Whilst Genesis 1 to 11 gives us an historic and factual context for life, creation and the underpinnings of human history, Job gives us its raison d’etre.
Genesis is to Job what
the synoptic gospels are to the gospel of John. The latter is more in the
nature of deeper rabbinical argument, beyond the factual surface of Peshat or the
elaborated level of Remez, possibly even beyond the deeper level of Derash, to the
mystique of Sod.
Putting the unfolding drama in context
Satan has effectively
challenged the integrity of God’s court, significantly because his own presumed
innocence, knows that God is unable to violate His own principles to act
subjectively against an obviously guilty offender.
It is the same dilemma
posed by Al Capone way back when. All of heaven knew that Satan was as guilty
as sin, but God, as much for our sake as for His own, refuses to act
unrighteously.
The naïve assumption that
God made the world in 7 calendar days, presumes a wand waving magician. If that
were ever so, he could have “uncreated” Satan, bumped him off quietly and saved
himself a lot of bother.
The angels would agree
that that may have been the right thing to do, but once done, a question would
have hung over God’s integrity or ‘fitness for office’.
To that end God does
not even create the world. Jesus does, at arms-length to Him, so He can recuse
Himself from being both judge and instigator. As judge He had to be objectively
detached.
As such, the journey
to salvation involved an immensely complex series of events that relied on
universal laws and the time lapse needed for such laws to evolve matter to its
pinnacle, the crowning glory of this world and its inhabitants.
Indeed, part of the debate
against Job is in the same ilk as new-earth naivety. Thus Eliphaz argues, “just
petition God for a miracle” (as in “wave that wand”).
Simplifying Job’s
condition to a consequence of sin, is another typically naïve concept of God
widely seen in misguided theology and religious discourse.
The book offers a vital context for life. It will ultimately conclude that life is life and, no
matter how we vindicate ourselves, no one is above it – not even God. There are
no side-deals, no Pagan-like formulas, no short-cuts.
Such is life
The laws of life and the
universe apply to us all. Thus good and bad befalls us all. The rain falls on the
just and unjust, as unfair as that may seem. Thus, sorry for Job, he had no
pretext for exempting his own life from trouble. That is our shared lot.
Every player in this
drama reveals the ways of God. Even his wife’s cynical reduction of God to a
fearsome, impulsive and irrational force, speaks to a body of thought that
similarly sees God as an unrestrained power, fatalistic inevitability or a lucky
charm.
Those kinds of views
are dangerous, as they offer no scope for reasoning with God or of inquiring
into His ways. How can you constructively engage a righteous court if your
basis of appeal relies on feelings, speculations and preferences?
As the Father of paganism,
Cain implied favoritism in God, instead of recognizing that the offering of
innocent blood predated creation when Jesus was slain “before the foundations”
to underwrite the creation. Hence, not even God was exempt from His laws.
Job somewhat spoils
the party in Chapter 6, by asking God to wipe Him out. That ignores the
background to a crisis that required proof of righteousness to be independent
of divine favor: a choice expressed as faith in God, regardless of life or its
consequences.
God could no more wipe
him away than he could erase Satan. To do so would be to violate the objective
laws of creation. The matter had to run its course, just as the offence of
Satan had to run its course to the eventual justice of the cross.
Chapter 6 ends with
Job hitting back, snarling at his “friends”. Oh how often ‘friends’ or fellow
believers tend to judge in the name of faith. God help us to be real. That
said, Job also perceives that life is futile, a bit like Solomon’s vanities of
life.
Friend no.2, Bildad subtly
retorts with, “your ten children died because of their sins”. How helpful.
Accordingly, he just sees repentance as a panacea.
Job accepts aspects of
it, but argues that even at our best we still fall short of God’s standard, so
the fact that he is a sinner cannot account for his condition. Yet, he feels
that if he is wretched, what is the point in defending himself.
That is self-defeating.
I have heard many say that they are not worthy of God, but that simply makes
His provision for recourse meaningless and defeats the ends of justice
reflected in the cross. It makes God merciless and beyond our reach, yet even
Cain was offered recourse.
As such, Job ends his
rebuttal by “counselling” God to reveal the cause, the sin of which he is so
evidently guilty. In so doing, He reveals how haunted a soul can be in times of
crisis. Yet, times of silence often serve as God’s blackboard to correct our
understanding of Him.
There is always hope
If you are in crisis,
and we all will be at some stage or another, don’t feel singled out, or as Paul
said, “don’t think something strange has happened to you”. Slow down, fall at
His feet and learn from the experience for that will instill hope, as Paul
suggested in Romans 5.
God will always
redeem. He will always show mercy and He will always make a way. 1 Cor 13 confirms
that one of the last things that will ever die, is hope, for it reveals God.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
