Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Myron wrote:-

>>[ME] I don't think the dust and ashes are symbolic of the suffering
>>Job endured. In the Hebrew scriptures it appears in times of
>>extreme grief or repentance people really did use dirty dust
>>and grubby ashes as part of the outward expression of how they
>>felt. Unless we have compelling reason to believe otherwise the
>>dust and ashes in verse 6 are intended to be genuine article.
>
>I am thinking in particular of Job 2:8 "And he took a potsherd to scrape
>himself while he was
>sitting among the ashes ['EPER]." (NAS).

An interesting point. I would say that the poet of Job, who was one awesomely
brilliant man, deliberately set this up. This lends support to the double
(more?) meaning idea which I put forward a few days ago. I think we can
throw out the "refuse to repent" idea which sparked the original
discussion, it's just so out of keeping with the rest of the book,
but the comfort from dust and ashes/refuse to be miserable *and* the
repenting in dust and ashes seem both to be sound interpretations of
the Hebrew. 


>My
>point is, that in doing so, Job does not admit to any guilt or blasphemous
>attitude.  I am simply opposing the analysis that says the friends, or at
>least Elihu, was ultimately right and Job was in the wrong.  Usually he is
>accused of pride for wanting to approach God.  I think Job is to be
>commended in that his suffering drove him towards God rather than away from
>God.

I know what you mean. I don't know what is it about us as people, but
a high proportion seem to need to find something sinful in Job
despite the clear testimony from God both at the start and the end of
the book. The message of Job often doesn't seem to be understood.


Bill Rea, Information Technology Dept., Canterbury  University  \_ 
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