Job, JOb, JOB aaaaaaaand More.

God I love this book. I'm working on the Bible study for Thursday morning, and re-reading God's speech from the Whirlwind. There is something so profound about this moment, this poetry, and God's place in it. There are moments in the Bible where everything seems to be transcended. Much of the Bible seems to be little more than a reinforcement of cultural norms and individual attitudes, and then all at once the Revelation being recounted moves in an unexpected direction. Something happens that so outstrips the normal course of either imagination or history that you really get the sense of something profound is going on. It is like once the Jews stumbled onto the idea of Goodness as Divine and there being One Divine Reality (monotheism), the One True God took notice and started impinging into history through their cultural religion. The Voice from the Whirlwind in the Book of Job is one example of these.

The whole thing is so mysterious and wondrous, and uplifting and transforming. The only attempt to 'deal with' the end of Job that I think works is the film TREE OF LIFE. It is what that last part is all about laid bare into a beautiful dance of sights, sounds, and storytelling. The end of the Book of Job is LIKE that film.

There are other moments like that for me in scripture. There is Jacob's wrestling with the Angel. There is Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land. There is Joshua meeting the Angel that says he is neither on Joshua's side nor that of the Canaanite's side, but is rather commander of the Lord's Army. There is Ruth 'clinging to' Naomi and Ruth being elevated above seven theoretical sons. There is David being confronted by Nathan over his crime, and David being told he cannot build the Temple because he has been a man of war. There is Elijah and the small, still voice, and Ahab confronted by Micaiah. There is Hosea and Gomer and Isaiah's Suffering Servant Songs, and the Isaiah 55 and Isaiah 56, and Jeremiah's complaint to God, and Daniel's night visions, and Jonah being confronted by God's love for all people. And in the New Testament, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Parables of the Good Samaritan, Prodigal Son, and more. There is Jesus on the Cross and the Foot Washing, and the Women at the Tomb, and John 1 and John 3 and on and on.