Podcast 23, Stories of the Bible, “The Book of Job, Ch 9”

There are many ways to read the Holy Scriptures. I clearly remember my first time reading the Holy Bible.  We had an old Red Letter Edition of the King James Version of the Bible sitting on the coffee table in the living room, always open. I began reading the King James Bible when I was ten years old. I began with Genesis, and four years later I ended with Revelation. The only thing I can boast of is that I read every word. How much I understood—well, that is a question even I cannot answer. 

I loved the stories and retained many of them. I read the Bible chronologically one chapter at a time beginning with verse one of Genesis and ending with verse 21 of Revelation chapter 22. During the four year-period above I never backtracked. I never cross referenced. I never looked up a word. I never consulted anyone or any reference books.  One could perhaps say that I plowed through the Bible rather than read it. I never discussed the Bible with anyone. Perhaps that is the weakest possible way to approach a book as complex as the Holy Bible. 

With education, age, experience, maturity, and curiosity, I elevated my approach and have since studied the Holy Scriptures a little more productively. Many years ago, I read from The One Volume Bible Commentary, Edited by the Rev. J.R. Dummelow, M.A., Queen’s College Cambridge. It was, as one would say, a game changer. Reverend Dummelow introduced me to the Hebraic poetry of the Bible. First of all, let me say, that without the Spirit of the Lord, I don’t think we will ever understand the Bible or any of the words of the prophets. I pray daily for that spirit.

Using the language of Hebrew poetry, I want to explicate Job Chapter 9. Clearly reading it chronologically, verse by verse, is very helpful, even necessary. Hebrew poetry, however, does not follow the rules of modern English prose, and you will find, by merely reading the Bible chronologically, that some verses will simply hang in the air like a floating string as if they are not connected. They may appear random, even nonsensical. When that happens, I must stop, step back, and try to look at the poem or chapter as a whole and try to read it exactly as the ancient Hebrews would have read it. It all comes together as if written by a master. I dabble in French, Spanish, and Italian but have mastered none of them. I do not know any Hebrew. I rely upon translations. And since English is my native language, it takes effort to restructure the English translation into its original poetic format. The inspired King James Version comes through beautifully, and my abiding love for English poetry has been a great help. Mr. Dummelow’s amazing book instructed me how to reconstruct the Hebrew poetry in my own amateurish sort of way. I am no Bible Scholar, but I am familiar with the King James text. I take advantage of highly reliable reference systems including AI.

The following is one approach to Job, Chapter Nine.

Job, Chapter Nine, consists of 35 verses. The key to unlocking Chapter Nine is Verse 1, Verse 14 and Verse 35. Using Reverend Dummelow’s terminology, those verses are written in Synonymous Parallelism. They say the same thing, with slight variation, in three different ways.

Job 9:1 

“Then Job answered and said.”

Job 9:14

“How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him.”

Job 9:35

“Then would I speak.”

We now have our framework for the entire poem or chapter. Chapter Nine of Job consists of two stanzas. The first stanza is comprised of verses 1-13. The second stanza is comprised of verses 14-34. From that structure, we know something else that the ancient Hebrew reader would have known. The two stanzas will mirror each other.