Job

With the Book of Job as our first Wisdom book or text, the complex storyline and dialogue is key to understanding wisdom from God’s ultimately profound perspective, especially in comparison to our smaller and less significant experience in his world. The Book of Job shows us, or teaches us rather, that wisdom does not necessarily lie in being “upright” or “good” alone, as Job himself is described early on in the reading, but rather wisdom comes from difficulty, temptation. A key part of the quintessential human condition. Sin and temptation, but it is never God tempting us. 

There are two passages to which I was particularly drawn because they illuminate the themes of human insignificance and smallness compared to God and how we as humans do not always necessarily understand His will or the way He works. The first passage is, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I shall return again. Yahweh gave, Yahweh has taken back. Blesses be the name of Yahweh.” (Job 1:21) In this passage Job recognizes his limitations in his mortal life, and in the process he uplifts God’s name and recognizes sin in calling himself “naked.” This passage is reminiscent of Genesis 3:19 “for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It’s a humbling idea, and it speaks volumes to me about the ultimate trust we give God. I am also drawn to the idea in Job 5:17: “Blessed are those whom God corrects!” because of its continuation of this ultimate trust.

To me, the lesson we learn about life, God, and humanity’s relationship with God is to trust His will and to recognize our limitations as humans. The wisdom dispelled here really highlights these ideas, and it takes a lot of wisdom to know what we don’t or can’t know and a lot of virtue to accept and trust in a higher power.