Second Cycle and Book of Job

As with the first cycle (Job 3-11), the second is a "perfect" or "complete" one: Job speaks (12-14) and then he alternates with each of the three friends: Eliphaz (15), Bildad (18) and Zophar (20). Though Job gives three speeches and the friends also give a total of three, Job speaks for 2/3 of the nine chapters in this section. Thus, Job dominates, even though the friends sometimes seemingly (perhaps because of the repetitiveness of their theology) speak endlessly.

Continuities with First Cycle

It would be a mistake to try to make a sharp disjuncture between cycles. Though the raw energy of chapter 3 and the seething anger, resentment and cynicism of chapters 6-7 are replaced by a more lyrical reflection on human life in chapter 14 and immobilizing grief in chapter 17, continuities abound. Job's emotional swings are evident throughout both cycles, as is his sense that God has mercilessly attacked him (Job 6; Job 16 and 19). His so-called hymns to God in chapters 9 and 12 are, on the surface, paens of praise to the powerful divinity, but they are really parallel expressions of Job's frustration that the mighty and wise God has decided to be angry towards him.

In addition, Job's legal strategy, which he brought up for the first time in chapter 9 and was almost dismissed aborning, emerges again in chapter 13 with renewed focus and energy. Though Job explores new and even more complex emotions as the book develops (such as hopelessness, grief and shame), the germs of his later hopelessness and grief, for example, are already adumbrated in the first cycle. For example, before Job can say, "I know that my Redeemer lives (19:25)," he says in frustration and resignation, "There is no umpire between us (God and Job), who might lay his hand on us both (9:33)." Continuities abound between the cycles.

Discontinuities

Yet, there is an almost imperceptible development, too. Like the lines on Abraham Lincoln's face, which gradually deepened as the concerns of the Civil War lay upon him (which development can be seen in progressive pictures of him), so the second cycle brings on an exploration and an intensity that lends perspective and depth to the character of Job.

A case in point is the author's exploration of the grief attendant on great loss. While the emotions in the first cycle are pungent, such as anger, resentment and bitterness, the most lasting emotion we confront in the second cycle is grief. This grief is based on the ruminations in the long poem of Job 14 on human mortality. Job reflects on the mortality of the human condition and wonders whether this life is "all there is." He looks to nature for help, and discovers that a tree comes back to life after it is cut down when it senses only the merest hint of water (14:9).

He askes, 'If nature is so structured to have hope built into its genes, so to speak, why not humans? Aren't we of more value than a tree?' Job wrestles with that thought for several verses. 'Oh, God,' he says, 'why don't you put me aside in Sheol for a while, until you are over your anger. Then, you can call me and I will respond, like life is supposed to be.' But upon further rumination, Job sees that this simply is not to be. Nature teaches hope; nature also takes away hope (14:18-22). It is this realization that leads Job to his numbing and immobilizing grief of chapter 17.

And this isn't all. His grief alternates with some of the most vicious attacks on God imaginable (16 and 19). The imagery piles up with an eloquence and thundering intensity that can be only fully appreciated if each image is separately considered before reading the passage entire. So, in this section, look for fewer emotions or themes, but expect them to have a richer development.

A Word on the Friends

The friends each speak for one chapter in the second cycle. Their tone is different from the first cycle. About 80% of what they say in the second cycle relates to the fate of the wicked. Though the author is probably trying to get the reader to recognize the intellectual bankruptcy of aspects of the Wisdom theology, he is also probably pointing out that the relationship between Job and the friends is fraying badly. Job's intransigence, his desire to take his case to God alone, his intemperate attacks on the friends (especially in chapter 6), all of these seem to have taken a toll on his relationship with the friends. In this connection, then, their vigorous responses to Job on the fate of the wicked may just be an indication of how theology is sometimes to mask one's true emotions toward a person.

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