The Life and Times of Job (Part 5) - May you live in interesting times

(I had planned to write something on the atonement -- infinitely more useful to me, especially with Easter, but I'm not done.  So I'll put out the last of this part of my Job study for now.)

The impetus of this study has been, all along, the investigation of certain unexpected oddities in the book, as pointed out to me by others, which indicate that Job lived in a time of both political and (especially) environmental tumult, unparalleled in Biblical history.  This runs contrary to my own idyllic assumptions that Job's environment was peaceful and stable up until his suffering, a conclusion largely based on my ignorance of anything to suggest instability beyond what Job personally experienced at Satan's hand.  To put it plainly, I hadn't given it any thought before.

A number of scriptures have been pointed out to me that are worth note and question as to what was happening in Job's day; particularly, what might have been happening that God's "hedge" or protection around Job kept him from.

Outside of an examination of whether these verses do or do not describe problems (I'm not convinced every verse is noteworthy), concerning the interpretation of these scriptures, we have three primary options:

1) Job and his friends are describing events as witnessed in their own day.  Since these are witnessed observations of life, they are use to fortify arguments of philosophy made between themselves.

2) Job and his friends are describing events witnessed by their recent fore-fathers such that those observations remain as potent cultural commonplaces (i.e. shared, commonly held community memories).  While they did not observe these things themselves, the community memory is strong enough to be accepted as valid for their arguments.

3) Job and his friends are describing events not first- or second-handedly witnessed but culturally passed down stories which everyone is familiar with.  These may constitute weaker arguments in support of various position, but are acceptable nonetheless although subject to questioning.

Without confirmation from outside of the book of Job as to what happened, my inclination is towards the first choice, largely because they are present and uncontested as support for their arguments.  In Job 13, Job readily replies that he has seen these things too, and that he is not ignorant, though he challenges the legitimacy of the arguments themselves.  Absent strong indications that these are not-first-hand accounts, there is no reason to doubt that at the least they are attempting to discuss with support from what they have seen in their lifespans.

My conclusions are that in Job's time he experienced incredible geologic and seismic activity.  People clearly lived (and prospered) through this and during this.  Wind activity, from the wilderness areas, was serious.  There may additionally have been significant volcanic activity, perhaps not in immediate range of Job, but noticeable and occasionally devastating.  Job's period also evidence far greater variability in temperature, if not climate, than what we observe today in the Middle East.  Job's area suffered from significant flooding as well as the receding of both flowing and stable water accumulation.  Political and social instability was likely very high at this time, which could also be partially caused by environmental instability.  It is possible (not confirmed) that lifespans of people were significantly and noticeably falling in this period of time.

In short, when Satan claims that God has put up a protective "hedge" around Job, it is not an idle statement but a serious protection of Job from the world around him, making his greatness all the more apparent to the world around him, as well as God's glory in Job's righteousness on display to the world.

GEOLOGIC/SEISMIC EVENTS?

Job 9:5-6

"God removes the mountains and overturns them in His anger;

 He shakes the earth out of its place and its core trembles;"

Job 14:18
And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

Job 28:9   

He puttest forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

When do mountains fall?  When are they overturned?  Outside of some pretty significant volcanic activity (e.g. Mt. St. Helens) when has anyone observed.  I thought tectonic processes took millions of slow grinding years, outside of short lived earthquakes which destroy our constructions principally.

There's not much commentary to add to this.  It seems highly probably that something serious was happening in terms of earthquakes and mountains being overturned.

Added, thanks to Don F.: or possibly not. The question is can this language be attributed to more mundane factors? Granted earthquakes, perhaps more in Job 9. However, notice Job 14:19 (NIV):

18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
    and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 as water wears away stones
    and torrents wash away the soil,

    so you destroy a person’s hope.

V19 lends a context of erosion which may well clarify v18 as well. Apparently the Middle East, in desert areas, is known for flash flooding that can very quickly erode natural landmarks. Mountains being smaller there, the explanation may be more obvious and mundane in the observation of flood destruction of sand/rock landscape.

Job 28:9 appears to say that mountains are overturned/destroyed in such a way that the rocks, hidden and at the bottom, are exposed.  This is violent activity, and Job 9 links this with the imagery of God's anger.

Added, thanks to Don F.: who pointed out, as I noted in a next section concerning earlier verses, the context of this part of Job 28 is on human mining activity. Job 28:9 has nothing to do with divine destruction of mountains.

The closest analog in imagination we have is of both grinding and building of mountains due to the tectonic plates smashing into one another, as well as the production of mountains (particularly underwater) by deposits of cooling magma as it flows to the surface and pushes plates apart.  But this is speculation.  What is at least known is that most of the Middle East sits on its own tectonic plate (the Arabian plate) which is distinct from neighboring plates.  Hence there is evidence of volcanic activity along the edges.  Currently, what I understand is it is slowly pushing itself northward against the Eurasian plate (holding most of Europe, Russia, and the Far East).

Wind Events?

Job 1:19

... and suddenly a great wind from the wilderness struck the four corners of the house,  and it fell on the young men…

Job 27:20-21   

Terrors take hold on him [the rich man] as waters, a tempest stealesth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. 

Deserts and flat lands can sustain high winds in the absence of solid windbreaks (such as mountains or trees).  Whether Job lived in Western Saudi Arabia or on the border of modern Jordan and Saudi Arabia, anything to the East is wilderness and generally barren land.  Matched with Job 27, Job 1's wind disaster seems a little more commonplace if storms and east windws are able to snatch a person from where he is living or standing and carry him away.  This is terrifying imagery. 

Cosmological Events?


Job 9:7
Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars?

Not being a solid exegete, I don't know if there's enough information here to draw a firm conclusion.  The sun not rising?  Star obscured?  When did this happen?  Job likely lived before the Exodus (see previous posts) so this is almost certainly not channeling the same event of perpetual darkness across that land.

Trying to read more into God's words than is actually there, clouds of dust, dirt, pollutions of some kind could cause the appearance of the sun no rising (i.e. darkness) and stars obscured (i.e. darkness).  This could suggest environmental calamities such as volcanic activity producing ash clouds or perhaps large meteoric activity that would send clouds of dirt and debris.

This is, however, speculation.  The only thing I can say with certainty is that I don't know what this verse is describing, that Job and his friends are familiar with whatever it is that they mean, and that it sounds significant enough that we at this point probably shouldn't simply cast it aside, comfortable that we don't know. 

Volcanic Events?

Job 1:16 Fire has fallen from heaven  and burned up the sheep and servants and consumed them… 

As discussed earlier, this is destruction that may affect as much or far more than 1 square kilometer.  There's nothing to say that Job sheep were near his holdings at the time of their destructions, nor that the destruction occurred at the same time as his other calamities (only that he received word at the same time), nor that anyone else was not affected as collateral damage.  Could this be localized to Job?  Definitely.  Could this be Job caught up in something bigger, despite that he is the principal target?  Sure.  Satan claimed that God had built a hedge around Job.  What affected others, did not affect him due to his protected status.

All I can suggest with confidence is that the scope of the destructive force here rivals Sodom and Gomorrah, but could well be larger.  Either way, this is big.  This is not Elijah sending targeted fire to consume a handful of soldiers.  This is mass destruction.

Job 18:15   

"15 Fire resides[a] in his tent;

    burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling."

I'm skeptical since the context really implies destruction and desecration of someone's life who is no longer part of the community.  From the context, my impression is that the describes what people are doing to desecrate another's place of living.  So I would exclude this from a discussion of environmental events.

Job 28:5-6, 29   

As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire. The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.

At first glance, this sounded like ground breaking up, exposing the gold and precious gems.  However the context of the verse references a fair amount of mining terminology, so people tunneling under the ground ought to be familiar. with what is in the ground.  One suggestion is that the statement of the earth, that "out of it comes bread" refers to the bread-like oozing magma flows that can be seen in other parts of the world. From the context, I suspect this is more of a comparison: we're talking about the earth, the top layers, from which we (ultimately get bread, of simply "food" as many translations also have it), and then under it, now we have other descriptions.  I don't think that's significant.

The remaining question is simply the phrasing "under it is turned up as it were fire", bringing to mind something being "turned up" and "fire" which could well refer to volcanic activity.  I don't know.  Generally, one hopes that you don't find lava in a mine, at the very least due to the toxic levels of gases you are exposed to.  This last bit, I don't want to dismiss outright, but simply confess that while the context is of mining, the "turned up as it were fire" may indicate further geologic conditions.  So I keep a question mark on this.

TEMPERATURE EXTREMES?

Job 4:9-11

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. the old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

I don't rightly know what this means.  Blast could indicate heat, but this is an English word, and since we've just discussed volcanic possibilities, I don't want to read into this word too much.  Breath from nostrils can also connote heat and it may be just too easy to see "consumed" as indicating consumed because they are burned up.  Blast suggests force and breath suggests at the lease air moving.  Beyond that I don't know.

After this we see several effects, that as near as I can tell, as still related to the blast/breath events.  The roaring and voice of the strong, fierce lions are broken (that thing which makes the lions most frightening, which they do so well when strong, is broken).  The teeth of young lions (which ought to be very strong) are broken.  As for the old lions, there's no longer enough live food (famine conditions?)  Lion cubs not easily separated from their mother, being scattered, suggests that the mothers are incapacitated to the point where the cubs must suddenly fend for themselves.  For a picture of strength, we have the lions, and thus several pictures of the all that strength coming to nothing through God's overwhelming use of strength, such that nothing stands against him and everything is laid waste.

The immediate context is of God repaying evil (one of the many places where Job's friends prove to him that evil-doers are punished, and when have the innocent been so badly wiped out?).  Probably the destruction of lions here is meant to be caused by the activity of God's breath.  However, this could be a parallel evidence of God's overwhelming ability to destroy where the first describing God's blast/breath consuming is a more generic example with a mode of destruction, and the second is a specific example of destruction without a specific mode.  That's as far as I'm comfortable getting into it.  I don't know if this is enough to suggest that the phrasing of God's blast/breath, indicates natural and excessive heat.  It would be consistent where heat causes famine, which kills even the strong.  However, the imagery seems to more of sudden destruction.  Famine effects are devastating, but not so sudden.

So I leave a question mark on this one.

Job 6:15-18   

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; which are blackish by reason of the ice, wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.

This is more interesting since it obviously describes differences in temperature.  Brooks are black due to ice (I'm not sure if this means the black/nearly invisible ice that dogs flat surfaces).  I don't know quite how ice makes anything black.  When mixed with other substances (i.e. darker soils) ice tends to have a harder time consolidating.  Other chemicals?  Don't know.

But the brooks, carrying water formerly, are either iced over, or iced up completely.  I'm not sure what the phrase "wherein the snow is hid" means either.  Does that means the ice is over the snow itself, or that snow has consolidated in the iced brook bed, but the snow is still on top of the ice.  It would help immensely to know Hebrew, I expect.  I don't quite have the picture.

Regardless, the brook is considered here "deceitful" because at one point you have the image of iced up, snowed in brooks and then when its warm the brook water disappears and vanishes.  This could be normal season changes where you have more temperature variability.  Still, it makes you wonder where Job lived.  The Middle East can get snowfall, especially as you get to the north, but you're really making your way up into the mountains of the north and east, and into Eurasia before you get comfortable with both extremes of cold and hot making their mark on water ways.

But in Job's day apparently he saw brooks both iced over and dried up.

The phrase "consumed out of their place" at first glance seems to suggest a more extreme version of evaporating.  I don't know enough to agree with some who see this is as near instantaneous evaporation.  I would think if one was near enough to see something like that, one would be dead anyway.

That said, at least it sounds like Job's area experience a wider range of temperatures than what we currently associate with today's middle east.  We'll also see that cold conditions are mentioned more than once, which is likely significant.

HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS?

 
Job 38:29-30

Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

Beyond the implications of Job being familiar with cold weather conditions, the phrase "the waters are hid as a stone" sandwiches between phrases discussing water freezing, suggests very hard ice.  Again, not something associated with the Middle East today.  This, as is common in Hebrew poetry, may be followed by a paralleling phrase, in that the face of the deep is frozen.  Small rivers and brooks are not properly considered "the deep".

A few verses earlier, in Job 38:16, we have: "Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep?" matching together "the sea" and "the deep".  Further references of "the deep" in Gen 1:2, 8:2; Ex. 15:5, 8 (referring to the deepness of the Red Sea), Jonah 2:3, not to mention in many places in the Psalms (chapters 33, 69, 77, 104, 106), leave little doubt that "the deep" means deep seas.  In this context we're at least dealing with bodies of water like the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

So bodies of water comparable to those to are frozen over, and perhaps hidden under stone-like surface?

This is extraordinary.  When has this happened in history?  (Ice age comes to mind, but we've traditionally thought this happened well before Job's assumed time period.)

Job 12:15

Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

It's been suggested that this indicates Tsunami or tidal wave activity.  I'm not convinced.  Granted, evaluating Hebrew according to how it is written in English with our grammar points and division isn't too safe.  It seems to me that we're dealing with two separate condition/consequence statements here, rather than one where the waters are withheld and then suddenly released with force as in a Tsunami.  Instead, waters are withheld, and they dry up (normally drying up is not considered a part of tsunami activity since there is only a short window of time between the waters receding and then flooding again).  So, concerning water, two separate actions are described as to what God does.  The flooding itself may not preclude tidal wave activity; it's just that we should see the "withholding" part as separate.

Job 7:12

Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?  (Many translations read "sea monster")

This has always made me wonder: what does this mean? The initial suggestion is that this may also refer to tidal wave activity on the coast in that why else would a watch (in the context of militaries and guard watches) be set for a body of water, unless the water itself was an imminent threat but one that could be mitigated by vigilance.  The next question is what do watches for sea monsters have to do with this?  Are we looking at a Godzilla attack on ships or cities requiring scheduled vigilance?  One suggestion is that you're not watching for the sea monsters per say but the beached animals as a results of suddenly receding waters as a prelude to tsunami events.

But the context of the passage is Job complaining that God will not let him rest, or take a breather.  Should God be watching his every move the same way the sea or sea monsters are watched?

It seems more likely that in all cases, whether Job, the sea, or the sea monster, that the watch or "watcher" is the same, that is God.  God sets the limits and parameters of sea and sea monster alike.  So Job asks rhetorically if he is such a big deal that God should so restrict him also, and keep him from any shred of peace.  Indeed, further on Job asks in v17 “What is man that You magnify him,

And that You ^[f]are concerned about him," which David echoes in Ps 8 in his very memorable phrasing that we sing today.

So I don't think this is evidence of anything interesting in Job's day.  Job isn't describing human watches for sea or sea monster activity.  But asking why God pays so much attention to him in not letting him take a breather and his life being futile.

Job 14:11   

As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up…

Both phrases convey the image of waters receding and drying up.  The context is of men expiring, and giving up their lives, slowly, but surely and totally.  I don't read anything dramatic from this.

Job 14:18, 19

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.

Here appears wording for erosion of stones and of flooding of the dust, which connotes God flooding areas where things have a hard time growing.  I'm not convinced at least the water activity here should be read as dramatic, though mountains falling I would flag.  But as for the water, eroding and flooding, this is part of Job's description of how God slowly works away destroying a man's hope, according to how he feels.  It may still be significant that Job puts the more outstanding events such as mountains falling and crumbling with things we would consider more mundane and commonplace such as flooding in the desert and steady water erosion.  At the least, then does this mean the geologic activity is simply consider part of life?

Job 28:9

He puttest forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cuttest out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and that which is hid bringeth he forth to the light.

This seems somewhat similar to the preceding verse in that mountains overturned, violently and completely, are paired with rock erosion.  Although here, cutting out rivers among rocks is usually considered to be a painfully slow process, one we are assurred as a thousands or millions of years process, except when we see it happen suddenly as in flash flooding.  Here, there may be a dramatic element present in the describing of rivers cut out from rocks.

Also, here, God is seen as restraining floods from overflowing.  The context is of God bringing hidden things to light, which is fortified by these three examples.  In the first, mountains are overturned by their roots, presumably exposing what was formerly underneath.  Rivers are cut out of rocks, presumably exposing internal rocks/dirt/layers (and here particularly it is amplified that God sees every precious, or little thing).  Finally, though I don't make the connection, somehow binding the floods from overflowing also fits this pattern.  This might also evidence the Hebrew parallism in which the first two examples are followed by God's eye seeing every precious thing, and the third example followed by "everything hidden" is brought into the light.

So there is at least evidence of flood activity in Job's area.  I don't know how much of a conclusion can be made as to its presumed violence.

DECLINING LIFESPANS?

Job 8:8-9

For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:) Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

It has been suggested that this verse implies that the people of Job's day were aware that they would not live as long as their predecessors.  Particularly, the phrase "because our days upon earth are a shadow", indicating that they don't live long, are contrasted with the wisdom to be tapped from the former generations.  Maybe.  I don't have much against this argument.

The questions seems to be, does "our days upon earth are a shadow" refer primarily to the totality of their expected lives (in contrast to their fathers and grandfathers), and so they will be less wise, or that extent of their lives to day (i.e. their youth at this point).  If they are of (born, relatively) yesterday, Job is encouraged to ask the older, wiser folk.  By rough estimates from the familiar Old Testament, Job is at least 50 years old, perhaps 70 at this point.  From the Septuagint, he's certainly 70.  He will either live 140 or 170 years after his troubles, which is shorter (by 25-50% shorter than his predecessors if he lives a in the days of Peleg) or 50% longer than his peers if he lives just before Moses' day.  So a lot depends on when we think he lives.  Certainly God may have blessed him with an atypical lifespan, if he lived in Moses' day, and the speaker at this moment might not know how long he will live, just how long people live.

My inclination is that Bildad the Shuite is simply pointing out Job's youth, and that he should be talking with the elders of his time to get the wisdom he presumably needs to properly evaluate his tragedy.  I can't rule out that Bildad may be pointing out a more innate limitation: that Job will never be as wise as the elders because lifespans are coming down significantly, and so he needs the wisdom of the elders.

POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND CAVE MEN?

 Job 12:13 - 13:1
¹³ “With Him are wisdom and might;

To Him belong counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ “Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He ^[h]imprisons a man, and ^[i]there can be no release.
¹⁵ “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they ^[j]inundate the earth.
¹⁶ “With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
¹⁷ “He makes counselors walk ^[k]barefoot
And makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ “He loosens the ^[l]bond of kings
And binds their loins with a girdle.
¹⁹ “He makes priests walk ^[m]barefoot
And overthrows the secure ones.
²⁰ “He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ “He pours contempt on nobles
And loosens the belt of the strong.
²² “He reveals mysteries from the darkness
And brings the deep darkness into light.
²³ “He makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He ^[n]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
²⁴ “He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
²⁵ “They grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

13:1 “My eyes have seen all this,

    my ears have heard and understood it.

I don't have much comment beyond that a cursory reading of this, if we simply take this at face value, suggests that surrounding Job there is an enormous amount of instability in his world such that no greatness can be trusted among men because God raises and lowers whoever he will, however and whenever.  If this is an accurate description of his time (and I include Job's claim in 13:1 that he has seen these things), then this suggests political and social instability on national and local scales.

As a further speculation, it may be in the midst of this that Job, as the greatest of the men of the East, had understandings or even alliances with neighboring states or strong men, than fall through suddenly (at Satan's bidding), which allow the gathered wolves, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans, to immediately take advantage of the situation and move in.  Those raiding parties likely were positioned, perhaps smelling blood sometimes before.  You don't cross so many miles in a heartbeat.

Possibly, also, Job was a principal target, and not just a target of opportunity.  God's "hedge" ceases (perhaps a friendly king) and the they are loosed.  For a long time, then, Job was a very visible target.

Job 24:5-8   

1 “Why are ^[a]times not stored up by the Almighty,
And why do those who know Him not see His days?
² “^[b]Some remove the landmarks;
They seize and ^[c]devour flocks.
³ “They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
⁴ “They push the needy aside from the road;
The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.
⁵ “Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness
They go forth seeking food in their activity,
As ^[d]bread for their children in the desert.
⁶ “They harvest their fodder in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
⁷ “They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
⁸ “They are wet with the mountain rains
And hug the rock for want of a shelter.
⁹ “^[e]Others snatch the orphan from the breast,
And against the poor they take a pledge.
¹⁰ “They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
¹¹ “Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but thirst.
¹² “From the city men groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry out;
Yet God does not pay attention to folly.

I remember my dad telling me a long time ago that cave men appeared in the Bible (beyond David's troop hiding in caves, as a special fugitive case).  But instead of the model where they haven't yet developed and built homes as a society yet, these people are here, living alongside people who do have homes.

This is in the larger context of Job observing that God sometimes seems to ignore the wicked, and he lists what these evil people do.  They themselves are largely dispossessed, living among the mountain rocks, homeless.   They are, however, deliberate outcasts from society.

I can't say any of this would explain "cave men" throughout the world in general, but at least here we see some are living in caves, as outcasts from and enemies of civilization.

Job 30:3-8

1 “But now those younger than I mock me,
Whose fathers I disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
² “Indeed, what good was the strength of their hands to me?
Vigor had perished from them.

"3 “From want and famine they are gaunt

Who gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,

4 Who pluck [a]mallow by the bushes,

And whose food is the root of the broom shrub.

5 “They are driven from the community;

They shout against them as against a thief,

6 So that they dwell in dreadful [b]valleys,

In holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 “Among the bushes they [c]cry out;

Under the nettles they are gathered together.

8 “[d]Fools, even [e]those without a name,

They were scourged from the land."

This may be the same group of people mentioned in Job 24, or another class.  Here, Job isn't talking about evildoers per se, but that dispossessed people not consider themselves above him.  The same people are driven from society, and live in "holes of the earth/rocks" (caves) and in dreadfull valleys and in the wilderness, scrounging for food what would not be considered commonly edible.  They're  a thin, starving, likely desperate and survival oriented people.

Again, this isn't an obvious explanation of all cave men, but technically the people who lived in this way in Job's time would have acted pretty much in the same basic primitive manner as cave men around the world are described according to modern anthropological thinking.  Whether or not this is reason we find cave men all over the world, these people here are properly "cave men".  The difference is that, in Job's life, over the next hill, the cave men were living next to civilization, and not in isolation.

LASTLY, BUT UNRELATED -- REALLY!

As I make my studies, on this or that topic, often according to points of curiosity which arose organically, I find things that refute what I grew up with.  Particularly, I was told Job thought of the grave as a peace, an ending, unconsciously.  This notion of an underworld, or Hades, or a realm of the dead, or at the least a place where dead have some sense of awareness, was false; a holdover from paganism, and more modern infiltration of pagan influence on the Christian church.

This is not a the right post to properly debate this or that, but here's yet another verse, which sounds closer to what I might hear in Greek poetry than what I was taught the death was annihilation.

Job 10:21-22 

"21 Before I go—and I shall not return—

To the land of darkness and deep shadow,

22 The land of utter gloom as darkness itself,

Of deep shadow without order,

And which shines as the darkness.”"

The Life and Times of Job (Part 4): What on Earth happened to Job?

What on Earth happened to Job?

So far, while this study has been enlightening, I'm not doing so well narrowing down when and where Job lived according to the parameters at hand in scripture.  Where he lived: high probability western Saudi Arabia, with a fair but not perfect match in Eastern Jordan, perhaps along the border with Saudi Arabia.  When he lived: neither possibility makes me very comfortable.  As much as I like some of the numerical and circumstantial fits of Job living around the days of Peleg, analyzing genealogies compels me to favor Job as a third (or more) generation descendant of Abraham, possibly a contemporary of Moses' father/forefather, Aram.

Ok, so on to "what on earth happened to Job?"  With exposition there is often a degree of error associated with what can be gleaned by paying close attention to the text.  We assume higher degrees of deliberation in choosing particular words than perhaps a normal writer would use, and there is always the possibility of reading too much in.  We proceed with that disclaimer.

Job 1:1-4

We note that, after discussing his spiritual and material wealth, Job is described as the greatest man among all the people of the East.  That is quite a statement since it doesn't except political leaders (i.e. kings) from this comparison.  It may not be so far-fetched when the Septuagint names his comforters as being kings and princes in their own right.  They're rich, at least, because few men could simply leave their homes and work for a week just to sit in dust with their friend.

This may also indicate that in a barbarous world, Job may have had strategic alliances with some that suddenly failed.  His enormous wealth and renown may also suggest that he was not at all an accidental target, but that the wolves had gathered for the moment the shepherd left the flock unattended.

Job 1:9-10

Satan remarks: ⁹ “Does Job fear God for nothing?” ¹⁰ “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.

The hedge is a common feature in agrarian societies.  It isn't so helpful as a windbreak, but it is a natural fence which, because of its density, can keep out a great number of small pests.  It is a protective defense and shield, so that when God tells Israel, comparing it to a vineyard, that there is nothing more he could have done to ensure its success yet it failed, he's going to wipe the slate.  In Isaiah 5:5, he says that he will remove the hedge and so it will be destroyed.  The wall keeps larger beasts and people from entering to trample it, but in many respects the hedge is far more necessary given the comprehensive and combined damage the smaller creatures will do to the plants.  So in Is 5, the hedge is removed first, resulting in effective destruction of the vineyard, presumably from pests.  The trampling that occurs after the wall is next removed, compacts the dirt rendering it less easily impermeable for later planting.

In Is 5, both protection and cultivation are critical to the success of the vineyard.  God installed protective elements, and then carefully cultivated.  With Job, Satan's suggestion may be as commonplace as it is significant, that God placed protection around Job preventing loss of anything he did, and then caused everything he did to increase far beyond what Job was capable of accomplishing alone.

Job, therefore, Satan claims, does not fear God for nothing, recognizing the obvious supernatural power behind his protection and increase.  This isn't the sort of work you first do for yourself, recognize you were also lucky, pay a little lip service to God in thanks, and continue about your day.  We throw out the word "blessing" in conversation a lot, conceitedly feeling that it was mostly us, but God threw in the extra measure.

And if it is fairly obvious to many that God is over Job, then this may contribute to his renown through the East: this is a man shielded by the gods (if they don't know the God).  Those working to tear him down, however, will scoff at this and look for any secular explanation as to why he's been succesful (which allows them to plan how to get advantage).  When they see a crack in the material protections, they exploit it.  Perhaps the Sabeans and the Chaldeans saw a very wide crack.

This may be reading far into Satan's claim of a hedge, but it is notable that in the space of just one day, after Satan is permitted to remove this hedge, two separate militarized groups immediately descend on Job's holdings.

Four Calamities

In Satan's opening salvo, Job suffers exactly what Satan proposed to God: Satan stretched out his hand and struck everything that Job had.

In Job 1:13-15 the Sabeans attacked in force and removed Job's 1000 oxen and 500+ donkeys from his cultivated lands.

In Job 1:16 "the fire of God" fell from the heavens and burned up the 7,000 sheep and servants

In Job 1:17 the Chaldeans commited a three pronged attack and stole Job's 1,000 camels.  This implies a certain level of military coordination to achieve.  Can this possibly indicate state sponsorship and border incursions?

In Job 1:18 a mighty wind sweeps in from the desert and strikes the four corners of the house and it collapses on everyone inside.

 We've already covered the raider calamities.  One thing I note is that no explanation is necessary regarding that the Sabeans and Chaldeans were there in the first place.  Quite probably they were known in that region.  The news is that they operated now against Job.  Beyond that, there's probably not much more to glean from them.

The Fires of God

Concerning the destruction of the sheep.  Let's look at some numbers.  We've already established that, having farmland, Job is not a nomad.  You have three possibilities for how the sheep are positioned prior to the fires coming down.

1) Grazing grounds are shared between all members of the community.  Sheep roam freely from the area they have picked clean to an area with fresh plants to eat.  Flocks may mix with other's flocks and the shepherds must keep them separated.  As we see with Abraham and Lot, the more sheep, the more shepherds, the more the chances of arguments escalating into violence.  This is not optimal, especially where big flocks are concerned, but may be unavoidable for nomadic herders who don't own the land.  If the ground is technically not owned, Job's shepherds consolidate the sheep and keep others away.

2) Job controls the grazing grounds.  So that the sheep keep eating all year, there must be enough ground to cover regrowth as well as what the sheep are currently eating.  Here, the sheep may disperse freely across the extent of the ground.  This offers no protection for individual sheep since there must be fewer shepherds than sheep.

3) Job controls the grazing grounds.  For protection the sheep are organized into one massive group or clusters protected by the shepherds.  The single or multiple groups travel from one grazing site to the next.

Concerning option 2, while a farmer today may fence off a large portion of land to discourage cattle escaping and casual rustlers, it seems clear that with at least a Sabean and Chaldean presence nearby, human protection is necessary.  The sheep were probably not allowed to roam freely, but consolidated to maximize who can be protected, and the protective shepherd force around them.

So either option 1 or 3, the sheep are grouped together in one or more groups.  Likely, with 7,000 sheep, some ordering would be necessary with some shepherds assigned to this or that subset group for clarity of who is watching who.

This is not necessarily an idle question.  We want to figure out how much ground was hit with the "fires of God".  Bear in mind, these are "back of the (digital) envelope" calculations and don't account for differences in grazing ground quality and expert opinions on how sheep are to be distributed.

We have 7,000 sheep.  At an approximate minimum, you will need 1sq meter per sheep, which totals 7,000 sq meters, which equates to an 84m by 84m plot of land if the sheep are completely bunched together.  7,000 sheep in the same location is likely to be very difficult, so the sheep may be organized into bunches in the hundreds, with distance between the flocks, which means a wider area space covered, if the fires of God destroy all of them.

Modern conventional thinking is that 4050 sq meters (1 acre) can support 6 livestock units where each sheep is classed as 1.6 units.  So, the area space required would be 7,000 sheep x 1.6 lu / sheep x 4050 sq meters / 6 lu = 7,560,000 sq meters (about 1,850 acres or 7.56 sq km).  This thinking probably represents how much land is necessary to sustainably support the sheep without risking overgrazing.  Since option 2 (above) is unlikely, the sheep are likely not evenly spread over this space.

Assuming Job controls an area space at least this large, groups of sheep, however, may be clustered in any fashion throughout the land.

So it appears that at a minimum, the fires of God affected 7,000 sq meters of land, and at a maximum would have had to saturate 7.56 sq km.

In most pictures I see of sheep grazing, the average distribution (very inaccurate) may be something like 100 sq meters per sheep.  This yields 700,000 sq meters.  Factor in distances between groupings of sheep the figure may come out to just under 1 sq kilometer.

Even with a distribution over 1 sq km, this is then an enormous amount of land that the fires of God must have affected.  As point of comparison, the largest contender excavation site for the location of Sodom, covers 1 sq km for everything, inside and outside of the city walls.  The fires of God that destroyed Job's flocks were possibly on the same scale as the destruction of a city.

Continuing along those lines, outside of Sodom and Gomorrah, what other local (non-flood) catastrophes of similar scale appear in scripture?  I'm having a hard time thinking of any.  Ninevah would have been that and more, had God not changed his intent upon their repentance.  Biblically speaking, this then ranks up there in terms of displays of raw power.  It's not a simple thing how Job lost his sheep.

Added, courtesy of Don F.: it is noted that Satan is the one granted permission to afflict Job, within limitations. God does not do anything to Job, after removing the "hedge". Too, Satan nowhere is shown to have power of nature, or work miracles. The suggestion is therefore that he must have been confined to using natural means somehow. The implication is then that there are a very limited number of natural events to cause the destruction of the sheep. Possibly a volcano? He made this allowance somewhat frequently in a conversation (much welcomed) generally skeptical of the conclusions herein of many passages. Noted: however, in Matt 24, Satan apparently is able to delegate miraculous powers to surrogates to deceive people, so it can't be ruled out that he has some power over nature. Don F. presented a stronger case why Satan doesn't have this power, but I can't remember it fully.

The Wind from the Desert

For the wind calamity, there's not much to deduce except to suggest that houses, even ancient houses, built in proximity to desert areas where the possibilities of wind storms and sand storms are increased, would be normally built to better specifications than those that aren't.  Especially for people of means, particularly one who is described as the greatest among the people of the East.  These are likely mud brick houses, though they may include elements of stone or wood for wealthy dwellings where the wood may be more ornamental than structural in deployment.

The servant describes that the wind affected the four corners of the house (which may simply be an appropriate euphemism for the totality of its effect) and then the house collapsed, which would indicate that the walls which are the primary supports for most smaller buildings and any interior columns necessary for larger structures, (especially if there is more than one floor), were all knocked off base enough so that the upper parts, included the roof, collapsed in their entirety, rather than partially, killing everyone inside.

My ignorant thinking works this way.  Brick and stone structures are more rigid and stand up better to elements like wind force than wood or other materials with more of a give which handle earthquakes (among other things) well.  More with stone and brick buildings, the lower parts of the support structures (i.e. walls) are likely to be thicker than the supported parts.  As was common even up to medieval times, angling the wall inward even slightly lends more structural stability.

For a strong airflow from one direction, without knowing more, it seems conceivable that if one wall was knocked in by the wind, the roof would fold up with it, or on top of it.  But any interior walls have a better chance of maintaining their shape not having been directly exposed to the wind.  Picture a lean-to shed.  Put up a single wall, then lean a roof against it, on the ground.  Had you started with two walls but collapsed one, it might resemble this.  Because it is not evenly distributed, rubble underneath can prevent more rubble from falling.  So the house appears more pushed over, with the back walls often still standing with the possibility that the way the roof collapses there are places where a person may be less injured or able to survive.  Of course, sustained winds may still exact a further toll on the structure, but the way the roof and immediate wall collapse can act like a wedge forcing further airflow up and over the building.

What is extremely destructive is when the airflow changes direction, which can affect different parts of the same structure at different times, distributing heavy damage more evenly.  Hurricanes and especially tornados do this.  This may have been an exceptionally powerful and different sort of wind.  Conceivably this could destabilize the entire support structure of the house causing it to the collapse in on itself.

At this point, not even being a structural engineer, this is my own speculation.

Job's Reaction

What is now somewhat interesting to me is that, although Job is likely in shock at this point (though he has the presence of mind to pray and bless God anyway), is that throughout this book, there is no further discussion over the details of what has happened.  These anomalous events are accepted, and only the resulting loss considered.  Consider the Tower of Siloam that fell on people, or the martyrs that the Romans slaughtered on the horns of the temple altar.  We have our 9/11.  Jesus referred to these events as examples likely because they were fresh in people's minds and caused such consternation and conversation.  These are horrific events that stay in the mind, forcing self examination because of their uniqueness.  Just like Job, they want to discuss the root cause (their sin?).  They want to know why?  But with 9/11, as likely with the Tower of Siloam, there would have been people looking to examine the structure, what exactly happened; this is so out of the ordinary.  They would consider a proximate (how it happened physically) as well as the ultimate cause (why God allowed it to happen).  The more unusual and sudden the event, the more both are pondered until an answer along either vein presents itself.

On the one hand, you ponder the proximate cause only when you are convinced there is no ultimate cause. In our country, 9/11 would have been a good time, amidst asking why did God allow this, to reexamine our relationship with Him to establish whether God should bless and protect us.  We focused on the proximate cause of the terrorists, thinking ourselves relatively blameless, and ignored the chance to get to the ultimate cause of why bad things happen to seemingly good people.

Conversely, you ponder the ultimate cause only when you are familiar with the proximate causes.  It is not that it happened, but that it happened to you, that is significant.  Job focuses entirely on the ultimate cause (or  rather the lack of any apparent cause).

Job doesn't seem to blink much as to the particulars of what happened, but rather focuses on the indications of God's disfavor.

For me that strikes me as odd, unless (hypothetically) there was something about each of these disasters that was expected or common, but just not expected for him.  Sabean and Chaldean raiders were a part of life to be protected and devised against.  But God had protected Job from the common threats.  Wind from the desert, same thing.  At some point there's nothing you can do.  That the wind destroyed Job's family is more alarming than that the wind destroyed someone's family.

A 1 sq km rain of fiery destruction across the landscape, killing 7,000 sheep and all but one shepherd, down to the man, such that no one around could have missed such mass destruction, should at least have seemed out of the ordinary, a paradigm shift.  But there's no evidence of fleeing, that this catastrophe might be repeated on another family, and instead Jobs friends come to him and sit calmly while his wife stays.

And shortly thereafter, when Job is restored, he has more children, and far more servants, and the community is restored.

Why does Job stay?  Why are there people around him, not begging him to leave?

The only thing I can think of is that, either he's so despondent and eager to die that staying their will accomplish this (beyond his wish that he were dead or never born, there's no indication he expects dying if he stays), or there really is no better place to go and that even the fires of God have some place in their set of experience.

Job doesn’t appear phased by the manner of the destructions, just the personal enormity.  This is in contrast to us who would be first astonished but something of such magnitude, beyond our own loss.  We would be paralyzed, but Job (at least after a week) can think clearly enough to analyze his sin and righteousness and deem his misery unwarranted.

Which begs the next question: under what set of circumstances would the fires of God be observable in such a way that Job wouldn't be shocked that it happened, but just that it happened to him?