in my bones, declared by all to be blameless; trusting in my innocence, I have no reservations asking God to explain my fate, never fearing to face Him, because my goal still remains to confront Him.
Joseph: You cling to hope as long as you remain unconscious of your sins, never recognizing hope's power, beginning only with acknowledgement of one's sins. Ask the Lord if the righteous need hope, and whether righteousness precludes any need for hope, trusting ones drowning in hope have not yet become righteous.
Job: I only hope for vindication, waiting for someone to prove me a liar, to convict me of sins unusual to humankind, to convince me I should repent. You should be no different, even though pride you acknowledge damaged your family beyond restoration, knowing God tells us what fate befalls the proud.
Reckoner: You still argue, seeking to confront God, calling on Him to explain your afflictions, relying on widely-held declarations you are blameless, believing you are upright, but how can a mortal be righteous before God, knowing no human being can ever be righteous, always a sinner, always destined to be judged, and you insist on being judged now, before the day set aside for judgment, because you think you will be found innocent and never deserving of your torments. If righteous people can never exist, your demands to approach God are in vain, thinking you can be examined now and judged to be right by Him.
Job: How have you helped me, one with no power? Instead of criticizing me for seeking God's attention, you could have suggested ways to attract His hearing. You counsel me as if I have little wisdom, telling me to improve it by interacting His wisdom with mine, suggesting the two would be greater than one, trusting declarations not to be wise in one's myself, exceeding the degree one's myself can be wise, proclaiming prudence for one's ideas but risking them with imprudence, dragging human wisdom beyond moderation to delve into foolishness.
Bystander: God sets limits on everything, exacting all to obey moderation's boundaries, determining times for light and darkness, restricting extents of land and sea, controlling climates for life to survive and thrive, and He trusts humans will not step beyond His restraints, forcing Him to bring down prideful ones. How little do we remember wise ones telling us the Lord's words, For My ways are not as your ways. Pray for discernment to understand His ways.
Joseph: Better to pray for patience because discernment never appears suddenly, needing meditation's endurance to wait on the Lord.
Job: I have lived long enough to know God has taken away my rights, dismissing what our leaders guarantee, making me bitter, disenchanting my soul, forcing my truth to admit defeat, disclaiming any decreed dignity, proclaiming my integrity to be an illusion, abusing my reason to trust in any possibility for righteousness, pouring out my heart in disappointment, believing others would never reproach me, but I follow no enemy's footsteps, mired in wickedness, boasting in unrighteousness. My conscience reminds me of no shameful acts hidden in my memory. If there were any, I would be forced to be silent.
Joseph: I remain silent, knowing nothing else to do, relying on hope for something better.
Job: You surprise me. What is the hope of the godless when God cuts one off, taking away life, unable to lament troubles, crying unheard by deaf ears.
Joseph: I am never godless, having a trusted One, greater than any craftsman's image, invisible to all, guiding my spirit, faithful and full of grace, as I wait on His time, for me a fullness of time.
Job: I have also never been an impious one, a wicked one deserving justice, terrorizing goodness day and night, trapped in the work of one's own convictions, but I have been wounded, deserving only of an enemy, unjustly punishing an upright man.
Joseph: Silence has been my wisdom, never proclaiming the soul of my heart, unsure of words to reliably assert my uncertain truths, certain today but never for tomorrow's knowledge.
Job: But where shall wisdom be found, in what place of understanding, never to be revealed in your silence, frustrating us in never knowing the way to it, forever changing so it cannot be found here in the land of the living, beyond anyone's comprehension, hidden from the eyes of all living, never growing from our knowledge, the pied piper leading us to greater pain.
Joseph: Wisdom hides in nature, luring us to discovery, revealing wisdom hidden in bodies, life beholding its truths.
Job: God must then know the way to it, knowing its place, as we seek wisdom, looking to earth's ends, searching everywhere under the heavens, all the while hearing Him declare: Behold my truths, fear Me to find wisdom, shun evil to discern My understanding, fear the Lord to begin your wisdom, the platform to practice perceptions.
Executing Joseph's Destiny
Joseph: God did not forget He spoke to me earlier, bringing me visions to create my troubles, and now, some years later, asking me to reawaken, to hear His new revelations, but none being for me, to send me as His messenger, wanting me to interpret more dreams, nocturnal visions troubling the king, determining destiny for who knows what.
Bystander: Pharaoh dreamed he was standing by the Nile and the following vision came to him. Out of the Nile arose seven cows sleek and fat, coming to feed in its marsh grass, followed by seven more cows coming up behind, out of the Nile, scrawny and thin, lining themselves up beside the fat cows, emaciated alongside the thrifty ones standing on the riverbank. The gaunt and thin cows promptly ate the seven healthy, fat cows, which suddenly ended Pharaoh's dream, waking him up, but only to send him back to sleep, dismissing his nocturnal visit as a prank of some demon roaming in the dark. On falling asleep again he had a second dream, a different drama continuing God's revelation, assuring Pharaoh would take heed, a scene picturing seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk, followed by appearance of seven more heads of grain, shriveled and withered by the east wind, drawing his attention little until these thin stunted heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads, alarming him to spring out of slumber, awakening him to the realization all was a dream, but leaving him concerned, wondering why intrusion by such fantasies would invade his peace, disturbing him so, compelling him to believe these visions might bear some importance, waiting to be unveiled by his wisest counselors.
Pharaoh: I summon you, the wisest of anyone I know, including my magicians, to decipher my nightly visions, normally never disturbing me, but for some reason they provoke me to understand their meaning. Listen as I report my dreams for your interpretation.
Bystander: Enlisting his most enlightened trusted seers, all unable to venture a meaning for his dreams, calling in vain on their gods and goddesses, who unable to interpret his dreams all thought they were stupid, a sign of developing dementia, and led them to finally summon the oracle, desperately begging him to satisfy the king.
Oracle: Your prophets, self-selected to be all-knowing like me, offering little advice, not enough to settle your frustration, rivaling with each other to demystify mysterious visions, seeming to be trivial, read unintelligible signs unsuccessfully, meaning to only disrupt your peace, perhaps from too much wine. Seek your dream's understandings from one lowly serving in your household, one with greatest pride in protecting your taste, one you restored to freedom because of reasons unknown to you, interpreted by one he had forgotten, one hearing a pledge to speak for him, casting his unjust plight before the king. Search the king's butler's memory to identify one who can interpret your dreams.
Bystander: Take care in making oaths, pledging vows to be forgotten, promises sneaking back unnoticed, springing unwanted surprises, as God never forgets, reminding His will is to be done, never needing us to pledge anything with an oath.
Butler: Your calling aggravates me, stirring my conscience, resurrecting my faults, speaking what is expected of an oracle, reminding me of a past failure, negligence in keeping an oath, forgetting a promise made to a fellow brother, a caring being who made possible an unexpected miracle, returning me to my king's service, removing me from a pit reserved for the wicked. You remind me of my fault, urging me to honor my commitment
, taking this time to tell Pharaoh.
Oracle: This kingdom's wisest seers could be terminated without delay, falling by swords severing their heads, silencing the wisdom of their words forever. Take pity on them and tell the king all you know, now rather than later. Your master is ready to hear you now.
Butler: I remind your majesty of the time when you were angry with your servants, enough to put me and the chief baker in prison, under custody in the house of the captain of the guard. One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. A young Hebrew there with us in prison, a slave of the captain of the guard, was told our dreams, and he reported what each of our dreams meant, giving an interpretation to each of us according to his dream, and their interpretations came to pass, restoring me to my position as cup-bearer, and the chief baker was executed, impaling his head on a pole and serving it up as a feast for birds. Confessing all this, I do not know what moved the oracle to uncover my memory so I can relate it now.
Pharaoh: Why does an