My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me. – Job 17:1

Today's Scripture Reading (August 28, 2024): Job 17

He was born in the year 966 C.E. He became King over the English when he was twelve. Of the thirteen Anglo-Saxon Kings who reigned between 927 C.E. and 1066 C.E., his reign of thirty-seven years was the longest. His name was Aethelred the Unready, which means Ill-advised and is a play on words; Aethelred means "Well" or "Nobley Advised."

Aethelred the Unready died at the age of fifty. It was a time when Kings actively went into battle, and this was the case for Aethelred; he was killed on April 23, 1016, defending London from the forces of the Dane, Cnut. Aethelred has not been well thought of throughout history, with many disturbing stories attributed to him by fables and tradition, but few of these are likely true. (It is interesting to note that many of these stories have also been attributed to other historical figures.) Instead, the modern opinion of Aethelred the Unready is that "Aethelred's misfortune as a ruler was owed not so much to any supposed defects of his character, as to a combination of circumstances which anyone would have found difficult to control" (Simon Keynes, (1978), "The Declining Reputation of King Aethelred the Unready").

Traditionally, when Kings went to war, they were protected. There was often a struggle to balance between the encouragement among the troops in knowing that the King was fighting at their side and the discouragement if anything should happen to the monarch. Whenever a King was killed in battle, as Aethelred was, the army's spirit was usually broken, and the soldiers often lost their focus and found themselves disorganized in their fighting or retreating in disarray.

In the case of Aethelred, Cnut would end up winning the battle and the war, although a negotiated peace divided the area between Cnut and Edmund Ironside, Aethelred's son. However, Edmund Ironside was assassinated after reigning for only a few months, and Cnut took over the whole territory.

Job finds himself feeling in a similar way. All of the fight has gone out of him. He has nothing left to live for. He just wants to give up and give in. He doesn't have the strength or the will to continue in the battle, and no one has come to his side to fight with him. For Job, it is all too much. He needs a leader, a leader, to encourage him as he continues the fight. But it seems that Job has also lost his King, as he loses sight of his God, who has been with him every step of the way. Darkness has overtaken him, yet God is still there, even when Job can't sense his presence.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 18