Research and discussion

1.    What do the Psalms you have studied teach about the character   of God?

2.    What is shown about the Israelite understanding of kingship in the Psalms you have studied?

3.    Outline the historical background to Psalm 137 and then explain the attitude expressed in verses 7-9.

4.    How is the relationship of God to his people and of God to the nations ofthe world expressed in the Psalms you have studied?

5.    From the five Psalms you have studied, identify as many themes as possible which have been important teaching points in the prophetic books and the Law books.

6.    Examine the parallels between the sufferer's experiences in Psalm 22, and the passion experiences of Jesus. Write out the verses which correspond in the Psalm and in the New Testament passages.

7.    'The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important teaching in the New Testament because of the new light it throws on the character of God, the love of God and the defeat of evil and death.' Justify this statement, with reference to what you have learnt about Old Testa-ment understanding of these themes.

8.    Find a modem musical setting of a Psalm and learn it, to sing in a Christian worship service. If no modern setting is easily available, try to encourage a local choir to make up their own music for a short Psalm such as Psalm 150; traditional instruments such as drums and rattles could be used to accompany the singing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOB

 

 

 

·                      The character of the book of Job

The book of Job belongs to the group of Old Testament writings known as Wisdom Literature, concerned with the meaning of life as it are experienced by people. In the Hebrew Bible, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) belong to this kind of literature. In the Greek Old Testament, Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon (the Book of Wisdom), designated deutero-canonical by Catholics but designated apocryphal by Protestants, are Wisdom Writings. A few Psalms may be described as Wisdom Writings.

All societies have their traditional teachings about what constitutes wise behaviour for the individual. The traditional proverbs of any society contain easily remembered teachings about the human experience of the society. The traditional oral literature of African societies is rich in such teachings which have been passed from generation to generation. The wise man is contrasted with the foolish man. The wise man lives successfully.

Very ancient wisdom teachings have been recovered from a number of Middle East countries, from the ancient cultures of the Fertile Crescent. The Wisdom Writings of the Old Testament are therefore related to a form of literature found throughout the ancient countries of the Middle East, but they also have a uniqueness which distinguishes them from the literature of other nations. The aim of the Biblical writers of Wisdom Literature was to show, in various ways, that the truly wise man was the one who knew God and who tried to find the answers to the hard questions of his life through his understanding of God. True wisdom comes from God, who alone is wise in the fullest sense of the word.

The writer of the book of Job, as it is in our Bible, cannot be identified and remains anonymous, but he took a very old story and used it to present his readers with important questions and affirmations. The author of the book was a Jew and a poet, who may have written in the period towards the end of the Babylonian exile or just after it, but we cannot date the writing ofthis book with any certainty. The author bases his book on a much older story of a man who was not a Jew and who lived, according to the author, in a land which may be identified with Edom. Ezekiel 14 : 14 and 20 refer to Job as a man whose goodness was like that of Noah. In a Babylonian tablet which can be dated around 1600 B.C. there is a story about a good man who suffered acutely but who was restored to health and prosperity by pleas to his god, but direct connection between this text and the Biblical book of Job cannot be proved. The Semitic name 'Job' is identifiedas early as 2000 B.C. in Egyptian literature, but this only proves that the name itself was not uncommon.

What is really important to the Bible reader is the inspired way in which the author of the book takes the story, which may have been a popular and widely told one of his times, and uses it to present questions and affirmations which are as relevant to Christian understanding as they were to the people of his day. We can find a parallel between the author's use of the ancient story and the use which Jesus made of familiar incidents in some of his great parables, such as the parable of the good Samaritan. Assault on travellers and robbery were frequent on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, and out of a common 'news item' Jesus created a great teaching story. Out ofthe ancient story of the suffering of a good man, the author of Job created great poetry and great teaching.

·     Job in relation to other Old Testament books

The author uses the story of a man who was not a Jew, but Job is presented as a man who worshipped Yahweh and maintained the highest standard of morality in his life. We have seen that the Israelite faith pointed towards a universal faith in which the people of God were those who obeyed God's Law and lived according to his will. Physical descent from the Patriarchs was not an essential requirement of membership of the people of God, although God had chosen to work through the Israelites. The prophets of Judah looked towards a future time when all the nations would worship God; the book of Isaiah in particular has verses such as 45: 22- 'Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world. I am the only God there is' and 49:6, 'but I will make you a light to the nations so that all the world may be saved. '

The author shows deep understanding of the fundamental requirements of the Jewish Law. Job is presented as having met not only the outward requirements of the Law, such as the offering of sacrifices, but the inner claims of the Law. Job was a man of pure heart and could therefore be described as a man of God although he was not an Israelite by race.

The author has fully understood the teaching of the Law which is set out in Deuteronomy 24: 16, that a person is to be punished for the sin he has committed and not for the sin of another. This teaching is developed in Jeremiah 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18. The author also knows the teaching which is so important in the book of Deuteronomy, that the evildoer will be punished for his sin and the good man will be blessed for doing what is the will of God. 'If you obey the LoRD your God and do everything he commands ... the LoRD will give you many children, many cattle and abundant crops  ....' (Deuteronomy 28: 9-11). 'If you do evil and reject the LoRD ... he will send disease after disease on you ... he will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops . . .' (Deuteronomy 28: 20-22). In presenting the story of the good man, the man of God, who tried continually to obey and please God, but who was overwhelmed with every imaginable disaster-the death of his children and herds, the destruction of his property and the onslaught of horrible disease- the author challenges the principle of rewards and retributive punishment which the Israelite faith had accepted. To make the challenge even more pointed, Job 1: 12 indicates that this suffering came to Job with God's knowledge; God allowed these things to happen to his servant whom God himself describes as faithful and good (Job 1: 8). Jeremiah had already voiced the question which troubled him so much: 'Why are wicked men so prosperous? Why do dishonest men succeed?' (Jeremiah 12: 1). This is the negative form of the question which the writer of the book of Job puts to us. Why does a good man suffer, if suffering is taken to be a sign of God's punishment on him?

But we must not think that the writer of the book of Job is critical of God, as he puts this question to his readers. On the contrary, what we have already learnt in the Old Testamentofthe Jewish understanding of God as the mighty creator, the omnipotent and omniscient God who alone knows the secrets of the universe he has created and who is the sole giver of life to his creation, is set before us. Job 36-41 connects in thought with Genesis 1-2. But this great God is also just, righteous and caring (Job 36) and comes to speak to Job, person to person, telling him to stand up and listen to his words, in a way which reminds us of Ezek-iel's first meeting with God (Ezekiel 2 : 1). This portrait of God is similar to what the prophets have set before us. The writer understands the experience which the prophets have described to us, of knowing God personally, and sees it as the most important experience which a human being can have. When man stands in the presence of God, nothing else really matters except the reality of that wonderful divine-human relationship. All the sufferings and problems of human existence just fade away. Men's attempts to explain everything in human existence in term~ of human understanding, such as the attempt to explain suffering as the inevitable punishment for sin, are seen to be inadequate. The writer does not deny that there is an observable connection between right living and blessing, and evil living and disaster, but he sees that suffering and evil are a far greater problem and mystery than we can explain according to human understanding. The answer which Ezekiel put forward, to the problem of sin and retribution, is not adequate (Ezekiel 18) although there is truth in it.

The book does not contain developed teaching on the doctrine of original sin but the writer has a profound understanding of the depth of sin, understood as rebellion against God, in human nature. This primeval sin, to which Genesis 3 refers, underlies all sinful acts. The friends who come to Job to try to explain why Job is in such a terrible state, think in terms of sinful acts and their arguments do not help Job who has been very careful to avoid sinful acts. What none of them realize is that the primeval sin to which Genesis 3 refers is like a deep-rooted poison in human nature. Job and his friends all share the consequences of this primeval sin. Job, in his suffering, curses the life that God has given him. Despite his lifetime of right living, Job was not a perfect man; the perfect Man said on the cross, 'Father! In your hands I place my spirit!' (Luke 23: 46). In the extremity of suffering, Jesus accepted it and placed his life in God's hands; he did not curse against his sufferings.

In spite of Job's outburst against God, on whom he blames his suffering; Job maintains his faith in the existence and reality of God, demanding God to make himself known to him and to explain to him what he was doing wrong. The author of the book understands faith and represents Job to us as a man with an inadequate understanding of the nature of God, but still a man of faith, who held to what he had understood. Job was not wrong to demand that God should make himself known to him; the Old Testament witnesses to the belief that God does reveal himself to us through the experiences and events of our human existence.

We have already looked at the Israelite understanding of death, as the end of meaningful life, and the book of Job is written against that understanding. But there is an indication in Job 19:25-27 that there could be a hope of meeting with God after the physical body is destroyed. However, the Hebrew of this passage is very difficult and unclear and we cannot say that there is clear teaching in it about resurrection after death. Job 17: 13 and 16 present the traditional Israelite understanding of death: 'My only hope is the world of the dead where I wi11lie down to sleep in the dark .... Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead. '

Job's terrible outburst against God because of his suffering reminds us of Jeremiah's remonstrances with God about his suffering, as do other passages in which Job argues with his friends about what seems to be the terrible injustice of his suffering.

The idea of the gracious initiative of God in approaching man, who can do nothing to merit the relationship which God is ready to share with him, is important in the book. This is a prominent Old Testament teaching in the Law books and the prophetic books. Job tries desperately to justify himself before God because of his lifetime of right living, but when he does meet with God his self-justification ceases. The book points towards the New Testament teaching of Paul about justification by faith, not by actions. 'God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ ... everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. But by the free gift of God's grace all are put right with him through Jesus Christ, who sets them free' (Romans 3: 22-24).

We should note that by the end of the book of Job we have not been given a clear and simple answer to the problem of suffering. The immediate cause of Job's sufferings is Satan, who is permitted by God to send disasters on Job, so that Satan may test Job's faith in God, but this in itself raises problems. God's words describe Job in this way: 'There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is.' If God knows Job to be good and faithful, why is it necessary to test Job in such a devastating way? To describe Job's sufferings merely as testing of his faith is not adequate.

Questions have been raised which still continue to trouble mankind. Why does God permit suffering? What can we say to help someone who is suffering from an incurable disease which has suddenly disrupted his life? What can we say to parents whose young child has been killed by a car speeding on the road? What can we say to children whose mother has died when they still need her care? These are just one or two examples of modem questions about suffering, but they are not very different from the questions which the writer of the book of Job had in his mind. He faces these unanswerable questions with affirmations of faith in the God who holds the key to the mystery of suffering, and he points towards the teaching of the New Testament in which we are promised that the mystery will be understood when the rule of God is finally established (Romans 8: 18-25, Revelation 21: 1-4).

·     The structure of the book of Job

To understand the prescribed chapters, we need to see how they fit into the structure of the whole book. The outline of the book is as follows:

introduction, written in prose     1: 1-2: 13

Job's remonstrances with God              3:1-26

the first discussion between his three friends and Job                          4: 1-14 : 22

the second discussion             15: 1-21 : 34

the third discussion          22: 1-31 : 40

a fourth man, Elihu, speaks 32: 1-37: 24

God speaks                              38: 1-42: 6

the ending, written in prose    42: 7-17.

The original story of Job is contained in the prose introduction and ending. The great questions and affirmations of the author of the book are worked out through the rest of the material which is in the form of poetry. Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, defend the traditional Israelite view that suffering is punishment sent by God for sin. Job protests that he has not sinned although his three friends insist that his suffering is proofthat he has. Job pleads to God to speak to him and show him why he is suffering and if he has sinned. Elihu, the fourth man who joins in the discussion, puts forward the idea that suffering is not caused by God but can be used by him in an educative way: 'But God teaches men through suffering and uses distress to open their eyes' (36: 15). The last speaker to enter the discussion is God himself. In magnificent poetry, the wonders of creation are described. After hearing God speak, Job can only say, 'I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels that are too great for me .... So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes' (42:3,6).

Satan tests Job (Job 1-2)

Before we look at the story set out in the passage, we need to be clear that the main point of it is the nature of man's relationship to God. Verse 9 asks this question: 'Would Job worship you (God) if he got nothing out of it?' This is a key question in relation to what occurs.

'1-3. A vivid little picture is given of Job, the good man who worships God and who enjoys great prosperity, which should be understood as meaning that God approves of him. According to Deuteronomic teaching, Job was prosperous because he obeyed God who had rewarded him because of his good life. 1 :4-5. Job's care in avoiding any evil action extends to his family and he offers sacrifices on behalf of all his children to maintain purity within his whole household.

1:6-12. Satan is introduced. The Old Testament refers very rarely to this mysterious being; whose name means 'adversary' or 'opponent'. The impression given of Satan in the Old Testament is rather different from that in the New. In this passage Satan is represented as an angelic being, under the control of God. He is not shown as the adversary of God, but of man. He is hostile to Job's happiness and prosperity. The passage does not answer any questions as to why this mysterious being is amongst the angelic beings of heaven, or why he is so hostile to man, but he represents an influence which we know, from experience, exists. The voice of Satan spoke through the snake to the first woman in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 1-5). Although Satan is not shown as God's adversary in Job 1-2, his hostility to man's happiness and prosperity implies opposition to God's desire that man should enjoy the blessings of God's creation (Genesis 1: 26-31). Satan remains a mysterious figure in Job 1-2, but is permitted by God to test Job's •faith. The question behind the testing is whether Job will stop worshipping God if all his prosperity and happiness is taken away from him. Do we worship God only because of what we get from him in material blessings, or is there a deeper need in man's nature for a personal relationship with God which does not depend on our physical circumstances? Genesis 1: 27 indicates that God made man in such a way that he could have a deep personal relationship with God, unlike any other creature; because man- was in some way like God, he could love God. Another question arises: Does love depend on material circumstances and physical happiness, or is there a deeper aspect of it which continues when these things no longer exist?

The words of God in 1: 12 mean that in the first stage of testing Job's faith in God, Satan is permitted to take away from Job everything that he has, but Job himself must not be harmed.

1: 13-2: 13. The onslaughts of Satan are described. Job loses his children, herds and flocks and property. He feels intense grief and mourns for his losses but does not lose his faith in the goodness of God (1 :20-22).

2: 1-6. Satan's attacks on Job have been unsuccessful so far, but he persists in asking God to let him go further. Satan's words in 2:4-5 indicate that to preserve the most precious thing he has- his health and Iife-a man will give up anything. This attitude rejects the possibility of self-giving or self-sacrifice, such as the suffering Servant of God (Isaiah 52-53) accepts. God permits Satan to attack Job's health but will not allow Satan to take away Job's life, over which God alone has power.

2: 7-10. Satan afflicts Job with a horrible disease, which we need not try to identify, but it made him so ill and disgusting to others that he left his house and went out to the rubbish dump of the town, to remove his uncleanness from other human beings. Leviticus 13: 46 says this of a man who has a dreaded skin disease such as leprosy: 'He remains unclean as long as he has the disease, and he must live outside the camp, away from the others.' His wife is so horrified by what has happened to Job that she tells him to die, to escape from his intolerable misery and illness. Her understanding of God is seen in 2: 9. She understands retributive punishment and tells Job to be deliberately blasphemous, by cursing God, so that God will then kill Job as a punishment. Job, however, refuses to complain and still holds on to his faith in a good God.

2: 11-13. Three of Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, hear of Job's afflictions and come to comfort him, but when they see him they are so appalled by the state he is in that they begin to mourn for him, as for a dead man. They wept and wailed, and then sat for seven days in silence, another sign of mourning. Satan had reduced Job to a state where physical life remained in him but everything that had been a blessing to him-children, herds, flocks, property, health, his wife's love and the companionship of his friends-was destroyed. Did the life that still remained to him have any meaning at all? Did his faith in God mean anything?

Job's remonstrations with God (Job 3)

The silence of Job's suffering is broken by a great cry of despair which reminds us of Jeremiah 20: 14-18. Job curses the day when he was given life by God, the day of his birth. All that he wants now is to die. The Israelite understanding of death as a sleep, a shadowy existence in which there are no distinctions between anybody, is shown in 3: 13-19.

Those in Sheol had a negative, shadowy existence but at least it was not a terrible torment.

As we try to understand Job's very violent protest, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is with God that he remonstrates. He has not denied that God is whatever he does not understand about him. To Job, God has become unknowable, unpredictable, absolutely mysterious in the way he gives life to men and yet allows them to suffer until they ask to die. Job no longer understands God at all in the way that he had thought he did, but he does not deny the existence of God and the power of God over his life. This reminds us of the experience of Jeremiah who tried to deny God's claim on him when his sufferings seemed intolerable, but found that in the end he could not deny God. 'But when I say, "I will forget the LORD and no longer speak in his name," then your message is like fire burning deep within me. I try my best to hold it in but can no longer keep it back' (Jeremiah 20: 9).

Eliphaz speaks (Job 4 and 5)

Before we examine what Eliphaz says, we should notice that none of the three friends had yet given Job any word of comfort. Their behaviour, when they had seen him, illustrates their personal thoughts about him; they mourned for him as a man who had died. According to the Israelite understanding about retributive punishment, Job was being punished by God for some terrible secret sin which he had not confessed. If his afflictions were God's punishment, then the three friends had no right to comfort Job because if they did that it would indicate that they dis¬approved of what God was doing to Job. Their duty was therefore to persuade Job to confess what he had done wrong so that God might forgive him. In the three discussions which are set out between Job 4-31, the traditional view of retributive punishment is upheld; the three friends maintain, in various ways, that Job's afflictions are punishment for sinful actions. As each friend speaks, the inadequacy of his 'understanding of God's character can be seen. Each man speaks sincerely from what he thinks is an understanding of God's truth, but none of them touches Job's terrible situation. None of them can accept that the idea of retributive punishment might be inadequate as an explanation for suffering. None of them could have understood the idea of vicarious suffering as expressed in Isaiah 52-53.

4: 1-11. Eliphaz asks Job if he can remember a single case of a righteous man meeting with disaster. Those who are destroyed are the wicked.

4: 12-17. Eliphaz describes a religious experience which he had once during a night. It taught him that God alone is righteous. No man is blameless in the sight of God.

4: 18-21. Eliphaz then presents a very pessimistic view of man which is contrary to what the Old Testament teaches about God's concern for the human beings he has created. We agree with Eliphaz in what he says about no man being blameless before God (verse 17), but we do not agree with him that man means so little to God that he is like 'a thing of dust that can be crushed like a moth.' God would not have loving care for 'a thing of dust'.

5: 1-7. The main point ofthis passage is in verse 7: 'Man brings trouble on himself .... ‘Eliphaz is repeating what he said before, that trouble comes to a man because the man deserves it.

5:8-27. Eliphaz then exhorts Job to 'turn to God'; he seems to ignore Job's terrible cry of despair to God in chapter 3, and it seems that Eliphaz means that Job should admit that he was an evildoer and penitently ask God to forgive him. Eliphaz sets out his understanding of God in what he says. Rightly, he understands God as the one who sustains life, who does great things that are beyond man's understand¬ing (verses 9-10). God controls human affairs (verses 12-13), and is a moral God (verses 15-16). Eliphaz then presents the educative view of suffering which has been accepted as punishment for wrongdoing (verses 17-18): 'Happy is the person whom God corrects! Do not resent it when he rebukes you! ... His hand hurts you, and his hand heals.' A picture is then given ofthe peace and prosperity which will return to Job if he accepts that he is being punished by God for his wrongdoing. If Job can accept the retributive view of punishment, if he can accept that his afflictions are the result of his evil deeds, then all will be well. Prosperity will be restored to him. This reminds us ofthe teaching of Ezekiel 18.

When we try to assess the value of what Eliphaz has said to Job, we can see that it does not help him at all. Much of what Eliphaz has said about God is supported by other teaching in the Old Testament, but Eliphaz is unable to enter into the experience of Job, who knows that he has always tried to live in a way pleasing to God and just cannot accept that his afflictions are punishment from God for evil deeds which-he is sure he has not committed. Eliphaz's understanding of suffering is too inadequate to help Job. His understanding of God is oversimplified. Eliphaz proves to be a disappointing friend to Job in his time of greatest trouble; in fact none of Job's friends succeed in helping him in the later discussions. Their understanding of the problem of suffering and of the character of God proves inadequate. They criticize Job and do not help him.

 

Job answers Eliphaz (Job 6 and 7)

6: 1-7. One of Eliphaz's words has stung Job. In 5:2, Eliphaz told Job not to worry or to give way to vexation or resentment over his afflictions; Job should bear them patiently until God forgave him for his sins. In what he says, Eliphaz shows that he has no understanding ofthe spiritual agony which Job is experiencing, let alone the physical misery. Job is tortured because he no longer understands God in the way that he used to. The God to whom he offered sacrifices and whom he thought he knew, had disappeared from his life. His life had become terrifying and meaningless. In such a situation, how can he not worry? How can he just sit patiently? He feels that God is now his enemy, shooting poisoned arrows against him (verse 4). Verses 5-7 seem to mean that he could only sit patiently without worrying and protesting in his present misery if he were entirely without human feelings; even animals are upset if they lack food. His violent remonstrations with God (Job 3) come out of the deepest misery: 'so my wild words should not surprise you' (6: 3).

6:8 -13. Job again cries out to God to let him die. He has reached the end of his strength and longs for the sleep of Sheol.

6: 14-23. Job expresses his deep disappointment in those who have claimed to be his friends but are unable to help him in his afflictions. All he asks for from them is understanding of what has gone wrong with his life; instead of kindness he is given criticism. The words of Eliphaz have proved to be of no help to him. Job compares his friends with streams which dry up in the hot weather when people are desperately thirsty.

6: 24-30. He challenges his friends to tell him in what ways he has done wrong; he is ready to listen to them if they can show him exactly where he has been an evildoer. Eliphaz has merely talked in general about his sufferings being punishment for his unrighteousness. His friends have assumed his guilt, without explaining how he has been guilty of evil. Job feels that this is very unjust. He continues to maintain that he is in the right; he knows what is right and what is wrong.

7: 1-21. In an extraordinary passage, Job speaks again directly to the God whom he no longer understands but whom he still believes to have power over his life. Like Jeremiah, he cannot escape from God.

7: 1- 6. The misery of his present existence is vividly described.

7: 7-10. Job has begged God to let him die, but he now expresses the Israelite understanding that the dead cannot communicate with God from Sheol. The death that he asks for will cut him off from God. The dead are not with God. The unspoken question in 7: 1-10 is whether it is worse to go on existing in misery from which he can still speak to God, or to die and be cut off from God for ever.

7: 11. The dilemma which Job finds himself in makes him burst out in even more passionate argument with God, who now seems like an invisible oppressor to him. All Job wants to do is to escape from his sufferings but in his inner self he craves a meaningful relationship with God, and according to the teaching of his times death would separate him from God for ever.

7: 12-16. Job argues fiercely with the God whom he now thinks of as an oppressor: 'Why do you keep me under guard? Do you think I am a sea monster?' (verse 12). There is a reference in this question to an ancient story of Babylonian origin about the defeat of Tiamat, the waters of the sea, by the god Marduk (see chapter 3 of this book). Job is asking God if he has to be kept in helpless submission by God in the way that God was thought to control cosmic powers. The sea was sometimes referred to in Israelite understanding as a symbol of cosmic evil, forcibly restrained by' God from bringing harm to the world. Job then accuses God of sending him terrifying dreams which destroy his sleep. He suffers both day and night: 'My life makes no sense.'

7: 17-21. Job's words in verses 17-19 show us that he is acutely aware that God has a close personal relationship with the human beings he has created. Throughout all his sufferings, this knowledge has never been rejected by Job and it is this knowledge which is at the root of his great mental and spiritual distress. If God wants man to be in an intimate relationship with him, why, in Job's case, has it been des troyed when Job had always tried so hard to please God? Verse's 17-19 reflect Psalm 8 but in a bitterly sarcastic way. God's astonishing care and concern for man, expressed in Psalm 8, becomes God's ruthless inspection of man's faults in Job's argument. Verse 20 depicts God as an oppressor, treating his helpless victim Job with particular cruelty. Verse 21 is a cry for mercy. Job still does not know what wrong he has done in the sight of God, but he now gives in to the argument of Eliphaz that his sufferings prove that he has sinned. He does not admit that he has sinned but no other explanation seems to make sense, although he is not convinced about it. His final words-‘I’ll be gone when you look for me' -still hold to his belief that God's personal relationship with Job in some way provides the key to the meaning of his life. He no longer understands God but cannot escape from his presence and his power. Even after his death, God will look for him.

Elihu joins the discussion (Job 34-37)

Elihu joins the discussion in chapter 32 and is described as a man who had become angry with Job's continued insistence that he had not been an evildoer. By the time Elihu joins in the discussion, the other three men had exhausted their arguments about suffering being God's punishment on Job's sins. Elihu indicates that he has become impatient with their discussion because nothing they had said had changed Job's insistence on his innocence before God and his arguments that God was treating him unfairly.

34: 1-4. Elihu calls on those present to come to some conclusion about Job's plight.

34: 5-9. Elihu first sets out a summary of what Job has said in his arguments with God. Job has claimed that he is innocent of evildoing and that God has been unjust to him. Job refuses to assent to the arguments of his friends, that his suffering is proof of his wrongdoing and is God's punishment on his sins. Elihu then speaks very unfairly of Job, assuming that Job is an evildoer and presenting a false picture of what Job's life had actually been like.

34: 10-30. Elihu then sets out, rightly, the Israelite belief that God is totally righteous, omnipotent and omniscient. Because of his moral character he punishes sinners who cannot hide from him: 'There is no darkness dark enough to hide a sinner from God.'

34: 31-37. Elihu then comes to the conclusion that Job has been speaking from ignorance of God's nature; Elihu indicates that Job's afflictions are just punishment for the evil he is presumed to have committed. To Elihu, Job is a rebellious sinner.

When we try to assess the value of what Elihu has said, we get the impression of the speaker as a man who has carefully learnt the proper beliefs of his community about the nature of God, but judges Job from a rigid position, assuming Job's guilt because he assumes Job's suffering to be the punishment of God. In this chapter, Elihu does no better than the other three men in helping Job to understand his plight.

35: 1-16. In this chapter, Elihu emphasizes what he understands of the transcendence of God. God is far above men; nothing that man does can harm God. It is difficult to see how anything Elihu says here could help Job.

36: 1-21. Elihu keeps firmly to his theme, that God is totally just and that Job's sufferings are just punishment from God for what he has done wrong.

36:22-37:24. At last Elihu begins to move away from his rigid assess¬ment of Job's sufferings, to word-pictures of the wonderful power of God as it is revealed in the world around. The picture which Elihu builds up of God, the great sustainer of life in the world he has created, is going to prepare Job for his dramatic encounter with God himself (Job 38-41). Although Elihu does not do better than Job's other friends when he first enters the discussion on Job's plight, he ends by speaking in a way that prepares Job for what Job has cried out for-God's revelation of himself to Job.

36: 22-26. A hymn praising God's greatness.

36:27-37: 13. In this psalm-like passage, God who sends and controls life-sustaining rain and weather is described in majestic poetry; the thunder is the voice of God; lightning is thrown from his hands; his breath freezes the water and turns it into ice. 'Everyone has seen what he has done; but no one understands it all' (36: 25). We take for granted what happens in the environment in which we live but the speaker in this passage is challenging his listeners to think about what a wonderful thing it is that life is sustained in the world, in the way it is.

37: 14-24. The speaker asks Job to open his mind to the wonderful signs of God's power and sustaining care which are all around him. He asks Job if he can explain what he sees. How does the lightning flash occur? How do the clouds float in the sky? Can Job do anything to help God 'stretch out the sky'? How can human beings speak to God when he is so 'totally other', their creator on whom their existence depends? Verse 20

 

suggests the understanding of God's power which is expressed in Exodus 19:21 and Isaiah 6:5. No human being is fit to stand before God, see him or speak to him. This idea carries on into verses 21-24, as the speaker refers to a dazzling brightness in t~ sky which approaches. In something like a storm or a whirlwind, or possibly the chariot-throne of Ezekiel 1: 4, God approaches Job to answer Job's earlier cries to him.

God answers Job (Job 38-41)

In chapter 7, and in other passages in the book such as 13: 3 ('I want to argue my case with him [God]') and 23: 3-5 ('How 1 wish I knew where to find him, and knew how to go where he is. 1 would state my case before him and present all my arguments in my favour. 1 want to know what he would say and how he would answer me') Job has demanded an explanation from God of what has gone wrong in his life. From his attitude in these passages we get the impression that Job never let go of his belief that the faithfulness he had shown to God in his life would somehow be vindicated, however inadequate his knowledge of God's nature was. In holding on to his faith that somehow God would provide the key to the meaning of his life and his afflictions, even if God seemed to be his enemy and oppressor, Job was not finally broken by the testing which Satan had inflicted upon him. Satan did not succeed in making Job deny the reality and sovereignty of God; in fact, his testing of Job resulted in Job's greater understanding of God's nature (42: 1-6).

In Job 38-41, God reveals himself to Job. What follows in these chapters may be different from what we expect. God does not give Job an explanation of why he has been afflicted; instead, he gives Job the opportunity to compare his own human wisdom and understanding with that of God. In 7: 12-21, Job had questioned God; now God questions Job. God's questions make Job realize that he has never understood the God he has worshipped all his life, but he now begins to know who it is who has come to him and speaks to him. In God's words to Job, the Creator's wisdom and moral goodness and power are affirmed and these affirmations are an adequate answer to Job's remonstrations with God, although the mystery of suffering remains.

38: 1-3. God's question to Job is a challenge. Can the creature criticize his Creator, on whom his existence depends? God makes it quite clear to Job that they are in a Creator-creature relationship, and it is from that situation that Job must listen to God's question. God tells the man he has created to stand up before him and find the answers to the questions which God will ask him. God does not accuse Job in the way that his friends had but leads Job into new understanding of his relationship to God.

38: 4-38. In this great passage, God presents Job with question after question, first about the creation of the universe and then about the way in which life in it and its environment are sustained, Job does not answer even one question because he cannot. God alone can answer the questions which he puts to Job. He alone is Creator and sustainer of the universe.

38: 39-39: 30. God then asks question after question about the animals he has created and whose life he sustains. The wild animals are no concern of man; he cannot tame them and they hide from him, yet they are the concern of God who cares for them and sustains them. God has -his own reasons for creating them, in all their different and strange kinds. 'Then God commanded, "Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life; domestic and wild, large and small"-and it was done. So God made them all, and he was pleased with what he saw. (Genesis 1:24-25). In  verses 19-25, the extraordinary ability of horses to be trained for battle because of the intelligence which God has put in them is described.

40: 1-2. Job has still not answered even one question and God now asks him to speak.

40:3-5. Job knows now that he cannot answer any of God's questions and he admits humbly to God that he had spoken foolishly in his earlier criticisms of God (Job'7).

40: 7-14. God then takes up Job's earlier criticisms of him, in which Job had called God unjust. God challenges Job to take over the moral rule of the world. Job may only criticize God's ru1e of the world if he can equal God's power in judging the wicked. To be equal with God was what Adam and Eve had wanted (Genesis 3).

40: 15-41: 34. God then shows Job his total inability to control even two of the creatures which God has created, let alone control the world. Chapter 40: 15-24 is an obvious description of a great hippopotamus. The Hebrew word behemoth refers to a great beast, untameable by man. Chapter 41: 1-34 is a brilliant poetic description of a great crocodile. What man has ever tamed it giant crocodile'! 'When he rises up, the strongest are frightened; they are helpless with fear.' The word 'Leviathan' refers to a sea monster symbolizing demonic and chaotic powers in the world which only God can hold in check. The point of chapter 41 is that if Job cannot control a great crocodile, how would he. control the demonic and chaotic powers in the universe?

Job's confession and restoration (Job 42)

42: 1-6. The end of God's word to Job has been reached and it has brought a great change to Job. Job now understands his real relationship to God, as of a creature to his Creator. He also understands that his, Creator cares for him and knows him in a personal relationship in which the man has been allowed to come face to face with God. If God cares so much for his creation and his creatures, as has been shown in Job 38-39, how much love does he have for man, the crown of his creation (Psalm 8: 5-8)? Job knows now that the God who has revealed himself to him can be trusted. He still does not know why he was afflicted, but it no ' longer matters because of the new relationship which he has found with God. From this changed situation, Job confesses to God that he talked about things that he did not understand. His knowledge of God had previously been second-hand; he knew only what others had said about God; but now God has allowed him to have direct knowledge of his nature. Job repents of his former ignorance of God and his foolish talk. He sinned in challenging God in his ignorance of whom he was challenging. Job's repentance for his sin opens the way for God's forgiveness. God's grace accepts the only thing that the sinner can offer God, his sincere repentance.

42: 7-16. The prose ending of the book completes the ancient story of Job 1-2. God first reprimanded Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar for their inadequate teaching about God which has brought no comfort to Job in his trouble. Job's knowledge of God had also been inadequate but he had struggled desperately to hold on to a faith which had finally been vindicated by God himself. Job was then commanded by God to pray for his three friends.

God then showed his acceptance of Job in his new relationship to him by restoring his health and prosperity, giving him twice what he had before. This was a sign to those who had rejected him as unclean and a sinner that Job had been blessed by God.

·     The book of Job and the teaching of the Bible

Early in this chapter we looked at the relationship of the teaching of the book of Job to the teaching of other Old Testament books, but we can now take a look at the position ofthe book of Job in the Bible as a whole. It occupies an important position in the whole teaching of the Bible. On one point, the author saw further than anyone else in the Old Testament although he does not present us with a developed doctrine. He puts the question which only the New Testament can answer: If man cannot stand before God in righteousness, how is he to stand before God at all? Another way of putting this question is like this: If a man who tried very hard to avoid evil and was described as good and faithful finds that he cannot justify himself before God because God is so much greater than he ever imagined, what kind of relationship is possible between that man and God? In the Old Testament there are two main lines of thought about how man and God could be in a relationship of reconciliation. One direction, indicated strongly in the Law books, calls for behavioural, sacrificial and ritual correctness as one way of approaching God. Holy God requires a holy people. The other direction indicated strongly by the great pre-exilic prophets-Amos, Hosea, Isaiah-calls for the obedient humble mind and the upright character. Unless the mind and will are behind the external acts, behavioural, sacrificial and ritual correctness are inadequate. The writer of the book of Job indicates by the discussions of the whole book, that something more than these approaches to God is required; in fact, he challenges these two main lines ofthought as being inadequate. In the opening chapter of Job, Job is introduced as a man who kept the requirements of the Law and was pure in his intentions. His external acts were supported by an obedient, humble mind and an upright character. He combines the two approaches to God already indicated in the Old Testament; but this is not enough. He cannot know God and experience a personal relationship with him until God himself takes the initiative and comes to meet Job, out of sheer grace. As Job 38-41 shows, man is a totally helpless creature before his Creator on whom he depends for his existence. In the end, man cannot do anything by himself, unaided, to win God's approval; he can only accept it as an astounding gift of love from the God who is so much greater than he can understand.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel had realized that something very drastic would have to happen to man before his new relationship with God could become a reality. From them comes the very important teaching about the new covenant and the new teaching which God himself would put into the hearts and minds of his people. They see that the initiative is with God and that man cannot change himself. The book of Job does not set out a developed doctrine of grace but points towards the New Testament teaching about God's grace which is expressed so clearly in the teaching of Paul. Paul learnt of God's great gift of grace through his own experience. Like Job, Paul had been a man who took great care to avoid all evil and to live with pure intentions. 'All the Jews know how 1have lived ever since I was young .... They have always known, if they are willing to testify, that from the very first I have lived as a member of the strictest party of our religion, the Pharisees' (Acts 26: 4-5). As we know, Paul's great efforts to please God, through following the life of a strict Pharisee, did not bring him any nearer to God but led him to lead a fierce campaign against the first Christians whom he understood to be heretics and enemies of God. On the road to Damascus, God revealed himself to Paul in the risen Christ. We can see a comparison here between Job's experience when God spoke to him, and Paul's. Paul was overwhelmed by God's presence in Jesus Christ, and like Job, his whole attitude to God was changed.

So the book of Job points towards the very important teaching of the New Testament about God's approach to man through his grace. The more we understand the book of Job, the more we see that it is an important link with the teaching ofthe New Testament.

·     The relevance of the book of Job for modem ChrIstians

In spite of modern man's great technological achievements, we are still faced with the problems that baffled Job. Why is there suffering? What is the meaning of suffering? What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of death? These questions lead to others. What is God like? How do we find God? How can we know God? What is God's relationship with mankind and with his creation?

If our life is to have any meaning, we have to face up to these questions at some time. There is a modern atheistic philosophy which appears to offer an easy way out of these hard questions but actually leads its followers into even more difficult questions. The kind of philosophy which says that we can know nothing except what we experience from moment to moment, and can find no answers to our questions, really makes nonsense of life. If we just live from day to day and then die, just what does that mean?

Christians believe that the answers to some of the questions we have raised are to be found in the teaching of the New Testament. The New Testament also throws light on how we may face the questions which are not answered. The mystery of suffering remains, but the New Testament teaches about the new kind of life, eternal life, which is offered to all men through Jesus Christ. The end of all suffering and evil is promised in the final victory of God over these things. Through trust in God, a great hope is ours. Romans 8: 18 says this: 'I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.' We may follow it with 8: 38-39: 'For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels or other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below-there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Revelation 21: 3-4 says this: 'Now God's home is with mankind! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have dis-appeared.' From such passages, we may come to terms with the questions which modem man cannot finally avoid asking.

 

Research and discussion

1.    How is the book of Job a protest against the teaching of the book of Deuteronomy on rewards and punishment?

2.    'The book of Job may be called a universal book.' Explain this statement.

3.    What explanations might be given in a traditional African society for disasters which fell on a respected elder?

4.    Compare the attitude in a traditional African society to wealth and possessions, with the attitude towards these things in an Israelite society.

5.    In what ways does the writer of Job show that he is not satisfied with Israelite understanding of how man may approach God?

6.    Explain how the book of Job is an important link with the teaching of the New Testament.

7.    Explain the importance of God's answer to Job, in Job 38-41, showing what it teaches Job.

8.    Comment on the relationship of the teaching of Job to the teaching of other Old Testament books.

9.    Comment on the place of Eliphaz and Elihu in the discussions of the book of Job.

10.  'The book of Job is mainly about God's relationship with man.' Comment on this statement, with reference to what you see to be the main themes ofthe book.