Peace: Noah and Job
Our lock-in theme this year was "Peace on Earth: Beyond the Bumper Stickers". As some preparation, I asked the youth the week before what Biblical references they thought of when they hear "Peace on Earth".
Beyond the usual thoughts (the Nativity, e.g.), two rather unusual references came up: the story of Noah's Ark and the Book of Job. I want to take a minute and document what y'all meant by those, since I think their pretty amazing. I
Noah's Ark and Peace
At first, when 'Trumpet16' suggested Noah's ark as a story about peace, I wondered (briefly) if she hadn't been suckered in by the soft and fuzzy version of the story that gets told to very little kids. The nice boat ride with the cuddly zoo and the nice man with the long gray beard (who didn't allow card gambling -- he stood on the deck....). Of course, I know her too well to think that for long. Here's what she had in mind:
The "peace" part of the story is at the end. Told from this perspective, the story goes like this: God and Creation are at war. Creation has offended God with its unrighteousness, and God has all but wiped out Creation with the flood. At the end, though, God decides to end the war, unilaterally and unconditionally disarming, so to speak. God promises to never fight this war again, no matter what, and re-defines the rainbow to the purpose of reminding God of this promise, perhaps even symbolically "binding" God to it. God has taught by example; we see from God how to make peace.
Really cool!
Job and Peace
This one was from 'Gbtgbt' and I neglected to ask him to clarify his thoughts at the lock-in. To be honest, I was just puzzled by this reference. Sunday, I finally got around to asking him what was going through his head.
OK, so here's how this one works, and it's also VERY cool: Job spends almost the entire book convinced that God has, for reasons he cannot fathom, proclaimed war on him. Job spends almost all of the book desperately trying to make peace with God. He does this not by what we usually think of as appeasement (just giving in), nor does he try to bluster or threaten God, since he knows such a bluff is ridiculous. What he does instead is speak the truth to God, as best he can, again and again. He demands of God that God act as God should, not by Job's measure, but by God's own. He pushes God, as hard as he can, to be true to God's own nature.
And that's peacemaking Job-style.
What GREAT Bible study!
Beyond the usual thoughts (the Nativity, e.g.), two rather unusual references came up: the story of Noah's Ark and the Book of Job. I want to take a minute and document what y'all meant by those, since I think their pretty amazing. I
Noah's Ark and Peace
At first, when 'Trumpet16' suggested Noah's ark as a story about peace, I wondered (briefly) if she hadn't been suckered in by the soft and fuzzy version of the story that gets told to very little kids. The nice boat ride with the cuddly zoo and the nice man with the long gray beard (who didn't allow card gambling -- he stood on the deck....). Of course, I know her too well to think that for long. Here's what she had in mind:
The "peace" part of the story is at the end. Told from this perspective, the story goes like this: God and Creation are at war. Creation has offended God with its unrighteousness, and God has all but wiped out Creation with the flood. At the end, though, God decides to end the war, unilaterally and unconditionally disarming, so to speak. God promises to never fight this war again, no matter what, and re-defines the rainbow to the purpose of reminding God of this promise, perhaps even symbolically "binding" God to it. God has taught by example; we see from God how to make peace.
Really cool!
Job and Peace
This one was from 'Gbtgbt' and I neglected to ask him to clarify his thoughts at the lock-in. To be honest, I was just puzzled by this reference. Sunday, I finally got around to asking him what was going through his head.
OK, so here's how this one works, and it's also VERY cool: Job spends almost the entire book convinced that God has, for reasons he cannot fathom, proclaimed war on him. Job spends almost all of the book desperately trying to make peace with God. He does this not by what we usually think of as appeasement (just giving in), nor does he try to bluster or threaten God, since he knows such a bluff is ridiculous. What he does instead is speak the truth to God, as best he can, again and again. He demands of God that God act as God should, not by Job's measure, but by God's own. He pushes God, as hard as he can, to be true to God's own nature.
And that's peacemaking Job-style.
What GREAT Bible study!
Comments
You might be interested in this website http://www.bookofjob.org which develops that theme more fully.
A few months ago, our youth group studied Job extensively. (I know, it's an odd choice for teenagers.) As leader of these sessions, I used Job by James A. Wharton (Westminster John Knox Press, 1999) as my principal commentary source. (Incidentally, I am now in an adult Bible Study group at Northminster discussing that same commentary.)
This might have been one reason why Job was so handy to the thoughts of 'gbtgbt'. I thought it particularly insightful to imagine that Job, with all his pain and shouting, has anything whatsoever to do with Peace.