On Job: Speaking About Versus Speaking To

I came across this very interesting take on Job by David Burrell. It's a contrast between speaking to versus speaking about, the difference between explaining versus seeking a relationship.

Here's Burrell making the contrast between Job and his friends:

Speaking about something veers toward explaining, while speaking to someone can engage both in a relationship of exchange open to yet other forms of understanding. Indeed, what is most telling, structurally, in the book of Job is that the creator-God does not answer Job's extended complaints. Yet those looking for an explanation will find themselves scrutinizing what the voice from the whirlwinds says, while the dynamic of the unfolding relationship should lead us to what is most startling of all: that God responded to him.

All through the book Job's friends speak about God, from an intellectual remove, offering explanations for Job's suffering. Job, by contrast, keeps speaking to God, addressing God directly, seeking a face to face encounter.

And in the end, that's what Job gets in the whirlwind. No explanation, but the encounter. Job doesn't get a theory, doesn't get a theological answer, a satisfactory theodicy. Job receives what he asks for, God Himself. Job gets the relationship.