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pecuniumI was reading a book last week (Skinwalkers, Tony Hillerman) and something in it gave me a strange epiphany.
There is a piece of the God of Job in the words of Jesus.
The God of Job, for those who aren't versed in Christian/Jewish theology is a difficult aspect of the divine. It's a God who, on a bet, destroys a man. Kills his cattle, destroys his home, slaughters his children; and their families just to test him.
Job wasn't some foul sinner.
Job 1:5
And it was so, when the days of feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
An upright man, who worries that his sons might be committing sins inadvertently, and makes amends on their behalf.
Job 1:9/1:11-12
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
And Satan (who is a loyal servant of God's, not his dire opponent: that interpretation of him comes later) goes out and kills the children, and the animals (well, to be fair, some were stolen away).
Job's response... he worships God. From this book we get that most difficult of fatalistic comforts, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
And it goes on, with Satan upping the ante, and God calling the bet, until Job is siting in the ashes of him home, afflicted with boils and flies, mourning in sackcloth.
His friends come, and they argue. Job knows God is answerable to none. He rails against the injustice of it: He doesn't blame God, per se, he merely wishes he had never been born.
When one of his friends tells him to plead his case (if he is blameless) Job (rightly) says there is no way, for the awe, and dread of God will overwhelm him. Despite this, Job does appeal to the Almighty for explanation.
And God does appear, and Job is overwhelmed. No answer does God make to the question of, "Why, what did I do" but to say,
Job 38:1-7
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
And He goes on, at length of the wonder and power and majesty and ineffable nature of Himself.
Which is the only answer Job gets. A more poetic form of, "I am that I am."
We are taught the God of the New Testament, of the Covenant of the Cross is better than this, that he is all loving, and forgiving.
Which brings me to my epiphany... the one which set me, as I ate my breakfast repeating a passage of the Lord's Prayer to myself; said to be the very words of Jesus, and wondering at "and lead us not into temptation."
Think on that sentence for a moment. Just by itself, forget the rest of the prayer which surrounds it. Ponder what it says about God.
Because it's not, "Keep us from", nor is it, "Strengthen us against." No it asks God to refrain from actively leading us into it.
Lead us not into temptation.
So many questions arise from that phrase.
Lead us not into temptation.
There is a piece of the God of Job in the words of Jesus.
The God of Job, for those who aren't versed in Christian/Jewish theology is a difficult aspect of the divine. It's a God who, on a bet, destroys a man. Kills his cattle, destroys his home, slaughters his children; and their families just to test him.
Job wasn't some foul sinner.
Job 1:5
And it was so, when the days of feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
An upright man, who worries that his sons might be committing sins inadvertently, and makes amends on their behalf.
Job 1:9/1:11-12
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath [is] in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
And Satan (who is a loyal servant of God's, not his dire opponent: that interpretation of him comes later) goes out and kills the children, and the animals (well, to be fair, some were stolen away).
Job's response... he worships God. From this book we get that most difficult of fatalistic comforts, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
And it goes on, with Satan upping the ante, and God calling the bet, until Job is siting in the ashes of him home, afflicted with boils and flies, mourning in sackcloth.
His friends come, and they argue. Job knows God is answerable to none. He rails against the injustice of it: He doesn't blame God, per se, he merely wishes he had never been born.
When one of his friends tells him to plead his case (if he is blameless) Job (rightly) says there is no way, for the awe, and dread of God will overwhelm him. Despite this, Job does appeal to the Almighty for explanation.
And God does appear, and Job is overwhelmed. No answer does God make to the question of, "Why, what did I do" but to say,
Job 38:1-7
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
And He goes on, at length of the wonder and power and majesty and ineffable nature of Himself.
Which is the only answer Job gets. A more poetic form of, "I am that I am."
We are taught the God of the New Testament, of the Covenant of the Cross is better than this, that he is all loving, and forgiving.
Which brings me to my epiphany... the one which set me, as I ate my breakfast repeating a passage of the Lord's Prayer to myself; said to be the very words of Jesus, and wondering at "and lead us not into temptation."
Think on that sentence for a moment. Just by itself, forget the rest of the prayer which surrounds it. Ponder what it says about God.
Because it's not, "Keep us from", nor is it, "Strengthen us against." No it asks God to refrain from actively leading us into it.
Lead us not into temptation.
So many questions arise from that phrase.
Lead us not into temptation.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 12:05 pm (UTC)First, I would say that "lead us not into temptation" does depend a lot on the translation, and the formality of the words. Not knowing Greek, I can't speak to that, but it may or may not be as suggestive of God's control over leading us into tests/tempting places as it appears. That is to say, I don't know if Jesus (here quoted by a later author) was married to the idea that God causes suffering or temptation or whatever.
That said, the overall speculation is an important one, and your linking of it to the Lord's Prayer is one that I honestly haven't heard before, and I've done a lot of studying of Job and similar texts. Don't get me started on last week's story about God 'testing' Abraham by asking him to kill Isaac (I mean, I *did* get started on it and preached on it and everything). What kind of monster would 'test' someone by asking them to murder a child? or by killing everyone important to them?
I think the text of Job presupposes that God is responsible for everything and therefore is the agent (or at least the one who sanctions) violence and suffering. This is not the only answer to the question 'where does evil come from'? but it is a pretty prevalent one. The overarching point of the book is not to question whether or not God causes pain (presupposed that God does), but to question whether or not God can be confined by human definitions of good and evil (and the answer is a resounding no).
And yet, this God, pictured in Job to be all-powerful and beyond categories of good/evil does not prohibit questioning, raging against, or begging to get out of the pain and violence that exists and God's role in it. Job is slapped back for his questions, but not killed or even punished beyond what has already happened to him (which was not a punishment). Jesus most certainly is not punished for begging God to let the cup pass him by, nor is Abraham for bartering with God about the fate of Sodom.
Have you read _When Bad Things Happen to Good People_ by Rabbi Harold Kushner? It's my favorite take on Job (although obviously unrelated to the Lord's prayer, as Kushner is Jewish). Kushner basically rejects the idea that God is the one who causes pain and evil, but that God is in some ways powerless to stop it. In this reading, God could not lead us into temptation, but could perhaps help us find our way out.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 08:28 pm (UTC)The KJV is the touchstone text for a lot (perhaps most) Native speakers of English, even those who aren't christian. Even Catholics such as myself read it. When new versions come out, some of the structural issues of the text are meant to evoke it (I am very fond of the Cambridge University Bible, with Apocrypha, of (IRRC, 1982. Mine is in storage so I'm not sure). My preference for it is that it's the last one before more neutral gender language came in, and I'm old, default masculine is familar, and familiarity makes it more apprehensible; which is why the KJV is the touchstone).
So, since at least the Book of Common Prayer, 1559, the language has been there. It has seeped into the zietgeist. If it's a mis-translation, that mistranslation has become canon.