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Madison Scott-Clary 2022-04-26 20:40:50 -07:00
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<p>Perhaps it is the dire nature by which both approach the world. Job takes a look at the world, heaves a weary sigh, and says, &ldquo;I suppose this is it. This is the lot we have been given in life.&rdquo; While Revelation looks at the world and growls deep in its through, a sound coming from the belly, and says, &ldquo;This must not be it. This cannot be the ways in which the world works.&rdquo;<sup id="fnref:1works"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:1works">2</a></sup></p>
<p>Or perhaps it is the way in which they view death. While Job looks on death almost fondly, Revelation reiterates the Christian sentiment that death has been defeated. It is no more, and while there is everlasting life beyond it, it is worth considering, worth focusing on.</p>
<p>While doubtless Jews may have a dim opinion of Revelation, given its relative irrelevance in their lives, Job has been the subject of both rabbinical teaching and Christian exegesis for centuries now. This, perhaps is where it outstrips Revelation in its interest.</p>
<p>And what interest! As Alter says, &ldquo;The book of Job is in several ways the most mysterious book of the Hebrew Bible.&rdquo; \parencite[457]{alter}</p>
<p>And what interest! As Alter says, &ldquo;The Book of Job is in several ways the most mysterious book of the Hebrew Bible.&rdquo; \parencite[457]{alter} He then proceeds to discuss the book for eight pages before even getting to the translation (which, while not uncommon among the books in his translation, still stands out as rather a lot of introduction). The editors of the New Oxford Annotated Bible agree on this, saying, &ldquo;Among the books of the Bible, Job is highly unusual, and, unsurprisingly, its force has often been misunderstood or evaded.&rdquo; \parencite[735]{noab} This relative inaccessibility, opaqueness of prose (should one choose to ignore the poetic nature of the cental work), and the mixed dates of composition have doubtless played their role in it.</p>
<p>Chief among those is likely the mixed dates of composition. There appear to be four pieces involved in the book: the framing device, which is perhaps the oldest; the discourse between Job and his friends; the later addition of the Hymn to Wisdom, an interruption from Job in chapter 28; and the addition of the character of Elihu, written perhaps most recently.</p>
<p>And yet it remains, does it not? It remains and is its own testament to its power, as NOAB has it, its mystery, as Alter has it.</p>
<p>It remains.</p>
<h2 class="unnumbered" id="framing-devices">Framing Devices</h2>
<p>The framing device of Job is as follows:</p>
<p>Job is a prosperous and pious man living in the land of <em>Uz</em>. He is wealthy in livestock and in family, with his 7,000 sheep, his 3,000 camels, his cattle and she-asses, his slaves and his seven sons. His sons love and respect each other, and he loves them all in turn (though he does seem a tad suspicious of their piety, making sacrifices in their names on their appointed days).</p>
<p>God, holding court with the sons of God, greets the Adversary<sup id="fnref:1satan"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:1satan">3</a></sup></p>
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<p>A simplification, of course, but perhaps a good starting point.&#160;<a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:1works" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text">&#8617;</a></p>
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<p>This is the translation of the phrase in Hebrew, <em>hasatan</em>. Alter notes that it wasn&rsquo;t until much more recently that this was refigured as specifically Satan: &ldquo;The word <em>satan</em> is a person, thing, or set of circumstances that constitutes an obstacle or frustrates one&rsquo;s purposes.&rdquo;<sup id="fnref:1makyo"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:1makyo">4</a></sup> \parencite[466]{alter} The Jewish Publication Society concurs. (Job 1:6, JPS via Sefaria)&#160;<a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:1satan" title="Jump back to footnote 3 in the text">&#8617;</a></p>
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<li id="fn:1makyo">
<p>Shortly after I started to realize just how ill-suited I was to music education, I went through a change of identity online. While before I had gone by the name &lsquo;Ranna&rsquo;, cribbed from Garth Nix&rsquo;s excellent Old Kingdom series, I now began to go by the name Makyo, a zen Buddhist term which bears a similar meaning. Something about just how focused many of the general teacher education classes were on things other than education filled me with a sense that I might not actually be in any way helping students, but simply standing in their way. I was <em>makyō</em>. I was <em>satan</em>.&#160;<a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:1makyo" title="Jump back to footnote 4 in the text">&#8617;</a></p>
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