Velasco Ellyn Dr. Glazier-McDowell REL 110 November 16, 2007 A Discussion between Job and Qoheleth Job: Okay, Qoheleth. Let's begin this interview. If you are going to be applying to be my aide as Assistant Advisor to the Oppressed, I think we should get acquainted with each other. So please, tell me about yourself. Qoheleth: Well, I am from Babylon and I worship Yahweh just like you do. On Earth, I was a court official and had a wife and a child. I suffered from various illnesses, which caused me to be in pain my entire life. However, the pain that you suffered was much more severe. Job: Oh, so you've done research on me? Well done. I'll tell you about myself, though. There's no telling what all those earthly scholars say about me. I, too, was in a high position in the government. Yahweh blessed me with an immensely grand wealth. A large, fertile piece of property, thousands of livestock, and a vast amount of servants were at my disposal. God also provided me with a wife who bore me seven sons and three daughters. I was "the greatest man among all the people in the East" (Job 1:3). I was blameless in the sight of God and avoided doing evil. I worshipped God and God alone, never questioning His actions. Qoheleth: I did the same thing. Job: That's very good to hear, Qoheleth. Now let's move on. It says here on your resume under "Experiences with God" that you experienced subjugation to the
Babylonians because Yahweh allowed them to conquer Israel. You call this suffering? Please, enlighten me. Qoheleth: Yes, sir. Well, while I was court official in Babylon, the rest of Israel was suffering under slavery, being forced to live in foreign lands, and ultimately, not being united. It is a mystery to me that Yahweh would allow this to happen. Does He not love Israel? Did He not choose us? Why would He ever allow this to happen? All of these questions were running through my head as time passed and we continued to suffer. Job: I completely relate to you, Qoheleth. When the satan allowed the Sabeans to steal all my oxen and donkeys, my sheep to be killed by the fire of God, the Chaldeans to steal my camels, my servants to be killed, and my house and children to be terminated, I mourned for days upon days. I could not, however, curse God for the things He allowed to happen. He is omnipotent; He knows every detail of every event that happens in the world. I know that I had done nothing wrong. The Lord gives and takes away. Then, the satan gave me sickening boils on my skin. At this point, my pagan wife told me to curse God and die. I said to her, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?' Qoheleth: I believe that no matter what we as human beings do, the Almighty has absolute power over us. What He says goes. A wise man and a foolish man both have the same fate; I can work for an entire week, but I will still have to work the next week. Everything we did on earth is meaningless. The end times are coming. We are to live for the future. The suffering we experience on earth means nothing. Job: But, Qoheleth, WHY does God allow suffering?
Qoheleth: God allows us to suffer to show His sheer power. We can never understand the reason behind the decisions that God makes for us. I believe that He does not want us to know our own destiny. Everything He does endures forever. Job: Yes, I fully agree with that. At the time of my suffering, though, I believed that God was unjust in the way He treated me. I went so far as to curse the day of my birth because I had no understanding of why God gave me life to begin with if I was just to suffer that terribly. My three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar all believed that I should confess to God of my sin. But what was I to confess to Him? I was blameless in His sight. There was no tangible reason for my suffering. Eliphaz was the kindest of the three. He told me not to charge God with such an accusation of being indifferent about my suffering--he knew I would regret it in the end. He told me to submit to God. I had submitted to God, though. I sacrificed for Him and worshipped Him alone as diligently as I could in the time before these terrible things happened to me. I held true to being innocent. Bildad accused me of trying to be God's equal. I never tried to claim equality with the Father. He thought that there must be something wrong with because me the justice of God is faultless. Zophar had problems with my arrogance--that I would never claim fault. Zophar, though, was very proud himself--he thought he had all the knowledge in the world. Qoheleth: So, how did you react to all this advice from your friends? Job: Well, I concluded that I could not have a valid case against God because I am afraid of Him. His wrath does not only fall on the sinful; His wrath falls on everyone. I also realized that I was wrong in reacting the way I did--saying that God was incompetent and unjust. I gained a new understanding of God's justice: God is always right. We, as
humans, cannot limit Him to fit our needs. Just because blamelessness leads to earthly prosperity does not mean that it also leads to exemption from God's judgment. This interview, however, is about you, Qoheleth. Tell me about your understanding of God's justice from your experience with Him. Assistant Advisor to the Oppressed must have an adequate understanding of this in order to help the people below the skies understand their suffering. Qoheleth: I think that God's justice is absurd. How can the right and the wrong, the innocent and the guilty, and the holy man and the sinner all have the same fate? Why must all of them suffer if half of them don't even deserve to suffer? My realization is that we can never comprehend the justice of God. The reason we suffer is because we cannot fathom an unfathomable God. The world is full of contradictions, but human beings-- God's creation--are not meant to understand them. We can live our lives, make our sacrifices, and pursue happiness, but we will never comprehend the justice of God. All we can do is fear God and keep His commandments. Job: Well said. So, to clarify, you think that humans will never be able to understand God's judgment and we should just live our lives to the best of our abilities? Qoheleth: Yes, sir. Why? Is that not good enough? Job: Well, it certainly is good, but a different good than I had in mind. I believe that God is always right in His judgment, and you believe that we could never know that. I understand where you are coming from Qoheleth, but I had a completely different experience with God. God personally inflicted me--only me. I did not suffer with an entire nation. I suffered alone. Through my own faults, I discerned that God has a reason
for everything and that reason is always the right reason. Once I came to this understanding, God rewarded me. I regained everything I had lost twice over. Qoheleth: Yes, I am aware of this. I did not gain this external blessing like you, however. I was not able to experience the chance to return to an independent Israel, which was the best blessing of which I could think. The blessing I received was assurance from God that in the end, the rewards will go to the righteous and the punishments will go to the wicked. Job: Qoheleth, I see your point. Since we both had different experiences with the same God, we could never come to the same conclusion about His justice. How will the people on earth, though, feel about these differing points of view? Qoheleth: Frankly, Job, I think that the people on earth will think we are both right. We cannot possibly expect them to believe only one of us. You have been compared to Noah and Daniel; my proverbs have made up an entire book alongside a book with the poems of King David. The people on earth must believe what we say. Job: Yes, Qoheleth, I believe you are correct. Well, I suppose that this interview has led me to the conclusion that you are, in fact, the right person for this position. Are you going to accept? Qoheleth: Yes, Job, I faithfully accept. Thank you very much for spending this time with me, and I look forward to helping the peoples below understand our Yahweh better. Job: Shalom, Qoheleth. Qoheleth: Shalom to you, too.
Bibliography Crook, Margaret Brackenbury. The Cruel God: Job's Search for the Meaning of Suffering. Boston: Beacon Press, 1959. Dewey, Rosemary. "Qoheleth and Job: Diverse Responses to the Enigma of Evil." Spirituality Today 37(1985): 314-325. Griffin, David Ray. God, Power, and Evil: A Process Theodicy. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976. Laato, Antti, and Johannes C. de Moor. Theodicy in the World of the Bible. Boston: Brill, 2003. Zimmerman, Frank. The Inner World of Qohelet. New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1973.