Examining The Scripture LXXVII: Wisdom From The Whirlwind

We now enter the final phase of the Book of Job. It is the "answer" phase of Job in Chapter 38 to 42 and God is clearly not humored by the actions and assumptions of men. So he enters the time and space in a whirlwind to set the record straight once and for all. He offers His "answer" which isn't so much an answer as it is a The Statement. Its effect on Job is like drinking a great big glass of "SHUT UP AND DEAL WITH IT" It coulda been worse. In short God tells Job and his friends that He is God, He created all, knows all, sees all, etc. When they meet these qualifications they will be of firm enough footing to question Him or His motives. Otherwise they are better off keeping their mouth shut and realize who Thee Boss is. He is Thee Boss for a reason.

The worst thing to do when approaching the question of why God does something is to presume that we know the mind of God. In this story we are given a Theophany in Chapter 38. God condescends to set people straight, not necessarily defend Himself. The whole idea of God needing to defend Himself against man is ludicrous but in an effort to save THEM he does so. Words that stick out in the Lord’s discourse are words like “Surely you know” and “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” God through rhetorical questions positions the questioners of Him in their proper perspective.

He handles Job with mercy considering all men sin and fall short of the glory of God. We need to realize as readers that God owes us nothing but punishment because we know that because men sin…the wages of sin is death. That is not the approach God takes with Job. Humans are lower than God, limited in their understanding and ability to grasp God’s thoughts, and finite. They are ignorant of the ways of God and not capable of fully understanding His ways. Once they understand their place relative to God they are much better position to understand why God does things they way He does. He tells Job to brace himself and unleashes a barrage of questions at Job that are unanswerable from a human perspective. He does this to indirectly make Job realize just how different and mortal/finite he is to an infinite and unfathomable God. This produces a humbling affect on him. As we know in our own lives, when we are humbled we are in a perfect position to learn in those “teachable moments”. God is smart.

The Almighty answers stated and unstated questions from men with questions of His own. The irony with Job and God is that Job’s perception of what and who God is was largely formulated by his own imagination and his imagination formulated questions in his little human brain. God understanding His integrity is being questioned cleverly uses the exact rhetorical device used to demean Him, to put Job and others who would dare to question Him, right back into their proper place by cross-examination of them! It’s is as if God is saying, “not only will I soundly rebuke you, I will use your own words and ideas to do it”.

God proceeds based on His own cognizance and authority to define the issue at the heart of the matter with all of the humans involved (and probably Satan too). They have a complete misunderstanding of God’s attitude towards wickedness and sin. Here God addresses the moral/ethical question. It is God himself and God alone that has the power, authority and ability to combat evil and turn it to good. God places the focal point on salvation not the evil. This is especially true and important after Christ’s sacrifice. The battle has already been won by Christ. We shouldn’t focus on evil we should focus on Him. The more we fill our souls with Him, the less there is a chance of contamination from evil and sin. Humans are such frail, fallen and fallible creatures but God understands this and has gone out of His way to redeem them from their own sin and stupidity. He did this in the case of Job and He did it for every believer that accepts Christ as the Savior.

Job answers the Lord humbled and contrite. He is unworthy and takes a posture of “no defense” for his presumptuousness. Job I believe realizes he could’ve been destroyed by God here but wasn’t, he was spared to live as an example to others and to himself. God’s literal intervention into this problem removes Job from his immediate problems. It isn’t our temporary problems here on earth that we should fear but it is God Himself that we need to fear. Everything on earth kills the body which is temporary but it is God that can annihilate the soul which is eternal. God’s presence put Job’s fear where it rightfully belonged. Just as it would do to people like “I am ruined” Isaiah. By just presenting Himself to Job the realization that God was “bigger than all of it” strikes Job.

There is much more going on here especially in light of the poetry but I believe I have gotten a portion of it encapsulated in the answer to this question. When dealing with such a theologically deep book with so much metaphor and figurative language I could easily get bogged down in it. There obviously have been books written on God’s response alone.