The Problematic Bookends (Job 1:1-2:13; 42:7-17)
Job has always been a tough read for me, for reasons already stated. But a really big problem are the bookends. Before you even get into the lengthy poetry that you are always questioning—not just because of the ancient Hebrew poetry, but because it is always hard to tell who you should give weight to and who not (if anyone!)—you have this introduction that lets you know you are on shaky ground, literarily speaking. The Hebrew worldview was one that sort of resembles today’s Health and Wealth (without quite so troubling heresy). They believed that your quality of life was dependent on your morality. If you were a good person, you would be blessed with health and wealth, if you were evil terrible things would befall you.
As Job opens, this worldview seems to be affirmed. Job is a righteous man (the most righteous of all men, according to God) and he is richly blessed. However, the story quickly sets up circumstances that throw the whole system in doubt. Job is made to suffer—the fate of evil men—not to punish him, but to test him. Instead of blessings being the result of morality, the test seems to be to test whether morality is actually a result of blessings. God and Satan want to see if men are simply righteous because they are blessed.
The whole book with its vast poetry will eventually clarify the fact that the entire worldview is mistaken. Blessings are not a reward for being good. And Job proves that being good is not something determined by our level of blessings either, but a choice. Ultimately, we are told we can’t hope to understand why bad things sometimes happen to good men; nor why it sometimes seems like evil men prosper. Ours is to simply trust God.
And then we get the epilogue—the other bookend. The book concludes with Job being even more richly blessed than he was before! So, are we back to the rewards worldview after all? I think not, but we will need to work our way through the book to see how it all ties together, troublesome bookends and all.
As Job opens, this worldview seems to be affirmed. Job is a righteous man (the most righteous of all men, according to God) and he is richly blessed. However, the story quickly sets up circumstances that throw the whole system in doubt. Job is made to suffer—the fate of evil men—not to punish him, but to test him. Instead of blessings being the result of morality, the test seems to be to test whether morality is actually a result of blessings. God and Satan want to see if men are simply righteous because they are blessed.
The whole book with its vast poetry will eventually clarify the fact that the entire worldview is mistaken. Blessings are not a reward for being good. And Job proves that being good is not something determined by our level of blessings either, but a choice. Ultimately, we are told we can’t hope to understand why bad things sometimes happen to good men; nor why it sometimes seems like evil men prosper. Ours is to simply trust God.
And then we get the epilogue—the other bookend. The book concludes with Job being even more richly blessed than he was before! So, are we back to the rewards worldview after all? I think not, but we will need to work our way through the book to see how it all ties together, troublesome bookends and all.
Comments
Post a Comment