CHAPTER 15
Now for round two, and Job and his lousy friends go over
things yet again. Eliphaz kicks it off
with his second speech. Again, it’s the
same as before. He tells Job that the
wicked are tormented all of their days, and the Job shouldn’t condemn God. I’m continually amazed that these guys could
claim the wicked are always tormented.
What planet are they living on?
Sure, some wicked live horrible lives, but some are Donald Trump.
Much of this speech is just telling Job that he’s out of
line for questioning God. Who does Job
thing he is do this? God was here
first? He is the one above all else.
It occurs to me that in a weird way Eliphaz just confirms
Job’s argument from earlier. There, Job
acknowledged that God had the power. Job
always recognized that God had the authority.
But for Job, that didn’t mean that God stood for morality and
justice. It just meant that God could
claim to stand for morality and justice, and since he had all of the power, no
one could question that. Apparently,
that’s good enough for Eliphaz. God having
the power is enough to convince Eliphaz in the righteousness of God. But Job, obviously, isn’t satisfied.
CHAPTER 16
Job begins his next reply by saying he’s heard this all
before. But it’s just “windy words” from
his “troublesome comforters.” They
should be offering solace, but instead they’re kicking Job when he’s down.
Actually, somewhere around here I had a realization – prior
to his recent string of calamities, Job believed in and agreed with every
little thing that these friends of his are saying.
Let’s think. Through,
I’ve had a hard time wrapping my brain around the notion that anyone could
really believe all of these things the friends are saying. Their philosophy is simply that if you are
good before God, things will work out well for you. But if you are wicked, your life will
suck. This strikes me as such
transparent claptrap that hearing guys mouth it strikes me as nearly deranged. Who would think this?
Yeah – let’s stop there: who would think this? Actually, it’s clear who would think this –
people doing really, really well. People
who believe in God and are materially successful are ones who will think that
their riches are because God loves them.
And if God loves them more than the other guy, then that means the other
guys – the downtrodden – must be worse off.
Virtually everyone wants to feel morally justified in
life. We all want to feel that we’re
better than the other guy. This
philosophy can justify riches to the wealth.
It’s an ancient Hebrew take on the prosperity gospel.
Job probably felt the same way, until events showed the flaw
in that logic. After all, these are his
friends. As annoying as they might be to
him now, when they were all fat and happy, Job could feel the same things. In fact, one reason he seems so angered to
here their thoughts – aside from the fact that they are inane – is because they
are the words he himself would say once upon a time in a lifetime that seemed
eons ago.
Also, that would mean that Satan had a good point back in
Chapter 1. Sure Job is so pious and
perfect, God – because you’ve given him everything. It’s easy to be pious when the world is going
your way, but let’s shift that. Not only
has Job lost his wealth, but he’s also had his worldview shattered.
CHAPTER 17
Job continues his reply.
It’s a short chapter (just 16 verses) but it has some nice lines.
Job tells his friends that he has become a byword of the
people. He still is, but strangely
enough he’s now a byword for patience, and Job isn’t really patient. Morally outraged; but not patient. I wonder where we get the expression “as
patient as Job” from anyway. It sure
doesn’t fit.
Also, Job lets off the ultimate insult in the Bible: “You
darken their minds to knowledge.” Hey –
I didn’t say the funniest or the most memorable insult. It’s not a great zinger. But it’s an insult that really hits hard in
the Bible. We’re told throughout – especially
in this middle section – how important wisdom is. It’s the stuff that makes the world go
around, and it’s the most prized trait in the Bible. But Job thinks his friends are
knuckleheads. Anything is better than
that.
CHAPTER 18
Now it’s time for Bildad to speak up again. He asks Job, “Why are we accounted like
beasts?” I’ll answer for Job: Because
you’re a braying bunch of asses!
It’s more of the same.
The wicked will get theirs. Don’t
worry, be happy. And that advice is
every bit as lame and tepid as the Bobby McFerrin song.
CHAPTER 19
Job rams back with the same moral argument he’s made
before. He doesn’t claim to be
perfect. He doesn’t claim to lack
fault. But what happened to him was so
extreme and out of line with any misdeeds he’s made, that it can only mean that
God has been unfair and unjust to him.
One point I should make.
All throughout – with both Job, his friends, and even God and Satan –
all that’s mattered is how this affects Job.
Man – what about the 10 dead kids!
What about them? For that matter:
what about all the dead servants? Do they not count. As a matter of fact, no – they don’t. They are just bit players in the great cosmic
drama of Job. They are the ones who
really have been treated unjustly.
I realize that this story is just one long parable and not
meant to be treated as literal truth.
But it’s a story that wrestles with the central Big Questions of
justice, pain, and fairness – and by those standards we should try to account
for the 10 dead kids.
Oh, and Job drops one of the most famous statements of all
time here: “I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.” What’s weird is that the sentence makes zero
sense in context. He isn’t talking of
escaping. He’s talking about how much
he’s lost. Supposedly, the original
ancient Hebrew text for Job is among the most obscure and hardest writings of
the Bible to understand. Modern Bibles
nowadays often have very different translations of Job as a result. This phrase is famous, but in context it’s
just weird.
In the very next verse, Job says something which makes a lot
more sense in context, “for the hand of God has struck me!” That line also sounds famous, but not “skin
of my teeth” famous.
CHAPTER 20
Time for the third asshole friend to deliver his second
speech. Zophar is his name, if that
matters (it doesn’t).
It’s the same old same old – the glory days of the wicked
will be short. While there is plenty of
good things to say about Job, and while it’s often fascinating. It sure as hell is redundant.
CHAPTER 21
Job again rails against his friend’s advice. Job notes how many wicked people are doing
well. He says, “Look at me and be
appalled.” That’s a decent line.
Job even starts to question why it’s right to serve the
Lord. Previously he’s always
acknowledged God’s power, if not always God’s morality. But now Job flatly asks, “What is the
Almighty that we should serve him? And
what do we gain by praying to him?”
Two things to note there: this is a new level of
rebellion. God is flatly not worth
following. Second, Job is actually
buying into the logic of his friends, even while refuting it. They say God is good and thus let’s good
things happen to good people. For Job,
if that were true, then God would be worth following. But it isn’t true. In both cases – both with Job and his friends
– the belief in following God flows from the idea that he’ll pay off. God is like a big ward boss in a city run by
machine politics. Scratch his back and
he’ll take care of you. That’s why you
vote God. The friends think that God
acts that way and is worth following.
Job says no, and will vote for someone else next year. The whole religious philosophy is based on:
What’s in it for me?
Yeah, I guess I can see that Job was a good friend of these
guys for a long time.
But he’s at least learned from his mistakes. He tells them, “How empty the consolation you
offer me! Your arguments remain a
fraud.” Yeah, he’s right.
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