Place-wise and page-wise Uz followed Eden. ‘Job’ is a major poem. The first words from Job (chapter 3) curse the day he was born. His life is sheer misery. Why was he not stillborn? Why are all those longing for death denied their wish? Terror haunts him. There is no such thing as peace of mind. What he says is more of a soliloquy than a conversational ploy but it gets the ball rolling.
In fact the talking goes on indefinitely – or so it seems. In terms of coherence the book is like a row of unexceptional books between well designed book-ends. It does not make easy reading – and we have to remember that there is often a good deal of hard going when we read the Scriptures. Try reading Ezra.
We can well understand that the complaint in Uz takes the form it does. Job’s outlook is much like that of a humanist who sees this life as all and knows he is on his own. As happens to all of us, at least from time to time, doubts and despondency come our way. That gives us the flavour of the conversation that is about to take place. Much of the conversation is dominated by Eliphaz and others; they have much to say but Job does not find it helpful. Finally God gets in a word. It shakes – as an earthquake might – the ground they are standing on. ‘Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?’ As a conversation-stopper this wins all the prizes.
Numerous examples of Job’s limitations follow. ‘Who fixed the dimensions of the cosmos?’ ’How much do you know about the Dog Star?’ ‘Can you loose Orion’s belt?’ ’Can you tell the animals when to give birth?’ ‘Is it you who can teach the hawk and the eagle to see their prey afar off?’ ‘Can you make the whale a slave, to do your bidding?’ The author might well have added: ‘Is your name really Dundee? Can you see off a crocodile?’
Job confesses his helplessness. He just cannot answer such questions about his environment and its wild creatures. No more can we. Well, some of them. But mostly it’s all a mystery. One thing is sure: we didn’t think it all up and set it going.
DEJECTION
Job’s outlook at the beginning of the poem is akin to that of the exiles in Psalm 137. The Psalms plumb the depths – so seriously in this instance that the psalm is unsuitable for public worship. The Gospel brings light and meaning but it sometimes comes to those in the depth of misery.
OFF-ROAD RECOVERY
Not quite an everyday job but a recovery team hard at work reaching and then retrieving an off-road vehicle in a hostile landscape can be seen at Matt’s Off-Road Recovery with the title ‘You took your Jeep up suicide road?’ It’s 22 minutes of hands-on engineering, sweat and knowing precisely what you are about.
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