Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: April 10th (Job 8 & 2 Timothy 4)

Episode Date: April 10, 2021

Bildad's first speech. Paul's final charge to Timothy. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Job chapter 8 Then Bildadat the shoehite answered and said, How long will you say these things? And the words of your mouth be a great wind. Does God pervert justice, or does the Almighty pervert the right? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,

if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation, and though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out, for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, and utter words out of their understanding? Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh, can reeds flourish where there is no water, while yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.

Such are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godler shall perish. His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider's web. He leans against his house, but it does not stand. He lays hold of it, but it does not endure. He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. His roots entwine the stone heap.

He looks upon a house of stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, I have never seen you. Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring. Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evil-doers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips were shouting. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more. Job chapter 8 is the first of the speeches of Bildad the shoe height.

His is the second in the first cycle of the speeches of Job's friends, after Elephaz, the Timmer His speech is much shorter than Elaphaz's and picks up on certain elements of Job's response to Elaphaz. It begins with a sharp and dismissive statement, How long will you say these things and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Bildad's how long opening might look back in part to Job's statement of Chapter 7 verse 19. How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spirit? For Bildad, the justice of God's rule should not be challenged or questioned, the righteous moral governance of God is axiomatic.

For Bildad, things are to be understood in terms of reward or retribution. In a particularly insensitive statement, in verse 4, he says that Job's children had clearly sinned against the Lord, and as a result, they were delivered over to destruction. All of this follows from Bildad's understanding of God's just moral governance. All of this is so obvious to him that he may not even be registering the inferences that he is making. Norman Harville observes that his use of the language of sinning and dispatching in verse 4 is ironic given the background of chapter 1 verse 5, where the same two verbs are related to Job's pious action concerning his children.

While we might perhaps infer it from his statement, Bildad does not directly accuse Job in the way that he accused Job's children of sin. Rather, he presents Job with the possibility of restoration to his rightful habitation. He must plead with God for mercy and be pure and upright. and if he is he has good grounds for hope for a bountiful restoration. While Bildad is quite wrong in his assessment of the situation, verse 7 is actually fulfilled in chapter 42 verse 12, and the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning,

and he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. To support his case, Elifaz had referred to a mysterious vision that he had received at night. Bildad turns to the wisdom of the ancients. In verses 8 to 10 he talks about the primordial wisdom of antiquity. Bildad, Job and their contemporaries are people of short lives, yet the wisdom of the ancients have survived from time immemorial.

It is to this tried and tested wisdom of bygone ages that Job should turn. Verse 9, talking about the brevity of their lives might remind us of Ecclesiastes chapter 6, verse 12, for who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow, for who can tell man what will be after him under the sun. Harbel raises the possibility that Bildad might not only have in mind the duration of time for which the wisdom of the ancients had survived, but also the exceptionally long lives of the ancients, and consequently the exceptional length of time they had to test and develop their thinking.

In the verses that remain in the chapter, he presents wisdom drawn from these ancients, in particular developing the metaphor of a plant. The papyrus or the reeds that cannot flourish without the marsh or the water might be a reference to the way that people cannot flourish without wisdom or God's grace to drink from. Such a metaphor resembles what we find in Psalm 1, verses 3 to 4. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers, the wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

And in Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5 to 8, Thus says the Lord, Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited saltland. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water That sends out its roots by the stream And does not fear when heat comes, For its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

The nature of the metaphor that Bildad is exploring here is not entirely clear, and commentators differ in their interpretation of it. Harville, for instance, sees this as a metaphor of two contrasting plants. The first plant is the withering plant of verse 12, and the second plant is the lush plant of verse 16. In this interpretation he is drawing upon the work of Robert Gordas. Gerald Janssen follows a similar approach, whereas David Klein's Robert Alden and Tremper Longman

all see either only one plant or two images of the wicked within different plants. Those who read it as a contrast between the righteous and the wicked see, for instance, a juxtaposition between the fragility of the spider's house in verse 14 and the strength of the house of stones in verse 17. This is related to the contrast between the habitation of the righteous in verse 6 and the tent of the wicked in verse 22. The godless quickly withers.

But in the reading advanced by Gordes and others, the lush plant thrives. However, in verse 18, it seems that the lush plant is eradicated. It's destroyed from its place, and the place seemingly forgets him. However, there is a reversal in verse 19. The lush plant that seemed to have perished comes up again. Harbel translates the relevant verses from verse 16 to 19 as follows. Another plant stays fresh, even in the sun. It shoots reach beyond its garden, over a rock.

pile its roots wind, a house of stone it spies, if its place should swallow it, and deny, saying, I did not see you, such is the joy of its way that from the dust it shoots up elsewhere. By contrast with this reading, David Klein's reads the beginning of verse 19 as, that is the dissolution of its life. What springs up is not the plant itself thriving elsewhere, but other plants taking its place. It has been eradicated, forgotten, and now where it once grew, other plants are growing. Good arguments can be advanced for both of these readings. Perhaps one of the strengths of the reading presented by Harville and Gordis is that it ties well with the conclusion of the chapter. Although Job seems to have suffered a terrible setback, he is in the position of the lush plant.

If he is a righteous and blameless man, language that was used of him back in Chapter 1, he will not be rejected. His misfortune will be reversed and any who mock him will end up being put to shame. A question to consider. Both Job and his friends make arguments that are based upon the brevity of man's life. What are these different arguments, and how should they be assessed? 2 Timothy chapter 4. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink-offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day,

and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Do your best to come to me soon, for Demus, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful for me for ministry. Tickicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas,

also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defence no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be. charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever, amen. Greek Prisca and Aquila and the household of

Vanessa Foris, Erastus remained at Corinth and are left Trophemus who was ill at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia, and all the brothers. The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. The final chapter of 2 Timothy, and likely the final chapter of Paul's corpus, begins with a solemn charge from the apostle. Timothy has on previous occasions been addressed or charged in the company of many witnesses.

Here Paul charges him in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, in terms of the eschatological horizon of Christ's coming in judgment. He speaks of this event in three terms, judgment of the living and the dead, his appearing, and his kingdom. Each of these terms brings out a particular facet of the event that Paul is looking forward to, and in terms of which he wants Timothy to act.

These realities are imminent. The judgment of the world has already been set in motion by the death and resurrection of Christ, and with AD 70 on the horizon, the establishment of the kingdom and the judgment of this world is very near at hand. This has the effect of intensifying the sense of the urgency of Paul's charge to Timothy. The charge has a moral urgency, but it also has an eschatological urgency. The time is short and the judge is at the door.

Timothy in this situation must preach the word. He needs to be a faithful servant of the message of the gospel, declaring it boldly. He must take every opportunity that has granted to him, always being prepared to see. such opportunities when they present themselves. He must be ready in season and out of season. Many commentators have taken this expression as referring to the way that Timothy must take the opportunities whether or not they are convenient to him. However, Philip Towner suggests that a background in the philosophical discourse of the time makes more sense of the statement here. Philosophers spoke, for instance, about the importance of taking the right moment to speak a particular truth,

so as to be most likely to receive a favourable responsibility. The problem is that when the time is short, you do not have such a luxury. Truth must be presented urgently and persistently, not merely when the time seems most propitious for it. Paul, in essence, seems to be saying, don't wait for the perfect moment and as a result find that all opportunity has passed you by. He must convict people with the truth. He must challenge false teachers and opponents in a more disciplinary sense. He needs to exhort, to encourage and to teach, to provide people with instruction that moves them towards the truth and righteous behavior, and in all of this he has to

act with patience and forbearance, with composure and mastery over his temper. Much of what Paul is doing in this charge is reinforcing points that he has made previously in the letter, for instance in Chapter 2 24 to 25, and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. Besides the gravity of the eschatological frame within which Paul has presented Timothy's vocation. He also wants Timothy to recognise the urgency of the present time, as people are about to be desensitized to and drift away from the truth. A widespread rejection of the truth is on the horizon. This will occur as people become impatient with and intolerant of the truth and its teachers. It will become unpleasant, tiresome,

boring, unpalatable and burdensome to them, and they'll turn away from it. Along with this will come an appetite for falsehood that will drive a quest for teachers who will satisfy it. Paul describes this with the colourful metaphor of itching ears. People who reject the truth in this way will accumulate false teachers. Paul has described some of these movements already in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 6 to 7, for among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. As this movement away from the truth occurs, people wander off into myths. Elsewhere in the pastoral epistles, Paul has warned against the impact

of myths, the way that empty speculations and groundless fables and esoteric doctrines all distract and detract from the clarity of the truth in the gospel. Such false teachings are perhaps attractive precisely because they do not have a practical bite to them. They flatter people that they are particularly illuminated, that they have a peculiar insight into reality, but they do not speak with any moral force into people's lives. Faced with the rising tide of such false teaching and false teachers, Timothy's faithfulness in his charge is all the more imperative. He needs to be sober-minded, a person who is alert and serious, who recognises the gravity of the issues that he is dealing with, and acts accordingly. Once again, as he has done on several occasions in this epistle, Paul charges Timothy

to endure suffering. In the days to come, his metal will be tested, and he needs to come through proven and faithful. Timothy must do the work of an evangelist. The exact nature of the evangelist duties is not entirely clear. The role of the evangelist is mentioned alongside others in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and 12, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. Philip was an example of an evangelist in the Book of Acts. It is possible that the role of the evangelist is particularly defined by itinerancy. Persons like Philip travelled from place to place they were not just pastors in a single location, nor for that matter were the apostles like

the Twelve or like Paul. Perhaps the role of the evangelist was an early church role that mediated between the apostles and then figures like the overseers and the elders. The book of Second Timothy is so important because the times are perilous. Paul's apostolic ministry is reaching its end. He knows that he is about to die. False teachers are on the rise. Former workers for Christ are deserting their posts and others seem to be falling back dismayed. Paul himself has experienced widespread personal rejection and persons he once depended upon have let him down. Faithful and trustworthy ministers are spread thin on the ground. If there were ever a time when faithful and committed ministers were absolutely essential. It was that time. Paul speaks of his own situation. He is already in the

process of being poured out as a drink offering. What exactly Paul means by speaking of himself as an oblation is not entirely clear. Perhaps the sacrifice is that of Christ and he is being poured out upon that sacrifice. Elsewhere he uses similar imagery in a different context. Philippians chapter 2 verse 17, even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. There, the sacrifice that Paul is being poured out upon is the sacrifice of the Philippians' faith, and we might presume that the pouring out refers to his death. In this passage in 2 Timothy, the pouring out is not directly identified with the death itself, but seems to be connected with it more generally. The pouring out is the extended process that leads up to,

and is concluded in the death. This is another example of Paul's understanding of Christian service and ministry within a conceptual framework offered by sacrifice. He shifts in verse 7 to a familiar imagery of athletic endeavour. He has fought the good fight. Paul might be referring to military imagery here, or he might be working with the athletic metaphor. He presents the Christian life and the task of ministry

as like a race that he has run. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 24 to 27 he wrote, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain it? Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. Another instance of an athletic metaphor can be found in Philippians chapter 3, verses 12 to 14.

Not that I have already obtained this, or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Here too Paul presents the faithful running of the race that was set before, him as one with a great reward, the crown of righteousness, a reward that will be granted to all faithful servants who look for Christ's appearing. Paul has described Timothy as his son, as one

who follows his example, as a son would follow his father's example. Presenting his own faithfulness in running the course of Christian ministry, Paul wants to give Timothy something to follow. He also wants Timothy to recognize that he needs to fill the shoes of Paul as Paul leaves the scene. The charge that Paul is giving to Timothy here has many of the same elements as those in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfector of our faith who for the joy that was set before him

endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Those who have faithfully run this race are surrounded by many others that have done so before them. Paul is like a relay runner, finishing his leg, shouting a word of encouragement to the man to whom he has passed his baton. The remainder of the chapter that mostly contains personal instructions gives a tantalizing window into the final chapter of the Apostle's life. Asking Timothy to come to him soon, Paul speaks of the way that he has been deserted and abandoned by some, of how he's been cut off from others as they've gone to different locations.

and of the great testing that he has undergone in others' absence. Demus was a Gentile fellow worker of Paul, who was mentioned in Colossians chapter 4, verse 14. After having read of Demus as a faithful companion of Paul in other books, we might be horrified to discover that he abandoned Paul in such a serious manner. Such love of the present age is described in 1 John chapter 2 verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.

Paul's judgment of Demus's motives is sobering, especially considering that this is the last biblical reference to him. In contrast to Demus, Crescens and Titus had likely not abandoned Paul, but they had gone to other locations, depriving Paul of their company and assistance. Only Luke remained with Paul at that point. For much of the end of the Book of Acts, Luke had accompanied Paul in his travels, and it seems that he remained with Paul at this point in Rome. If the reference to Demus in verse 10 is a saddening reference to a once-faithful, and stalwart companion of Paul, who had fallen back and backslidden. The reference to Mark in verse 11 has something of the opposite character. Paul had refused to take John Mark as a companion on his second missionary journey,

not trusting him to stay the course. In Acts chapter 15 verses 37 to 40 we read of this episode. Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark, but Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work, and there arose a sharp disagreement so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him

and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. Now, in the final period of his life, the best part of two decades after that original confrontation with Barnabas, Paul seized the value of having Mark by his side.

Just as those who are once faithful can fall back like Demas, those who once fell back can prove faithful, like Mark. Paul has sent Tickicus to Ephesus, perhaps he is the one bearing this epistle to Timothy. Tickicus was also the bearer of the epistles to the Colossians and the Ephesians. On his way to visit Paul, presumably in Rome, from Asia, Paul wants Timothy to pick up the cloak, the parchments, and the books that he left behind in Troas. Towner describes the sort of item that Paul's cloak would have been. This garment was a heavy, circular-shaped cape, made from goat hair, hide or coarse wool, for outer wear and especially important in the winter

months. It was not a garment one took lightly, for it would have been relatively expensive. Most men owning only one such piece of clothing, and it doubled as an outer protective covering for sleeping. A person such as Paul, accustomed to travel and to nights in unpredictable situations, was certainly regard this garment as an essential and typical part of his kit, leading to his request to have it back by winter. Paul was a writer and a student of scripture, and he requests that Timothy bring with him the books, and above all, the parchments. Considerable scholarly speculation has been prompted by this instruction, people wondering what exactly Paul had in mind. Are the books and parchments referring to the same item, the books, namely the parchments,

or are they two different classes of material? Did the parchments refer to Paul's own notebooks? Are the books or scrolls, parts of the Old Testament scripture, are the early church writings, maybe Paul's own writings, and perhaps parts of the New Testament scripture. Such questions cannot be finally settled, but they do tantalise. Paul speaks here of a character called Alexander, who opposed the message of the gospel. He warns Timothy to be aware of him, and he may be the same Alexander as the one mentioned in 1 Timothy chapter 1, 19 and 20. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom a hymenial.

and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Versus 16 to 18 record some of the last reliable biographical details concerning the Apostle Paul. His first hearing was likely a hearing in preparation for the trial to see if there was a case to be heard. Many historically have taken this not as a hearing but as a trial itself. Paul being released as a result. There is a long historical tradition of Paul having two periods of imprisonment in Rome, and what Paul describes here would be seen as the end of the first. It is, however, I believe, more likely that this refers to an arraignment or hearing,

a difficult event at which no one stood by Paul to offer moral support or evidence to back up his case. Nevertheless, the Lord was with Paul in this experience and supported him through it. Paul describes this in terms of being rescued from the lion's mouth. Towner makes the intriguing case that this is part of a larger set of allusions to Psalm 22, a psalm in terms of which paul is describing his experience when we consider the importance of psalm 22 in the context of christ's crucifixion this becomes all the more interesting towner picks out a number of expressions from the psalm my god my god why have you forsaken me the forsakenness of the sufferer in psalm 22 is connected with the abandonment of paul in his defence paul's claim that through the lord's deliverance of him the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it might be an illusion back to the Septuagint of Psalm 22, verses 27 to 28.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nation shall worship before you, for kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. This reference to the kingship of the Lord is also alluded to in the heavenly kingdom of which Paul speaks in verse 18. For Tauner, the principal illusion around which all of these secondary illusions cluster is found in verse 21 of the Psalm, save me from the mouth of the lion.

By presenting his experience in terms of the Psalm, Paul is articulating his struggle in terms of the righteous sufferer, and most notably of Christ. Paul's use of several terms relating to deliverance and salvation is also picking up upon the language of the Psalm. The final verses conclude with some remaining greetings, instructions, and news. Priscilla and Aquila had worked alongside Paul in Acts chapter 18 and had travelled with him at various points.

They had lived in several different locations, Corinth, Rome and Ephesus among them. Anessa Forrest had been mentioned back in Chapter 1, as one who had shown peculiar faithfulness to Paul. Paul had there expressed his desire that the Lord would grant his household mercy. Erastus, who may be the same person as mentioned in Romans chapter 16 verse 23, was left behind in Corinth. If he is the same person as mentioned in Romans, he was the city treasurer. Trophamus mentioned in Acts chapter 20 verse 4

had accompanied Paul for part of his third missionary journey. Most notably, Trophimus had inadvertently precipitated Paul's capture in Jerusalem, which had led to him being taken to Rome. The Jews believed that Paul had taken Trophimus, a Gentile, into the temple, and as a result, he was seized. Given the considerable danger of travelling during the winter months, Paul wants Timothy to make his way to him as soon as possible. With the possible exception of Linus, who is identified as a

Roman bishop within the tradition. The other figures mentioned in verse 21 are not known to us, and are only mentioned here in the New Testament. Paul closes his second epistle to Timothy and his final letter, with a personal greeting to Timothy, the Lord be with your spirit, and then a more general greeting to Timothy and his companions, grace be with you. A question to consider. In verses 3 and 4, Paul describes the process of drifting away from and then rejecting the truth, what are the stages that we might discern in such a process, and what might be some of the signs that they are occurring?