Worship and religion in the perspective of Job and Qohélet

Abstract

The present work aims to present the perspective of the books of Job and Qohélet regarding worship and religion. Both Job and Qohelet are part of the so-called “biblical wisdom literature”. However, these books differ greatly in several aspects from the other biblical wisdom writings. Its appearance takes place in the context of the crisis of traditional wisdom, based too much on the dogmas of the theology of retribution. Job is a cry of the just and innocent who suffer, while the unjust prosper. His work is not an answer to the suffering of the righteous. There is no theology of justification or of later retribution. Rather, endowed with profound realism, Job aims to be the lament of the just who suffers, but trusts in God until the end. Qohélet, in turn, questions himself about the “vanity” of life, its fleetingness and the impossibility of the human being of truly being able to possess something for which he is entitled to retribution. Regarding worship and religion, both Job and Qohélet reveal themselves to be defenders of the possibility of absolutely free worship, without the slightest prospect that God will be constrained to act in favor of the supplicant. Worship and Religion are, in the works in question, an expression of sincere and disinterested praise, which does not intend to obtain from God the solution to the problems of the present time.