Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Duane A. Garrett on Job 7:17-19 and Psalm 8:4-8 (MT 8:5-9)

  

The verbal parallel is very strong, and one can hardly imagine it to be accidental. The psalm speaks of the attention God gives to humanity as a glorious thing: God cares about people and does not forget them. Furthermore, humanity is the crown of creation, and God has set all things under the feet of humanity. In Job, it is much darker. God constantly examines people to find fault with them and to afflict them for their misdeeds. This implies that the psalm was written first. It is more likely that a familiar song of praise, Ps 8, should be turned into a protest against the severity of God than that so dark a text should be snatched from obscurity and turned into joyful thanksgiving. To Israelite readers familiar with the psalm, Job’s inversion of the text is strong testimony to his grief and dismay. It does not mean that he outright rejects the teaching of the psalm. But his angry outburst does not imply that there is more to being under God’s eye than being set in an honored place above all other creatures. It is also terrifying to realize that an all-powerful being takes note of our every misstep. Job is, to be sure, in great distress. Job complains that God is constantly testing him (v 18), by which he means that God is looking for faults to punish (ironically, God has in fact tested him in the “wager” with Satan, but Job knows nothing about that and does not realize that he passed). He does not understand why he is so tormented by God, and he can only lash out, saying that if this is how God treats his own, Job would rather be left alone. But he has a point. If God does watch us that closely, then “Who can be saved?” (Matt 19:25). Even the psalmist asks God to turn a blind eye toward him so that he might enjoy his brief sojourn in life (Ps 39;13 [MT 39:14]). Job concludes with the memorable protest, “Will you never let me alone long enough for me to swallow my spit?” (Duane A. Garrett, Job [Evangelical Exegetical Commentary; St. Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Academic, 2024], 141-42)