Podcast 28, Stories of the Bible, “The Book of Job, Ch 14”

Podcast 28, Stories of the Bible, “The Book of Job, Ch 14”

Chapter 14 of The Book of Job was written generally using Parallelism. Chiastic Parallelism follows the format ABCCBA. I shall interpret the poem, using the Chiastic format. I shall refer to the separate sections as A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.

A1 and A2 are synthetic. That is to say, A2 extends or completes the concept of A1. A1 is comprised of verses 1-2. A2 is comprised of verses 18-22.  They serve as a framework for the entire poem.  

Job 13:1-2 & 18-22

A1 “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.” 

 A2 “And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.”    

One is reminded of the words of Peter.

1 Peter 1:24-25

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

Everything else within the poem fits inside the above concept. The beginning and ending contain the subject of the poem but they do not contain the primary theme of the poem. It is so tempting to read the Book of Job as bleak and full of horror and suffering. The same is true of the Book of Isaiah and The Book of Revelation, whereas all three beautiful books are filled with hope. All three prophets, Job, Isaiah, and John, are very realistic, but they are incredibly optimistic. All three saw Christ. All three are primarily about the mission of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Savior of the world. For example, Job 14 is not about death. Job 14 is about the resurrection from the dead, as I shall prove. Everything in the poem points toward the resurrection.

First let’s examine Parts B1 and B2. They have an antithetical parallel relationship as you shall see. Antithetical parallelism occurs when the two parts are diametrically opposite of each other, life and death for example 

Let’s first examine B1.

Job 14:2-6

“He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. 

Clearly, it is about death. The life of a flower is very short. Job compares the life of man to the life of a flower. All of us must confront the brevity of life. But of course B1 is about much more. Job asks about the judgment, “And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?” It is a rhetorical question. A fundamental doctrine of the Holy Bible is that all will be brought to a final judgment. Job then asks “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?” To the ancient Israelites a dead body was viewed as an unclean thing, not in a moral sense but in a ritual sense. Those who touched a dead body had to undergo a purification process.