This week's reading is LONG! A lot to digest. Sometimes it seems as if it is the same thing over and over again, though I know it is a progression of ideas, building to God's part in the dialogue. I enjoy the vivid use of language and word pictures the author uses. My favorite one is Chapter 19: 16-20. it begins with "My breath is noisome to my wife.....and ends with My bones stick out through my skin, and I gnaw my under-lip with my teeth." Quite a picture, and one most of us can identify with.
Chapter 28 is called the Hymn to Widsom and is a later insertion, not part of the grand dialogue.
This part of the book raises questions to me. What is the nature of God in these chapters? What is the nature of Job in these chapters? What did I learn about the comforters in these chapters? I see God portrayed as powerful, and dominant. Poor Job is waiting for a resolution. I notice his use of sarcasm quite a bit....a natural response to events. The comforters I see as arrogant and self righteous.
Several questions are asked in these chapters......for instance, does God answer a helpless person's cry? Where does understanding dwell? And of course, since I am good, Why am I being punished? I see few answers provided in these chapters.
I think the drive for immediate answers is a strong American characteristic.....other people I know from other cultures seem to be able to deal with ambiguity more successfully than we are. We like black and white, good and evil, wrong and right, yes and no. It takes us a long time to grow up and realize that life doesn't work that way. Job has to accept this, also.
I agree with your comment about "We like black and white, good and evil, wrong and right, yes and no." In my reading journal, I mentioned liked the verses in Job 21:23-26. It says, "Some of us die prosperous, enjoying good health, while others die in poverty, having known only pain. But we all end up dead." A common theme among American Christians is if you are good, then bad things won't happen to you and if you are bad, you will face the consequences of your actions. Sometimes this is true but sometimes it's not. Life is not a math formula where you plug in the numbers and get the same result everytime. There are no guarentees except that we will all face death. I think we would all be better off if we weren't so quick to judge one another and assume that someone is a bad person just because they don't agree with our views. I have found being open minded is much more helpful than carrying the burden of judging others.
ReplyDelete- Annie (Life in Lit Class)
I really do not like Eliphaz, let me just start out that way. This guy seems to be trying to find something to pull out of Job's closet to have caused all the horrible happenings. I honestly wanted to smack him as I read. You hit the nail on the head when you said we are black or white. We have to have reason for suffering, and Eliphaz was trying to find that reason. Eliphaz did have some good advice, albeit misdirected it did seem like good words to think on. Once I decided to stop trying to figure out why I had cancer it made facing it so much easier. Bottom line was that I had it, and now I had to deal.
ReplyDeleteI think that Job's friends may have come across a bit arrogant, but we have to remember that they did not spend every second with Job. For all they knew Job was a sinner and would just not admit it. The three friends stayed the entire time, waiting several days just to hear their miserable friend speak. I think it takes a great friendship for them just to be there with him. They at least think they are doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lesson...Even the most well meaning people who come to those in time of trials can actually be stumbbling blocks to those who are suffering. I think that Job's friends really felt they were right in there assumptions that Job must have done something to bring this on. They were simply naive to how the world works, as so many of us are. I agree with Professor Waterman's conclusions that we really want to see black and white. We have this need to make sense of what is happening around us. I think Job's friends were trying to make sense because if they couldn't, they themselves, would have to face their own greatest fear; that man is not in control of his own destiny. We assume if we are good then blessings will happen. This somehow leaves us with a bit of control...doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Rebbeca and Professor Waterman, Job's friends were looking for answers. They wanted it to be cut and dry as to everything that had happened to Job and why it had happened. We as humans need something to grasp our hands around or it isn't right. I enjoyed how in the end everything that happened worked out for Jobs good and he received everything he had, plus some extra.
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