re Re: MDDM Ch. 75 Job, 26:5 through 7

[Doug Millison]

Job is also the Old Testament book in which "God"
makes His "final" personal appearance, having grown
increasingly remote from His creation -- especially
humans -- from the intimate relationship between God,
Adam, and Eve in Genesis, growing progressively more
distant in relations with Abraham, Joseph, Jacob, and,
finally, Job, as discussed in Jack Miles' _God A
Biography_, 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679743685/qid=1031754065/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-5682407-6426202>

In the world of Pynchon's novels, God also retreats
from creation, become increasingly distant -- present
throughout Pynchon's work, Vineland seems to
spellsthis out pretty clearly,  GR develops this theme
in its treatment of Gnosticism, M&D picks it up again.

http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/biography/
"For although Miles is a former Jesuit and has a
formidable background in philosophy, archaeology, and
Near Eastern languages, the purpose of his inquiry is
not theological but literary. Using the Hebrew Bible,
or Tanakh, as his text, Miles sets out to portray the
unimaginably powerful and disturbingly contradictory
figure who is its protagonist. And what emerges is a
character who possesses all the depths and ambiguities
of Shakespeare's Hamlet. To the devout, God is
immutable, changeless throughout eternity. But a
sequential reading of the Tanakh reveals a God who
changes from book to book--and sometimes within the
same book. In Genesis alone, he is by turns a creator
and a destroyer; magnanimous and vengeful; a detached
being who stands outside of history and a divine
matchmaker who helps find a suitable bride for Isaac.
In his analysis of subsequent books, Miles depicts
God's transformation from the liberator of Exodus to
the demanding liege of Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy; from the conqueror of Joshua to the
diplomat of Kings; from the father of Samuel to the
reproachful wife of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi;
from the implacable executioner of Isaiah to the
consoling counselor of Psalms. In most literature,
characters are revealed through their interactions
with other characters. So, too, God's character
unfolds through his relationships with human beings,
the only creation he has made in his own image. In the
beginning, he seems to expect nothing from these
images. Yet Adam's disobedience moves him to fury, and
the apostasy of the wandering Israelites drives him to
slaughter thousands. He is all-powerful, yet he
submits to the covenants he makes with his chosen
people. He permits the blameless Job to be stripped of
all he has and rebukes him when he cries out for an
explanation. Yet these words are the last God utters
in the Tanakh, and Miles interprets his subsequent
silence as evidence that he can be shamed." 



http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=JOB+26&language=english&versio
n=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on

Job 26

1 Then Job replied:

2 "How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

5 "The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 Death [1] is naked before God;
Destruction [2] lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"



=====
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