Job & Ezekiel

Judith P. Pando
11/2/09
Metaphysical Bible I

A Practitioner Session with Job

If I were Job’s Practitioner, I would like to think that I would be much more compassionate and empathetic than his ‘friends’ Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. But, what does a Practitioner do with the all too common problem of innocent suffering? Job lost everything, his family, his prosperity and his health, and he saw himself as blameless. He had done everything right according to his viewpoint, he feared God and worshipped Him; he cared for his family and appreciated the gifts he had been given. He was a good man, an upright man and was rewarded for his goodness as, according to tradition, was his due. God Himself declared: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was PERFECT. Yet, God, on an apparent whim took it all away. And Job lamented, he grieved, he wished he had never been born. And his ‘friends’ kept telling him that he must have done something to disserve it, that he should repent. Eliphaz believes Job is suffering because he has sinned; Bildad ponders that if Job was more upright, he would not be in the trouble he’s in; Zophar rebukes Job for being so self-righteous and fearful, and urges him to repent. But Job remains faithful “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God and receive the bad.” Job reproaches his friends for being judgmental and feels forsaken by his friends and God. "I have been wronged. I cry for help, but there is no justice." (19:7)
Job was self-righteous, and self-righteousness comes out of fear; and the things Job feared the most came upon him. His friends had no answer for him because they looked only at the level of effect. Job continued to argue with them that he was totally blameless. So a 4th friend, Elihu, the interpreter, gave his opinion of the situation. He suggests that who are we, a mere mortal to say what is good or what is bad, right or wrong. God will define righteousness and He knows what is just. Then the Lord speaks to Job “out of the whirlwind”. God displays the wonders of creation to Job, and Job has a mystical experience of the sacred. And Job is humbled, his eyes are open; he sees things in a completely new way. He repents and prays for his friends and is forgiven and healed. And the Lord blessed him.
As I look at my life, I have had my own Job experiences, although not to the degree that Job suffered. There have been times when God has thumped me on the side of the head to get my attention and I spent altogether too much time in shame, blame and regret, my three friends. Spiritual practices help me to see things differently; to inoculate myself against the viral infection of fear and to create a new life of my choosing—until I get another thump. Perhaps my spiritual practices should include the ability to get a new life without the thump in the future.
Getting back to my original question, what does a Practitioner do when a Job walks into her office? I would listen with a loving compassionate, empathetic heart, and know the truth for the individual. I would pray and meditate, and with time, maybe help him reveal his own transformation.

The Prophet Ezekiel

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, I was among the captives by the river of Chebar that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God
Thus starts the Book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet and a priest. He prophesized while in captivity in Babylon. Ezekiel denotes a couple different meanings - God is strong, God strengthens or God makes hard. Ezekiel had a number of very mystical visions. These visions have Shamanistic elements in that Ezekiel enters into a trance like state and is given messages from God to relay to the people of Israel. He carried several different messages to the people, the first being that God was not only in the Temple, but was with them wherever they are just as He was when they were pastoral nomads. The second is that Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed because of their sins and disobedience. Third, that only when the nation as a whole and each individual within it returned to their covenant with God, would they be able to return to Jerusalem.
In his first vision, Ezekiel saw God in a spectacular chariot, in the sky above him. And then God entered him and spoke to him. This was significant because the Judeans thought that they could worship their God only in the temple. How would they be able to worship Him when they were now in a distant land? Was their God still available to them? Ezekiel speaks to this problem. He first explains that the Judean exile is a punishment for disobedience and he then offers hope to the exiles, suggesting that the exile will be reversed once they return to God. God will come to them, they are not abandoned. God was not defeated; He caused the destruction because they would no longer hear Him and because of their lack of morality. The third prophecy was important, because God was telling His people that not only the nation, but each individual is personally responsible for his life and maybe the sins of the father don’t really impact the son after all. Chapter 18 deals with the idea of social responsibility. God is charging his people to be just and to not worship idols.
The soul that sinneth shall die. But if a man be just and do what is lawful and right…Hath walked in my statutes, and have kept my judgments, to deal truly he shall truly live, sayeth the Lord God.
How might I apply this teaching in my own life, to my ministry? First the idea of not worshiping idols strikes me as an important message for today. I must ask myself what it is that I am putting before my God, my good; money, diversion, or something like conditional loving. Where is it that I am experiencing separation? I believe that it is the will of the divine to bring about greater and greater good in my life and to bring harm to no one. But it is my responsibility to do the work, to hold the vision and to raise my own consciousness because everything I think, say or do has an influence the world.