Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology
Virginia Union University
Why is the wisdom book so long? I am not a big fan of a long book with all the elaborate words. However, I love poetic expressions in the middle sections of the book and Job's authentic, persistent engagement with God without being swayed by his friends. Job's friends failed to minister to him, busy persuading him with words of empty theology. But God acknowledges Job and his case while not answering him about why he suffers. In the end, God seems to admit unwittingly that his experiment with Job was too cruel for any lesson.
1. Job 42:6 (translation issue):
1. Job 42:6 (translation issue):
In Job 42:6b, did Job repent or comfort himself after/because of God's appearance? The verb in the issue is nacham, נָחַם, which means to comfort (in many places in the Hebrew Bible, including Job) or to be sorry. Except for the Common English Bible and the Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary, almost all English translations go with "repent," which seems absurd, given the Joban perspective in that the issue is not sin but innocent suffering. Eventually, what Job urgently needs is not the logical answer to why he suffers---about which God did not answer him at all--but God's presence and comfort.
Moreover, in 42:6a, there is no object of the verb emas, which means to protest (Job 7:16; 34:33; 36:5). Compare it with other uses of this verb: 1 Sam 15:23, 26; Jer 7:29; Hos 4:6; 9:17; Amos 5:21; Job 19:18; Prov 15:32) (see Leo Purdue, Wisdom Literature, 126).
Traditional translations:
-NRSV/NIV: "therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Alternative translations:
-The Complete Jewish Bible has it: "Therefore I despise [my life], and I will be consoled on dust and ashes."
-CEB: "Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes."
-Leo Purdue: "I protest, but feel sorry for dust and ashes" (Wisdom Literature, 125).
-William Brown: "Therefore I waste away, yet am comforted over dust and ashes" (Wisdom's Wonder, 126).
*The Hebrew text: עַל־כֵּ֖ן אֶמְאַ֣ס וְנִחַ֑מְתִּי עַל־עָפָ֥ר וָאֵֽפֶר:
2. Worth quoting Purdue (Wisdom Literature, p. 126)
Job is not "repenting in" dust and ashes, but rather he expresses his despondency over human fate. He feels sorrow for human beings (i.e., "dust and ashes"), a compassion absent from the nature of God. Job refuses to be intimidated, for he remains defiant. It is Yahweh who has been judged guilty, not the mortal Job, for the voice from the whirlwind has been condemned by his own words.
Moreover, in 42:6a, there is no object of the verb emas, which means to protest (Job 7:16; 34:33; 36:5). Compare it with other uses of this verb: 1 Sam 15:23, 26; Jer 7:29; Hos 4:6; 9:17; Amos 5:21; Job 19:18; Prov 15:32) (see Leo Purdue, Wisdom Literature, 126).
Traditional translations:
-NRSV/NIV: "therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
Alternative translations:
-The Complete Jewish Bible has it: "Therefore I despise [my life], and I will be consoled on dust and ashes."
-CEB: "Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes."
-Leo Purdue: "I protest, but feel sorry for dust and ashes" (Wisdom Literature, 125).
-William Brown: "Therefore I waste away, yet am comforted over dust and ashes" (Wisdom's Wonder, 126).
*The Hebrew text: עַל־כֵּ֖ן אֶמְאַ֣ס וְנִחַ֑מְתִּי עַל־עָפָ֥ר וָאֵֽפֶר:
2. Worth quoting Purdue (Wisdom Literature, p. 126)
Job is not "repenting in" dust and ashes, but rather he expresses his despondency over human fate. He feels sorrow for human beings (i.e., "dust and ashes"), a compassion absent from the nature of God. Job refuses to be intimidated, for he remains defiant. It is Yahweh who has been judged guilty, not the mortal Job, for the voice from the whirlwind has been condemned by his own words.
3. A good article to read
"Advice to Job from a Buddhist Friend" by Sandra B. Lubarsky. [Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 17, Number 3, Spring 1999, pp. 58-68 (Article) Published by Purdue University Press]
"God comes to Job and Job feels God as personally present, as one who knows and cares for him. It may be that the "answer" to such a fundamental question as suffering finds expression in relational terms because the existential need that arises from suffering is ultimately for relationship and care, not for logic. Perhaps it is the case that though there is much that we do not understand, this much we can understand--that we are connected, each to each, to all of creation and (for Jews) to the Creator and that that connection is permeated with God's presence and care. Here Judaism and Buddhism meet--though the one is theistic and the other not--in the belief that the heart of understanding is relationality" (p. 67).
4. Job's Lament: how to read (my earlier post)
Job does not know why he suffers and argues that he is blameless. Even if he is not sinless or perfect, he does not deserve such excruciating suffering. He concludes that God must be cruel or impartial because "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked" (Job 9:22). So, he feels nothing and laments: "If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction. Bold as a lion you hunt me; you repeat your exploits against me" (Job 10:15-16).
Job operates within the traditional theology of reward and punishment and struggles to understand his innocent suffering. In this view, the logic is "you reap what you sow." But he challenges this traditional wisdom because it does not work for him. In later chapters, he even points out that his friends are not faultless and that the wicked are at ease (Job 12:6; 13:7-12). He persistently argues that he is blameless and does not deserve all-loss calamity, including his unbearable suffering.
In reality, however, there was nothing he could do to correct the situation. On the one hand, he knows that normative wisdom failed in his eyes. On the other hand, he must live and deal with the traditional worldview. Worse, no one heard him. Even God is silent. His three friends keep preaching: "You have sinned; you deserve punishment; repent; then you will prosper again." His friends were intoxicated by the pills of traditional theology. They are busy protecting the traditional religion. They don't listen to him at all. They speak all the time. So much so that Job is more despondent and dejected.
The alternative worldview may help Job understand his misery better. That is, anyone falls victim to anything under heaven. So to speak, tragedy happens anywhere to anyone. In that regard, heaven and earth are merciless and impartial. There are human-made sufferings; there are also unknown sufferings. There are "righteous sufferings" too, for those who work for God's righteousness. In the case of Job, suffering or misfortune is caused not necessarily by God's action or due to sin. As the sun shines on all, and as the storm hits anyone at any place, things may happen to anyone (c.f., Matt 5:45; Dao De Jing 5). That is life's design, perhaps. It's science and the sheer reality that we must embrace.
As we approach the end of the Book of Job, God appears finally and speaks to Job. But he still does not answer Job why he suffers. Perhaps the only good news is that God is there with him. How we interpret the final scene of God is the next topic.
*Elihu appears on the scene
*OTHER interesting POSTS: Cross-cultural reading of wisdom