[July 2006 journal entry]
Is there any sense of ‘friend’ (as in Peterson’s translation) in the Hebrew word translated ‘servant’ (RSV)? The Hebrew word can imply a special relationship (e.g., references to ‘my servants the prophets’, Moses, Joshua, angels, the patriarchs). The Hebrew word can refer to an acquaintance, to a fellow-citizen, or simply to another person. I think of ‘friend’ or ‘servant’ in the prologue description of Job as ‘confidant with influence’. I find no sense of humility or of being ‘among the least of these’ or of ‘taking a lower seat’. I would cast Job in the story/play as aristocratic, as nobility. He has liberties and privileges, even before ‘God’, others do not have.
