Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <cctr114 AT it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Robert wrote:-

> 
> In the frame-story epilogue, the author has God  saying 2x,  it is Job
> who has spoken the truth about Me. Is this truth to be limited to
> 42:1-6, or does it include all of the poetic material?  And, what of the
> wisdom about God and His dealings with mankind as set forth by the 3
> "comforter", "friends". A lady in our Bible study class calls them,
> "idiots".  It is these idiots  the author uses to set forth lots of good
   ^^^^^^                ^^^^^^
> traditional wisdom , which he then has God saying 2x,  they did not
> speak the truth about Him.

Job's friends can hardly be called idiots whatever the language you
use.  First consider that they sat with him for seven days without
speaking.  That is a sign of deep committed friendship.  Then consider
that when they did speak they spoke intelligently with well thought out
arguments in a sincere attempt to help him. Ultimately they were wrong
in their assessment, but even today, at least a couple thousand years
later, people still have difficulty in understanding why they were
wrong.  In fact many people whole-heartedly agree with the friends
and believe that Job was a terrible sinner who deserved everything
he got. Perhaps calling the friends "idiots" is more a reflection of 
the speaker than the people portrayed in the text of Job. If you
call them "idiots" then you excuse yourself from having to grapple with 
the arguments they put forth.



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