Thursday, January 17, 2008

Job 31:13-15

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Job 31:13-15


13 If I did despise [ma'ac] the cause [mishpat] of my manservant [`ebed] or of my maidservant ['amah], when they contended [riyb] with me;
14 What then shall I do [`asah] when God ['el] riseth up [quwm]? and when he visiteth [paqad], what shall I answer [shuwb] him?
15 Did not he that made [`asah] me in the womb [beten] make [`asah] him? and did not one ['echad] fashion [kuwn] us in the womb [rechem]? KJV-Interlinear



13 'If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves When they filed a complaint against me, 14 What then could I do when God arises, And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? 15 'Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb? NASB


How can we treat others in one way, and then when that same pattern of treatment is handed down to us, expect something different just because it is us?

How can we treat others, when they come to complain to us, with indifference or harshness, and then if we lodge a complaint, should we expect better treatment?

How can we observe the personality and actions of others and judge them with a callous attitude, and then when we find ourselves in that same situation, expect better treatment from others?

What you sow you reap. What you dish out, you should expect no better in return for yourself.

Double standards and social classes are a characteristic of this world. Such things do not exist in the spiritual realm.

God made man from the dust of the earth. God created the soul and its resident human life, out of nothing.

The first word for 'do' and 'made' is 'asah.' This means to create or perform in accordance to a pattern. The 'doing' in verse 14, means to act in accordance with ones pattern of life. The second 'asah' refers to the pattern of humanity, which God followed with every single human being, when He formed or created the person in their entirety.

First it was God who did the creating or the forming. As far as the physical body, God created the biological functions which the human race follows in procreation. Second, it is God who creates the soul, and imputes human life into it.

God does this for each and every person who has ever been born. No exceptions.

There is no super race, no superior race, no culture, nothing among men which makes one person or group better or worse than another. And yet, the world has prejudicially divided itself up into numerous cultures, races, social classes and such. God did not do that.

The first word for womb, 'beten,' refers to the cavity of the womb, the pouch. The second word for womb, 'rechem,' refers to the love and affection for the fashioned work or content of the womb.

God gives equal love and affection and care for each and every person who has ever existed. He has no favorites.

This world gives everyone unequal opportunities and unequal circumstances for life in this world, but God provides a level playing field for all within the spiritual life.

Since we all came from the hand of God, since we are all derived out of the same material composition, then none of us should ever look condescendingly downward toward anyone, for any reason.

God placed every person in their present situation. To despise anyone, to ridicule anyone, to act with bias or prejudice toward anyone, is the same as telling God that He has failed in His efforts with respect to those we look down on.

To treat people with harshness and then expect better treatment from God toward us, is the quintessence of hypocrisy. And from this we develop the golden rule of 'Do unto others …', as well as the humility of 'No man is better than another.'

One speck of dust cannot be distinguished from another, and certainly one speck of dust can be no better than another.

Only through arrogance do classes and 'better than you' attitudes develop.