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 you usual word for soul. Nasham is often rendered as the mind or one’s capacity to reason. Breath can be a 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 in it’ Semitic root it means to snort. It derives from the camel snorting when he is frustrated or angry. Actually, anger is a hard word to understand in the Hebrew and in the English is it best rendered 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 is favorable to your desires.
Job is in the midst of suffering. He has lived a righteous life, and 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, I am totally frustrated over what the Spirit of God is doing.”
I think many of us can really understand Job’s dilemma, we face an employment problem or a financial situation and we can usually say: “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” We could also say: “Though He slay, yet I will trust in Him.” But yet the Spirit of God is in our nostrils. What God is doing may have us totally frustrated and sometimes anef runs to its extreme and we find what God is doing in our life is making me angry. Indeed, we find ourselves getting angry at God. Oh, like gasp, slay you malefactor. Is it right to be angry or mad at God? Of course not, but dog gone it, we sure can’t help it and we 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 being 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 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, but he would never give up on God.
I have to admit that I have been embracing Job 27:3 lately. Maybe you have too. All this time your breath is within you, your reasoning is telling you that the life of Jesus Christ is within you and that He has your best interest at heart, but the Spirit of God is also in your nostrils. What God is doing in your life may have you a little more than frustrated maybe even angry. Yet, we are 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 term effects, only the here and now and the here and now tells him he is forced to eat brussel sprouts when ice cream would be so much more enjoyable. For myself, 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 on my nostrils, 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, we need to learn to be content in whatever state we are in. For myself, it is the State of Illinois which is promising a long hot summer.
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