God´s Questions. Ambivalence and Irony in Job 38:1–42:6

The research project titled Gods Questions: Ambivalence and Irony in Job 38:142:6 focuses on Gods speeches in the book of Job. The two divine speeches out of the whirlwind are directed at Job and follow the dialogue between Job and his friends (Job 337) which fades out without result. The reader is therefore now expecting God to give answers to the questions raised by Jobs innocent suffering. But on the contrary, Gods speeches are often perceived as disappointing in this regard, as they mainly describe elements of creation, particularly wild animals (lion, wild donkey, ostrich etc.) and frightening beasts (Behemoth/hippopotamus and Leviathan/crocodile). Yet, apart from content, also the rhetorical shape of Gods speeches deserves consideration. In fact, the two speeches consist to a large extent of rhetorical questions and solicitations which exhibit ironic undertones. At the same time, the motifs that are discernable behind the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan show a high degree of ambiguity. For example, the hippopotamus (Behemoth) is associated in Ancient Egypt with death as well as with life. In biblical research, however, the pragmatics of the divine speeches mostly have not received due attention. The study, therefore, aims at examining the rhetorical function of ambiguity and irony in Job 38:142:6 by means of an analysis of aesthetic response. The working hypothesis is that Gods speeches to Job constitute an answer not in view of their content alone, but also and foremost with regard to the response they produce in the interplay between text and reader. In a first step, literary theory on irony will be reviewed in order to establish a set of criteria that enable the identification of ironic elements in the text under study. In the books opening, the readers expectations regarding the further reading of the book find their formative shape. Therefore, in a second step, intertextual, ambivalent and ironic aspects in the prologue (Job 1:1 2:13) will be examined. Based on the results, the main part of the study will focus on intertextuality, ambiguity and irony in the divine speeches. Additionally, the contextualization of Gods speeches with the epilogue (42:717) will be analyzed. The final conclusion will evaluate the outlined methodology. On the one hand, the study will contribute to the exegesis of Gods speeches in the literary context of the whole book. On the other hand, the research project wants to promote also the development of a methodology that proves adequate to the pragmatics of the book of Job.

The aim of the research project with the title "God's Questions: Ambiguity and Irony in Job 38:1-42:6" was to explore the irony and ambiguity in the Hebrew text of the Book of Job as a whole and particularly in God's speeches. In the last decades, biblical scholarship has shown growing awareness of the ironies and ambiguities in the Book of Job. However, the meaning of two terms often appeared to be rather vague, and deeper reflection on the methods to locate ironies and ambiguities and to determine their function in the respective context has remained rare. Therefore, the first focus of the research project was to establish a terminological definition that was adequate to the texts in view and concordant with the present use of the terms and to elaborate a linguistically consistent methodology to locate irony and ambiguity in biblical texts. Based on this first step, in the narrative prologue (Job 1-2), ironic overtones have been found in the subtle allusions to Abraham's test (Gen 22) and the Deuteronomic blessing promises and curse threats (Deut 28); Job's seemingly unshakable piety instead is subtly undermined by ambiguities that are rooted in the polysemy of the verb (to bless / to curse). In the subsequent dialogue between Job and his friends, Job takes over the role of an ironist, as he questions the interlocutors' pretense of superior knowledge by the use of rhetoric irony, rebuking his friends by seemingly praising them, and by imitating them in a parodying way. At the same time, allusions to the Psalter in Job's speeches reveal the irony of the implied authors who questions a formulaic prayer language. As the research has shown, in the dialogues (Job 3-41), irony is used in order to signal a critical distance towards tendencies of an overly affirmative and therefore usurpatory theological discourse in biblical traditions, particularly in the Torah and in the Psalms. God's speeches in Job 38:1-39:30 and 40:6-41:26 accentuate this ironic criticism, as the rhetorical questions that are dominant in the first half of the first speech highlight the limits of the cognitive faculties of man. At a first glance, it is Job who seems to be the victim of the irony in God's speeches; in the context of the whole book, however, it becomes apparent that is rather the friends' pretense of deeper insights that is undermined. In conclusion, the focus on irony and ambiguity in the research project has enabled to evidence how the Book of Job is inserted in the innerbiblical discourse in postexilic times and signals a reservation in confront to a solidification of theological language, advocating instead for a privative monotheism that keeps aware of the alterity of God.