Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost; 10 October 2021; Proper 23B (RCL); Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31.
The Book of Job seems to me to be a response to the deuteronomistic revision of Israel’s history. Deuteronomy, and the histories contained in the books of Samuel and Kings, likely found their final form in the Exile in Babylon. This deuteronomistic retelling of history was a way of explaining the catastrophe of the Exile: over and over again, God promises to bless the people if they walk in God’s ways, and to punish them (with Exile) if they depart from God’s ways. We live with the consequences of this retelling: catastrophe (whether corporate or personal) is punishment for sin.
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