| Even though the motif of birthing appears throughout the Book of Job, it hasn't received much currency in the scholarly enterprise. This study is an endeavor to explore this imagery and to articulate its significance for the Joban story. I argue that Job's first speech in the poetic section (Job 3) is what sets the conversation in motion, weaving together a conversation build around the theme of birthing. Job begins by treating with contempt the night of his conception and the day of his birth. He states the reason as to why he does so: "it did not shut his mother's womb" (3:10). This womb language, which is in parallel with the extreme wish of the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 20, and its related categories dominate the landscape of the book with the friends, Eliphaz in particular, exploring the place of the ones "born of woman." Their place is what Job experiences: pain and trouble, and their foundations are in the dust (4:19). The speeches from the whirlwind are to be understood in light of Job 3. The same language of birthing with the deity challenging Job if he (Job) knows when the mountain goats and the hinds crouch to bring forth their young ones, even the months they fulfill in their pregnancy.;The poet of Job uses birthing imagery to challenge the common assumptions of the categories of the retributive justice system. Job is introduced as a complete, and straightforward person so that whatever happens to him is clearly not a result of wickedness. Birthing imagery in Job is about the human condition: life is both fragile and beautiful. With birthing imagery, the poet registers in the eyes of the reader, the nature of life: its precariousness. Exploring birthing imagery enables the readers of Job to re-frame the questions they ask of the story. |
