Alfred Romero
10/4/2021
Professor Anderson
Wisdom Literatures
A Conversation With The Unknown
Writing Assignment 2
“Answers to Job”
Alfred Romero
Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. All are similar because they’re all ideologies that impose ethical and moralistic guidelines for followers to abide to. The concepts of religion and tradition can boil down to the concept of ideological belief. While all are similar in that they group humans up into believing in something bigger than themselves, each differs from another in terms of what they ask from their followers. Part of ideology can be seen as objective. The other part can be entirely up to the interpretation of the individual. This is where conflict arises, not only between opposing ideological beliefs, but within the same ideologies as well. People can think they’re right about a certain topic and use religious ideology to justify that what they believe in is right. This situation is a major factor that results in ethical or moral dilemmas. One may ask the question, “Is it right to do what I do for the sake of what I believe in?”. There isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to these situations as it’s dependent on the ethical and moralistic values of the individual. The Book of Job is a story from The Hebrew Bible that contains themes of religious interpretation through the character Job, who is “blameless and upright and feared God and shunned evil” (193). A concept from this story that could be interpreted by the audience is wisdom. The concept of wisdom can be seen as the experience from learning in life and the emergence of wisdom appears when Job answers God’s questions. One day, the LORD and the Adversary observe Job and argue whether he’s only such a good person because the LORD has blessed him all his life. After the LORD gives permission to the Adversary to punish Job, with the exception of killing him, the Adversary torments Job as a test to see if he’ll break his loyalty and resent the LORD for the curses they inflict upon him.
After the LORD and the Adversary’s agreement, all of Job’s livestock and a portion of his children get killed by Sabeans. The rest of his children get killed by a great wind that caused the house they were in to collapse on them. Job then receives an illness from the Adversary, as a rash started to grow all over his body. After discussing the situation with three other friends, Job rejects their interpretations and starts to question his relationship with God. His main question reflects on why these curses are happening to him out of all people. In Job’s perception, God should “surely know [he’s] not guilty” (203). Job knows he had done nothing against God’s will his whole life and is in disbelief that God was allowing these curses to happen to him. The thought of knowing he had done nothing wrong transitions into questions that Job has for God, as he asks God, “Why do You hide Your face, and count me Your enemy?” (206). At this point, he’s already sure with himself that he has committed no wicked acts. He wants to face God and ask him why someone as good as himself is being punished rather than other worse people on the planet. He wants to understand God’s sense of justice and the logic behind himself becoming the “taunt” and “mocking word” to creatures below him (209). God’s actions don’t make sense to Job and while he wants to understand the reason behind his curses, he still refrains from resenting God or cursing at His name. Although he questions the actions of God, he still knows his place as a human being and he remains aware of the power of God. Job’s knowledge of how incomprehensible God’s power is shows his wisdom in not picking a battle with God. Rather than cursing at a being whose power is unknown, Job wants to understand his situation first. Job’s eagerness to learn about what he’s dealing with before he starts his battle highlights his awareness of his situation. Job’s questions at this point of the story set up what he learns from God by the end of the story. By asking these questions, Job is beginning to learn about a theme in life he doesn’t understand yet.
While Job’s interpretation revolves around the questioning of God’s actions, the interpretations from his friends about his situation are the opposite. Rather than questioning the actions of God, Job’s three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) believe that Job has brought all his curses to himself and that God is rightfully punishing him for his sins. While they all agree with one another about this base interpretation, each of the three friends individually speak to Job with their input on Job’s situation. Eliphaz goes first and he brings up the irony behind the fact that Job has “reproved many”, but “cannot stand it” when it’s his turn for punishment (196). He claims that all Job can do from this point is to “call out, pray”, and trust in God’s decisions (196). Bildad speaks after Eliphaz and he speaks to Job in a more aggressive tone than Eliphaz did. He claims that Job questioning God is “one huge wind” and that his children died “because of their crime” in offending God (200). He recommends Job to stay patient because God will eventually fill his “mouth with laughter” and “lips with a shout of joy”, as God wouldn’t “spurn the blameless nor hold the hand of evildoers” (201). According to Bildad, if Job stays true to himself and continues his upright behavior, then God will eventually stop his curses and reward him. Zophar is the last to speak and he claims that the wisdom behind God’s decisions is “higher than heaven” and deeper than Sheol” (203). Because God and His intellect stretch “longer than earth” and “broader than the sea”, Job would be left with no choice but to accept what God has given him, as a human like him wouldn’t be able to comprehend the logic behind God’s decision making (204). The fact that none of these characters are right with their interpretation shows how humanity knows so little outside of itself and how individuals can convince themselves that their ideology is the truth rather than an interpretation. It is unwise of Job’s friends to have this mindset, as assuming an interpretation is the truth prevents the learning needed to overcome obstacles in life. When Job asks his questions regarding the curses being inflicted upon him, he’s simultaneously setting up an opportunity for himself to learn something from his situation. With Job’s friends, they assume that what they believe in is right and don’t learn from Job’s situation, as they don’t question anything involving the situation. Learning can’t happen without asking questions regarding a situation, as that’s the only way to gain the insight needed to advance in life.
After hearing Job’s pondering, God comes down from a whirlwind and confronts Job about his situation. God asks Job multiple questions, which serve to show Job his inferiority as a human when being compared to God. The questions are rhetorical and start by addressing Job, but then become more about the superiority of God’s power by the end of each sentence. God first asks Job of his presence when “[God] founded earth” (212). The questions after then compare Job’s accomplishments to what God has already done, like “[appointing] the dawn to its place, to seize the earth’s corners” and “[coming] into the springs of the sea, in the bottommost deep walked about” (212). He’s asking Job if he’s ever accomplished these feats in order to highlight the gap between their accomplishments. The questions after this series of questions showcase the abilities of God and what He can do versus the limited powers of what a human, like Job, can only achieve. Job can’t “send lighting bolts on their way” or “tie the bands of the Pleiades” (213). God knows Job can’t do these things, but God still asks him in order to show Job how little his understanding is since he’s only human. The questions God asks Job consist of the difference in accomplishments, abilities, and some even about knowledge, but they all share the goal in letting Job know that he’s in no place to be questioning God because he’s only human. Job answers back submissively, saying he knows that “[God] can do anything, and no devising is beyond [Him]” (217). As a human standing before God, Job knows his place and remains obedient to God. Job’s questions at the beginning of the story initiates a learning experience for himself. His questions lead up to God’s response, which teaches him that he would be utterly defeated if he ever chose to battle God. His answer of submission reflects his wisdom as he’s learned the magnitude of his inferiority and from that, has chosen not engage in a battle he knows he would lose.
While there are interpretations present in the story, interpretations can also play a role in the audience as well since there may be conflicting ideas within the ending of the story. Personally, I feel as if God doesn’t answer Job’s questions. He shows Job the differences between Himself and a human like Job, but he never tells Job the truth behind the whole situation, that is the wager He made with the Adversary. I think Job’s response to God’s questions is justified. It’s unconfirmed if he’s upset or not inside because God doesn’t answer his questions, but as a human standing before a being who has power that’s incomprehensible, I think answering submissively was wise. In terms of the overall ending, I have mixed feelings. While God forgives Job’s friends for their misinterpretations and gives Job new fortunes, I can’t get past how frightening the power of God is. The ending makes sense to me, but it’s crazy to me how God has the power to do what he does to Job, and then completely reverse Job’s situation by the end of the story. While God treats Job and his friends right by the end of the story, the power difference between God and humans really stands out to me as God is like the puppet master of the show. I’m reminded of the relationship between humans and animals. The difference between us and animals is normal to us because we’re so used to being in control, but when compared to God, we become livestock caged in a farm. While God doesn’t slaughter us and eat us, the image of being powerless and locked in a cage, or being controlled by strings is what I visualize when comparing our inferiority to a being like God. God gives everyone a good ending in the story, but the fact that he’s the writer of everyone’s story is frightening to ponder.
The concept of wisdom can be interpreted as the experience from learning in life and in the Book of Job, Job shows his wisdom through his response to God. While Job questions God’s actions, he realizes he can’t do anything against God. He knows he’s literally powerless against God and while he doesn’t get answers to his questions, he knows that God isn’t obligated to answer him directly as his superiority is incomprehensible to humans. So, he submits to God’s power and gets a happy ending. But what if he cursed God instead, or talked back in an aggressive manner, would he have had the same positive ending? Probably not. It was wise for his wellbeing as he didn’t choose to pursue a battle he knew he wasn’t going to win. But it’s not as clear cut as that. Choosing to fight even though the odds are stacked against you isn’t unwise. Situations like this are what can lead to positive social change or any other type of victory that proves your enemies wrong. In those cases, however, most understand the whole story and what’s at stake, not just for them but for the other side as well. This story represents the lack of understanding with what one may go against and that’s ultimately what the emergence of wisdom communicates here. It would be wise to take the downfall in a battle due to a lack of understanding about the situation one may be in. Fighting when the chance of victory can be visualized is admirable, but blindly fighting the unknown and letting pride carry intellect can lead to downfall. Job knew this and that’s why he won at the end. He didn’t win because he beat God, he won in his life because he was wise enough not to pick a battle with the unknown.
