The Language of Creation and the Construction of a New Concept of Theodicy: Job 38-42
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The Language of Creation and the Construction of a New Concept of Theodicy: Job 38-42 Nicole Marie Hildebrand Faculty of Religious Studies McGill University, Montréal August 2006 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Arts © Nicole Marie Hildebrand, 2006 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-32523-0 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-32523-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada 11 Absfracf The purpose ofthis thesis is to examine the way in which Job 38-42 develops and defends a new theodicy through language of creation and of the created order. This thesis will posit that through the course of the divine speeches, divine justice is shown to be an element of divine rule where chaos is limited and confined to specifie boundaries, but not entirely eliminated or defeated. Inherent in this justice is compassionate divine care for aH parts of creation, including the farthest reaches of the cosmos and uninhabited lands of exile. The social, political and economic conditions of the fifth century B.C.E. are examined as the context for this critique of retributive justice and the singularly juridical understanding of justice that is represented by Job and his friends. The theodicy presented in Job 38-42 defines for Israel a divine justice, which is boundless, and provides a model for human action that upholds empathy and compassion for the outcasts of society. 111 Résumé L'objectif de cette thèse est d'examiner la façon dont le langage de Job 38-42 conçoit et défend une nouvelle théodicée à travers l'utilisation d'expressions visant à démontrer la création et l'ordre de l'univers. La thèse suivante démontrera, qu'à travers les discours divins, la justice divine est représentée comme un élément d'ordonnance divine où tout ce qui est en état de chaos est limité et contenu dans un périmètre précis, mais n'est pas entièrement éliminé ni vaincu. Inné dans cette justice est la compassion divine pour chaque partie de sa création incluant les plus lointains horizons de l'univers et les terres inhabitées et expatriées. Les conditions sociales, politiques et économiques du cinquième siècle Avant-le. créent le contexte nécessaire pour une critique approfondie d'une justice réparatrice et d'une compréhension particulièrement judiciaire qui est représenté par Job et ses camarades. La justice divine présentée dans Job 38-42 définit pour Israël, une justice divine infinie qui fournit un parangon, pour les actions humaines, basé sur la sympathie et la compassion envers les parias de la société. IV Table Of Contents Thesis Abstract. ................................................................................................................... .ii Résumé ............................................................................................................................... .iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. V Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 l The Book ofJob and ifs Social Milieu i. Social Setting of Wisdom Literature .................................................................. .4 ii. Date and Social Setting ofthe Book of Job ........................................................ 6 iii.Wisdom and Job in the Persian Period: A Theological Shift ............................ 13 II Metaphor and the Book ofJob i. Theories of Metaphor: Black, Frye, Soskice, McFague ................................... .29 iL Metaphor and its Context: Syreeni .................................................................... 34 111.'" 1ntertextua l' Ity: Bakh'tin ..................................................................................... 37 iv. Metaphor and Intertextuality in the Dialogues .................................................. 38 III God Answers from the Whirlwind i. The Divine Speeches: Job 38.1-42.6 ................................................................ .49 ii. Structure and Theme ......................................................................................... 50 iii. The Rhetorical Questions .................................................................................. 52 IV. Justice in the Design: Job 38.1-40.5 ................................................................. 54 v. Intertextuality in Establishing Justice ............................................................... 56 vi. Justice and Design Considered: Procreation, Violence, Freedom and Community ....................................................................................................... 60 vii. Job's First Response ......................................................................................... 78 IV God 's Answer Continues i. The Second Divine Speech: Job 40.6-41.26 ..................................................... 80 ii. Behemoth and Leviathan: The Boundary between Real and Mythic ............... 83 iii. Divine Justice and Creatures of Power and Beauty, Praise and Pride .............. 86 iv. Behemoth and Leviathan as a Paradoxical Key: A Model for Job .................. 95 V Job 's Words of Conclusion i. Job' s Second Response: A Translation of Job 42.1-42.6 ................................ 103 ii. Analysis ........................................................................................................... l 04 iii. The Divine Speeches as a Mode!: A New Concept ofTheodicy .................... 116 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 122 Works Cited................................................................................................................... 126 v Acknowledgments 1 would like to express my deepest and most sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Patricia G. Kirkpatrick, whose enthusiasm for the Hebrew Bible prompted me to further my studies in this field. Her continued guidance through the material needed for this thesis, her patient readings of various drafts and her insightful comments were invaluable. As well, 1 would like to thank the Faculty of Religious Studies for providing inspiration and direction through seminars and lectures and the Faculty staff for their unfailing help. My thanks to those that work in the library, particularly those in the Birks Reading Room, for providing the resources required to complete this project. 1 am also grateful to Amanda Rossini for her comments on numerous drafts of this thesis and the translation of the abstract from English to French. Finally, 1 would like to thank my family for their prayers and encouragement, my friends for their continued support and Nick, without whom this would not have been possible. 1 Introduction The book of Job has long been acclaimed as one of the greatest literary masterpieces in the biblical corpus, indeed, as one of the unique masterpieces of the ancient world. Not only does the book deal with sorne of the most difficult problems of the human predicament in terms of seeming divine injustice, the problem of evil, the nature of creation and its order, but in addition these problems are presented through the various literary forms of poetry, prose and moral dialogue. These forms are found throughout the book insofar as the text begins with a prose narrative prologue (1.1-2.13), moves into didactic poetic dialogue (3.1-42.6) and concludes again with a prose narrative epilogue (42.7-17). At each stage of the book, forensic language and creation motifs emerge and can be se en to help organize major components of the book,! Cosmological ~. images are evident