LAYERED STORY - We need to keep in mind in this lesson more than previous passages the composite nature of the book. It is generally agreed that the prose tale/epic poem begins at the oral stage with a folktale about pious Job; later Israelite authors add new dialogues-a portion of which we looked at two weeks ago (Job 23). The final stage has Job re-speaking some of Bildad’s and Zophar’s speech, but this time back at God. In the story of Job we have what most scholars consider to be the finest wisdom text of the entire Jewish and Christian canons.

ALTERNATE VIEWPOINT - The traditional hearing of this passage is that Job repents his presumption and many words that had no basis in understanding and that he thus repents in dust and ashes. Let me suggest quite a different Jobean response:

The verb rendered [in v. 6] as "I despise myself" (Heb. ’emas) is not a reflexive form. Its other occurrences are all rendered as a simple verb "I hat/reject" (Jer. 31:37 and 33:26). The second Hebrew verb, nikhamti, has been translated as "repent," but other uses of the verb argue for a meaning of "rue/regret" (see also Gen. 6:7; 1 Sam. 15:11; Jer. 4:28, 18:8). Thus, a more accurate rendering of the verse might read: "I reject and regret dust and ashes." Job is not sorry for confronting God. Instead, he seems to be accepting that God will never give him what he wants: an apology.[1]

 

Few characters walk through the plot of a good story with little or no change. What is the possibility for change in the character Job? How has he / has he not changed by the story’s end?

Which interpretation do you feel fits the story’s end and why: Job repents in dust and ashes for speaking of things that he did not understand (v. 3) or Job says, "I reject and regret my suffering" (v. 3, see above)?

In your experience, how has adversity changed people in the way they relate to God-for better or for worse?

Summarize the Job story in the first five minutes. Diane Bergant’s excellent book, Israel’s Wisdom Literature could provide just such a summary. [2]

Describe a character from a current novel-noting how the character faces the possibility of change: what was the possibility and did the character change by story’s end?

Shift to the Job story: suggest ways that Job might emerge from his sufferings a different man than when he entered. Provide several clear learnings from the book that may also provide us the context and possibility for change when we enter trying situations.

Paul’s teaching on the joy-filled life no matter what the circumstances of life may be an option you’ll want to consider. Philippians, for example.

Note the happily ever after ending that the Jobean writer wants to close the story with. Doesn’t always happen, though God’s presence is always with us when the story’s end is different from Job’s.

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[1] The New Interpreter’s Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), page 745.
[2] Diane Bergant, Israel’s Wisdom Literature (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), pp. 15-49.