Job 27:3 “All the while my breath is in me but the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.”

Translators have really played around with this verse. No one seems to know for sure whether to render this as the breath of God is in my nostrils or the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. Taking this literally Job seems to say that the Spirit of God is in his nose.

The most common and logical interpretation of this is that Job is saying that the living soul was breathed by God into man. This is consistent with the context and our theology but not really consistent with the Hebrew words used here. The word for my breath that we assume means his soul is nasham not nephesh which is your usual word for soul.  Nasham is often rendered as the mind or one’s capacity to reason. Breath can be one rendering although it is quite rare. The first two words ki and kal are in a construct state so we could correctly render this as Even though all my reasoning is within me, the Spirit or breath of God is in my nostrils.

Much of our understanding of this verse will lie in what we will do with the word ’anef which we render as nostrils. Anef is the word used for anger but is comes from a Semitic root which means to snort. It is derived from the camel snorting when he is frustrated or angry. Actually, anger is a hard word to understand in both the Hebrew as well as in the English so I usually render it as an expression of emotion or frustration. The root of this frustration is the inability to act, or to control a matter in such a way that it is favorable to your desires.

Job is in the midst of suffering. He has lived a righteous life; he has always tried to serve God faithfully. God has always blessed him and answered his prayers and now all of a sudden the roof falls in and where is God? Why is God doing this to him, where are the miracles? Where is the answer to prayer? Job is saying: “While I still have my reasoning, I still understand that God is control and His will is being done, yet God is in my nostrils that is, I am totally frustrated over what the Spirit of God is doing with my life.”

I can really understand Job’s dilemma, I know that as I face many of life’s assaults I find I can say: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” I can also say: “Though He slay, yet I will trust in Him.” But yet the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. In other words, what God is doing has me totally frustrated, sometimes anef (strong emotion of frustration) runs to its extreme and I find what God is doing in my life is making me angry. Yes, I find myself getting angry with God; I find that I am mad at God.  Oh, gasp, slay you malefactor.  Is it right to be angry or mad at God?  Of course not, but dog gone it, I sure can’t help it and I may as well be honest with Him about it.  He knows it anyways. If I am translating Job 27:3 halfway correctly, Job was getting a little miffed at God too and he was honest about it.

The name Job means patience, and he was patient in his faith.  He never wavered in his faith. He was married to God for better or for worse and that was that. Still, like Ruth Graham (wife of Billy Graham) once commented about her marriage to Billy Graham: “Divorce never crossed my mind, murder – yes, but not divorce.” So to, the idea of giving up his faith never crossed Job’s mind, frustration over what God was doing, yes that was there, but he would never give up on God.

I have to admit that I have been embracing Job 27:3 lately. All this time my breath is within me, my reasoning is telling me the life of Jesus Christ is within me and that He has my best interest at heart, but the Spirit of God is in my nostrils that is what He is doing in my life is making me frustrated. What God is doing may even have me a little more than frustrated, maybe even angry. Yet, I am like that little child who is angry over being forced to eat his vegetables rather than allowed to eat his ice cream.  He doesn’t understand the long effects only the here and now and the here and now tells him he is forced to eat Brussels sprouts when ice cream would be so much more enjoyable. I don’t understand the long term effects of my circumstances, nor am I happy about it, but one thing for sure, the Spirit of God may be in my nostrils, what He is doing is making me frustrated, but my breath, my understanding is telling me that the life of Jesus Christ will always remain in me, no matter what the circumstance. Like Paul said he learned to be content in whatever state he was in, I too am learning to be content in whatever State I am in, even if it is the State of Illinois which has a 5% income tax – frustration.