Again I'm going to post two chapters today just to try to get this over with. I sincerely apologize, I'd forgotten how turgid and repetitive this book is. Yet again, Job takes hundreds of words to say that the comforters aren't helping and he's despairing; and in the next chapter Bildad once again says Job must have done something to deserve this, in hundreds of words. I'll just say that it would be impossible to get this drek published today, even in a college literary magazine. I'm sorry to have to tell you that it goes on and on after this while nothing happens and nothing new is said. Again, if this is the word of God, he badly needs an editor.
17 1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
the eyes of their children will fail.6 “God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.10 “But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
Yet the desires of my heart
12 turn night into day;
in the face of the darkness light is near.
13 If the only home I hope for is the grave,
if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope—
who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?”
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;2 “When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?
the flame of his fire stops burning.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.
7 The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.
8 His feet thrust him into a net;
he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.
11 Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides[a] in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.
20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;
those of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who does not know God.”
3 comments:
I agree. God needs an editor.
You should read *Answer to Job* by Carl Jung. As I remember his argument (I read the book in the early 60s, okay?), Jung says that God smote Job because of his bet with the devil. Jung contends that the last part of the book was written by a different person from the early part (the style changes radically). This last part describes how God came as a whirlwind and basically forced Job to say that he was sinful, even though he was not.
If I understand Jung's argument, God was the guilty party here. This, Jung contends, is why God had to come to Earth and die on the cross to make up for His sin! He's speaking in terms of what he calls "archetypes", I think, not literally. I like how his theory makes psychological sense.
Very cool, GE! Great flip on the original narrative and no doubt an insightful analysis. Reminds me of Dan Simmons' turning-on-its-ear of the Abraham/Isaac narrative in his Hyperion/Endymion series, in which Abraham is actually testing God.
Post a Comment