Job’s flesh
Keil and Delitzsch argue that the phrasing of Job 19:25-26 doesn’t directly point to a hope for bodily resurrection. When his flesh is cut off (like a tree; the piel of the same verb is in Isaiah 10:34), he will see God “from ( min ) his flesh.”
But, as they also note, “flesh” carries with it connotations of weakness, frailty, mortality, and so Job’s hope is perfectly consistent with the NT insistence that “flesh and blood do not inherit the kingdom of God.” Job wants to put off this skin and this flesh, but that doesn’t mean he expects to put off body .
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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