Bibliography:
1 Robert L. Alden, Job, vol. 11, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 40.
Robert Goris: On Man and God
Tremper Longman III, The Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom: A Theological Introduction to Wisdom in Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017).
Retribution Principle
-Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and isolated passages throughout the Old Testament clearly teach that you get what you deserve, you reap what you sow, and you succeed or fail on the basis of your behavior.39 Sin will be punished, and trust and obedience will be rewarded. Not only is this simple policy taught, but it is amply illustrated from Genesis (Cain) to Malachi (3:9–12)1
39 39 W. Brueggemann discusses this issue at length in his two articles, “A Shape for Old Testament Theology, I: Structure Legitimation,” CBQ 47 (1985): 28–46, and “A Shape for Old Testament Theology, II: Embrace of Pain,” CBQ 47 (1985): 395–415. (Alden, pg.40)
-The doctrine of retribution is a direct and unavoidable consequence of faith in a God whose attributes include both power and righteousness. (Gordis pg.141)
-From this basic conviction, the Pentateuchal doctrine of retribution follows naturally: righteousness will be rewarded and wickedness punished. This doctrine is expressed in the famous passage in Deuteronomy 11:13-17: which later incorporated into one of the basic prayers of post-biblical Judaism, the Shema. (Gordis; pg. 136).
-All of Deut 28-30 elaborates on this.
Collective Retribution is Vertical and Horizontal
-Retribution Principle is vertical through time: children reap what their father sows.
Vertical (temporal):
-Because the doctrine of reward and punishment seems to run counter to much of human experience, Eliphaz does not content himself with setting it forth in bald form but makes a few highly significant additions to its content. There may be some delay in the law of retribution, he says, but those who plough evil and sow iniquity are to reap a baneful harvest. Often the sinner’s just penalty is visited upon his children. The argument, frequently repeated during the debate, was felt to be decisive, because it was highly congenial to the ancient concept of solidarity of the family. (Gordis pg.78)
-The only important addition to the doctrine came from the older view of group responsibility: children personally guiltless may be expiating the sin of their fathers. Eliphaz pictures the fate of the fearsome lion whose offspring must wander about in search of food: Job 4:10-11 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken. The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. Bildad expresses the same thought in his description of the wicked: Job 18:6, 12 The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. His child will go hungry; and disaster awaits his wife. (Gordis, pg.148)
-The doctrine of collective retribution applied to the nation serves as the cornerstone of the philosophy of the biblical historians, the authors of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Especially in Judges and Kings, the ebb and flow of the national prosperity and disaster is explained in terms of the people’s fluctuating obedience or resistance to the word of God. When a “righteous” king suffers defeat, as in the case of Josiah, it is attributed to the sins of his father, the wicked king Manasseh (2 Kings 23:25-26), striking evidence of the potency of the principle of vertical responsibility. (Gordis, pg.140-141)
-The principle of moral retribution, which the historians invoke in their judgement on all the kings of Judah and Israel, is equally fundamental in the prophets, as they pass judgment on the nation. (Gordis, pg.141).
Horizontal (spatial):
-It must be remembered in this connection that collective solidarity is not merely “vertical” linking men together in time through generations of a family, it is also “horizontal,” uniting men in a single generation across space. (Gordis, pg.138)
-Ex. Deuteronomy’s “the heifer in the valley” law (21:1-9) to cover sins of a group.
-Ex. Achan’s sin was horizontal and vertical: effecting all of Israel and his children. (Josh ch.7): But the children of Israel committed a trespass concerning the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.
–Ex. David’s sin with the census was paid for by all of Israel.
Positive Collective Retribution Examples:
-Isaac is promised the blessing of God “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My precepts and commandments (Gen 26:5).
-The life stories of the patriarchs and David are detailed, not because of any interest in mere history or even solely for edification; the merits of the fathers are invoked time and again for the benefit of the children.
-David’s virtue is used to buttress the faith that his dynasty will endure forever (Ps.132:10 for ex.).
-The positive aspect of the doctrine of the family solidarity is not limited to the saintly or the famous. In the words of the Psalmist: Happy is the man who fears the Lord, and delights greatly in His commandments. His offspring shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed (Ps 112:1-2) (Gordis, pg.139).
Individual Retribution
-The Book of Job concerns itself with single-minded devotion to this theme-the operation of the divine law of justice in the life of the individual (Gordis, pg.149)
-Isaiah took the simplest course by reaffirming the traditional doctrine of collective retribution and applying it to the individual: (Isa.3:10-11 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. This conviction that justice would prevail in the life of every man was the foundation stone of faith for the psalmists, the fervent exponents of traditional religion: Ps 25:12-13 Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. (Gordis, pg.147)
-Ezekiel, in particular, emphasized the doctrine of individual responsibility and retribution. Concerned with the teaching of ethical living, he stressed the idea that each man determines his own destiny (Ezek.18). Other men of faith continued to urge obedience to God’s will, buttressed by the traditional faith that righteousness would soon triumph in the life of the individual. (Gordis, pg.148)
-Most of Proverbs
In the Book of Job
-Job never claimed to be sinless, only that his sin was an insufficient explanation for his suffering. In view of the sinful condition of humanity, he demanded to know why his sins deserved such treatment.11 (Alden, pg.166)
-Relative to anthropology, all speakers believed in the solidarity and fallenness of the race. Sin was not incurable but pardonable, and people were redeemable through repentance and atonement. Sinners received their just desserts in the form of tragedy, misery, illness, and eventual death. Good behavior, submission to God, resistance to evil, and humility all bore the fruits of God’s blessing in the form of large families, good health, abundant material goods, a worthy reputation, and long life.(Alden, pg. 39)
Friends’ Claim to Wisdom:
-all their wisdom (including Job’s) is based on Retribution Principle.
-first three friends claim wisdom from tradition, passed down from their fathers/elders.
-Eliphaz does claim some word from a spirit (ch.4)
-Is the spirit an angel or perhaps even a reference to God himself? Whichever it is, Eliphaz is suggesting that this spirit is not of this world and thus is invested with authority. After all, whatever the precise identification of the spirit, it is an otherworldly presence. In the silence, he heard only a voice. The voice speaks a word that at first is hard to penetrate. The claim is that no one can be righteous before God. And if no one can be perfectly righteous, then Job is not either and deserves the suffering that is coming his way. In a subtle, secretive, yet bold way, Eliphaz is enlisting divine support for his contention that Job is a sinner in need of repentance. But, as we concluded above in regard to the three friends’ appeal to tradition, their argument is bogus, and therefore this claim to divine revelation is false. (Longman III, pg.125)
-Elihu also claims his wisdom is from a spirit/divine inspiration.
-he claims divine (spiritual) inspiration for what follows. But in the end, what follows is nothing new. Though he may put a bigger emphasis on the disciplinary nature of suffering (Job 33, but see Eliphaz in Job 5:17), in the end he too asserts a retribution theology. If you sin, then you suffer; conversely, if you are suffering, then you are a sinner. Job is suffering; therefore, he is a sinner. (Longman III, pg.126).