Page 53 - GALIET KAFKABEL JOB, KANT AND MILTON: Omnipotence, Impotence and Rebellion IV+

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born to command, and not to obey.”299 It is to hear Milton say that authority and power 3⁄4 when no longer entrusted to Kings and leaders, eminences in wisdom and integrity to preserve and defend commonwealths 3⁄4 is regrettably transferred to tyrants.300 What’s more, Milton reminds lectors of the value of justice and of the social contract, “a court that by virtue of its entrusted power, ought to execute that justice, which every man by the bond of nature and of covenant must have executed for himself, and for one another.”301 In K’s political Court, if there was a social contract, it had been broken. In Job’s Celestial Court, if there was a divine covenant, it had been torn to pieces. Just as the Judge failed to protect K, Yahweh did not leap to defend Job against Satan’s insidious allegations. Instead, Yahweh submitted to Satan willingly, and Satan, cheerfully, set out to tear down Yahweh’s Wall to build his own malefic edifice and Siege Works against Job, just as the Prosecutor does for K.
If in Josef K, there is a Miltonian agitation that forbids the oppression of Siege Works, in Job it is subdued. In the first glimmerings of Josef K’s plight, there is a call to right the wrong and for political activism.302 As a spokesperson for the unjustly accused, he will speak on their behalf (T49). Job, too, “makes himself one with all other righteous victims of oppression.”303 However, Job is not really a collective,304 and surely not so, when he berates and ‘verminizes’ the outcasts before they attack him, which Josef K refrains to do. If Josef K is provoked by the defendants’ humbleness, he does not belittle them, but wishes to shake them out of their stupor. In this sense, Josef K moves “towards a more positive Hero.”305 His genuine concern for Block is uplifting, as they become comrades, sharing a discourse amongst equals.306 And there is no mistaking the rectitude of Josef K’s feelings when he witnesses Huld’s humiliationofBlock.307 Insodoing,JosefKbecomeslessself-centeredthanJob.
If Job is a little more self-centered and hubristic than Josef K during his trial, it is because his filial loses and pain are incommensurable. If his friends are baffled at his overweening pride and insolent rage against Yahweh, how much more wrathful is Yahweh of the Whirlwind at Job’s hubristic challenges of theodicy! (38-41). There is hardly any doubt that Satan, decidedly, wins the wager on Job’s cursing powers. When Job revolts and blasphemes God, he shows that his piety is not as disinterested as Yahweh had vouched for it. In fact, Job turns out to be the self- interested sinner that Satan predicts. As Peake argues, “the fault of Job is that he is self-centered.”308 Because Job suffers, the world is cruel, immorally governed. Because Job is dispossessed, mankind is in misery. Because Job ends up in the ash-heap, the world ought to end, and Yahweh be indicted for the world’s miseries. Beyond that, Job does not look.309 Job is not restored because he is innocent, or because he is a repentant sinner and Yahweh just happens to have a fit of mercy. No. Job’s divine restoration is a reward for Job defending truth. Job is restored because Job speaks the truth 3⁄4 Yahweh is unjust (41, 42). If divine injustice and divine restoration are inextricably linked in Job, it
299 Please note that in Milton “to obey” infers “to submit.” Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. By Merritt Y. Hughes. The Tenure of King and Magistrates. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1957. 754
300 Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. By Merritt Y. Hughes. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1957. 754-75
301 Milton. Complete Poems and Major Prose. Ed. By Merritt Y. Hughes. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1957. 754
302 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 39-40
303 Peake, A.S. The Century Bible. Job. Ed. By Walter F. Adeney. Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904. 178
304 When Bildad admonishes Job, “How long will ye lay snares for words? (Job 18:2),” it suggests Job’s words are insubstantial. “The ‘ye’ sounds like a plural.
However, Peake argues it is best to make it into a singular. “Job is not a collective as if he stood for the nation, nor are we to suppose that Bildad includes those among the listeners who have sided with Job (if there were any) especially when Job has so bitterly complained of his complete isolation. Hence it is best to correct the plural.” Peake, A.S. The Century Bible. Job. Ed. By Walter F. Adeney. Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904. 178
305 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 40
306 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 40
307 Dodd, William. Der Prozess. Scotland: University of Glasgow French and German Publications, 1991. 40
308 Please see Peake’s footnotes 26 and 27. Peake, A.S. The Century Bible. Job. Ed. By Walter F. Adeney. Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904. 319 309 Peake, A.S. The Century Bible. Job. Ed. By Walter F. Adeney. Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack, 1904. 319-20
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