Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stephen Shead" <srshead+bh AT gmail.com>]

Dear Bryant,

First, I'm far from certain that David Kummerow isn't correct, though I lean
towards the traditional "repent"-type meaning.

But when I am feeling more confident about "repent", I think Job is saying
something slightly more than what you've described. It's not simply that he
has changed his mind (though this is true); I take it that he regrets and
feels remorseful about his former words.

Is this a "confessing of sin"? I find this very hard to know how to answer.
Maybe it depends what one thinks of as sin!? I think it involves
overstepping the appropriate limits of human wisdom. How would you
categorise that?

I find 42:7-8 intriguing. It seems clear to me that, at least in some
places, Job HAS spoken of God things that are wrong. I take this to be
implicit in 40:8 / 42:3. But even apart from this, Job has asserted that God
must be his enemy, based on the wrong belief, shared with his friends, that
anger, punishment, or perhaps discipline for a particular sin, are the only
possible reasons for God to afflict a person in such a way. Nevertheless,
unlike the friends, his "overstepping" doesn't appear to be something for
which he is condemned and has to seek God's forgiveness (maybe that answers
the earlier question for me!). There is, therefore, an enormous difference
in the character of their "words without knowledge" about God and his ways.

Regards,
Stephen Shead.

P.S. Yes, please, I would be interested in your "Repentance" article!


On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 2:31 PM, Bryant J. Williams III <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>
wrote:

> Dear Stephen,
>
> I take it, then, from your response that "repent" would be the correct
> rendering
> of NXM in Job 42:6? The reason I ask this is that Job's thinking "has
> changed!"
> He thought one way about God's justice, but, because of God's appearance
> and
> questioning of him (Job), his mind had new information about God, and,
> thus, his
> way of thinking had to change also. This would conform with the confession
> of
> Job's own lips. He is admitting that what he spoke of is beyond what he
> thought
> as seen in 42:1-5. Furthermore, this confirmed by the LXX's use of hHGHMAI
> (Perfect, Passive, Indicative, 1st person singular of hHGEOMAI, "To think,
> consider, count, esteem, regard"), NOT by METANOEW nor METAMELOMAI.
>
> It seems clear from the context that Job is confessing NOT of sin, but a
> lack of
> knowledge about the justice of God. God clearly condemns Job's friends,
> so-called, in 42:7-8, "...because you have not spoken of me what is right,
> AS MY
> SERVANT JOB HAS....You have not spoken what is right, AS MY SERVANT JOB
> HAS."
> (emphasis mine) Two times has God said that what Job spoke about Him was
> correct. Thus, "repent" in the sense of "change of mind" as found in
> METANOEW or
> METAMELOMAI would be incorrect, but a "change of mind" in the sense of
> confessing a lack of knowledge (hHGHMAI) would fit perfectly (PUN
> intended).
>
> My article on "Repentance" deals with Nacham and Shub(v) along with
> METANOEW,
> METAMELOMAI and EPISTREFW.  I can send it to you off-list. It is basically
> in
> legal outline form.
>
> Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
>
>