Watchers and Holy Ones

HNV  Daniel 4:17

  The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that God rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.

Why is this ponderable?

Most biblical commentators tell us that the Watchers and Holy Ones are simply angels of the Lord who carry out His intentions. However, the context of this passage suggests that the Watchers, alluded to by Daniel, may be more like Umpires whose mission is to observe people and events on the earth and ensure God's rules are being faithfully observed.  If so, then Satan may have been doing exactly that when he noted that Job's righteousness was suspect. By his authority as a Watcher, he could take away all of Job's creature comforts to test the depth of that righteousness.

The fact that God did not cast Satan right to hell for even suggesting this gives us two clues about Satan's role in Job's case. First, he was allowed, or even assigned, to watch Job and judge potential violations of Trust. Second, he could rule that Job be separated from his material possessions and interrogated by his friends and even his wife. So we can conclude from this that the Watchers are more than ordinary angels. They have the authority to judge violations and rule on them.  But who or what are the Holy Ones?

If the Watchers patrol the earth looking for violations of God's Will, then perhaps the Holy Ones are angels who unpack God's Will in much the same way a compressed software application is unpacked and implemented.   They are empowered to execute any operation which they unanimously  agree is the will of God.  In Job's case it was God's will that Job become a role model for all who trust in God's providence and are grateful for all they are given. For King Nebuchadnezzar, the Holy Ones raised him up to be Supreme Ruler in order to show that all authority and power comes from God  who gives it to whomever he will--even the least worthy.

The Light of the Wicked

NLT Job 21:17

Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. 
Do they ever have trouble?  Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?

 

Why is this ponderable?

The phrase light of the wicked is ponderable because the Book of Job is the only place in the entire Bible that links light, lamp, or candle with the wicked. All other associations link light to God, Jesus, the Word, and the righteous. For example:

Ps 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
Ps 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Jn 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  
Bible commentators generally focus on the point that the wicked never seem to be diminished by God nor do the Just escape sorrows. Job implies that, by allowing the wicked to flourish and the righteous to suffer, God is not fair.  And that is the issue posed by this passage. Yet the use of light symbology in this context seems contradictory. Are we to infer that the wicked have a light source which does not come from God? If so, what is the source?  Is it as powerful as the light from God?

In the Bible, light is a spiritual metaphor for truth and God’s unchanging nature (James 1:17). It is repeatedly used to assure us that God is wholly good and truthful (1 John 1:5). When we are “in the light,” we are with Him (1 Peter 2:9). He exhorts us to join Him in the light (1 John 1:7), for giving us light was His purpose (John 12:46). Light is the place where love dwells and is comfortable (1 John 2:9-10). God has created light (Genesis 1:3), dwells in the light (1 Timothy 6:16) and puts the light in human hearts so that we can see and know Him and understand truth (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Yet 2 Corinthians 11:14 warns us that, as a fallen angel,  Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.  Like a TV commercial for unhealthy junk food, Satan bills himself as good, truthful, loving, and powerful--a genuine knockoff of God Himself. If he were to brand himself as a dark, dangerous hungry animal with horns who would want to follow him? 

So this one reference to the Light of the Wicked is a subtle hint to the faithful. It warns God's people: Not all that glitters is from God.

One of the advantages of being a Catholic is that it confers a complete intellectual freedom to examine any and all phenomena with the absolute assurance of their intelligibility.--J J Zavada