Job 23.
Job 2
This morning I want to introduce a bit more of Job, by looking at the structure of the Book,
so that we get a sense of where in the story we are.
Last week I looked at the questions that Job throws up, sorry to say this, but like many great
story, more questions are asked than answers given.
Years ago I remember being in a meeting where the speaker described the Bible as being
like a “car manual.” Name an issue or a problem, and the index at the front will give you a
solution. Job didn’t feature in the index, it is not a book with a lot of solutions in it.
Actually I have never liked that description of the Bible, it is not a car manual.
So the structure of the Book.
Job has a very simple structure:
The opening and closing sections of the book are in prose, they recount the story of Job’s
great loss, how his possessions, his family and his health are taken away from him at the
start, and how they are returned to him at the end.
Between these two sections of prose the book is poetry, a whole series of poems. The
poems are speeches, people giving talks.
So, at the start a short prose story, and the end a short prose story.
The middle is all talk.
This middle section is broken up into three parts:
The first section I am calling the Ash heap. Remember that last week we left Job sitting in
the ashes, scrapping himself with a piece of pottery, well into the Ash heap 4 of his mates
join him, and this section is a set of speeches by Job’s mates, and Job replies. 3 of his mates
speak to him and he responds, this happens roughly three times, and it finishes with a long
speech by Job over 6 chapters.
The next section is the 4th chap, who describes himself as being younger than the other
three. Younger he might be, but brief he is not, he speaks for 6 chapters.
Once he finishes we have the third section of this middle part of Job, and this one is easy to
name because it is God speaking.
Job responds, but what he says is really small. In almost every sense of that word.
So Job has a simple structure:
An opening story. Job in the Ash heap with his friends, Three of them interact with Job in a
series of speeches, then on his own a forth friend gives a long speech to Job, then out of the
whirlwind, God speaks to Job.
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Job 23.
Job 2
After all the speaking, a closing story, where Job’s fortunes are restored and he is given the
blessing of a new family.
The readings over the 4 Sundays in October are taken from the opening story, the ash heap
section, God’s speech, and the closing story.
So this morning in a moment, we are going to listen to a short section from one of Job’s
speeches as he sat in the ash heap, the speech we will listen to is in response to his friend
Eliphaz.
What on earth did they talk about in these speeches?
In one sense it is not talking, rather it is a long sequence of Shakespearian soliloquies, which
sort of interact with each other but in a way don’t, not much happens, the speeches don’t
build on each other to any great extent, rather they go over the same ground, but in
different, and actually quite interesting ways, some of the poetry is stunning in its imagery.
But there is no real progression of thought.
Job’s so called friend’s canvas the same ground: They spout the conventional and trite
theology of Proverbs, the righteous are rewarded, the wicked are punished, and it is called
the doctrine of retributive justice. It’s trite, and a common understanding of who God is
amongst many Christians, and across many faith traditions.
They, Job’s friends, back read from Job’s predicament in the ash heap, that Job must have
sinned, and all he needs to do is fess up, repent before God and all will be well.
Here is what Eliphaz has to say:
Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.
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For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
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You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
And again:
‘Agree with God,* and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
22
Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23
If you return to the Almighty,* you will be restored,
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Job 23.
Job 2
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
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then you will delight in the Almighty,*
and lift up your face to God.
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You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
What is interesting about Job, is that he doesn’t agree with them, he does not believe that
his sin merited what happened to him, in fact he doesn’t think he sinned at all.
But he does have a problem with God: This is what he says
Then Job answered:
2 ‘Today also my complaint is bitter;*
his* hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 O that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!
4 I would lay my case before him,
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what he would answer me,
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; but he would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge.
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‘If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn* to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured in* my bosom the words of his mouth.
13 But he stands alone and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me;
and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
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Job 23.
Job 2
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty* has terrified me;
17 If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face!*
Job has no problems with approaching God to give him his side of the story, and in fact
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believes that if he could find God and do this, he would be vindicated, so that is not the
issue, the issue is this,
Job can’t find God, God is silent.
Furthermore, what worries Job is this, he sees God standing alone, distant, unmoved, bent
on completing what he has started, this terrifies Job.
This is a profound moment in the Book, with Job we should clearly reject the notion that
suffering is caused by some sin or failing, the teasing out of that notion shows how wrong it
is, but with Job we wonder at the silence of God. If God stands alone, acts alone unmoved
by our suffering, the worlds suffering, the plight of people in terrible circumstances, then
with Job we too would stand terrified.
I can’t bring a neat conclusion to all this. We have two more readings to go. And my
Wednesday evening conversation around this.
But I don’t want to leave us without hope in the world, or without purpose, so at the deep
risk of sounding trite, or giving a simple answer to a complex issue, I want to leave you with
one word.
Just one.
Because this one word in our tradition, not the tradition of Job and his friends, and whoever
the unnamed writer of this book was, this one word makes for us all the difference:
The one word:
Jesus.
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