“Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.”
For Job was not made silent before darkness, and darkness hides Job's face, expressing Job's continued presence and articulation even in the deepest obscurity, yet also acknowledging the hiddenness that prevents Job from being seen or known by God. The paradox of being not silent while being hidden suggests that Job's words continue even when no one listens, that articulation persists in the face of cosmic indifference. The darkness that hides Job's face becomes both physical and metaphorical—the darkness of abandonment, the darkness of suffering's opacity, the darkness of divine absence. Job's refusal to be silenced by this darkness represents his determination to maintain testimony and complaint even when such words disappear into the void.
Church Fathers on Job 23:17
O that one would grant me that I might know and find Him, that I might come even to His seat! An elect person if he did not know God, assuredly would not love Him. But it is one thing to ‘know’ by faith, and another to know by His own Form, one thing to find by trustfulness, another to find Him by contemplation. In consequence whereof it is brought to pass that Him Whom they know by faith, all of the Elect long to see by His own Form as well. With the love of Whom they burn…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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