Hello, thank you for joining us again on this journey through Job. Today, we read five chapters, 23-27.
As I always do, I read through these verses and highlighted things which stood out to me. I never know why certain words of verses catch my eye. My assumption is that God, through the Holy Spirit, wants me to contemplate them.

That is the joy of writing this for you. This inspires me to investigate the reason behind the use of each word in the verse.
Chaotic Times in Our Lives
Today, there were highlights throughout all five chapters, but when I sat to write, it was one word that disturbed me: Rahab.

“By his power he churned up the sea;

By his wisdom, he cut Rahab to pieces”. (Job 26:12, NIV)

Knowing that scholars believe Job was the first book written, this seemed out of place.

My mind went to Rahab, the prostitute who helped Joshua’s men as they spied on Jericho. (see Jos 6:1-27)

Scholars like Ralph Hawkins believe this event occurred around the year 1300 BCE. (1)

I knew scholars believe Job lived much earlier, around 2200 BCE. (2)

This nine-hundred year difference means either Job was a prophet, talking about a future event. Or something else.

I researched the commentaries at BibleHub. Org. Many of the commentaries included believe he was speaking of Egypt.

Matthew Poole says it references when Pharoah was driving Israel out of Egypt and Moses called on God. He caused the sea to separate and allowed the Israelites to cross on dry ground, but punished the Egyptians. (Ex 14:21)

The alternative, Poole suggests, is a comparison to the sin of pride. We have seen this would apply.

He states Egypt earned the title Rahab because of their pride.

Perhaps, he poses, that Job is referring to the sea, which exemplifies pride, because “it is lofty, and fierce, and swelling, and unruly.” (3)

Let’s inspect these options further.

If the book of Job was written at the believed time, and Job was not a prophet, he would not have named Rahab.

She married Salmon, and gave birth to Boaz, which would make her an ancestor of Jesus. (see Matt 1:5)
Identifying the Storms
He would not have been speaking of Pharaoh and the instance at the red sea.

Therefore, only a reference to the sea remains.

Job is saying that God has control over the seas. All four synoptic Gospels mention this. (Luke 8, Matt 8, Mark 4 and John 6)

This makes sense, with Job talking about churning up the seas.

Therefore, let’s assume Job is saying God punishes the proud.

This echoes what we have discussed before.
Acknowledging the Sin
Why is pride such a powerful sin?

Pride is the ultimate form of idolatry. The idolatry of self.

When we live in submission to God, we acknowledge all we have, and every victory we win, comes from Him.

David always knew the battle belongs to the Lord. This made him a man after God’s heart. (see 1 Sam 13:14)

Knowing God controls all events enables us to place complete faith in Him.

We don’t have to worry about trivialities in life.

Short on cash, trust in God. I have done this, and He always provides.

Think of the multiple times George Muller acted, knowing God would provide for orphans. Not hoping, but trusting in His provision. (4)

Dealing with disease?

At our church, we pray for people who are experiencing illness all the time. God does not always give us the outcome we desire, but He is faithful to deliver according to His perfect will for that person.

Whether our struggles are small or large, God is always the answer.
Misappropriating Credit
When we are proud, we are robbing God of that glory.

God does not want us to worship idols of any kind.

Considering that we could create our own miracles, is an insult to Him who does.

Proverbs 16:18 tells us pride leads to our downfalls. It is the first step on the slippery slope of moving away from recognizing and praising God for His provision.

The more we think we can do this without Him, the further we stray.

Therefore, I encourage you, examine your life.

What are you claiming credit for?

Have you uttered the words, “I have, or I did”.

Earlier this week, after writing a devotional, I did my grammar check on it. One test I run is called style. It looks for awkward phrasing or wrong tenses, etc.

For the first time, my score was zero mistakes. I walked out and told my wife, “I must be getting better as a writer. I got a perfect score!”

As I look at this now, I realize it was foolish pride to say such a thing.

For me to even claim I wrote this devotional is misleading.

Before typing the first letter, I prayed and asked God for a word to share. He brought all of this to my mind.

The most I could say is, God blessed me to discover this message. I hope reading this blesses you.
Tomorrow, we will read Job 28-30

 Hawkins, Ralph K. (2013). How Israel Became a People. Abingdon Press. pp. 91ff. ISBN 978-1-4267-5543-9.

https://www.gotquestions.org/when-did-Job-live.html 

 https://biblehub.com/commentaries/job/26-12.htm 

4. https://www.georgemuller.org/devotional/a-famous-story-about-mullers-faith