Rhetorical Reading of Job 29–31: Social Justice and Divine Law

Introduction: Interpreting the Book of Job

The questions surrounding the meaning of the Book of Job have been a central focus of debate among scholars, theologians, and critics for decades. The literature on the subject points out that there is a strong relationship between social views and perceptions and the canonized perceptions of the society of the time — a relationship that influences the way this biblical text is analyzed and understood. As one scholar writes, "For most of the history of interpretation, the answers have been predetermined by the book's canonicity — in other words, by the presupposition that an inspired scriptural writing must convey a coherent and authoritative religious teaching."

In terms of this view, any interpretation of this work must be consistent with the norms and values of the scholarly community and society of the time: "…it must be compatible with the doctrines of the Scripture-based community that is doing the reading and interpreting. It must, in the words of Brevard Childs, 'function as a normative guide within a continuing community of faith.'"

However, in the contemporary age in which we live, academic interrogation has become largely freed from the social and theological preconceptions that adhere to the interpretation and analysis of any text. In the age of deconstruction and phenomenological analysis there is a greater freedom to explore and interrogate the fundamental morals and values, as well as the more liminal aspects, of any text. Therefore, we can question the premises and the views that play a role in any canonical text or reading of that text, and explore avenues that may or may not coincide with established Christian or Jewish doctrine or theory. It is this spirit of open-ended and sincere questioning that constitutes the ethos and trajectory of this proposed thesis.

Within the ambit of the above statement of intent, we should take into account views of the Book of Job that have to a great extent been associated with orthodox interpretation — specifically the question of theodicy, or the relationship between God, man, and the reality of evil.

However, also central to the biblical story of Job is the social context and the way that society measures justice in terms of good and evil. This can be seen in the friends and characters who surround Job in the narrative and who represent the society and its normative structures and perceptions.

These characters represent a clear and somewhat one-dimensional view of God and justice: God punishes those who sin or who are involved in bad or nefarious actions, and rewards those who do good deeds. Justice is therefore understandable and rational in the social and secular world in terms of balance and retribution for actions that are clearly good or bad according to the norms and mores of the society.

However, this clear and unequivocal logic and rhetoric is deeply problematized and placed into question by the experience that Job undergoes. As one commentary on the Book of Job states:

Where Job differs from his companions is on the question of God's absolute goodness and justice. His friends claim that God always rewards the good and punishes the evil, but Job knows from his own experience that it is not that simple. "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked," Job insists. "When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?" (9:22–24)

The above statement clearly places the issue of justice in a more complex and problematic arena of discourse. In other words, it appears that there are two forms of justice at work in the Book of Job: justice according to the social norms and conventions of society, and a more ambiguous and ambivalent form of justice dispensed by God. This thesis will attempt to explore this apparent contradiction and go some way toward resolving this seeming ambiguity, through a reassessment of the social dimension of justice.

The discussion in this thesis will focus on the selected chapters — namely, Job 29–31. The analysis of this text will refer to other chapters and verses throughout the book, but the primary focus will be on the rhetorical structure of chapters 29 to 31 in relation to the larger themes and arguments of the book. This aspect will be further elucidated in the following sections of this paper.

Thesis Statement

The central thesis to be explored in this study is that the Book of Job is a commentary on society as much as it is a moral and existential exploration of the relationship between man and God. This will also include the view that, in a close rhetorical analysis of the text, the biblical narrative has both a social and a spiritual message to convey. However, this double-sided nature of the text requires detailed explanation, which will take the form of a close rhetorical exposition of the passages in question.

An analysis of the text reveals the normative structure of society and its perceptions of both social and divine justice, conveyed through beliefs surrounding the concept of good as opposed to evil. However, these normative views of social justice — as the entire Book of Job indicates — are not necessarily the route to enlightenment and salvation. Therefore, central to the intention of this proposed thesis is the assertion that it can be argued, from an analysis of the rhetorical structure and intended meaning of the text, that spiritual enlightenment and the development of a true relationship with God is established in isolation and separation from common society. This can also be interpreted in terms of a discourse that takes as its starting point the difference between the secular and the spiritual.

The proposed thesis, however, is not intended to be a simplistic or dualistic analysis of the rhetoric in the text. Cognizance is taken of the fact that an analysis of this complex book must take into account the underlying and less overt interconnections between the secular and the spiritual. It should also be acknowledged that this is a complex process that is in effect both a deconstruction and a reconstruction of the theme of justice. These aspects will be explicated in a close analysis of the often convoluted arguments that flow throughout the text.

The above point is clarified to some extent by Alan Cooper in "The Sense of the Book of Job." He states that central to the book is "…the relationship between divine providence and the suffering of the innocent…The crux of the matter is the affliction of the innocent Job…"

This can be seen, for example, in the first few verses of Chapter 29:

How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone on my head and by his light I walked through darkness! Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house, when the Almighty was still with me. (29:2–5)

This nostalgia for a time when there was a positive relationship with God is a central part of the moral and spiritual confusion that is further exacerbated by the negative reaction of society and friends.

While the existential and spiritual conflict between the character of Job and the figure of God is the focus of attention, there is also ongoing debate between Job and his "friends" — figures who represent the views of society and its ideals of social justice, and who reflect the way that society perceives and judges Job. Furthermore, it will also be suggested in the thesis that social and divine justice are not as distinctly separate as a superficial reading of the text might suggest.

Literature Review

There is a plethora of articles, books, and commentaries on this biblical text. While background and broad overviews of the various theoretical interpretations are obviously important, it was felt that the literature review for this thesis should focus more on analyses of the rhetorical arguments and the social aspects of those arguments — while at the same time not neglecting the central theological debate on both social and divine justice. To this end, the research focused on literature pertaining to more in-depth analysis that attempted to question accepted convention and interpretations.

A number of intriguing perceptions and interpretations of the text are found in Alan Cooper's "The Sense of the Book of Job" (1997). For example, that study refers to the writings of Maimonides, who presents the view of Job from the perspective of amphibolous theological language:

The notion of [God's] providence is not the same as the notion of our providence; nor is the notion of His governance of the things created by Him the same as the notion of our governance of that which we govern. The two notions are not comprised in one definition, contrary to what is thought by all those who are confused, and there is nothing in common between the two except the name alone.

Cooper relates this view to the realization that the goal of human existence is the attainment of the knowledge of God. It is through this knowledge that the secular and social world becomes, to a great extent, "insignificant" — and the suffering of the secular realm is understood as an illusion. When Job comes to know God "by the way of [philosophical] speculation" (that is, through the divine speeches), he ceases to be troubled by the loss of his health, wealth, and children — things that he had only "imagined" to be sources of happiness — and experiences "true happiness, which is knowledge of the deity."

There are of course strong objections to this type of interpretation, a fact that will be taken into account in the analysis of the social context of the Book of Job. This brings to light the more conventional ideal of social justice: "Does a heightened awareness of God's presence really suffice to compensate Job for the death of his children?" This is in turn related to literature that questions the portrayal of God in the text — for example, the view of Martin Buber, who states that the "…portrayal of the deity there is incongruous and unreal, manifesting an erroneous theology that will be corrected later on." There are also references to interpretations of the character of Job as "a sexist, paranoid plutocrat."

Another work that was particularly useful in understanding the rhetorical structure of the Book of Job was Norman Habel's The Book of Job: A Commentary (1985). In this work he refers to the three-movement plot structure — an aspect that will be explored at length, as it provides insight into both the social and spiritual dimensions of the text.

The argument put forward by Lamb (1995) was also taken into account in the initial research for this proposal. In this insightful work, Lamb noted that Job is seen as a figure associated with "…a recurrent cultural antinomy that emerges in fields as diverse as monumental sculpture and voyages of discovery, as well as in politics and literature, whenever the interpretation and the point of first-person testimonies are at stake." More importantly, Lamb states that "This antinomy is always recognizable in its basic form as a conflict between the law… and those elements of a personal history, usually painful, for which there is no prescription or parallel." In other words, this antinomy in the Book of Job can be expressed in terms of the apparent incompatibility of the social and the spiritual forms of justice.

Among the other sources providing valuable insight into the issues at stake in a rhetorical interpretation of Job's moral dilemma is an article entitled "The Book of Job — Suffering and God's Sovereignty." This study refers to the historical background of the text and Judaic theological preconceptions: "In studying this story, you must understand that the original writer and original readers, monotheistic Hebrews, viewed God as unquestionably righteous." This perspective is borne in mind throughout the textual analysis. Central to this discussion will be the focus on chapters 29–31, with an emphasis on the rhetoric that flows through these chapters and how it relates to the larger issues and themes of the book.