Symmetrical Literary Structure of Job
Job’s symmetrical literary structure is a key hermeneutical tool to consider in the pursuit of the book’s purpose. A poetic dialogue (Job 3-42.6) is sandwiched between a prose prologue (Job 1-2) and a prose epilogue (Job 42.7-17). There is also a prose interlude that assesses the preceding dialogic dispute, and validates the proceeding speeches of Elihu, whose speeches are then followed by God’s speeches (Job 32.1-5). The narrator of Job, who has access to the divine counsel of heaven in the prologue, writes in the third person omniscient. With this in mind, it can be assumed that the narrator makes correct judgments when narrating in prose. Thus, the narrator’s prose along with God’s speeches provide a reliable lens through which to properly interpret and judge the speeches of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu. The symmetry of Job should cause the reader of Job to notice the dramatic similarities and differences between the prologue and epilogue, while considering how the poetic dialogue in the middle plays a role in the dramatic shifts from prologue to epilogue. This section will particularly focus on the symmetrical literary structure of Job as it relates to the resolution of the heavenly drama introduced in the prologue.
God’s Victory in the Heavenly Drama
A drama unfolds in heaven as God allows Satan to question Job’s integrity, seek to subvert Job’s worship of God, and implicitly undermine the glory of God’s perfect and just care of His worshippers. Satan, however, is defeated in the prologue because of Job’s relentless worship of God in his afflictions (Job 1.9-11; 2.4-5, cf. Job 1.22; 2.10). Similarly, in the epilogue, Satan, though unmentioned, is ultimately defeated in his purpose to sabotage Job’s worship of God. Satan is defeated because in the end of the poetic dialogue and in the epilogue Job repents of his ignorant speech, and he submits, once again, to being used as a servant in God’s redemptive purposes. God approves of Job’s submissive worship while in his suffering, and He displays His approval of Job by restoring Job’s health, relationships, and wealth in double portions (Job 42.9-10). Why didn’t God display his approval of Job’s faith and submission in the midst of his suffering in Job 2:10? After all, by this point Job had proven twice that his worship to God was pure, not merely because God had blessed him with possessions, family, and health. Job’s worship of God in his terrible suffering, despite Satan’s influence on Job’s wife (Job 2.9), proved Satan wrong, and thus defeated Satan’s purpose. God may have very well restored Job at this point, as He would later do in the epilogue. Why, then, were Job’s restoration and Satan’s final defeat put on hold for months of misery for Job (Job 7.3)? The poetic dialogue that constitutes most of the book of Job reveals clues to this answer.
In the dialogue, Satan is not mentioned, but his influence in the teachings of Job’s three friends is evident. If Job would subscribe to their teaching that God had sent suffering to Job to punish some past sin of Job, then Job would also follow their solution that he should pursue God with pleas for mercy for some past sin, for which God was not punishing him, for the purpose of being restored to his past comfort and riches (see Job 5.8-26). If Job followed this advice, then Satan would have proven to be correct in asserting that Job’s devotion to God was solely for materialistic, self-seeking purposes (Job 1.9-10; 2.4). At the same time, Satan’s influence is apparent in Job’s confusion of God’s friendship and justice, which he doubts in the dialogic dispute with his three friends (Job 16.9; 19.11; 31.35), and of which he repents at the end of God’s poetic speeches (Job 42.1-6). Job, though clearly in good standing with God in the prologue as the best man on earth, is shown to be a man at best in the poetic dialogue, during which time his suffering prolongs with no relief. Job’s disposition before God changes for the worst as he argues against his friends’ false accusations, and as he becomes increasingly self-righteous in his pursuit of vindication. Job brazenly subpoenas God to a court hearing as One who has unjustly punished Job (Job 31). Satan’s plan of subverting Job’s pure worship and ultimately undermining God’s sovereign care for His worshippers (Job 2.3) is almost realized in the dialogue.
Thus, a divine intervention is necessary to restore Job’s pure worship and defeat Satan’s plan. This divine intervention is first provided through God’s spokesman, Elihu, and then provided by God Himself (Job 32-41) (see footnote "Satan's influence on Job's Wife and on Job"). Without God’s merciful rebuke of Job, Satan would have triumphed in Job’s losing all faith in God’s perfect rule of the universe.
God could have restored Job to his health, family, and possessions in approval of Job’s unadulterated worship in affliction in Job 2:10. However, God’s prolonging of Job’s suffering through the dialogue allowed for God’s mercy toward Job and God’s redemption of Job’s three friends to be realized, along with many other characteristics of God that are displayed in the speeches of Elihu and God. If the book of Job had alternatively ended directly after Job 2:10, with God approvingly restoring Job to his former comforts because of his perseverance in his trial, then the hero of the story of Job might be Job instead of God. Job does not sin in the prologue, and it is thus not apparent that Job is in desperate need of God’s mercy. Job does sin in the dialogue, however, and realizes his propensity toward improper reflections of God that lead to a sinful attitude of self-righteousness. Job, the imperfect worshipper of God, realizes his desperate need for God’s mercy in light of God’s revelation of His perfect power, wisdom, justice, and control over the whole universe (Job 42.1-6).
In the epilogue, Job finds himself restored to fellowship with God and service to God in His redemptive purposes (Job 42.7-9), finally culminating in the outward proof of God’s approval of Job’s humble submission in his suffering (Job 42.10-17). Although Job’s humility and faith is to be admired in the prologue and epilogue of the book of Job, God mercifully rescues him from succumbing to Satan’s strong influence in the dialogue. God, who defeats Satan’s attempt to subvert Job’s worship and consequently diminish God’s glory, is the hero of the story. (see footnote "Not Dualism")
Footnotes:
"Satan's influence on Job's Wife and on Job"
It is worth noticing that Job’s wife speaks on behalf of Satan, or as influenced by Satan, in the prologue when she says to Job, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” (ESV, Job 2.9). Elihu, on the other hand, speaks on behalf of God near the end of the poetic dialogue when he necessarily rebukes Job for his self-righteous presumption of God’s injustice (Job 32-37). Also, Job responds to his wife in the prologue by saying, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (ESV, Job 2.10) In saying this, Job does not condemn his wife as being a foolish woman, but he rebukes her for succumbing to a foolish resolution due to her improper view of God in her suffering, which Job corrects by his rhetorical question. Ironically, Elihu later rebukes Job’s sinful presumption of God’s injustice by saying, “he [Job] answers like wicked men.” (ESV, Job 34.36). Elihu does not deem Job to be a wicked man, as Job’s three friends had done, but he rebukes and corrects Job’s improper view of God in his suffering. Both Job and his wife are proven vulnerable to Satan’s influence to doubt the care and worth of God in their suffering. God graciously restores both Job and his wife in the epilogue despite their shortcomings.
"Not Dualism"
It may be necessary to comment here that the book of Job does not propose a dualistic view of God and Satan. God’s absolute sovereignty is over all of His creation, including Satan, who appears before God along with the other created angels, or “sons of God” (Job 1.6; 2.1). God is not principally compelled by Satan to ordain Job’s sufferings; instead, God focuses Satan’s attention on Job so as to provoke Satan to provoke God to afflict Job (Job 1.8; 2.3). Thus, when God indicts Satan for inciting God against Job “to destroy him [Job] without reason” (ESV, Job 2.3), God is revealing Satan’s motives, not God’s, to destroy Job and taint God’s glory. God, who is omniscient and sovereign (Job 38-41), ordains for the heavenly drama between Satan and Himself to unfold in such a way as to reveal multiple facets of His nature, namely His redemptive purposes for mankind (Job 42.7-9), His mercy toward suffering worshippers of God (Job 42.7-17), and His power over evil, which is especially displayed in the implied defeat of Satan in the epilogue of Job.
No comments:
Post a Comment