Act 1 in The Book of Job might be entitled A New Look at Genesis for, within a canonical perspective, [1] it reworks the Genesis story.  This time the ultimate responsibility for evil in the world rests on God’s shoulders not Adam and Eve’s shoulders.  

            Scene 1: Earth

A New Garden of Eden

            The Book of Job opens onto a pastoral Eden, the land of Uz to the south and east of the Dead Sea. (Job 1:1)  “Seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys” graze the hillsides.  And “very many servants” tend to their physical care. (Job 1-3)  An ideal family lives there: a mom, a dad, “seven sons and three daughters”.  Their lives are lives of joy and celebration as evidenced by the many feasts. (Job 1:4)  A devout father tends to their spiritual care. (Job 1:4)  All is right with this world.  The reader may hear echoes of an earlier Eden.  “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

A New Adam

            Here we meet a new Adam.  He is a mature human being, the man whose name is Job. (Job 1:1)  The author places some emphasis on this point because the Hebrew text begins with the word for man “ish”, “a man there was”.  This is a signifcant change in the normal Hebrew word order of verb-subject-object.  Here the order is object-subject-verb. [2]  The significance is found in the fact that there are only two genuine parallels to this inverted syntax and they are found in the opening lines of Nathan’s parable (2 Samuel 12:1) and Joash’s fable (2 Kings 14:9). [3]  This syntax is an introductory Hebrew formula or idiom for the parable that follows, akin to the modern introductory phrase “once upon a time”.  Thus, the author The Book of Job is telling the reader from the start that this book is and should be read as a myth or parable about humankind. 

            As a new Adam, Job is not just Everyman.  Job is the best humankind has to offer.  He is truly and fully human.  He is what all of us could be and should be.  In the judgment of the author, Job is “blameless and upright, one who fears God and turns away from evil”. (Job 1:1)  Unlike the first Adam, Job is a completed work.  “This man was the greatest of all the people of the east.” (Job 1:3) Since the people of the east were proverbially regarded as wise, [4] Job is presented as the wisest of the wise.  His decisions as to how to lead a moral life are something all of us should emulate.  That is especially the case when he raises the Oath of Innocence against God.  The Oath of Innocence is a formal lawsuit against God for bringing evil into the world.

            As a new Adam, Job will not face a simple test of blind obedience.  Job’s test will require all the intellectual and moral resources a mature human being can muster.  And that test will bring out the fullness of his name.  The name “Job” means “where is my father.” [5]  In part, his struggle is the search for a loving father God in the midst of a world of undeserved and unremitted suffering.  The fate of all humanity will rest on his choices.

            The author’s judgment on Job merits deeper examination.  The terminology is the terminology of natural law.  This may be the result of the international wisdom tradition of which The Book of Job is an important part.  Or this may be the result of the author’s personal background.  Job is presented as a jurist (Job 29:7-17) and the author himself may have been a jurist. 

            Natural law is the ethical theory that moral rules, laws in the broadest sense of the term, are deduced or derived from an examination of the natural needs that constitute human nature.  Natural law asserts that that single reason behind all the moral rules is human nature itself, specifically the natural needs that define human nature.  There is a certain structure to how morals are deduced or derived from natural law.  This three-fold structure is called a syllogism, meaning a way of rigorously reasoning things through. It begins with a major premise, an ethical principle. It proceeds with a minor premise, certain statements of fact. And it arrives at a conclusion which consists of certain moral rules.  The logic is as simple as it is profound. 

            The following exposition of that framework is a tangential development out of those original texts so that modern readers can understand the basic parameters of natural law and the natural human need for truth.  The ancient texts imply, support and sanction such a framework, even though the ancient Jews never fully articulated the philosophical foundations of such a framework.[6]

            (1) The major premise of natural law is the basic ethical principle that “you ought to seek what’s really good for you.”  This is a self-evident truth.  Why?  The opposite is unthinkable.  It is unthinkable that “you ought to seek what’s really bad for you”.  And, it is equally unthinkable that “you ought not to seek what’s really good for you”. [7] 

            (2) The minor premise consists of a number of statements of fact about what’s really good.

            Those statements are discovered through the insight that “what’s really good is what fulfills a natural human need”. [8]  All animals, including humankind, have a nature or essence.  It is what separates one kind of animal from another kind of animal.  It is what allows an observer to know that a particular individual is a member of one particular kind of animal as opposed to another.  A nature consists of a set of species-specific characteristics or potentialities for development within a certain direction and within a certain range.  Another name for these “dynamic dispositional tendencies” [9] is natural needs or desires. [10] 

(a) These natural needs are universal within a species in the sense that all members, without exception, have them. 

(b) They are eradicable within a species in the sense that all members, without exception, have them at all points in their life. 

(c) And they are irresistible within a species in the sense that they are constantly seeking fulfillment. [11] 

Human nature consists of the set of species-specific potentialities or natural needs all human beings share which are universal, eradicable and irresistible.  The natural needs are distinguishable from acquired wants or acquired needs.  

            The insight that “what’s really good is what fulfills a natural need” is a self-evident truth.  Why?  There is no such thing as a wrong natural need.  The very idea of a wrong natural need is unthinkable. 

(a) We can imagine wrong wants.  We can imagine wanting something that is bad for us as human beings.  We can even imagine wanting it so strongly that we try to deceive ourselves and call it something good.  Addictions are very good examples of such acquired needs.  They are not universal, eradicable or irresistible.  These acquired needs are not natural needs.  They are not rooted in human nature itself. 

(b) We can imagine wanting more of a good thing than is really good for us. 

(c) We can imagine wanting less of a good thing than is really good for us. 

But we can never imagine a wrong natural need.  If it were wrong, then we would not, by nature, need it. [12] 

            Not many natural needs meet the three-fold criteria of universality, eradicability and irresistibility.   Scholars agree that those natural needs or desires include:

(a) the desire to know the truth,

(b) the desire to enjoy beauty,

(c) the desire to seek goodness,

(d) the desire to be free,

(e) the desire for justice,

(f) the desire for pleasure,

(g) the desire to love and be loved,

(h) the desire to work and creatively express one's self,

(i) the desire for life, growth and health,

(j) the desire for food and drink,

(k) the desire for shelter and

(l) the desire for God.

Technically, the desire for God may be a separate desire or it may be included in the penumbra of the desires for truth, goodness and beauty.  These are needs all human beings have.  They possess them at all points in their lives.  These desires demand fulfillment.  They may be satisfied or denied for periods of time, but they never really go away.  These needs are matters of objective fact and they constitute human nature.

            Real goods fulfill natural needs or desires.  These real goods are biological, economic, social, political, psychological and religious goods. 

(a) The biological goods include life, health and vigor. 

(b) The economic goods include a decent supply of the means of subsistence, living and working conditions that are conducive to health, medical care, opportunities for access to the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of play, aesthetic pleasures, opportunities for access to the goods of the mind through educational facilities in youth and adult life and enough free time from subsistence work, both in youth and adult life, to take full advantage of these opportunities. 

(c) The political goods include liberty, peace, both civil and external, the political liberties of voting and holding office, together with the protection of individual freedom by the prevention of violence, aggression, coercion, or intimidation and justice. 

(d) The social goods include equality of status, equality of opportunity and equality of treatment in all matters affecting the dignity of the human person. 

(e) The psychological goods include the goods of personal association (family, friendship, and love), the goods of character (the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, courage and temperance, and the theological virtues of faith, hope and love), and the goods of the mind (creativity, knowledge, understanding and wisdom). 

(f) The religious goods include awe and wonder, repentance and forgiveness, gratitude and worship and a personal relationship with God. 

All of these real goods are matters of objective fact. [13]  Reasonable people reflecting on what it is to be human would agree that these are things people need for a good human life.  The list may not be exhaustive, but it is very representative of the consensus that currently exists.

            However, these real goods need ordering and proportioning so that they retain their overall goodness.  That is the function of moral virtue.  Moral virtue is the habit of rightly choosing the real goods that make for a good human life.  The main virtues are the cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, courage and justice. 

(a) Prudence is the habit of rightly judging the means to obtaining those right ends. 

(b) Temperance is the habit of resisting and limiting immediate pleasures for a future good. 

(c) Courage is the habit of suffering pain or discomfort for a future good. 

(d) Justice is the habit of concern for the good of others and community welfare. 

While they may be analytically distinct, they are not existentially distinct.  You cannot possess one without the others.  These virtues are matters of objective fact. [14]

            (3) The conclusion is a basic and comprehensive moral rule derived or deduced from the combination of a single self-evidently true ethical principle and those objectively true matters of facts. 

(a) “You should pursue and possess all the real goods that every human being needs by nature,

(b) properly ordered and proportioned so that each good is really good for you as a human being, and

(c) all the apparent goods that you yourself might want as an individual,

(d) provided your pursuit and possession of those apparent goods does not interfere with your or anyone else’s pursuit and possession of all the real goods every human being needs by nature. [15] 

This is what constitutes the total good of men and women.  This is what constitutes the good life.  This is what constitutes happiness, for it is the pursuit and possession of everything you might rightly need or want such that you are lacking in nothing.  This is what God intends in making humankind what it is.  It is God’s general revelation in creation.  It is rationally discoverable by all men and women, regardless of time or place. (Romans 2:14-16)  The author presents Job as one who has discovered that truth and made it his life.

            The Bible itself is imbued with an ethic of natural law.[16]  Most often, natural law is implicit, but every so often, it is made explicit.  One would expect to find such explicit statements of natural law in portions of The Bible dealing with moral rules, because such statements are the articulations of the reason behind the rules.  And that indeed is where the two formulations of it are to be found.

            (1) In the Holiness Code, Moses expresses his understanding of the basic ethical principle of natural law.  “You shall be holy for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:10) 

The key word here is “holy”.  The Hebrew word behind it is “qodosh”.  It is virtually synonymous with the Hebrew word “tam” used to describe Job.   “Qodosh” means “holy”, “dedicated”, “devoted”, “separate”, “set apart for a special purpose”. [17]  It describes three things:

(a) the perfect fulfillment of

(b) the purpose

(c) for which something exists or is used. 

That purpose is found in the natural needs that define human nature. 

To paraphrase, Moses is saying “you should perfectly fulfill the purpose for which you exist, just as the LORD your God perfectly fulfills the purpose for which he exists.”  The focus is on purpose within nature. The central ethical obligation is to perfectly fulfill the natural needs of men and women and to make one’s self fully available to God for his purposes.  This is the heart of Old Testament morality.  All the rest is commentary on the real goods that make for a good human life. 

            (2) In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expresses his understanding of the basic ethical principle of natural law.  “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:6)

The key word here is “perfect”.  The Greek word behind it is “teleios”.  It is virtually identical with the Hebrew “tam” used to describe Job.  “Teleios” means “perfect”, “well-rounded”, “whole”, “sound”, “mature”, “complete”. [18]  It describes three things:

(a) the complete actualization of

(b) the potentialities

(c) that define the nature of something. 

Those potentialities are found in the natural desires that define human nature.  “Teleios” is a word that has a long history in Greek ethical philosophy, especially in the natural law writings of Aristotle.  The focus again is on potentialities within nature.

Jesus is reworking and sharpening Moses’ formulation of the basic ethical principle of natural law. 

(a) Complete actualization corresponds to perfect fulfillment. 

(b) Potentialities correspond to purpose. 

(c) The nature of something corresponds to that for which something exists or is used. 

To paraphrase, Jesus is saying that “you should be fully actualized, just as your heavenly Father is fully actualized”.  “You should be truly and fully human, just as your heavenly Father is truly and fully divine.”  The central ethical obligation is to fulfill the natural needs of men and women.  It is an obligation to be all that you can be and to be the very best you can be.  This is the heart of New Testament morality.  All the rest is commentary on the real goods that make for a good human life. 

            Within this framework of natural law, evil is the “privation” of goodness.  The good is the “integrity or perfection of being in all its orders: material, moral and spiritual”.  Evil “consists in a privation, in the fact that a certain being lacks a good it requires to enjoy the integrity of its nature.”[19]  To paraphrase Moses, evil is the frustration of the perfect fulfillment of the purpose for which something exists or is used.  To paraphrase Jesus, evil is the frustration of the complete actualization of the potentialities that define the nature of something.   

            The ethical terminology used to describe Job- completion, wholeness, wellbeing- resonates with the ethic of natural law.

            (1) Job is “blameless”. 

The Hebrew “tam” here means “whole”, “complete”, “sound”, “lacking in nothing”, “fully integrated”, “blameless”, “perfect”.[20]  The focus here is on human nature. 

(a) Ideologically, “tam” covers the same ground as Moses’ “qodosh”.  It describes the perfect fulfillment of the purpose for which a human being exists.  It describes the perfect fulfillment of the natural needs that define human nature.  Job is holy as the LORD his God is holy. 

(b) Ideologically, “tam” covers the same ground as Jesus’ “teleios”.  It is the complete and perfect actualization of all the natural desires that define human nature.  Those actualizations are properly ordered and proportioned so that all the potentialities are fully integrated.  Job is as truly and fully human as his heavenly father is truly and fully divine. 

Job is humanity at its very best.  His maturity verges on sinlessness.[21]  In fact, “tam” is used to describe the sinlessness of Satan prior to his fall from grace. (Ezekiel 28:13)  This single word governs all the other words that follow in the description of Job.  They illustrate aspects of his blamelessness and are included within it.     

            (2) Job is “upright”. 

The Hebrew “yashar” here means “upright”, “just”, “righteous”, “doing what is right and pleasing in the eyes of God”.[22]  It describes two aspects of moral virtue: justice and righteousness. 

(a) Justice is one of the cardinal virtues, the hinge on which the moral life swings.  Justice is rendering unto another that which is their due or right.  Justice is primarily a negative virtue.  It indicates that one’s pursuit and possession of all the apparent goods a human being might want by nurture does not interfere with one’s own or anyone else’s pursuit and possession of all the real goods all human beings need by nature. 

(b) Righteousness or love is one of the theological virtues.  It is an extension and transformation of the cardinal virtue justice.  Love is seeking the good of oneself or another.  Love is primarily a positive virtue.  It includes all the positive assistance one gives in helping others with their pursuit and possession of all the real goods all human beings need by nature.  This positive “doing of what is right”, as opposed to not “doing what is wrong”, is what constitutes “righteousness”. 

Job is virtuous: just and loving.   

            (3) Job “fears God.”

The Hebrew “yare Elohim” means the proper “awe”, “reverence” and “honor” a human being should have towards Almighty God.[23]

(a) The “totum bonum” is the pursuit and possession of the package of real goods that makes a person truly and fully human.  It is the “total good” of humankind.  “Tam” draws out this dimension in Job. 

(b) The “summum bonum” is the pursuit and possession of the “highest good” within that package, a personal relationship with God.  “Yare Elohim” draws out this dimension in Job. 

Job has it all.  Job seeks first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all has been added unto him.

            (4) Job “turns from evil.” 

The Hebrew “sara ra” here means not only “withdrawing from evil” but “avoiding evil” and “keeping oneself far from” it in the first place.[24]  The mature man or woman is not the one who never does wrong, but the one who is quick to realize he has done wrong, to be sorry for it, to do restitution and to amend his character.  This is what’s meant by withdrawing from evil.  Unlike the first Adam, Job is not a person who fails to take personal responsibility for his actions and who tries to shift blame.  Job is a mature Adam.  However in Job’s case, the emphasis in the phrase “turns from evil” is on the latter component: “avoiding evil” and “keeping oneself far from” it in the first place.   Unlike the first Adam, Job is not one who blunders into sin.  When he raises his Oath of Innocence against God, he will do it with the integrity of his being.  For Job, the Oath of Innocence will be the only way he can avoid sinning.  A follower of God must speak the truth at all costs.

            The author’s judgment on Job is one of the important sign posts for any journey through The Book of Job.  It is a judgment God himself will endorse twice in the next three scenes.  This three-fold judgment is a strong endorsement of the morality of natural law.  In his general revelation to humanity rooted in the hearts of men and women, God has given human beings both the intellect to discern right from wrong and the free will to choose the good.  And God has given human beings sufficient common grace to do both.  It is vitally important that Job is not an Israelite.  He has not had any special revelation from God such as might be found in the Old Testament or the New Testament.  And yet he perfectly fulfills the natural moral law written in the hearts of all men and women. (Romans 2:14-16)

A New Fall

            Yet in this paradise, there are suggestions of a coming Fall.  Unlike the first Eden, these suggestions lie not in a serpent in the grass near a tree of knowledge.  They are found in the hearts and minds of men and women.  It is the sin of prematurely judging and condemning God.  “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” (Job 1:5)  This intimation of disaster foreshadows the events to follow that will drive the plot.

            Scene 2: Heaven

High Court of Heaven

            The scene shifts to heaven, to the Judgment Seat of Almighty God.  All the heavenly beings have gathered to present themselves before the Lord. (Job 1:6)  The time is Rosh Hashanah, the first of the 10 Days of Awe in the Jewish liturgical year.[25]  The books of life are opened and an account is being taken of the lives of men and women.  The life of one man stands out beyond all the rest.  It is the man Job.  In the words of Almighty God, “there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” (Job 1:8)  God’s judgment repeats the author’s judgment from the first scene.  Job is humanity at its very best. 

            And God’s judgment here extends the author’s judgment in the previous scene.  “There is no one like him on the earth.” (Job 1:8)  His righteousness exceeds that of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  His righteousness exceeds that of God’s chosen people.  There is no one like him. Throughout The Bible, this kind of praise is only used to describe two individuals: (1) God and (2) the incarnation of God- the man Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah repeatedly describes God as the one beside whom there is no other. (Isaiah 43:11; 44:6; 45:5)  And the apostle John describes Jesus as the only man or woman in whom the glory of God’s character found its fullness. (John 1:14-18)  The writer of The Epistle to the Hebrews describes Jesus as one like us in every way, “yet without sin”. (Hebrews 4:15)  Job is in the very best of company.  He is as truly and fully human as God is truly and fully divine.  There is no one like him.  Needless to say, this has to mean that Job is so righteous that he is neither worthy of punishment nor in need of character development.  He is the best he can be.  He is the best all of us can be.

Satan

            Into this world comes a tempter.  His name is “Satan”. (Job 1:6)  This proper name “Satan” is a modification of the common Hebrew noun “satan”, which means “the accuser”, “the slanderer”.[26]  His name is his title, and that title aptly describes his character.  He is a liar, though the extent of his lies remains for other books of The Bible to develop.  In any event, this is not the portrait of a faithful servant.  As a member of the heavenly host and not yet an outside challenger, he seems to have unlimited access to God and the divine council.  Having reviewed the lives of men and women “from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it” (Job 1:7), Satan does not hesitate to question the justice of God when asked.  For many scholars, the phrase “going to and fro” describes a member of the secret police of the ancient world.[27]  Such persons were men who did not hesitate to wrongly accuse and wrongly condemn the innocent to death.  This phrase darkens the portrait of a faithless servant.  And as a “slanderer”, Satan is not a just and impartial prosecutor of God’s justice.  He presents a profoundly different verdict on the life of Job and, by implication, the lives of all men and women.  It is his charge that brings silence to the heavenly court.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?  Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?  You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.  But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9-11)

All await God’s answer to this slander.

            The accusation was devilish in both origin and design.  It raises three issues for consideration: one explicit and two implicit. 

            (1) First, Satan’s judgment brings into question God’s judgment on Job.  And it does so explicitly.  God’s judgment on Job is a judgment on his intentions.  Job intends the good.  Satan’s judgment on Job is a judgment on his motives.  Job intends the good for reasons of selfishness.  He does not fear God for nothing.  He serves God for what he can get from God: the good life.  In short, Job does not really serve God.  Job manipulates God.  This motive is the hidden sin.  Job is a sinner.  Satan’s challenge is a claim to the soul of Job.

            Satan’s claim here has two important elements.  Job is a sinner.  And Job is such a sinner that, given the right circumstances, Job will “curse” God “to his very face”.  Satan’s prediction here may suggest a self-imprecation: “I’ll be damned if he doesn’t curse you to your face!”[28]  If so, then, within a canonical perspective, The Book of Job may be presenting an alternate version of the fall of Satan. In any event, blessing and cursing, righteousness and rebellion, are for Satan two sides of the same coin.  Because human beings serve God out of selfishness not selfless love, they are equally apt to curse God for the loss of their rewards as they are to bless God for the receipt of those rewards.  It is vitally important to remember that the essence of Satan’s claim is that God has missed sin in Job’s character.  Job was not blameless. If Job sins in any way in thought, word or deed short of actually cursing God, then Satan is right and God is wrong in his judgment on Job.  The reason is simple.  Plot reveals character.  If Job sins in his test, then that sin is an expression of a pre-existing character flaw that God missed but Satan didn’t miss.

            (2) Secondly, Satan’s judgment brings into question God’s authority to judge.  And it does so implicitly.  If God is wrong in his judgment on Job, then God has erred.  In this scene, God is called “LORD”.  This is the NRSV translation of the Hebrew “JHWH” which may also be transliterated as “YHWH”.  “Yahweh” is the personal name for God in the Old Testament.  It is often left untranslated as YHWH.[29]  This personal name is taken from God’s self-disclosure to Moses in the burnish bush. 

“But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name? What shall I say to them?  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”  He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever and this my title for all generations.” (Exodus 3:13-15)

In the Exodus revelation, God’s name is given in three ways: “I AM WHO I AM”, “I AM”, and “LORD”.  All three forms are forms of the Hebrew word “to be”.  In Hebrew, “I AM WHO I AM” is “ehyeh asheh ehyeh”, first person singular, present tense.  In Hebrew, “I AM” is “ehyeh”, a shortened form of the former, but again first person singular, present tense.  In Hebrew, “LORD” is “jhwh”, third person singular, present tense.  It functions as a personal name, Yahweh.  This self-designation by God is the designation of a perfect being.  Scholars have seen in the use of the first “I AM” a reference to essence and in the use of the second “I AM” a reference to existence.  Through this name, God declares himself to be the Supreme Being, a perfect being, a being whose essence is existence.[30]  By definition, such a being is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present and all-good.   Certainly the ancient Jews understood the personal name of Yahweh to designate the perfect being God.  If God is wrong in his judgment on Job, then God has ceased to be all-knowing.  God has ceased to be a perfect being.  The implication is clear.  God should step down from his throne for God has lost the authority the one true God possess.  Satan’s challenge is a claim to the throne of heaven.

            (3) Thirdly, Satan’s judgment brings into question God’s very purpose in the creation of humankind.  And it does so implicitly.  If Job is the very best humankind has to offer and God is wrong in his judgment on Job, then God is wrong in judgment on humankind.  Human beings were created to freely love God.  If men and women love God for what they can get from God, then their love for God is not genuine.  It is manipulation not love.  It is selfishness not self-giving.  That selfishness may be short-term: the good life.  Or that selfishness may be long term: an after-life, eternal life.  If human beings cannot rise beyond selfishness, then a meaningful relationship with God is never possible in this life or the next.  God is wrong in creating human beings in the first place.  The entire human project is a failure and should be scrapped.  Humankind itself should be destroyed.  Satan’s challenge is a claim to destroy the earth and all in it.

            This three-fold judgment was a stroke of evil genius.  With a single accusation, Satan had put God on trial.  And he had done before the High Court of Heaven.  In any event, this three-fold challenge carries with it profound implications for understanding Job’s so-called excessive words and his Oath of Innocence.   If Job sins in any way short of actually cursing God, then God has lost it all.

            The 10 Days of Awe are the time in the Jewish liturgical year when human beings are called to repentance.  They begin with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah and they end 10 days later with the Day of Atonement.  On Rosh Hashanah, God is said to pass judgment on humankind in heaven.  Human beings are given 10 days to repent of their sins and amend their ways.