A reader wrote in asking what use was it to Job to have his first 10 children killed with God's permission and then have them replaced with 10 more children?
How about God not permitting his first 10 children to be killed by Satan in the first place? Who wants another 10 different children. It is not about replacing bodies it is about loving characters. Who would say to God: Yer go ahead and permit Satan to kill my existing family so long as I get the same number of children back afterwards as I had before! Having children is not about numbers it is about love.
We answered as follows. Here are the relevant verses...
1 There happened to be a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad.
2 And 7 sons and 3 daughters came to be born to him.
3 And his livestock got to be 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 spans of cattle and 500 she-asses, along with a very large body of servants; and that man came to be the greatest of all the Orientals (Job 1)
12 As for Jehovah, he blessed the end of Job afterward more than his beginning, so that he came to have 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 spans of cattle and 1,000 she-asses.
13 He also came to have 7 sons and 3 daughters
14 And he went calling the name of the first Jemimah and the name of the second Keziah and the name of the 3rd Keren-happuch.
15 And no women were found as pretty as Job's daughters in all the land [these 3 new daughters of Job, not the 3 who were killed], and their father proceeded to give them an inheritance in among their brothers.
16 And Job continued living after this 140 years and came to see his sons and his grandsons - 4 generations.
17 And gradually Job died, old and satisfied with days (Job 42).
So God did not give him any more children than were killed. He got back the precise number that he had lost. He did get twice as many cattle however! So God thinks as you do. It is not the number of kids, it is actually having them to love. The children were replaced soul for soul. But here is where it gets really interesting.
Look how he names the 3 daughters in verse 14. Now the bible almost never lists names of daughters. All genealogies are male. Even Jesus' maternal line in Luke 3 has the women referred to by their husbands. All the genealogies in Genesis are male. So why do we not hear that Job went calling his 7 sons by their names too?
Well we propose it was because he already knew their names, since they were his original sons who had been resurrected. This is called omission symbolism. The bible makes a very obvious omission (the names of the 7 'new' sons). This is not a mistake! It is a clue!
You do not give new names to resurrected children. Now Job has a famous chapter referring to the resurrection as follows...
14 For God speaks once, And twice -- though one does not regard it --
15 In a dream, a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, During slumbers upon the bed.
16 It is then that he uncovers the ear of men, And on exhortation to them he puts his seal,
17 To turn aside a man from his deed, And that he may cover pride itself from an able-bodied man.
18 He keeps his soul back from the pit And his life from passing away by a missile.
19 And he is actually reproved with pain upon his bed, And the quarrelling of his bones is continual.
20 And his life certainly makes bread loathsome, And his own soul desirable food.
21 His flesh wastes away from sight, And his bones that were not seen certainly grow bare.
22 And his soul draws near to the pit, And his life to those inflicting death.
23 If there exists for him a messenger, A spokesman, one out of 1,000, To tell to man his uprightness,
24 Then he favours him and says, 'Let him off from going down into the pit! I have found a ransom!
25 Let his flesh become fresher than in youth; Let him return to the days of his youthful vigour
26 He will make entreaty to God that he may take pleasure in him, And he will see his face with joyful shouting, And He will restore His righteousness to mortal man.
27 He will sing to men and say, 'I have sinned; and what is upright I have perverted,
And it certainly was not the proper thing for me.
28 He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit, And my life itself will see the light.'
29 Look!
All these things God performs, 2 times, 3 times, in the case of an able-bodied man (Job 33)
So having told Job about the ransom and redemption and a resurrection in which ones flesh becomes fresher than youth, he might well have implemented that promise in the case of Job's 7 sons. He certainly had the salvation covenants in place to do it at that time.
So why did he resurrect the 7 sons and not the 3 daughters? Well the clues are in the scripture. Job gave his 3 new daughters a land inheritance amongst their brothers. So he would also have given his 3 original daughters a land inheritance. So they would have had house which they could have used to invite their 7 brothers around. But only the 7 brothers invited their other brothers and sisters around on their birthdays....
4 And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their 3 sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 And it would occur that when the banquet days had gone round the circuit, Job would send and sanctify them; and he got up early in the morning and offered up burnt sacrifices according to the number of all of them; for, said Job, maybe my sons
[he did not offer such sacrifices for his 3 daughters however, who appear to have suffered from: I was hungry and you fed my not syndrome] have sinned and have cursed God in their heart. That is the way Job would do always [So he was a priest of the most high God like Melchizedek] (Job 1).
So Job who was blameless and upright (Job 1:1 above) would make these sacrifices for his 7 sons but not said to be for his 3 daughters every year. So his sons would have been in a saved condition but the account does not say that his daughters were.
So really the account makes it quite clear that God resurrected the 7 original sons but not the 3 daughters. Whether the daughters missed out because they were inhospitable cows who did not return the hospitality of their 7 brothers when it came to be their birthdays or whether they were unworthy or unable to be resurrected for some other technical reason we do not know. But your original instinct about your family appears to be true in the cases of the 7 sons at least.
And that is how the bible is written!
Further Comments: God cannot resurrect people unless they are in a salvation covenant. So it must have been the case that the 3 daughters were killed without being in a salvation covenant whereas the 7 sons were in a salvation covenant.
Who was this guy? Why did Satan attack him and why did God permit that attack? Why was he tested so much?
Here are some scriptures that help us out...
1 There happened to be a man in the land of Uz [North Arabian Desert between Palestine Idumea and the Euphrates according to Gesenius]
whose name was Job; and that man proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad.
2 And 7 sons and 3 daughters came to be born to him.
3 And his livestock got to be 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 spans of cattle and 500 she-asses, along with a very large body of servants; and that man came to be the greatest of all the Orientals (Job 1).
4 And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their 3 sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 And it would occur that when the banquet days had gone round the circuit, Job would send and sanctify them; and he got up early in the morning and offered up burnt sacrifices according to the number of all of them; for, said Job, maybe my sons have sinned and have cursed God in their heart. That is the way Job would do always [Job was a priest, he was in the true church].
6 Now it came to be the day when the sons of the [true] God entered to take their station before Jehovah, and even Satan proceeded to enter right among them.
7 Then Jehovah said to Satan: Where do you come from? At that Satan answered Jehovah and said: From roving about in the earth and from walking about in it [i.e. being in human form].
8 And Jehovah went on to say to Satan: Have you set your heart upon my servant Job, that there is no one like him in the earth, a man blameless and upright, fearing God and turning aside from bad? [Satan attacks the true religion - Job was its priest]
9 At that Satan answered Jehovah and said: Is it for nothing that Job has feared God?
10 Have not you yourself put up a hedge about him and about his house and about everything that he has all around?
[was he running the true church?] The work of his hands you have blessed, and his livestock itself has spread abroad in the earth.
11 But, for a change, thrust out your hand, please, and touch everything he has [and see] whether he will not curse you to your very face.
12 Accordingly Jehovah said to Satan: Look! Everything that he has is in your hand. Only against him himself do not thrust out your hand! So Satan went out away from the person of Jehovah.
13 Now it came to be the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother the firstborn.
14 And there came a messenger to Job, and he proceeded to say: The cattle themselves happened to be ploughing and the she-asses were grazing at the side of them
15 when the Sabeans [sons of Sheba the son of Cush the son of Ham] came making a raid and taking them, and the attendants they struck down with the edge of the sword; and I got to escape, only I by myself, to tell you.
16 While this one was yet speaking that one came and proceeded to say: The very fire of God [which did not come from God but came from Satan - lightening] fell from the heavens and went blazing among the sheep and the attendants and eating them up; and I got to escape, only I by myself, to tell you.
17 While that one was yet speaking another one came and proceeded to say: The Chaldeans made up 3 bands and went dashing against the camels and taking them, and the attendants they struck down with the edge of the sword; and I got to escape, only I by myself, to tell you.
18 While this other one was yet speaking, still another one came and proceeded to say: Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother the firstborn.
19 And, look! there came a great wind from the region of the wilderness, and it went striking the 4 corners of the house, so that it fell upon the young people and they died. And I got to escape, only I by myself, to tell you.
20 And Job proceeded to get up and rip his sleeveless coat apart and cut the hair off his head and fall to the earth and bow down
21 and say: Naked I came out of my mother's belly, And naked shall I return there. Jehovah himself has given, and Jehovah himself has taken away. Let the name of Jehovah continue to be blessed.
22 In all this Job did not sin or ascribe anything improper to God.
The test on Job must have been a sealing test into the CRC. Job pictures the travails of the true church. We are all tested by Satan who is authorized by God, and if we keep faith we are sealed and gain the kingdom whereupon we get many more blessings than Satan takes from us in this system. It also appears that for Satan to really test people he has to take human form. He tested Jesus face to face. So when Satan comes down again at the end mankind will be in trouble. Woe for the earth and for the sea says Revelation 12.
1 There happened to be a man in the land of Uz [sandy/consulting]
[Laodicea]
whose name was Job [persecuted];
and that man proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad.
2 And 7 sons and 3 daughters came to be born to him.
3 And his livestock got to be 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yokes of cattle and 500 she-asses, along with a very large body of servants; and that man came to be the greatest of all the Orientals. (Job 1 NWT)
19 And, look! there came a great wind from the opposite region of the pasture/wilderness [Holy Spirit from Zoar], and it went striking the 4 corners/towers of the house [now built on sand], so that it fell upon the young people and they died. And I got to escape, only I by myself, to tell you. (Job 1 NWT)
So demons can have authority to kill.
Job is AOL who is Caleb who owns Hebron. The 4 corner towers are the administration of the Watchtower, the administration of Laodicea, he administration of reappointed Laodicea and the administration of reverted Laodicea (non adamic Sodom). Because the Watchtower had some authority over the 3 Laodicean churches. The house that falls upon them is the falling of the Watchtower on 2005Sivan14, of Laodicea on 2017Elul10 of reappointed Laodicea on 2019Adar16 and of reverted Laodicea on 2022Tishri16.
Then they get reconstituted in Hebron. They had 2NC 7,000 sheep who have not bent the knee to Baal. Job's 7 sons are the sons of 7 calls into spirit covenants - Judah (Gentile continuation call), Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, Ephraim Benjamin - see U192. His 3 daughters are unsanctified members of Laodicea, reappointed Laodicea and reverted Laodicea. All sons die and are resurrected. All sons come into Hebron/Zoar. Parts of all 3 daughters are resurrected into Zoar.
20 even were Noah, Daniel and Job [unfulfilled hypothetical] in the midst of it, as I am alive,' is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, 'neither son nor daughter would they deliver; they themselves because of their righteousness would deliver their soul.'
21 For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said,
'So, too, [it will be] when there will be my 4 injurious acts of judgment
-- sword and famine and injurious wild beast and pestilence [of the 4th horseman] -- that I shall actually send upon Jerusalem in order to cut off from it earthling man and domestic animal. (Ezekiel 14 NWT)
1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth ? [or] canst thou mark when the hinds do calve ?
(KJV)
1 Have you come to know the appointed time for the mountain goats [OMCs in Zoar of course, the goats rather than the FRCs who are the sheep] of the crag [of the true church] to give birth?
[2024Ab14/Elul14/Tishri14/Heshvan14/Chislev14/Tebbeth14, which is 5 months from 2024July22/23 - 2024December19/20, for OMC goats, giving birth by adamic death and non adamic Abrahamic ark resurrection] Do you observe just when the hinds bring forth with birth pangs?
[Yes, from heaven]
(NWT)
2 Canst thou number the months [that] they fulfil ? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth ?
(KJV) [Yep. The gestation period for a goat is 5 months]
2 Do you count the lunar months that they fulfil [5 months is the gestation of a goat from 2024Ab10-14-16 to 2024Tebbeth10-14-16], Or have you come to know the appointed time that they give birth? (NWT)
[Yep - see above]
3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
(KJV)
3 They bow down when they cast forth their young ones, [When] they get rid of their pangs [or sorrows or worries, by joining the true church]. (NWT)
4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them. (Job 39 KJV)
4 Their sons become robust [righteous], they get big in the open field [the congregation - where they eat]; They actually go forth and do not return to them [they leave Zoar and go forth into Hades and then into the Ark]. (Job 39 NWT)