Ambiguity and the Book of Job

             The book of Job is all about humans acknowledging the ambiguity of the world. It seeks to expose the sinfulness and foolishness of humans trying to cross the boundary between humans and God by claiming to know what they cannot know. It thereby exposes the illegitimacy of our illegitimately seized knowledge of good and evil.

           The work begins with Satan accusing God of running a Machiavellian universe. No one serves God simply because he’s God, Satan claims. They serve him because of the benefits they receive (Job 1:8–10). In the context of this narrative, the charge can only be refuted by being put to the test. Hence, the protective fence around Job and his family is lifted, and Job is allowed to come under the power of Satan (1:12). Consequently, Job loses all that he had and suffers incredibly.

            Throughout this book, Job’s “friends” assume that all that has happened to Job is God’s doing and it is just. They impose their self-serving knowledge of good and evil on the world and insist, against all the evidence, that innocent people don’t suffer (e.g., 4:7–9). Throughout the narrative of this work, the friends insist that the universe is not morally ambiguous. Hence, if Job is suffering, it can only be because he deserves it and/or that God is teaching him a lesson.

            Job also assumes that all that is happening to him is God’s doing, but he insists that it is not just. He thus concludes that God is an arbitrary tyrant. He says, for example, “[God] mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges—if it is not he, who then is it?” (9:23–24; cf. 21:17–26, 30–32; 24:1–12).

            Similarly, Job insists that God ignores those who pray (24:12) and is a cruel adversary who delights in Job’s torment (e.g., 10:8–9, 20; 16:7–17; 30:18–21). For Job, the world looks arbitrary and unjust because God is arbitrary and unjust. Job’s speeches in the narrative of this work are filled with these sorts of harsh accusations.

            When God finally speaks up, he refutes the judgmental perspectives of both Job and his friends. And he does it by demonstrating how arrogant it is for humans to judge God or one another because they know next to nothing about the world. There are three aspects to God’s rebuttal.

            First, and most importantly, the Lord reminds Job of the boundary between God and humans. He is God; Job is not. He is judge; Job is not. He is omniscient; Job is not. Hence, the Lord chides Job, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? . . . Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?” (40:2, 8).

            Second, as a way of driving home this boundary, the Lord reminds Job of his massive ignorance about the cosmos. “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” the Lord asks. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?” (Job 38:2, 4–5). The Lord then proceeds to expound upon the complexity, expansiveness, and mystery of the universe he has created, none of which Job or his friends can even begin to understand (38:1–40:14).

            Third, the Lord reminds Job of the evil cosmic forces with which God must contend. He reminds him of the spiritual war that engulfs the cosmos. In the ancient Near East, these evil forces were typically depicted as sea monsters that encompassed and threatened the world. In the book of Job their names are Leviathan and Behemoth. The Lord reminds Job of how powerful and ferocious these cosmic beasts are and how incapable humans are of withstanding them (40:15–41:34). Unless Job thinks he could do a better job at contending with these cosmic forces, the Lord is saying, he is in no position to criticize God.

            The point of God’s climactic monologue is that we finite humans don’t see the big picture of the cosmos that God sees. Indeed, it is significant that neither Job nor his friends are ever told about the challenge of Satan to God in the prologue that was behind Job’s misfortune. They remain in their ignorance, even after the encounter with God—and that is the central point of the prologue in the context of this book.

            Unless it is divinely revealed to us, we humans have no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes. We know very little about the complexity of creation, and we have little knowledge of the activities of forces of evil that engulf the cosmos. For all we know, the answer to a prayer may be delayed because of an interfering spiritual agent behind the scenes (Dan. 10:12–13)! This is why we can’t judge others and why we can’t judge God. We are ignorant, fallen, finite creatures who have no business pretending to know what God alone knows.

            Whenever we give in to the fallen impulse to reject ambiguity, we end up blaming God and/or hurting people. The Accuser has succeeded in making us accusers. If we are going to respond to suffering as God would have us respond, we must accept the impenetrable ambiguity of creation and the glorious clarity of God’s revelation in Christ. We must fix our eyes upon Jesus both as our model and as our only reliable guide to the truth about who God is and the truth about who we are because of what Christ has done.

- Repenting of Religion - Greg Boyd