“Not a bad place to work,” I thought as I paused at the top of the Grand Staircase in the Iowa State Capitol building, to take in the 40 foot wide by 14 foot high mural “Westward.” This beautiful painting depicts the people, principles, and forces that founded the state of Iowa. All this centered around the family riding on and walking beside a “Prairie Schooner” wagon drawn by four oxen, and true to its name, moving from right to left — which is of course “westward” on a map. Best viewed from the second floor of the statehouse, which itself contains multiple smaller paintings, ornate wainstcoating, balustrades, and cornices. A feast for the eyes.
When we look at the Bible, we see something similar to a grand mural. And as I shared in the previous blog, the central theme of the Bible is “salvation history,” that is, the history of God’s saving actions on behalf of His creatures. So the biblical mural depicts the interactions of God and his people through the ages.
Beginning in the book of Genesis with the Creation and Adam and Eve, continuing on to Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, Abraham and the patriarchs and moving through Israel as a people and nation, reaching its pinnacle on Mt. Calvary, and finally ending in Revelation with Christ and his redeemed church. It’s truly a magnificent composition, depicting God’s saving actions for his people. Sixty-five books spanning Heaven and Earth, millennia, empires, all of them linked together first in lineage, then in geography, and eventually in their shared devotion to the Creator and Redeemer.
You probably have noticed that I have mentioned 65 books of the Bible. But of course it contains 66. I left one out because of all the 66, it alone contains no references or links to any of the individuals, tribes, nations, or events in the other 65 books. Even its location, “the land of Uz,” appears only two or three other times in Scripture, and scholars disagree as to where it might be. By now, you may have realized that this enigmatic book is the book of Job.
The age of the story adds to its mystery. Many believe Job to be the oldest written book included in the Scriptures. Of course the events described in the first eleven chapters of Genesis occurred before those described in the book of Job, but were written at a later date. And all the internal evidence indicates the great age of the book of Job.
When Winston Churchill spoke of “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma,” it was not in reference to the book of Job, but it certainly applies. The first puzzle we have already confronted: of all the books in the Bible, only Job lacks any link to the central family/nation/church featured in the rest of the Bible. In other words if we convert the grand narrative of the Bible into a picture, Job does not fit anywhere inside that picture. Yet at the same time, Job not only makes up part of the Biblical canon, the tale has influenced many storytellers through the years, and merits mention in the Koran.
So we find Job in the Bible, yet strangely unconnected from all the other books in the Bible. And if, as many believe, it was written before any of the other books, “Why so? Why would it have been written before all of the others? “ Or, to use our mural metaphor, how can it be part of the picture, when it cannot be found anywhere in the picture?”
We take that up next time.
- The Biblecan be seen as a Grand Mural of Salvation History:
- Job is the only book without links to the other 65 books: yet it is still part of the biblical canon and has had a significant influence.
- How can Job be part of the Grand Mural of Salvation History and yet not be anywhere within that picture?
