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| JOB |
| Explanatory Footnotes - page 4 |
| written; it frequently cites nature as one of the proofs of God's existence. Job himself never denied God's power. All the wonders of nature, he said, are "but the outer fringe of his works," a faint whisper of God. His complaint was not about power, but about justice. How could a God so powerful treat him so unfairly? 28:1 A Poem on Wisdom In the midst of one of his most beautiful speeches, Job included a self-contained poem on wisdom. It uses the analogy of mining precious metals to make the point that wisdom cannot be found by any amount of searching (28:1-19). God alone knows where it dwells. In the rest of the poem, Job admitted some things were beyond his understanding, then lapsed into a reminiscence of what life was like before his time of trials. 31:1 Binding Oaths This chapter, Job's final line of defense, is written in a form that had legal significance to his hearers. Job was solemnly swearing his innocence in response to a whole series of accusations. He called down curses on himself if he could be proved wrong. The oaths were somewhat like our modern custom of swearing on the Bible "to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Job's oaths impressed his three friends and effectively ended the debate. Then a new character, Elihu, joined in. 33:30 Pain as a Warning Elihu did not defend Job as innocent. But his arguments shifted the emphasis of suffering from punishment to warning. Perhaps, he suggested, God allows a man to suffer in order "to turn back his soul from the pit." Primarily, however, Elihu defended God's actions. "It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice" (34:12). |