נַחַל in Job 28:4, an unusual use of a word in a profoundly nuanced passage, is discussed—first with regard to the popular interpretation of ‘(mine) shaft’ (and, relatedly, ‘excavation’), then with regard to a proposed literary reading for נַחַל within the broader context of Job 28 and beyond. Key to interpretation is the pairing of waterways and forceful verbs, along with the absence or presence of water, which has associations with life. Thus, in Job 28:1-11, seemingly incompatible concepts concerning the presence of water are created across the prototypical and cognitive levels, creating tension and driving the narrative forward towards resolution in 28:23-28 and, ultimately, to YHWH’s appearance and rhetorical self-declarations in Job 38:22-30. The point is made that humanity and YHWH both conduct works that offer what is life-giving, but only YHWH truly delivers this, whether it be water, wisdom, or life itself.
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See e.g., Andersen, Job, p. 225; Jones, Rumors of Wisdom, pp. 135-36; van Wolde, “Wisdom, Who Can Find It?”, pp. 3-5, 11-21; Edward L. Greenstein, “The Poem on Wisdom in Job 28 in Its Conceptual and Literary Contexts”, in van Wolde, Job 28, pp. 253-80 (pp. 267-69, 273-74).
E.g., see Gray, Book of Job, p. 344; Driver, “Problems in Job”, p. 162.
See Clines, Job 21-37, p. 896; and Jones, Rumors of Wisdom, pp. 136-37, for further discussion.
See Driver, “Problems in Job”, p. 162; and Jones, Rumors of Wisdom, p. 136. See also Stephen A. Geller, “‘Where is Wisdom?’: A Literary Study of Job 28 in its Settings”, in Judaic Perspectives on Ancient Israel, eds. Jacob Neusner, Baruch A. Levine, and Ernest S. Frerichs (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987), pp. 155-88 (p. 178).
William Muss-Arnolt, A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language (Berlin: n. p., 1905), p. 663; Gert Howardy, Clavis Cuneorum sive Lexicon Signorum Assyriorum linguis Latina, Britannica, Germanica (London: Humphredum Milford, Lipsiae: Otto Harrassowitz, Hauniae: G. E. C. Gad, 1904-1933), pp. 704-5 (394: 68). Muss-Arnolt defines niḫlu as ‘excavation, deepening’; Howardy as ‘excavation’.
Greenstein, “Poem on Wisdom”, p. 267, keenly observes that other verbs more normally used of mining activities are lacking from Job 28:3-11. However, in this case the conclusion to draw from the lack of metallurgical terminology is not that mining activities are not alluded to in Job 28, but rather that they are poetically depicted in the interests of the text.
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נַחַל in Job 28:4, an unusual use of a word in a profoundly nuanced passage, is discussed—first with regard to the popular interpretation of ‘(mine) shaft’ (and, relatedly, ‘excavation’), then with regard to a proposed literary reading for נַחַל within the broader context of Job 28 and beyond. Key to interpretation is the pairing of waterways and forceful verbs, along with the absence or presence of water, which has associations with life. Thus, in Job 28:1-11, seemingly incompatible concepts concerning the presence of water are created across the prototypical and cognitive levels, creating tension and driving the narrative forward towards resolution in 28:23-28 and, ultimately, to YHWH’s appearance and rhetorical self-declarations in Job 38:22-30. The point is made that humanity and YHWH both conduct works that offer what is life-giving, but only YHWH truly delivers this, whether it be water, wisdom, or life itself.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 199 | 23 | 11 |
Full Text Views | 252 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 112 | 5 | 1 |