I was young, once, and dumb.
Which is not to say that I’m not, now, of course. I certainly feel it sometimes. Even the young bit: Madison is, what, eight now? Not many eight year olds are smart. I still fumble. I still seem to create those humiliating moments that stick in the memory and make me wince whenever they come up, though they’ve changed in tenor over the years.
But I was young and dumb and desperately trying to figure out what the hell was going on with my identity, this awkward pile of senses and sensations that were causing so much friction in my life. “Identity is psychopathological,” my first psychologist said. “You only feel it when there’s friction.”1 I’m not totally sure that I agree — trans joy is as much a thing as trans pain — but, as a statement, it’s true enough, most of the time. Something about the way my life was built such that the smallest things, coarse as sandpaper, would brush up against something integral, and scrape away at its surface, leaving tracks colored cherry.
-The first interpolation is that of a poem that comprises the entirety of chapter 28. The poem takes the form of a Hymn to Wisdom that Alter describes as “a fine poem in its own right, but one that expresses a pious view of wisdom as fear of the Lord that could scarcely be that of Job.” \parencite[458]{alter}
-The NOAB, however, suggests an additional interpretation of the Hymn to Wisdom, which is that it may have originally been the conclusion of Elihu’s speech. For evidence, they mention that this topic, the elevation of wisdom, feels familiar to those chapters of Elihu’s, wherein the youngster harps on the topic of wisdom and knowledge at length. Additionally, the editors note the similarity in the final verse of the Hymn, “And he said to humankind, “Truly the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”” (Job 28:28, NRSV) closely echoes Elihu’s final words as they stand: “Therefore mortals fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” (Job 37:24, NRSV)
-The hymn itself is a respectable piece of poetry. It begins in a roundabout way, discussing the acquisition of physical wealth. It describes the ways in which gold and silver are extracted from the earth and copper smelted from ore. It describes paths unseen by beast, ones that require work to acquire. Throughout these few verses (1–11) runs a very clear directionality. From the start, they are heading \emph{towards} something. They are pointing \emph{at} something. Verse 12 illuminates: “But wisdom, where is it found, and where is the place of discernment?” (Job 28:12, Alter)
+It’s strange to think back to those early discussions with him, too. That insight hit at such a strange time in my life. It came up in a discussion about my stresses around work. I think I said something like, “I’ve wrapped up my need to be productive as part of my identity.” I had been talking about the burnout I felt looming on the horizon
+In fact, though many of the same ideas within the hymn are also there in Ecclesiastes, those in the latter tend to be more refined, more fleshed out. This might be due to the later date of composition of the former, but may also be due to the context of the book and the interpolated nature of the hymn. The author of the hymn views wisdom as an ephemeral concept. It is not something that can be held or perceived by man, or, indeed, life itself: “It is hidden from the eye of all living” (Job 28:21, Alter). Even other abstract (though often personified) concepts seem to have difficulty with it: “Perdition and Death have said, “With our own ears we have heard its rumor.”” (Job 28:22, Alter)
+Qohelet, on the other hand, has a much more grounded view.3 He says that wisdom is one of those things that you gain by experiencing, something that abides through all of the ups and downs in your life and is only ever strengthened. This is not to say that he is in any way upbeat, however. Wisdom, folly, riches, merriment, these all will go with you to the grave. They, too, will be meaningless.
It is important to reckon with two interpolations within the text that appear to be later additions, and it would be nice to address these before coming to the text that they interrupt. ↩
+It is important to reckon with two interpolations within the text that appear to be later additions, and it would be nice to address these before coming to the text that they interrupt.
+The first interpolation is that of a poem that comprises the entirety of chapter 28. The poem takes the form of a Hymn to Wisdom that Alter describes as “a fine poem in its own right, but one that expresses a pious view of wisdom as fear of the Lord that could scarcely be that of Job.” \parencite[458]{alter}
+The NOAB, however, suggests an additional interpretation of the Hymn to Wisdom, which is that it may have originally been the conclusion of Elihu’s speech. For evidence, they mention that this topic, the elevation of wisdom, feels familiar to those chapters of Elihu’s, wherein the youngster harps on the topic of wisdom and knowledge at length. Additionally, the editors note the similarity in the final verse of the Hymn, “And he said to humankind, “Truly the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding”” (Job 28:28, NRSV) closely echoes Elihu’s final words as they stand: “Therefore mortals fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.” (Job 37:24, NRSV)
+The hymn itself is a respectable piece of poetry. It begins in a roundabout way, discussing the acquisition of physical wealth. It describes the ways in which gold and silver are extracted from the earth and copper smelted from ore. It describes paths unseen by beast, ones that require work to acquire. Throughout these few verses (1–11) runs a very clear directionality. From the start, they are heading \emph{towards} something. They are pointing \emph{at} something. Verse 12 illuminates: “But wisdom, where is it found, and where is the place of discernment?” (Job 28:12, Alter)2 ↩
+Certainly not beneath the earth! If Qohelet has taught us anything, it is that. Wisdom abides despite toil, despite merriment, despite even riches. ↩
+That is, until, one gets to the end of Ecclesiastes. The second half of chapter 12 is, per Alter, likely an interpolation of its own, where an epilogist rounds out the remainder of the book with some sounder, more conventional piety. “The last word, all being heard: fear God and keep His commands, for that is all humankind. Since every deed will God bring to judgment, for every hidden act, be it good or Evil” (Job 12:13-14, Alter) echoes the end of the hymn, which puts it, “Look, fear of the master, that is wisdom, and the shunning of evil is insight.”
+Both of these interpolations seem to be taking the raw feelings of the authors of Job and Ecclesiastes and trying to soften them, shaving off all those coarse edges. In Job we have a man striving to be heard by God Himself, and in Ecclesiastes, we have a teacher who is bordering on nihilism,4 yet both of these editors are trying to fit these texts into the context of a tradition that, while it does include (and even encourage) the capacity to call God to account and to feel that certain sense of nihilism, would still appreciate a somewhat more positive view within its scripture. ↩
+And though even this discussion of interpolations may feel like an interpolation itself, here is where it ceases being such: One possible outcome of Job’s travails is that he becomes Qohelet. Can one imagine going through the experiences that Job went through and not coming away with at least a little bit of that nihilism? Your family dies. Your livelihood is stripped away. YOu sit in the bit of ashes with lesions all over your body, and then God comes down in his whirlwind and fixes it all for you. You look back on all of your piety, you look back on all of your wealth, and suddenly yes, it is all a chasing after the wind. ↩