14 MICHAEL V. FOX questions create a community of knowledge — there is much that Job does not know, but there is also much within his grasp: potential knowledge he can activate by looking at the world around him and seeing evidence of God’s power and providence. It is this knowledge rather than any humiliation that elicits Job’s repentance. The ques- tions are no more hectoring or humiliating than the very similar rhetorical questions in Proverbs (30,4) and Deutero-Isaiah (40,12- 14; 41,2.4.26) 49. Only three of the questions in Job 38–42 are genuine interrogatives that require the answer, “I don’t know”. In 38,19 God asks, “What is the way to where the light dwells? And darkness — where is its place?”. Here too the question is really directed to the issue of power and maintenance of the world, as the continuation of the sentence shows: “[…] so that you could take it to its territory, show (it) the path to its house” (38,20). The question in 38,24, “What is the path where the light is distributed, where the east wind spreads out on the earth?” is an actual interrogative calling for information that Job cannot pro- vide. The question about the gazelle’s gestation period (39,1-3) is truly unanswerable — for Job. We now know that the answer is six months, but that knowledge does not change the real issue, which is God’s care for creatures far beyond human reach. VIII. Psalm 104 The affinities between Psalm 104 and Job 38–40, some of which are mentioned above, are well known. Still, the significance of this resemblance has not been adequately explored. The psalm depicts “a harmonious place in which the spheres of human and animal coexist as complementary creations” 50. If Job’s Theophany is to be read as Many of the questions begin with imperfects, which can be translated 49 with either “can” or “do”, e.g., hmyk twnd[m rvqth: “Can you bind the bonds of the Bear?” or “Do you bind the bonds of the Bear?” (38,31). Both renderings point out that Job cannot and (therefore) does not do these things, but there is a difference in emphasis. The former translation has the questions emphasizing Job’s inability to do these things; the latter underscores the fact that it is not he who does them. The many questions that begin with perfects (e.g. 38,12; 39,1) emphasize facticity rather than ability. God of course points out his own ability to maintain the world, but the greater emphasis is placed on the fact that it is he who does it. The latter is also the emphasis of the “who” questions. NEWSOM, Book of Job, 245. 50 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati