Today we continue with Job, which continues to be an awesome book but also rather difficult to summarize. Truth be told, there isn't a lot of new content throughout these chapters, but the writing is interesting. Job and his friends don't really differ from their earlier positions, but simply find new ways to restate their points. It's that old biblical adage at work: when in doubt, repeat yourself, then repeat yourself six more times. So chapters 16 through 32 drive home the following points: Job is miserable and bewildered, while his friends are convinced that he must have sinned, and rather rudely tell him so. In chapter 19 Job calls them out for it -- "You have insulted me now a dozen times and shamelessly wronged me" (Job 19:2) -- but neither party is willing to yield.
I have suspicions that this saga is going to be resolved happily, but for the time being I'm enjoying how awful it is. Job is really dealing with some heavy stuff! While his friends stay rooted to their fairytale notion that righteousness always triumphs, he raises interesting questions and makes some poignant observations. He discusses the plight of the poor, who "rise early like the wild ass, when it scours the wilderness for food, but though they work till nightfall, their children go hungry" (Job 24:5-6). He describes his own desperate search for God: "If I go to the east, he is not there; if west, I cannot find him; when I turn north, I do not descry him; I face south, but he is not to be seen" (Job 23:8-9). It's a great moment because it's so real. It addresses a concern that continues to torment people today: the worry that our existence might actually be random and meaningless, and that good people won't always win out. OH MAN! JOB, YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE!
Job gets really existential when he talks about death: "I tell you this," he says. "One man dies crowned with success, lapped in security and comfort, his loins full of vigor and the marrow juicy in his bones; another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted prosperity. Side by side they are laid in the earth, and worms are the shroud of both" (Job 21:23-26). Oh my GOD! Who are you, Ivan Karamazov?!
His friends, by the way, continue to give him the cheapest answers conceivable. Chapter 28, which explores man's ingenuity, is a key example of this. The text opens with a description of mining for ores, saying, "Men master the darkness" (Job 28:3), then goes on to ask, "But where can wisdom be found?" (Job 28:12). I would recommend reading this chapter yourself, seriously, because it's really pretty, but the conclusion is unfathomably disappointing: "The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to turn from evil, that is understanding!" (Job 28:28)
What bullshit! I want real answers, NOW!
In chapters 29 through 31 Job wraps up his discourse, reiterating everything he's already said. Then, in chapter 32, a young man named Elihu makes an appearance. He says that he had refrained from speaking earlier because he is so much younger than the other four men, but he was "angry because Job had made himself out to be more righteous than God" (Job 32:2) and couldn't restrain himself any longer. Elihu winds up assuming the role of a mediator, suggesting that although Job is righteous, he is not perfect. Overall he is a big fan of God and doesn't accept Job's existential whining.
Tomorrow we will finally get some resolution to this crazy tale, and then we can begin Psalms. I suspect that Psalms is going to be pretty boring, and there are a lot of them, so hang in there. We'll power through, friends!
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