Job 40:4–14
Windstorms, Gendered Bodies, and Language Games in Job’s Dialogues with God
A supercell thunderstorm strikes in South Dakota. Among the most severe storms, supercells can bring strong winds, hail, and even tornadoes. Photograph by Jim Reed, National Geographic
You know how a lightening storm on a cloudy night will ignite the entire billowing sky with a radiant shine?
This scene is what the figure of Job conjured when he provoked, or perhaps better, aroused God (hereafter, YHWH) to thunder at him from a windstorm. For in so doing, Job was proving himself the master exorcist of his own body’s illness. He proved he was could withstand malevolent winds, avert cosmic forces, appease divine wrath, and escape the grip of affliction with the ultimate sapiential, therapeutic magical ritual against divine attack.
Often called the “Voice from the Whirlwind” — or YHWH’s Storm Theophany, Job 38-42 narrates a dialogue between the figures of Job and YHWH. Capping 35 chapters of conversation between Job and his four “friends,” this long conversation focalizes Job’s suffering and the question of whether it signified Job’s moral corruptness or not.
The physical/material details of this exchange matter. Job puts YHWH in checkmate because YHWH’s voice (thunder) lags behind the language games that are available to the eyes — Job “sees” inscribed writing before YHWH’s voice can catch his mistakes. …I don’t have time right now to explain this better. But one thing was spoken, two things are in it!
Here’s an English rendering of the language games of communication in 40:4-14.
Then YHWH answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
…[what pious Yahwists heard]
(7) Gird up your loins like a man. I will question you, and you declare to me.
(8) Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me so that you are self-righteous?
(9) Do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
(10) (Go ahead and try to…) Deck yourself with majesty and dignity, clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
(11) Pour out the overflowing of your anger, and look on all who are proud and humble them.
(12) Look on all who are proud and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand.
(13) Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in secret.
(14) Yeah right, and I can praise you because your right hand brings you victory.
…[what Job heard]
(7) Gird up! I will consult you like a man about your loins.
(8) Can a nose break/divide/shake my judgment? Can it cause a loud noise/overcome judgment in order to obtain one’s cause?
(9) Do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
(10) Scab over (your) majesty, dignity, and glory, AND slip past (my) majesty, dignity, and glory. Clothe yourself with beauty.
(11) Cause the rage of your nose to flow. Look on all who are proud and set them in a lower place.
(12) Look on all who are proud and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand.
(13) Hide them all in the dust. Bind their faces together in secret.
(14) For truly, I will praise you when your right hand saves you.
