Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 16:1 (Jun 2019)
Article: Taking God To Court: Was Job Wise In His Use Of The Legal Metaphor?
Author: Lindsay Wilson

Taking God To Court: Was Job Wise In His Use Of The Legal Metaphor?

Lindsay Wilson

Abstract: In this essay, Lindsay Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Ridley College, explores a key topic in the Book of Job—Job’s use of the legal metaphor. He concludes that Job’s main interest was in his relationship with his Creator and not in taking God to court.

Introduction—Metaphor In The Book Of Job1

In order to set the context for the legal metaphor, it is useful to say something about the extensive use of metaphor more generally in the book of Job. This frequency is not surprising in poetry, which, more than prose, relies on metaphor.2

Examples of metaphorical ideas and expressions in Job include such things as the courtroom scene and the role of hāssatan in the prologue; the 3 friends sprinkling themselves with dust in 2:12; the undoing of the date of his birth in 3:3–10 (as a way of expressing the extent of his pain and loss); images of God’s activity (e.g. God shooting arrows in 6:4); the descriptions of humanity in chapters 7 and 14; God appearing in a whirlwind in 38:1, indeed using metaphorical expressions about part of his natural creation (e.g. stars singing for joy in 38:7, shutting up the sea with doors in 38:8), and even moreso when describing Behemoth and Leviathan (and the fire-breathing Leviathan in 41:18–21 at least must be understood as either a hyperbolic description of a natural creature, or a symbolic/mythological creature).3

For some, this raises an important question for this meeting. Can there be metaphors in Scripture which we variously hold to be true, infallible, authoritative or inerrant? My answer is yes, for Jesus himself conveyed truth by using metaphor. For example, he says ‘I am the good shepherd’ (John 10:11). Truth can be conveyed by language that is metaphorical, and not just by what we might call ‘literal truths’. It is easy to trump someone (I am using the word ‘trump’ in its card-playing context) in a debate by playing the inerrancy card, but I think that a stronger view of Scripture is to let the Bible text (not our evangelical sub-culture) determine wh...