Interesting that Job's three friends just sit with him for a week. In some native American cultures, it is customary to go and just sit by someone who is grieving and this is thought to bring the greatest comfort. True, there is no right thing to say to someone who is grieving, but there certainly is a wrong thing to say!
Job, like a child, wishes for an easy out from his suffering. His solution: to never have been born! Who hasn't wished for a moment that we could just not deal with something? Well, by never existing in the first place, Job would not have had, nor would he have lost, and therefore he would not be suffering now. But he also would not be around to be relieved from suffering... Seems almost like a temper tantrum. I think this outburst make Job a more realistic character. If he really were the pious, uncomplaining character the traditionalists want him to be he would not be human.
We train our children and our dogs that they make a mistake and they are punished. If good, they are rewarded. So why wouldn't we expect that the universe operates in the same manner? Especially if we (I'm using we here as humanity; early humanity) view ourselves as the "children" of God. It is natural to question why bad things happen; and if we view ourselves as a child or servant of a higher power, why wouldn't we search and search our memory for something that we have done wrong. Perhaps this is why there are so many freaking rules in the Bible! They were trying so hard to be good and to therefore eliminate suffering. But alas, turns out, everyone suffers anyway...
Job asks, "What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?/ Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?/ In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me" (Job 6:11-13). Aren't these the questions that we all ask when we are going through a hard time? I have questioned my own strength with dealing with the traumatic death of my father. And at times I wonder "what is the point of being strong?" I have also wondered when my strength will break; when enough is enough--similar to Job asking "is my strength the strength of stones?" I have wondered how much I am expected to be able to handle (expected by whom? society? God? the universe? I am not sure). Job here demonstrates his anger and frustration (stage 2 of the "grief cycle").
Job ch 7.
Stage 4 depression
Job says, "so I am allotted months of emptiness and nights of misery are apportioned to me./ When I lie down I say, 'when shall I rise?'/ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn..." he goes on to lament: "my eye will never again see good." Job is depressed.
And it is refreshing to me that he goes on to say "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul" (Job 7.11). In our society, we praise those who suffer gallantly in silence. We applaud a good attitude, even if the person is really feeling sad, angry, depressed; we expect cheerfulness and a "good" or "positive" attitude. Was it the same during the time that the book of Job was written? Or did this behavior come from a traditionalist view of the Book of Job, ignoring the center? Finally, someone who does not try to hold in all of his emotions that arise from suffering but allows them to pass through him. Job is human. He asks God to leave him alone! ("Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle?" Job 7.19). I have felt the same way, as have we all when we have suffered. We reach a point where we just want to cry out "ENOUGH!". What more do you want me to handle? (again the "you" here does not necessarily mean god; it seems like a common question people ask of life when they are suffering). And those who believe are called to question God, just as Job does.
Also, Job blames God for his suffering; it seems we as humans always need a scapegoat; again, he demonstrates anger!
Zophar's line I like "And you will have confidence, because there is hope" (Job 11.18). For those who are suffering, hope brings us through. We have to hold on to the hope that today will be better; or manageable at least. We hope for a future day, hour, moment, when we will find joy instead of sorrow. Job responds to this only as a man who is truly suffering and in a deep depression would. He complains that he is laughingstock because "those at ease have contempt for misfortune" because his friends continue to blame Job for some wrong-doing that has brought upon this suffering. Job is angry and frustrated, and he seems to have given up. Key line of Job: "I am not inferior to you" he says to his friends. I am not inferior to you because I suffer.
"See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face./ THis will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him" ( Job 13.15-16). He has nothing left to lose, so he can lose nothing by questioning God. He has no more fear of God because all he can lose is his life (and we all die anyway).
"so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep" (14.12).
"My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me" (17.1). Grief often leads us to thoughts of death, perhaps suicide. It is too much to handle, so we must search for a reason to continue living...Job doesn't seem to have one.
And yet his friends continue to insist that he has done something wrong; that he somehow deserves his suffering (again--perhaps the reason for so many RULES? Then they figured out that even the most pious, perfectly well behaved man suffers, so they wrote Job...?)
Why the number three? Three parts to the Hebrew bible--> Three friends? I guess many religions have the concept of triple deity. I wonder though where this comes from. Can anyone enlighten me?
"If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!" (23.17) The God Job knows is dark and terrifying. He is the God of suffering. Who has the power to give but also the power to take away and therefore cause suffering. Job feels lonely and alone. Even his friends do not listen or understand him or where he is coming from.
Job 25.4 "How can one born of woman be pure?" wow.
Rebellious Elihu: "I am young in years and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you" (32.6) So here we discover that old age does not bring wisdom, nor are the aged always correct in their thinking or their answers. He says something interesting at the end of the chapter: "For I do not know how to flatter--or my Maker would soon put an end to me!" (32.22). What does that mean? Thou shalt not flatter one another?
He says, "Surely God is great, and we do not know him;" (36.26). God is like the weather--powerful and impossible to understand. Yet there is a reason behind the storm, Elihu says. "Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice and he rumbling that comes from his mouth" (37.2). God is the weather, he is there to explain this dark and terrifying world of nature that makes men (humanity) feel so small and vulnerable. I would feel better too thinking I was not alone in this vast world, but someone was watching out for me. "God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend" (37.5) Agnosticism I think, should be at the base of all religions, for one principle of religion is faith, and is not the act of having faith a bit agnostic in itself?
Then God answers Job, much like I remember my parents answering me sometimes: "because I'm the Father, that's why...!"
God's answer to Job returns us again to the topic of knowledge. Job proclaims knowledge that he does not have and God is angry. God knows all, and because he is mortal, Job cannot and does not. Knowledge is power and control.
Questioning why we suffer is like questioning the ways of the world: why does a horse have a mane and leap; a majestic creature. Why did God create things the way they are. It is questioning why things happen in the wild the way that they do (most of God's answer deals with imagery of wild animals and nature). I looked up Behemoth: a creature found in the book of Job; perhaps the largest most powerful animal ever to exist (wikipedia). (I guess I don't know if this was talked about in class; I missed the last day of Job discussion). I was a little disappointed to reach the end of Job and find him so humbled. I liked how he spoke his mind and wailed out his anguish. And yet he seems to have found peace with the way things are and that I think is a gift. He has reached the last stage of grief: acceptance.
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