Leviathan and the Hook (Part 2)

A New Commentary on the Book of Job

(Jesus) said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’ -Matthew 13:52

Randy’s Introduction:

I like word puzzles. They are games like hide and seek, checkers, and Monopoly but the action takes place in our minds; neurons running back and forth across our synapses for the encoded patterns of memory that unlock the conundrum in front of us. Winning is the satisfaction of seeking and finding a meaningful whole. G.K. Chesterton also liked to play this kind of game. He once wrote “The true object of all human life is play.”¹

It is helpful to approach anything written by Chesterton as we would a game. Rather than reading his work to extract easy bullet points ready-made to apply to our lives, we should join in with his verbal gymnastics by repeatedly bouncing his phrasing around in our minds to see what new and unexpected ideas surface in our thinking.

For example, in Farnsworth’s “Classical English Rhetoric,” Chesterton is regularly cited as an example of different kinds of linguistic liveliness. For example:

1. “The French Revolution is of Christian origin. The newspaper is of Christian origin. The anarchists are of Christian origin. Physical science is of Christian origin. The attack on Christianity is of Christian origin. There is one thing, and one thing only, in existence at the present day which can in any sense accurately be said to be of pagan origin, and that is Christianity.” -Heretics, 1905

   Epistrophe: the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of a series of sentences or clauses, in this case things sharing the same quality repeated at the end of every example.

   By Chesterton’s use of “Epistrophe,” he cleverly builds suspense before reaching a somewhat shocking conclusion. He repeats the phrase “of Christian origin” five times before informing us that the ohnly thing not of Christian origin in Christianity itself.

2. “The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.” -Orthodoxy, 1908

   Symploce: repeating words at the start of successive sentences or clauses, and other words are repeated at the end with just a small change in the middle.

   Here Chesterton turns our understanding of the word “madman” on its head. He uses symploce by repeating “madman” at the start and “reason” at the end of each clause to offer us a new understanding of what “mad” actually means.

3. “When Byron divided humanity into the bores and bored, he omitted to notice that the higher qualities exist entirely in the bores, the lower qualities in the bored, of whom he counted himself.” -Heretics, 1905

   Polyptoton: repeating the root of a word with a different ending, in this case two different forms of the same noun.

   Chesterton applies “polyptoton” as he repeast the root word “bore,” making slight changes to the end of the word to poke fun at Lord Byron.

Jesus, Paul and Isaiah also enjoyed wordplay.

1. “ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” -Jesus in Matthew 6: 14-15

   Epistrophe: Jesus repeats the phrase regarding forgiving others their sins to draw a powerful conclusion regarding the forgiveness of God.

2. “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -Paul in Romans 5:35

   Anadiplosis: the use of the same language at the end of one sentence or clause and the beginning of the next.

   By his repetition of keywords in these verses, Paul leads us to a meaningful connection between suffering and the love of God.

3. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” -Isaiah 5:20

   Chiasmus: the repetition of words and other elements with their order reversed.

   Isaiah uses chiasmus to warn us of the danger of confusing right and wrong.

Part of the enjoyment of Chesterton is to join in the play. Part of our developing the habit of reading the Bible is to find the joy inherent in the Bible’s play with words. It will motivate us, like any good game does, to come back again and again for more.

With this attitude, let’s join in the play of Chesterton’s critique of Professor Dillon’s commentary on the book of Job. A couple of things to keep in mind as we read:

1. Chesterton plays with the mystery of being alive as the present generation of the human race in line with many who have gone before us and others who will follow in the next generation.

2. He then connects this mystery with the wonder of reading the enduring wisdom of those on this planet long before us, the profundity of exploring their experiences that have spoken not only to their generation, but many who have lived and died after us, to those of us alive today, and surely will continue to speak to those not yet born.

3. Finally, he places Dr. Dillon’s take on the ancient religious classic we call Job in this mysterious context as a necessarily temporary, non-definitive discussion of its meaning. (A rather humbling critique of Dillon’s commentary at the outset. I am glad he is unable to critique anything I have written on the Bible!)

The full text is in a footnote.² Below is an “annotated text” which I have spaced to help you see the play in the text. I have also added footnotes for questions and comments that may be helpful as well. With that said, enjoy!

Leviathan and the Hook, Part One:

Because man is a spirit and unfathomable the past is

really as startling and incalculable as the future.

The dead men are as active and dramatic as

the men unborn;

we know decisively that

the men unborn will be men; and

we cannot decisively know

anything more about the dead.

It is not merely true that Nero

may have been misunderstood;

must have been misunderstood,

for no man can understand another.

Hence to dive into any very ancient human work is

to dive into a bottomless sea, and

the man who seeks old things will be

always finding new things.

Centuries hence the world will be still seeking for the secret of Job, which is, indeed, in a sense the secret of everything.

It is no disrespect to such able and interesting works as Professor Dillon's

to say that they are only stages in an essentially endless process,

the proper appreciation of one of the inexhaustible religious classics.

None of them says the last word on Job,

for the last word could only be said

on the Last Day.

For a great poem like Job is in this respect like life itself.

The explanations are popular for a month or popular for a century.

But they all fall.

The unexplained thing is popular for ever.

Some Things to Do Before the Next Post:

• Read this through a few times until you get the feel of his state of play.

• Practice one or two of the “rhetorical games” above in an email, card or letter you are writing. They can make your messages to others more interesting and fun.

• Read a bit of Job yourself in preparation.

I can’t wait to share part two of Leviathan and the Hook next week!

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1. Chesterton, G.K., “Oxford from Without” in the 1908 book, All Things Considered.

2. Full Text (Part One):

“Because man is a spirit and unfathomable the past is really as startling and incalculable as the future. The dead men are as active and dramatic as the men unborn; we know decisively that the men unborn will be men; and we cannot decisively know anything more about the dead. It is not merely true that Nero may have been misunderstood; he must have been misunderstood, for no man can understand another. Hence to dive into any very ancient human work is to dive into a bottomless sea, and the man who seeks old things will be always finding new things. Centuries hence the world will be still seeking for the secret of Job, which is, indeed, in a sense the secret of everything. It is no disrespect to such able and interesting works as Professor Dillon's to say that they are only stages in an essentially endless process, the proper appreciation of one of the inexhaustible religious classics. None of them says the last word on Job, for the last word could only be said on the Last Day. For a great poem like Job is in this respect like life itself. The explanations are popular for a month or popular for a century. But they all fall. The unexplained thing is popular for ever.”