Silence and Silencing in the Book of Job
Silence and Silencing in the Book of Job

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the concept of silence in the Book of Jobagainst the background of the concept of silence in Ancient Near Easternwisdom literature, in which the silent man is contrasted with the hot-tempered man. In the Book of Job, speech and silence are contrasted regularly. Silence is seen as a sign of wisdom and the fool must be silenced. Thesage shows his wisdom by keeping silent. In contrast, the fool must keepquiet because of his foolishness. He must listen to become wise.The Book of Job is not an instruction but instead a discourse on suffering. It relies on traditional concepts of wisdom regarding silence from theAncient Near East and Egypt. It focuses on the function of silence and thesilencing of the interlocutor in the development of the argument.This paper analyses power struggles between different figures of thetext, whereby one figure takes on a position of a wise person and places theother as a student. It claims that silence is decisive in these power struggles. It affects all figures of the text. Also, the editor takes part in it byremoving Zofar from the third speech cycle and silencing Elihu, who disappears completely from the book. God, when appearing as Yhwh in thefinal chapters, takes on an active role in silencing men. Finally, Job fallssilent (40:4; 42:3) when he acknowledges the superior wisdom of Yhwh.He not only gains a deeper understanding of God but this transformation also represents a new stage in the development of personal piety, as isknown from Egypt.

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