[b-hebrew] barak (bless? curse?) in the Book of Job

Harold Holmyard hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 27 23:36:13 EST 2009


John,

You write:

I'm not quite following what you are saying. What did Satan mean by "to 
> your face"?
>

The Hebrew words "if not" are part of an idiomatic development from a oath formula to the idea of "surely." The idea is, "May God do so-and-so to me if he does not . . . ." So Satan was saying that Job would surely "bless" God to his face. This is the tip off that the words have been adjusted by the scribes to avoid the offensive thought of "cursing" God. But the rewrite with "bless" is so obvious that readers would know the change was made for reverential reasons. That is why the scribes could afford to make such a change; it is so obviously a doctoring. 

The idea of blessing someone to their face seems pretty meaningless. If one blessed them behind their back, it would still be a blessing and in that sense would not differ much from blessing them to their face. Usually the temptation is to speak better of someone in their presence than away from them, so blessing God to his face seems "easier" than blessing him behind his back. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who might curse someone behind their back but would not curse them to their face. If you curse someone to their face, you are really angry and rejecting. Just as improbable as Job's wife telling Job to bless God and die is the idea of blessing here.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard 





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