Sermon 1
Job is hard to date, but probably after Israel was taken into exile.
There is glorious imagery is illustrated in the section in which God replies to Job, in
the section beginning “Have you commanded the morning since your days began…
This leads to the lines:
It is changed like clay under the seal
And it is dyed like a garment. (Job 38:14)
Now this is a sermon, not a lecture. Thanks for being so patient with me.
Beyond a morality tale
The prose intro and ending is very different to the extended poetic dialogues that
comprise most of the Book of Job. The more you read and understand the differences it calls into question: why was this book written? The prose ‘bookends’ are
about a pious man tested by God and rewarded in the end. But the poetry is about
almost cosmic indignation and rage against the way God badly orders his universe.
It is not a pious vindication of either God or Job. The differences are so stark, that
for a while I thought the best explanation was that it was black Jewish humor. The
poetry with the dialogues between Job and his three ‘comforters’ and the mediator
Elihu takes you on a wild roller coaster ride of Job’s rage, excesses of sarcasm, and
even possibly blasphemy.
I follow Habel (1985) and others in believing the book is structured as a forensic
document: a legal subpoena for God to show up in court to answer the charges laid
by Job. If you ask me again to preach I will continue that interesting theme.
The context of Job’s suffering is given in the prologue. There is a heavenly scene in
which Satan acted like a prosecutor, accusing Job of self-interest “does he fear God
for nothing?” (1:9). Satan was given power to test Job: a series of tragedies kills his
sons and daughters, raiders put his servants to the sword, take all his wealth including his cattle and possessions. Job has lost everything. This is followed by a second round of accusations by Satan and Job loses even his health. He was inflicted
with ‘loathsome sores’ from head to feet. In this drama Job may be idealized but
there is a question about the portrayal of God – twice being willing to make a wager
with Satan! This is of course highly ironic against the back-drop of discussions
about whether there is a moral order in the universe.
Job of course knows nothing about this heavenly court room drama. I want to focus
on this Job, in the prologue, and especially Job’s wife’s advice (2.9) to “Why do
you persist in your integrity? Curse God and die!” He still had his wife but opinions differ as to whether this was a blessing. Augustine considered the wife to be
Job’s last torment? She was labelled diaboli adjutrix or Satan’s ally. She is the human mouth-piece for the hidden Satan (Habel, p.96).
St Margaret’sNews
10
February 2015