Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Robert Vining wrote:

> [...] It is to the credit of Tanakh canonizers that they had the integrity 
> and
> courage to include writings expressing diverse and opposing views about
> God and His ways with mankind.

I don't think that's quite the way Job looks at God. The reader knows that 
Yahweh is not
Job's enemy - rather, its the Satan who is Job's enemy. Job, though, has no 
idea about
this. He thinks that Yahweh is behind all of his calamity and therefore 
Yahweh is the one
to be directly blamed. Job has no clue that the Satan has brought about his 
predicament
and that Yahweh is actually on Job's side. In fact, during the heavenly court 
scene,
Yahweh is clearly Job's defending lawyer - his go'el - who wants to vindicate 
Job before
the Satan.

From Job's perspective, though, his worldview is turned on its head. Whereas 
he knew
Yahweh to have been a gracious and just deity, it now looks like he's a 
Jeckyll-and-Hyde
type of deity. Job thought he had a go'el (a vindicator, defender) in the 
heavens, but it
now looks like he doesn't. He wishes there were someone up there who could 
help him. Job
doesn't know that Yahweh is actually proving and vindicating Job before the 
Satan's
accusations.

Job's statement, "I know my vindicator lives," is not a statement against 
Yahweh and for
someone else. It's actually a statement expressing Job's total confusion in 
the
cirumstances. Job knows that Yahweh is his vindicator, but he just cannot for 
the life of
him work out why Yahweh is now his enemy. The reader, at this point, would 
like to call
out to Job and let him in on the celestial dealings between Yahweh and the 
Satan, but the
reader does not have that benefit. Job must remain in his confused state, 
knowing that
Yahweh was his go'el in the past, but now facing Yahweh like an enemy. Is 
Yahweh his
go'el, or is someone else? Job just wants someone to be his go'el in order 
prove his case.
Job knows that he had done nothing to deserve his calamity and he knows that 
Yahweh is his
just go'el. That is why he cannot figure out why Yahweh would bring this 
calamity on him.
Job is mortal and doesn't know the full story. To him, Yahweh has suddenly 
become an
enemy, making him question all his held beliefs.

Yet, Job knows that despite Yahweh's seeming enmity towards him, Yahweh is 
still his
vindicator, even if he can't work out what's happening and why. That's why at 
the end of
the book, Job turns back and realises just how powerful Yahweh is. Job does 
not need to
know why his predicament happened - all he needs to know is that Yahweh is 
powerful enough
to deal with and contain the situation. Yahweh is still Job's vindicator, 
even though it
didn't look like it and Job couldn't work out what was going on. The reader 
can now admire
Job for maintaining that Yahweh was his vindicator when Job had only limited 
insight into
his predicament. The reader is then called upon to imitate Job's response in 
similar
predicaments.


Regards.
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GEORGE ATHAS
 Dept of Semitic Studies,
 University of Sydney
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