Holy Fool

The next passage I want to deal with is Job 10:18-22.  In the previous post I stated that as the book of Job progresses, his view of the after life becomes increasingly fretful.  Whereas before he saw Sheol as a place of solice, a place of rest from the wicked that attacked him, he now begins to describe the grave as a "land of darkness, of utter gloom."

He speaks of the grave as place in which the dead are hidden, where everything lies in cofusion.

In the post on covenant I noted that there was a belief that sheol was temporary, as people awaited a resurrection and judgment.  Job (both the narrative or the person he is modled on) predates this understanding.  It is of note that there is no attempt by later scribes/teachers to rectify this dissonance.  Job was limited in his understanding, and in his understanding there was nothing to look forward to now, even in death.  In this passage death/the grave/Sheol is a place of non-existence in which he becomes as though he never was, he dissapears like a stream in a drought.

Despair is despised in our culture, not that I believe it a virtue; however in our culture despair is something that we avoid talking about, embracing, or dealing with in a healthy way.  We often medicate the symptom while ignoring the root cause.  We can apply a topical solution, but until the roots are wrended from the ground and burnt there is no cure.

Job embraces his despair as real and tangible.  He doesn't try to placate his friends with a good facade.  He was most likely sitting in a room, nearly naked, covered in ashes and soot as he wrythed in physical pain and mental torment.  That is about as hellish a vision as I can conjure up.  Job embodied his dispair in a humbling way.

So what do we take away here?  Job embodied his dispair, he didn't hide it before others or God.  Job had a limited understanding of God's eternal plan.  This is not the end of Job's story.