Biblical Authority: Reflection on Job

“The real issues of biblical authority and interpretation are not likely to be settled by erudite cognitive formulation or by appeal to classic settlements, but live beneath such contention in often unrecognized and uncriticized ways that are deeply powerful, especially if rooted (as they may be for most of us) amid hurt, anger, or anxiety.”-anonymous

An example of the above quote is found in the book of Job. Out of the “hurt, anger, and anxiety” that Job underwent was a new discovery of interpretation and authority of God’s word that no previous formulation of it could have ever bared on Job’s soul.

The story in the book of Job opens up with introducing the focal figure of the story–Job. We quickly are introduced to a man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.”(Job 1:1).

If you was a Jew reading this wisdom literature, you would approve of Job’s discription on the basis of his material wealth and prosperity. After all, the covenant of blessing and cursing was the theological framework that governed Jewish thought (see Duet. 28:3-14). To think other than within this theological grid would be heretical.

However, as the story unfolds the Jew is disturbed by a shocking discovery–a violent shaking of his/her theological framework. You see, Job, an upright man, undergoes a series of curses and looses all of his wealth and prosperity. Inevitably the only explanation to Job’s calamity is that someone has violated God’s laws. In fact, this was the case within the text which clearly demonstrated by the consensus of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, towards the end of the book.

The book is packed with multiple moving points but the point identified here is simple: the multi-wonder of God is too much to be contained by theological formulations whether man-made or divine. It is as if God refuses to be a replica of man-made theological categories or even contained by that which is divinely revealed and inspired. Satan’s proposition that Job does not fear God for nothing (Job 1:9) sets up one of the books major themes–the fear of God.

Something like the fear of God is something that cannot be hammered down or figured out merely through words. The fear of God is to be experienced and it is learned through disturbing circumstances such as the calamity that Job experienced.

Job’s openness to hearing God anew (Job 42:1-6) in spite of previous understandings that governed his faith towards God showed that Job truly “feared God for nothing” (see the parallel with the story of Abraham in Gen. 22:1-12).

True divine authority and interpretation is not as easy as man-made formulations nor is it contained by any consensus. Both issues, God’s authority and interpretation, are always moving and expanding through life circumstances and situations. Stories like Job are a reminder of just how authoritative God’s word is and how inconclusive the interpretations of God’s word are.