2018, June 24 ~ Job 38:1-11 and 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Job 38:1-11

The Book of Job is a unique poetic story in the Hebrew Scriptures. Job is a righteous person (in right relation with God and others) and is presented as a non-Jew living in the land of Uz (somewhere in what is now Saudi Arabia).

Satan (the “adversary” – not the post-First Century name of the devil) makes a wager with God that Job is righteous only because he has health, family and riches. Satan bets God that Job will curse God if he loses his family, health and wealth.

Satan takes everything from Job, but Job does not curse God. His friends come to “comfort” him and (using typical Deuteronomic thought) tell him that his deprivations must be the result of a sin by him or his forebears. Job denies this and (contrary to the claim in the traditional translation of Jas. 5:11) is anything but “patient.” He “endures,” is steadfast and in some respects, defiant. He asks for someone to judge whether a God who causes a person to suffer is really a just God. He asks to confront God face-to-face.

Today’s reading is the beginning of a four-chapter “response” by God to Job. The “response” is structured by the author (called “Poet-Job”) as a series of questions from God to Job that demonstrate the complexity of created reality, an imaginative inspection of the cosmos.

After the theophany (the appearance of God to Job), Job acknowledges his limitations. In a later-added Epilogue, Job’s riches are restored, and he had another family.

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Corinth, a large port city in Greece, was among the early Jesus Follower communities that Paul founded. Its culture was diverse and Hellenistic. Corinthians emphasized reason and secular wisdom. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written in the 50’s (CE) and presented his views on many issues that were controversial in this Jesus Follower Community.

Based on internal references in the two remaining letters to the Corinthians, scholars agree that Paul likely wrote at least four letters to the Corinthians. The so-called Second Letter to the Corinthians is composed of fragments of these letters.

Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians was sometimes strained (2:2-4). Today’s reading continues Paul’s defense of his ministry (v.3). He enumerates his sufferings (v.4-5), defends his works (v.6-7), and counters charges against him (v.8-10). He claims that his affection for the Corinthians is unrestricted, but the affections of the Corinthians are limited (v.11).