Job Chapter 9
Ooh, you are so big! So absolutely huge! Gosh. We're all really impressed down here.
Remember Mark Anthony's speech in Julius Caesar from 9th grade English? Ostensibly he's agreeing with Caesar's assassins. Caesar was a danger to the Republic. Yet, the longer he speaks the more he sways the crowd toward Caesar. Every “Brutus says he was ambitious. And Brutus is an honorable man” becomes a dagger pointed at Brutus and company.
Job pulls a similar trick. Ostensibly, he's agree with Bildad. How dare Job speak out against G-d. G-d is mighty. G-d is big. G-d is powerful. How can a mortal prove innocence before G-d. How can a mortal judge G-d. G-d moves the mountains. G-d shakes the earth. G-d could snuff out the sun. G-d made the constellations.
Note to people reading along with the translation. The Hebrew words for those constellations are Aas, K'seel and Kimah. Most translators use the Greek names of Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades. Don't worry. The Bible didn't just embrace Greek mythology.
The more Job speaks about the power of G-d, the more foolish Bildad sounds with his G-d as a happy little wish granting fairy depiction. G-d made the volcanoes and the sun. Job can't even see G-d. G-d can destroy everything and no one can stop G-d. Even the servants of Rahab lie prostate before G-d.
Rahab is another sea monster. Rahab can also be a metaphor for Egypt or the proud. Isaiah mentions that G-d cut up Rahab and humbled Egypt.
Some scholars theorize that Rahab is an allusion to Marduk and Tiamat. In Babylonian mythology, everything was chaos because of Tiamat. Then Marduk stepped up and tore Tiamat apart, thus creating the heavens and the earth with Tiamat's corpse. Isaiah stating that G-d tore Rahab apart on the way to smite the Egyptians (everyone needs a hobby} could be a way of saying that Marduk is a cute story but not a deity worthy of worship, regardless of the Babylonian dominance.
Job isn't arguing with Babylonian priests for the soul of Judaism. He's arguing with Bildad for his own self-respect. How can Job fight with G-d? Innocence won't help him. G-d crushes everyone. G-d isn't even letting Job catch a break. G-d kills everyone.
Then we get verse 9:23 -”If the scourge comes suddenly killing everyone, G-d laughs at the death of the innocent.”
Damn.
Seriously.
What the fuck was that?
I published a book by Michael Boatman entitled God Laughs When You Die. Michael Boatman is an actor known for Spin City and The Good Fight. The book is a collection of hilariously nasty splatterpunk stories. Until this week, I did not know that there was an actual Bible verse to go along with that title.
Wow.
Also Job is innocent but what does it matter? G-d perverts justice. G-d is responsible for every bad decision in family court that gives the abusive parent custody. G-d let the Alabama Supreme Court declare frozen embryos to be children. G-d overturned Roe v Wade and made Plessy v Ferguson the law of the land, ushering in the Jim Crow era.
If G-d isn't blinding those judges to wickedess, then who is doing it? Forget all the Rahab stuff. We are in monotheism territory. Can't even blame Satan. Satan is still doing everything at the behest of G-d.
The last ten verses are the “why do I even bother” part. Job's life is flying by, days akin to eagles swooping in to kill. Even if Job agrees with his dumb friends, they'd find fault. He can't take G-d to court. He can't convince his friends. He can only speak.
If only someone would take G-d's rod away, Job could speak without fear. That's not happening, so Job cannot - be fearless. He's still going to talk.
He's just going to be afraid.
Next week: Job keeps talking.
Feel free to buy your copy of God Laughs When You Die from Walmart.
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