Sermon for February 28th, 2021

Job 38:39-41 (OT p.485)

39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40 when they crouch in their dens,
    or lie in wait in their covert?
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God,
    and wander about for lack of food?

All Creatures of Our God & King - The Lion and the Raven

After Noah had weathered the storm for 40 days and 40 nights, after the ark landed on solid ground, and after the flood waters receded, he gave thanks to the Lord, lowered the ramp of the ark, and set all the animals free, telling them to "go forth and multiply over all the earth." All the animals left... except for two snakes who lay quietly in the corner of the ark. "Why are you still here?" Noah asked in surprise. "We can't go forth and multiply." said the snakes. "Why not?" asked Noah. The snakes looked at him for a moment and said, "Because we're adders."

With the possible exception of Genesis (where we find the creation story, and the story of Noah and the Ark), no book in the entire Bible has more to say about animals than the Book of Job. That may seem surprising for a book that is largely about a guy named Job, who is the subject of a cosmic wager between God and Satan, a guy who loses all of his possessions, his family, and his health, and then spends 38 chapters commiserating about his misfortunes with his three friends, only to come face to face with God, who ultimately restores Job to all of his former prosperity. Where are the animals?

If you've heard the story before (and you have, since I have preached from the book of Job every year during Lent for the past seven years) you may remember something about his 3,000 camels and 7,000 sheep, 5,000 donkeys and 1,000 cows. That's a lot of animals. But those animals make an appearance in the first chapter and again in the last chapter, and nowhere in between, without a lot of commentary.

Today, and for the next two weeks, we're going to delve into the poetic part of Job--those 38 chapters of poetic verse that form the core of the book. And in those chapters, we find a lot more animals. Entire catalogues of animals, in fact. And that may lead us to ask, "Why? What's the point of that in a book about suffering and sorrow and loss?"

Actually (and this may surprise you) the Book of Job is not primarily about suffering, although we often view it that way. It was written in a very specific genre, and follows very specific conventions that would have made its subject instantly recognizable to people in the ancient world, but less so for us today.

The Book of Job is all about wisdom. It is one of three books of the Bible that are known as the "Wisdom books" and it is one of hundreds of wisdom writings from the ancient Middle East. The central question of the Book of Job comes halfway through the book, in chapter 28, verse 12: "Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?"

Spoiler alert: The ancient sages who wrote in the wisdom tradition (who were the scientists of their day) had an answer for that question: Wisdom is found by observing the natural world around us, its rhythms and its movements, and drawing from those things the lessons and principles by which the universe functions. This is reflected in Job chapter 12:7-8: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you."

For this reason, animals, along with plants and weather patterns, are consistent features of all wisdom literature, including the book of Job. What can we learn from observing them? About the world we inhabit? About ourselves, about each other and about God who created all things?

Today's sermon is about Lions and Ravens.

The answer to all the rhetorical questions in Job 38 (Can you? Then Who?) is "No, but God can." This is reminiscent of Luke 12, Verses 6 and 7: “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

God's job is to take care of his creation, animal and human alike.

“Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt,

To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man;

To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass?”

The message is that, whatever the relationship between man and nature, God also has a purpose for nature apart from man.

Job 12:7-8. “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.