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I have started a new blog called "Musings About Faith" to touch on more general topics. The URL for that is: http://pastorduncansblog.blogspot.com/
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Pr. Duncan

Session 5 - God Speaks from the Whirlwind / Life Within Limits

****We met for our final session this past Wednesday. It was entitled – “From the Whirlwind!” We discussed our impressions of God’s speech to Job and we were stuck by the fact that God really doesn’t answer the presenting question that we have been dealing with for about 39 chapters. It was suggested by one of us that God “belittles” Job in a way. Another of us noted that a lot has to do with tone. If we perceive God’s speech as being presented in an authoritative, angry and harsh manner then it is easy to feel belittled. If, however, we can imagine God using a gentle loving voice for the same words then perhaps there is something else being said.
*****Ultimately it comes down to this – while the presenting problem may be the question of “why do bad things happen to good people, and the reverse” ultimately the central issue of the book of Job has to do with the limits of human wisdom. Job has been reminded (perhaps gently) that he is not the center of the universe. Frost says on page 69: “The search for a key to the complexities of this book ends here – in the line ‘Then God Answered Job.” For us 21st century humans this is not very comforting as we like to have answers, we want to know, and we perceive that we are the center of the universe. But the word of God from the whirlwind is that no – there is a limit to human understanding, there is a limit to human wisdom and it does not compare to God’s.
*****For me the answer to the question is Jesus. What God does in his response to Job is to at least indirectly assure him of God’s presence and attention in the midst of his suffering. The cross and resurrection of Jesus make this promise much more directly. So what is the answer to the question of suffering? It is a part of the human experience – it is often beyond human understanding – but in the midst of it there is God, through Jesus. Through the passion of Jesus God enters into human suffering and redeems it from within and we are thereby assured of his presence with us no matter what.
*****Job’s response is acceptance of these limits. Job’s response is: “With the ear’s hearing I had heard of You, but now my eye has seen You. Therefore I recant and reconsider about dust and ashes.” The translation is by scholar Ellen Davis. We know that things will never be the same for Job. He is different now. Despite the “restoration” things do not return to the way things were. Job will no longer assume that the world is all neat and tidy; that obedience will bring him blessing or that God owes him any explanations. He is called to live within limits and he accepts these. The point is here that we are like Job – called to live our lives in our uncertain world faithfully, within these same limits.
*****We concluded our session with consideration of a quote from A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss by Gerald Sittser. This book was written out of his experience of watching his mother, his wife, and their four-year-old daughter die in a car accident. This paragraph is near the end of the book, where he considers the courage it takes to live and love after experiencing such tragedy.
*****Still, I realized then, as I do now, that there is an ominous dimension to love,
especially after loss. If loss increases our capacity for love, then an increased capacity for love will only make us feel greater sorrow when suffering strikes again. There is no simple solution to this dilemma. Choosing to withdraw from people and to protect the self diminishes the soul; choosing to love even more deeply than before ensures that we will suffer again, for the choice to love requires the courage to grieve. We know that loss is not a once-in-a lifetime experience. So naturally we dread the losses that loom ahead. But the greater loss is not suffering another loss itself but refusing to love again, for that may lead to the death of the soul.
****Finally I offer these verses from the Prophet Habbakuk as a closing prayer for our study of Job:
Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18
****There is much more in this wonderful book and I hope we may all have the opportunity to continue our study. Thank you for your participation in the bible study. Also I want to acknowledge the book “Job and the Life of Faith” by Dr. Carol Bechtel and “The Color of Night” by Gerhard Frost as these were the primary resources used.
May you experience God’s presence and love especially through this coming Christmas season.
SBD+

Session 4 - When Familiar Answers Fail

*****We met for session #4 – When Familiar Answers Fail – The Dialogues. To begin with we noted that the structure of this long section (Job chapters 4 through 27) have each of the three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar) make their statements followed by a response from Job. There are three cycles for each of the friends – except at the end it all breaks down and the final statement of Zophar is lost (probably no great loss). As the discussion proceeds it gets more and more heated and intense. The “friends” and Job become more and more sarcastic and cruel in their comments to each other until finally they all begin to repeat each other as they talk past each other and the entire dialogue breaks down. Ultimately the theme of this section is the question – “Why do Bad Things Happen to God People?” The answer the friends give is classic “retributive justice:” obedience = blessing; disobedience = suffering; blessing = obedience; suffering = disobedience. “Somewhere in your youth or childhood, Job, you must have done something very bad!” We also noted that the friends have differing personalities which are easy to miss because of the ponderousness of their arguments.
*******After watching a video performance of part of the dialogues we discussed what we had seen and experienced. We pondered this discussion and our personal reaction to it. In particular we discussed whether the fact that we know the “upstairs” part of the story has any bearing on how we experience the dialogues and if the fact that we are Christian changes the way we experience them for ourselves. One participant noted that the answer to the friends and the to question is Christ’ crucifixion and resurrection.
*****We noted that as we come to chapter 28 we come to an important juncture in the book of Job. Up until the question of “why do bad things happen to good people” and the attending answer of retributive justice (from the friends) has been the focus or the theme, but at chapter 28 there is a transformation and the them which emerges as the central theme of the book of Job is this: “The inaccessibility of the Wisdom of God and the limits of human wisdom.” This theme will dominate the remainder of the book.
*****As we have all noted the themes of suffering and loss are central to the book of Job and in this way Job’s experience is everyone’s experience. This was brought home to be in a profound way shortly after our class was over. I was in the office finishing up a little after 9:00 that evening when I received a phone call from a friend with the news that a very close friend and colleague had committed suicide on Tuesday night. He was not discovered until sometime Wednesday afternoon. Mark was one of the finest oboists I have ever had the honor to work with. He was my colleague in a small ensemble “WiZARDS!” which lasted for 12 years, numerous concerts, tours and 5 recordings. He was also the of the most giving and wonderful caring teachers I have ever observed. For a variety of reasons he had entered into a very dark place and one that he could not come out of. His friends, colleagues, students and I are all deeply grieved at his death. But I will tell you that the pontifications of the friends in Job are of no comfort, and make no sense in the face of this kind of tragedy. In this context I would turn to Psalm 23 or 91 in the Old Testament; but also the St. Paul – “Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God… nothing!” This is the promise of the Gospel of Christ. This provides assurance and comfort, though it does not take away the pain – which in a way is a gift.
****Our next and last meeting is Wednesday, December 3 at 6:00. We will focus on the “Voice from the Whirlwind” and also try to finish up. Please review Job chapters 38 to 42:6 and then skim to the end of the book. In the Forde please read page 68 (“Then!”) to the end. God’s blessings with you all for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Session 3 - The Impatience of Job

***As we move from chapter 2 to chapter 3 in the book of Job we experience a major shift. First there is a shift from prose to poetry. But more important there seems to be a complete shift in the story. At the conclusion of chapter 2, Job and his friends are sitting in silence. In chapter 3, Job speaks and gives vent to his anguish. It seems like this is a different Job from the one we met in chapters 1 and 2. Also notable is that Job and his friends are left on their own – there is no narrator anymore, and God no longer speaks. Job is left only with the comfort of his three friends, who we will learn are not much comfort.
*****Hebrew poetry is different than English poetry in that rhyme is not important. For Hebrew poetry we look for the parallelisms. We learned that there are three basic types – synonymous parallels (see Job 3:3 – “Let the day perish…..born, and the night….conceived”); contrasting parallels (see Proverbs 10:1 – “A wise child… glad father, … foolish child… mother’s grief”); and pervading it all is a kind of stair-step structure which intensifies the images as we progress (see Ps. 6:2 – “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; O Lord, heal me … shaking with terror”). This last type is often found in conjunction with the earlier two types. Also, like English poetry, we find word-painting, metaphors and comparisons which enable to poet to make profound statements with few words. As you study the poetry of the Old Testament and particularly of Job, as yourself two questions: 1. What is being compared to what? 2. What are the emotional associations the poet is trying to make?
******The structure of chapter 3 is as follows:
3:1-2 – Introduction
3:3-10 – Curses on day and night
vv. 4-5 – Curses on “that day”
vv. 6-9 – Curses on “that night”
vv.10 – reason for curses
3:11-26 – Lament
vv. 11-19 – Why did I not die?
vv. 20-26 – Why must I live?
Job speaks now. He breaks his silence and his anguish gushes forth. We talked about the silent Job of chapter 2 vs. the verbal Job of chapter 3. Is one more faithful than the other? Is one to be preferred? It seems to me they are both faithful. Job has experienced horrible and catastrophic loss. In the immediate aftermath of that experience what can be said? Silence seems appropriate as an initial reaction. This silence is not a sign of the end of faith. Nor is it a sign of some kind of trite acceptance. All that has transpired needs to sink in – he needs to come to grips with it. But then he speaks and his pain is given voice. Once spoken this pain can be named for what it is. And in naming the pain he can begin tohe process of working through this experience and moving forward from it; not pretending it isn't so bad, not trite acceptance, not any kind of trivialization of his pain, but an honest confrontation of it and allowing it to become part who he is.
*****This speaking takes the form of curses and laments. Job never curses God directly, but he does confront God. We are often so non-confrontational as though we are afraid that if we express how we really feel we will either knock God out of his tree or God will abandon us. There is a long Hebrew tradition of Lament which gives voice to honest confrontation but then brings transformation and healing – see Psalm 22.
*****I remember once listening to a man give a “testimonial” when I was in college. This older man shared how he had lost a child to a terrible accident. But described his grief reaction as saying he had been “rebellious and angry” with God for a little while, but then had finally been able to accept this “will of God.” To me it did not ring true. It sounded dishonest. He had lost a child, whom he had loved – but then was willing to shrug this loss off as the “will of God” rather than give voice to his anger and pain. The way he presented it seemed to trivialize it. He seemed to me to be afraid of offending God, or that maybe God would abandon him if he gave voice to his feelings of pain and anger. I believe that the pain and suffering that visits us is a part of the human experience. Even so, it is always a sign of the fallen-ness of creation and not something we have to pretend is good, or something that for some odd reason God wanted to happen. It isn’t good. It is horrid. God did not want this to happen. The cry of "Why" is profoundly appropriate.
******WHY! WHY! In the face of this kind of tragedy and misery this is a valid and appropriate questions. But we must also recognize the limitations of our knowledge. Ultimately this question may be unanswerable in the way we expect to receive answers. Since the enlightenment we like to have answers to our questions that satisfy our reasoning capabilities. But there are some questions which simply cannot be answered in this way and we need to allow that ultimately there is a limit to human knowledge. We need to accept mystery. Much of our human experience is shrouded in mystery, despite how much we try to pull back the curtain. There is much continues to remain hidden to us. Can we accept this mystery? We are now previewing God’s response from the whirlwind in the book of Job .
******As Christians we must also consider that Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, death and resurrection is also God’s response to human suffering. Through Jesus, the suffering servant, who was a “man of suffering and acquainted with grief;” through Jesus, God enters into the human experience of suffering and redeems it from within. Jesus enters into the valley of the shadow of death in order to lead us through it.
******We closed the session with small groups exploring two quotes from the Forde:
1. “But don’t we, too, know moments when we hurl our NO! into the face of God.”
2. “A why can be a child’s empty cup, held up to the love and wisdom of our gracious God. Our Lord doesn’t need to fill it to the brim, but he satisfies each person’s need. He is too kind to drown us in all the knowledge we crave. He doesn’t give more than we can hold; sometimes we must wait to be made larger cups.” From pages 26-28 in “The Color of Night” by Gerhard Forde.
*******Our next session will be at 6:00 on November 12. It is entitled “When Familiar Answers Fail.” We will focus on the dialogues with the three friends. Please review Job 4-27 – but focus on Chapters 4, 6, 8-13. Also in the Forde please have read through to page 68 and look through the questions on pages 105-108. I also wanted to mention that there are several books I am using as I study and prepare for these classes: besides the Forde, there is the commentaries by Samuel Ballentine and Gerald Janzen; also the resource book “Job and the Life of Faith” by Carol Bechtel (most of the handouts come from this book). In the future I will post a list of the artists and titles of the artwork I have posted here on this blog.
*******God bless you as you continue to study and grow in your understanding of the Book of Job!

Slight adjustment of schedule...

For the class this Wednesday evening at 6:00 - we will focus ONLY on chapter 3. If you can please take a moment to read through the 3rd chapter of Job. Also the relevant pages in the Forde are pages 25 through 28 - and the questions you might want to ponder a little are on page 105 - #1, #7 and #8. God bless - see you Wednesday....
SBD+

Session 2 - Upstairs/Downstairs

***Chapters 1 and 2 of the book of Job are structured in an Upstairs/Downstairs manner with the scenes alternating between downstairs scenes in the land of Uz and Job's household and family and upstairs scenes that take place in the heavenly court. We meet Job, he is prosperous and successful and happy and devout. Then we move the the heavenly court where God takes note of Job but the Accuser suggests that Job's devotion is only the result of the fact that God has blessed him. Take that away, suggests the Accuser, and Job will curse God. God then gives the Accuser permission to afflict Job. The next scene is back downstairs and Job experiences a series of catastrophes during which he looses everything. The messengers trip over each other as they arrive to bring the bad news. But yet he does not curse God. Back upstairs God is pleased and points out to the Accuser that Job is still faithful. Take away his health and he will curse you, suggests the Accuser. God allows the Accuser to afflict Job. Job is now despondent and alone. He has lost everything and is afflicted with horrid sores. His wife tells him to just curse God and die. But yet he remains devout.
***We spoke initially about the downstairs part of the story. What do the characters know? Well they do not know anything about the heavenly court. Things are so Good for Job at first. He even does extra sacrifices just in case his kids do something wrong. Initially it seems that he is religiously working to maintain the status quo by his actions. And this raises the question about the motivation for his devotion - just as the accuser suggests. Job's view of God is at this point rather limited. And then that which Job was trying so hard to prevent occurs and it is worse than he could have possibly imagined. And he is silent - but he does not curse God. What are your impressions of Job at this point? His wife suffered the same loses and seems very bitter. His friends arrive and are speechless.
***Mrs. Job gets a bad rap. In some commentaries and sermons she is taken to task for her faithlessness. But she is the only female voice that speaks in this story. In another book from the 1st C BCE "The Testament of Job" gives her a name - Sistis - and is much more sympathetic to her. In this work she gives herself completely to supporting him. What do you think of the depiction of the wife of Job?
***The character of the Satan - or the Accuser - is an interesting character. If one examines the bible one can see that the view of the Satan develops over time. In Job, the Satan is a member of the heavenly court and a servant of God. He is not the evil Satan that we find in later writings. It is suggested that we use the term Accuser as this is the literal translation of the Hebrew word satan, which can be both a noun and a verb, and it does not have the baggage of the name - Satan. It is the influence of Persian dualism during the early Roman times that begin to transform the image of Satan into the wicked devil who then becomes the tempter and the adversary. See Rev. 20:1-10 for a example of this transformed image of Satan and compare this character to the Satan of the book of Job. They are simply not the same character. In Job God commissions and authorizes the Accuser. He does not act independently of God. He serves God by investigating claims of loyalty and righteousness. The ultimate question which he poses comes down to this - Can God be certain that when Job says "I love you" it is genuine - or is it a reflex response which is designed to be manipulative? What about us?
***God has his own image problems in the book of Job as well. If we had only the God of the book of Job to go our understanding of God is very incomplete. The God in Job seems on the one hand petty, and uncaring and on the other overly confident and proud - but nevertheless willing to sacrifice poor Job as a part of a bet or a test. The understanding of God in the bible also changes over the books of the bible. If we take a variety of other texts and place them next to this image from Job it gives us a more complete image. Principally, as Christians, John 3:16 stands out and helps to fill out of image of God, even as we struggle in our lives. It is this love of God, and his amazing grace that define our understanding of God. It is the incarnation of Jesus and the promise of his never-failing presence which ultimately help us to resolve the questions posed by this book.
***Finally the first two chapters of the book of Job ask three basic questions:
1. What kind of world do we live in?
2. What kind of God is God?
3. What kind of relationship with God and others are we created for?
***Our next class is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 6:00. We will focus on Job outburst in chapter 3 and then the dialogs between Job and his three friends (Job 4-27). Try to read all of that and in the Forde pages 25 through 61 (and the questions on pages 105-108). It is a lot, but we only have 5 weeks so in order to get to the end we need to do all of the dialogs next time. Please feel free to post comments and questions.
Also - the one picture is by William Blake - the other is of Job and his wife.

Session 1 - There was a Man Named Job....

-----Why do bad things happen to good people? This is at the heart of the entire book of Job. This is a question that is asked in culture after culture, from the dawn of time. We noted that there are pre-Job stories which come from the ancient Sumarians, Babylonians, Egyptians and on and on. Samuel Balentine notes in his comprehensive commentary: “For as long as men and women have walked this earth, they have shared the journey with someone, somewhere, named Job.” (pg. 5). Frost notes that “this is my story, your story, every person’s story.”
-----There have been a variety of ways to explain this. One very common explanation – which we find throughout the bible – is what we would call “Retributive Justice.” As one of us noted – this is the “Santa Claus” theology of “if you are good you will get good things; if you are bad you will be punished.” Unfortunately life doesn’t seem to work like that. Retributive Justice is well represented in the Book of Job by the three friends, but ultimately the book of Job rejects this understanding.
-----It is a very common understanding however. In my own life and ministry, especially during my time as a hospital chaplain, I was often confronted with this understanding. I shared that when I was about 13/14 I was working in a lumber yard and the foreman (and my boss) told me a story about a young man who was killed in a horrific car accident. This young man had become a “born-again” Christian a few months earlier but this had not changed his life-style. Johnny suggested that God did this to him as punishment. This terrified me at the time, but now almost 50 years later I look back in disgust at the way this story was told to a child. It was manipulative and it is also simply untrue. I do not believe that God causes horrific things to happen on purpose in order to punish. I do not believe in retributive justice.
-----I also used an illustration from my days as a hospital chaplain in a sermon I preached on April 27, 2008. It is posted online if you are interested - http://www.stmatthewsbloomington.org/sermons/index.php
-----Retributive justice is well represented in the book of Job. The bulk of the body of the text are the three dialogues (and there is the Elihu speech as well) during which the three friends strongly and uncompromisingly maintain their belief in this theology. “You must have done something wrong, Job!” Job maintains his innocence and the dialog becomes more heated and rather nasty by the end. Ultimately the book of Job rejects retributive justice. We will examine this and what other alternatives (if any) are presented.
-----We also talked about authorship. The book of Job is a parable. It is not a historical event. It emerged from a long oral history of like stories and was most probably assembled by a variety of writers over a long period of time. I provided a list of the possible versions of the story and how it came to be formed in its final form. I can provide the list to you if you did not get one.
-----Next week – the title of the session is “Upstairs/Downstairs.” Please read through Job (skim) and focus on chapters 1 and 2. Also read in the Frost pages 12 to 24 and look at the questions on page 104. The next session is Wed., Oct. 15 at 6:00. We will start right on time. Feel free to post thoughts and comments here on this blog. Be sure to make sure you are responding to the right entry. Also, if possible please join the blog.....
Thanks and blessings…..