And his sons feasted in the house of each one on his day (1). And they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them (2). And it happened, when the days of feasting (3) had gone around, Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt sacrifices according to all their number. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. This Job always did. ~Job 1:4-5
Job’s sons sinned in at least 3 ways in this opening chapter of the story of Job. To feast ‘on his day’ meant to celebrate his own birthday, which was not done by God’s people. Celebrating birthdays was a pagan practice. They sent for their sisters to eat and drink with them. The word for drink here connotes ‘drunk’ or ‘drunkard’, which was admonished in the Old Testament. Finally, feasting was a sin if not done specifically on one of the holy days set apart in the oral Torah. Job, being a righteous and blameless man, offered sacrifice for each of his children in case they sinned or also cursed God in their hearts.
It makes me wonder what else Job’s sons and his daughters did together. I think this passage implies that they might have practiced incest with each other because if you are partying unlawfully with food and imbibing excessive drink with serial sinful feasts, why would you not also commit sexual immorality?
Interestingly, the story only states that Job’s sons were killed when their house fell on them, not his daughters. Just as his wife also was never harmed.
Job was a lone man serving God. He had more riches than anyone which made him the ‘greatest son of the east’. Yet he appears to have had no one near him, family or friends, who believed in or worshiped YHWH as he did. Job is an example for us of loneliness, suffering, and God’s redemption.
~Song of Mary~ 