Job 21 and book of Job

As the third cycle of speeches opens, Job takes a different tack with the friends. Previously he complained about his pain and God's responsiblity for it, but he confined his comments to his personal experience. "My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids, though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure (16:16-17)." "Who among all these [the creatures of the earth] does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this (12:9)?" Now he takes a page out of the friends' book. They responded to Job's comments in the second cycle by affirming the hopeless fate of the wicked. Job retaliates verbally in chapter 21 by arguing that not only his but also the world's moral order is upset through his calamity.

Reversing Zophar

Zophar indirectly invited Job's new approach. In 20:5 he confidently asserted "that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment..." In fact, Zophar says, "They will fly away like a dream and not be found (20:8)." For the first time Job directly contradicts this theology. "Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power (21:7)?" he asks. The wicked party until the end of their days, "They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe (21:12)." Not only do the wicked live on, "Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and never miscarries (21:10)." Instead of honoring God, "They say to God, 'Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways (21:14).'"

Moral confusion, rather than clarity, reigns. The friends are utterly committed to the truth of a moral universe, with neatly interlocking rules that can be tersely summarized. They are masters of sound-byte theology. But Job's point is that his experience now expressly undermines any belief in a moral system in the world. "One dies in full properity, being wholly at ease and secure, his loins full of milk, and the marrow of his bones moist. Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted the good. They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them (21:23-26)."

Nothing but Falsehood

The only thing true about the friends' comments is that they are false. "There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood (21:34)." Job is simultaneously exhilarating and dangerous: exhilarating because he filters every received affirmation through the alembic of his personal suffering; dangerous because if too many people take too much of what Job says to heart, no institution in our society would be safe from searching review. The danger of Job's position will elicit a sharp retort from his most mild-mannered friend, Eliphaz.

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