Question 78: Did YHVH “blot out” the day on which Job was born?
Answer:
This question is doubtless prompted by the ancient tradition or superstition that we have fewer days in February than any other month, as Job was born in February. This of course is a fallacy. There was no February in the time of Job, 1520 B. C. The months or divisions of time, were not as we have them now. The year of the Jews consisted of twelve lunar months of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, a thirteenth being from time to time introduced to accommodate it to the sun and seasons. Let it be noted that while Job cursed his birthday, he did not curse his Maker, so why should Elohiym drop a day on account of a little weakness in his servant who, despite his great sufferings, never uttered any reproach against the Author of his being? Our months as at present, we have from the Romans. With those people February had originally twenty-nine days in an ordinary year, but when the Roman Senate decreed that the eighth month should bear the name of Augustus, a day was taken from February and given to August, which had then only thirty, that it might not be inferior to July, named in honour of Julius Caesar.
Question 77: Did YHVH give Job into the hands of Satan to be tempted?
Answer:
"Tempted" is scarcely the word to use in that case. Job was tried or tested. The question was what his motive was in serving YHVH. Satan with his natural doubt about anyone having pure motives, asserted that Job served YHVH only for what he gained by it and that if his property was taken away from him, he would curse YHVH. So, Job was put to the proof, to see what he would do under trial and whether he was really as disinterested as YHVH believed him to be. The object of the author appears to have been to correct, a false view of adversity, which view was prevalent in his time. People had the idea that severe calamities were punishments dealt out by YHVH because of sin. When a man of good moral character therefore, was in trouble, people suspected that he had sinned secretly and that YHVH was punishing him for it. It was often a cruel and unjust suspicion. In writing this description, the author evidently was trying to eradicate it. After reading such a book, a man who saw another in trouble, instead of despising him as a sinner might say, "Perhaps he is being tried as Job was," and so might sympathize instead of blaming him
Frequently asked questions and answers:
Question 76: Who was Job?
Answer:
According to leading commentators, Job was a personage of distinction, wealth and influence who lived in the north of Arabia Desert, near the Euphrates, some 1800 B. C. His life was patriarchal, his language Aramaic of that early day, when it was interspersed with Syriac and Arabic. He lived before Moses. His book is probably the oldest book in the world. It is now interpreted as a public debate in poetic form, dealing with the Divine government. It abounds in figurative language. The "day" mentioned in Job 2:1 was one appointed for the angels to give an account of their ministry to YHVH. Evil is personified in Satan, who also comes to make report. The question to Satan and his response are simply a dramatic or poetic form of opening the great controversy which follows.
Questions 75: Why was the temple built in Jerusalem?
Answer:
In 2 Samuel 24:16-25 we learn how the threshing floor of Araunah came to be chosen for the site of an altar of commemoration and sacrifice. Moreover, Scripture and Jewish tradition unite in pointing to that threshing floor as the spot upon which Abraham prepared to offer Isaac (although some eminent authorities have disputed this). Read also the account of the purchase of the site from Oman (Araunah) in 1 Chronicles 21:26-28; and in the next chapter (1 Chronicles 22:1, 9, 10) which shows how David had a divine revelation that his son should build the temple there.
Question 74: How often was Jerusalem destroyed?
Answer:
The Holy City has been captured and recaptured many times by contending forces. In several of the sieges it has been partially ruined, but in at least four it has been practically destroyed, the first about 1400 B. C, when captured by the tribes of Judah and Simeon; the second in 586 by Nebuchadnezzar; the third in 170 B. C by Antiochus Epiphanes; the fourth and doubtless most terrible, in 70 A. D., by Titus. The city was restored by Hadrian in 135 A. D.
Question 73: Will the Jews be restored to Palestine at Moshiach’s second coming?
Answer:
Students of prophecy are not agreed on the subject. The majority infer, from various passages, that they will be restored before the coming of Moshiach in the second stage of that coming. The first stage is thought to be in the air to summon those believers who are looking for Him, to meet Him (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). The second stage is after the great tribulation when he comes to reign. Some believe that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was the fulfilment of Bible prophecy.
Question 72: Why do Jews face the east when praying?
Answer:
In Jerusalem, the Jews always turned their faces toward the "holy hill" of the temple while praying (see Daniel 6:10; 2 Chronicles 6:34). The Samaritans, on the contrary, faced Mount Gerizim. In the court of the temple, the Jews in prayer faced the temple itself (see 1 Kings 8:38) to the Holy of Holies (see Psalm 5:8). Daniel while praying in exile, opened his window toward Jerusalem (see Daniel 6:10). Modern Jews in Europe and America customarily face the East in prayer. It was a custom among the early believers to face the East but that has long been discontinued by the Catholics. Mohammedans face in the direction of Mecca.
Frequently asked questions and answers:
Question 71: Did Jephthah really offer up his daughter as a sacrifice?
Answer:
Both the Authorized and Revised Versions leave the question in doubt and commentators have been divided in opinion as to whether she was sacrificed or doomed to live the life of a recluse. Human sacrifices are an abomination unto Elohiym. A new reading or translation which several notable scholars have urged as the correct one is: "It shall surely be Elohiym's or I will offer up to him a burnt offering." Hebrew scholars declare this to be the more accurate rendering. (See Judges 11:30, 31 and 39.) It changes the aspect of the case and makes Jephthah to say practically that if the first living thing that came forth from his house to meet him was one that would be unacceptable, then a burnt offering of an acceptable character would be substituted. This would lead to the conclusion that the daughter was not sacrificed, but condemned to a life of perpetual virginity and a burnt offering offered up in her stead. Several eminent writers, including Joseph Kinchi, Ben Gerson and Bechai (Jewish authorities) and a number of believing authors, held that instead of being sacrificed she was shut up in a house specially prepared by her father and visited there by the daughters of Israel four days in a year as long as she lived. In support of this theory, it is pointed out that the Hebrew term employed to express Jephthah's vow is the word neder, which means a "consecration" and not cherem, which means "destruction."
We will not be posting a podcast this morning because it is not ready. What I thought should be a very basic topic became much more complicated than anticipated. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
TTN Music 
TTN Promo 