The Biblical Job is introduced as a wealthy rancher and pious man who would carefully make atonement on behalf of his children even when he was not sure whether they needed it. Then as part of his tribulations, they were all killed. As the story unfolds, we see that he felt that his righteousness earned him his privileged lifestyle, including the gift of his children. But finally, he was brought into the higher understanding that God alone is to be honored and thanked for all of man’s blessings. He knew that by his intellect, but not in his heart.
Job wanted God to explain his actions in destroying nearly all his possessions and loved ones, but instead he was given a new way of seeing. He was shown that he had been presumptuous.
He repented that he had considered himself God’s equal, or actually, God’s master, able to control God’s hand of favor by his own works and goodness, and he acknowledged the greatness of God. Earning ones way to heaven has never been possible, not in Old or New Testament times.
After Job’s change of heart, God called on him to intercede for his friends, and after he interceded for them God restored his life.
Effective intercession has to do with a right understanding of who God is and a heart for worship, and heartfelt intercession for spiritually blind people meets with God’s highest approval.
If Job was not Melchizedek, he was nevertheless a kindred spirit for both men had come to know the living God along life's journey, and that he alone ought to be the object of man's praise, thanksgiving and worship.
The King of Salam Blessing Abraham
Woodcut illustration by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld were originally printed in Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden. Scanned by Publications for Latin America, WELS.
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