The Leviathan in Job
Part of an ongoing conversion:
I believe the main point in the Book of Job is stated explicitly: piety is not a calculation of self interest. The Accuser is given permission to vex Job with all fashion of evils, because the accusation is that Job is pious only because it benefits him.
All worldly goods (including children) are taken away. Job does not curse God and die.
His three so called friends console him by saying it is his fault when both he, and the poet, know explicitly it is not his fault. So much is clear.
The ending, however, is a mystery.
God Himself comes to answer Job, just as he wished. Instead of an answer, he is cross examined on the state of human knowledge, which is found insufficient to answer even simple things, much less the hidden secrets of creation.
But the poet has a structure in the pace and placement of the questions which is fascinating to see, for it asks about the nature of the created world from start to finish, and it finishes not with questions about ostriches and horses, but with Behemoth and Leviathan.
Those who prefer to think these are hippo and crocodile miss a significant point. These beasts, in the time and place the poem was written, represented primal chaos and supernatural evils only God could overcome.
The questions are not merely showing the ignorance of man as opposed to the wisdom of God, but showing, by implication, the Providence of God, that is, the provision made for the happiness, health and salvation of Man.
Job does not understand the source and meaning of his terrible suffering, but he likewise, after speaking with God, realizes he does not understand the source and meaning of his inexplicable hope and faith.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
