Job Applied

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them.  For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but wrongdoers will stumble in them. Hosea 14:9  NASB

Are right – Our attempts to understand the context of the story of Job suggest that this legend is of late origin, and perhaps a response to the concern of the post-exilic population wondering why God would allow such travesty.  Some vocabulary in the story comes from later periods and the story itself seems to be a declaration of God’s direct involvement in suffering.  With this in mind, perhaps we should rethink our usual interpretation of the prophets.  Peter Ackroyd offers us some insights:

“In differing ways and with differing emphasis, the great prophets and historians of the period see this moment as a decisive one.  But they all have in common their acceptance of the disaster as representing a necessary moment in the divine economy, resulting from the human failure which has so marked Israel’s history.”[1]

Why would a story like Job’s be necessary in the post-exilic world?  Ackroyd notes:

“There are some members of the community for whom the disaster finds its explanation not in the neglect of Yahweh but of another deity, evidently familiar over a long period of time.  The other indications in the earlier Old Testament material of the existence of this cult are hereby confirmed, and so, too, is the recognition of Israel’s syncretistic tendencies.”[2]

“ . . . the acceptance of the obvious consequences of Babylonian conquest, namely that the Babylonian gods have been victorious.”[3]

Job counters the idea that Babylon’s gods have overpowered YHVH.  Job teaches us that disaster and suffering are within the purposes of YHVH.  “Law and history preached touch the hearts of the exilic community . . . in so far as that community accepts it as a true interpretation of its history . . . in which the acceptance of the rightness of divine judgment is in itself an anticipation of what may follow.”[4]  The community is called upon to accept the judgment of YHVH despite theological conundrums, just as Job is challenged to accept the divine will despite the lack of explanation.  What Israel suffers occurs within the context of the mysterious divine will, foreshadowed in Job’s life.  The legend doesn’t offer rationale.  It offers hope.  God has not abandoned us despite appearances to the contrary.  Theological justifications are moot.  What matters is God’s endorsement of the relationship even if the blessed party is not provided with explanation.  Nothing more is needed for life to continue.

Topical Index: divine will, suffering, Exile, Babylon, Peter Ackroyd, Hosea 14:9

[1] Peter R. Ackroyd, Exile and Restoration, p. 49.

[2] Ibid., p. 41.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., pp. 77-78.