Reading with Ben

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #07 chapters 13 and 14.

Job Chapter 13, Now that he knows all his friends are kind of jerks, he talks back. After all, he says, he's their equal and, well, they're not being very nice.

Job Chapter 14, He knows that God is almighty, sure. But he still thinks he deserves an explanation for why God is shredding his life to pieces.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #06 chapters 11 and 12.

Job Chapter 11, Time for more thoughts from the peanut gallery. Zophar says that Job must have done something wrong; God is unfathomable, sure, but he always punishes people less than they deserve. Some friend.

Job Chapter 12, Now that he knows all his friends are kind of jerks, he talks back. After all, he says, he's their equal and, well, they're not being very nice. He knows that God is almighty, sure. But he still thinks he deserves an explanation for why God is shredding his life to pieces. He's mortal. His time is short. He wants some answers.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #05 chapters 09 and 10.

Job Chapter 09, Job wants a mediator. Can't someone just judge who's right—him or God? Because really, if God is omniscient and omnipotent, then what he did was really, really mean. He laments that there is no justice between mortals and immortals, and then he demands a trial with God. Judge Judy wasn't around then.

Job Chapter 10, Job continues his bumming out session, asking God why he would oppress the people who love him. Doesn't really seem like a good business model.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #04 chapters 07 and 08.

Job Chapter 07, Job decides he won't take this lying down. This is his "why me?" moment. He asks God why he specifically has become God's target. He's in such pain that even death would be better. We're really starting to feel for the guy.

Job Chapter 08, Bildad (friend #2) tells Job to repent. Why? He thinks it could have been his kids who sinned and brought this misery upon Job. Think Barty Crouch, Jr. Then he gets all poetic, comparing Job's suffering to a garden sown with bad seeds from his past or from his offspring. Hasn't your past ever come back to haunt you? Bildad is just trying to give the situation some sense for his buddy.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #03 chapters 05 and 06.

Job Chapter 05, Eliphaz is still chatting away. Now he says that God doles out both good and bad, and that the righteous have nothing to fear from him. Finally some good news.

Job Chapter 06, Job isn't buying it. He's in pain, he's covered with sores and ashes, and he wants some answers. His complaint is valid, he says.

Job gets that his friends are confused. After all, in their worldview, the righteous are not punished. But he's not satisfied with that answer.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #02 chapters 03 and 04.

Job Chapter 03, Suddenly, the text moves from prose to poetry. Job cries out that he is in pain, and rues the day he was born—poetically, of course.

Job Chapter 04, Breaking the silence, Eliphaz throws his two cents in. He says that Job must have done something wrong to merit this punishment. Innocents, he says, are never punished. And hey, if God even gets annoyed at his angels, how can humans pass the test? Basically, humans have no chance. Don't forget, folks—Job is still maintaining his innocence.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Job

This is episode #01 chapters 01 and 02.

Job Chapter 01, We are introduced to Job right off the bat. He's pretty much the coolest guy alive and life is good. Job has a big family, lots of property, 7,000 sheep (5,000 looks like this), 3,000 camels, 500 oxen, and 500 donkeys. Oh, and he's one of the most righteous men out there. Not bad. God is psyched about how awesome Job is, so he brags to Satan. As you might expect, Satan doesn't agree. He says that Job is only so righteous because his life is so good.

Job Chapter 02,  God gets back to bragging about Job, and Satan, once again, doesn't buy it. This time, God gives Satan permission to hurt Job physically, something he wouldn't let him do last time. Just don't kill him, God says. Satan's method of choice? Give Job sores from his tippy-toes to his noggin. Job's wife apparently doesn't find this attractive, because she suggests that he curse God and die. But Job refuses to be disloyal. Job's buddies Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad come to visit and chill with him while he rolls around in ash and sackcloth. This is all standard procedure, don't worry.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Esther

This is episode #05 chapters 09 and 10.

Esther Chapter 09, Esther chapter 9 introduces what happened when the 13th day of Adar arrived. This day the edict stipulated the Jews to defend themselves accordingly.

Esther Chapter 10, The book of Esther tells the story of the Jewish woman who became queen of Persia and saved her people from a plot to destroy them. In Esther Chapter 10, a very brief chapter, her cousin Mordecai is elevated to a place of power beside her husband, the king.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Esther

This is episode #04 chapters 07 and 08.

Esther Chapter 07, King Xerxes and Haman attended the banquet of Queen Esther. The king then asked the queen what she wanted as a gift. He mentioned to her he would be willing to give up to half his kingdom to her if she wanted it. The request she made was that she and her people must be spared from death and destruction. Her people had been sold into slavery and were marked for annihilation.

Esther Chapter 08, She then earnestly pleaded the king to end the edict published by Haman based on the fact that he was an Agagite with the aim of ending Jewish existence. The king at last accepted the plea and commanded her to rise up by stretching his gold scepter.

Welcome back to Reading with Ben! Let's continue the lecture on the book of Esther

This is episode #03 chapters 05 and 06.

Esther Chapter 05, Esther the consort of the King of Persia, throws a banquet for the King and his Prime Minister, the devious Haman. She learned through her cousin and foster father, Mordecai, that Haman was plotting to slaughter the Jewish people and Esther is a Jew herself.

Esther Chapter 06, Ahasuerus, the King of Persia and the husband of Queen Esther, finds that he cannot sleep. Believing that being read to will help him sleep, he has a book of chronicles brought in and read to him by a servant.