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.