Creature Only

Creature Only

“At least there is hope for a tree:

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its new shoots will not fail.

Its roots may grow old in the ground

and its stump die in the soil,

yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put forth shoots like a plant.

But a man dies and is laid low;

he breathes his last and is no more.”

(Job 14:7-10) [1]

Who am I other than a creature that my Maker keeps His mind on me? Will hope anchor me even when I lose everything? How do I keep my eyes fixed on the faithful One while the surrounding harsh words are tearing me apart? Before my vindication arrives, will I take heart in the midst of the circumstances that seem unbearable? Viewing the case of Job from 30,000 feet, it’s hard for the readers not to be sympathetic toward Job and raise questions about justice. A logical thinker would stand up for Job and fight for his innocence like a lawyer through testimonies and reasoning. An empathetic and compassionate person would sit in the pit bottom with Job like a counselor, because his friends not just failed to bring him comfort, but cut deeper into the wounds by taking his humiliation for granted. Don’t even bring a theologian to the case! Job already had four “theologian” friends, and even God said at the end of the story that they misrepresented Him. They were so “right” and so wrong at the same time. Then a humanitarian came to the scene and found the perfect case study for the topic “what it means to be a human” from the person of Job. Being a human is simply complicated and simply beautiful. God gives us spirits so that we can think and communicate; God gives us hearts so that we can build relationships with each other and co-suffer when people are going through storms. Are we creatures only, or is there more? Why would the eternal God care for the mortals and even give glory to the ashes? Job has a story to tell…

Being raised in Chinese culture, I can relate to the Eastern wisdom tradition. If a Westerner tries to teach something, that person will likely provide a clear reasoning thread and logical explanation. Nevertheless, when it comes to teaching wisdom, an Easterner is more likely to begin by telling a story. As relational creatures, we are more heart-wired to learn from stories than we thought. Sometimes, both the teacher and the students would be surprised by how much they can take out of the same story. That’s why there are so many perspectives that serve as the starting points for us to dive into the story of Job, and perspectives are other possible ways of viewing the same thing. In order not to miss the forest for the trees, in this paper, we will hear different voices—the lawyer, the counselor, the theologian, the humanitarian—composing the symphony of humanity.

The theologian volunteered to go first: “After all, we get to know the story of Job based on its text…” As part of the Wisdom literature, the book of Job does not forward the storyline of God and His Kingdom. However, the narratives in the Bible provide the context for the writings, and they are in conversation with each other, showing the audience what it means to live under the wisdom of God. If the Mosaic Law is the context for the Proverbs, which teaches the way to thriving through the instructions of Yahweh, Job and Ecclesiastes will be more like the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness — they tell the stories of the exceptions and reveal the brokenness of humanity and the complication of life. In the Bible Project video on Proverbs and the Wisdom literature, Dr. Tim Mackie personifies each book with its unique characters: Proverbs is a brilliant young teacher, Ecclesiastes is a sharp middle-aged critic, and Job is the weathered old man who has seen a lot in his day. [2] Can you imagine if the Bible collapsed the contrasting and self-critical perspectives into one book, how flat the personality of the Wisdom literature would be? The different voices also tell the nature of wisdom: wisdom is not mere knowledge, but holding multiple perspectives and knowing when to apply the right one at the appropriate time. True wisdom does not offer simplistic formulas about human life but rather recognizes life's complexity, ambiguity, and irrationality. [3]

Both Proverbs and Ecclesiastes showed up and stood shoulder to shoulder with Job: “And he said to the human race, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’” (Job 28:28); “Do not mortals have hard service on earth? Are not their days like those of hired laborers?” (Job 7:1). The examples are all over the book of Job, however, when something is said differently, something different is said. Job knits Proverbs' optimism and Ecclesiastes' pessimism and produces its own sobered-optimism, for Job was seeking his vindication in God—his ultimate source of hope, and God eventually restored his dignity. The Bible also uses repetitive patterns to draw our attention—fear of the Lord is the common theme of all three wisdom literature (i.e., Job 28:28, Proverbs 1:7; 9:10, Ecclesiastes 12:13). Fearing the Lord is what it means to live under Yahweh’s lordship. [4] God’s wisdom is simply profound and profoundly simple. When it comes to the gratitude towards the diversity and unity of the Bible, I am on the same boat with Christian philosopher Christopher Watkin: “Let us rejoice when the Bible does not think like we do, because only then can we be assured that when we read it, we are looking through a window and not in a mirror.” [5]

The lawyer joined the conversation with the theologian: “Maybe you can tell me more about the person I am defending. Who is Job?” Job 1:1 reads: “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil (the traits of wisdom which we saw earlier, cf. Job 28:28).” Job and his friends have non-Hebrew names, except Elihu. Uz, the country of Job, is probably located somewhere in the Arabian desert east and southeast of Palestine. [6] The setting of the story of Job seems too ideal for Job to be portrayed as a biographical or historical person, but rather as a character in an allegory or parable. However, Job was listed among Noah and Daniel in Ezekiel’s writing (Ezekiel 14:14,20), treated as a real person. And the Land of Uz was mentioned in both Jeremiah and Lamentations, indicating that it was part of ancient Israel’s surrounding countries that they were aware of. When did the story of Job take place? The book itself doesn't explicitly state it, but we can find some clues of some common features pointing to the time of the patriarchs: Job's wealth was measured in terms of the livestock he owned; Job had a relatively long life span, he lived 140 years after his trials ended (Job 42:16); Job uses the title "El Shaddai" (God Almighty; i.e. Job 11:7, 33:4, 24:1), which is a common patriarchal name for God [7] that God first revealed to Abraham in Genesis 17. The specific timeframe would be a cultural bearing of the person of Job. Those are helpful information for the case of Job, but more questions can be raised. Since the Old Testament is mostly about the story of God and His chosen people, and the story of Job has nothing to do with the historical narrative of Israel, why is the story of Job included in the Bible? How did Job have a relationship with God, and how was he called “righteous” before God?

No genealogy, no problem. Job is not the only “out of nowhere” person in the Bible. In the book The Lost World of Adam and Eve, OT scholar John Walton examined Adam as the archetype of all humanity in the creation account. Walton stated: “To treat someone as archetypical is not to suggest that he is not historical.” [8] He also spent a whole chapter exploring the hermeneutical complexity of Melchizedek and sees him as an example of “someone can weave together various aspects in a combination of historical, literary, traditional, and archetypal elements.” [9] More similarities between Adam and Job can be observed to support the archetypal reading of the person of Job. The names of Adam and Job in Hebrew are both abstract concepts: Adam means “human”, and Job means “hated”. (“They lived up to their names!” The humanitarian thought.) “Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust (ʿāp̄ār) again?” Job 10:9 echoes Genesis 2:7 that the Lord God formed the man ('āḏām) of dust (ʿāp̄ār) from the ground ('ăḏāmâ). Dust is a biblical worldview pattern that refers to human mortality (see also Genesis 3:19, Psalms 103:14, Ecclesiastes 3:20). “Being formed from dust is a statement about our essence and identity, not our substance.” [10] Walton pointed out. By referring himself to dust, Job was essentially saying: I am no different from anyone else. Job shares the same identity with the rest of us, therefore, his pain and suffering can be related to us in a broader sense.

I have no problem with other historical figures in the Bible, but considering the literary style of Job as part of the wisdom literature—we don’t have to learn wisdom from a real person, and my Eastern mind made me really okay with that. Watkin made this profound statement: "Feelings are real feelings, experience is real experience, history is real history. But feelings are not real history, and history is not real experience. The Bible attends to different realities—emotional, experiential, historical—validating them all but not confusing them all.” [11] What Job experienced doesn’t have to have anything to do with Israel’s history, and I believe his feelings are real human feelings. That was enough objective analysis of the book of Job; let’s get to know Job more as a friend (subjective analysis, if you wish to call it, but who would address that to a friend?).

“When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:12-13) “Job’s friends did a really good job in supporting him at the beginning,” the counselor commented, “however, when they started speaking, the situation got worse.” Job’s suffering was unbeknownst to him; what he needed the most was someone who could understand him. “Job’s friends have failed to hear the cry of his heart,” Thomas Schreiner talks about Job in The King in His Beauty, “in defending God, they actually misstated what God would say.” [12] In other words, they were so “right” (in claiming theologies) and so wrong (in missing the heart of God) at the same time. Psychologist Dr. Brené Brown defines empathy as “feeling with people”, which includes several key aspects: perspective taking, staying out of judgement, recognizing emotions and communicating them. That’s why empathy is very different from sympathy: empathy fuels connections while sympathy drives disconnection. [13] “How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?” Job expressed his frustration explicitly, “If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me, and use my humiliation against me.” (Job 19:2,5, see also 16:3-5). Job’s upset was not unreasonable, for the other side of anger is the desire for the reality to change. Anxiety, sadness, and anguish are very authentic human emotions that God put in us when he designed us, and we ought not to ignore them. Job’s words and emotions triggered the fight-or-flight mechanism of his friends. Job’s friends were never asked to choose between their allegiance to Job or God (they thought God was against Job), but they did it anyway. They arrogantly thought they knew the cause of their friend’s suffering and the whole attributes of God, so they chose to judge Job and “defend” God. In doing so, they put themselves in a higher position than Job, ignoring the fact that they were all made equally in the image of God. It’s not our job to judge anybody, but God’s, for he formed the hearts of all, and he understands everything we do (Psalms 33:15). Sympathy usually comes with a set of pre-assumptions or pre-judgements; while empathy does not try to offer solutions, but just be present. That’s why empathy is a vulnerable choice—will you stick to that choice and commitment when facing unpredictable challenges? When their empathy turned into sympathy, the friends climbed out of the valley bottom of Job and started to offer their responses from a distance.

What stood out was that Job prayed for his friends who wronged him after they sacrificed a burnt offering as they repented before the Lord (Job 42:10). The epilogue (Job 42:7-17) echoed the prologue (Job 1-2), and we can notice a consistent character trait of Job: he is a mediator, even a priestly figure. “When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom.” (Job 1:5) Job did the same thing to his friends as he did to his children; his loving, forgiving acts sealed reconciliation. Is Job “qualified enough” to do that? Schreiner commented: "What is striking is how God-centered Job's righteousness is. He lives in the presence of God every moment.” [14] Job’s righteousness is not self-righteousness, for God validated that Job has spoken truth about him (Job 42:7). “Yes, Job is righteous enough to be a mediator between God and his loved ones,” the humanitarian continued to draw his observations, “but there were still moments that Job cried out for a mediator…”

“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him,

that we might confront each other in court.

If only there were someone to mediate between us,

someone to bring us together,

someone to remove God’s rod from me,

so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of him,

but as it now stands with me, I cannot.”

(Job 9:32-35, emphasis added)

“Even now my witness is in heaven;

my advocate is on high.

My intercessor is my friend

as my eyes pour out tears to God;

on behalf of a man he pleads with God

as one pleads for a friend.”

(Job 16:19-21, emphasis added)

"What concerned Job above all else was the credibility of God.... He can live and breathe only if it is this Yahweh who reveals himself to him.” [15] German scholar Gerhard von Rad pointed out that Yahweh became Job’s lifeline. Indeed, when the relationship with God is the only thing left for you, God becomes your everything. Job understands well the Creator-creation distinction—God is not just bigger, better, stronger than us, God is other than us, holy and set apart. He also soberly acknowledges that we are only humans, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, and we all need a Savior. Who can be a mediator between men and God? No human being in the best state can ever do that. Only when God chooses to humble Himself and generously bestows salvation upon us can we be reconciled with God. God didn’t let Job down—He eventually revealed Himself to Job. When Yahweh started to speak, He was telling that His silence was not His absence. God hears, God cares, God knows when to say no—enough is enough. God is closer than we thought in our pain and suffering. God shows up. God even encouraged Job to speak up. In the presence of God, Job was lost in awe and wonder. And the holiness of God led him to repentance:

“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.’

My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.”

(Job 42:4-6)

A tangible encounter with the Holy changes everything. Seeing the King in his beauty makes life worth living. [16] Job actually never got the answer why he suffered, but it didn’t matter anymore. Is clarity always kindness? Sometimes God shows grace in other ways we don’t expect. How can our finite minds comprehend the Way of the Infinite? God’s way is higher. Even for what the enemy meant for evil, God can turn it for His good purposes and His glory. Maybe it’s not for us to know how God works things out, but we can still put our confidence in the fact that God will work and provide a way. His faithfulness has a history. “As human beings, we are not given all the answers.... Instead, we are called upon to trust him and rest in the truth that he will make all things right in the end.” Schreiner concludes the story of Job, ”What sustains through suffering is a relationship with a loving, just, and mysterious God.” [17]

Who am I other than a creature that my Maker keeps His mind on me? “For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalms 103:14); And yet, “When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground.” (Psalms 104:30). Who am I, that God You chose me for a divine relationship? You love me, know me, and never leave me. You save me, restore me, and bring me to my feet. My life depends on You, Lord. I live for You. “The vocation of being human requires utter dependence on God; the task of being a creature requires being ordered to the Creator. . . . Human flourishing requires a dynamic relationship to the creator of humanity.” Philosopher James K. A. Smith remarked in Desiring the Kingdom. [18] Being the image bearer of God (imago Dei) is the ultimate dignity of being human. The Lord made human beings as the crown of creation. We are more than mere dust, for God gives glory to ashes, and has His Spirit dwelling within us.

Being creature only is glorious enough.

Remix - From an Archetypal Reading to a Prototypal Reading of the Book of Job

I only wish Job had four better friends.

The conversations between Job and his friends were intercultural communication between the innocent-guilt culture and the honor-shame culture. Job’s honor being restored served as the framework of his story, and the arguments of God’s justice and humans’ suffering were sandwiched into the storyline. There was a shift in the friends' tones, and it happened when their love for their friend turned into defending themselves. That’s also when their words became no longer good for Job. My definition of “the good” is this: for a thing to be called “good”, it has to be the right thing at the right time with the right spirit. Because the right thing at the wrong time is not necessarily right, and doing “the right thing” with a wrong spirit (intention, motive) cannot justify itself, it’s just no longer right. When the friends first mourned with Job in Job 2, it was the right thing at the right time with the right spirit, for being compassionate means “co-suffering” with someone. It’s not natural to be good because of all the conditions. To be good is something supernatural. Love is supernatural.

Love is not fawning or sugarcoating, love does not hold up grace while neglecting truth. Love wishes the best for others; therefore, sometimes rebukes and challenges can come from it. Job was trying to tell his friends: if I were you, I would put myself in your shoes and rebuke or encourage you with loving-kindness, which was not what you were doing to me—

“Will your long-winded speeches never end?

What ails you that you keep on arguing?

I also could speak like you,

if you were in my place;

I could make fine speeches against you

and shake my head at you.

But my mouth would encourage you;

comfort from my lips would bring you relief.”

(Job 16:3-5)

How incredible was that the genuinely kind heart of Job remained when everything else fell apart! In contrast, the friends failed to show compassion and didn’t know what would be best for Job in his circumstances. Instead, in the “fight-or-flight” situation, they chose the former. The pendulum swing of grace and truth swung to the truth side, and dear readers, we need to realize that truth without grace could be very mean. With dogmatism, the theologies and truths the friends stated about God were weaponized. “My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer, because I am greatly disturbed. I hear a rebuke that dishonors me, and my understanding inspires me to reply.” (Job 20:2-3). Those words from Zophar indicated that he was caught up by Job’s self-defense, and he lacks self-discipline in restraining his tongue, therefore, his speech was not done with the right spirit. So did the other friends. The motive of Elihu was revealed in chapter 34: He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. (Job 32:3-4). When did the friends’ mission become refuting/judging/condemning rather than comforting the suffering friend? When love turns into the self, it’s no longer love. Again, we get to see the intercultural communication here. The young do not speak until the old have finished, as is typical in the Eastern honor-shame culture.

We can also have a glimpse of how the fear-power culture—the third dominant culture of the world—takes place in the story. The friends weaponized themselves with all they had, including their limited knowledge of God. I don’t blame Job’s friends, because they were shocked, caught up, and confused. They were also finite human beings who couldn’t have known that Job’s dismay was not the end of his story. Fear comes from the unknown. In the fear-power culture, people would seek power to cope with fear. “Hurt people hurt people”, a typical outcome. It’s interesting that when we take different cultural lenses into the story of Job, we could have completely different takeaways. That’s why I suggested an archetypal reading of the person of Job earlier in the paper, which has been recognized in the Jewish faith community, not anything new that I brought up. The archetypal reading helps us to focus on the bigger message in the book of Job about humanity, our broken nature, and how to navigate suffering in life. Such a lesson no historical figure (except Jesus) can offer. The character of God is the timeless message and the eternal reality. The fear of the Lord—the heart of all the Wisdom literature—is the opposite of the worldly fear; the holy reverence in fact casts out the spirit of fear. God is the Great Unknown, but as Job said: “…I would speak up without fear of Him” (Job 9:35a, see also Psalms 34:4), we can approach his throne of grace with boldness (Hebrews 4:16). In God’s presence, we can lay our arms down, like Job and his friends did, and feel more secure than ever. All the fear and insecurity were gone. On one hand, Job had nothing to lose; on the other hand, God’s greatness became his peace.

Guilt says: what you did was wrong; shame says: you are wrong; fear says: you can’t trust God. Woah, those were the voices crushing Job, even though he did nothing wrong, he started to doubt himself and question the meaning of life. Guilt, shame, and fear were the results from turning away from the Tree of Life, as it is observed in Genesis 3: he answered, “I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3:10). Adam and Eve realized they did something wrong, they were ashamed of themselves, and they were scared to face God. After taking the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, humans knew not only good, but also both good and evil. Pain, suffering, and death have become part of the reality that makes up this broken world—the world both we and Job live in. Job would relate to these three Tree of Life references in Proverbs:

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and the one who is wise saves lives.

(Proverbs 11:30)

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

(Proverbs 13:12)

The soothing tongue is a tree of life,

but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

(Proverbs 15:4)

The Tree of Life was what Job longed for, not what his friends offered. What would it be like if the four friends actually spoke “Tree of Life” to Job? If only the friends could be like the lawyer fighting with all their might to save their friend’s life. If only they could be like the counselor speaking from a gentle and lowly heart. If only they could be like the theologian holding responsibility in presenting the character of God. If only they could be like the humanitarian seeing the beauty in the broken human nature. If only…… if only Job had a Mediator.

“I know that my redeemer lives,

and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him

with my own eyes—I, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me!"

(Job 19:25-27)

Not only do we empathize with Job the archetype in his affliction, but also in longing for the Redeemer. Who would be that Mediator/Intercessor/Redeemer Job cried out for? Who else can be the Mediator between God and men but the One who is complete man and complete God? The book of Hebrews drew the line: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:7-10).

If Melchizedek functions as the prototype of the priestly system and the coming High Priest who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice once for all, Job and his suffering would serve as the prototype of the Mediator who bridges the chasm between humans and God. For every earthly high priest would need to offer sacrifices for their own sins, every human mediator also needs someone else to pull them out when they are in the mud. The mediator Job cried out for a Mediator when the wrath of God was unbearable to him; the perfect Mediator chose obedience and took the cup of the wrath of God even when his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Matthew 26:38). The Intercessor was indeed Job’s friend (Job 16:20), for he gladly laid down his life for the ones who he calls friends, and there is no greater love than that (John 15:13).

This Mediator went way further. He was not only the lawyer who defended the guilty, but also bore the punishment they deserved. He did not just face the trial of death, but went through death himself. He is the Tree of Life himself, but was also lifted up and nailed to the cursed tree called the cross. He conquered death and brought the hope of resurrection, so that whoever belongs to him can proclaim like Job: “And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” He humbled himself to be born in human likeness, so that through bearing his image, our ultimate dignity as imago Dei can be restored (cf. Philippians 2:5-8, Colossians 1:15-17, 20; 3:10). He is the one who makes mere creatures glorious enough. He did not just become an intercessor once, he is always at God's right hand interceding for us (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25).

This Mediator is very present and available to us: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). The fullness of grace and truth of God was revealed in the fullness of time when the Word became flesh, when eternity intersects human history, in the Love Incarnate, in the person of Jesus. Now our eyes have seen him.

Paul, April 2025