Thinking about Lamentations has made me start thinking of Job. Personally, I think Job is far and away the most subversive book in the Bible. I am really surprised that it made the final cut for both the Jewish and Christian versions, because if you read it carefully, it turns a lot of assumptions on end.
Job starts out with a barroom bet between God and Satan. God is bragging on how faithful "my servant Job" is to him and Satan says, "Aw, that's just because you're good to him. Take away all the nice things he has and then see how faithful he is." God says, "You're on, you can do anything you want, just don't kill him."
So Satan sets out. You name it, he does it to Job and his family. Finally Job is left sitting on an dung heap scratching his sores with a broken piece of pottery. His wife says to him, "Why don't you just curse God and die?" Actually, I think she said something a bit stronger but since this is the Bible we will leave it at that.
Now, Job's wife is one of those interesting people that you wish the Bible would give more than a glimpse of. She isn't even named. It's all about her husband and his sufferings. As if she didn't suffer too. While Job is moaning, why, why, why, her response is far more direct. She obviously wants nothing to do with this God of Job's. That's why she tells him "You go curse God." And she leaves him on the dung heap because disasters or not the chores have got to be done and he sure isn't doing anything to help. There's laundry to be done, and floors to be swept and the kids to be looking after and food to cook . . . And it looks like it might rain, so she really needs to tend to those sheets out on the line.
So while she is busy doing what needs to be done, his friends come over and they all engage in a lengthy discussion about why Job is having all this terrible bad luck. They seem to think that Job did something to tick God off. Job says no. Well, you must have. No, Job insists. They argue and argue for most of the book. God is good and would never do anything unjust or unfair. It is your fault. About the only argument they didn't trot out is the verse in Romans that says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that is only because St. Paul hadn't gotten around to writing it yet. Job counters that God is not as fair and just as they say because just look around you, the good get nothing and the evil prosper. Old, old story.
Meanwhile Mrs. Job who is gathering up the sheets off the line takes a look at the sky and decides she really doesn't like the looks of it and maybe they'd all be better off in the root cellar. She hollers to the men but they are so busy arguing that they don't hear her. She grabs the basket and runs.
They are still arguing when the tornado drops out of the sky right in front of them. Now this is a very unusual tornado--it talks. Too bad the Vortex II team couldn't snag one like that last year when they were out chasing for their research project. The Tornado, of course, is God in one of his many disguises. And right away It tears into Job, demanding "where were you when I created the universe," and all sorts of things that have little relevance to Job's complaint. By the time It is done Job is very sorry that he has even brought up the subject of fairness, and he says so. That makes the Tornado God very happy. But then It turns to Job's friends and tells them, "I am very angry with you because you haven't told the truth about me like my servant Job." WTF? They were the ones sticking up for God. And then the Tornado God dissipates, having nothing at all to say to Mrs. Job who is still in the root cellar with the basket of laundry.
And after that they all lived happily ever after, according to the Bible. But I suspect that when Mrs. Job came out of the root cellar and learned what the Whirlwind had said, she probably said, "I tried to tell you not to waste your time but you didn't listen."
Job starts out with a barroom bet between God and Satan. God is bragging on how faithful "my servant Job" is to him and Satan says, "Aw, that's just because you're good to him. Take away all the nice things he has and then see how faithful he is." God says, "You're on, you can do anything you want, just don't kill him."
So Satan sets out. You name it, he does it to Job and his family. Finally Job is left sitting on an dung heap scratching his sores with a broken piece of pottery. His wife says to him, "Why don't you just curse God and die?" Actually, I think she said something a bit stronger but since this is the Bible we will leave it at that.
Now, Job's wife is one of those interesting people that you wish the Bible would give more than a glimpse of. She isn't even named. It's all about her husband and his sufferings. As if she didn't suffer too. While Job is moaning, why, why, why, her response is far more direct. She obviously wants nothing to do with this God of Job's. That's why she tells him "You go curse God." And she leaves him on the dung heap because disasters or not the chores have got to be done and he sure isn't doing anything to help. There's laundry to be done, and floors to be swept and the kids to be looking after and food to cook . . . And it looks like it might rain, so she really needs to tend to those sheets out on the line.
So while she is busy doing what needs to be done, his friends come over and they all engage in a lengthy discussion about why Job is having all this terrible bad luck. They seem to think that Job did something to tick God off. Job says no. Well, you must have. No, Job insists. They argue and argue for most of the book. God is good and would never do anything unjust or unfair. It is your fault. About the only argument they didn't trot out is the verse in Romans that says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that is only because St. Paul hadn't gotten around to writing it yet. Job counters that God is not as fair and just as they say because just look around you, the good get nothing and the evil prosper. Old, old story.
Meanwhile Mrs. Job who is gathering up the sheets off the line takes a look at the sky and decides she really doesn't like the looks of it and maybe they'd all be better off in the root cellar. She hollers to the men but they are so busy arguing that they don't hear her. She grabs the basket and runs.
They are still arguing when the tornado drops out of the sky right in front of them. Now this is a very unusual tornado--it talks. Too bad the Vortex II team couldn't snag one like that last year when they were out chasing for their research project. The Tornado, of course, is God in one of his many disguises. And right away It tears into Job, demanding "where were you when I created the universe," and all sorts of things that have little relevance to Job's complaint. By the time It is done Job is very sorry that he has even brought up the subject of fairness, and he says so. That makes the Tornado God very happy. But then It turns to Job's friends and tells them, "I am very angry with you because you haven't told the truth about me like my servant Job." WTF? They were the ones sticking up for God. And then the Tornado God dissipates, having nothing at all to say to Mrs. Job who is still in the root cellar with the basket of laundry.
And after that they all lived happily ever after, according to the Bible. But I suspect that when Mrs. Job came out of the root cellar and learned what the Whirlwind had said, she probably said, "I tried to tell you not to waste your time but you didn't listen."
