Brothers Keeping: Joseph and Job by Tristam Joseph
conceivable manner, handicapping my strength to bear through, examining me to see if I have endurance of a righteous one, equipped to wait patiently, silently until He determines my fate. Can strength of righteousness stifle my flesh's suffering and annihilate life's desires for gratification, vanquishing temptations, crushing allurements of prosperity, ignoring persuasions promising eternal rewards, or can I reason strength of flesh and bones insures my salvation, trusting truths of help in myself, denying any immanent resource of value, ignoring transcendence from no one but myself?
Eli: If you claim righteousness who is it with? Is it to be right with God or right with your brethren?
Job: Brethren are created to be treacherous, hiding beneath masks of smiles, presently claiming they are closest friends, counseling all in their worldly wisdom while turning me away, harshly accusing me, unrelenting during the heat of my troubles, such as you confront me during my suffering, confounding your truths, unable to deliver me from adversity or ransom me from bands of oppressors. Can you silence my innermost treasured thoughts, changing them to be different, teaching me to recognize and accept my errors, erasing memory's traces of my prosperity, stolen to satisfy some hidden justice, bribing me to accept your judgment, thinking you can reprove my words, censuring the lamentations of a brother in creation? Be pleased to face my honesty, acknowledging my blamelessness can accuse me of no wrong, witnessing I speak no wrong, nothing sufficient to suffer me with calamity.
Eli: Can you say more to protect your upright vanity?
Job: Fearfully, I have borne a life of pain and suffering, knowing I could be wounded by the Lord's blows, coming at any time, even before the Day of the Lord, paid as wages for being human, allotted with months of emptiness and apportioned with nights of uncertainty, combining for my share of misery, awarded equally to all, not only to ones living their lives as misdeeds, ones clothed in corruption and defilement by dust. Time has passed quickly, bringing me to moments destiny determines I should suffer, a time I can no longer call on for my flesh's renewal, it's time's allotment being depleted, responding to my creator's call, sending me to a place of no return, ending dreams of returning to my mother's home, a place knowing me no more.
Eli: What hope came with your virtues of being blameless, promising you something for being upright? Can the distinguished life you claim offer anything, rewarding the virtues you profess?
Job: I am content to have had no more than I earned, yet the Lord wants to make more of me, as I ask why does He make so much of me, visiting me every morning, testing me each moment, never looking away for me to take a breath on my own, distrusting me as if I were some temple for hidden gods, never letting me realize an end for my suffering, wondering why He can't pardon transgressions hidden from my knowing, taking away iniquities unrecognized by me. What must I do?
Joseph: My fate follows yours with losses of everything I had and more. You claim no one predisposed to determine your losses, no one with reason to hate you, unlike the enmity for me, activated by my brothers' bitterness, inherent to their soul's desires, stirring up another's suffering, igniting lasting misery, tormenting me, setting the stage for all my afflictions, tempting me to long for death, hunting its whereabouts, digging for it more than for hidden treasures, breaking God's barriers to find the grave, wondering if I would rejoice in discovering being's ending. True, I have not yet had my flesh tormented, but knowing the unjust punishment awaiting a slave, I expect afflictions await my bones, coming when an anxious whip readies it's turn.
Bystander: With little encouragement from Eli, Job listens to another, hoping he has answers for his suffering.
Reckoner: Both of you restrict your mentality to the world's, judging your fate by the happiness it promises, justifying your arrogance, ignoring words appropriating truths of justice, speaking deceit in everything you see, perverting the Creator's goodness, One so wise and powerful, One just, precluding Him from ever being unjust. Perhaps Job trivialized sin, discounting his own, never acknowledging a sin is a sin, always being a sin, a belief inherited by his sons, even though he repents for all their undeclared deeds, never wanting to discover their manner, believed to be minor indiscretions, small enough to be covered by prayers, trusting they safeguard his peace. But Job, have you ever confessed, admitting to know sin's nature, professing to be penitent for sinful actions, acknowledging their need to be divulged? Confession cleanses all, removing lasting reminders, more than any happiness veiling them only momentarily, understanding sinfulness demands recognition and acknowledgement before healing is possible. Seek the Almighty, appealing to Him for wisdom, trusting He will respond to the truly pure and upright, rewarding you with riches greater than any this world can offer, blessing you with joy so you never question yourself's creation, but eternally praise God, proclaiming convictions of His everlasting goodness.
Job: I never judge anyone, especially my family, never speaking evil against anyone, criticizing their deeds, never being qualified as the Almighty, maker of the law, for I would then be judging His decrees, seizing a right belonging only to Him, knowing only God can judge and I happily leave this to Him, anticipating I would be hastily criticized if I call others on their misdeeds, some waiting to accuse me of being a hypocrite, telling me to look at myself and mind my own business. Forcing me to judge, myself or others, compels me to confess, so I confess only I am unable to confess.
Reckoner: Never judging anyone makes you a wimp, disingenuous in never matching words with your thoughts, for we all have unmentioned conclusions judging others, afraid of disclosing, and so we preserve our blamelessness, protecting our image as a nice person, tolerant as we want others to see. The Holy Spirit informing us, calling us us to discern hearts of blameless people, claiming to be upright, sealing their belonging to the Lord, proclaiming they commit no sin, testifies to truth, calling attention to their dubious convictions. Are you justified in overlooking another blameless person's sin, tolerating other's wrongdoings, claiming all people do it, making their sins of no consequence--ruling the majority cannot be wrong--thereby, maintaining your image of fairness, never judging another, never jeopardizing your position in the band of believers, swearing loyalty to each other, ignoring where your real loyalty must lie, as you maintain harmony in your mutual admiration society? I step forward as my conscious leads me, revealing a cause for your afflictions, brought on by your disobedience to God, forcing Him to correct you. You must acknowledge your unworthiness before your afflictions can disappear. Consider making God your strength, foregoing trust had for your lost riches, dismissing reliance on your blamelessness.
Job: Judging others will worsen me, bringing greater afflictions, voicing judgments to shatter other's opinion of me, so I will not consent to change, making me like a prophet, acknowledging people's afflictions so I can reveal their sins. Show me one prophet who escaped people's wrath, unless they chose to tell them what they wanted to hear. Prophets reporting God's will can expect death by the sword or saw, starvation in a pit, abandonment on a cross, or incineration to ashes, by proclaiming His messages, unveiling His Word, assuring their hearing by blameless ones, content in never seeking righteousness. Never being a prophet, God nevertheless suffers me with afflictions. Despite His decision to punish me, I will never criticize my blameless brothers and sisters, judging those who uphold my dignity and honor my virtues. I must call on God to learn the reasons for the judgement He orders for me. Until then, I will judge not, trusting I would be so judged for any judgement, knowing what it can do, perhaps questioning my uprightness, understanding the judgement I invoke, the measure I use, will reciprocate, returning to gauge my virtues. I refrain from looking on the splinter rotting in my soul to judge another like me.
Reckoner: If a prophet announces some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, they will die in their sins, making you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them to repent, however, and they don't repent, they will die in their sins, removing you from
responsibility, saving you, rewarding you with judgment's honest decision, never escaping you from a prophet's responsibility.
Job: What assures truth for your words, coming from someone who knows less than any prophet I know?
Reckoning: My time here, maybe less than yours, a brief shadow glimpsing God's reality, recorded in His words, penned by our fathers for understanding, our patriarchs praying for deliverance, released from their own wisdom, gives you moments to consider Scripture's revelations, asking you to never despise my words as banter, meaningless chatter displayed for the upright's hearing. Remember, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Was the Lord employed to build your son's house, filling it with the providence He freely contributes, blessing those who seek Him, wondering if you built a temple in your body, a dwelling for the Holy Spirit? Was one ever built?
Job: Never in my life have I forgotten God, realizing hopes of godless people perish with them, never letting my
Eli: If you claim righteousness who is it with? Is it to be right with God or right with your brethren?
Job: Brethren are created to be treacherous, hiding beneath masks of smiles, presently claiming they are closest friends, counseling all in their worldly wisdom while turning me away, harshly accusing me, unrelenting during the heat of my troubles, such as you confront me during my suffering, confounding your truths, unable to deliver me from adversity or ransom me from bands of oppressors. Can you silence my innermost treasured thoughts, changing them to be different, teaching me to recognize and accept my errors, erasing memory's traces of my prosperity, stolen to satisfy some hidden justice, bribing me to accept your judgment, thinking you can reprove my words, censuring the lamentations of a brother in creation? Be pleased to face my honesty, acknowledging my blamelessness can accuse me of no wrong, witnessing I speak no wrong, nothing sufficient to suffer me with calamity.
Eli: Can you say more to protect your upright vanity?
Job: Fearfully, I have borne a life of pain and suffering, knowing I could be wounded by the Lord's blows, coming at any time, even before the Day of the Lord, paid as wages for being human, allotted with months of emptiness and apportioned with nights of uncertainty, combining for my share of misery, awarded equally to all, not only to ones living their lives as misdeeds, ones clothed in corruption and defilement by dust. Time has passed quickly, bringing me to moments destiny determines I should suffer, a time I can no longer call on for my flesh's renewal, it's time's allotment being depleted, responding to my creator's call, sending me to a place of no return, ending dreams of returning to my mother's home, a place knowing me no more.
Eli: What hope came with your virtues of being blameless, promising you something for being upright? Can the distinguished life you claim offer anything, rewarding the virtues you profess?
Job: I am content to have had no more than I earned, yet the Lord wants to make more of me, as I ask why does He make so much of me, visiting me every morning, testing me each moment, never looking away for me to take a breath on my own, distrusting me as if I were some temple for hidden gods, never letting me realize an end for my suffering, wondering why He can't pardon transgressions hidden from my knowing, taking away iniquities unrecognized by me. What must I do?
Joseph: My fate follows yours with losses of everything I had and more. You claim no one predisposed to determine your losses, no one with reason to hate you, unlike the enmity for me, activated by my brothers' bitterness, inherent to their soul's desires, stirring up another's suffering, igniting lasting misery, tormenting me, setting the stage for all my afflictions, tempting me to long for death, hunting its whereabouts, digging for it more than for hidden treasures, breaking God's barriers to find the grave, wondering if I would rejoice in discovering being's ending. True, I have not yet had my flesh tormented, but knowing the unjust punishment awaiting a slave, I expect afflictions await my bones, coming when an anxious whip readies it's turn.
Bystander: With little encouragement from Eli, Job listens to another, hoping he has answers for his suffering.
Reckoner: Both of you restrict your mentality to the world's, judging your fate by the happiness it promises, justifying your arrogance, ignoring words appropriating truths of justice, speaking deceit in everything you see, perverting the Creator's goodness, One so wise and powerful, One just, precluding Him from ever being unjust. Perhaps Job trivialized sin, discounting his own, never acknowledging a sin is a sin, always being a sin, a belief inherited by his sons, even though he repents for all their undeclared deeds, never wanting to discover their manner, believed to be minor indiscretions, small enough to be covered by prayers, trusting they safeguard his peace. But Job, have you ever confessed, admitting to know sin's nature, professing to be penitent for sinful actions, acknowledging their need to be divulged? Confession cleanses all, removing lasting reminders, more than any happiness veiling them only momentarily, understanding sinfulness demands recognition and acknowledgement before healing is possible. Seek the Almighty, appealing to Him for wisdom, trusting He will respond to the truly pure and upright, rewarding you with riches greater than any this world can offer, blessing you with joy so you never question yourself's creation, but eternally praise God, proclaiming convictions of His everlasting goodness.
Job: I never judge anyone, especially my family, never speaking evil against anyone, criticizing their deeds, never being qualified as the Almighty, maker of the law, for I would then be judging His decrees, seizing a right belonging only to Him, knowing only God can judge and I happily leave this to Him, anticipating I would be hastily criticized if I call others on their misdeeds, some waiting to accuse me of being a hypocrite, telling me to look at myself and mind my own business. Forcing me to judge, myself or others, compels me to confess, so I confess only I am unable to confess.
Reckoner: Never judging anyone makes you a wimp, disingenuous in never matching words with your thoughts, for we all have unmentioned conclusions judging others, afraid of disclosing, and so we preserve our blamelessness, protecting our image as a nice person, tolerant as we want others to see. The Holy Spirit informing us, calling us us to discern hearts of blameless people, claiming to be upright, sealing their belonging to the Lord, proclaiming they commit no sin, testifies to truth, calling attention to their dubious convictions. Are you justified in overlooking another blameless person's sin, tolerating other's wrongdoings, claiming all people do it, making their sins of no consequence--ruling the majority cannot be wrong--thereby, maintaining your image of fairness, never judging another, never jeopardizing your position in the band of believers, swearing loyalty to each other, ignoring where your real loyalty must lie, as you maintain harmony in your mutual admiration society? I step forward as my conscious leads me, revealing a cause for your afflictions, brought on by your disobedience to God, forcing Him to correct you. You must acknowledge your unworthiness before your afflictions can disappear. Consider making God your strength, foregoing trust had for your lost riches, dismissing reliance on your blamelessness.
Job: Judging others will worsen me, bringing greater afflictions, voicing judgments to shatter other's opinion of me, so I will not consent to change, making me like a prophet, acknowledging people's afflictions so I can reveal their sins. Show me one prophet who escaped people's wrath, unless they chose to tell them what they wanted to hear. Prophets reporting God's will can expect death by the sword or saw, starvation in a pit, abandonment on a cross, or incineration to ashes, by proclaiming His messages, unveiling His Word, assuring their hearing by blameless ones, content in never seeking righteousness. Never being a prophet, God nevertheless suffers me with afflictions. Despite His decision to punish me, I will never criticize my blameless brothers and sisters, judging those who uphold my dignity and honor my virtues. I must call on God to learn the reasons for the judgement He orders for me. Until then, I will judge not, trusting I would be so judged for any judgement, knowing what it can do, perhaps questioning my uprightness, understanding the judgement I invoke, the measure I use, will reciprocate, returning to gauge my virtues. I refrain from looking on the splinter rotting in my soul to judge another like me.
Reckoner: If a prophet announces some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, they will die in their sins, making you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them to repent, however, and they don't repent, they will die in their sins, removing you from
Job: What assures truth for your words, coming from someone who knows less than any prophet I know?
Reckoning: My time here, maybe less than yours, a brief shadow glimpsing God's reality, recorded in His words, penned by our fathers for understanding, our patriarchs praying for deliverance, released from their own wisdom, gives you moments to consider Scripture's revelations, asking you to never despise my words as banter, meaningless chatter displayed for the upright's hearing. Remember, unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Was the Lord employed to build your son's house, filling it with the providence He freely contributes, blessing those who seek Him, wondering if you built a temple in your body, a dwelling for the Holy Spirit? Was one ever built?
Job: Never in my life have I forgotten God, realizing hopes of godless people perish with them, never letting my