Job in the cross-currents

Job's story is a rollicking one. The arguments flow freely from each of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zohar, and their earnest advice swirls around in thought as Job responds in turn. Finally, the young Elihu enters the stage with complete assurance that he has the answers to Job's dilemma. But his breathless judgments ("I must speak so I will feel relief" (Job 32:20, Expanded Bible)) -  although having shards of light - also fall to the ground. 

Through all this wrestling (reminders of Jacob's struggle at Peniel), Job shouts: "I wish I knew where to find God" (Job 23: 3, Expanded Bible) and later asks: "Where can wisdom be found, and where does understanding live?" (Job 28: 12, EB). 

Finally, he decides to be quiet - "The words of Job are finished" (Job 31:40, EB) and at last we hear God's voice (see Job 38 and on). God instructs Job to "Be strong like a man!" (Job 40:7). 

Job is now ready to turn his life around: "...I will change my heart and life" (Job 42: 6).

The book of Job reminds me of the court case in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (Mary Baker Eddy). See pages 430 - 442.

What's grand is that the study of the Bible provides an ever-unfolding revelation with new insights at each reading.

Julie Swannell

PS. I've finally located Dr. Laura Pleming's wonderful book Triumph of Job (copyright 1978) on my bookshelf. I highly recommend this work to book club readers.

Caring for each other

How we care for each other matters.  But, just as children don't need "helicopter" parents, and workers don't appreciate "helicopter" bosses, so Job does not appreciate having "helicopter" friends who hover, analyze, and criticize.

He responds to his friend Eliphaz as follows (Job 7: 17-21 from the Expanded Bible on BibleGateway): 

¹⁶ I ·hate [^Lreject] my life; I don’t want to live forever.
    Leave me alone, because my days have no meaning.

¹⁷ “Why do you make people so important
    and ·give them so much attention [^Lset your heart on them; ^Ccontrast Ps. 8:4]?
¹⁸ You ·examine [visit] them every morning
    and test them ·every moment [all the time].
...
    Have I become a ·heavy load [burden] for you?
²¹ Why don’t you ·pardon [forgive] my ·wrongs [transgressions]
    and ·forgive my sins [carry away my guilt]?

The kind of "watching" described above contrasts markedly from the way God watches over each of His/Her children. Hymn 279 in the Christian Science Hymnal includes the comforting phrase "cared for, watched over, beloved and protected", implying one who is cherished, not judged. 

In "Compassion Wins - Collected Poems and Essays 1977-2000" (copyright 2001), poet Godfrey John explains that "The sense of being watched must not be confused with the sense of being judged" (p. 160). His essay "Looked Over and Watched Over" describes being watched (as a child) by two inquisitive geese, and later by quizzical Indian villagers -- both acute learning experiences. In conclusion, John observes that "...audiences can serve to bring out the best in us"(p. 162) -- a stunning observation! 

In considering how we care for each other, the thirteenth chapter of Paul's first great letter to the Corinthians is deservedly famous. Here, Paul proclaims that Love is greater than hope, and greater than faith. Henry Drummond's 1884 lecture "The Greatest Thing in the World" expands on Paul's message. Drummond divides what he calls "the Spectrum of Love" into "nine ingredients", i.e. 

1. patience
2. kindness
3. generosity
4. humility
5. courtesy
6. unselfishness
7. good temper
8. guilelessness, and 
9. sincerity. 

Explaining "guilelessness and sincerity", Professor Drummond reminds us that "the people who influence [us] are people who believe in [us]. In an atmosphere of suspicion men shrivel up..." 

But Job doesn't shrivel up! He is not a feather floating on the wind. What his friends think or say will not knock him off balance. This man of integrity (of Truth) observes, reasons, and endures.

Julie Swannell

Deep soul-searching

The Expanded Bible is a revelation to me as I read the book of Job from this version. 

Here is what I've found out so far -  

1. Satan represents the Accuser, the Adversary, the Devil (evil, liar).

2. Job represents honesty, innocency, one who loves and honours God. But is he perhaps personally attached to his good deeds and uprightness? In any case, our protagonist resigns himself to his great losses in chapter one ("The Lord gave...takes away") and even to the painful sores which cover his body in chapter 2 (verse 10: "Should we take only good things from God and not trouble?"). So, when his 3 friends come to visit, they sit with him in silence for 7 days.

3. By chapter 3, however, Job's thought seems to have dipped towards anger, bitterness, self-pity and hopelessness. He ponders some deep questions (verses 20-21): 

“Why is light given to those in misery?
    Why is life given to those who are ·so unhappy [depressed]?
They want to die, but death does not come."

The stage is set for some inner wrestling over age-old questions such as:

a) Where does evil come from?
b) Does God punish?
c) Why do good people suffer?
d) Wouldn't it be easier just to die?
e) If you are suffering, surely you must have sinned.
f) Are we willing to really search for God?
g) Who are we going to listen to? Whose voice can we trust?

Some years ago, Bible scholar Elaine Follis wrote a helpful article titled: THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT JOB . . .. You can read it in the January 28, 2008 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, where she shares that: 

"As we know it today, the book of Job is probably an anthology, with pieces assembled from various sources. Suggestions as to the date of its composition vary, but widely respected authorities identify the period around the Babylonian Exile, from about 600 until 400 BC, partly because this was a time of deep soul-searching for a nation losing its sovereignty to a foreign power. The story of Job centers around a discussion of theodicy, a theological term that refers to God's justice. When Job's world falls apart—when he loses his property, his family, and ultimately, his physical well-being—he says in effect, "Hey, what's up with this, God?""

So we see that this ancient text is very relevant to us all today.

Julie Swannell    

Job - a type of integrity

Our book for February, Job, has been said to be a drama, a play, if you will. Thinking about Job like this, we can identify a number of characters in the play, including Job, God, the Devil, and Job's array of friends (or "friendly" thoughts perhaps). We can situate the play in a time distant from our own, in a country far from where we live; or we could re-position it to our own times and in our own community. This is how I've read this book in the past.

Tonight, however, I've picked up a little book I've had on my shelf for some time but never opened until now. It's Job His Spiritual Value by Irma Stewart. You might have it on your bookshelf. 

In introducing "The Approach" (pp. 7-8) to reading Job, Ms Stewart suggests that:

"...Job should not be to us a person buffeted about by unprecedented external calamities, nor a man emotionally devastated by dogmatic persecutions. Job is far more than a member of a dramatic cast and far higher than a symbol of the human mind in all its ramifications, frustrations, and final self-surrender.

"The essential Job is a type of integrity, indeed a spiritual value, expressing its own self-completeness.

"The reader, therefore, is invited to proceed from an impersonal premise, thus to discover and enjoy the ascendancy which so universal an approach must inevitably reveal. To this end let him not think in terms of writer and reader, but acknowledge the omnipresent activity of God, the one and only Mind."

So, dear readers, off we go.

Julie Swannell