[July 2006 journal entry]
I would cast the prologue’s celestial scene with ‘God’ surrounded by an angelic host as similar to an ancient royal court. Anyone entering a monarch’s presence had to be introduced and had to have some valid reason to intrude. The prologue’s celestial scene should be cast as a monarch receiving reports of the outcome of battles or as a medical school dean or department chair or as politicians (especially federal) (or perhaps as a Wizard of Id!). The point – the monarch and, therefore, ‘God’ have no intimate or direct familiarity with what is happening ‘below’. From the ‘scrapheap’, Job most often seems to be thinking, “If I could only get his attention . . .” or “If I could only get through the bureaucracy . . .” -- suggesting he wants to hold to a view of ‘God’ analogous to Queen Elizabeth behind the scenes as the English Puritans were with her approval systematically contained/crushed all the while thinking the Queen above the bureaucracy was their ally. The whirlwind ‘God’ enters the story minus a royal court entourage and appears to have more immediate knowledge of happenings on earth (though there is no suggestion the whirlwind ‘God’ has any interest in or empathy toward human suffering).
I would cast the prologue’s celestial scene with ‘God’ surrounded by an angelic host as similar to an ancient royal court. Anyone entering a monarch’s presence had to be introduced and had to have some valid reason to intrude. The prologue’s celestial scene should be cast as a monarch receiving reports of the outcome of battles or as a medical school dean or department chair or as politicians (especially federal) (or perhaps as a Wizard of Id!). The point – the monarch and, therefore, ‘God’ have no intimate or direct familiarity with what is happening ‘below’. From the ‘scrapheap’, Job most often seems to be thinking, “If I could only get his attention . . .” or “If I could only get through the bureaucracy . . .” -- suggesting he wants to hold to a view of ‘God’ analogous to Queen Elizabeth behind the scenes as the English Puritans were with her approval systematically contained/crushed all the while thinking the Queen above the bureaucracy was their ally. The whirlwind ‘God’ enters the story minus a royal court entourage and appears to have more immediate knowledge of happenings on earth (though there is no suggestion the whirlwind ‘God’ has any interest in or empathy toward human suffering).
