ICE
What a winter for ice this past one has been. Now you would think that after such a winter and our two weeks in the Caribbean that I would put it behind me.And ice brings with it a whole set of issues. Issues that most of us could do without, however the truth is there is nothing we can do about it, just complain.
There are a couple of verses in the Bible that mention ice and both are found in the old book of Job. Scholars tell us that Job is possibly the oldest book known to mankind. Chapter 6:15-17, quoting from the New Revised Standard Version Job says “ My companions are treacherous like a torrent bed, like freshets that pass away, that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow, In time of heat they disappear; when it is hot they vanish from their place.” Sounds like fair weather friends that Job had doesn’t it? In the 13th. Verse he made a statement that precludes all this by saying “Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty.” Pretty serious stuff isn’t it? Sometimes when a person slips or trouble comes, instead of kindness from their friends they receive criticism or gossiping behind their back. That is what Job’s so called friends did. And when someone does that they are guilty of forsaking the fear of God and also there is no compassion in their hearts. God give us compassion and forgive us the pointing of our fingers.
The other reference is found in Ch. 38 verse 29. This time it is God who speaks
“From whose womb did the ice come forth, and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?” The next verse says “The waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.” Just before we went away on vacation we had a water problem in our former house and it meant digging a trench to drain off the water. So I engaged the services of a neighbour who had a backhoe, but the ice was so hard that it just scratched the surface and that big machine just bounced around on the ice and could not penitrate it…something like Job’s friends. ….COLD AND HARD.
Let compassion be your trademark.
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3 comments:
Hi Randall
Looking at Job we find that his friends were no friends at all.When he needed them they all fell short.
I thank God that I have friends that in my times of need they are there to comfort and stand behind me.I can only hope that I am that kind of friend to others,that I show the compassion that I receive from my friends.
Let us not be the ones that are gossiping but the one who are there
to hold up our friends when they need us.
Thank God for friends sometimes they are closer that family.
C.M.
Job 6:15-17
6:15 My brothers 1 have been as treacherous 2 as a seasonal stream, 3
and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams 4
that flow away. 5
6:16 They 6 are dark 7 because of ice;
snow is piled 8 up over them. 9
6:17 When they are scorched, 10 they dry up,
when it is hot, they vanish 11 from their place.
1 sn Here the brothers are all his relatives as well as these intimate friends of Job. In contrast to what a friend should do (show kindness/loyalty), these friends have provided no support whatsoever.
2 tn The verb בָּגְדוּ (bagÿdu, “dealt treacherously) has been translated “dealt deceitfully,” but it is a very strong word. It means “to act treacherously [or deceitfully].” The deception is the treachery, because the deception is not innocent – it is in the place of a great need. The imagery will compare it to the brook that may or may not have water. If one finds no water when one expected it and needed it, there is deception and treachery. The LXX softens it considerably: “have not regarded me.”
3 tn The Hebrew term used here is נָחַל (nakhal); this word differs from words for rivers or streams in that it describes a brook with an intermittent flow of water. A brook where the waters are not flowing is called a deceitful brook (Jer 15:18; Mic 1:14); one where the waters flow is called faithful (Isa 33:16).
4 tn Heb “and as a stream bed of brooks/torrents.” The word אָפִיק (’afiq) is the river bed or stream bed where the water flows. What is more disconcerting than finding a well-known torrent whose bed is dry when one expects it to be gushing with water (E. Dhorme, Job, 86)?
5 tn The verb is rather simple – יַעֲבֹרוּ (ya’avoru). But some translate it “pass away” or “flow away,” and others “overflow.” In the rainy season they are deep and flowing, or “overflow” their banks. This is a natural sense to the verb, and since the next verse focuses on this, some follow this interpretation (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 15). But this idea does not parallel the first part of v. 15. So it makes better sense to render it “flow away” and see the reference to the summer dry spells when one wants the water but is disappointed.
6 tn The article on the participle joins this statement to the preceding noun; it can have the sense of “they” or “which.” The parallel sense then can be continued with a finite verb (see GKC 404 §126.b).
7 tn The participle הַקֹּדְרים (haqqodÿrim), often rendered “which are black,” would better be translated “dark,” for it refers to the turbid waters filled with melting ice or melting snow, or to the frozen surface of the water, but not waters that are muddied. The versions failed to note that this referred to the waters introduced in v. 15.
8 tn The verb יִתְעַלֶּם (yit’allem) has been translated “is hid” or “hides itself.” But this does not work easily in the sentence with the preposition “upon them.” Torczyner suggested “pile up” from an Aramaic root עֲלַם (’alam), and E. Dhorme (Job, 87) defends it without changing the text, contending that the form we have was chosen for alliterative value with the prepositional phrase before it.
9 tn The LXX paraphrases the whole verse: “They who used to reverence me now come against me like snow or congealed ice.”
10 tn The verb יְזֹרְבוּ (yÿzorÿvu, “burnt, scorched”) occurs only here. A good number of interpretations take the root as a by-form of צָרַב (tsarav) which means in the Niphal “to be burnt” (Ezek 21:3). The expression then would mean “in the time they are burnt,” a reference to the scorching heat of the summer (“when the great heat comes”) and the rivers dry up. Qimchi connected it to the Arabic “canal,” and this has led to the suggestion by E. Dhorme (Job, 88) that the root זָרַב (zarav) would mean “to flow.” In the Piel it would be “to cause to flow,” and in the passive “to be made to flow,” or “melt.” This is attractive, but it does require the understanding (or supplying) of “ice/snow” as the subject. G. R. Driver took the same meaning but translated it “when they (the streams) pour down in torrents, they (straightway) die down” (ZAW 65 [1953]: 216-17). Both interpretations capture the sense of the brooks drying up.
11 tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nid’akhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”
I found this explanation of Job 6:15 17.....this is hard stuff,we had all better be carefull how we treat our friends .
Coffee
Nothing to add, just thanks for sharing your thoughts and scriptures. Bless you for blogging,
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