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Job is a book about many things, but one theme that dominates is the search for some resolution to the immediate problem at hand: the interpretation of Job's great distress. The Hebrew term for diligent search (verb is 'hakar'; noun is 'heker') appears 22 times in the Hebrew Bible as a verb, with six of those occuring in Job, and 12 times as noun, with half in Job. The friends, Job and even God are actively involved in their own searches.

The Friends' Search--For The Tradition

At first blush it might seem strange to attribute a search to the friends. They appear satisfied expositing the theology of retributive justice. But in the peroration of his first speech Eliphaz sums up the value of his advice, "See, we have searched this out ('hakar'); it is true. Hear, and know it for yourself (5:27)." There is no reason at this point to doubt this; Eliphaz has carefully considered the role of reproof and discipline (5:17), the sinfulness of all creation (4:17-19), the benificence of God (5:9) and his hope for Job (5:19). We make a mistake if we think that the wisdom tradition is flabby or unreflective at its core. The good news for Job, in Eliphaz's mind, is that the tradition supports Job. His search confirms it.

Job's Search--For God

Job is searching for something else, and though the word 'hakar' is not used to describe his quest, he probes nevertheless. But his search is for God. Contradictory words come out of Job's mouth on this point. On the one hand, he says that God is too close for comfort, disturbing his sleep with nightmares (7:14), oppressing him like the great sea creatures (7:12) and even forbidding Job to swallow his spittle (7:19). But, God also is the absent God, the one whom Job can't find. Thus, we hear his desperate cry, "Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling (23:3)." The search, however, is unavailing. "If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; i turn to the right, but I cannot see him (23:8-9)." Job can't find God, but he also can't give up this search.

God's Search--For Wisdom

It might seem strange that God, whom most think as a self-sufficient entity, searches for anything. But in four verbs of ever-increasing intensity at the end of Job 28, God states his relationship to the most precious commodity Wisdom. God "saw" it, presumably because God "sees everything under the heavens" (28:24); God "declared it," like one might recount or declare the contents of a book; God "established it," as if he was setting it as the foundation block of the world; and, finally, God "searched it out ('haqar'--Job 28:27)." Not only does God recount the contents of the "book" of wisdom, but God diligently investigated it. What will be the "results" of this search? The divine speeches in 38-41.

By emphasizing the importance of searching for each of the major characters in the book, the author is not so subtly indicating to the reader that the life of searching--for meaning, for God and for wisdom--is essence of the human condition.