Spoke 18 Job, Matthew, 1 John

And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? .........................Job 1:8 (Spoke 18, Cycle 1)

Saint Job the Righteous is how the Greek Orthodox Church memorializes  this patient believer who was used of God in such a mighty way. He is one of the few declared righteous by God Himself in the text of Scripture, as it is written (Ezekiel 14.14):

The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

What illustrious colleagues! Noah - the first man declared righteous by God and chosen as the progenitor of the race after the Flood and Daniel who was tested in the Lion's Den! Oh that God would give us all hearts to stand in the company of such saints!

The fundamental theme of the Book of Job is the question "Why do the righteous suffer?" This integrates perfectly with the fundamental Tsaddi KeyWord (Tsaddik), which also appears in the first Tsaddi verse of the great alphabetic Psalm 119:

TZADDI. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

As a quick glance at the sidebar shows, the theme of Righteousness dominates nearly every aspect of Spoke 18 and associated Inner Cycles. Truly, this is one of the most obvious aspects of God's great work.

It is equally obvious that Job was given the title of "The Righteous" because of God's own declaration in the text of Scripture. No one would suggest that this was done by the early Fathers of the Church in an attempt to integrate the Canon with the Hebrew Alphabet! Yet here now we behold its perfect integration! And this is where the glory of God shines so brightly. The truth is plain to see for all who desire Truth! As it has been and always will be, the Truth of God is here now available for all who would have it. All who refuse God are therefore guilty and without excuse. There is therefore but one message - Repent and believe the Gospel!

Update March 28. 2006:
I just discovered that one of the other saints delcared to be righteous also forms a KeyLink between Matthew and 1 John, and the KeyLink is based on the Alphabetic KeyWord Tzaddik! This is discussed in the article called Righteous Abel.