Provocative and challenging, the Book of Job is, in many ways, a hard read. Job is stimulating in the way it discusses the problem(s) of suffering. Rather than providing answers, Job shows how suffering is both a challenge to faith and an opportunity for those made in God’s image to mature in trusting their Creator. It deeply reflects on the mysteries of the divine order. Job is a message of comfort and hope for “children of dust.” Bill Kynes, a lifelong pastor, and his son, Will Kynes, a notable scholar of the Book of Job, are clear guides through this complex yet exciting text in their poignantly named volume Wrestling with Job: Defiant Faith in the Face of Suffering.
Wrestling with Job comprises ten chapters that are predominantly written in a so-called “pastoral voice” (xiii). Interspersed are “Digging Deeper” sections, which present a more “academic perspective, offering insight into the many debated issues” surrounding the book (xiii). The authors stress that “the book of Job will encourage us, in whatever our circumstances, to persevere in faith to the very end” (3). They also (astutely) state that “the key question of the book [of Job] is, Will you trust God—will you believe that he is good and worthy of your praise, your adoration, your worship, and your love—regardless of your circumstances? Will your faith in God’s goodness endure when it is tested?” (3–4).
The book concludes with a thorough Scripture index and several well-crafted questions for further discussion/reflection (225–31). Disappointingly, however, there is no bibliography or subject/author index. Given the high frequency of (mostly transliterated) Hebrew terms (more on this later), including a word index for the more studious user would also have been good.
Pedagogically, things are pitched just right with ample (but not too many) references to world events, media, literature, and so on. The authors also effectively highlight the rhetorical nature of Job (see, for instance, 191–92, 197, 211). By “rhetoric” they don’t mean high-flown language, but instead language designed to persuade people to change. For instance, the authors note that much of the book is written in poetry (not prose) which is meant to affect the reader emotionally and not just intellectually, (i.e., to touch our "hearts as well as our heads” [8]). Elsewhere they ponder: “Shouldn’t piety lead to prosperity? But we are left with the question—If Job is great because he is good, will he continue to be good when he is no longer great?” (23). In step with the overarching aim of the book, Job wants its readers to both fear and trust God who alone knows the underlying "order that governs his creation” (121). This makes wisdom much more a “knowing who” and not a “knowing what” (121).
The humility and transparency of the authors’ personal lives are exceptionally winsome (36–38, 88, 204), as is the remarkable tact with which they handle “hotly debated” matters, such as how best to interpret Job 19:25–27 (see 97–99) and the full particulars concerning the oft-disputed identities of Behemoth and Leviathan in Job 40–41 (195–97; cf. 183–86).
Special mention should also be made of the authors’ superb handling of the Hebrew word nakham, which, though it is often translated as “repent” in most English versions of Job 42:6, is best understood as meaning “comfort” in this context. As the authors explain:
Job can now say, ‘therefore I reject [my mourning], and am comforted regarding dust and ashes’ . . . Job now turns from his state of mourning and can re-enter normal relationships in society . . . What comforts Job? As Job 42:5 says, it’s a new version of God, a direct experience of God that exceeds the previous knowledge he had heard . . . Job is comforted with the conviction that God knows what he’s doing, even if Job doesn’t (188–89).
Concerning Job being primarily classified as “Wisdom Literature,” one can hardly disagree with the assertion that genres should not be thought of as ‘straight jackets’ but as heuristic devices with literary texts having the potential to span more than one type of genre. Even so, it seems too much to maintain that “the Wisdom Literature category has cordoned off the texts associated with it from the rest of the Bible and its theology for over a century” and that “the category’s death offers an opportunity to reexamine what they mean” (11).
Another infelicity occurs when the authors claim that 1 Corinthians 3:19 is the only New Testament book to directly quote Job (65). In fact, Philippians 1:19 also contains a five-word verbatim reproduction of Job 13:16 (Septuagint/LXX version). Also, since they mention it so often (43–44, 50, 87, 101–03), shouldn’t more time have been spent on one of the key antiphrases of the text—namely, that Job’s wife does not say to “curse” God, but to “bless” (barakh) God (Job 3:9)? This point is addressed well by August H. Konkel in his Joban commentary (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Job, Tyndale, 2006) which, regrettably, was overlooked along with his fine engagement of Elihu (see “The Elihu Speeches in the Greek Translation of Job,” in “Translation is Required”: The Septuagint in Retrospect and Prospect, ed. Robert J. V. Hiebert, 149–74, SBL, 2010).
Lastly, because certain variants between English Bibles are often marked by the authors (see, for instance, 135, 168, 205, 211, 213), it is quite probable that most readers would have benefited from a clearer, more systematic method for comparing/contrasting these translational differences. Similarly, because some readers likely lack the necessary original-language skills to appreciate the author’s citation(s) of certain Hebrew lexicons (such as HALOT, 105), would it not have been a boon if the authors had also consistently leveraged more user-friendly resources?
These (relatively minor) things aside, Wrestling with Job will be of immense assistance to many people who are interested both in Job and the important intersection of theology and suffering. I highly recommend it.
Dustin Burlet is a faculty member at Millar College of the Bible in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Dustin Burlet
Date Of Review:
June 30, 2023