Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

After listening to the discussion, I doubt that NXM can mean "repent".
First of all, repent carries with it the concept that something wrong has
been done, namely by the person who is repenting. But the context indicates
that God considered that Job had not done something that required
repentance.

Now there are some passages that indicate that Job accused God of dealing
with him unjustly. I'll have to go back to them, look more closely at the
contexts. Upon further study, could these be passages where Job still does
not question God's justness, rather questions what God is doing?

Is this really a question of being consoled?

Or is this a case where Job returns to his original worship of God?

What I see, is that Job suffered all the pain and loss of material and
children, yet did not turn away from God. But when his three friends came
and de fact accused him of being some sort of horrible ogre of a person,
that's why all these disasters came upon him. Job hadn't done anything
wrong, at least not overt and deliberate. He didn't have big, secret sins
that required excising. What had come upon him was not punishment, as his
"friends" were accusing. Therefore, Job was correct in defending his
justness. But what he had done was to take his eyes off God and his glory,
to focussing on Job and his justness. So, in this context, does not NXM
indicate a return to God, rather than a repentance for what was wrong?

Karl W. Randolph.