Three Previous Titles I Had in Mind:
~I Think We Need to Get a Word Count on the Book of Job
~For They Saw How Great His Suffering Was
~Connecting the Book of Job to Christ on the Cross
I have finished a lot of works during my lifetime. I’ve met numerous deadlines both external or self-imposed.
But, this blog piece is not going to be finished by my self-imposed deadline of noon on this Good Friday.
This was a self-imposed deadline I began to imagine at the beginning of this Holy Week as I continued to add-and-edit this little by little, plugging away here and there and even restarting my word count exploration from a different translation of the book of Job.
At first, I had located a Jewish-based translation online that was easy to copy-and-paste in one shot, for word count purposes. But then, I discovered some archaic wordings and other things that were unwieldy and decided to work chapter-by-chapter with cut-and-paste and analysis from one of the most popular translations – the NIV.
Biblegateway online only seems to allow me to view and copy one full chapter at a time, which, is probably for the best!
Arguably there have been more commentaries written on the book of Job and its meaning and takeaways than probably any other book in the collection of Old and New Testament writings.
This book addresses the metaphorical “elephant in the room” :
- Why so much suffering in this world…
- What is the meaning of it…
- And how do we respond to it…seem to be the most obvious three basic takeaway questions.
I suppose what prompted me to wonder about word counts of expressions of the sufferings, or those who try to come alongside them, was prompted by my own recognition that my own sufferings (both micro sufferings and macro sufferings of sorts) prompt verbiosity in me. This is a verbiosity that some seem to understand and others do not.
Like all of us who have suffered during different points of our lifetime, we remember those who brought true comfort, strength and guidance and the others who either intentionally or unintentionally seemed to pour salt into our wounds.
Over the centuries, these are known as Job’s comforters.
Under normal circumstances I am not known for my skill at being succinct, especially in the moment in realtime speaking or writing. I simply cannot seem to form my words and sentences quickly in spoken form as well as in written form, where I have more time to structure and sequence and pull together the various thoughts and ideas, and choose my words.
This private pause, for me, is the seedbed of written expressions. A space where no one is immediately and physically expecting some type of logical, sequential scripted dialogue, delivered with just the right balance of emotion and vocal tones – some immediate give-and-take or flow and rhythm.
In the book of Job is recorded various speakers who have the floor…in uninterrupted speech. It truly wonder what their vocal tones were, their pace of speech and so much more. When we read any written communications, especially aloud, we reflect into it the missing elements of vocal tones, body language and so much more.
And with the advent of social media, texting and much more that is so immediate, there is a huge space for miscommunications. And this whole thing, I find intriguing. Add in the terrible Twitter phenomenon – short tweets of words…or Instagram…snippets of images…
True, one picture can be worth a thousand words.
I get that.
But sometimes, less is not more. Less is just…less.
Less important details. Less context. Less needed catharsis.
Less for the comforters to hear and bear, more for the sufferer to keep bottled up.
I get that.
And sometimes, truly, less is more.
I get that.
And sadly, sometimes, no matter how many words are spoken by anyone, there are no easy nor immediate answers or solutions to anything, only to continue endurance and perseverance under fiery inward and outward ordeals.
I think sometimes of Moses holding up his hands until every one of God’s children had passed through the Red Sea. It was more than he could bear, and Aaron came alongside him and propped up his hands until it was finished.
That chapter, was then finished.
And a new chapter, only begun….
And today, I think of Jesus carrying His own cross, His own specifically crafted implement of impending torture, alone. I think of the Roman conscription of Simon of Cyrene, forced to help the Savior of the World bear this weight.
__________
While I can quickly express something in many words, to refine it and cut it down to the least amount of words possibly might literally take me 10x the time it was taken to originally form the expression.
I am cathartic, by nature, apparently.
The ability for succinctness – and often those who are most succinct can be quite cutting in their words, going immediately for some verbal artery while others attempt more delicate or even indirect forms of speech, attempting to give benefit of the doubt and being, as it urges us in the New Testament to be slow to anger and slow to speak – is truly an artform of sorts.
It is quite a skill.
Some of my friends have occasionally said, “is there anything you can’t do?”
Well, yes. Of course. There are numerous things I can neither do, nor, control.
The number one thing is, I can’t seem to keep silent or follow an acronym I heard years ago:
KISS (Keep It Simple, Studid)
__________
I both express what I’ve already processed and I also, at times, think out loud for processing purposes (there is value in hearing ourselves speak aloud) through lengthy dialogues with a variety of people and through a variety of mediums. These days we have phone, text, messenger, Facebook, Instagram, blog writing, email and even good old-fashioned sit on your neighbor’s porch and talk.
We do not know, prior to Job’s ordeal, whether he was a man of few words under normal situations.
So initially, my idea was to explore through word count both the length and the back-and-forth didactic rhythm patterns in terms of length, that took place in this story.
At first we have conversation between God and Satan.
Next we have the monologues of The Messengers, and some amount of dialogue from Job’s wife.
Finally Job speaks. And it appears quite lengthy.
This is a piece of literature and surely Job was not entirely silent during this entire process. But it is only at this point in the literature that his response to all this is penned.
Next, we have Job encountering friends whose purpose, at least initially, is to comfort their friend in his suffering. When they see Job for the first time after hearing about his ordeal they can barely recognize him. They tear their garments as a sign of mourning and solidarity.
But somehow this all devolves.
As Job begins to speak aloud, and in modern language I wonder was he processing his feelings aloud, or was he set in these conclusions and speaking them?
We don’t know for sure but let’s assume he said what he thought and meant in that moment.
It was a terrible, difficult, theologically problematic diatribal deluge.
What was the emotion or tone of his voice? Did he even take a breath?
Now, there are a number of ways his friends might have responded. Anywhere from sitting in silence with him and saying very little other than “I am so sorry this has happened” to lengthy diatribes crafted (whether intentionally or unintentionally) to try to teach Job something, possibly even provoke him to sin and self-doubt or lay even further burdens upon him.
Who knows, off the top of my head right now I must wonder if Satan, in this story, was also energizing Job’s friends in some of their responses. I do not know. We do not know many things. So much, we do not know.
So, we ask, “Why?”
In the face of what was to Job, an overwhelming and unspeakable sequence of events and losses (and there is embedded in the this the issue of control… Who is controlling these external events?… And are they some consequence of something Job or others did that brought such calamities upon him, or is this simply a story about a man with a collection of difficulties and tragedies hitting him seemingly all at once?
All lives are touched by amounts of sufferings and difficulties.
Typically there is some type of rhythm – although not the precise kind – that might be likened to waves hitting the shore and breaking.
There are different tides, different patterns, ebbs-and-flows, naturally, but things hit us and then subside and then hit us again and then subside.
I have an Audiobook translation of the Book of Job I listen to by Stephen Mitchell, and when you listen aloud to the part of the story when The Messengers just keep coming in with their announcements of bad news, it gives one the impression of Job being hit with wave after wave in some type of unusual tsunami that any one wave would have left one reeling from.
In the traditional translations the wording is along these lines:
“While he was yet speaking another messenger entered.”
Clearly the writer of this book intended to communicate that Job was under some type of blitzkrieg – if we want to use a modern battle term.
We might say it kept going from bad to worse and he was waging personal battles on every front.
At some point as I was contemplating almost daily this blog piece and personal study, at one point through other interactions and experiences within my days and thoughts, moving closer to Holy week and thoughts about the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, I began to wonder if all this could be linked together.
Thoughts drawn from references in Isaiah 53 such as he he opened not his mouth and like a lamb led to slaughter he was silent bounced me to thoughts of the few words that Jesus spoke before Pilot and from the cross.
Surely Jesus was not a man of the fewest words possible. In the Gospels we have parts, some lengthy, recorded of His words and teachings and His followers hung on his every word. Even over 2,000 years later, in a sense, we discuss (and argue among ourselves) over His words.
What do these words mean?
And more importantly, sometimes what is implied in the spaces in between the words, what is unspoken, Jesus expects His follower to hear.
“Let him who has ears, hear…”
These days it seems we are engaged in some type of war of words. This idea I borrowed from a friend who was messaging with me last night.
Which brings me full circle to the initial personal prompting to explore this. I have another friend who once told me they live in words. I too live in words but also I live in metaphor and images as well.
So today, we remember at noon the final words of the Light and Savior and our Deliver from this present darkness in this beautiful world.
Jesus said, “It is finished.”
And of course, borrowing from contemporary rhetoric, we might say, “What does that even mean???”
For me, it means that the work of Jesus’s life and death on this Earth was fully finished and in this work He has provided us with everything we need to live in wholeness, healing, freedom, joy and purpose on this Earth and in this life, with a view toward the eternal things of God that begin in the here-and-now and one day will find full completion in the heavenly eternal realms that are somewhat of a mystery to us, who live behind some type of veil in our earthly tents…
The work of Jesus is finished, but not so with our works.
Not so with our lives, and we are all works-in-progress.
The words of Jesus that “it is finished” give us hope in a number of ways.
The book of Ecclesiastes at one point seems to make points of fluidity that there is a season for everything.
A time to speak and a time to keep silent. A time for everything is metaphorically put forth in a written pattern of seeming contradictions.
So from that, on a personal level, there is a time for me to say it is all finished, through Jesus all things are finished. And equally there is a time for me to say it is not finished yet.
The story is not yet fully written, and this unfinishedness is the space in which Hope dwells…
~Written 4/15/22
Below is what I had worked on and begun to write and edit. In another Word Document I was working in sections on word counts. While I wish even today I could at least get a word count on God’s eventual response back to Job and his friends (and us), I have not the time today before noon. I imagine we who are familiar with the book have some sense that it is lengthy. How does the length of God’s words compare with all else spoken in the book by everyone? This piece was begun in various ways back in March at some point and has taken a number of evolutionary twists and turns. I would like to finish it up…below is my rough, imperfected draft…
I invite you to browse this unfinished work and my questions and thoughts and perhaps you can take some of this into your own life in a positive way that will help you and others around you.
Also this morning a reference came to mind about the things we can do that put Jesus to death again. This idea is these things grieve him in a way that undoes His finished work of carrying all of our sufferings collectively at once and personally as well on the cross. I have not yet looked up this reference and perhaps I am remembering it wrong, or the intention of the text.
“For They Saw How Great His Suffering Was”
– book of Job
Dare we identify with Job? This book is one of the most confounding and daunting pieces of biblical literature.
Word Counts in the Book of Job, The Speaking of Jesus Before Pilate and From the Cross, and Isaiah 53
If Jesus was acquainted with our griefs, experienced and mediated our sufferings on the Cross – seemingly to absorb it all with very few words – what might we learn if we compared and imagined, for a moment or two, the sufferings of the Christ encompassing every word spoken by Job?
Is there any biblical basis or validity to compare and think these interconnections?
I don’t know. By the end of the life of Jesus, he spoke, “My God, my God…why have you forsaken me?”
What do you think about this? I invite you to ponder along with me…as I analyze word counts, and make a few observations.
It seems to me that the overriding major theme of the Scriptures from Old to New Testaments is disruption of the shalom of this word. Things just aren’t as they should be.
The work of the Messiah seems to be the restoration of this shalom, and more. He is the mediation between God and man. He is the propitiation for our sufferings and our Advocate before the Father.
I don’t think it is a far stretch to consider issues of accusation, advocacy, suffering, evil, and so much more through this piece of deeply layered biblical literature set against the life and work of Jesus on the Cross.
Questions to consider:
1. How many conversations do you think Job had inside of his head with others, himself, God…in response to external events and internal responses, before and when he spoke?
2. Could one theme of Job’s discourse be “God don’t you know me?”
3. Could another theme to his friends be “You don’t know me.”
4. Could the theme of God’s discourse to Job be “You definitely don’t know ME.”
I use the term “know” as in being intimately known by the other and understood, empathized with.
5. If this story had ended at _______ how would it have changed the “take-aways?”
6. What other ways might you imagine this could have ended, and with what “take-aways?”
7. Do you think that Job’s friends could be considered “gaslighters” in any way?
8. If you had to identify Job’s life theme, what would it be? Did he have two life themes or just one? If the story had been about someone who started with loss and ended with loss, yet endured, how would that change our thinking or the take-away of this story?
9. Is this story primarily to encourage one who is deeply suffering, or to help one who is not deeply suffering empathize with someone who is deeply suffering?
10. Do you think this story would be better told more succinctly, with less words? And which speaker(s) should speak less? Or, does both the length of the words and the content of the words add value in our understanding the depth of this book’s message?
__________
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” (6 words)
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” (12 words)
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (28 words)
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (10 words) Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (56 words)
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” (21 words)
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Word Counts
Job 1:1-12
God: 55 words
Satan: 75 words
Noting that God begins, and ends, this dialogue.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Word Counts
Messengers in total: 160 wordsJob’s statement of worship: 30 words
Job 1:13-22
2 On another day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[b] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
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