Job 42:10-17
… The Eternal restored the fortunes of
Job after he prayed for his friends; He even doubled the wealth he had before. All
of his brothers and sisters, along with those he had known earlier, came and
shared meals with him at his house. They sympathized with him and consoled him
regarding the great distress the Eternal had brought on him. Each guest gave
him a sum of money and each, a golden ring. The Eternal One blessed the
last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. He went on to possess
14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He
also fathered 7 more sons and 3 more daughters. He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third
Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land could one find women as captivatingly
beautiful as Job’s daughters, or as independently wealthy: their father gave
them each a share of the family inheritance along with their brothers. After
all this, Job lived 140 years. He lived to see his children and their children and
so on, to the fourth generation. Then Job died, old, and satisfied with his
days.
Did you
catch it? I’ve read this passage many, many times before and missed it…
He named his first daughter Jemimah, his
second Keziah, and his third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land could one
find women as captivatingly beautiful as Job’s daughters, or as independently
wealthy: their father gave them each a share of the family inheritance along
with their brothers.
This time it
jumped off the page and me and screamed: look harder at me! If you know anything about
the way things worked back in the Old Testament, you understand that it was the
sons, not the daughters that were of importance. It is highly unusual to name
the daughters and not the sons. I know the nudge of the Holy Spirit when He smacks
me to attention. I reached out to two men (one is my pastor, the other my
teacher) that might be able to quickly point me in the right direction; my
pastor urged to me investigate the meaning of the daughters’ names. I did this
immediately.
Jemimah
Arabic =
little dove
Hebrew = she
who is as beautiful as the sun or she who acts like the sea or a day that
belongs to God or fortunate / handsome
Keziah
Cassia tree
= sweet scented spice like cinnamon
Ingredient
of anointing oil; known as the fragrance of Christ
Derived from
verb to scrape or cut off and noun set in corner of structure (border)
*it is done*
= qasa = abrupt severing or ending
Person in
position to make rules or decisions
End of the
tabernacle curtains
Keren-Happuch
To shine or
be radiant like the moon
Bloom or
shine
Also horn
Splendor of
color
Horn of
Antimony = eye paint
Right away I
saw a correlation between their names and the Trinity. Jemimah means dove. The
dove represents the Holy Spirit. Keziah, the cassia tree which actually means the
fragrance of Chris, not a big leap here but Keren-Happuch didn’t fit the way my
mind was rolling on this, but still I knew there was a personal message in all of
this for me.
During the
time I was researching the names, my teacher emailed me a study done on this exact
passage. I opened it and read to find I was on the right track with equating
the names of Job’s daughters with the Godhead but since I do not know the nuances
of scripture as much as my teacher or my pastor, I had misinterpreted their
names slightly.
Jemimah is day by day which implies
endless daylight and endless life: God, the Father…He never sleeps nor slumbers
(Psalm 121:4).
Keziah … this one I was spot on! Yeah
me! God, the Son: his death was the sweet-smelling sacrifice God, the Father
required for our sin and He is our Healer just as cassia was used as medicine. One
of the Hebrew words her name is derived from means: "it is finished", the very
words Jesus spoke on the Cross (John 19:30).
Keren-Happuch… the name that threw me
for a loop because I couldn’t see any correlation between a horn of powdered
makeup and a member of the Trinity, but the author of the study points out that
the makeup is used to adorn and beautify just as the Holy Spirit does for us when
we are saved and infilled by Him. He covers up our nasty parts so that when
God, the Father looks upon us all He sees is His Son. From there, the Holy Spirit
continues to work in our lives refining us, showing us the truth and helping us
take on the actual attributes of Christ until we become new creatures in Him (Colossians
3:3 / John15:26 / 2 Corinthians 5:17).
If you’ve
read anything I have written in this blog before then you know I have struggled
with God’s little pet name for me, Beautiful. This scripture also
references the beauty of Job’s daughters. In fact, they were the most beautiful
in all of Israel. If you know me well, then you know I struggle with feeling
hidden and unnoticed, unimportant, left out…like no one really sees BUT God
sees and just like Job’s daughters who were important enough to Job to leave a specific and equal inheritance to, I am that kind of important to my Father. He knows where I am always,
and He isn’t hanging me out to dry or leaving me alone in the wilderness to
fend for myself. Instead, He is taking His time to prepare for me a table
before me in the presence of my enemy (Psalm 23:5) and announce me as His daughter
and heir after which my enemy (satan) will understand that the battle over my
life has already been won (I John 5:4); that I am submitted and he must flee
from me (James 4:7).
When we come
into a clear understanding that are battle is over and we are already set free,
we then become free to help wage war on behalf of the lives of others. We are
free to live fearlessly and walk into anything we are called, knowing beyond a
shadow of a doubt that we are already victorious, regardless of what our eyes see,
and our hearts feel but we like God must sacrifice something precious:
ourselves, our pride, our plans (Galatians 2:20 / Romans 8).
It’s so cool
to me sometimes how God uses silly things to say, I love you. I read this scripture and saw Job had three
daughters. The number 3 is a repetitive theme in my life and just like that, Holy
Spirit made this scripture jump off the page for me last Friday like it never
had before to deliver a message specific for me, but I think if you really look,
there is something there for you too: a promise. A promise to leave you better
than He found you.
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