Understanding Theodicy: The Question of God's Justice in the Book of Job, Study notes of World Religions

Download Understanding Theodicy: The Question of God's Justice in the Book of Job and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! REL 101 Lecture 32 1 Job is an interesting book. It is one of the most intriguing books in the Hebrew Bible. It raises a number of questions and specifically it raises the issue of why do bad things happen to good people. Now, this question — why do bad things happen to good people — is essentially the question of theodicy, an important term for you to learn in this session and something that you’d be remiss if you don’t learn it is this term, theodicy. Theodicy specifically is exploring the issue of the justice of God. Central to that question of the justice of God is why do bad things happen to good people. Why is it that innocent children die? Why is it that people die from cancer? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why did — here in the fall of 1005, why did Hurricane Katrina happen and the Christmas before that the tsunami in southern Asia? Why did these things happen? Did the Jews in Central Europe deserve the Holocaust? Well, no one believes that. And so why did the Holocaust happen? It was an evil thing that happened to good people, to innocent people. How do you justify that? There are a certain couple of beliefs that accompany the issue and the idea of theodicy. Number one, the idea is that God is good and just. And number two, that God is powerful. If you take one of these two things away, then there’s really not much of a problem, is there? If God is not good or is not just, if God is capricious, then there’s not much of a quest or an issue. But the Judao Christian assumption and affirmation is that God is merciful and good and just and wise. If God is not powerful, well, then, all sorts of things happen outside of God’s control. God is just one player in the bigger puzzle and so that kind of explains things away. But that’s not the case with the Judao Christian tradition. In the Judao Christian tradition, God is all powerful. He is omnipotent and therefore if he’s omnipotent and good, why are there bad things? It’s a dilemma and it’s a problem. It was a dilemma for the ancient Hebrews. The ancient Hebrews — REL 101 Lecture 32 2 we’ve talked about God as a warrior. God was a divine warrior and the emphasis that was upon Yahweh’s power. There are texts throughout the Hebrew Bible that talk about Yahweh and his mercy and his love, and he is slow to anger and he’s quick to forgive, and he is a righteous God. And so these assumptions were a part of the ancient Hebrew, ancient Israelites’ religious traditions. Therefore, this issue of theodicy was a question and therefore the Book of Job is — has been given authoritative status. It’s been made a part of the canon because it raises this issue and raises this dialogue and this discussion. Theodicy is perhaps surprising and strikes one when compared with some of the other literature in the Hebrew Bible. When you look at the Books of and the traditions that are tied with Deuteronomistic history and the priestly literature, these two bodies of literature, think about what these bodies of literature said. What some of the concepts that were within this literature, what they stated. The nation’s fate is tied to its obedience. If there is an obedient king, then there’s going to be blessings. If there’s a disobedient king to lead the nation, then there’ll be curses. This was a part and parcel of the concept that we’ve already studied and looked at in a fair amount of detail in the Deuteronomistic literature and in the priestly literature both. Big, big chunks of the Hebrew Bible. The question about why bad things happen to good people, though, is another perspective, another voice, that doesn’t fit neatly and tightly with the Deuteronomistic literature or the priestly literature. The Deuteronomistic literature and the priestly literature is tied to a covenantal ideology or covenantal idea, a covenantal model. There is a covenant, a deal struck. If I am loyal to Yahweh, if I maintain the covenant, if I’m obedient, then blessings will follow. If not — if I’m disobedient, disloyal, if I break the covenant, then curses will follow and that’s the content of Deuteronomy 30, verses 15 to 20. And so the theodicy presented in the Book of Job is another way of looking at REL 101 Lecture 32 5 Yahweh. But universal truths and universal experiences, what it is that makes the human experience unique and what it means to be a human being. Wisdom circles generally focus on a natural theology — or, in other words, a search for order through nature. God and order and righteousness and the laws of truth can be found not through special revelation, but can be found out there in nature, through exploration, questioning, and inquiry. And there was apparently a school of thought, of wisdom, school of tradition, of wisdom tradition in ancient Israel. We see a number of books that reflect this tradition. Job being one, the Book of Proverbs being another one, and the Book of Ecclesiastics being a third. And so wisdom was a school of thought out there and another way of approaching things, developed its own literature and worked with some different characteristics than some of the other literature. Well, let’s focus in now on the Book of Job. Structurally, there are two parts — or three parts, but two types of literature that are in the Book of Job. First of all, there is poetry in verse. This makes up Chapter 3, verse 1, all the way through 42, verse 6. The poetry or the verse style of writing then comprises most of the Book of Job, the vast majority of the verses, and these chapters are a series of dialogues. We’ll talk about them in just a minute. Then there is another type of literature, another style of writing, another genre, actually. It’s narrative. It tells a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It has characters. It has drama and it has plot development, all the things that make up a narrative, and this shows up in Chapters 1 and 2, and then at the very end Chapter 42, verses 7 to 17. When we talk about this portion of the book, we’ll focus really on Chapters 1 and 2. Well, let’s go back and focus in, direct our thinking a little bit more narrowly toward these Chapters 3 through 41, going on — trickling on a little bit into Chapter 42. REL 101 Lecture 32 6 This is the poetic portion, the poetic style of the book, and this focuses very much on this question of theodicy: why is it that bad things are happening to the person of Job. And, in general, these verses line out and describe a series of dialogues between Job and his friends. Job is repeatedly testifying to his own righteousness. “I am a victim here. I am righteous. I did nothing to deserve the wrath of God, and so why are these horrible things happening to me?” The friends, in response, are saying, “You must’ve done something wrong because bad things don’t just happen out of the blue for no reason at all. You’re suffering. You’ve got some sin out there. Confess it, get it out in the open, and move on.” And Job comes back and says, “No, no, no. I’m a good guy. I’m a good guy.” And then at the end there is the revelation of God, a theophany, and this is in Chapters 38 through 42 where God says, “Hey, where were you when I created the earth? Where were you when I defeated Leviathan and Rehab and all of the monsters of chaos out there? Where were you?” And Job says, “You’ve got a point. I pale in comparison. Who am I but a human being?” And he’s humbled. And so the flow of it is that, yes, it affirms Job’s righteousness. The losers in this dialogue are the friends who really represent this covenantal concept that shows up in Deuteronomy and the priestly literature. Early on, the first day or two or the first session or two of this class, we talked about different voices in the Hebrew Bible, different perspectives, a diversity of views, and this is a really good example when it comes to the Book of Job. Because it doesn’t accept this covenantal structure that’s found in the books that make up the Deuteronomistic literature and the priestly literature. And the friends who represent this, they’re the ones who say, “Well, surely you’ve got to have done something wrong.” And then, though, it is God who says, “There is basically — there’s knowledge that you don’t understand.” And the answer in regard to this question of theodicy, human beings can’t understand it. It’s beyond REL 101 Lecture 32 7 them. The ways of God are a mystery. And the book leaves it at that. Let’s take a few examples of some of Job’s speeches in this portion just to get a flavor for what — how the book flows and some of the language and how it works together. In Chapter 7, verses 2 to 6, you see Job’s problems and his complaints. “Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.” He is miserable. And again, he talks about — he questions and he complains. Let’s look at verses 12 through 19. “Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath. What are human beings, that you make so much of them” — “Leave me alone,” is what he’s basically saying — “that you set your mind on them, visit them every morning, test them every moment? Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle?” So Job is just looking for a break and he can’t catch it. And then let’s take a look at some of his friends’ responses. We’re gonna be looking at the words of Bildad. Job’s friends -- by the way, we should list them all: Bildad, Zophar, Eliphaz, and Elihu. Elihu comes in at the very end and he — seems like the other friends have sort of given up and said, “Well, we’re not gonna be able to convince Job of anything.” Elihu comes in at the very end and says, “No, no, no. We’ve got to stand up for this covenantal type of thinking. In Chapter 8 we read Bildad’s responses — 8, 2 through 7. “How long will you REL 101 Lecture 32 10 Job, is an ancient expression of that same idea expressed in the modern times by Elie Wiesel. The ancient Book of Job is an ancient expression of “It is okay for us as Hebrews to complain to God and to say, hey, what’s going on here,” and other expressions of theodicy show up. Well, let’s focus in quickly on the last section. This is a narrative and this is Chapters 1 and 2, and then there’s also a narrative section in 42 — 42, verses 7 through 17, may have been added a little bit later. They seem maybe to diverge a little bit from the first few sections of the narrative. So we’re gonna focus in on Chapters 1 and 2. In essence, what the narratives in Chapters 1 and 2 talk about is unmerited piety. It is not necessarily that question of theodicy. It’s a little bit different. It is about and does describe what happens when bad things happen to a good person, Job, but it is more a focus upon Job’s unmerited piety than it is — and it explains why bad things happen to Job. It’s because of the Satan, the accuser, and that there’s a dispute going on in heaven and that’s why it happens, and it all turns out okay in the end. But let’s look at these parts. There are two parts. The first part deals with the loss of property, the second part deals with the loss of health. These are the two major calamities that come and strike Job. And the question is, will Job be — continue to be pious in the face of this calamity. The first discussion, the first part, dealing with the loss of property. There is a conversation in heaven between God and another heavenly being that they call the Satan, HaSatan in Hebrew, translated the accuser. This is not, by the way, a demonic figure or devil, or anything like that. This is an early expression of — the accuser is just someone up in heaven, a prosecuting attorney, you might say, who’s a part of the justice system of the universe. That is his role there. It is only later in Jewish thought and Neo-Hellenistic thought that Satan becomes associated with the devil and the demon and an opponent of God. At any rate, so Satan this accuser — he’s a part of the heavenly court and he REL 101 Lecture 32 11 says — God says, “Have you seen my good servant, Job? He’s good and he’s pious, and what a great guy.” And the accuser says, “Well, now, wait a minute. You know, he has everything. He’s got his health. He’s got riches and wealth and a great family, you know. Why wouldn’t he be a good guy? Why wouldn’t he be happy? He’s got every reason in the world just to kind of go along.” And God says, “Okay. Well, I’ll let you do whatever you want to to him. That’s fine.” And so he loses all of his possessions. But notice what it says — and you see this described in verses — Chapter 1, verses 13 to 19. But then notice how it concludes this part. Verse 20: “Then Job arose, roe his robe, shaved his head” — so he’s mourning, you know — “fell on the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” He remains pious, he remains faithful, he remains an example of righteousness. Well, then, Chapter 2 comes about. Again, there’s a heavenly discussion and the accuser says, “Well, sure, he remains pious. It’s easy to lose your wealth and material goods and things that are external to you, but you take away the guy’s health — I tell you what, he’s gonna curse your name.” And so Yahweh allows that to happen and then the accuser goes down. And Chapter 2, 4 and 5, reads: “Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’” And so the Lord let that happen. He creates boils. He scratches himself with a potsherd. Nevertheless, in all of this, it says that Job’s reaction was a pious reaction. And in verses 9 to 10: “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God and die.” And at least then he’d be relieved of his suffering. But Job said to her, “‘You speak as any REL 101 Lecture 32 12 foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” And so he remains an example of righteousness which is not really too far from what Ezekiel and how Ezekiel portrayed him. Now, by itself, then, these narrative chapters — and scholars speculate that they traveled because they have the structure and a story that are self-contained, but they traveled by themselves and remained together. By themselves they are a picture of pious unselfishness, piety in the face of whatever circumstances there might be. However, when they are connected to and placed around the dialogues, it changes the shape. You start to see again how the editing process starts to affect the meaning of these texts. The dialogues affect the narrative, the narrative affects the poetic dialogues, and so suddenly you get this interaction in which there’s a response. Things happen not because God is evil, but due to heavenly machinations within the gods. There are things going on out there and it really resonates and strengthens what is said in Job 38 through 41. Who knows why bad things happen to good people? Well, we don’t. They’re unfathomable. Those are things that are worked out in the heavenly realm. And then Job 42, 7 to 17, all things are restored. Things work out for the best and in the end everything turns out okay. That’s why scholars feel — and it sort of weakens this issue and sidesteps the issue of theodicy, and that’s why scholars think that these were verses that were brought in probably later. What this indicates is that there were again wisdom circles within ancient Israel that discussed these universal issues, universal issues of human experience. They talked about why bad things happened to good people. They didn’t just accept the Deuteronomistic and priestly line of covenantal thinking. Obedience brings about life and reward. Disobedience brings about death and cursing. They didn’t accept that.