Job Session Five

Before we move on to Session Five, let's review what we've learned and thought about in the previous sessions. Take a moment to refresh your memory on the key points: Job's character; what God and the narrator said about him; the bet between God and Satan; Job's lament; what Job's three friends said about him, his suffering, and what he should do to regain his good life; Job's response to all this; and Elihu's windy cruelty to Job.

Unexpectedly to all but Job, God speaks to him. But before that Job had endured a long time of silence.

While you were suffering, what was your experience of God? What did He say to you?

If God did not speak to you, how did you cope with His silence?

Take a few minutes to think these over on your own or discuss with others, and then write down your answers.

Up to now, we've heard what the human characters in Job think about Creation. But now God speaks up. He describes the Creation through asking questions of Job, knowing full well that this is not what Job was asking about and that he cannot answer the questions. Yet when we hear these questions, we feel that we can answer many today, given our great leaps of knowledge of the earth and the heavens. And so for us, the questions can take on a different tone, if we let them, although I suppose that would depend on each reader's individual knowledge of physics and of how scientists are manipulating the earth today. But really that's not the point. Our actual knowledge is not the point. One would assume that this being an inspired book, like all the other books in the Bible, that the source of the inspiration (God) would know that the people reading this book at some point would understand the science behind these questions, moreso 1,000 years beyond today. And so the questions have to be more than just about the superficial science. The questions are, in a sense, a rhetorical device to describe what God did in the dawn of time. They're meant to get us to start thinking. And they're meant to get us to see Him as a being with emotions, who's totally into his Creation. He's like an artist who is a bit possessive of His creation and a bit huffy about anyone else taking credit for it and thinking they know all about it. So He's going to question such temerity. After all, it was not just something He whipped up!

The first thing God points out is that He put a lot of thought into His work. Like an engineer, he measured out his materials, He ensured the foundations were solid enough to hold up the weight, He used a cornerstone, He built for permanence. This was no temporary Creation, to be struck down in a fit of pique. This Creation is timeless, thought out, measured, permanent.

It's interesting to note that as scientists look for life in the universe, more and more they're coming to realise just how immense the odds are against life starting, growing, and remaining on a planet. It's starting to look like design is built into the earth. Yet many people don't believe that anymore. Many scoff at the idea that one divine being created the earth and the heavens, relying on rudimentary scientific knowledge to bolster their claim and to see God's questions only on a superficial level of strong language.

But they turn their eyes away from the fact that physics is no longer about laws, but about theories. The work of scientists is to prove or disprove those theories and then to further hone the kept ones. And they avoid the big fact that scientists cannot say what happened before the big bang or why the big bang. And they don't know that about 41 percent of scientists believe in God, which means this kind of knowledge-based reaction probably arises in those who start and get stuck at the superficial level of understanding, not from deep contemplation of the drama unfolding.

Job understood that these questions are a way for him to see God in His Creation.

Many readers also read this text strictly through modern eyes and forget that it was written in a different time, in a different culture, that looked at and thought about things in a very different way from us. They are trying to interpret a piece filled with imagery and layers of meaning, written in a language not as precise as English and thus more metaphorical, through a superficial, literal lens. Things will be a bit out of focus when it's read that way! So let's focus on the key point: God is meticulous, He thought through His design to account for every aspect and outflow, and He made it for permanence.

God moves from describing His meticulousness in creating the heavens and the earth to describing the physical world and then the animal world. At first, it reads like a literal description. But He brings into it moral words, spiritual concepts. For example, the sea is shut in by doors, a metaphorical way to describe the rising of the land to contain the reaches of the deep waters but also a way to show the moral order that God is imposing on the sea. Since water per se has no spirit (or one assumes) or morality, then the sea becomes a symbol of the deep waters that formed when God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1. Those waters were dark. There was no light at that time; the earth was a formless void into which anything could spill. Through his next acts of Creation, God brought out light and imposed order on these early waters. But as He points out here, He merely contained the chaos, He did not obliterate it. When He created light, He did not get rid of the dark.

The other thing about chaos contained is that there's a sense of an end. Hurricanes and earthquakes cause great havoc, but they do come to an end. Even genocides end. Water is something that is more feared than land. We can stand near water, then be in water, then under, and then gone. But land is solid; it's stable. It cannot swallow us up, well, generally speaking it doesn't! Our earth's structure is chaos contained. Apparently, tectonic plates give us a breathable atmosphere. Without them, there'd be no life. But they also give us earthquakes and tsunamis that swallow up humans. God is asking Job, and us, to ponder this chaos contained idea.

God continues to show his thought-full-ness in putting together the earth, in how rain is needed, in how mountain goats will give birth, in who will watch over the calving of the deer so that the young will grow up strong. We know that, of course, not every deer and every mountain goat is born easily or that they always grow up strong or that their parents will be around to watch over them, ending up with them being eaten or starving to death. And we know God doesn't intervene to save every creature's life, especially as so many predators rely on the flesh of other beings to survive. But the ways animals procreate and birth -- mammals and birds in their own particular ways - by design work well for mother and baby, to nourish the baby, to have him or her grow quickly into strong adulthood, much faster than any human child, so that they can look after themselves and begin the next cycle of life. God has designed life and set it in motion.

All the elements like rain and lightning are beyond the control of humans, well, until recently. The Chinese have begun to harness the rain, and in time I'm sure, humans will learn to tame the elements more and more. But taming them remains a tough proposition, not easily and predictably achieved. As for the animals listed here, all are wild, but the war horse. Yet the war horse is independent of spirit, able to participate in the battle, not just be completely subservient to its rider. In other words, these are God's creations, not belonging to humans alone and completely. The point isn't that we have no control over these things it's that we didn't make them and in not being their creator, we cannot call them to us. Only God can. They will only ultimately respond to His voice, like a child to their mother.

However, this description is more than just a literal recitation of what God created. I wonder if it is not also God telling Job about the way to the light of God and the way to the darkness without God, beginning with the description of the sea. Modern humans certainly know where light comes from in physical reality and why it becomes dark, yet this book is for the ages, and thus knowledge like that should not be relevant to this story. In which case, the higher meaning makes more sense. No one really knows those ways. We wrestle with these ideas and have no firm answers. For example:

Verses 22 to 24 are an odd thing to say about snow and hail; times of trouble are definitely not the de facto ways of winter. In fact, some of us enjoy winter and play in the snow. So speaking of trouble, battle and war, in a way foretells Revelations, the time of battle and war in the Apocalypse.

And then in verses 25 to 26 God shows his concern for more than humans: God is also interested in the health of the land. When we dig down deeper into the language, we hear God saying that where there is a desert of spirit, he shall send water. (For Christians, this would bring to mind Jesus' statement about him being water for the thirsty.) However, God does not mention humans. There could be several possibilities why.

For there to be a universe so constructed that a creature could exist that could ask "why me" requires certain things. Leaving humans out is an implicit recognition that we ourselves have re-introduced an element of unwanted chaos through sin and disobedience -- which the friends epitomize. Or God left humans out because He gets to them in the second speech. Just as in the order of Creation humans come last, so too here.

The rest of His speech is about the thought God put into each of his creations, whether animal or rain, how he chose to make some wise, some stupid, some free, some strong. It's interesting that he mentions that both the stupid creation (ostrich) and the courageous, smart one (horse) have no fear, even the latter laughs at fear. The next time he mentions no fear is in his second speech.

God doesn't tell Job off for not "declaring to Him," as you or I would expect. Instead, He continues and expands on what He had said before, continues to respect Job's need for an answer and his ability to listen well. Whatever He's feeling, He's showing respect to this faithful servant and acknowledging both Job's Oath and his dissatisfaction with God's first speech.

He begins his second speech with the same words as the first one: "Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me." (40:7) God will continue to justify Job by speaking to him, but He expects him to stand up and answer still. No whining that he's only human. Also, God understands the full consequences of Job's Oath when He demands, "Will you condemn me that you may be justified." (40:8) He's angry, but by continuing to speak to Job, He knows that Job doesn't want to condemn God; Job wants an answer and wants to continue his relationship with God. By God speaking to Job, their relationship has truly become two-way.

God begins by speaking of the wicked. In this short passage of verses 10 to 15 in chapter 40, God asks questions that in essence describe Himself. It's a rhetorical device God uses to communicate to Job what His views on the wicked are. I don't believe He's putting Job down. After all, that would be a bit hypocritical as He's the one who brought Job to Satan's attention and allowed all that suffering to happen. Robert Sutherland writes that God must be "harsh and evasive with Job. God cannot appear loving, lest Job find in kind words a reason to love God. If this is love, then it is the toughest love possible." (http://bookofjob.org/) That may be true, but God may be speaking to Job in the way that Job's culture demands, one of strong words and strong, almost aggressive emotion. Just because we're a society which prefers gentle speech doesn't mean that was the case in Job's time. The only thing we know for sure here - and it's the most important thing - is God's view of the wicked. So let's take a look at these verses:

God decks Himself in majesty and dignity. Anyone whose dignity is important to them demands and expects respect. They also won't do something that will damage that dignity, especially compromise their integrity. Just as Job would not put his integrity away, neither will God.

God clothes Himself with glory and splendour. God likes to look good, not all depressing in drapes of black.

God overflows with anger when looking upon the wicked, specifically the proud. He intends to abase, to humble, the proud. He will bring them low, and He will tread on them. He is telling Job that though He observes the wicked and even brings them up, in the end their ways anger Him, and He will act. The question is does He always act now, always wait, or a bit of both? The problem is that time is important for us, but not for God.

God will hide the wicked in the dust together and then bind them to the world, to Satan's world, below. It almost sounds like He's going to wait and gather them altogether before He acts in bringing them low, in treading them down, in sending them to Satan's place. Unfortunately for us, that means a lot of putting up with crappy behaviour while God waits for His time to act.

I wrote this poem as part of the poem-a-day challenge in April 2009 when I was reading these chapters. It came out of my sub-conscious, practically fully formed. This poem may not be copied and is fully copyrighted by me Shireen Anne Jeejeebhoy!

Look Upon Your Vain Hope, King of Pride

I gaze upon the stars
At night, their rays like tears
Of joy, of wonder that explode
Into grief upon seeing Leviathan
Roam upon the earth, that creature the demons cheer,
That God created for our misery.

We, who inhabit this place of misery,
Look to the heavens, to the stars
For their cheer
To dry our tears
That the great Leviathan
Did gloat to see in us explode.

And now our anger roils, it explodes,
Cloaking our misery
That he feeds on, that fat Leviathan.
But our fury reflects off him to feed the stars,
Who shed drops and drops of fiery tears
Upon us to bring back in us a spark of cheer.

Oh, so much angst in us does need cheer
To succor, else our hearts explode
Into crimson gushers flooding the land, drowning our tears.
Oh, such misery
They do see, the stars
When they look upon the proud work of Leviathan.

He curls his tail, he purses his mouth, he squeezes his body round his happy prey, does Leviathan.
He feasts on complacent pride and cheers
To see from their mighty fortresses, the constellations' impotent fury in his starring
Role on earth, his domain of rock formed when God the universe did explode.
He looks fondly on the banquet his happy prey creates from our misery,
He and them slaking their thirst with our tears.

From the heavens, drop by drop, claret and choler tears
Fizzle and burn the armour of the fearless Leviathan.
But he heeds nothing but what he wants: misery.
His enemy is cheer,
And he quickly explodes
It back up to the stars.

But the stars dry their tears
As God, as Ahura Mazda explodes the vain Leviathan.
And all we who suffer cheer to see the end of our misery.

It'll help your understanding if you read the whole of these chapters; focussing on verses 40:19 to 41:4 and 41:11 to 34 will help you see.

After telling Job how He will and does deal with the wicked, God begins what at first seems an incomprehensible soliloquy on a creature called "Behemoth." He describes some of its physical aspects, specifically what it's made of internally and where its power and strength come from physically. Many literal minded-readers believe that God is describing an actual prehistoric, ancient beast or the hippopotamus and crocodile. I personally think if one is going to be literal, the komodo dragon is closer. We know extremely large animals roamed the earth, long before humans, animals like the dinosaurs, like the mastodons and sabre-toothed tigers. And the hippo and crocodile are not to be taken lightly. And definitely not the komodo. But did they have bones actually made of bronze? Or limbs made from bars of iron? Were they completely undefeatable by humans? Of course not. Humans are the ultimate predator. We're at the top of the food chain. There's nothing that we cannot kill on this earth. Not now, not then. Yes, these could be metaphors for how powerful their muscles and bones are; but by using this imagery and by telling us directly that we cannot kill it, period, God is saying that this is a metaphorical beast, an unworldly looking and powerful beast.

God interrupts his description of Behemoth to tell Job that "It is the first of the great acts of God - only its Maker can approach it with the sword." (40:19) In one sentence God speaks of the beginning of time and the end of evil. Job had in a way predicted this part of God's power when he had said in 26:13, "By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent." (A sword pierces.) And when he had said that at the end he will stand with his Redeemer. (In Isaiah 27:1, the prophet brings the image of sea and Leviathan full circle: "On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea." The serpent is also Satan in the garden of Eden.)

God is telling Job two important aspects of this beast: who created it and when; and who can defeat it. God knows Job knows the Creation story, and at this statement in 40:19, Job's mind will instantly jump to those first words in Genesis. Right from the start, God already primed him for thinking of that time by the use of the symbolic number seven, by talking of the seas leaping from their womb, by talking of laying the foundation of heaven and earth in His first speech. God is saying to Job, this all began at the beginning:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. (Gen1:1-4)

That was on the first day.

Before God created light, there was darkness. Darkness came from the first act of God's, when he created the heavens and the earth. At that point in the Creation, the earth was a formless void. The choice of words here is interesting, as void doesn't just mean empty, it also has shape and a meaning of waiting or ready to be filled. What would fill it? At that point, the deep was covered by darkness, and God was above the darkness. God then created light within that darkness and then he separated that light from the darkness. It was only after light was created and then the elements of the earth and the creatures upon it, out of that light, that God created humans and saw them as very good, not just good. In other words, humans do not intrinsically belong to the darkness.

This will recall to Job what God had said about the dawn shaking out the wicked from the skirts of the earth, about how light is withheld from the wicked. God is now expanding on that, telling Job that He created the darkness, He created that chaos and evil, but He also created light that is not only separated from that creature, from that evil, but is also a path for humans to follow to God. As Job had said, the wicked are those who want nothing to do with God.

I will digress to say that I've been told that we cannot assume that Job's knowledge of the Creation story is of the one depicted in Genesis. The one he knows may take a different form. But it seems to me that if Job is within the Old Testament, and the OT was put together with that Creation story, then that is the one that Job is in continuity with. Also the few Creation stories I know are basically the same. Anyway.

After this brief but significant interruption of His description of evil, God returns to it, depicting how Behemoth lurks and hides in shallow waters. And then He calls it Leviathan. Some have interpreted this change to mean that God is describing two creatures; others that He's describing chaos. But read the text. He asks Job of Behemoth: "Can one take it with hooks or pierce its nose with a snare?" (40:24). In the next verse, he continues that analogy of hooking but now calling the beast Leviathan: "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook..." (41:1) Humans call Satan by many names, so it really isn't unusual that God would do the same. Is it? The better to confuse us with, I say. Poetic too.

God now turns to much explaining of how impenetrable, how fearless Leviathan is (recalling that other of His creatures described earlier are also fearless: so the list is now stupid, courageous, and evil). We readers will remember how Satan was fearless in challenging God way back in chapters one and two, while Job was terrified. God picks up again the thread of the other-wordly physical design of Behemoth now Leviathan and makes a couple of pointed remarks worth noting.

God asks Job if Leviathan, if Satan will make a covenant with him. God is asserting that God respects Job and the nation so much, loves them so much that despite being vastly more powerful than humans and Creator of them to boot, He wants to and has made a covenant with them. Satan views humans with no such respect or love. (41:4)

The other remark is that no one can confront it and be safe. Evil is dangerous to every being under heaven. (41:11). This lets us off the hook for destroying evil, but not for resisting it. Yet we think we can control evil, but we cannot. Just as we cannot control God. Those who have tried, have suffered. But those who resist evil flourish in their spirit: God told Job that the way to Him is through the light.

God also warns against stirring Leviathan up in 41:10. And that's so true. Human literature is rife with images of stirring up the sleeping dragon, disturbing the sleeping lion. We know the consequences of stirring up evil are not good. God is unmitigating in His warning not to try to destroy this beast, in saying that only He can do so and will do so. But He hasn't done so yet. Of course, we wonder why the heck not!

Job's reality check to the idealism of other parts of the Bible is in real evidence here. The Psalmist in Psalm 74 sings to God, "You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness." The Psalmist equates Leviathan with evil and sees God as already having crushed the rampant evil destruction of their emblems and prophets that they are sighing over in this Psalm. But we know from Job that God has not yet crushed Leviathan.

God ends his description of Behemoth/Leviathan with the words, "It surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud." (41:34). Job will immediately recall that God had begun this speech with the words, "look on all who are proud, and abase them. Look on all who are proud, and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand." Leviathan, Satan, evil may be king over -- may control -- the proud, but God can not only slay Behemoth, He can also destroy Satan's kingdom. While God's Creation is permanent (see speech one), Satan's is only temporary.

Hearing these words, Job will also recall what God had said about the seas, that he constrained it and said to it "Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped." (38:11) Darkness covered the deep in Genesis and the spirit of God swept over it and decided to create light within and then separated the light from the darkness. The seas are a metaphor for that darkness covering the deep; Job himself said that wisdom is not to be found in the deep and the sea (28:14). And as we know from reading Job, wisdom is the fear of the Lord. God is saying that though the darkness is with us, He has constrained it. We cannot control it; only its Maker can, God. But we are separated from it unless we choose to join it. And eventually those who choose to join it will be trampled down and consigned to Satan's lair forever. This evil can affect us, can cause us great suffering and harm, but whether we join it or resist it is our choice, and God is always watching, always interested, always loving and respecting us for fighting that war of resistance. He has already replied to our questions of suffering; He is replying to our cries of innocence with affirmation; He will reply with our final liberation.

God's two speeches are not a complete answer, not give a direct answer. Just as Job listened closely to his friends and was able to refute their accusations, he is also listening closely to God. He hears this message, and finally, finally feels energized enough, unburdened, vindicated and released from the idea of punishment for sins to now answer God's questions. God really cares about him! Our problem is that we lack in the book of Job the visual experience that he had. Ours is a hearing of the ears in print form. So we can only listen to what he saw that changed him -- and hope we see the same one day. But he reminds God again that no purpose of His can ever be thwarted, meaning in the end God will execute his plan or purpose no matter how much Job has been hurt and objects to it. Yet God did tell him something about that purpose. That counts for something.

Job begins with God's very first question back in 38:2. It's interesting that he doesn't repeat word for word God's question but does get the meaning right, just like we do when discussing at length difficult topics.

He tells God that he has uttered what he did not understand. He knew he didn't understand God's majesty and power, his works of Creation, but now he knows a few things more that he hadn't understood before, things about the Creation, things too wonderful - meaning wondrous to behold and inducing awe -- that he hadn't known before; things about evil and how it came to be; things about Leviathan causing suffering; perhaps things about innocent suffering; things about how God will put an end to evil; hints of a fuller explanation to come.

He answers God's twice-repeated question of declaring to Him by telling God that he had heard of Him before, like one would a person through letters and tales, but now he sees Him fully, not only literally with his eyes, but also the eye of his mind which sees the mind of God. (This interpretation may depend on the translation as one uses "eyes" and another like the NRSV "eye" -- eyes and eye do not mean the same or have the same connotations.)

Verse 6 in chapter 42 is a bit problematic in translation, but we do know that Job refers to himself as "dust and ashes." What does this mean? We must go out of Job to find some understanding. There is only one other place in the Bible where this phrase is used. Abraham was challenging God over His plans for Sodom, and he says to the Lord, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes." (Gen 18:27) Abraham is being both humble and challenging. He's acknowledging that he has no power, no control, but he's also challenging God to do what is just. And so similarly is Job.

Job is a model for us as to how to respond to innocent suffering, to undeserved evil being unleashed upon us.

Job has endured the accusations of wickedness from his three friends and the cruel pronouncements of Elihu. He has resisted their evil thoughts about him, though it cost him dearly in support and sympathy. He has never wavered from talking to God, being humble before God yet challenging his plans. And he has now been declared innocent by God and shown his faith to not depend on superstition, obsequiousness, carrots or sticks. God's answer that innocent suffering is part of the Creation brings him back to life. He may not have been able to control what happened to him, but he was able to control his own response, to maintain his integrity, even as he grew wearier and wearier. He has always been humble, bowing to God, but he is also telling Him in this final verse that he is not happy with the justice of God's plans and shall wait till judgement day for that full explanation - the day he referred to in chapter 19, verse 25. "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth."