The Mystery of God Theme Analysis

During his suffering, Job feels that God is both too distant to reach and much too close for comfort. His sufferings make him feel like God is relentlessly oppressing him—looming so close that Job begs God to look away from him long enough to let Job breathe. And yet, at the same time, God seems to “hide his face” from Job (to feel totally absent) and to elude Job’s searching, preventing Job from pleading his innocence to God. When, near the end of the book, God finally speaks, he thunders “out of the whirlwind,” asking Job if he understands the kinds of things God knows—like how the earth was made—or can do the kinds of things God does, like create fearsome creatures or send thunder and lightning on the earth. God’s questions suggest that he is both intimately close to his creation and unimaginably far beyond it. Through God’s scathing interrogation of Job, the book implies that rather than trying to grasp the mystery of God (arrogantly seeking to put themselves on the same plane as God), people should humbly submit to God and worship him instead.

While suffering, Job thinks God seems both too close and too far away. In the midst of his suffering, Job laments that God doesn’t seem to leave him alone—in fact, as God oppresses Job daily, it’s like God won’t look away long enough to let Job “swallow [his] spittle,” an image of a relentlessly looming, intimidating presence. Even as Job begs God to “withdraw his hand” and stop frightening him, he also accuses God of hiding his face and refusing to reply to Job’s questions. God only seems to reveal himself to Job in terrifying ways, and he remains aloof from Job’s pleadings. There’s a basic asymmetry between Job and God: no matter where Job looks, he can’t seem to find God, and yet he’s aware that God constantly sees and judges him—he can’t hide from God. Overall, it seems like Job wants God to be accessible and understandable on Job’s own terms.

When God finally responds to Job, he shows that, in fact, he is both incredibly close to his creation and infinitely beyond creation. God speaks “out of the whirlwind,” an image that suggests that God is right within his creation, and yet he’s mysteriously distinct from it, too—his voice can be heard, but he can’t be physically seen. This suggests that God is physically close, but it doesn’t mean he’s predictable or reducible to human understanding. The bulk of God’s speech consists of precise and intimate details of creation—like the measurement of the earth’s dimensions or the depth of the sea—and he asks Job if Job can “bind the chains” of the constellations or if he knows when mountain goats give birth to their young. God also gives poetic descriptions of two mysterious, mythic creatures (Behemoth and Leviathan) which are monstrous in strength, and yet they’re like tame pets for God. This long meditation on creation shows that God is both closely involved with overseeing his creation and, at the same time, is powerful beyond anything human beings can understand.

God’s response shows that, while he does pay attention to his creation, and is even present in its midst, he is far too great for his creatures to understand, and the appropriate response to this mystery is not protest, but worship. In a way, God’s speech confirms Job’s complaints about him—God is both alarmingly close and untouchably distant. But God’s point is that this shouldn’t be grounds for complaint, but instead should compel Job to worship him—after all, if God can be trusted with the vast and detailed universe, can’t Job trust him with his own life, too? But doing so requires Job to accept that God’s nature and ways are a mystery Job can never fully grasp. Accordingly, Job admits that he’s been talking about things he doesn’t understand—things “too wonderful” for him—and he humbly repents of his arrogance. With his questions, Job essentially tried to pry into God’s mysteries. Now he understands that this will never bring him to full understanding, but now that he’s been reacquainted with the mystery of God, his relationship with God is restored to the way it should be—he’s a humble creature worshiping his creator.