Job 8:9-19
‘We are but of yesterday…. Our days on Earth are a shadow…. Whilst it (the rush) is yet in its greenness and not cut down, it withers…. Behold, that is its joy (or course of life)!… Out of the Earth, others shall grow!’ Job 8:9-19.
Our ephemeral and shadowy life, is not sufficient for passing judgment on the dealings of God. Even if we go back just a little further, we are but of yesterday — and do not really know. Being from but yesterday, we do not truly understand. For our days are but like a shadow on the ground.
So, Bildad now came with the words of the fathers. He used history and tradition to his advantage, to add weight and authority to his pronouncements. This way of doing things may at times develop problems, but is nevertheless not completely to be disapproved of.
It is not just the present generation alone which possesses wisdom. If one wishes to understand the essence of things, one must also accept the wisdom which has been gained in the struggles of the centuries which is transmitted from one generation to the next. All wisdom, is traditional wisdom! He who does not wish to stand on the shoulders of predecessors, is erecting a building without a foundation.
It is nothing short of revolutionary, when we do not wish to keep account of history. As if the world was created only yesterday!
Yet, true wisdom does not either consists only of relating what is past. For we must not repristinate!
Think of the rush, the papyrus or the paper-plant. It grows even up to fifteen feet above water level. But once it lacks water — even in its greenness, it quickly dries out, withering more quickly than any other herb.
So too is the joy of the godless. It does not endure, but indeed ends unexpectedly — just like the rush suddenly withers. The ungodly suddenly sink down and perish like the water-reeds. Just like the papyrus and the reed cannot grow without water — so too can those who forget God not keep on continuing to live.
It is the same with the luxuriant and climbing creeper — which too is compared to the godless. It springs forth in the sun, and its branches shoot forth in the garden. Its suckers spread out, and run forth everywhere.
But in the days of its sudden drought, even its supports withdraw from it. Then, it is finished, and others take its place — whose fate, when they have no better ground of confidence than the creeper, share the same end. The creeper leaves behind it no trace, and no memory. So too, as far as humanity is concerned, our days upon Earth are but a shadow!
