The Night before Christmas W. G. Vande Hulst. Nederlandia, AB: Inheritance Publications, 2016. 48 pages. Paperback. $8.95.
Many children love to hear Vande Hulst’s stories. His works are very popular. Originally written in Dutch, many are now available in English. Your young children and grandchildren will love them.
This story is about a little boy who wondered why everyone was getting ready for a large Christmas party. He found everyone too busy to answer his questions. He decides to go elsewhere to find out why everyone was so excited. When the party was about to begin, he was nowhere to be found.
This short book lays out the true Christmas message and at the same time scolds us for our lack of spirituality at a busy time of year.
Job: God’s Sovereignty in Suffering Ronald Hanko. Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2021. Hardback. 148 pages. $19.95.
When was the last time you read or studied the Book of Job? We know the story of Job, how the man was bereft of his earthly possessions and his seven sons and three daughters. We know that Satan and Jehovah had a discussion about Job, and that Jehovah had permitted Satan to bring difficulty into Job’s life, but Satan was not to touch him. Next, for many chapters Job’s three friends brought speeches against Job, who was a godly man. Then we read of Elihu’s speech and God’s revelation of himself to Job. In the end Job again knows God’s blessing. It is in the chapters concerning his friends’ speeches that we sometimes get confused.
Our good brother has given us a short commentary on this book— not a verse-by-verse commentary but a commentary, nevertheless. His purpose is to open the book and its point for the readers. He even includes a few pages of questions to guide readers in study.
Rev. Hanko lays before us the theme: “The book of Job is God’s own word concerning pain and suffering, especially the suffering of his people.” Job was a historical person mentioned in James 5 and twice in Ezekiel 14. Hanko writes that though some scholars want to date the book from the return from the Babylonian captivity, there is reason to date it very early; perhaps it is “the earliest Book of the Bible.” Perhaps Job was a contemporary of Abraham. He writes that the book “is important in that it shows the struggles of God’s people in their sufferings go back to the earliest times.” Further, he points out that most of us will not be called upon to suffer as did Job, but when we know the attributes of God we have learned of them through trials.
This little work is gigantic in its lessons. We would do well—even in the midst of trials—to read and study it prayerfully.
Jerome Julien is a retired pastor and a member of Walker United Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, MI.