The Role which Adversity
Plays on the Stage of Life
By Jonathan Mitchell
Personification of Opposition in the Book of Job
The Book of Job can be viewed as a play that opens with a narrative describing Job as a flawless and upright man who feared God and kept away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and was rich. The story begins with an off-stage Prologue (chapters 1:6 through 2:13) where the setting is like the council of Yahweh's royal court, and an agent, the Adversary (Heb.: "the satan"; the antagonist of the story), appears and reports to Yahweh.
"There was a day when the sons of Elohim [God] would come to station themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst. Yahweh said to the Adversary, 'From where are you coming?' Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, and said, 'From going to and fro in the earth and from walking about in it.'" (Job. 1:6-7, Concordant Version of the OT, brackets added).
Next, Yahweh asks the Adversary if he has
"set his heart on" Job, Yahweh's servant, saying that, "There is no one like him on earth, a man flawless and upright," etc.
The Adversary replies that Job does not behave this way for nothing, because Yahweh has protected him and prospered him, and then he counters Yahweh's assessment of Job, by saying,
"Nevertheless, now put forth YOUR hand and touch all that is his. He shall assuredly scorn you to your face" (1:11, ibid).
So Yahweh takes up the challenge and puts all that Job possesses in the Adversary's hand, with the stipulation that Job, himself, is not to be touched.
"Then the Adversary went forth from Yahweh's presence" (1:12).
And so begins Job's trial and testing.
We should observe that the Adversary's first actions against Job (described in 1:13-19) all happened through natural causes: the Sabeans took his plowing oxen and asses, and killed the men working in his field (vss. 13-15); then lightning fell and killed cattle and men (vs. 16); next, the Chaldeans took his camels and killed the men that were keeping them (vss. 16-17), and finally, Job learns that a great wind came from the desert and collapsed the house wherein were his sons and daughters, and they all died (vss. 18-19).
Upon hearing all this, Job tore his robe, sheared his head, and fell to the ground and worshiped. He accepted all this as from God, saying,
"Yahweh, He gives, and Yahweh, He takes away. Blessed be the Name of Yahweh" (vs. 21, ibid).
Well, this was phase one. Chapter 2 presents phase two of this Prologue, basically a repetition of the royal court scene, where again the Adversary came to the council,
"to station himself before Yahweh,"
and Yahweh once more asks him to report, and then points to Job again (2:1-3). The Adversary then suggests touching Job's bone and flesh, and Yahweh agrees to allow this, with the stipulation to
"keep his soul alive" (2:4-6).
So the Adversary
"smote Job with evil boils from the sole of his foot unto his scalp" (2:7, ibid).
Now this is the last time that the Adversary is mentioned in the book of Job, and Job, himself, never even mentions the Adversary, only wanting to talk to God about his losses and misery.
However, we suggest that the Adversary can be discerned again and again, beginning in 2:9, with Job's wife suggesting that he should no longer hold to his integrity, and that he should,
"Scorn Elohim [God] and die."
This was what the Adversary had wanted, and expected, Job to do (cf 1:11, above). She took the mindset, and view, of the Adversary. As an aside, notice that she did not say Yahweh, but used the more generic term for God. Did she not have the same relationship with Yahweh that Job had? Apparently, not. Her solution was the thinking of the "flesh" (First Adam perspective), not from the Spirit.
The Prologue ends with three of Job's associates taking center stage, with him: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. They came to
"condole with him and comfort him." They "lifted their voice and lamented, while each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled soil toward the heavens on their heads" (2:12, ibid).
This was the culturally appropriate thing to do, but upon reading chapters 3 through 37 (which includes the speech of Elihu, a younger man, and a fourth "comforter," from 32:6-37:24) we can observe that all four of Job's associates were, in fact, his adversaries. We suggest that these four actors personify the Adversary, in the form of human opposition. The thrust of these adversaries was aimed at Job's soul, and at his relationship with Yahweh. We also suggest that their words were a part of the arrangement between Yahweh and the Adversary, in the Prologue: a final part of the testing.
In chapter 38, Yahweh, as it were off stage,
"answered Job from the tempest" (38:1, ibid).
The reason for Job's losses and pain are not given - for this is how it is for all humans, in this life; we are not given such answers. Yahweh's speech continues on through 41:34, with Job responding to Yahweh in 40:3 and 42:1.
The Epilogue begins in 42:7, and Yahweh speaks to Eliphaz, saying,
"My anger is hot against you and your two associates because you did not speak concerning Me what is rightly so, as My servant Job has done"
(ibid), and then he repeats this in vs. 8. What Yahweh says here, answers what the Adversary had said about Job, in chapters 1 and 2. Neither the Adversary, in the off-stage scene of the Prologue, nor the adversaries which composed a large portion of the book, said what is "rightly so."
In 42:10,"Yahweh Himself turned back the CAPTIVITY of Job, when he prayed on behalf of his associates
(you see, even "adversaries" can be turned, by prayer; cf Mat. 5:44; also, recall Jesus' words on the cross,
"O Father, let it flow away in them - send it away for them and forgive them - for they have not seen, so they do not know or perceive, what they are now doing" - Lu. 23:34).
And then Yahweh added to all that Job had by a double portion - the portion of an inheritance normally allotted to a firstborn, and thus an indication of a position of high status. The next verse informs us that his extended family and all his earlier acquaintances came and "ate bread with him, in his house," and they sympathized with him and comforted him over "all the evil that YAHWEH had brought upon him." Take note of the perspective in this Epilogue - no recognition of the Adversary as having an independent part on the Stage of Life. Verse 12 tells us that,
"Yahweh Himself blessed the latter years of Job more than his beginning" (ibid).
So, although having involved a time of tragedy, the story ends on a positive note.
The book of Job (and likewise Ecclesiastes, or Qoheleth) represents an alternate wisdom which is in contrast to the traditional wisdom of the ancient Near East, such as the book of Proverbs (which represented the common wisdom of Israel, in that day). John J. Collins, in his conclusion about the book of Job, observes:
"The justice of God, if that be the proper term, cannot be measured by human standards.... To fear the Lord is to accept human limitation, and to recognize that we are not the center of the universe" (Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, Second Ed, Fortress Press 2014).
Paul would later instruct us,
"For you see, the wisdom (cleverness; skill) of this world System (or: pertaining to this ordered and controlling arrangement of cultures, religions and politics; or: from this society of domination; of the aggregate of humanity) is stupidity (exists as nonsense and foolishness) [when put] beside or next to God (or: in God's presence)" (1 Cor. 3:19a).
Job's opponents drew upon the common wisdom of his day; it was the wisdom of their world with its religious and cultural arrangements.
Jacob presents two spheres of wisdom, in Jas. 3:
13. Who [is] wise and understanding (adept) among you? Let him at once exhibit (show; present to the sight and demonstrate) his works and actions out of the beautiful behavior (fine, ideal, excellent and appropriate conduct) in gentleness of (or: mild, egoless considerateness from) wisdom. [cf Gal. 5:23a; 6:4]
14. Yet if you folks continuously have bitter rivalry (or: jealousy) and selfish ambition (or: faction) in your heart, do not habitually boast (exult) and lie (speak falsely or deceitfully) concerning the truth or reality. (or: are you not now vaunting against and falsifying the truth?)
15. This is not the wisdom continuously coming down from above, but rather [is] fully earth-oriented (or: earthly; terrestrial; earth-produced; belonging to the earth realm; [cf 1 Cor. 2:4-5; Phil. 3:19b]), pertaining to or proceeding from the soul (soulish; consciousness-related; = natural), demonic....
17. But the Wisdom from above is (constantly exists being) indeed first (or: primarily) pure, thereafter peaceable (or: peaceful; pertaining to peace and harmonious joining), suitable (fair; reasonably lenient; yielding; unassertive; considerate), compliant (easily persuaded; receptive; reasonable; willing to yield), full of mercy (= practical help) and good fruits, non-separating (not discriminatory; undivided in evaluating; unwavering; unprejudiced; impartial), unpretending (or: not hyper-critical; not judging from a low point of view; not focusing on tiny distinctions; not overly judgmental; not under-estimating of reality; [cf 1 Pet. 1:22]).[cf Gal. 5:22-23; 1 Cor. 2:4-7; 13:4-7]
Recall the words of Jesus in Lu. 13:
4. "Or then, those eighteen people upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them off - does it usually seem to you (or: do you continue to imagine or suppose) that they, themselves, had come to be debtors more so (or: obligated from guilt of worse offenses) than and beyond all the people permanently settling down in and inhabiting Jerusalem?
5. "I am now saying to you, No. Nevertheless, if you folks should not progressively change your thinking [implies consciousness of the Messianic Age with its new arrangement (in Christ); to be neighborly (Brueggemann)], you will all similarly proceed in completely destroying yourselves."
Adversity and opposition are common elements in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. They play common roles in our daily lives, just as darkness comes to us every night.
Jonathan
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