Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 22:10:48 -0700 From: John Stout Subject: Job -- another commentary Hello, Mr. Sheldon. Some time ago, I was going through some personal trials, so I kept rereading the Book of Job. Eventually I wrote my own commentary. I'm passing it along in case it might be of any use to you. I have gotten some useful insights from your work, which is a lot broader and more scholarly than mine. Yours truly, John Stout Chapter 9 (Job's second reply): "I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times." He gives several examples of God's power. His innocence does not reassure him: "Though I am innocent, I myself cannot know it ... Both the innocent and wicked he destroys. When the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the despair of the innocent. The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; he covers the face of his judges. If it is not he, who then is it?" He questions God's fairness, and wishes for an arbiter. Chapter 10: "I will give myself up to complaint; I will speak from the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me know why you oppose me." He points out all the care God has already given him; what's the point, if it was only to prepare him for punishment. He asks for an end to the punishment, and some recovery time before he dies. Chapter 11 (Zophar's first speech): Zophar calls Job a garrulous babbler, and wishes that God would "open his lips against you ... make you answer for your guilt." How dare Job question God? He urges Job to "set your heart aright ... remove all iniquity from your conduct ... Surely then you may lift up your face in innocence; you may stand firm and unafraid." Chapter 12 (Job's third reply): "No doubt you are the intelligent folk, and with you wisdom shall die! ... The undisturbed esteem my downfall a disgrace such as awaits unsteady feet; yet the tents of the robbers are prosperous, and those who provoke God are secure." As in Chapter 9, Job finds the hand of God in this. He gives many examples of God's power, which God frequently uses to bring down the mighty. Chapter 13: "You are glossing over falsehoods and offering vain remedies, every one of you! Oh, that you would be altogether silent! This for you would be wisdom ... Do you play advocate on behalf of God? Will it be well when he shall search you out?" He asks God to address him directly even if the encounter kills him. He also asks God to list the charges. Chapter 14: "Man born of woman is short-lived and full of trouble." There is less hope for man than for a tree, which may flourish again after being cut down. Job wishes for rebirth into a new life favored by God. But then his melancholy returns, and the only future he can see is destruction and oblivion. Chapter 15 (Eliphaz' second speech): "You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God, Because your wickedness instructs your mouth ... Your own mouth condemns you ... Are you privy to the counsels of God ... What is a man that he should be blameless ... The wicked man is in torment all his days ... A wanderer, food for the vultures ... Because he has stretched out his hand against God and bade defiance to the Almighty ...". Chapter 16 (Job's fourth reply): "I have heard this sort of thing many times. Wearisome comforters are you all ... God has given me over to the impious ... My friends it is who wrong me; before God my eyes drop tears, That he may do justice for a mortal in his presence and decide between a man and his neighbor." Chapter 17: "My spirit is broken, my lamp of life extinguished; my burial is at hand. I am indeed mocked ... You darken their eyes to knowledge; therefore they do not understand ... I shall not find a wise man among you! ... Where then is my hope and my prosperity, who shall see? Will they descend with me into the nether world? Shall we go down together into the dust?" Chapter 18 (Bildad's second speech): He is stung by Job's words: "Why are we accounted like beasts, their equals in your sight?" He points out more of the many misfortunes of the wicked, including loss of security, loss of descendents, and appalling misfortune. Chapter 19 (Job's fifth reply): "How long will you vex my soul, grind me down with words? ... Know then that God has dealt unfairly with me ... Why do you hound me as though you were divine ... I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him, And from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing. But you who say, 'How shall we persecute him, seeing that the root of the matter is found in him?' Be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for these crimes deserve the sword; that you may know that there is a judgment." Chapter 20 (Zophar's second speech): " ... Do you not know this from olden time, since man was placed upon the earth, That the triumph of the wicked is short ..." Chapter 21 (Job's sixth reply): " ... Why do the wicked survive, grow old, become mighty in power? ... the evil man is spared calamity when it comes ... How then can you offer me comfort, while in your answers perfidy remains?" Chapter 22 (Eliphaz' third speech): "Can a man be profitable to God? ... Is it because of your piety that he reproves you ... Is not your wickedness manifold? Are not your iniquities endless? You have unjustly kept your kinsman's goods in pawn, left them stripped naked of their clothing. To the thirsty you have given no water to drink, and from the hungry you have withheld bread; As if the land belonged to the man of might, and only the privileged were to dwell in it. You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the resources of orphans you have destroyed ... If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored ..." Chapter 23 (Job's seventh reply): "Though I know my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy upon my groanings. Oh that today I might find him, that I might come to his judgment seat! ... My foot has always walked in his steps ... But he has decided, and who can say him nay? ... Therefore ... I fear him." Chapter 24: Job gives more examples of the wicked prospering at the expense of the needy, and of the grave swallowing up everyone alike. "If this be not so, who will confute me?" Chapter 25 (Bildad's third speech): Because of God's power, "How can a man be just in God's sight?" Chapter 26 (Job's reply): "What help you give to the powerless, what strength to the feeble arm. How you counsel, as though he had no wisdom; how profuse is the advice you offer!" Job then gives several examples of God's power. Chapter 27: "I will teach you the manner of God's dealings." Job swears to his innocence. He knows that God punishes impiety: "Behold, you yourselves have all seen it; why then do you spend yourselves in idle words!" The last half of the chapter is another list of divine punishments for wickedness; the list might be Zophar's third speech. Chapter 28: Many precious metals and stones can be mined. "But whence can wisdom be obtained ... ?" The path to wisdom is not known to beasts or to the forces of the underworld, but "God knows the way to it ... And to man he said: Behold, the fear of the LORD is wisdom; and avoiding evil is understanding." Chapter 29 (Job's final summary of his case): "Oh, that I were as in the months past!" He recalls his riches, his children, his prestige: "Whoever heard of me blessed me; those who saw me commended me. For I rescued the poor who cried out for help, the orphans, and the unassisted; The blessing of those in extremity came upon me, and the heart of the widow I made joyful. I wore my honesty like a garment; justice was my robe and my turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame was I; I was a father to the needy; the rights of the stranger I studied, And I broke the jaws of the wicked man; from his teeth I forced the prey." Chapter 30: "But now they hold me in derision who are younger in years than I; whose fathers I should have disdained to rank with the dogs of my flock ... Irresponsible, nameless men, they were driven out of the land. Yet now they sing of me in mockery ... I cry to you, but you do not answer me ... Indeed I know you will turn me back in death to the destined place of everyone alive. Yet should not a hand be held out to help a wretched man in his calamity? Or have I not wept for the hardships of others; was not my soul grieved for the destitute?" Chapter 31: "Let God weigh me in the scales of justice; thus will he know my innocence!" Job recites a list of crimes which he hasn't done; for each one he says "if I have done X, let punishment Y befall me". He finishes with "Oh, that I had one to hear my case, and that my accuser would write out his indictment! Surely, I should wear it on my shoulder or put it on me like a diadem; Of all my steps I should give him an account; like a prince I should present myself before him. This is my final plea; let the Almighty answer me! The words of Job are ended." Chapter 32: "Then the three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But the anger of Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled. He was angry with Job for considering himself rather than God to be in the right. He was angry also with the three friends because they had not found a good answer and had not condemned Job. But since these men were older than he, Elihu bided his time before addressing Job." Elihu respects his elders, but eventually must speak: "like a new wineskin with wine under pressure, my bosom is ready to burst." Chapter 33: He says Job is wrong to accuse God of giving " ... no account of his doings? For God does speak, perhaps once, or even twice, though one perceive it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, as they slumber in their beds, It is then he opens the ears of men and as a warning to them, terrifies them; By turning man away from evil and keeping pride away from him, He withholds his soul from the pit and his life from passing to the grave." Chapter 34: Job "drinks in blasphemies like water, Keeps company witrh evildoers and goes along with wicked men, When he says, 'It profits a man nought that he is pleasing to God.'" Elihu stresses God's omnipotence and justice: "If he were to take back his spirit to himself, withdraw to himself his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust ... the supreme Just One ... neither favors the person of princes nor respects the rich more than the poor". Chapter 35: "Do you think it right to say, 'I am just rather tham God'? To say, 'What does it profit me; what advantage have I more than if I had sinned?' ... If you sin, what injury do you do to God? ... If you are righteous, what do you give him ... Your wickedness can affect only a man like yourself; and your justice only a fellow human being. In great oppression men cry out ... Though they cry out, he answers not against the pride of the wicked. But it is idle to say God does not hear or that the Almighty does not take notice. Even though you say that you see him not, the case is before him; with trembling should you wait upon him ..." Chapter 36: "Behold, God rejects the obstinate in heart; he preserves not the life of the wicked, He wihholds not the just man's rights, but grants vindication to the oppressed And with kings upon thrones he sets them, exalted forever. Or if they are bound with fetters and held fast by bonds of affliction, Then he makes known to them what they have done and their sins of boastful pride ... Take heed, turn not to evil; for you have preferred carousal to affliction. Behold, God is sublime in his power. What teacher is there like him? ... Lo, God is great beyond our knowledge; the number of his years is past searching out." Chapter 37: A storm comes, reinforcing Elihu's theme of God's power: " ... Again his voice roars -- the majestic sound of his thunder. He does great things beyond our knowing; wonders past our searching out ... Do you spread out with him the firmament of the skies ... From the North the splendor comes, surrounding God's awesome majesty! The Almighty! we cannot discover him, pre-eminent in power and judgment; his great justice owes no one an accounting. Therefore men revere him, though none can see him, however wise their hearts." Chapter 38 (The LORD's speech): "Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance? Gird up your loins now, like a man; I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? ..." The LORD gives many other examples, asking what Job knows about great things the LORD did in the past or does in the present. The chapter ends with "Who provides nourishment for the ravens when their young ones cry out to God, and they rove about without food?" Chapter 39: "Do you know about the birth of the mountain goats ..." There are many more examples of God's care for various animals, ending (as did the previous chapter) with a reference to baby birds: the eagle's "young ones greedily drink blood; where the slain are, there is he." Chapter 40: "The LORD then said to Job: Will we have arguing with the Almighty by the critic? Let him who would correct God give answer! Then Job answered the LORD and said: Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more. Then the LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Gird up your loins now, like a man. I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Would you refuse to acknowledge my right? Would you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like that of God, or can you thunder with a voice like his? ... The LORD gives more examples of his power, especially huge, frightening beasts: "See, besides you I made Behemoth ... Can you lead about Leviathan with a hook ..." Chapter 41: More details about Leviathan: "Is he not relentless when aroused; who then dares stand before him? ... When he sneezes, light flashes forth; his eyes are like those of the dawn ... Upon the earth there is not his like, intrepid he was made." Chapter 42: "Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. And it came to pass after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'I am angry with you and your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job. Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves, and let my servant Job pray for you; for his prayer I will accept, not to punish you severely. For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.' Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the LORD had commanded them. And the LORD accepted the intercession of Job. Also, the LORD restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the LORD even gave to Job twice as much as he had before ... " For example, Job gets 14,000 sheep (he'd formerly had 7,000). He also lives 140 years afterwards (two normal lifespans). He gets a new set of children, the same number as had died in chapter 1: "seven sons and three daughters, of whom he called the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren." * * * What lessons can be drawn from this mighty story? One key point is that it is not just a two-character drama between Job and God. There are four other major characters who make long speeches (Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu). There is a character who only speaks in the first two chapters, but without whom there would be no plot (Satan). There is a character (Job's wife) who only speaks briefly in chapter 2, and whose customary silence says volumes about the story's patriarchal society. There are three messengers who appear briefly in chapter 1; they are the shaken witnesses of tragedy, prototypes for Herman Melville's Ishmael. There are 20 characters (Job's two sets of children) who get briefly described in the first and last chapters, but who never say anything. There are other characters who get referred to but remain nameless: people who learned from Job in chapter 2; admired him or were helped by him in chapter 29; derided him or were disdained by him in chapter 30. There is Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, the father of Elihu. He doesn't do anything, but he has the distinction of being the only speaker's father who is identified. And finally, there is the character who goes almost unnoticed because he (or she) is in plain view, like Edgar Allan Poe's purloined letter -- the author. Another important point is that Job is not "Everyman" dealing with suffering. Job starts the story as an unusually pious, rich and respected man; his sufferings aren't just a disaster, they're a total reversal of fortune. Job is not Willy Loman, an average man who loses what few blessings life had doled out. Job is alternately colossally successful or colossally afflicted. Job is clearly the most important human protagonist in "The Book of Job". So I will save him for later, and will start my analysis with the other four main human speakers -- Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu. * * * Eliphaz is the first to speak to Job after Job's initial post-disaster outcry. His first speech (chapters 4-5) tries to be helpful, and specifically praises Job for his teaching, piety and integrity. Unfortunately, Job does not feel helped: "You would even cast lots for the orphan, and would barter away your friend!" (Job 6,27). By the second speech, Eliphaz becomes accusatory: "You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God, Because your wickedness instructs your mouth ..." (15,4-5). And his third speech (chapter 22) is slanderous; he accuses Job of a despicable series of crimes which Job can't have done, if we believe the author (who vouches for Job in chapter 1, and provides no corroboration of Eliphaz's chapter 22 allegations). To go from comforter to slanderer is a big downward step. Since Temanites are supposed to be wise (Jer 49,7), what went wrong with Eliphaz? A judgment on this is pronounced in chapter 42 by the book's highest authority -- the LORD. God's judgment is spoken twice, in verses 7 and 8, in exactly the same words: "For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job." This seems like a strange condemnation. Why does God pick on what Eliphaz said about him? Are these statements blasphemous or heretical? It seems much more natural to criticize Eliphaz' lack of charity toward Job; the New American Bible commentary claims that false charges against Job are the real source of the LORD's anger. But that's not what the LORD says! He says "concerning me". WHY? Let's go back to Eliphaz' first speech in chapter 4, and to what has immediately preceded it. In chapter 2, Job is invited to curse God, and refuses. In chapter 3, he curses his natal day, and wishes he had never been born. He doesn't threaten suicide, he doesn't curse God, he just voices his immense misery. There are a lot of things Eliphaz could say at this point. A similar situation occurs in a 20th century fable, Frank Capra's movie "It's A Wonderful Life". The hero, George Bailey, is not rich; he has respect within his community, but not as much as Job. His loving family has fewer children than Job's, and a more supportive wife. Unlike Job, he has developed his righteous habits in response to a series of misfortunes -- two charitable acts cost him the hearing in one ear; his father dies; his brother's marriage deprives him of opportunities; etc. Also unlike Job, he is not a pious man. When George "bottoms out", he curses his natal day, like Job. But instead of sending three human comforters, God sends an angel, Clarence. Clarence spends a few moments talking about God's wonderful gift of life (the few moments are needed because of George's suicidal thoughts - another difference from Job). Clarence then spends a lot of time granting George's wish, the wish to have never been born. He shows George the world without George Bailey. Many parts of this world are now horribly ugly, because George was never born to make them beautiful. George is horrified, and begs to go back to his real world, with all its troubles. He returns, some of the troubles get solved, he and his family and many friends celebrate Christmas together, and Clarence (who had been only an apprentice angel) gets his wings. It's unfair to compare Eliphaz to an angel. But the example of Clarence shows that it's quite possible to do God's work (comforting the afflicted) without invoking God's name. God does not want his name to be used unnecessarily! This is one of the ten commandments: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." It gets ignored, just like the other nine. It got ignored by Eliphaz, and this sowed the seeds that eventually resulted in his slander of Job. After Eliphaz unnecessarily invokes God, Job cries out at the implication that he needs to repent. Job's language escalates; he is actually the first one to bring a slanderous charge (Chapter 6: "You would even cast lots for the orphan"). The later interchanges feature a dizzying series of charges and countercharges, as the dialog careens further and further out of control. When God judges in chapter 42, he addresses the root cause of the dialog's disintegration -- the violation of God's second commandment (or third, in the Protestant and Jewish numbering). Sometimes people think that charity and social justice are attainable in and of themselves. This is false. We are all like Eliphaz, well-intentioned but fallible humans. If we sin by violating any of God's commandments, we pay homage to death, and death will then flower in unanticipated ways. In Eliphaz' case, he sees the death (for many chapters, until the mysterious events of chapter 42) of his friendship with Job. How can we avoid the same trap? One answer is given by an African proverb: "When I don't know myself, I try to help others. When I know myself, I try to be with others." Job claims (6,21) that Eliphaz and his other friends "see a terrifying thing and are afraid". There is truth in this, but none of the friends can admit it. None of them can say "I see what has happened to you, and I fear for myself." In the absence of this admission, all their advice has a hollow ring -- they just want to be on the side that's winning. Being with someone in the midst of disaster is extremely hard. One temptation is to deny the disaster, because of our own fears. This happens repeatedly in the New Testament, e.g. Matthew 16, 21-23. Jesus predicts his passion and resurrection, and Peter says it can't happen! Jesus strongly rebukes Peter's denial: "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Another temptation is flight, including the flight into sleep. As the passion progresses, Jesus asks for companionship and vigilance: "Remain here and keep watch with me ... Watch and pray ..." (Mt 26, 38-41). But Peter, James and John fall asleep. Initially Job's friends did a better job, since they were able to sit silently with him for 7 days and 7 nights. On the cross, Jesus cries out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27, 46). Most Christians would respond with silence, rather than with Eliphaz' words: "You in fact do away with piety, and you lessen devotion toward God ..." But we sometimes use such words with one another. We need to see Jesus more in each other, and have more respect for each other's crosses. Bildad and Zophar come after Eliphaz within each cycle of speeches. Their speeches have a harsher tone than Eliphaz' first speech, although they don't go as far as Eliphaz does in chapter 22. In (4,8), Eliphaz puts a softening clause in the midst of one group of judgments: "As I see it, those who plow for mischief and sow trouble, reap the same." Bildad has no softeners; in fact, he uses emphatic adverbs: "Should you be blameless and upright, surely now he will awake for you and restore your rightful domain ... for in time to come you will flourish indeed." (8,6-7). He also clearly associates guilt with the death of Job's children. At one point he attributes the guilt to the children: "If your children have sinned against him and he has left them in the grip of their guilt ..." (8,4). At another point, he implies their deaths may be Job's fault: "... so shall the hope of the godless man perish ... He shall rely upon his family, but it shall not last; he shall cling to it, but it shall not endure." (8,13-15) Zophar adds a touch of vindictiveness (11,3-6): "Shall your babblings keep men silent, and shall you deride and no one give rebuke? ... But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips against you ... so that you might learn that God will make you answer for your guilt." So Bildad and Zophar repeat the same pattern as Eliphaz: using God's name to make harsh judgments against Job and/or his children. And they are subject to the same divine judgment in Chapter 42: they have not spoken rightly concerning God. Elihu is a special case. Unlike the other three, he is not called a "friend" of Job. He appears on the scene in chapter 32. How he gets involved is mysterious. Back in chapter 2, Job was sitting on the ground among the ashes, scraping his boils. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar showed up, and sat silently with Job for seven days and nights. Job started speaking in chapter 3, and this began a continuous dialog with the three friends through chapter 31. Then up pops Elihu! Did he accompany the three friends? Did he just wander in at some point? Job's territory isn't exactly the corner drug store, where anybody can wander in. How Elihu got into the dialog is mysterious, but how he got into the world isn't. He is the only character in the book with a standard biblical pedigree: "Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram". He begins with a long preamble, defending his right to speak in front of his elders. Some of this is standard courtesy. But some of it may be because Job has previously dumped on his critics: "But now they hold me in derision who are younger in years than I; whose fathers I should have disdained to rank with the dogs of my flock ... Irresponsible, nameless men, they were driven out of the land. Yet now they sing of me in mockery ... they do not hesitate to spit in my face!" Job never mentions Barachel the Buzite, so we don't know if he was one of Job's former friends or former enemies. Filial piety may be influencing Elihu, but we don't know in what direction. We also don't know God's opinion of Elihu's comments, since chapter 42 ignores Elihu. His first argument, in chapter 33, mentions the idea of repeated repentance: "Lo, all these things God does, twice, or thrice for a man, Bringing back his soul from the pit to the light, in the land of the living." (33,29-30). This idea (which doesn't appear in Eliphaz etc.) is radical; many religious people (including the early Christians) believe we only get one chance to repent. Elihu also specifically mentions the danger of pride (33,17) without exaggerating it, as Zophar did in (20,6). Elihu's tone gets harsher in chapter 34, when he accuses Job of drinking in "blasphemies like water", among other sins. In chapter 35, Elihu addresses Job's implication that righteousness is unprofitable because "Both the innocent and the wicked he destroys." (9,22). Elihu's argument is murky. He says that God is unaffected by righteousness or wickedness (so maybe we shouldn't expect rewards or punishment?). But a few verses later he says that God really will correct injustices, and may punish Job for not realizing this. Chapters 36 and 37 contain familiar themes (God's justice and omnipotence), one peculiar accusation "Take heed, turn not to evil; for you have preferred carousal to affliction" (should we prefer affliction?), and another reference to "sins of boastful pride". In general, Elihu's remarks are a rehash of previous themes. But there are some real flashes of insight (repeated repentance, the emphasis on pride). And occasionally Elihu sounds a bit like Jesus: he calls himself a new wineskin (32,19), and his comments about souls going down into the pit might mean spiritual death rather than physical (33,28). * * * What is Job really like? And what really happened to him? In chapter 1, the author calls the pre-disaster Job "blameless and upright" (1,1). The LORD uses the same words twice, with one slight change: "blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil" (1,8); "faultless and upright ..." (2,3). Throughout the dialog, Job maintains his innocence. In chapter 42, he disowns his statements, but does not admit any wrongdoing. The LORD then condemns the speech of the 3 friends and praises Job's speech. The LORD says nothing about Job's actions or attitudes. There is only one accusation of wrongful acts against Job, by Eliphaz (22,6-9). The alleged crimes are heinous -- depriving kinsmen, the thirsty, the hungry, widows and orphans. No one else corroborates these claims, and Job's next speech (chapters 23-4) ignores them. It's reasonable to conclude that Job is not a widow-robber, and that these particular accusations are false. Similarly, I think we can believe Job's avowal that he is not a tenant-robber, adulterer, servant-robber, idolater, rejoicer-in-his-enemy's-misfortune, stranger-neglecter etc. as listed in chapter 31. Is Job totally faultless? Like the 3 friends, he's quick to make harsh accusations. After Eliphaz' first speech, Job says that Eliphaz "would even cast lots for the orphan and would barter away your friend" (6,27). At this point, Eliphaz is guilty of insensitivity and misusing God's name, but he hasn't done what Job alleges. Job's accusation is unjust, and it's the first explicit unjust accusation in the dialog. We shouldn't be too hard on Job, since drowning people frequently thrash wildly against their attempted rescuers. But there are other instances where Job makes harsh judgments about people other than the 3 friends. For example, in (30,1), Job refers to his young detractors, "Whose fathers I should have disdained to rank with the dogs of my flock." This says that in Job's pre-disaster days, he considered some human beings to be worth less than dogs! Job's attitude toward his children is strange. In chapter 1, he is shown as a caring and solicitous father. As he sometimes does with other people, he thinks his children may be in the wrong: he offers burnt offerings for them, just in case they may have sinned. By the end of chapter 1, his riches have disappeared, and the ten children have died in a single accident. What's striking about chapters 2-42 is what isn't there. Job never mourns a single child! There's no weeping, as David did for Absalom (2 Sm 19,1). Job doesn't comfort his wife, as David comforted Bathsheba after their firstborn died (2 Sm 12,24). Job ignores the only mention of his dead children, by Bildad (Jb 8,4). Perhaps Job is too stoic to give way to feelings on this subject (although he isn't that stoic about his other disasters). But there is a false element in this stoicism, as if Job is too far beyond the common pains of mankind. I'm reminded of the famous interchange between CNN's Bernard Shaw and Gov. Michael Dukakis during one 1988 "great debate". Shaw asked Dukakis if his anti-death penalty position would change if Mrs. Dukakis were raped. Whatever one can say about the question, the governor's answer sounded strangely bloodless. By now you may be saying -- SO WHAT! Even if Job is emotionally constricted, and/or guilty of pride, and/or guilty of harsh judgment, did these offenses merit his ghastly punishments? Was he right to speak out? Right to repent for his statements? Did his horrible suffering mean anything? Accomplish anything? Did Job learn anything? Did we? The only character who can answer these questions is the character I've saved for last. * * * The LORD's first speech to Job begins (38,2-4): "Who is this that obscures divine plans with words of ignorance? Gird up your loins now, like a man, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding ..." Job's first reply is (40,4-5): "Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more." The LORD resumes (40,7-9): "Gird up your loins now, like a man. I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Would you refuse to acknowledge my right? Would you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like that of God, or can you thunder with a voice like his? ..." Job's second reply is (42,2-6): "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes." This is immediately followed by (42,7): "And it came to pass after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'I am angry with you and your two friends;'" (The full text was discussed earlier). I have repeated the key points in the interchange because these are the points that require a big leap of interpretation. Many commentators interpret God's questions as "rhetorical". In this interpretation, the questions are a conversational device which God uses to show Job (and us) that Job's previous statements and questions were ridiculous. If this is so, then Job is right to withdraw the statements with a blanket repentance (since God certainly doesn't give him a bill of particulars, as Job requested in 31,35). But what if the questions aren't rhetorical? Could God be sincerely trying to elicit legitimate answers from Job? Look at God's statement, repeated twice: "Gird up your loins now, like a man." This sounds like an invitation to a wrestling match. A wrestling match is at the center of one of the most sacred incidents of the Old Testament (Gn 32, 25-33). Jacob wrestles all night with an angel, who injures his hip and then gives him the name of Israel -- "you contended with divine beings." Wrestling with an angel was a high honor and a dangerous challenge. Abraham contends with God, although verbally rather than physically (Gn 18, 23-33). Abraham's bargaining doesn't save Sodom, but God does send his angels to warn Lot so that Lot and his family can flee. The New Testament gives an example of someone having to contend with Jesus to get her daughter cured. In Matthew's version (Mt 15,22-28), Jesus initially ignores the Canaanite woman's request for help for her possessed daughter. He then says his mission "is only to the lost sheep of Israel." When she insists, Jesus says "It is not right to take the food of sons and daughters and throw it to the dogs" (i.e. Canaanite gentiles). She replies "even the dogs eat the leavings that fall from their masters' tables." Jesus replies "Woman, you have great faith! Your wish will come to pass"; and her daughter gets better. God -- in the Person of the LORD and in the Person of Jesus -- sometimes encourages contention. God also sometimes punishes the refusal to contend: "Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be as deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, 'I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!' Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary man, must you also weary my God? therefore the LORD himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel ... The LORD shall bring upon you and your people and your father's house days worse than any since Ephraim seceded from Judah." (Is 7,10-17). Many interpretations regard Job's verbal withdrawals (40,3-5; 42,1-6) as a success (Job attains humility, the beginning of wisdom). I think the withdrawals were a failure. Job initially got what he wanted, a chance to wrestle with God, but then he ran out of the ring. God actually gave him two chances, and Job rejected them both. God does not punish Job for his refusal; Job is, after all, "blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil", a much better person than Ahaz (2 Kgs 16). But God also does not reward Job for the refusal! Look very carefully at the sequence of events in chapter 42. God neither endorses nor criticizes Job's "repentance", he ignores it. The only criticism goes to Eliphaz etc.; the only rewards come when Job prays for his friends. Because of Job's withdrawal, the most important questions don't get answered! Job gets relief from his pains, but not answers to his questions. And we (as well as Job) lose the answers. Why did Job fail? How could he have succeeded? What can we learn despite the failure? Job's loss of nerve has several causes. One is simply the time in which he lived. It's very easy for me, as a 20th century person who's never been greeted by God brandishing thunderbolts, to sit in judgment of Job. I don't know what I would have done, other than needing a change of underwear! In Job's time, the common expectation was that anyone who saw God would die. So a certain loss of nerve is quite natural. But part of Job's predicament was self-inflicted. His last words, before the appearances of Elihu and the LORD, are (31,37): "Of all my steps I should give him an account; like a prince I should present myself before him. This is my final plea; let the Almighty answer me! The words of Job are ended." So Job chooses to appear before the LORD as a prince. The LORD chooses to appear before Job as the king of all kings. Since a prince is outranked by a king (let alone the king of all kings), the prince's instinct is to beat a hasty retreat from an unwinnable battle. Job didn't have to play the prince. It is possible to face a frightening ruler with a courage born of humility. In the "Wizard of Oz", the Wizard tries to intimidate Dorothy with various special effects. He calls himself "Oz, the great and powerful", and asks "Who are you?" Dorothy calls herself "Dorothy, the meek and insignificant". She stands her ground and sticks up for herself and her three friends, and convinces the Wizard to try to help them. He can't really help that much -- he is, by his own description, "a good man, but a bad wizard". He's certainly not God. But even blustery humans are subject to the power of humble insistence. All the more so with God, if we believe Jesus' advice (Lk 18,9-14). We have no way of knowing how the dialog would have fared if Job had spoken differently. But I'd like to invite my readers to conduct a little "thought experiment". Keep the Book of Job exactly as it is through (40,3), and then change Job's first reply to: "I am Job, son of ---, an ignorant sinner. I know nothing of how you created the world or run it. I only know that I am in great pain. My sons and my daughters, whom I loved more than all my riches, are gone. They will never live to see their years and lives grow full and their hair turn gray. Why have you done this?" The Book of Job is a mighty work, and I am not trying to revise it. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more. The book points out that, despite Job's loss of nerve, some wondrous things happen to him in chapter 42. There is a wealth of heartache that is unsaid between the two sentences of (42,9): "Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the LORD had commanded them. And the LORD accepted the intercession of Job." Interceding for others is not always easy. At Meribah -- another site of contention -- Moses briefly lost his will to intercede for his grumbling people. Because of this loss of faith, he did not lead the community into the promised land (Nm 20,1-13). Jonah tried his best to avoid helping Nineveh; success can be as wrenching to a prophet as failure. Job shows no hesitancy, no animosity toward the "friend" who'd called him a widow-robber and the other "friends" who kept implying "you got what you deserved." He just intercedes -- and perhaps this is his greatest reward. It's very easy to get misled by Bible stories which combine God answering prayers with God bestowing riches. A good example occurs in 1 Kgs 3,5-14. Solomon asks for an understanding heart. God approves his request, grants it, and throws in two footnotes: "I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you. In addition, I give you what you have not asked for, such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like. And if you follow me by keeping my commandments, as your father David did, I will give you a long life." The understanding heart is the reward. The colossal riches are a trial, which Solomon meets with mixed results. The LORD's temple gets built and consecrated (1 Kgs 8). The LORD warns Solomon to keep following the LORD's ways (chapter 9). Solomon lets himself get seduced, first by wealth: "The gold that Solomon received every year weighed six hundred and sixty-six gold talents" (1 Kgs 10,14) -- one of only two times this number occurs in Scripture. Then in chapter 11, he is seduced by foreign women, and his kingdom begins to fall apart due to the rebellion of his servant Jeroboam. Job seems to handle his second set of riches and children pretty well (Jb 42, 10-17). Nobody rebels against him, his kingdom (chiefdom?) doesn't get broken up. We actually learn names of some of his relatives -- the second set of daughters -- and learn that they are very beautiful and get an inheritance (an unusual thing for daughters). We don't learn the names of the second set of sons, and aren't told whether they're handsome. So after all the trials, Job comes out as a better intercessor than Moses or Jonah (in their weaker moments) and a better wealth-handler than Solomon (in his weaker moments). This may look like a happy ending, but I don't think it is. We never learn why God allowed his trials. And whatever gets replaced, some things are beyond replacement. In the last chapter of his book, Rabbi Harold Kushner talks about the early death of his son: "I am a more sensitive person, a more effective pastor, a more sympathetic counselor because of Aaron's life and death than I ever would have been without it. And I would give up all of those gains in a second if I could have my son back. If I could choose, I would forego all the spiritual growth and depth which has come my way because of our experiences, and be what I was fifteen years ago, an average rabbi, an indifferent counselor, helping some people and unable to help others, and the father of a bright, happy boy. But I cannot choose." * * * In summary, we can learn many things from the Book of Job, which is a book about many persons. >From Eliphaz we learn the danger of speaking too hastily about God, when God wants us simply to be there in our own flesh for our sisters and brothers. From Bildad and Zophar we learn the dangers of me-too-ism; they went with the momentum of the darker aspects of Job and Eliphaz, and lost their chance to bring out the light. From Elihu we learn both the rewards and the dangers of youthful piety, either filial or religious. Job's strongest virtue is his ability to cry. He cried out to the LORD, and the LORD heard his cry and overlooked some of his accusations. But Job's pride and negative judgments of other people caught up with him; the finger that pointed to other people's lowliness eventually pointed to his own lowliness. He was not a good listener. He ignored the good parts of his three friends' speeches. When the LORD finally spoke, he wound up not hearing the LORD's most inviting question -- who are you? The lessons here are: feel free to cry out to God, but be ready to listen very carefully because you may get an answer. Pay great respect to the fragile flower of dialog; it dies easily from too much heat or not enough heart. Don't measure others, lest you get caught in your own measure. >From the LORD we learn many things. I believe that the Book of Job, in and of itself, mainly teaches us about God's power and mystery. Other books, including the books of our lives, teach lessons about God's love. But we can't learn these lessons if we're unprepared. I hope that some of my reflections will help me and others to be better prepared to hear the lessons God speaks in the tiny whispering sounds of our lives. The Book of Job does not answer the question of "why bad things happen to good people", for the reasons I have pointed out. But if we can learn from the good and ill fortunes of each human character in the book, we'll be more able to help each other understand and bear our crosses, which are our most sacred and individual features. "As one face differs from another, so does one human heart from another." (Prv 27,19). I close with a quote from a 20th-century American scientist: "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong, because someday in life, you will have been all of these." (Dr. George Washington Carver) * * * The words of John Stout are ended.