Job 19-20: My Redeemer (LSFAB S13E075)

[GRANDDAUGHTER TWO  - 0:00]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. And here's my grandpa, the OG Godcaster, Steve Webb.

[TEASER - 0:15]
I think that's the best introduction I've ever had on the show. That was my second oldest grandchild. She and her older sister were over at the house last couple of days. We did a lot of Christmas baking and cooking. And then her parents were over last night and we fed the family, and I had a whole lot of fun.

So Bree told you what show this is and who I am. And I'll tell you that I'm coming to you from Riverside, California. This is a daily podcast and you and I are reading through the entire Bible in a year. I'm glad you're here. The website is lifespringmedia.com. And this is Poetry Thursday. We're going to be reading Job 19 and 20 which should have been the reading for last week, but I actually read what should have been today's reading Job 21 and 22 instead, so by reading 19 and 20 today, we'll be back on track. Sorry about the mix-up. I'm calling today's episode "My Redeemer."

And it's December 15 so we'll have Christmas question number 15 sent in by Sandra Kim today. Of course, our Christmas expert James Cooper of whychristmas.com will be answering Sandra in his usual very thorough and informative, and fun way.

But before we read, let's pray.

[OPENING PRAYER - 1:26]
Our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Word. And we thank you for the book of Job which teaches us how we can respond to difficulties that inevitably come into our lives. Teach us today I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, let's begin.

[JOB 19 (NASB) - 1:43]
Job, chapter 19.

(1) Then Job responded,

(2) “How long will you torment me
And crush me with words?
(3) These ten times you have insulted me;
You are not ashamed to wrong me.
(4) Even if I have truly erred,
My error lodges with me.
(5) If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me
And prove my disgrace to me,
(6) Know then that God has wronged me
And has closed His net around me.

(7) “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;
I shout for help, but there is no justice.
(8) He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
And He has put darkness on my paths.
(9) He has stripped my honor from me
And removed the crown from my head.
(10) He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;
And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.
(11) He has also kindled His anger against me
And considered me as His enemy.
(12) His troops come together,
And build up their way against me
And camp around my tent.
(13) “He has removed my brothers far from me,
And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
(14) My relatives have failed,
And my intimate friends have forgotten me.
(15) Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger.
I am a foreigner in their sight.
(16) I call to my servant, but he does not answer;
I have to implore him with my mouth.
(17) My breath is offensive to my wife,
And I am loathsome to my own brothers.
(18) Even young children despise me;
I rise up and they speak against me.
(19) All my associates abhor me,
And those I love have turned against me.
(20) My bone clings to my skin and my flesh,
And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
(21) Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me.
(22) Why do you persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?

(23) “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
(24) That with an iron stylus and lead
They were engraved in the rock forever!
(25) As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
(26) Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
(27) Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.
My heart faints within me!
(28) If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’
And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’
(29) Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves,
For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
So that you may know there is judgment.”

[JOB 20 (CEB) – 4:21]
Job, chapter 20.

(1) Zophar from Naamah said:

(2) Therefore, my troubled thoughts make me turn back—
because of my inner turmoil.
(3) I hear teaching that insults me,
but I am forced to answer based on my own understanding.
(4) Do you know this from long ago—
from when humans were placed on earth—
(5) that the rejoicing of the wicked is short,
the joy of the godless, brief?
(6) Though their height reaches heaven
and their heads touch the clouds,
(7) they will perish forever like their dung;
those who saw them will say, “Where are they?”
(8) They will disappear like a dream,
and none will find them,
carried away like a nighttime vision.
(9) The eye that saw them will do so no more;
they won’t be seen again at home.
(10) Their children will repay the poor;
their hands will give back their wealth.
(11) Vigor filled their bones
and now sleeps with them in the dust.
(12) Though wickedness is sweet in their mouths,
they hide it under their tongues;
(13) they like it, won’t let it go;
they hold it in their cheeks.
(14) Food turns their stomachs,
becoming a cobra’s poison inside.
(15) They swallow wealth and vomit it;
God dislodges it from their belly.
(16) They suck cobra’s poison;
a viper’s tongue kills them.
(17) They won’t experience streams,
rivers of honey, and brooks of cream.
(18) They won’t receive the reward for their labor;
they won’t enjoy the wealth from their business.
(19) They crushed and abandoned the poor;
stole a house they didn’t build;
(20) didn’t know contentment in their belly;
couldn’t escape with their treasure.
(21) Nothing remained of their food,
so their riches will not endure.
(22) Even in their plenty, they are hard-pressed;
all sorts of trouble come on them.
(23) Let God fill their belly,
unleash his burning anger on them,
rain punishing blows on them.
(24) If they flee an iron weapon,
a bronze bow pierces them.
(25) They pull it out, but it sticks out from their backs;
its shaft in their liver brings terror.
(26) Complete darkness waits for their trusted possessions;
fire that no one stoked consumes them;
what’s left in their tent is ruined.
(27) Heaven exposes their guilt;
earth opposes them.
(28) Their household wealth will be carried off
by rushing streams on the day of his anger.
(29) This is a wicked person’s lot from God,
their heritage decreed by God.

[COMMENTARY - 6:51]
Well, today I'd like to talk a little bit about Job 19. The chapter begins with Job responding yet again to his "friends" turned accusers asking “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?”

And he continues by recounting how utterly miserable he's become. Even God seems to have turned his back on him, even persecuting him.

And yet in verses 23 through 27, we see that indeed, Job's faith in God remains steadfast. He says, ”As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives!” Hallelujah!

Let's take a closer look at the word "redeemer."

The Hebrew word is “goel,” G-O-E-L. We see the goel in Joshua 20:7-8 and Numbers 35:12-28 where the cities of refuge were established. Remember, we talked about that on the show. In these chapters in Joshua and Numbers, the goel is translated as the "avenger of blood." It was almost always the nearest family member who was appointed as goel, and it was his responsibility to rightly carry out justice when a family member was murdered.

But it's important to note though, that Old Testament justice was similar to our justice system. There's criminal law and civil law. The "avenger of blood" dealt with criminal law. On the civil side, the goel is a "redeemer."

According to G. Campbell Morgan, “The ‘Goel’ stood for another to defend his cause, to avenge wrongs done to him, and to acquit him of all charges laid against him.”

Steve Lawson put it this way: “A redeemer was a vindicator of one unjustly wronged. He was a defender of the oppressed. A champion of the suffering. An advocate of one unjustly accused. If you were ever wronged, a redeemer would come and stand beside you as your champion and advocate.” 

So Job was saying that even though he *felt* that God had abandoned him, even though he *felt* that God was wrongly persecuting him, he *knew* that God was his goel, his closest family member, his Redeemer, his Vindicator. Job *knew* that in the end, God would make things right.

Oh, Beloved, to have faith like Job, even in the midst of agony and despair, to know that we do have a Redeemer.

Charles Spurgeon said this: “Remember, too, that it was always considered to be the duty of the goel, not merely to redeem by price, but where that failed, to redeem by power... There are two redemptions, — redemption by price and redemption by power, and both of these Christ hath wrought for us; — by price, by his sacrificing upon the cross of Calvary; and by power, by his Divine Spirit coming into our heart, and renewing our soul.”

I love Charles Spurgeon.

Beloved, Jesus is even now advocating for you and for me at the throne of God. He *has* redeemed us with his blood. And when the enemy the accuser brings charges against us, Jesus is there to say, “No! This one is mine, and I have paid the price for this precious one.”

[LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE - 10:17]
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Tomorrow is Prophecy Friday and we'll read Isaiah 56 through 61.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW - 10:41]  
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[JINGLE SINGERS - 11:32]
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[CHRISTMAS QUESTION - 11:39]  
Christmas question number 15 comes in from Sandra Kim. Sandra has been a Lifespring member at least since last season if I'm not mistaken. And she asks, "When and why did the Advent tradition begin and who started it?" Sandra says, "I'm enjoying these Christmas tidbits each day. Thanks." Well, thank you, Sandra. It's great to hear from you again. And I'm so glad you're enjoying these informative little moments with James. Me, too. So, James, you're up. 

[JAMES COOPER ANSWERS - 12:04]  
Many of us will have opened an Advent calendar or perhaps even lit an Advent candle, but what's it all about? Well, Advent is the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas. Or if you're using a calendar, it's normally from the first of December to Christmas Day. Advent means "coming" in Latin, and this is the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians have used these four Sundays and weeks of Advent for hundreds of years to prepare for the real meaning of Christmas.

But there are three meanings of "coming." The first is the most thought of and that happened about two thousand years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby. The second meaning of "coming" in Advent is *now* when we can accept Jesus into our lives. And the third meaning of "coming" is actually sometimes called the Second Coming by Christians as it will happen in the future when Jesus will come back to the world as Judge and King and not as a baby.

Advent starts with Advent Sunday, and that can be from the 27th of November when Advent is the longest it can be as it was in 2016, and it was in this year. And the Advent can also be as late as the third of December when Advent's the shortest it can be as it was in 2023, and it will be next year. Advent only starts on the first of December when Christmas Day's on a Wednesday, which will happen in 2024. So we've had the longest Advent. Next year will be the shortest Advent and then in 2024, we'll have Advent on the first of December.

No one's really sure when Advent was first celebrated, but it dates back to at least 567 when monks were ordered to fast during December leading up to Christmas. And still today some people fast, don't eat anything or don't eat certain foods during Advent to help them concentrate on preparing for Jesus's coming. In many Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, Advent actually lasts for 40 full days. And it starts on the 15th of November and it's called the Nativity Fast.

In medieval and pre-medieval times in parts of England, there was an early form of nativity scene called an "advent image" or even a "vessel cup." They were a box often with a glass lid and was covered with a white napkin. They contain two dolls representing Mary and the baby Jesus. The box was decorated with ribbons and flowers and sometimes apples. They were carried around from door to door. It was thought to be very unlucky if you hadn't seen a box before Christmas Eve. People often paid the box carriers or ha'penny or halfpenny to see the box.

And we have Christmas carols but some of those are actually Advent carols. These include "People Look East." Come Thou Long Expected Jesus," "Lo! He Comes In Clouds Descending," "On Jordan's Banks The Baptist Cries" and perhaps the most popular Advent song of all "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."

Using candles to countdown Advent have been done so for hundreds of years. Lutheran churches in Scandinavia use twenty-four little candles to count down through December from the 1700s. You can get Advent candles now where you burn a bit each day and you have to remember to blow it out before it burned through seven days and you've missed a week. I've done that on more than one occasion. And you can get an Advent crown and they're often used in churches. The crown is made up of a wreath of greenery or candle stand and it has four candles around the outside and one in the middle or in a separate place. The first candle is lit on the first Sunday of Advent. Two candles are lit on the second Sunday of Advent and so on. Each candle has a different meaning. And different churches have given them different meanings over the years and it can be very confusing working out who does what on what Sunday. But what I was taught when I was growing up was that the first represents Isaiah and the other prophets in the Bible that predicted the coming of Jesus. The second represents the Bible. The third represents Mary, the mother of Jesus, and sometimes this has a pink or different colored candle in many churches. And the fourth Sunday represents John the Baptist, Jesus's cousin who told the people of Israel to get ready for Jesus. The middle or separate candle is lit on Christmas Day and represents Jesus, the Light of the World.

Perhaps the most common way of counting down Advent, well, really December, are the advent calendars that are so ubiquitous these days, And now they normally have chocolate in which is a good thing. In the 19th century, German Protestant Christians counted down to Christmas by marking twenty-four chalk lines on a door and rubbing one off every day in December. Paper calendars became popular in Germany around the early 1900s. Although some people had made their own from the 1850s. That is a debate about exactly when the first mass-produced calendar was made, but it was in the first decade of the 1900s. The first paper calendars consisted of two pieces of paper, a back piece of card with the numbers 1 to 24 printed on it, and then a separate sheet of pictures that you cut out and stick onto the numbers. The first calendars with doors were made in Germany in the 1920s. The first record of an advent calendar in the UK was in 1956. And I imagine it'd be similar in the USA. The first calendar with chocolate in it was made in 1958. And here in the UK, Cadbury's made their first chocolate calendar in 1971. However, they didn't really sell many to start with. Chocolate calendars only really became popular in the 1980s. But there are other forms of calendar as well. Some European countries such as Germany, use a wreath of fir with twenty-four bags hanging from it. In each bag or box, there's a little present.

So I think it's time for me to light my Advent candle today. And then I've also got to remember to blow it out. 

[STEVE WEBB - 17:18]  
Well, that's where having a timer on the old cell phone comes in handy. I use the timer app on my phone several times a day. And by the way, James, you just confirmed that you and the Lovely Lady LeeAnn would get along famously because as soon as she hears this, she's gonna want to run right out to get a chocolate Advent calendar, too. Thank you, James, for answering Sandra's question. And thank you Sandra for sending it in.

Now, Beloved, it's time for you to send in your Christmas question. I'm running out. I'd like to be able to feature one Christmas question on each show until Christmas. So I need you to pick up the slack. And to sweeten the offer, of course, I'm having a drawing on Christmas Day. I'm going to give away two pairs of tickets to the upcoming movie "Jesus Revolution" which will be released in February '23. And in order to be in the drawing you just have to send in a Christmas question for every question you send in you'll get an entry. Also on Christmas Day, I'm going to have a drawing for a signed copy of my book "Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide" and to be entered into that drawing your question will have to be one that was answered on the show. So send your questions to steve@lifespringmedia.com and put "Christmas question" in the subject line.

[OUTRO S13E075 - 18:31]  
For our Christmas music today I've got a jazzy little treatment of "We Three Kings" by etypejazz. Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

[ETYPEJAZZ PERFORMS "WE THREE KINGS" - 18:55]

We three kings of Orient are;
bearing gifts we traverse afar,
field and fountain, moor and mountain,
following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem's plain,
gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
over us all to reign.

O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Frankincense to offer have I;
incense owns a Deity nigh;
prayer and praising, all men raising,
worshiping God on high.

O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Myrrh have I; its bitter perfume
breathes a life of gathering gloom;
sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
sealed in the stone-cold tomb.

O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Glorious now behold him arise;
King and God and sacrifice:
Alleluia, Alleluia,
sounds through the earth and skies.

O star of wonder, star of light,
star with royal beauty bright,
westward leading, still proceeding,
guide us to thy perfect light.

Hallelujah!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai