The Narrative and Discourse
Discuss about the Book of Job in Ritual Perspective System.
The book of Jobs is a part of the Hebrew Bible, and the first poetic book of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the narrative which has endeavoured in establishing the justice of God as ultimately fare even in front of the sufferings of humanity. The Book of Jobs especially serves this purpose by addressing the issue with the suffering of humanity and the complain that God is unjust[1]. The Book of Jobs has a rich perspective on various facets of theological discourse and theodicy. The book has vivid description and high quality use of literary qualities. The speeches between Job and his friends has been attributed by religious scholars as important sources of early Hebrew religion[2]. The friends of Jobs are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. The speeches between Jobs and his friends represents a scenario of God’s deliverance of justice even if the situation is otherwise materially in front of the eyes of the beholder. This is done in the “light” of Job’s circumstances. The speeches and discourses ultimately declare that the Lord will deliver the final justice by “blessing the righteous and punishing the wicked”.
In the Book of Jobs the main part and the core of the book comprises of Jobs and his three friends engaging in discourse and debate about the present condition of Jobs. The arguments most of the time does not lead to any particular solution however the arguments and speeches present some very important aspects of theodicy. It gives the readers various perspectives about the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible and the theological discourses that has been presented in it. The discourse ended with Jobs welcoming a divine wrath on him if he was wrong in his part and he had said something wrong. The friends of Jobs begin their argument in a courteous note. There have been a positive vibration about the discourse in the beginning when the friend’s are very courteous and they present their argument and wait for Jobs to speak. Jobs speak more than his friends all along the speeches and present philosophy to them about justice of God. It is generally held that the three friends who had given long speeches about the unjust system of God, had been “condemned” as consequence. There was a instance when Job had to exclaim by uttering “You are miserable comforters, all of you!” (Job 16:2)”. Now there have been a long debate about the insights and ultimate realisations that can be achieved by understanding the discourse. The theodicy presented in the book of jobs in Christian and Hebrew religion as well.
The Three Cycles of Dialogues
The dialogue within the books are framed and composed in poetic renditions. There are monologues as well. The narrative and discourse is the main part of the book. The book opens with a monologue of Jobs himself that takes the readers towards the dialogues and prepares the context. There are three cycles of dialogues that happens between the three friends and Jobs. There are three monologues, “A poem to Wisdom in chapter 28” that is debated about whether it is spoken by Jobs or it is the author’s narrative, there is an ending monologue and the Elihu’s Speech[3]. There is also the Speeches by God himself and the response of Jobs. The context of the dialogue begins with Jobs being wealthy and having a happy family. God in heaven asks Satan about the condition of Jobs to which Satan answers that the only reason that Jobs is in that condition is because he is having a lot of mercy and blessings from the Lord, the moment all that is taken away Jobs would not mind in accusing God to which God permits the Satan in taking away everything about which Jobs is happy including his sons and the wealth he had[4]. Remarkably even when everything is lost Jobs does not fail to praise the Lord, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return: the Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”, or “Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?””.
Eliphaz has been following an argument rather of a balanced kind where he states that the people who are innocent are never eternally punished by God and at most there might be some temporary sufferings but that would not last for long. Therefore the point argued by him is that the suffering faced by Job is temporary and that God will never condemn him for a long time as he is a pious man and there is no reason that Job will be punished permanently without any reason[5]. The person also alludes to the suffering of Job as a correctional measure and that it is being given by God in order to help Job realise certain mistakes that needs correctional measures. However it is seen that with the change of perspective as the discussion goes ahead Eliphaz changes the way he views Job’s sufferings. Eliphaz later starts to question how Job reacts to the advices given to him by his friends. Therefore the tone almost changes and assumes a tone that because of the tone that he assumes Job’s deserve to suffer in the way he is doing. As the narrative by Eliphaz comes towards the end, he almost denies the fact that Job is innocent and it almost becomes evident to him that he deserves to suffer because of his own conduct[6]. “What pleasure would it give the almighty if you were righteous?” Eliphaz maintains that God would not punish and bestow sufferings on the innocent, therefore it is Job who is at fault who is suffering because of his sins.
Perspective of Eliphaz
Bildad is seen to be even more convinced about “divine retribution” and that innocent people do not suffer without a reason. When Job rejects the proposals by Eliphaz, Bildad becomes almost in a challenging tone asks “Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?”, “Job, you are implying from what you have said to us that God is a perplexing God, because he has treated you in the way he has. You are protesting your total innocence, and you’ve been making out that God has left you baffled.”
Bildad is seen to be very argumentative and challenging which should not be the quality of a pious man. However, Bildad seems to be proud and self indulgent. As Eliphaz ends his speech Bildad jumps in arrogantly and starts his own argument without giving a chance to Job to answer in details the questions posed by Eliphaz. “Let me tell you something about your children, When your children sinned against God, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin”, says Bildad. This is utterly inhuman to say similar things to a bereaved parent who has lost child. Even in the Christian tradition people with such inhumanity is found at several instances[7]. However Bildad do not care about what has happened to Job and how unfortunate it is. Rather Bildad wants to express his opinion as much as he can in rude manner to show the credibility of his own belief. Bildad also have several advices for Job that can restore his condition. “It’s simple enough: you confess your sin to God and he’ll restore you: If you look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.” Therefore, even if Job has not committed Sin he is forced to concede that he has, and then ask for forgiveness. Through these discourses, Bildad fortifies his faith in the outright use of divine requital. At the point when looked with the uneven confirmation of Job’s agony, Bildad declines to give up his position[8]. Rather, as Eliphaz, he re-assesses his starting perceptions about Job. He not just suggests that Job is nearer to the underhanded than anybody understood, he eventually expels the privilege of anybody to scrutinize the activities of God—whose insight far surpasses human capacity.
Perspective of Bildad
Of the three companions, Zophar has minimal movement in his discourses. He starts with the outright affirmation that Job must be in charge of his agony due to sin[9]. He doesn’t consider Job’s torment to be clarified away. Zophar’s endurance is additionally noted in the way that, only he, has just two addresses—not notwithstanding offering a third discourse. In his first discourse, Zophar communicates his dissatisfaction at Job’s strength and unequivocally announces that Job is a miscreant and hasn’t been rebuffed for the greater part of his transgressions. “Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin” says Zophar tko establish his idea that it is for sure that Job has sinned and he is punished for what he has done. So the friends altogether come to their own conclusions without even trying to contemplate about the actual situation.
The theodicy in the book of Job is exceptional because God himself is seen to be bragging about the faith of Job and He is sure that even if something and happens to Job he would not be questioning God for accuse him of unjust behaviour in anyways[10]. The book is all about the unconditional faith of Job on God’s system of justice. The fact the three friends of Job also has faith on the justice system of God but the mistake they commit is questioning a pure devotee of the Lord about committing sin even when Job himself several times plead them to understand that he has not committed any sin and that there must be some greater desire of god behind the present condition that he is facing.
The main argument and theodicy presented by Job in the book that God is omnipresent and that his activities cannot be understood by the limited human brain, hence when Bildad says that he is sure about the sins committed by job, he is seen to stating that God’s activities cannot be explained or understood so easily. “I say to God, ‘Do not condemn me. Let me know what You charge me with. (10:2) How many are my iniquities and sins? Advise me of my transgression and sin”. Job himself endeavours to enquire about the reasons behind his plight to the Lord but he never accuses Him of injustice. Or he never accepts that he himself has sinned.
The style of prologue and epilogue differs in the way of presentation and the style than other Biblical books of the Old Testament[11]. The book uses prose for sections that are narrative and poetry for the sections which are dialogues between Job and his three friends. There are many perspectives of theodicy in the book of Job. “Man is rewarded of his faith”, this is the final verdict of the book of Job. The speeches given by the three friends of Job gives the reader an idea about the various possible flaws that can be there in a man, One of the mistake is to take for granted that man understands the various actions of Job and this leads to various speculations about the activities of God and why he has acted in a particular way[12].
The key is to trust the actions of God and have faith that there must be a greater reason why something particular has happened. The theodicy reinstates the ultimate and unquestioned faith on the lord. Both the prologue and epilogue forms an important part of the book for the reader to understand the message from the speeches of the three friends of Job. It is the endeavour and journey of man in understanding the glories of God. The discourse of the three friends with Job gives the understanding of what is true faith and what is speculative faith.
Reference:
Andersen, Ragnar. “THE ELIHU SPEECHES: THEIR PLACE AND SENSE IN THE BOOK OF JOB.” TYNDALE BULLETIN66, no. 1 (2015): 75-94.
Cook, John A. “Job. Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary.” (2016): 258-259.
Gray, John. The Book of Job. Sheffield Phoenix, 2015.
Hawley, Lance R. Metaphor Coherence in the Book of Job. The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016.
Lambert, David A. “The book of Job in ritual perspective.” Journal of Biblical Literature 134, no. 3 (2015): 557-575.
Lenzi, Alan. “The Book of Job: Your Literary Theophany.” (2016).
Morriston, Wes. “Protest and Enlightenment in the Book of Job.” Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays(2018).
Murphy, Roland Edmund. The Book of Job. Paulist Press, 2014.
Pohl, William C. ” In All this Job Did Not Sin with His Lips”: Divine Speech Ethics in the Book of Job. 2016.
Priddy, David Wayne. “Sensing the Vexation: an Embodied Reading of the Book of Job.” PhD diss., Wake Forest University, 2016.
Williams, Clayton J. The Shadow of Christ in the Book of Job. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
Willmington, Harold. “Job at a Glance.” (2017).
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