The Master’s Seminary Journal 30, 2 (2019)

The latest Master’s Seminary Journal has been posted online. Individual essays are available from here, and the whole issue is available as a pdf here. I struggle with the somewhat strident tone and theological stance of some of essays published in this journal, but the volumes often contain interesting and valuable pieces. In this case, I’m particularly curious to read the final article on application and implication in preaching.

Editorial

F. David Farnell

Are the Canonical Gospels to Be Identified as a Genre of Greco-Roman Biography? The Early Church Fathers Say ‘No.’

Liberal-critical and evangelical-critical scholarship has recently attempted to identify the Gospels with the ancient style of writing known as Greco-Roman biography. The author has already established this position as highly tenuous, reflecting a cycle in New Testament studies that often seeks novelty in interpretation (cf. Acts 17:21, καινότερον—”new,” “unique,” “novel”). A close examination of the nascent church Fathers, especially as found in the first great church historian, Eusebius, reveals that the early church decidedly rejected the Greco-Roman historiographic tradition. Prominent early Fathers deprecated the quality of historians like Thucydides and Plutarch who are now identified with the Gospel tradition in New Testament scholarship. Instead, the early Fathers identified the historiography of the Gospels with the Hebrew tradition as evidenced in the Old Testament, reflecting the historical genre of Old Testament promise, now seeing the fulfilment of those promises. They also affirmed the absolute trustworthiness and accuracy of the canonical Gospels as produced of the Holy Spirit of truth. Once again, critical scholarship, being influenced by the Enlightenment, has chosen to disregard the voice of the early church as the nature of the Gospels.

Jamie Bissmeyer

Job’s Eschatological Hope: The Implications of Job’s Redeemer for Social Justice

The purpose of this article is to identify the person of Job’s perspective on issues pertaining to social justice, in order to show that Job places his hope of social justice issues being resolved in God’s unique ability to make a just society in the end times. First, background material to the book of Job will be explained, to give context to Job’s statements about a Redeemer. Second, statements in the book of Job regarding the oppression of the poor by the wicked in society will be examined, in order to establish that the book of Job relates to social justice issues. Third, Job’s own perspective on social justice issues will be examined. Fourth, Job’s solution to social justice issues will be explained, with a focus on Job 19:25-26. Finally, Job’s solution to social justice issues will be applied to current social justice issues faced by pastors. 

Carl A. Hargrove

And How Shall They Hear Without a Preacher? A Biblical Theology of Romans 9-11

Romans 10:14 (“And how shall they hear without a preacher?”) and accompanying verses are frequently used completely out of context for ordinations or missionary commissioning services, as if in these verses God is calling for preachers to be sent out. Other preachers and teachers completely omit Romans 9-11 in much or all of their teaching or preaching and, by default, these verses have no influence on their theology. As this article will show, these Holy Spirit-inspired Scriptures: (1) Are not rhetorical questions asked by God; (2) rather they are part of God’s answers given by means of the apostle Paul as to His trustworthiness and omnipotence, particularly related to His Word. Further, (3) when “the fulness of the Gentiles has come in,” this will also mean that “the partial hardening of [national] Israel,” has ended and thus Romans 11:25 will be fulfilled, (4) as Israel’s Deliverer will come from Zion and through the blood of the New Covenant, He will remove their sin and ungodliness from a promised Jewish remnant, (5) ultimately blessing the entire world of redeemed Jews and Gentiles.

Cory M. Marsh

A Dynamic Relationship: Christ, the Covenants, and Israel

As recently highlighted in Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum’s Kingdom Through Covenant (2012), furthered by Wellum and Brent Parker’s Progressive Covenantalism (2016), the notion of covenant is both popular and controversial within biblical theology. While these two works focused on forging a via media between dispensational and covenantal theology, occupying the center of the debate on all sides were questions related to Christ and His relationship to the biblical covenants. The current article explores questions raised from these and other works related to Christ’s relationship to the covenants and defends the only option consistent with a literal methodology: Christ relates to each of the biblical covenants dynamically as recipient, fulfillment, and/or mediator – and does so without collapsing any promised future for national Israel.

Jay Street

Romans 7: An Old Covenant Struggle Seen through New Covenant Eyes

Romans 7 is possibly one of the most cherished texts in church history. But it is also one of the most controversial passages in Scripture. Many resonate with Paul’s ambivalence and insist that Paul is speaking about the Christian’s daily struggle with sin. Others strongly disagree and purport that Paul’s struggle is too defeating for the Christian life, and he must be speaking for unbelievers. However, it will be argued in this article that both sides of the debate have been speaking past each other for centuries because both sides are asking the wrong question. This is not a passage about whether Paul is speaking as a Christian or not, but whether Paul is speaking as someone under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant. Thus, when the reader’s perspective is properly adjusted, he can rightly ascertain Paul’s spiritual status in the passage – Paul is speaking as a believer under the Old Covenant before the inauguration of the New Covenant.

David Beakley and Johann Odendaal

The Reformation’s “Macedonian Call” to Africa – the Long Way Around

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the influence of the Reformation came to Africa. The article is divided into two sections. The first section explains how the Reformation was stopped in North Africa through two problems: indigenization lacking doctrine, and doctrine lacking indigenization. The second section details the open door for the Reformation through the German Baptist mission work in South Africa. Finally, the article concludes with recommendations for creating sustainable mission work through a focus on strong discipleship model along with a commitment to indigenization of church leadership.

Carl A. Hargrove

Implication and Application in Exposition, Part 2: Principles for Contemporary Application

A significant concern for the expositor is navigating the relationship of interpretation and application. A part of the navigation is understanding the complement of the implications of a given text to the proper application. Teachers and expositors who want to make meaningful application of the passage or verse must bear in mind appropriate principles if they are to navigate from the ancient context to their contemporary audiences; if not, there will be misapplication on the one hand or not using the Scriptures to bear on the actions of listeners on the other.

Reviews

Recommendations on Biblical Wisdom

I wrote the following mini reviews for a recent edition of Highlights, produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

The Bible Project – Wisdom series

With their combination of creative animation and careful narration, The Bible Project videos – freely available online – say a lot and say it well. Their ‘Wisdom Series’ introduces Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, exploring how all three show what living well in God’s world looks like, each one offering their distinctive perspective on the ‘good life’, and all affirming that the journey to becoming wise begins with the fear of the Lord.

Tremper Longman III, The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom: A Theological Introduction to Wisdom in Israel (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017).

This is the best work for those looking for a comprehensive treatment of wisdom in the Bible. In addition to introducing the main biblical wisdom books, Longman explores the presence of wisdom elsewhere in the Old Testament, the characteristics of Israelite wisdom in its ancient setting, some debated issues in the study of biblical wisdom, and the presence of wisdom in subsequent Jewish writings and the New Testament. Highly recommended.

Elaine A. Phillips, An Introduction to Reading Biblical Wisdom Texts (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2017).

Reading this book is like having a personal tutorial with an expert teacher and guide, someone with that rare ability to communicate complex ideas concisely and well. With brief chapters, engagingly written but rooted in careful scholarship, Phillips offers a wonderfully accessible introduction to wisdom and an overview of the Bible’s wisdom books (including Song of Songs), with a mixture of reflection on content and discussion of issues of interpretation.

Themelios 43, 3 (December 2018)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles.

Editorial

D.A. Carson

The Changing Face of Words

Strange Times

Daniel Strange

Meta-Madness

Eric Ortlund

How Did Job Speak Rightly about God?

Yahweh’s stated preference for Job’s speech toward him in opposition to the friends in Job 42:7 is difficult to understand in light of the many criticisms Job levels against God in the course of the debate and the many seemingly pious and biblically supportable claims which the friends made. A variety of proposed interpretations of this verse are considered and rejected. It is argued instead that even when Job curses creation in ch. 3, he shows how much he values the friendship with God which he thinks he has now (inexplicably) lost; even when he rails against what seems to be a guilty verdict in chs. 9–10, Job shows how profoundly he understands that human claims of righteousness must be substantiated by God to have any worth. In these ways and others, Job spoke rightly about God even when he criticized.

Susanna Baldwin

Miserable but Not Monochrome: The Distinctive Characteristics and Perspectives of Job’s Three Comforters

Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite are often perceived as delivering an essentially uniform message that (erroneously) upholds the rigid, retributive justice of God as the answer to Job’s devastating plight. This paper presents a more nuanced and individualised examination of Job’s three comforters. Through a textual and thematic exploration of each friend’s corpus of speeches, the case is put that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar embody three subtly differentiated worldviews and epistemic frameworks. Consequently, each is shown to develop his own unique line of argument with regard to the origins and mechanisms of human suffering and the means by which Job may attain deliverance and restoration.

Andreas J. Köstenberger

John’s Appropriation of Isaiah’s Signs Theology: Implications for the Structure of John’s Gospel

The present article explores John’s distinct use of “signs” as part of his “theological transposition” of the Synoptic Gospels by which John transforms the Synoptic concept of “miracle” into that of “signs” pointing to Jesus’s messianic identity. The article proposes that Isaiah was the source for John’s signs theology by demonstrating significant links between Isaiah’s and John’s use of signs. In addition, the article proposes that John was led by Isaiah to structure his Gospel according to Jesus’s signs: the first half containing “The Book of Signs,” and the second half conveying the reality to which the signs point.

Will N. Timmins

Why Paul Wrote Romans: Putting the Pieces Together

Close attention to the content and context of Romans suggests that Paul had three purposes in view in writing the letter – namely, a missionary purpose, a pastoral purpose, and an apologetic purpose. This article explores these three purposes, explains their interrelationships, and considers some neglected evidence.

Joseph Pak

Self-Deception in Theology

Self-deception is a fundamental experience and the starting point of philosophy since Socrates. This article discusses a few aspects of self-deception as a theological concept. Self-deception is closely related to sin, often creates false assurance of salvation, and is caused by disordered love. Diligent effort to gain self-awareness is vitally important to prevent self-deception. We can counteract self-deception by acknowledging its pervasive and universal presence, opening ourselves to self- examination and questioning, and avowing disavowed engagements. God often uses trials to bring us out of self-deception.

John B. Carpenter

Answering Eastern Orthodox Apologists regarding Icons

The Eastern Orthodox Church claims that their practices have been preserved unaltered from the early church, thus making them the pristine church in perfect continuity with the apostolic church. Eastern Orthodox Apologists use this claim to offer potential converts certainty amid competing truth claims. In particular, they claim that the early church venerated images (icons) in the liturgy just as the Eastern Orthodox (and often Roman Catholics) do now. However, a careful examination of the evidence, both archaeological and written, reveals that despite the claim to continuity with the early church, the Eastern Orthodox practices of iconography directly contradict the consistent teachings of the early church. The early church, with only varying degrees of vehemence, strictly prohibited icons. This article engages typical Eastern Orthodox Apologists’ strategies for dealing with the evidence of the early church while maintaining their claims to continuity and argues that there is no evidence for the use of icons in the early church.

Ernie Laskaris

The New Atheist Sledgehammer: Like Epistemological Air Boxing

In one of the chief works produced by the New Atheists, Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion set out to reduce the existence of God to an “almost certain” impossibility. While his words are firm and belittling, however, Dawkins fails to cause any legitimate damage to the theistic worldview. This article identifies three reasons why the New Atheist sledgehammer has widely missed its target. First, Dawkins demonstrates a deficient understanding of the God he seeks to extinguish. Second, he is unable to account for certain concepts that he appeals to in his arguments (logical absolutes, the uniformity of nature, and moral absolutes). Third, he repeatedly violates the commitments of his naturalistic materialism, resorting to metaphysical speculation on multiple occasions.

Book Reviews

Foundations 74 (Spring 2018)

Issue 74 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), with the following contributions:

Martin Salter

Editorial

Jamie A. Grant

Crisis, Cursing and the Christian: Reading Imprecatory Psalms in the Twenty-First Century

Many Christian readers of the Psalter balk at the psalms that call down curses on particular people in response to wrongs that have been perpetrated by them. We are uncomfortable both with the language and the ethical implications. Effectively, these psalms are omitted from the life and worship of the church. This article argues that this should not be the case. When understood in the light of the constraints of genre and when understood as prayers offered to the Sovereign, these psalms provide us with a spiritual vocabulary which enables us to deal with the horrific injustices of life before the throne of God.

Heather R.F. Harper

The Book of Job as a Theology of Isolation

Suffering is an inescapable part of life. As Christians it is difficult to comprehend that a God who is both omnipotent and benevolent could allow his people to endure such agony. This raises the issue of how Christians should respond to suffering. To answer the question this paper will firstly reflect on the aspects of isolation caused by suffering in the book of Job, paying particular attention to chapters 2, 3, 29, 30 and 31. Secondly, it will consider Job’s response to isolation caused by suffering, with particular attention to his lament and Job 42:7-17, and use this as a paradigm of how Christians should respond to God, our own thoughts and emotions, and others during times of suffering.

Jon Putt

Culture, Class and Ethnicity: A Theological Exploration

Christian discussion of culture, class and ethnicity are as important as they are heated. Often they fail to properly define terms or reflect deeply within theological categories. This paper is a theological exploration of the ways in which the concepts of class, culture and ethnicity are understood in biblical terms and subsequently interrelated. It is part of an attempt to uncover and confront our own cultural blind spots and biases, and in turn value the other more highly than ourselves.

Fiona R. Gibson

Overcoming Listlessness: Learning from Evagrius of Pontus

Early and medieval Christian writers cautioned believers against the Seven Deadly Sins. Even today most Christians could probably name most of them. However, the one that was considered one of the most deadly and complex – acedia – is now virtually unknown and little understood. This paper will briefly examine the nature of acedia by engaging with the writings of Evagrius of Pontus, who was one of the first theologians to deal extensively with what acedia is, and how to overcome it. Some of his remedies may be surprising, and have unexpected contemporary applications.

Daniel Stevens

Review Article: The Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House, Cambridge

Book Reviews

More Videos from the Bible Project

The Bible Project continues to put together a series of helpful short videos, some of which introduce the structure and themes of biblical books, and others of which trace some major themes through the entire Bible.

Since I lost posted on this, several other Bible book videos have been made available (including on Ruth, Job, Psalms, Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and Hebrews), and one themed video on atonement.

Check them out from here (click on ‘Videos’ or scroll down to the ‘Videos & Study Guides’ section) or see them all via YouTube here.

Themelios 40, 2 (August 2015)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles, several of which engage with some of the current discussions on Adam and Eve, human origins, and original sin.

Editorial

D.A. Carson

Some Reflections on Pastoral Leadership

Off the Record

Michael J. Ovey

Can Antigone Work in a Secularist Society?

Editor’s Note

Brian J. Tabb

Adam in Evangelical Theology

Stephen N. Williams

Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: A Review Essay

The contributors to Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin rightly maintain the traditional view of the historicity of Adam and the entry of sin into the world through him. However, the account displays three weaknesses. First, the inerrant authority of Scripture is sometimes interpreted as entailing that the Ancient Near Eastern context of Genesis sheds no light on how it should be read. Second, the question of why humans are justly condemned for the sin of Adam is never answered. Third, no ground for dialogue with science is provided. It is more successful in indicating what we should affirm than in grappling with the difficulties of affirming it.

Hans Madueme

Another Riddle without a Resolution? A Reply to Stephen Williams

Stephen Williams raises a number of concerns with the book, Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin. The authors, he concludes, fail to grasp the nettle of difficulties facing the Augustinian hamartiology. While some of his objections hit the mark, others are less convincing. Original guilt, in particular, is a resilient doctrine. Rooted in Scripture and of a piece with Christ’s atonement and imputed righteousness, this doctrine resists its detractors. Thus, rumors of the demise of original sin as a viable doctrine have been greatly exaggerated.

Richard E. Averbeck

The Lost World of Adam and Eve: A Review Essay

In his new book, The Lost World of Adam and Eve, John Walton tries to show that there is no necessary contradiction or tension between the discoveries of modern science when they are rightly understood and what the Bible actually teaches about cosmic and human origins. The reviewer agrees on this point and many others through the book. The major area of disagreement is that, in order to make his argument, Walton proposes there is no material creation in Gen 1–2; that is, creation has to do with establishing functions alone. This is not sustainable from the text. Both material creation and the functions of those things created are essential components of these creation accounts.

John H. Walton

Response to Richard Averbeck

Daniel J. Estes

Communicating the Book of Job in the Twenty-First Century

In churches, seminaries, and in the scholarly literature, the book of Job is only rarely preached or taught in detail. This wisdom text has always been a difficult book to interpret, and to complicate matters it is increasingly counter to the assumptions and

values of the contemporary culture. This article proposes six strategies for the effective communication of Job in the twenty-first century.

Pastoral Pensées

Eric Ortlund

Five Truths for Sufferers from the Book of Job

The book of Job is an obvious place to turn when a Christian suffers, but it is not easy to discern what God means to teach his people through this difficult book. This article interprets Job’s teaching on suffering from five broad perspectives: (1) God’s purpose in allowing suffering; (2) how Job “diversifies” our interpretations of suffering; (3) what God requires of us when we suffer; (4) what promises God makes about the

end of suffering; and (5) how Job-like suffering grants us a new vision of God.

Book Reviews

Christopher Ash on Reasons to Study the Book of Job

Anticipating the imminent publication of his commentary on Job in Crossway’s ‘Preaching the Word’ series, Christopher Ash highlights seven reasons for studying the book of Job.

Studying the book of Job will help you...

1. Understand God for who He is

2. Grapple with God’s sovereignty

3. Reject false gospels

4. Identify with those who suffer

5. Find hope in the midst of pain

6. Develop your emotional pallet

7. Encounter the living God

Larry J. Waters on Missio Dei in Job

Larry J. Waters, ‘Missio Dei in the Book of Job’, Bibliotheca Sacra 166, 661 (2009), 19-34.

As Waters notes, ‘in studies of Job, God’s redemptive purpose and action in relation to missions is rarely addressed’ (19).

However:

‘Since missio Dei can be seen as God on a mission, involved in humankind’s existence and eternal destiny, and actively making Himself known for redemptive purposes, Job is one of the first illustrations of individuals used by God to demonstrate that mission. Job’s struggle with suffering and a false theology contrary to grace, Elihu’s corrective measures guiding Job into God’s presence, and God’s remarkable and unusual speeches are all a part of the missio Dei in communicating His loving concern for humanity’ (20).

According to Waters, God was ‘on mission’ through Job, using Job’s experience ‘to reveal Himself to Job’s world’ (23), showing that ‘within the true doctrine of retribution there was room for exceptions to a fixed formula for the working of God’s justice and sovereignty in the lives of His people’ (27).

Waters cites several examples – Abel, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses’ parents, Moses, David, Daniel and his three friends, God’s prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus himself, and the apostles – to show that ‘God’s mission was and continues to be advanced through the suffering of His people’ (30).

Suffering believers, according to Waters, ‘can use their experience as a means for drawing people to Christ’ (33), and ‘to demonstrate faith in God in spite of the suffering’ (34).

Larry J. Waters on Suffering in Job

Larry J. Waters, ‘Reflections on Suffering from the Book of Job’, Bibliotheca Sacra 154 (1997), 436-51.

A link to a pdf of this article can be found towards the bottom of this page.

He concludes with 16 points:

1. God is not to be limited to a preconceived notion of retribution/recompense theology.

2. Sin is not always the basis for suffering.

3. Accepting false tenets about suffering can cause one to blame and challenge God.

4. A retributive/recompensive theology distorts God’s ways and confines Him to human standards of interpretation.

5. Satan is behind this false concept and delights in using it to afflict the righteous.

6. The devil’s world is unfair and unjust, and even though people may misunderstand the ways of God and the “why’s” of life, having a personal relationship with God is the only way one can know justice.

7. Life is more than a series of absurdities and unexplainable pains that simply must be endured. Instead life for believers is linked with God’s unseen purpose.

8. People do not always know all the facts, nor is such knowledge necessary for living a life of faith.

9. God’s wisdom is above human wisdom.

10. God’s blessings are based solely on grace, not on a traditional, legalistic formula.

11. Suffering can be faced with faith and trust in a loving, gracious God even when there is no immediately satisfying logical or rational reason to do so.

12. God does allow suffering, pain, and even death, if they best serve His purposes.

13. Prosperity theology has no place in God’s grace plan.

14. Suffering can have a preventive purpose.

15. The greatest of saints struggle with the problem of undeserved suffering and will continue to do so.

16. Because God’s people are intimately related to Him, suffering is often specifically designed to glorify God in the unseen war with Satan.

Gregory W. Parsons on Understanding and Proclaiming Job

Greg W. Parsons, ‘Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming the Book of Job’, Bibliotheca Sacra 151 (1994), 393-413.

Parsons comments on the general neglect of preaching from the book of Job (due to the difficulty of understanding it, and of dealing with the theological and philosophical questions it raises). In this light, he seeks to offer some specific guidelines for understanding and communicating the book.

Suggested hermeneutical guidelines for Job

• Interpret individual passages in light of the overall literary structure (as a unit) and main purpose of the book

• Recognize the various literary forms and devices utilized by the author to communicate his message

• Interpret the book of Job in light of the larger context of ancient wisdom literature, both biblical and extrabiblical

• Have a proper understanding of the relationship of Job to the New Testament

Preliminary homiletical guidelines for Job

• Preach every passage as part of the whole story of the book

• In light of one’s own culture and community, utilize the universal aspects of Job (as part of wisdom literature) as potential clues for a timeless message

• Explore the New Testament as the primary key to answer Job’s questions and to make valid application for today

• Explore the use of drama as a vehicle for communicating the message of Job

Gregory W. Parsons on Literary Features of Job

Gregory W. Parsons, ‘Literary Features of the Book of Job’, Bibliotheca Sacra 138, 551 (1981), 213-29.

Literary genre

Attempts to fit the book of Job into one overarching literary genre, according to Parsons, fail to do justice ‘to the complex nature of its literary fabric’ (213).

Three major categories have been suggested:

• Lawsuit – by Job against God in which the friends serve as witnesses.

• Lament – noting that personal lament begins (ch. 3) and ends (chs. 29-31) the dialogue.

• Controversy dialogue – similar to disputation or contest literature in the ancient Near East.

Parsons concludes that the author skillfully weaves these three types together ‘in order to serve the function of the book’ (215).

Literary devices

Parsons discusses two literary devices used by the writer of Job:

• Irony – both dramatic irony (in that the readers and the heavenly court share knowledge of which Job and his friends are unaware) and verbal irony (used in different ways throughout the cycle of speeches).

• Mythopoeic language – ‘perhaps more prominent in Job than in any other biblical book’ (218), with allusions borrowed from the ancient near Eastern cultural milieu to ‘stress the contrast between the uniquely sovereign Lord who operates by grace and the ancient Near Eastern gods who were bound by the dogma of retribution’ (220).

Gregory W. Parsons on the Structure and Purpose of Job

Gregory W. Parsons, ‘The Structure and Purpose of the Book of Job’, Bibliotheca Sacra 138, 550 (1981), 139-57.

‘Structure’ and ‘purpose’ go together here, as Parsons seeks to determine the major purpose of the book of Job through its structure.

Assuming the unity of the book of Job, Parsons notes that it consists of a ‘prose framework’ (chapters 1-2 and 42:7-17) ‘which encloses an intricate poetic body’ (139). That the poetic dialogue fizzles out is ‘indicative of the bankruptcy and futility of dialogue when both Job and the three friends assume the retribution dogma’ (140). The Elihu speeches (Job 32-37), according to Parsons, ‘set the stage for the Yahweh speeches’ which are themselves ‘the culmination of the skillfully designed poetic body of the book’ (141) requiring no challenge at the end.

For Parsons, the purpose of the book is ‘to show that the proper relationship between God and man is based solely on the sovereign grace of God and man’s response of faith and submissive trust’ (142).

Certain key themes are used by the author of the book to serve this purpose:

• Divine retribution – it’s evident to the friends that Job is suffering judgment for some sin; Job too operates with a concept of retribution, thinking God is punishing him for sin – though unjustly. God’s speeches, however, contain ‘a subtle refutation of the dogma of divine retribution’. The restoration of Job at the end of the book is not a reward or payment, ‘but a free gift based solely on God’s sovereign grace’ (145).

• Creation motif – creation language is used through the poetic dialogue, but ‘the Lord’s speeches (which are saturated with the creation motif) demonstrate that God’s sovereign cosmic power was not the retributive justice (as the friends had argued) nor the “uncontrolled caprice” (as Job had perceived it) of an impersonal cosmos, but rather the majestic omnipotence and mysterious creative genius of a personal and gracious God’ (147).

• Legal metaphors – which are regularly used concerning Job’s disputed innocence, along with Job’s desire for an impartial arbitrator to mediate between him and God. In the end, the Lord functions as Job’s judge and legal advisory, and ignores his plea for vindication, revealing the bankruptcy of conceiving the God-human relationship along the lines of legal justice.

Gerald H. Wilson on Job

Gerald H. Wilson, Job, New International Biblical Commentary (Peabody: Hendrickson/Bletchley: Paternoster, 2007).

The publishers make available a few pdf excerpts of this commentary, including the Introduction.

Wilson begins with the title of book and its date (late, rather than early, for the final form of the book – exilic or post-exilic).

He discusses the place of Job in its broader wisdom context. The ‘retributive wisdom’ of Proverbs is balanced by other forms of wisdom, since ‘according to observation and experience, the hallmarks of the wisdom enterprise, wise and righteous persons do not always prosper, and the foolish and wicked often seem to avoid suffering and judgment’ (3-4). Even while Ecclesiastes and Job explore these alternatives, they do not seek to undermine faith in God, but ‘offer their own testimony to a continuing reliance on God and acknowledge the pain and confusion that inhabit the real world of the observant sage’ (4).

He has a short section on the text of the book (‘one of the most difficult Hebrew texts in the OT’, 5), before devoting more attention to the structure of the book (6-11), noting the following components:

• Prose prologue and epilogue (chs. 1-2; 42:7-17)
• Poetic dialogue (chs. 3-31)
• A wisdom poem (ch. 28)
• The poetic Elihu monologues (chs. 32-37)
• The theophanic appearance of God (chs. 38-42)

He argues that ‘although the book of Job contains many distinctive components, some of which may have circulated earlier as independent compositions, there is an intentional editorial unity with a cohesive purpose and message in the canonical final form of the book’ (11).

The book as a whole shows that despite ‘suffering and mystery, the powerless inability to control oneself or one’s world, God is still worth holding onto in a relationship of absolute dependence (which is the fear of God)’ (15).

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart on Job

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 129:

‘The book of Job has an important place in the biblical story, not only by calling us to total trust in God even in the most trying of situations but also by preparing the way for Jesus Christ, who as the incarnate God gives the ultimate answer to Job’s question by assuming the role of innocent sufferer – only in his case to bear the sins of the entire world.’