Who is ‘This’ in ‘“Who is This…?”’ (Job 38.2)? A Response to Karl G. Wilcox

Abstract

K.G. Wilcox's reading of Job 38.2, in which Elihu rather than Job is accused of ‘darkening counsel by words without knowledge’, is shown to be untenable. His grammatical argument for a ‘third party’ in 38.2 overlooks the rhetorical device at work in God's question. The wider context of the question in the first divine speech, and Job's reference to the question in 42.3, both show that God's accusation applies to Job. Wilcox's claim that his reading resolves certain narrative tensions cannot be sustained; in fact it creates new ones.