18 MICHAEL V. FOX X. Job’s Repentance To God’s description of the order and providence in his world dif- ferent responses are possible. Job might, as Gordis suggests, find ease for his pain in the harmony of the cosmos 56. In a sentence often cited just to be brushed aside, Gordis says, “The beauty of the world becomes an anodyne to man’s suffering — and the key to truth” 57. In fact, Job now has the additional discomfort of being chastised for speaking in ignorance. Or he might feel even worse, seeing himself cruelly isolated from the world’s beauty and God’s care 58. He could continue raging, for he has nothing left to lose. But then he repents, in 42,6. But why? After all, Job is the wronged party. (YHWH says as much in 2,3.) In 40,4 Job prepares the way for his repentance by saying he will keep silent, an act that typically signifies humility and patience, as in the psalms 59. In 42,2-5, he declares God’s om- nipotence and his own ignorance. His recognition of these traits, which he had long known, is the sort of confession whereby one takes to heart something he already knew. The profession of God’s omnipotence is especially significant, because he may do things of importance beyond what is visible. This the reader knows to be true. Nevertheless, Job’s words on his way to repentance are often dismissed as evasive or facetious and as merely the muttered res- ignation of the helpless. Job’s repentance comes to a climax in his declaration: rpaw rp[-l[ ytmxnw sama !k l[ (42,6). Its meaning at least seems clear: “Therefore I am disgusted, and I repent on dust and ashes”. If Job’s words were spoken by a psalmist, no one would doubt that they express contrition. Still, the current consensus holds that Job’s repentance is cagy and contrived, not re- ally contrite. R. GORDIS, The Book of God and Man (Chicago, IL 1965) 133. Gordis 56 states, in italics, the author’s basic conclusion: “just as there is order and har- mony in the natural world, though imperfectly grasped by man, so there is order and meaning in the moral sphere, though often incomprehensible to man” (133). GORDIS, Book of God and Man, 133. 57 Those who think that ytmxn means “I am comforted” do not say that 58 Job is comforted by the beauty he has seen; that would make no sense with “on dust and ashes”. E.g., Pss 4,5; 32,3; 37,7; 38,14; 39,3.10; 50,21; 62,2.6; 131,2; cf. Isa 59 53,7. But silence can also be tactical, as in Judg 18,19 and Prov 17,20. On Job’s silence, see NEWELL, “Job”, 307-310. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati