When God’s Blessing Underwrites Us

“[Throughout the prologue of Job] The word for “cursed” is the word barak, the usual word for “bless,” but it is used here in an apparently euphemistic way to mean “curse.” … part of the question being pondered by the book of Job is whether blessing is really blessing… �The Satan insists that when God removes the hedge of protection, Job will bless/curse God to his face, again suggesting that Job’s blessing of God is superficial and contingent on prosperity. That blessing, the Satan contends, will in actuality be cursing if God allows Job to be struck. The answer to these questions is found in the refusal of Job to actually curse God… While Satan sought to turn blessing into cursing, God turns that attempted curse back into blessing… but this is already retroactively applied to the word of the speakers. They mean to say “curse” but “bless” is all that comes out! Blessing is underwritten or superimposed into the text. As Joseph explains to his brothers, what they meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20).”