you in even the darkest times. Help us to trust you in even the darkest times. We ask this, Father, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

ANDREW'S PARALLELS

The common motif throughout Genesis of the younger brother receiving favor and the blessing over the older makes me think of various ways the New Testament supersedes its predecessor in the Old Testament.