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NOTES for Job 23:1-24:25

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1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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In answering Eliphaz, Job follows his friend's logic. Eliphaz spoke of reward for the righteous and punishment for sinners, and Job asks: where, then, is any of it? Where is all that the traditional writings of the sages say so much about? He understands that Eliphaz and his other two friends find their own support in precisely these writings, and that it is these they offer him, Job, as a kind of cure-all for his troubles and suffering. Job would be willing to accept it if it really were what his friends want him to believe it is. But that is just the point: the cure-all turns out to be no cure-all at all. The logic of the traditional writings of the sages does not work, and only someone who prefers texts to reality could fail to notice this.

This is characteristic of the religious mind, but the point is that Job's religiosity, if not yet destroyed, is already coming apart at the seams. Texts, however sound and authoritative, can no longer convince him. Following Eliphaz, he too assesses the tradition to which his friend appeals. But Job does not reject it. On the contrary, he regards reality's conformity to authoritative religious texts as a kind of test for God. If God really is the One described in the writings of the sages, then Job must receive his reward, because he is righteous.

No other arguments work for him any longer: Job has already heard far too many perfectly correct and utterly useless words that have changed absolutely nothing for him. Now he needs only one thing: to meet God face to face. Job understands perfectly well the distance separating a human being from God. But the issue is not that distance; it is to make sure that everything wise people have said about God really does mean something. Otherwise, it is the end: complete spiritual collapse.

Otherwise, the whole Tradition to which Job's friends appeal, and which Job himself has always regarded as the foundation of his life, is worth nothing. And that means human life is worth nothing too. In this, Job agrees with his friends. The only difference is that Job absolutely must establish through his own experience that Tradition is genuine, and therefore that the God to whom it bears witness is real, while his friends are prepared to take authoritative texts at their word. But this “only” changes everything, though neither Job's friends nor even Job himself yet fully understand it.

Other notes

 
For Job 23:1-24:25
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Hide
Answering Eliphaz, Job says that he would gladly turn to God, if only...  Read more

Answering Eliphaz, Job says that he would gladly turn to God, if only God would agree to hear him (Job 23:3-5). He is completely sure that he has something to answer God with: after all, he is a righteous man, he has always tried to follow the Torah in everything, and he has nothing with which to reproach himself. If only God would agree to stoop to his human weakness and limitation, because if He begins to compare Job with Himself, not only Job but no one else could stand the comparison (Job 23:6-12). But for now God frightens Job with His power more than He speaks with him face to face (Job 23:13-17). Meanwhile the wicked live calmly, thinking nothing about God, and God does not disturb them with His presence (Job 24:1-22).

Job evidently understands that everything happening to him is somehow conditioned by his righteousness and his relationship with God. In fact, already in the preexilic period, judging by the hymns that have come down to us and been included in the Book of Psalms, many understood that God's judgment concerns the righteous person first of all, that it is precisely the righteous person who seeks this judgment, while the wicked person runs from it. But traditional ideas about God's judgment were connected with the thought of the triumph of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked, even though both were often postponed until the end of time. In that case it became clear that the righteous person who seeks God's judgment and has found it is happier than the wicked person who runs from this judgment because nothing good awaits him there. But God's judgment opens itself to Job in a completely different way. He suddenly understands that one must still obtain judgment, that getting through to God is not at all simple, and that relationships with Him may turn out to be far more difficult for a person than he can expect, even if that person is righteous.

Relations with God turn out to be risky, exhausting, and sometimes even destructive, while the coming triumph turns out, even for the righteous person, to be not only far from near, but even entirely uncertain: it is not at all obvious to Job that meeting God will be precisely a just judgment. What had once seemed clear and unambiguous within the framework of traditional religiosity suddenly became vague, incomprehensible, and threatening. Instead of joy and triumph, relations with God brought only problems. And Job begins to look with bewilderment at the wicked, who live calmly, thinking nothing about God and not facing the problems Job has faced. There was something here to think about.

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For Job 23:1-24:25
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Hide
Job cries out to God, and this is not empty rhetoric: his hope in the Creator rests on firm faith. Therefore Job is ready...  Read more

Job cries out to God, and this is not empty rhetoric: his hope in the Creator rests on firm faith. Therefore Job is ready to appear before God as the supreme and just arbiter, so that he may present the arguments in his defense—the very arguments that his accusers refuse to consider.

Then Job depicts in great detail the lawlessness that reigns in the world. It may seem that Job contradicts himself if he can express hope in supreme justice and at the same time speak of injustices committed before God's face (from out of the city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries out, yet God charges no one with wrong). Indeed, while hoping that in the end everyone will have to answer before God for lawlessness, Job now seems unable to find Him in a world full of evil.

Yet being unable to see God is not the same as denying Him. Job continues to live in hope of meeting Him. Job's troubled soul is more capable of hearing Him than his accusers, who utter outwardly correct words.

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