This is an old thought of mine that I blogged a few years ago, but I want to know what other think.
What is the book of Job about? What do Job’s friends get wrong? What does Job do right? Job’s friends seem to be giving him some very good answers, and Job responds with some very strange ones. Do we go back and analyze everywhere Job gets it right and Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu make theological mistakes? Let me suggest the answer to that is ‘No’.
What matters is not our assesment, but Yahweh’s. The all-supreme creator gives his summation in chapter 42. The ESV says, “After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has’“ (Job 42:7; cf. 42:8).
But that is not what is literally there. No translation or commentary that I have seen has the usual translation of the Hebrew preposition: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken to me what is right, as my servant Job has”.
From my brief look at the concordance, the word translated “of me” here by the ESV is translated “to me” 99% of the time. The same preposition is used earlier in the verse when the Lord speaks to Eliphaz.
Perhaps what God is saying is that the others have not prayed to God like Job has. Here’s some supporting evidence:
- Job prays when his life is first hit by tragedy (1:21).
- Over and over again, Job wants to speak to God; his friends merely speak about God.
- The Satan wants to test Job’s relationship with God, not his theological positions (1:8-9).
- At Yahweh’s appearing, only Job speaks and confesses his folly, and God seems to accept it (42:1-6). The clincher is what God says next in verses 7-8.
- Having shown Job to be a man of faith-breathing (prayer), Yahweh orders Job to intercede in prayer for the his friends (42:9-10). The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective:
So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (Job 42:9-10)
Job treats God as someone with whom he has a relationship (albeit a scary relationship sometimes); his friends treat God as a theological debate. They may score good theological points, but it’s Job who trusts God.
Rather than being just a book about the problem of evil, Job contains a sharp and scary message for would-be theologians. These people actually infuriate God with their endless discussions if they are not men and women of prayer (Job 42:7). Perhaps, at least in part, the message of the book of Job is a word of strengthening to people who pray.
Andrew,
Thank you for this thought-provoking post.
For those who don’t have Hebrew Bible software, I have found this scripture4all website fantastic for giving you a free Hebrew-English literal interlinear translation of whichever chapter of the Old Testament you wanted to check from the index (where my link goes).
This opens up claims like those made by Andrew for checking (albeit in a limited way) by the average thoughtful non-expert.
In this case, checking out Job 42 on that website confirms Andrew’s comments about ‘to me’ rather than ‘of me’.
The Accordance Bible software does likewise.
And to a less technical comment, Andrew’s post serves as a real warning to all of us blogging here and elsewhere…
We must be people of prayer and not just endless debating about theology!
<i>Rather than being just a book about the problem of evil, Job contains a sharp and scary message for would-be theologians. These people actually infuriate God with their endless discussions if they are not men and women of prayer (Job 42:7). Perhaps, at least in part, the message of the book of Job is a word of strengthening to people who pray.</i>
Andrew, the blogging world (and as you observe, the theological world) is full of people who “spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” My goodness it makes me mad sometimes. Thanks for your pointy poke on the subject.
My only fear is that having made the observation, you will miss a daily prayer time or something, feel convicted, and stop blogging as quickly (or as slowly
) as you started. Please don’t! We need people like you who will show us how to do passionate, prayerful theology in the service of the Lord Jesus.
Thanks again.
I didn’t want to include too many details of the Hebrew in the post. But for those interested, here they are…
I did a word search of the verb dbr followed by the preposition ‘el. There are 272 occurrences in the MT. Leaving aside the two references in Job 42:7 and 8, with a quick search I could only find 2 or 3 verses which demanded a different translation other than the regular – ‘to’. With these statistics in its favour the translation ‘to’ should at least be considered.
Also,if you know the language, have a look at the Hebrew of Job 42:7,8,9. Notice the way it describes the way God will accept Job’s prayer in verse 8. ‘My servant Job will pray for you, for I will lift up his face not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken to me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
God seems to be accepting Job’s trust in him.
It is also very beneficial to look at the works of those who have preceded us. I think these quotes from John Owen (1616-1683) fit nicely into this discussion.
I suppose … this may be fixed on as a common principle of Christianity; namely, that constant and fervent prayer for the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, is such an indispensable means for … attaining the knowledge of the mind of God in the Scripture, as that without it all others will not [avail]
And from the preface of his 7 volume commentary on Hebrews
I must now say, that, after all my searching and reading, prayer and assiduous meditation have been my only resort, and by far the most useful means of light and assistance. By these have my thoughts been freed from many an entanglement
Hi Andrew,
This post reminded me of something I heard John Piper say once in a sermon on Psalm 23. He drew attention to the shift in the Psalm from speaking of God in the 3rd person (‘the LORD is my shepherd’, ‘He restores my soul’ etc …) to 2nd person (‘I will fear no evil, for you are with me’ etc…) then back to 3rd person in the last verse.
He just made the simple observation that our theology (words about God) should always lead naturally into prayer (words to God)