God’s Servant, Job / Re-created from the depths
Title: "God's Servant, Job / Re-created from the depths" (2022)
Size: 49.5"x48"
Acrylic ink dyed kozo collage and mica powder on canvas
From "O Mirabile Mysterium," my body of work illuminating Genesis 1. This work explores another section of Creation poetry in scripture: Job 38-41.
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Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
“Who is this that darkens counsel
By words without knowledge? “
Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements? Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
“On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,
And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?
“Have you ever in your life commanded the morning,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?
“Have you entered into the springs of the sea
Or walked in the recesses of the deep?
“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
“Have you understood the expanse of the earth?
Tell Me, if you know all this.
“Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
And darkness, where is its place,
That you may take it to its territory
And that you may discern the paths to its home?
“You know, for you were born then,
And the number of your days is great!
“Who has cleft a channel for the flood,
Or a way for the thunderbolt,
To bring rain on a land without people,
On a desert without a man in it,
To satisfy the waste and desolate land
And to make the seeds of grass to sprout?
“Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
“Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
“Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth?
–Job 38, excerpts (NASB)
I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the imagery of creation that is revisited in scripture beyond Genesis. I chose two passages from the wisdom literature in the Bible, one from Proverbs and one from Job. It is interesting to see how deeply the imagery of Genesis 1 was embedded in the imaginations of the authors of scripture.
The Book of Job is for me one of the most multifaceted and interesting books of the Bible. The book explores many important ideas, including questions about why Job would worship God in the midst of such unimaginable pain and loss, whether or not he deserves the suffering that has befallen him, and whether God himself is just. But we learn in Job 38-41 that creation does not function primarily through God’s justice. In fact, God never explains himself when he is accused of injustice, remaining silent when so many questions are raised about his reasons for allowing suffering. God remains silent not out of indifference, but because the question of Job’s suffering cannot be engaged by examining it through the viewpoint of Job’s limited understanding. Instead, we learn, the cosmos functions primarily through God’s wisdom, which is on display in the longest passage of cosmic imagery in the Bible. As John Walton says, the God of the Storm in Job is “not unapproachable, but irreducible.” The panorama of creation reveals something about how absolutely other God is, and how his wisdom is the key to all human experience.
Job is meeting God in the storm in a de-created state, having lost everything, disordered and desolate. Job is in his own way Tohu va-Vohu, waiting to be ordered and brought out of the depths by the only being capable of such a cosmic transformation.
I have learned so much about Job from John Walton and Tremper Longman III (How to Read Job), Father Joseph Koterski (The Great Courses: Biblical Wisdom Literature), William P. Brown (The Seven Pillars of Creation), and of course, Robert Alter (The Art of Biblical Poetry).
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All artwork is signed on the back. Can be signed on the front at collector's request.
Keep in mind that paintings can look slightly different in person. I paint using a lot of texture, so they are even better when you can see them in person - it is hard to capture here!
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COPYRIGHT
Artwork is protected by copyright. All images displayed are property of Kelly Kruse. The sale of original artwork does not include the sale of copyright, including rights to reproduce or license imagery. All rights reserved.
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