Simon Brown.

Join me on this journey. Let's seek the truth together! ๐Ÿ’ก Proverbs 8:34-36 Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. For whoever finds me finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.” Psalm 84: 11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly. 12 Yahweh of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you. 1 John 5:5 Now who is the one overcoming the world, except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God.

Sunday, 27 October 2019

The (unique) WORDS by Job 23:13, GOD is ONE BEING with NO MEDIATOR!

Detailed Bible study of Job 23:13 examining the Hebrew words for “He is one,” God's oneness, and Job's longing for a mediator between God and man.

A detailed Bible-study infographic examining Job 23:13, the Hebrew expression connected with “He is one,” and the Bible's presentation of God as sovereign and one. It also compares Job 9:33, Job 16:21 and 1 Timothy 2:5, where Jesus Christ is identified as the one mediator between God and mankind. Research by Simon Brown.

QUICK FACTS: JOB 23:13 — WHAT DOES “HE IS ONE” REALLY MEAN?

Does Job Describe God as One — and What Does Job Reveal About the Need for a Mediator?

Research by Simon Brown

Job contains some remarkable statements about God, His absolute authority, and mankind's need for someone to stand between God and man.

One particularly interesting verse is:

“But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? What his soul desires, even that he does.”

Job 23:13 — WEB

Other translations render the opening words differently:

“But He is unique…”

“But He is unchangeable…”

“But He is one…”

So what does the Hebrew actually tell us?

JOB 23:13 — “HE IS ONE”

The Hebrew begins:

ื•ְื”ื•ּื ื‘ְืֶื—ָื“

vehu be'echad

The important word is:

ืֶื—ָื“ — ECHAD

The familiar Hebrew word echad means one.

It is the same basic Hebrew word famously found in:

“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”

Deuteronomy 6:4 — WEB

However, we should be careful.

Job 23:13 is not simply another wording of the Shema, and translators disagree over exactly how be'echad should be expressed in English in this particular construction.

The central thought of Job 23:13 is that God is resolute and sovereign:

“Who can turn him?”

And:

“What his soul desires, even that he does.”

No creature can overrule Him.

NOTICE THE SINGULAR LANGUAGE

Job speaks about God as:

HE

HIM

HIS

The verse presents God as a singular personal subject.

This is consistent with the overwhelming language about God throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

Consider Yahweh's own words:

“I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.”

Isaiah 44:6

And:

“I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself.”

Isaiah 44:24 — WEB

Then we have Israel's great confession:

“YAHWEH IS ONE.”

Deuteronomy 6:4

Jesus himself later repeated this as the most important commandment:

“The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”

Mark 12:29

Job 23:13 therefore fits naturally within the Bible's wider presentation of the sovereignty and oneness of God.

But there is another fascinating part of Job's story.

JOB LONGED FOR A MEDIATOR

This is where the argument becomes particularly interesting.

Job says:

“There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand on us both.”

Job 9:33 — WEB

Job recognizes the enormous gulf between himself and God.

He longs for someone who could stand between them.

Later Job says:

“Oh that there were one to plead for a man with God, as a son of man pleads for his neighbor!”

Job 16:21

This is extremely important.

Job's words do not prove that God had no heavenly agent of any kind, nor does Job 23:13 settle the separate question of whether Christ personally existed before his human birth.

But Job clearly expresses the human need for someone to mediate between God and man.

And when we reach the New Testament, we find an extraordinary answer.

THE ONE MEDIATOR FINALLY APPEARS

Paul writes:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 2:5

Notice the structure:

ONE GOD

and

ONE MEDIATOR

Who is the mediator?

Paul tells us:

“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”

This distinction is enormously important.

Paul does not identify the mediator as the one God in this sentence.

He distinguishes:

God

from

the mediator between God and humanity — Jesus Christ.

JESUS BECAME OUR HIGH PRIEST

The book of Hebrews likewise describes Jesus as our great High Priest:

“For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

Hebrews 7:26

Jesus gave himself for mankind.

Paul continues:

“who gave himself as a ransom for all.”

1 Timothy 2:6

And Isaiah had prophetically described God's suffering servant:

“He poured out his soul to death… yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Isaiah 53:12

The man Job longed for—a mediator between God and man—finds a striking New Testament counterpart in:

JESUS CHRIST.

WAS JESUS ALREADY THE MEDIATOR BEFORE CREATION?

Here we need to distinguish what Scripture explicitly says from what different theological systems infer.

First Peter says of Christ:

“who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in this last age for your sake.”

1 Peter 1:20 — WEB

This tells us Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world.

Biblical Unitarians generally understand this as Christ existing beforehand in God's foreknowledge and purpose, rather than as a conscious divine person already living beside God.

Trinitarian Christians understand Christ's pre-existence differently.

But Job 23:13 itself cannot settle that debate.

What we can say with certainty is that when Paul explicitly identifies the mediator, he writes:

“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”

GOD AND HIS MEDIATOR ARE DISTINGUISHED

This pattern occurs repeatedly in the New Testament.

Jesus prayed:

“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”

John 17:3

Paul wrote:

“yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ…”

1 Corinthians 8:6

And:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

1 Timothy 2:5

The distinction is remarkably consistent:

THE ONE GOD — THE FATHER

and

JESUS CHRIST — HIS SON AND THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

QUICK FACTS

Bible study infographic examining Job 23:13, Yahweh as one God, Job's longing for a mediator, and Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and man.

A detailed Bible-study infographic examining Job 23:13, Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29, Job 9:33, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 Peter 1:20 and John 17:3. It explores God's oneness, Job's longing for someone to stand between God and man, and Jesus Christ as the one mediator. 

Job 23:13 describes God using singular language and emphasizes that no one can overturn His sovereign purpose.

Deuteronomy 6:4 declares that Yahweh is one.

Mark 12:29 shows Jesus reaffirming that confession as the greatest commandment.

Job 9:33 records Job's longing for someone who could stand between himself and God.

1 Timothy 2:5 identifies the one mediator as “the man Christ Jesus.”

1 Peter 1:20 says Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world, although Christians disagree over what this implies concerning personal pre-existence.

And John 17:3 records Jesus addressing his Father as “the only true God.”

CONCLUSION

Job Bible study conclusion showing one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, according to 1 Timothy 2:5.

A Bible-study conclusion examining Job 23:13 and Job 9:33 alongside 1 Timothy 2:5. Job longed for someone to stand between God and man, while Paul later identifies the one mediator between God and mankind as the man Christ Jesus. 

Job's words are powerful, but we do not need to make them say more than they actually say.

Job 23:13 presents a sovereign God whom no one can turn from His purpose.

Job 9:33 reveals Job's longing for someone to stand between God and man.

And centuries later, Paul gives us the answer:

“THERE IS ONE GOD.”

and

“ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN.”

Who is that mediator?

“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”

1 Timothy 2:5

That distinction deserves to be allowed to stand exactly as Scripture gives it.

Research by Simon Brown

wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com

Quick Facts: John 3:16 — What Does “God Gave His Only Begotten Son” Really Mean?

John 1:1

Hebrews 1:10 – Did God Really Say to the Son, “You Laid the Foundation of the Earth”?

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