[July 2006 journal entry]
The ‘scrapheap’ Job’s response to Eliphaz suggests he is surprised and disappointed by Eliphaz’s reactions. Why does the ‘scrapheap’ Job think Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar can/will remain loyal friends in spite of his expressed despair? Why does he think he can say in their presence what he has not previously said, even to ‘God’? Have they missed key ideas when he had previously “instructed many”, ideas that could have prepared them for what they are now hearing from him? Has the ‘scrapheap’ Job tried to think critically/radically with them? If Job is ‘the greatest’ (as per the prologue to the story/play), I would cast his three close friends as in the top ten. Have they previously listened passively to Job and assumed he would figure out the problems, untangle the knots? Or have they put more stock in Job’s ‘on the record’ advocacy of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm rather than in his ‘off the record’ questioning?
The ‘scrapheap’ Job’s response to Eliphaz suggests he is surprised and disappointed by Eliphaz’s reactions. Why does the ‘scrapheap’ Job think Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar can/will remain loyal friends in spite of his expressed despair? Why does he think he can say in their presence what he has not previously said, even to ‘God’? Have they missed key ideas when he had previously “instructed many”, ideas that could have prepared them for what they are now hearing from him? Has the ‘scrapheap’ Job tried to think critically/radically with them? If Job is ‘the greatest’ (as per the prologue to the story/play), I would cast his three close friends as in the top ten. Have they previously listened passively to Job and assumed he would figure out the problems, untangle the knots? Or have they put more stock in Job’s ‘on the record’ advocacy of the ‘religious’ T/O paradigm rather than in his ‘off the record’ questioning?
