Is Job 1:4 regarding a birthday party

by jwfacts 21 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  jwfacts

  I have heard it stated before that Job 1:4 is referring to Job celebrating his children's birthdays. Others have claimed this is not the case. Does anyone have a good explanation of what this Scripture is referring to?

  Job 1:4

  And his sons went and feasted [in their] houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. (KJV)

  Every year when Job's sons had birthdays, they invited their brothers and sisters to join them for a celebration. On these occasions they would get together to eat and drink. (NLT)

  His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. (NIV)

  The KJV follows the concordance most closely. NWT states

  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 three 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.

  To indicate that it is birthday Job 3:1 is referenced which states:

  3:1 It was after this that Job opened his mouth and began to call down evil upon his day

  Here Job is cursing the day of his birth.
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  alanv

  When I was a witness I could never understand why we could celebrate wedding anniversaries but not birthdays. The Job scripture is just another proof that Birthday celebrations are fine. The governing body use every trick in the book to keep JWs seperate from the rest of humanity.

  Looks like NLT is one of the few translations that actually use the word birthday, so it probably would not help to use that arguement with a witness

  Incidently I enjoy usung your website very much and seeing the updated figures every year.

  Look forward to seeing the Australian figures on the site when you get time to update it.
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  Leolaia

  A few things.

  1) The NLT is a thought-for-thought translation that sometimes veers near paraphrase, so the rendering is more interpretive than the more literal versions.

  2) The prose section is probably of a later and separate origin than the poem (not the mention the literary differences in genre between the two sections), so this is not a case of two instances of the expression by the same author.

  3) The LXX did not understand the Hebrew to mean "birthday" (kath' hekasten hémeran "on each day", i.e. a feast for every day of the year).

  4) I checked G. R. Driver's commentary of Job to see what he says. He says "on his day" refers to "the day on which it fell to him to entertain: scarcely his (birth-)day (cp. 3:1), for the banqueting-days were apparently (v. 5) a round of seven successive days, which the birthdays of the seven would not naturally have been" (Vol. 1, p. 7). Ewald also notes in his commentary:

  "As the seven birthdays must have been spread more over the whole year, it is not easy to see why Job did not always make sacrifices immediately after each of them; neither would it in that case be said 'when the days of the feast were ended', as if all the days were connected, but something like 'when the days of the year were ended' would be said. It is therefore much better to suppose that the ordinary annual feasts of joy are intended, particularly the autumn feast which was much observed in ancient times, or again the feast of spring, all these feasts generally lasting a week, so that exactly one day fell to each son for keeping the feast in his house according to the order of seniority, which is confirmed in v. 13" (p. 84).
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  AnnOMaly

  Thanks for the extra info Leolaia. I've never been convinced of the Job/birthday argument for similar reasons (thinking of points 3 and 4).
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  wobble

  Thanks from me too Leo, I researched this very issue whilst still a JW, hoping to blow their anti BD party crap out of the water, and was unable in all conscience to use Job, for the reasons you stated.

  The whole WT argument against birthday celebration is very very weak,if not in fact ludicrous, and I never was able to defend it satisfactorily if asked, because I felt the WT were wrong.

  I now know they are wrong.
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  PSacramento

  Its kind of a gray area since it doesn't really state what was the reason for the feast, there MAY be enough to take it both ways, but I don't think that you will find any mention of Bdays in the OT and NT,either for or condoning them, simply because unless an even happened on that day, it wouldn't be a matter of history.

  The case we do have of Bdays being mentioned are cases in which something happened that needed to be recored, case of Pharoah and Herod.

  There is the mentione of Abe throwing a fest for Isaac being weaned, which quite possible was a bday tyep event, but even that is inconclusive.

  The issues with Bdays started with Origen I think, but any guy that castrates himself is NOT the guy you want giving you advice.

  Just saying.
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  St George of England

  *** jv chap. 14 p. 201 “They Are No Part of the World” ***

  In their “Daily Manna” book, Bible Students kept a list of birthdays. But after they quit celebrating Christmas and when they realized that birthday celebrations were giving undue honor to creatures (one reason that early Christians never celebrated birthdays), the Bible Students quit this practice too.

  Christmas 1926 was the last celebration and birthdays dropped after this. Just another crank Rutherford idea with no Biblical basis

  George
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  AnonJW

  Here is the c.d rom explanation (if your interested) ? I have this issue as well, I have never understood the ban on birthdays.

  *** w06 3/15 p. 13 Highlights From the Book of Job ***
  Scriptural Questions Answered:
  1:4—Did Job’s children observe birthdays? No, they did not. The original-language words for “day” and “birthday” are different, each having its own meaning. (Genesis 40:20) At Job 1:4, the word “day” is used, denoting an interval of time from sunrise to sunset. The seven sons of Job apparently held a seven-day family gathering once a year. As they made the circuit, each son was the host of the banquet held at his house on “his own day.”

  *** it-1 p. 319 Birthday ***
  When Job’s sons “held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day” it should not be supposed that they were celebrating their birthdays. (Job 1:4) “Day” in this verse translates the Hebrew word yohm and refers to a period of time from sunrise to sunset. On the other hand, “birthday” is a compound of the two Hebrew words yohm (day) and hul?le′dheth. The distinction between “day” and one’s birthday may be noted in Genesis 40:20, where both expressions appear: “Now on the third day [yohm] it turned out to be Pharaoh’s birthday [literally, “the day (yohm) of the birth (hul?le′dheth) of Pharaoh”].” So it is certain that Job 1:4 does not refer to a birthday, as is unquestionably the case at Genesis 40:20. It would seem that Job’s seven sons held a family gathering (possibly a spring or harvest festival) and as the feasting made the week-long circuit, each son hosted the banquet in his own house “on his own day.”
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  honorsthesis

  If not the Job parable, what would be a legitimate argument against the WT's birthday sanction then?
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  garyneal

  Ha, my wife and I discussed birthdays the other day. Even she understands the irony between birthdays being banned over glorifying the individual but knows that wedding anniversaries glorify the couple.