Does the word for “answered” (6:1) refer specifically to questioning/answering? to dialogue? Or might the word simply suggest the ‘scrapheap’ Job speaks, whether to Eliphaz or to himself or . . . ? He has sharp words for Eliphaz (and subsequently for Bildad and Zophar). If the story is being staged as a play, should the ‘scrapheap’ Job be looking at Eliphaz or to the heavens or, perhaps, toward the audience? Everyone has abandoned him, with his three close friends now beginning to place responsibility for his plight squarely on his shoulders. Looking to the audience implies the ‘scrapheap’ Job is searching for someone who can/will truly/clearly/patiently listen. Looking to the audience presses each one in the audience to ask if s/he can/will be the character missing in the story/play – i.e., the character whose presence with the ‘scrapheap’ Job does not harm him further. Or perhaps the ‘scrapheap’ Job just stares aimlessly, indicating he no longer has any confidence there is such a character.
Peterson’s wording suggests the ‘scrapheap’ Job is aggressive and energetic – e.g., an exclamation point (6:3a) and “Is it any wonder that I’m screaming like a caged cat?” (6:3b). The RSV suggests a more subdued/fatigued ‘scrapheap’ Job – “Oh” (6:2) and “Therefore my words have been rash” (6:3b). I would stage the ‘scrapheap’ Job more along the RSV’s subdued/fatigued line. Perhaps I think Peterson is a bit off the mark because I do not hear the ‘scrapheap’ Job screaming in his first remarks (or having enough strength to scream at any point, for that matter). The Hebrew word means to talk wildly. The verb occurs only three times (Prov. 20:25 and Obadiah 16 as well as Job 6:3). If the RSV’s “rash” is followed, is the ‘scrapheap’ Job making a confession? or offering an explanation that invites his three close friends to show him some tolerance and that asks them not to take his words too seriously? If so, then he is not yet to the point of having thought fully/radically through the implications of attributing his situation to ‘God’ (as understood within the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm). Another angle is to hear sarcasm when the ‘scrapheap’ Job speaks.
A word study for “misery” (Peterson) or “vexation” (RSV) would be useful. The Hebrew word (6:2a) occurs in Job (5:2, 6:2, 10:17, 17:7) in one form and in Ecclesiastes (1:18, 2:23, 7:3, 7:9, 11:10) in another form. The idea is unwarranted pain/suffering. The word for “load” (Peterson) or “calamity” (RSV) (6:2b) -- used only here -- is based on the Hebrew verb ‘to be’, from which the word ‘God’ is derived.
‘Vexation’ makes me think of spiritual/intellectual pain. ‘Misery’ makes room for the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s physical/social suffering. The ‘scrapheap’ Job seems to claim both forms of agony during his responses. Are both forms of agony present here?
With due regard for the severity of his situation, I think the ‘scrapheap’ Job is excessive in his assessment of his misery’s weight. His conclusion that his misery outweighs the sand of the sea sounds as if he thinks no other person’s pain/suffering could be (has been) as heavy as is his pain/suffering. At the same time, I shy away from seeking relief in “there’s always someone worse off than I”. There are serious risks when any sufferer thinks s/he is in the worst situation possible.
The ‘scrapheap’ Job offers analogies and metaphors (6:1-3) in line with the appeal with which he begins his response to Eliphaz. However, in doing so he seems to be moving quickly (unavoidably?) to/past the edge of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm, to a theological position the guardians of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm (represented in the story/play by the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s three close friends) find heretical and he finds untenable. What meaning/s does the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm sanction for the phrase “the arrows of God”? Surely not the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s contention that ‘God’ shoots poison arrows into innocent persons. The ‘scrapheap’ Job describes his thoughts/words as poisoned and attributes his poisoned condition to ‘God’. The ‘scrapheap’ Job knows he is on the outer edge of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm – far removed from the core/center – as/when he attributes his current status to the direct and calculated action of ‘God’.
Peterson (6:4c) has “God has dumped the whole works on me” (RSV “the terrors of God are arrayed against me”). Peterson’s translation seems weak, almost trivializing. The Hebrew wording is as forceful as the RSV translation, if not more so. How the ‘scrapheap’ Job sees the terrors arrayed around him is important. The terrors have been carefully positioned. He is surrounded with strategically selected terrors that are aimed at particularly vulnerable areas. The ‘scrapheap’ Job is not thinking ‘God’ has dumped these terrors on him; he is thinking ‘God’ has organized them into a massive, orderly, and devastating offensive against him.
The ‘scrapheap’ Job turns to animal analogies (6:5). How common are such analogies other than in the story/play’s whirlwind section? ‘Wild ass’ appears also in 11:12 and 39:5. ‘Ox’ appears in 24:3. Peterson’s “so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this” makes explicit the implication in these analogies. What makes a wild ass bray or an ox low over its food -- the scarcity? the taste? satisfaction and contentment? If it would be possible to say the following to the ‘scrapheap’ Job without harming him or falling in with his three close friends, I would look for a way to say to him, “Yes, I do expect more from a human being than I expect from a donkey or a cow.”
Re the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s next question – “Do you see what God has dished out for me?” -- a food may not taste good but can still be eaten for nourishment without nausea. However, the ‘scrapheap’ Job adds another forceful analogy – nausea (6:6-7). This analogy is particularly significant in light of the place this metaphor holds in existential thought about the human predicament. The staging/directing needs to make vivid to the audience that the ‘scrapheap’ Job is nauseated by what ‘God’ “has dished out”.
Peterson’s wording suggests the ‘scrapheap’ Job is aggressive and energetic – e.g., an exclamation point (6:3a) and “Is it any wonder that I’m screaming like a caged cat?” (6:3b). The RSV suggests a more subdued/fatigued ‘scrapheap’ Job – “Oh” (6:2) and “Therefore my words have been rash” (6:3b). I would stage the ‘scrapheap’ Job more along the RSV’s subdued/fatigued line. Perhaps I think Peterson is a bit off the mark because I do not hear the ‘scrapheap’ Job screaming in his first remarks (or having enough strength to scream at any point, for that matter). The Hebrew word means to talk wildly. The verb occurs only three times (Prov. 20:25 and Obadiah 16 as well as Job 6:3). If the RSV’s “rash” is followed, is the ‘scrapheap’ Job making a confession? or offering an explanation that invites his three close friends to show him some tolerance and that asks them not to take his words too seriously? If so, then he is not yet to the point of having thought fully/radically through the implications of attributing his situation to ‘God’ (as understood within the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm). Another angle is to hear sarcasm when the ‘scrapheap’ Job speaks.
A word study for “misery” (Peterson) or “vexation” (RSV) would be useful. The Hebrew word (6:2a) occurs in Job (5:2, 6:2, 10:17, 17:7) in one form and in Ecclesiastes (1:18, 2:23, 7:3, 7:9, 11:10) in another form. The idea is unwarranted pain/suffering. The word for “load” (Peterson) or “calamity” (RSV) (6:2b) -- used only here -- is based on the Hebrew verb ‘to be’, from which the word ‘God’ is derived.
‘Vexation’ makes me think of spiritual/intellectual pain. ‘Misery’ makes room for the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s physical/social suffering. The ‘scrapheap’ Job seems to claim both forms of agony during his responses. Are both forms of agony present here?
With due regard for the severity of his situation, I think the ‘scrapheap’ Job is excessive in his assessment of his misery’s weight. His conclusion that his misery outweighs the sand of the sea sounds as if he thinks no other person’s pain/suffering could be (has been) as heavy as is his pain/suffering. At the same time, I shy away from seeking relief in “there’s always someone worse off than I”. There are serious risks when any sufferer thinks s/he is in the worst situation possible.
The ‘scrapheap’ Job offers analogies and metaphors (6:1-3) in line with the appeal with which he begins his response to Eliphaz. However, in doing so he seems to be moving quickly (unavoidably?) to/past the edge of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm, to a theological position the guardians of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm (represented in the story/play by the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s three close friends) find heretical and he finds untenable. What meaning/s does the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm sanction for the phrase “the arrows of God”? Surely not the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s contention that ‘God’ shoots poison arrows into innocent persons. The ‘scrapheap’ Job describes his thoughts/words as poisoned and attributes his poisoned condition to ‘God’. The ‘scrapheap’ Job knows he is on the outer edge of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm – far removed from the core/center – as/when he attributes his current status to the direct and calculated action of ‘God’.
Peterson (6:4c) has “God has dumped the whole works on me” (RSV “the terrors of God are arrayed against me”). Peterson’s translation seems weak, almost trivializing. The Hebrew wording is as forceful as the RSV translation, if not more so. How the ‘scrapheap’ Job sees the terrors arrayed around him is important. The terrors have been carefully positioned. He is surrounded with strategically selected terrors that are aimed at particularly vulnerable areas. The ‘scrapheap’ Job is not thinking ‘God’ has dumped these terrors on him; he is thinking ‘God’ has organized them into a massive, orderly, and devastating offensive against him.
The ‘scrapheap’ Job turns to animal analogies (6:5). How common are such analogies other than in the story/play’s whirlwind section? ‘Wild ass’ appears also in 11:12 and 39:5. ‘Ox’ appears in 24:3. Peterson’s “so don’t expect me to keep quiet in this” makes explicit the implication in these analogies. What makes a wild ass bray or an ox low over its food -- the scarcity? the taste? satisfaction and contentment? If it would be possible to say the following to the ‘scrapheap’ Job without harming him or falling in with his three close friends, I would look for a way to say to him, “Yes, I do expect more from a human being than I expect from a donkey or a cow.”
Re the ‘scrapheap’ Job’s next question – “Do you see what God has dished out for me?” -- a food may not taste good but can still be eaten for nourishment without nausea. However, the ‘scrapheap’ Job adds another forceful analogy – nausea (6:6-7). This analogy is particularly significant in light of the place this metaphor holds in existential thought about the human predicament. The staging/directing needs to make vivid to the audience that the ‘scrapheap’ Job is nauseated by what ‘God’ “has dished out”.
