3 GOD’S ANSWER AND JOB’S RESPONSE ined himself speaking truth to power (10,2-27; 13,18-28). In the Theophany, God speaks in the tone of a wise teacher, who scolds the pupil for his ignorance but does not rage, shout, or threaten. God begins, “Who is this who darkens the plan (hc[) by words without knowledge?” (38,2). The root hc[ essentially refers to delib- eration: careful thinking and planning and the resolution arrived at by such thinking 9. Hence “plan” or “design” is a good translation. (When hc[ is communicated to others as advice it means “counsel”). It is this design that Job has “obscured” (38,2) and “hidden” (42,3). hc[ is a common word and can have no idiosyncratic sense if it is to com- municate anything to Job or the reader. From the start, then, Yahweh claims that he has a meaningful design for the world, and this is pre- sumably what he is about to describe. The choice of this word suggests that there is more sense in the divine design than just the absence of retribution. And if God’s design were merely the absence of retribu- tion, Job could hardly be accused of having obscured it when he com- plained of the prevalence of injustice, as when he declared: “The land is given into the hand of the wicked, and he covers the faces of its judges” (9,24), and “The innocent and the wicked he finishes off” (9,22b), and numerous other such complaints. Although Job’s words were ignorant, God’s design is something that Job could have known; otherwise, he could hardly be blamed for obscuring it. In the following speeches, God will describe the design by eliciting knowledge accessible to Job (and other humans), not by revealing mysteries 10. III. Creation God begins by describing the time of creation (38,4-11). In Tse- vat’s paraphrase, God says, “You, Job, were not present at the cre- ation of the earth and, consequently, you know nothing about its nature” 11. This paraphrase is not accurate. Job knows the facts that God describes: they are part of his cultural knowledge. God asks, “Where were you when I founded the earth? Declare it, if you have See M.V. FOX, “Words for Wisdom”, ZAH 6 (1993) 160-161. 9 This is contrary to what Zophar thought would happen if YHWH were 10 to speak: “he would tell you the hidden things of wisdom” (11,6). TSEVAT, “Meaning”, 83. 11 © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati