“Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned … - Job 8:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 24, 2015): Job 8

Hilary Clinton is almost two weeks into her campaign to become the next President of the United States. If she wins, she will become the first in a couple of areas. Hilary Clinton will become the first woman to hold the office (just by winning the Democratic nomination she will be the first woman to run for the office.) She would also become the first spouse to hold the office that her marriage partner had held. We have had father and son hold the office, but never a husband and wife.

The argument can and will probably be made that it is about time for the United States to have a woman president. Other major powers have already extended the mantle of Supreme Leadership to women – this is one area where the United States lags behind. But the struggle will be over her second first. In an election that must be about the future of the United States, the question that has to be answered is whether or not Hilary Clinton is too tied to the past. I am sure that there will be Republicans that will make the charge that this is just about the third term of Bill Clinton, and some may even suggest that it is really the third term of Hilary – after all, wasn’t she the puppet master pulling the strings behind the Bill Clinton presidency. A third Clinton presidency might not be a bad thing, but that is something that the American voter will need to decide.

Bildad begins his first speech, and he immediately points to the wisdom of the past. He insists that if Job wants to know the truth, all he needs to do is remember what has gone before. Bildad is simply restating what was already stated in much of the Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature. It was simply the common knowledge of the day – it was common sense. And Job was not being sensible in his denial of this well-known fact.

Some have argued that this is the real theme of the entire Book of Job. Oh, it is about a healthy view of suffering, one that will carry us through our own dark nights of the soul. But it is also about avoiding an unhealthy attraction to tradition. The wisdom of our ancestors is not always right. Sometimes it is wisdom that works and needs to be heeded and learned from. But sometimes it is wisdom that was right “in its time” – but it is wisdom that no longer makes sense today. And sometimes the wisdom is simply wrong. Accepting the wisdom of past without examination is simply folly.

Time moves forward. And times change. A wise man in any generation is simply one who clearly understands the time in which he lives. For Hilary Clinton, the challenge for the future is proving to the American voter that that is exactly who she is – not one who is tied to what has gone before, but one who can discern the best of what tradition and her husband’s presidency holds, and be able to combine that with the best of what is needed to move into the future. Both the wisdom of the ages and a fresh approach is needed, and the people need whoever it is that can deliver that to the Office of the President of the United States.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 9